Santa Barbara to Dana Point

This morning we went to Irvine in hopes of seeing my brother finish his 6 mile leg of the Ragnar Relay which starts in Santa Barbara.  Each team runs from Santa Barbara to Dana Point taking turns along the way.  We were lucky enough to pull out of a shopping center as he was running the last mile of the 20 miles he contributed to the race.  We decided to drive in the bike lane and cheer him on for that last mile.  I couldn't believe how much energy he still had after running so far.  He still had time to smile, say hi and even strike a tea pot pose haha.  It was a really fun thing to see him do and to get to give him a hug at the end.  We're so proud of you Ian, you looked great and your team didn't stop talking about how great you did.  I'm impressed and even more impressed that you're running the La Jolla 1/2 marathon tomorrow...geeez!

 How he still had energy to goof off and pose like a teapot (random) I'm not sure.  If it were me, I'm pretty sure I would have been on my hands and knees crawling up the hill at mile 20.

My handsome brother is a running stud.  

Ashley was so excited to cheer for Uncle Ian and so proud of him when he finished.

Golfing with Gramps

Today was my Dad's birthday so I thought it would be fun for Ashley and him to golf at the putting greens in our neighborhood.  We've been to the park before but never remembered to bring golf stuff with us.  Ash had a blast putting from hole to hole and was so proud when she sank each ball.  Gramps gave some much needed basic golf lessons and Colin watched it all with a drooling smile (does the drool ever stop??)  Then Dad and I soaked up some sun, enjoying the view while Ashley made a friend at the park and Colin took a snooze.  We ended our time with lunch together and talked and talked and talked.  It was a great way to just spend time with Dad/Gramps and fun was had by all.

Happy Birthday Dad/Gramps, we hope you have a special day!  Thank you for being such a great Dad, Father-in-law, Grandpa and Doggy Grandpa to us all.  We love you!

       Being Grandpa's Caddy

Love these smiles!

A much needed golf lesson. 

Seriously watching sister's golf game

Laughing at his sister

Making silly faces at Mom

I can't get enough of this sweet face

Belly Sleep

This boy has started sleeping on his belly, it brings back so many memories of when Ashley was just a baby.

Park Date with the Shwams

We had a little play date with our good friends, Celina, Maddy and Brody.  The kids had fun swinging in the swings together (all four kids in two swings!)  The girls had fun playing with other little girls at the park, jumping rope and sliding down the slides a million times.  Brody played baseball and golf and Colin oversaw the whole operation.  We had a Happy Meal picnic with our friends and then played a little more.  Thanks for such a fun day at the park C, Mads and Brod, we love you!

Easter Eggs with Ash

Ashley dyed the Easter eggs all by herself this year and was so proud.  

   My Big Girl

 Hard at Work

So Proud of herself!

The masterpieces (Can you tell we're working on patterns??)

The picture she said we just had to take

Easter Dinner

I know, by now you're thinking how many Easter events can one person have?  Well, there's a TON for us.  I cooked Easter dinner for my little family and my Dad.  It was nice to be at home, just relaxing and enjoying each other.  We enjoyed a yummy dinner, gave Grandpa a little Easter prize and then Jas and I did a little something special for our girl.  Do you know that Baskin Robbins commercial for ice cream cakes?  If you do you probably think it's the most obnoxious commercial on tv, most people do, but not our Ashley.  She has been obsessed with that commercial for an entire year!  Every time it comes on she will run from wherever she is and ask us to rewind it so she can see the entire commercial and sing along with it.  We've been looking for the perfect time to get an ice cream cake and figured Easter would be fun.  The best part was they had a cake that looked like a purple easter bunny.  Purple!  How could it get any better?!  We told her we had a special dessert and she guessed from cookies to popsicles and finally gave up.  We had her cover her eyes and then Jason brought the cake in and she went crazy!  She sang the song about 5 times and then admired her cake for about 5 minutes before asking for a taste.  It was a fun way to end the night.

Easter with the Brick Family

After Easter with Jason's family we headed up the street to spend Easter with the extended Brick Family.  The kids got to enjoy yet another Easter Egg hunt!  Ashley had a blast with all of her cousins and was very excited to see her cousin Cody again, it's been a while.  Colin slept through the whole thing :-)

Gathering the kids for the egg hunt

The hunt is on!

Great Grandma giving Ashley a hint

The little cousins, they're not looking so little anymore!

An added bonus...bubbles!

Giving Cody a bubble blowing lesson

Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Maddy Dog's House

After church we headed to Jason's parents' house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Ashley and her cousin Dylan were so excited for the egg hunt.  Once the door was open those two ran out as fast as they could.  After the egg hunt Ash and Dylan had so much fun opening the eggs to find candy and stickers.  They spent about 15 minutes sitting in the grass coating each other in stickers.  Well, to be honest, Dylan spent 15 minutes coating Ashley in stickers as she opened her eggs and found more stickers, but she didn't mind, she had fun seeing what he had adorned her with.  We made an attempt to take some family pictures but that failed miserably.  Between the neighbors and their dogs, Colin teething and loads of stickers waiting to be found inside those Easter eggs the photo session was kind of a bust.