L.A.

In April Brad had a planning conference in LA, and we thought it would be fun to go together since April is my b-day and our anniversary month. Brad's mom watched the kids for us, thank you again Diane! We flew in on different flights because the city paid for his ticket. My flight was really rough! it was raining and windy and there was a huge flash of lightning right out side of my window! As we landed, (thank goodness) the palm trees were blowing like crazy and the rain was coming down in sheets and I thought, Brad and I are not going to get to watch the Dodgers tonight, but we did. The rain stopped but it was still really cold. I thought CA was suppose to be warm so I only brought a sweater. I bought gloves and a scarf at our hotel and put on several layers and away we went!

The Dodgers won! This was my first pro game so I was glad they won.

We bought some Dodger dogs and hot chocolate and went to the gift shop. The rest of the time we just tried not to freeze. After the game there were fireworks on the field. We watched for a bit but our toes and fingers were numb so we decided we were ready to go sit in the bus.

The next 2 days while Brad was at his conference I went on a few tours the conference sets up for family members like me who come along with their planner and don't want to wander LA alone. I met 3 nice ladies, from FL, PA, MA. They took my picture at a few of the places we stopped. I felt a little awkward just standing in photos alone... but that's what I did. Usually I'm always the one behind the camera. This is the Disney Concert Hall, we didn't get to go inside, but Brad got to go to a concert there the day after I left. The conference was a week long but I only stayed 3 of the days.

This is in Hollywood. We are in the building that they do the red carpet. It was a lot different than I thought it would be. The stairs where the red carpet goes is surrounded by run down buildings, you walk in the building, up the stairs to a small theater and the rest of the building is like a mall, with outdoor and indoor shops.  

This is a pic of the Hollywood sign, it is actually what is right behind the pic of me on the couch

We went to the see the hand prints and some of the stars on the sidewalk.

These are the hand prints of Robert Patterson and Kristen Stewart from the Twilight movies, next to it is the cast from Harry Potter and below is Michael Jackson. I took a few more but I couldn't tell who was who when I was uploading them onto this blog.

I took this pics for my kids, I thought they would think it was funny to see mom with Shreck

We also went to Rodeo Drive. I took a lot of pics of cool cars for the boys. This car is worth 1 million dollars. I can't remember the name of the man who owns it. But he owns the store it is parked in front of. You are not allowed in the store without an appointment.

We Went to the Hollyhock House. It was the home of Aline Barnsdall. It was beautiful, originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was interesting to listen to the stories about the millionaire that lived there  in 1919-1921. They are trying to restore the home to exactly way it was. The stain glass windows behind me were so pretty.  

The living room at the Hollyhock House was my favorite

We also went to the Getty. It is a HUGE art museum! We spent too long at the Hollyhock house and only had an hour to run around and see as much as we could. I was kind of sad about that. We could have spent an entire day there and probably still wouldn't have not have been able to seen everything!

In each building was a different kind of art. Paining, sculptures, vases, even furniture. I only had time to make it through some of the paintings

This was a pic of the gardens at the Getty taken from the balcony of one of the buildings. Way out in the background you can see the ocean

This was my favorite painting

One night Brad and I road the bus to the Sana Monica Pier.

Brad walked in the water for a few minutes, I walked in the water for a few seconds...I was so cold! The beach was so beautiful

The Pier from the beach

They had 30 pianos placed outside all over LA. Brad sat down and played, "To make you feel my love." As he started to play a guy asked if I was going to sing and I said, "no way." He said "I don't know all the words but I'll sing." As this was going on a good sized crowd was beginning to gather. The man had a beautiful voice, too bad he only knew the first verse. I think Brad really enjoyed playing on the Pier.

We took a ride on this huge Ferris wheel

A picture at the top! Yikes it was so high! Brad and I had a great trip! Happy 9th Anniversary!

Spring at the Cramers

Some of the pics got a little out of order, sorry!

Lily has been into everything, I know this is what 2yr olds do. Some days I smile and take a picture, other times I don't do either.  When we get home she likes to "drive the van" while I carry in groceries, it keeps her busy and gives me a few minutes. On this day (pictured below) we had just gotten home and I let her drive while I was pulling the trash cans from the side of the road up to the house.  In that few minutes she found a bottle of hand sanitizer and squeezed the entire bottle in her hair. When I found  I asked what she was doing she said, "fixin' my hair pretty."  No she is not wearing pants because she peed in them. She only needs a few minutes alone, she's a fast one.

 One of the high schools in our city has a course where the high school students put together a preschool curriculum and teach it everyday for an hour for 5 weeks. Eddie loves it comes home with a cute craft, and talks and talks all about the games, stories and of course snack he had that day. They brought bunnies in class one day and this was the craft he made. The last day was his favorite because the lesson was on fish, and because he got to bring home a "Real life fish!"

 We have been making some changes in the backyard. Brad borrowed his dad's tractor to haul in some dirt for a garden. All the kids love Grandpa's tractor.

 Silly Lily, that's for your babies!

 We decided to put Eddie on the top bunk! The bunk bed is an unusual size, we were suppose to buy a special mattress to fit it but didn't. Instead we put his regular single bed in it and it is too small. The first few nights I found him on the wood instead of his mattress, he didn't seem to mind.

Lil likes to say,"wook at me mom!" whenever she's doing something she thinks is cool. It makes us smile.

 Lily has learned to pull her self up onto the swing and then she tries to pump her legs like the boys do. She usually doesn't go anywhere, but it makes me laugh to see her out the window like this trying so hard to make her swing move.

 She always says, "Super high mom!" when I go out to give her a push

 I put her dress on for church and she decided she wanted her purse, hat, backpack and last the sweater over the top of her pack pack. I thought she looked cute and chuckled a little to myself and she got mad! "Not funny mom!" She did not want her picture taken either.

 Lily loves putting all her shoes in her grocery cart and pushing them around. I hope this isn't a glimpse into the future or we are in trouble!

 I put Lily's hair in two tiny braids for church, she hates her hair touched, but they looked so cute when they were done

 Ethan fishing

 Lily sharing her water with Great Grandma Laura

 Lily was also feeding Grandma ice

 On the way home from the egg hunt she had some chocolate, it was everywhere!

Our neighbor Keiser invited the boys to his b-day party. Kiser's grandma has horses and the boys got to ride them, they loved it!

 The Easter bunny brought the boys a fishing pole and net, they were so excited to try them out

 Lily got a pink "pack pack, just like Eddie's!" (except Eddie's isn't pink.)

 Lily has discovered pockets, and loves them!

 Eddie trying to catch a fish

 Lily and her best friend Allie sharing a drink from the hose

 Coloring eggs with Lily goes really fast. She drops them in and wants them right back out.

 The boys were more creative with their eggs and got really upset the next day when I told them we were making them into deviled eggs

 Great Grandpa and Grandma Gale and my Aunt Gloria came for a visit from WA. I think Grandpa read a lot of books that day.

 Aunt Gloria and Eddie enjoying a story together

 Eddie hiding in the couch cushions

 The assisted living center Great Grandma Laura lives at put together an egg hunt. The kids all got a ton of eggs and had a lot of fun!

 I left the kids helping dad in the garden and this is what I found when I got back. Dirty happy kids.

 Brad had a conference in Post Falls and we decided to come along and visit my dad for a couple of days while Brad was busy in his conference. We stopped at this great candy store in MT it was actually the world's best candy store! They made everything! It was amazing!

Brad trying to decide what to get

 We each picked a special treat and had free samples too. Yum!

 The hotel we stayed at had these cute bunnies decorating the foyer for Easter. Lily loved to hug them. My dad and my sister Jeni and her kids came to our hotel and swam with us. We had a lot of fun. After the conference we spent a day at my dad's house and headed home. It is a 9 hr drive home, all kids got sick so it was a REALLY long ride home for everyone.

 Eddie after the egg hunt, "CANDY, LOTS OF CANDY!"

 Lily noticed her friend Allie has pretty fingers, Aille's big sister paints them. So we had some girl time and fixed our fingers and toes. She LOVED it and showed everyone her pretties. This pic also shows off the horrible bang cut I gave her. I asked Brad to keep her hands busy and away from the scissors so they played the incy wincy spider. Little did I know this also encourages her to bounce as she sings which makes it very difficult to cut a straight line. They just kept getting shorter as I tried to fix the mess ups. I was so embarrassed. I'm so glad they have grown back to a longer length.