more pictures of the trip

Our favorite place to eat (besides Chadders)
The fog rolled in at the beach but we had fun anyway!
Two very tired parents
Josh and Kayty enjoying a much needed break

Joce and Grandpa

Will you just take the picture already???

Minnie was the only character we saw out and about

We love Toontown

Another picture of the kids, we had a group of 16 it was so fun to be together

Gotta love family!!!

California!!

Sidewalk of the Stars
Beverly Hills
A giant tree in Beverly Hills
Hayden's birthday at Bill and Nancy's
Loaded up and ready to go!!!

We decided to go with the Sharp Family to California to enjoy some family time together. We made the decision to go on Sunday and left Friday so not enough time to fly (we love spending time in the car anyway) Friday morning we piled in for the 15 hour drive south, so thankful for Redbox! We began our adventure at Uncle Bill and Aunt Nancy's house in Moorpark for Hayden's birthday, then to Hollywood and the sidewalk of stars! Monday found us at Disneyland pushing the gates open at 7:30am and getting kicked out at midnight! The next morning we were waking up the kids to head for Knott's Berry Farm and Josh says "why do you do this to your children?" too funny!! anyway 10 hours at Knotts then swimming and pizza, and another 16 hours at Disneyland the next day!! Grandpa and Grandma came for Mon-Wed too. Thursday found us at the beach chasing waves and building sandcastles then driving as far as we could that night and arriving home Friday. Troy talked with customer service at Disney telling them the reason for our visit and that AmyLynne had been a make-a-wish recipient and they gave him a fast-pass which helped so we didn't have to wait in many lines!!! What a week.

The only thing that could have been better is if Sydney were with us!!

Now to try and post the pictures!!

I will do another post with more pictures

Joce's first school dance

Well this past weekend Joce had a school dance called Sweethearts. Its like a Valentines dance, but a formal girls choice. She had so much fun with all her friends, she took a boy in our ward, and everything went great.

I don't think we have more than 3 pictures where Joce, or other kids, are smiling. All the rest are funny faces! Typical Joce.

Lots and lots of posts...

Well, since it has been 4 months, we are going to give you a slightly large blog today. yep, i said large, like big, humongous, A LOT!!!

Shawn and Nathlie went to Texas for a week, this is the Alamo.

First boarding of the year 2010. Very first day.

Oh Christmas tree!!

Nathlie was driving.

The last family picture for 2009. The day we dropped Syd off for another adventure in Connecticut.

This is Nathlie's 29th *40th cough* birthday party, dinner and a murder. intense.

Joce had a young women in excellence, red carpet night, she went all out. she was from the 80's and took an hour to comb her hair out. I don't think she will rat it up that high again.

Josh had his 8th birthday! It was really fun with all the family there for his baptism!

This is our very own house! finally its ours!!

Youth Day Camp

It has been a very long time since we have updated the blog. We were going to do one for Joce's sweet 16. It didn't work out, so i guess not!

Well this past Saturday, Nath, Hayden, and Joce, went to a ward youth day camp. They had a blast! It was so great to get to know all the youth better and bond with everyone! We had some talks about not judging others, and peer pressure, and just all the regular stuff teenagers need to work on. :)

Hayden said he had fun, but he was super tired from hunting for a whole week then waking up at 6 the next day he got home, especially on a Saturday. He got along so well with everybody. There was also a dead cow out in the field and they just had to go explore that!

It seemed like everyone just loved Joce. She was happy about that. The youth did a skit in their group, here is Joce's group. It seems like they didn't even plan it?? No i don't think they did.

All the groups did a great job. They were all very funny! We had a volleyball net set up, and a bunch of other activities we did. It was a really great experience!

Nath & Joce's New York Trip

Nath and Joce went to The Big Apple last week to see Syd and get the personal tour. They had an absolute blast!! As you can see Joce is a little apprehensive about her first time in an airplane. I think after the first hour or so she settled down and did just fine.

We arrived in New York at 11:00 pm on Thursday so our adventures began on Friday. We mainly hit the hot spots around Connecticut where Syd lives. One of our main stops was the Waffle House! JK!! We went to Cosi's and a place that served Gelato. We couldn't get enough of it.

Then our tours took us to the Beach. The day started out nice but just after this picture was taken, we decided to cruise home and get our swimsuits so we could take advantage of this beautiful weather. Well wouldn't you know as soon as we got back to the beach, the clouds rolled in and it started raining cats and dogs. We had a blast non the less.

Saturday was our big day in the City. Here we are waiting for the train. I don't think they have these for everyday transit in Idaho. It was fun and the best way to get around.

Here we are at Grand Central Station. This is the whispering corners where if you whisper in this corner the sound will carry over to the other side and they can hear you whispering. It is so cool!!

Oh the people!! They are everywhere, but it creates a lot of energy and it is fun being in the hustle and bustle of everything.

Here is our first peak at the city. This is the Hyatt where Syd stayed the first year she went to New York and there behind it is the Chrysler building. (It may not be named the Chrysler building for long)

This is a sculpture that was salvaged from the inside of the Twin Towers on 9/11.

Here we are eating the famous street side New York hot dog. You would think a hot dog is a hot dog, but wait till you have one in New York. Its a life changing experience!!

Here we caught a couple of tourists jumping off the lamp post foundation by the harbor, looking out at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Do you think the people ever get tired of watching the tourists act so crazy?!!!

Here is a photo of Ground Zero. It was an awesome experience just being there and reflecting back on that day and all that happened here. May We Never Forget!!

Here it was time for Dinner so we went to Bubba Gump's Shrimp House. Oh the food!! Its all over the place.

Here we are shopping on Canal Street. Yes, we got our share of Coach and Dulce bags!! Nathlie even managed to find her a Prada. Oh a woman's shopping dream. So much high end (fake) articles at such a low price. Of course you have to barter the heck out of them. But it was soooo fun!!

Oh--Oh here's the food again. I told you it was everywhere. I think Syd talked us into sampling every single mini on the menu. I will be working out for 2 weeks to get all of these off my hips.

Here we are in Time Square. What a busy happening place. People everywhere! They had the streets blocked off so people could move around more freely and safely, so we just walked down the streets. (with everyone else)

Joce could not believe that you could have so many colors of M&M's. I guess she is only used to the basic Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Brown. It just goes to show what you can learn when you get out into the world a little bit.

Old Yeller was looking a bit down and lonely, so the girls stopped into say Hi and cheer him up.

Here we are doing the touristy thing. Sydney was saying just a few hours before how "This is my town and I am not a tourist, so we will do the things locals do". I guess you have to live there more than 6 months before all of the tourist blood is filtered out.

And of course we could not leave until we all had some of the famous New York cheesecake. Oh what a wonderful way to finish off the trip!!

This all took place on Saturday and Monday and then on Tuesday we got up and Syd took us to the airport for our trip home. We had a wonderful time as you can see, and hope to go back one day. Thanks Syd!!!