california!

i promised it was coming, and here it is! i had to cheat and make collages of the pictures, since there are over 70 of them. i just couldn't leave any fun pictures out!

synopsis: nate got a few vacation days, so we decided to drive out to grass valley, california to visit my mom's side of the family. we stayed at gloria and gary's BEAUTIFUL house (or should i say the 'apple estate' ;o). the trip was packed with wonderful family, much fun, great food, and much more. the girls were able to meet and play with kimmy, lily, and ryan (my cousins' kids), and they had a blast.

we also were able to sneak awayand go to auburn, where i grew up. it was fun to see my old house, old school, and everything else i remember as a child.

i'll try to summarize each collage, we'll see how this goes:

first off, blogger won't let me move these pictures down where i want them. so here they stay. this is the house i grew up in, in Auburn. i can't believe how small it looks now, and how MASSIVE the trees have gotten! those were just new trees when we lived there. crazy.

and this is the last day of our trip at pauline and bob's. we had a yummy dinner and dessert. thanks guys for hosting! (oh...and check out the piggy back ride travis is giving ALL the girls at once. he rocks.)

we stopped in reno, nv to have dinner with my grandma jo and grandpa murphy. they are the BEST...we love you guys! (that's emma and kimmy on the bottom)

this was the entertainment favorite of the kids the whole trip. gloria found a GREAT new use of her salad spinner. you pack it with ping-pong balls, start pumping it like crazy, and pop the top. it's insane! those things SHOOT out of there, it was hilarious.

out back at the 'apple estate', we had fun in the sand box, hammock, personal driving range (down the mountain)

gary bought an old car and he took us for a ride in it. it was AWESOME...i felt like i was in a dick tracy movie or something. the girls thought it was kind-of strange..no seat belts! their favorite part was the horn of course. the bottom pics are of the kids and abby holding ryan. and then travis giving the girls a ride on the rolling turtle ottoman.

one night we had homemade bbq'd pizza night. gary invented/made his own massive smoker/bbq out back, so we all made our own pizzas and took them out to be cooked. this is nate trying his 'skills' at throwing the dough in the air. i think gloria thought he was a nutcase.

my cousin travis was pretty much the kid entertainer the whole time. he played and played and played with the kids the ENTIRE time. they love him! the bottom pics are of the room we stayed in. it was SO rough to wake up to that beautiful view and the pool out back. ;o)

we visited the empire state mine while in grass valley. it was really cool to see how things were done, and to be able to go a tiny bit down the mine shaft. the girls just had fun with each other. oh, and the bottom left picture-that's my beautiful aunt gloria. she's amazing.

the guys came up with a clever idea. they would 'golf' down the hill, and let the girls try it out too. when they ran out of balls, they would say 'EASTER TIME!' and all the girls would scramble to get as many 'easter balls' as they could find. smart men. oh...and then the pic of emma in the cute bathtub at gloria's.

so we had the downstairs at the 'apple estate' to ourselves. we could have easily fit in 2 rooms, but caitlin opted to have her OWN room. can you tell she loved the queen sized bed all to herself? the girls also loved the wading pool out back. even though it was rather chilly to swim!

one of the days we went to the elementary school's 'harvest carnival'. um..yeah. this put other elementary carnivals to shame. it was so much fun! the top pictures is 'gramma g' (gloria) taking all the girls to get tickets for everything.

i have to explain the bottom 2 pictures. so they had a cake walk (but they used chairs, weird). anyways, the kids all did it. wouldn't you know it, caitlin won. we all were so sad as she walked over to claim her cake prize that she couldn't even eat. she came prancing back with the most proud look on her face. someone had donated a platter of GLUTEN FREE COOKIES for the cake walk that day. it seriously still brings tears to my eyes..it made her week. she was so thrilled! and then she promptly shared with everyone. it was awesome.

my little cotton candy eatin' rockstars.

ok..here we have caitlin's version of a cupcake, carving pumpkins, gloria building a fort for the girls, and of course aunt denise. poor denise, she was so sick when she came. but she made the coolest cupcakes for the kids! i also feel horrible that the bottom right picture is one of the only pictures i got of amanda and pauline. LOVE YOU GIRLS though, thanks for the memories!

and to my school. this is Alta Vista where i went to elementary school. it was a little weird to come to show the girls, and find that it is all closed down, and grown over. i have so many memories there. but i guess times change, eh? and i'll have you know i WAS the student body secretary at that school. i know, i'm famous.

top left: the courthouse in auburn. SUCH an amazing building! then we have cute ryan smiling away...he LOVES his gramma jo. and on the bottom is travis swinging the girls in the hammock, and the marble track travis built.