Ashland and Open House

The worst thing about Dave and Liz’s wedding was that we didn’t stay longer to enjoy the beautiful southern California coast.  The day after the wedding, we loaded back up and headed back to Ashland, with a stop-off at Jake and Stacey’s for the night.  Becky and I drove most of the way together with our four boys in the back of my van – ages 5, 2 1/2, 1 1/2 and 6 weeks.  It was a bit crazy at moments to say the least, but it actually went quite well overall.  I think we both decided driving was more relaxing than being in the passenger seat, because that person had to be constantly attending to the boys’ needs!

The best thing though was that I got to spend the week at my parents’ house with Becky and Bennett and Grandma Landon.  The cousins had fun playing together, and we had fun helping Mom get things ready for the reception on Saturday.

Davis had fun lining up Grandma’s toys – the Little People cars and regular cars.

All the boys had fun playing with the marble game Grandpa Landon made, and finding frogs in the hose box.

 

And James enjoyed being taken care of by Grandma Landon.  She always came through at the crucial moments to hold him when I needed a break!

The rest of the clan showed up late Friday.  The kids were happy to have Kallie and Ethan to join them, and they enjoyed seeing all of the shells David and Liz found on the beach and brought back.  All of us enjoyed hearing Dave and Liz tell the quite hilarious story of Dave’s near-drowning experience in Cancun (you’ll have to ask him about it sometime).

Saturday was the reception in the Clason’s backyard.  It was gorgeous!  Becky and I went to set up, and while we were gone, Shane and Jake helped get the boys ready to go.  When we came back, we found Davis and Bennett like this:

And some pictures from the reception:

(That’s Ethan I’m holding in the last picture, not James, just in case you think he grew a ton since previous pictures, and Jake and Shane are playing air hockey on Jake’s new ipad to keep themselves entertained.)

After the reception, we headed back to our house for some very entertaining gift opening, the best of which was the Cracker Jacks gifts with the surprise 50 dollar bill inside that he discovered during a game of Catch the Cracker Jack in your Mouth (see picture progression below).

 

David and Liz’s Wedding

A couple of weeks ago, we went to San Diego for David and Liz’s wedding in the San Diego Temple.  It was a perfect day, and we were so glad we could be there with them for their special day!   Liz is amazing (and she looked AMAZING!) and we are so glad Dave found her, and she agreed to marry him.  :) 

(I might update this post later with more pictures.  Here’s a few to start out)

The San Diego Temple had scaffolding on it, so we went to the beach for most of the pictures.

James was just barely six weeks old.  He did great though with all of the traveling!  He spent most of the time sleeping like in the picture on the right.  :)

     

   We headed to a friend of Liz’s house for a lovely reception/dinner after the pictures on the beach.  Everything was delicious, and we had a nice evening meeting Liz’s family and friends, and visiting with our family and friends.

Spoiled

Since James has been born, I have been quite spoiled.  He is six weeks old today, and yet I have spent a total of 3 1/2 days with all three boys without help (besides my wonderful spouse, of course!).  My mom came for the first two weeks, she took Landon and Davis for the next week, and then my wonderful mother-in-law Christie came for the next two weeks!  I think I am going to plan the next baby for the summer also when our moms are not teaching!

Christie was a great help when she was here, and the boys loved having her!  She took them to the zoo, on walks, to the park, and played and ran with them when at home.  She let me run a bunch of errands and cleaned my kitchen and bathroom better than they had been in a long time! 

Shane took us to this park that he rides by on his bike ride to work.  It was such a great park.  We’ll have to go there again.

     

Shane and Christie also took Landon and Davis to big truck day one Saturday.  It was a warm day, but they seemed to have a great time as always!

And finally, here are a few miscellaneous ones from around the house while Christie was here.  James was still a popular boy with his two brothers, especially since he now is smiling.  They love to make him smile, and they seem to be the best at making him to smile too!  Davis fell asleep a few times while Christie was there with a book in his hand.  He and Landon love to sit in bed and look at books before going to sleep!

Thanks again for coming to stay with us Grandma Malan!  It was a great visit!