California

More catching up...

Over a month ago, we headed to California to see one brother get married and see the other before he left on his mission. I'll skim over the details of the flights, but let's just say that we gave Delta a chance to redeem themselves, and they laughed at that opportunity. Multiple times. I was ready to knock out the emergency exit and slide out at SFO.

Once we finally made it to my parents' (and enjoyed 2 am room service of milk and frozen chocolate cookies thanks to Pappy), we were able to crash and gear up for the festivities. One nice thing about taking late flights west is that it forces the girls onto Pacific time quite nicely, and they both slept past 7 on the first morning. Friday was filled with hanging out with arriving family, going to the rehearsal (Mabes was one of the flower girls), last minute details, and the rehearsal dinner.

Dad and Dono, ready to go.

On Saturday morning, we got to go to the temple with Doov (see picture below). When we got back, we took advantage of a Groupon and took the kids horseback riding. Mabes was giddy.

Annabelle was too young to ride, but had fun watching and petting the "doggies." (She has one word for animals right now.) Mabes later admitted that she got the horse she was hoping for, Dusty.
And since Saturday was also Dave's birthday, we celebrated with cake and ice cream.
Sunday morning was David's farewell. It was really nice, as long as I didn't make eye contact with him or Laura when she sang. At one point, as I went through my diaper bag, Mabes just reached in and whispered, "here are da kleenexes, Mommy, I saw dem earlier." Thanks, Mabes.

We went home and had the kids take naps to gear up for the evening. Mabes, of course, didn't nap, despite my best efforts. I laid down with her, tried to just get her to hold still long enough to fall asleep, but I'm telling you, that girl wills herself awake. I gave up after an hour and a half. Babybelle, on the other hand, took a great nap.

Everyone looking lovely, and Annabelle is mad.

We went to the wedding, at Murietta's Well in Livermore. We took pictures beforehand, with Jeff and Jess nicely avoiding seeing each other. And being the genius I am, I forgot my camera. But my mom and brother-in-law have much nicer cameras, so I'd rather steal their pictures anyway.

The flower girls pass the time by watching Backyardigans.

The ceremony was beautiful and Jess looked amazing. Mabes took her role as flower girl very seriously, and when Gemma stole the show with her crazy walks and twirls down the aisle, Mabes was uncharacteristically serious. I'm totally fine with that, as the alternative could have been scary!

The lovely Jess.

I kind of wanted to take a nap on her train.
I don't think she would have appreciated that, though.

Jess and her attendants.

Since it was an evening wedding with dinner starting at 8, I was hoping to make it through dinner and maybe stay for the cake cutting. But the girls did great. They loved when the wedding party came in (Annabelle was clapping and bouncing in her seat), thought dinner was fantastic, and when the dancing started, Annabelle tore it up:

She came to move move move move

Mabes danced, too, but it was evident that she didn't take a nap. Babybelle was punchy and giggling and dancing and Mabes finally crashed at a table. I had prepared myself for the worst, with two girls still on East Coast time, but they did great and we had a lot of fun.

Seriously, we didn't plan our outfits. Jess asked that we not wear anything too crazy (so I had to nix the lime green tube dress, and Sarah couldn't wear a white ballgown), but look how coordinated!

The fam. Then the photographer asked for just the immediate family. Uh, this is it.

The kids.

Our original plan had been to head up to Tahoe on Memorial Day, but we decided to wait around a day and rest. Plus, we had planned on a summery vacation in Tahoe, and it looked like the weather wouldn't cooperate, so we weren't in as much of a rush. So we had a lazy day and saw Kung Fu Panda 2. Oh, and Becca's boyfriend Austin came out for the wedding and stayed for the whole week. More importantly, he put up with our shenanigans and even seemed to enjoy himself (despite being woken up early by the kids on the first day). As we were talking about who was going to go see the movie, Austin said he totally wanted to go, and Becca just laughed and said she was going to take a nap.

We headed up to Tahoe on Tuesday and were greeted with cold weather and snow on the ground. Wednesday (June 1) it snowed. A lot. My dad was mad at Tahoe--he had had a fun trip planned! Trying not to be deterred, we thought there would be a break in the snow so we went for a hike. It snowed. Annabelle was mad. But Mabes thought it was great!

I don't know what she's doing here, but I kind of love this picture.

Other than that, we spent the time just hanging out, talking, eating, and laughing. Mabes was thoroughly amused that there was a bear in the area that came out at night and ransacked the trash. We never saw the bear, but she was often on the lookout for him. Perhaps one of my favorite moments was when we were watching SYTYCD at Sarah's condo (we had 3 condos; my parents' was farthest away) and my mom hesitantly got up to leave for home. It was cold and dark outside, and I half-heartedly offered to walk her home. She assured us she'd be fine, and just grab some licorice for the walk back. We asked her to text us when she got home, so we knew she was okay.

We take singing "Happy Birthday" very seriously.

A few minutes later, Sarah's phone buzzed: "Dear Sarah I ate your mother. She was delicious and so were the red vines. Regards Bear" Okay, maybe we were a little punchy. It was late and we were already on a sugar high. But this sent us over the edge. Moomsie is hilarious. But there was that nagging worry that maybe she had been eaten by a smartphone-using-opposable-thumbed bear. I mean, then we'd feel really bad about laughing. Thankfully, my mom was okay.