beautiful california

California has some of the weirdest and coolest plants I've ever seen. Maybe it's just 'cause they're new to me, but I think they're beautiful!! I'm constantly looking around for beautiful here. I really miss my mountains!

visit from mom and dad

hey look! a space helmet! - i can see you, earthling!

put them in, take them out, put them in, take them out...

wow! i love tools

buzz! buzz!

buzz!

helping dad and grandpa is so fun!

grandma reads good stories!

grandpa's and my favorite movie is "mary poppins"

my parents came to visit in october. it was soooooo fun to have them here. it was a really busy week for tyler, but he worked his schedule out really well so we could all spend some time together. we ate luch at western with tyler a couple of the days and hung out in the evenings. we just relaxed and mom and dad helped with a lot of things around the apartment. we even had time to hit a few antique shops! cole LOVED hainging out with grandpa and grandma. he really loved working on the storage shed door with dad and grandpa - you know - 'ya gotta love the manly stuff! thanks mom and dad! we love you!

october 2008

new words

it seems like cole learns a new word every time we turn around. he loves to talk to us or to himself. here's a list of his words so far (all the ones we understand, anyway) -

bath

snack

grapes

cheese

dad

mom

what

that

up

on

off

book

read it

eyes

sip

Jesus

nose

hat

hot

ice

tent

stuck

hot dog

duck

dog

apple

Burt

hammer

clock

congratulations little buddy! we're so proud of you and all the neat things you're learning!

i love to be silly!

cole loves to just practice walking around while talking to himself. he loves to be silly too, so this was the perfect moment for him. he walked around laughing and saying "hat, hat, hat..."

10.18.08

newport beach in october!

i love this stuff!

yep! it doesn't get much better than this!

saturday we decided to hit the beach one last time before the weather turned cold (turned out we had all sorts of time on our hands - it was 98* on halloween). we went with our friends, the andersons. we had a great time even though the weather wasn't fabulous. we even saw a whale (we think).

october 11, 2008

waterfall/they have water here somewhere!!

coleman and our friend, clara, enjoying the ride

after we went swimming in ice water...

this is like the shower, but so neat 'cause there are rocks to walk on! - and the water is FREEZING!!!

hmmm... i think i'll jump right in

cole and i went on an adventure with our friends, sally and clara. we hiked up to a waterfall and ate lunch and played in the water. cole LOVED the water and the waterfall. he has absoluteley no fear! he played 'till he was as cold as an ice cube then we went home. thanks sally and clara! we love hanging out with you guys!!

october 1, 2008

joshua tree

these are joshua trees. pretty cool. it's amazing they can survive out here!

getting a good look at this weird tree...

hmmm... dad! what IS this?

you see cole, you put your hand in like this and it's called a hand jam

best buddies chillin' in one of their favorite places - on a rock

last weekend tyler and i decided we'd had enough of the normal grind. we ignored the laundry and the messes and other mundane things we should have been doing and headed for joshua tree. it's about a 2 hour drive from san dimas, but we figured it was worth it to get out. we're missing how easy it was to spend a lot of time outdoors in utah. the trip turned out to be really fun! coleman especially had a blast!!! he loves to be outside. he had an especially good time eathing the sand and rocks. tyler got a couple climbs in and i just enjoyed being outside and taking a few pictures. lots of people took pictures of tyler climbing. we were in a pretty high traffic place. unfortunateley, i couldn't quite balance watching cole who was tied in to the back of my harness and belaying tyler and taking pictures. sometime we'll have to bring a friend to be the photographer. :) we have to go back anyway. this park has a 5.0 climb - we've gotta do it just to say we did it. there are so many easy climbs that we could start at 5.0 and then go to 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, etc. i think they have all the way to 5.13 (i'll have to check with tyler) anyway, fun weekend getaway.