vacuum.

vacuuming is one of my least favorite chores.

i like the results of vacuuming, but i loathe how noisy it is.

it's obnoxious, really.

for the first couple years of chet's life, he was terrified of the vacuum.

and knowing that he would cry the whole time i vacuumed, made the chore even less appealing.

i mean, what is worse then vacuuming + a crying kid?

well...

it turns out vacuuming + 2 kids who aren't afraid of the vacuum is worse!

chet has overcome his fear of vacuums. and holden has never minded them.

and now they like to chase the vacuum/pretend the vacuum is chasing them/ride the vacuum.

and chet is constantly begging for his turn at being the vacuumer.

he is totally going to regret that one day!

i already let him practice, and i plan on making that his special job when he masters it.

and then i will never have to vacuum again!

[a girl can dream].

tomatoes.

lately i have seen friends posting about all the tasty food they are harvesting from their gardens.
i wish.
we harvested 7 little tomatoes from our tomato plant.

and then the plant died.
dead.
oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

trains.

we decided to visit griffith park on the weekend again.

we told chet he could ride a pony while we there, like last time.

and he was pretty excited about that.

but apparently you need cash to ride the ponies. and we didn't have any.

we almost never carry cash. such a bad habit.

but we managed to convince chet that the train was cool too.

so the boys rode the little train instead, and then we headed over to 'travel town'.

'travel town' is a train museum in griffith park with a bunch of old trains that you can climb in and explore.

we had heard that it was neat, but it turned out to be even neater then we expected.

and it is totally free!

FYI: my pictures don't do it justice.

i always underestimate the power of a train, until i get close to one. they are huge.

it blows my mind how olden day people figured out how to move something so big across the country.

kudos to them.

[yes, i called them 'olden day people'..]

what are the odd's that they would have a place called 'holden's corner'? really.

weather & temple.

if you know me, you know weather is important to me.

i try to not let weather influence my mood.. but it does.

in terms of weather, this summer has kicked some serious butt.

the days are plenty hot - but not so hot that you need to hide inside.

and the nights cool off enough that it feels nice to sleep with the windows open.

perfection.

[matt is converting to fahrenheit.. celcius makes more sense in my brain]

i find the weather here fascinating.

like, you mean to tell me that there are people who have always enjoyed summers like this!?

not. fair.

not only is it lovely in terms of temperature, but its consistency is also to die for.

matt and i grew up in calgary. the land of ever-changing weather.

no kidding.

it keeps you on your toes.

and, as a result, i feel as though everyone in calgary has developed the same attitude when it comes to embracing nice weather..

if it is a nice day, get your butt outside and enjoy it.

we calgarians never waste a nice day. [or a kinda nice day!]

and that is one of my favorite things about calgarians.

i proudly have that attitude instilled in me.

but, now that we live in california - where every day seems to be sunny - spending every nice day outside isn't all that realistic.

or productive.

it takes everything in me to spend days inside, when the sun is beckoning me to join it outside, but i am trying to fix that.

although, based on our boys' tan lines, you wouldn't believe me..

we live about 25 minutes from the coast and it is insane how quickly the temperature drops as you drive towards it.

during the 25 minute drive it can drop 20 degrees, or more.

we love going to the beach, but we are yet to have a day there where we don't have to psych ourselves up to get in the water.

my past experience with beaches is based entirely on vacations to the carribean - where you get so hot that you feel the need to cool off in the water.

but it doesn't seem to be like that here. not yet, at least.

on saturday, we went to our ward's end-of-summer beach party.

it was so windy!

and the wind always seems to make it feel colder then it is.

most of the adults were wrapped in towels to stay warm.

but, when we got back to woodland hills, it was over 100.

and our apartment was a disgusting 88 degrees.

[we forgot to turn on the AC. oops.]

88 inside is not ideal. buuut it was a personal record for us, so i have a sense of pride in it.

[not really! although, i did feel the need to take a picture.]

on sunday, to escape the temptation of taking a dip in the pool, we headed to the temple grounds.

we spent a few hours walking around the grounds and playing in the visitors center.

it was nice.

and you know what? it made us kind of miss rexburg.

[or at least living within the view of a temple]

every time we walked out of our rexburg apartment we could see the temple up on the hill.

and you could see it from almost everywhere else in town too.

it sure was special to have something so pretty to look at all throughout your day.

and it was fun to see chet get excited every time he spotted moroni.
i definitely miss having that constant reminder of what it's all about so close.

[sticking his tongue out was chet's 'pose of the day'.]

wasn't kidding about the tongue..

twinsies?

i get asked several times a week if chet and holden are twins.

no joke. several times. every week.
and, when it happens, everything in me wants to say,
'are you blind?!'
but, i refrain. 
and i say something more along the lines of,
'i do get that a lot, but no. they are actually over 2 years apart.'

they definitely look like brothers though.
cute ones.

signed up.

chet is officially signed up for soccer!

on september 21 he will start his first team sport.

he has done swim lessons and gymnastics. but both of those were individual sports.

and i was always required to be right beside him, helping him along.

this will be the first time we just sit on the side lines and watch.

i swear, it is going to be the cutest thing.

matt and i can hardly wait.

we bought chet a soccer ball so we could start practicing with him.

and whenever we try to take the ball from him he picks it up... or sits on it.

so we might need to do a bit more practicing before the season starts:)

but whether or not chet spends the entire season scoring goals, or sitting on a ball, we will be his biggest fans.

gooOOOO chet!

six years.

we celebrated our sixth anniversary this weekend.
it made me feel old.
6 years?
at the end of the year matt and i will also celebrate 10 years since our first date.
i can't believe it has been a whole decade since it all began.
weird.
i wonder if i every birthday and anniversary from now on will make me feel old?
that seems to be the trend these days!

we were pretty pumped that our anniversary landed on a saturday this year.
we had big plans of hiring our first real babysitter.

[real babysitter: someone who isn't family - or a friend that is like family - and requires pay.]

but our plans were foiled by the youth conference that our stake had planned the same weekend.

youth conference meant that every eligible babysitter in our stake boundaries would be out of town.

awesome.

despite our foiled babysitter plans, we had a really nice day.
we couldn't have asked for more easy-going kids that day.
it was almost like they knew it was a special day for us.
[thanks boys!]

we spent the afternoon in the hollywood hills.

matt decided to make my dreams come true and take me to find the hollywood sign.
we did some research beforehand, to figure out where to go.
and everything we read said you couldn't actually get that close to the front of the sign.
and they were not kidding.

we tried our darndest but you really can't [legally] get very close to the sign!

we had fun trying, though. the hollywood hills are a pretty amazing place to get lost in.

we felt like we weren't in america anymore. it felt european.
i would totally live there... if it wasn't for all the tacky tour buses and helicopters.
.. and the outrageous price tag.

we were kind of embarrassed to be acting like such tourists.
but we certainly weren't the only people there!
so we just embraced it.

after hollywood, we went to an outdoor mall in glendale. it's called the americana.
it's a snazzy mall.

we sat outside and watched the fountain show [picture a miniature bellagio type thing], rode the trolley, and did some quality people watching.

our boys were pretty exhausted by the time we got home,
so we tossed them in bed and then got to enjoy some 'us' time.

matt has always had a chip on his shoulder about ordering chinese food in the US.

his favorite chinese food item is ginger beef.
and, since they don't have ginger beef down here, he sees no point in ordering chinese.

but after being in the US for 3.5 years, he broke and we ordered in chinese for our anniversary.

and guess what? he loved it.

i knew he would.

we ate chinese food and watched a movie on the couch.

and that was anniversary #6.

i'm sure this can be assumed, but matt and i are madly in love.
more then ever.
i am so grateful to be married to my favorite person.
we laugh lots. we work well together. and we sure make cute kids.

this is the closest we got to the front of the sign.
but if you look above the right side of the Y you can see people that hiked behind it.

we hung out at this park.

there was an official roadside pullout to take pictures here.

at the mall.

copy cat.

i overheard chet congratulating holden on quickly finishing his bottle yesterday. he said:

"whoa holden, you pounded that bottle back!"

what?!

he has also been known to say things like:

"take it easy, mom."

"good job, mom. you are a smart girl."

and:

"tank, you're dumb."

[oops!]

it appears as though he is pretty darn good at copying us.

better watch what we say!

opposites.

matt and i think our boys will compliment each other really well as they grow.
'compliment each other'? .. ya, that's a nice way to say it!

every day we are learning just how different holden and chet are.
chet isn't like your typical little boy.
and i sure love him for that.
some words that describe chet are: careful, particular, thoughtful, cautious, tender.
at this point, holden doesn't seem to be developing many of those traits!
he is all boy.
 holden likes to throw food, be noisy, climb on everything, make mess after mess, pull tanks hair.
i even found him splashing in the toilet the other day.
i nearly died.
i also watched holden hoist himself up onto our nightstand and then up onto our really tall bed.
[not kidding. it's really tall. it is propped up so we can store 6 rubbermaids, a cooler, a sewing machine, and a set of golf clubs under it!].
and then i dove to catch him as he tipped backwards off said bed.
he is fearless.
i am amazed by how creative his little brain is when it comes to causing trouble!
i am not ready for his shenanigans. chet hasn't prepared me for this.
i have always been more worried about chet's feelings getting hurt, rather then his body.

but somehow, our 2 very-opposite boys are such a good match.
ya sure, holden makes chet cry several times a day by hurting his feelings.
and ya, chet is always frustrating holden by putting things he shouldn't play with out of reach.
but they still love to play together.
and they are even starting to play just the 2 of them. no mom.

a few times during the day, chet will head to his bedroom - with holden following closely behind.
and i will just listen as they play, and laugh, and annoy each other.

it's fun listening to them being brothers.

i didn't expect this stage to start so soon, but i'm thrilled that is has.

i feel like i need to mention that i don't think holden is 100% naughty.
he has so many lovable characteristics.
he is so easy to make smile. he is easy-going when it comes to a schedule. he is brave. he likes to play and wrestle. he is silly and chatty. and, when he is in the mood, he is still very nice to cuddle with.
and, my goodness, holden is such a stud.
i catch myself staring at him often. talk about cuuute.
we love him to bits. of course!

neat tree, right?

outdoor movie night in liam's backyard.

we went for a sunday drive in our neighborhood. we found some weird stuff. first, this house..

and just a few blocks away, a house that has farm animals..

including the fattest pig i have ever seen.
[in cartoons, pigs are portrayed to be a whole lot cuter then they really are!]

and here is some proof that chet isn't always perfect.

this is a picture of him jumping on his bed when he doesn't think i'm watching.

i like to open the door to his room when he is right in the middle of a wild jumping session.

i always pretend like i didn't see him lay down quickly and pull up the covers.

and i never mention that i was watching him all along on the monitor!

time flies.

lately i have seen friends posting about graduating from BYU-I this semester.

another graduating class? already?

i can't believe that matt is no longer part of the newest grad class.

has it really been a whole semester since he graduated?!

wow.

we used to measure life in semesters. and a semester always seemed so long.

but not this one.

time is seriously flying by.

this is a totally pointless fact, but since we moved to california we haven't set foot in a walmart.

i honestly don't even know where one is.

it's weird.. we were always at walmart when we lived in rexburg.

but i don't miss it one bit.

and this picture is from a while back. but i don't want to miss posting it.