Huntington Beach

What a beautiful day at the beach! We went to Huntington Beach with grandma and grandpa Whitehead, Becky, Brady and Bennett. We were a couple of miles north of the pier so it wasn't quite as crowded. Reese did her part in helping carry the surf boards down to the beach. Such a cute little face peeking out from under shade cover.

She loves the beach

She climbed up into the beach chair all by herself

Posing for us on the surf board

My sand baby. She crawled all the way down to the water! It was a pretty far crawl! I was impressed she kept on going.

She had another long distant crawl in which she was chasing Tyler's shadow.

We stopped by to visit Aunt Elaine before heading home. She had broken her hip and had surgery last week. Reese tested out her walker. She loved being at Miller's house. She crawled around everywhere because there is so much open space and she climbed up their stairs 4 times. We stayed for dinner and Jillyn, Mindy and Amber's families came over. It was so great to see everyone. 

Sleeping on the ride home. I wish she got those luscious eyelashes from me.

Reese and I got to go to Disneyland today with grandma and grandpa Whitehead, Becky, Brady and Bennett. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. 

Reese and Grandpa getting ready to ride It's a Small World

At the end of the ride, all of the boats were backed up and we had to wait to unload. We were bumper to bumper. Not quite sure how it happened, but our boat almost capsized while we were waiting! All of a sudden, the boat started tipping to the right side. Reese and I were sitting on the right side and I stuck my hand out onto the cement curbing to help keep us from tipping over. It was so crazy (and funny afterward). I have never had that experience before. Becky was behind us and she grabbed onto the curbing as well. We were convinced we would have tipped into the water had we not stuck our hands out to catch the boat.

We made our way into Toon town to meet some characters. Reese handled it a little better this time...as long as I was between her and the character.

We met Mickey,

and Goofy,

and Donald Duck!

After lunch, Reese decided it was nap-time. It was the perfect opportunity to go on a big kid ride. The Hollywood Tower of Terror is my absolute favorite and it has been 2 years since the last time I went on it. Becky and Brady accompanied me and it was a blast! It made my day!

Reese relaxing on the stroller ride back to the parking lot. 

I loved looking down into the stroller and seeing her little ankles crossed.

Dinnertime fun

Reese picked out a jar of sweet potatoes from the cupboard for dinner. I seated her in the high chair and turned around to get the spoon from off the counter. Reese was holding the glass jar with both hands, so I thought it safe to let her hold it while I grabbed the spoon. Well, after I turned back around, she had the jar raised in one hand. It was like slow motion as her hand released the jar. I tried to reach for it, but it smashed to the ground sending glass and sweet potatoes everywhere. Luckily, most of it landed on the tile. How can you get mad at such a cute little face peering over the high chair tray at you wondering what happened? I learned my lesson. No more games of drop and pick-up with glass objects.

I'm in the student section once again! I love the energy of the student section, even though my back doesn't. We stand almost the entire game. We had great seats on the 8th row. This year USC did away with spouse season tickets and increased the price of guest passes. So for this game, we decided to buy a student ticket for me and I would borrow someone else's ID card. They have looked a little more closely at cards this year and even asked Tyler his student ID number last game. Tyler's classmate Katie was kind enough to let me borrow her ID card. I got in without any problems. We got Brady a student ticket too. Becky and Bennett sat with Grandpa David and Brady met up with them after half time.

Touchdown!

The student section is always packed

During the half-time show, the USC band performed their version of the "What does the fox say?" song. We love this song, especially Tyler. We were so excited when we heard the band playing it!

After we got home, we realized that we made it on ESPN! In the middle, you can see me, Tyler and Brady swaying back and forth with the rest of the student section.

I love how inspiring conference weekend is! Reese enjoyed it too from the comfort of her lounge chair. It was so great to have Amanda over to watch the morning session with us. She is Tyler's classmate and we have become great friends with her over the last 3 years. We ate ebleskivers for breakfast and they were delicious.

 This is the beautiful bouquet of flowers that Amanda brought us

We started the morning out with a walk/jog down to the high school to watch dad play football. We then hitched a ride back home with him. While we were watching conference, I was observing how well Reese is kneeling. She is able to keep her balance so well.

During the priesthood session, Reese and I had a girls night out with friends. We headed to the Americana and Galleria malls for a little shopping and ate a hamburger and fries at Jewel Diner.

Reese patiently waiting on the sidewalk for Cheryl and little Aiden to come pick us up. 

We met up with Mandy, Avonlea and Carlee at the mall. It's so fun watching Reese interact with other little people.

Today we met Minnie Mouse. Reese is not a fan. 

Reese did so well last week meeting Cinderella, but we found out she does not like the Disney characters. Goofy came up to us too and waved to Reese. She was scared and tried to get as far away from him as possible. I was holding her, so she switched sides so that I was between him and her. Goofy dropped his head down like she hurt his feelings, but she didn't care. I tried to get her to wave good-bye, but she was glad to see him go. She enjoyed walking through Minnie's house though.

The crazy tea-cups with Avonlea

Flik's Flyers

I just love her hair

We always ask if we can park in the Chip n' dale parking lot when we get there. We have been able to park there 3 of the last 4 times. They were re-asphalting the parking lot the first time we went. It is so much more convenient because it is not in the parking structure. The yellow strip of paper is the pass to get into the parking lot. 

I really thought Reese would like the characters. Maybe we'll find some more princesses next time. 

Tyler has been a collector of cards for years. Even when we were dating, I remember him showing me a portion of his collection that he kept very carefully in a wooden box. For years now, most of our trips to Target consist of purchasing at least one package of cards. Usually baseball or football cards. Since moving to California, we go to Target way more than we did in Utah, so needless to say, Tyler has acquired a lot more cards. He looks at them once, then tucks them away in a box. He has always said that he intends to sell some cards, but loves the excitement and anticipation of opening a new package. Tyler's friend recently shared that he buys the more expensive cards and then is able to make his money back by selling only a few cards on eBay. Tyler decided to celebrate his birthday early and buy a few packs of the nicer cards. To Tyler's dismay, we missed the UPS man twice before finally receiving the package. 

Tyler was very pleased with his loot.

We had to barricade the table to protect the cards from little hands