Lake Havasu and California Trip

Well, I'm really behind in blogging, so I'm going to try and play catch-up.  I think for tonight I will try and just blog about our California trip we took to visit my parents a few weeks ago.  We went the weekend before the 4th of July and drove to Lake Havasu to stay a few nights at Dave's parent's lake house.  We had a great time and always love spending time there with grandma and grandpa.

Dave had has surfboard with him since we were going to the beach in CA, so he decided to try and surf behind the boat.  It worked pretty well, and Dave enjoyed it.
I spent a lot of time on the Sea-Doo's driving kids around.  Usually there are lots of other people in our group with us that can help take the kids out, but this time it was just our little family with Grandma and Grandpa, so Dave and I had to do all the driving for the kids.  They loved getting lots of time on them, but after a while it got a little tiring for Dave and I.  
The kids love to knee board, but the knee board got left behind, so Dave let them use his surfboard to do it.  It worked pretty well, but took a big chunk out of the front of it from the rope.  (Luckily Dave repaired it.)  Tyler loved knee boarding.
Here are the girls chillin' on the boat.  It sure was hot there.  Good thing there was lots of water around us!!  You had to jump in the water quite often to stay cool.  (Not that you really ever felt cool.)

After the weekend, we headed to my parents house in Southern California.  We had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and got to do lots of fun stuff.

Dave took the four oldest kids to a Dodger game.  They got there early for batting practice, and were able to catch 2 balls.  They were pretty excited about that.
After the game, they let the crowd go onto the field for a big fireworks show.  The kids enjoyed that!
Here they are with their balls.  Some former Dodger player signed them.  (Can't remember what his name was......)
Since one of my favorite things to do when I go visit my mom is go to Kohls shopping, Dave didn't want to just sit around the house with the kids, so he took them for a walk down to 7-11 and bought them slurpies.  They thought that was pretty cool.
I asked the girls what they wanted to do one day, and Jessica said she wanted to go down to Hollywood and see the famous "stars".  So we drove down there with my niece Amber.  We checked out all the strange people, and saw a statue of the worlds tallest man at the Guinness Book of World Records museum.  (We didn't go inside since they charge a fortune for those places!!)
It happened to be just a few days after Michael Jackson died, so we saw the stuff everyone had placed on Michael Jackson's star.  It was really crowded there, and people were taking lots of pictures.  (I used to be a HUGE fan when I was in 4th grade!)

Here we were in front of where the star was.  You can see all the people behind us lined up to see his "star".  
Then we crossed the street and ate at Baja Fresh.  While we were there, Elvis Presley and Marilynn Monroe were there eating.  (I've never seen so many hollywood impersonators as I did that day!!!)

It was fun having grandma spend the day with us!!
The day before the 4th of July we headed to the beach with my two sister's and my brother.  It was fun being there with all of them.  I especially enjoyed boogey boarding with them.  
I was such a wimp with the cold water.  I had to wear Dave's full wet suit I was so cold!  I've definitely acclimated to the hot Arizona weather.  I need my warm water!
Here I am with my 2 sisters.  I am so grateful for these 2 girls in my life!  I have the best sisters ever!
Here we all are chillin' on the beach.  One thing I miss about CA is the beach.  Good thing it's close enough we still get to go in the summers.
While we were there we got to celebrate my parent's wedding anniversary.  (I think 42nd or 43rd, pretty crazy!)  We made this big fruit pizza.  It was yummy.  (Yes, I put all that fruit on there.  The blueberries were picked by us while we were there.  It was fun, but a little tedious.)  I am so grateful for my parents.  I'm who I am today because of them.  They are amazing!
Then, for the 4th of July, we headed down to the park by my parent's house for the traditional concert in the park, followed by fireworks.  The kids had a great time playing together.  
Jennaca and Kelsey......
And some of the cousins........
Dave and I.......(I was glad we took this picture.  We don't get very many of us anymore....)
And the last day we were there was a Sunday.  We had some time before church so I french braided my girls hair.  Well, all the nieces wanted it done, so I did theirs, too.  Then my sister's wanted in on the action, so I braided theirs, also.  
So, here were all the girls with their cute hair.  Too bad I couldn't do my own.  Oh, well.  Denise said she hadn't had her hair braided since high school.  It was like girls camp all over again! 

We had such a great visit with the family.  We were planning to drive back after church, but we were having so much fun and didn't want to go home, so we stayed an extra day.  Thanks mom and Dad for letting us come visit!  We always have such a great time there!