2nd Annual Family Beach Trip

My ENTIRE family (All 5 sisters + our husbands + our Mom & Dad & 4 the grand kids) came from all over to Oceanside for a beach vacation. We all at the Wyndam Resort only 2 miles away from the pier. The weather was PERFECT all weekend and we couldn't have had more fun. Of course there was lots of laughs, food and of course SUN, what more could you ask for?

Bryce, Jimmy and Eli enjoying the afternoon in the water. Suprisingly because it was so HOT the water did not feel too cold. Even I played in it all day.

Jimmy, Mom, Brianne, Avery Sue, Bryce, Lincoln, Dad, Brenna & Eli. We all pitched in and bought a long surf board so the boys could teach the girls how to surf. We all were able to get up! I was only up for 5 seconds but I am still counting it.

One evening we drove down to Old Town San Diego and toured through the newly renovated Mormon Battalion Historic Center. This was a huge hit, everyone loved it so much and learned a lot. It is a huge eye opener to see how much they did to contribute to how where we live today. After we went to a local Mexican restaurant with a full Liberace band.

After about 10 minutes the kids gave up on the sand castle and Dad, Brittany & I spent like an hour making it HUGE and detailed. I did not get a picture before the kids came back and thought it would be a blast to CRUSH it.

Bryce and Lincoln pulled each other back and forth on this board for at least an hour. They loved playing all day with each other. At the end of the trip we asked Bryce what the best part of the trip was he said "playing with Lincoln"! They are best friends, it is so much fun.

It is amazing to me how naturally good these boys are at video games. They could sit and play them all day and not even realize it. Gavin has a slice of cold CHEESE PIZZA for breakfast. Isn't that the beauty of vacation...NO RULES!

A hot and beautiful early afternoon on the Oceanside Pier. We just ate breakfast at Ruby's on the Pier. Cinnamon Roll French Toast...YUM!

The weekend prior to the beach trip TONY & BEAU drove down from San Fransisco and stayed with us for a couple days. On Saturday we watched a sad BYU football game and then went out for some yummy mexican food at Rosa's Cantina. We always love to get together with our friends from college and reminisce about "the good old days"!
We can thank Beau for making a run to the candy shop so we could have munchies for the game.

Mr. Henscheid Turned 28!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON 28!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tried to decorate a little so when he got home from work he felt like it was a little party. Brandon birthday was on Saturday, September 11th but since we were going to be out and about all day long Saturday, I thought we would celebrate Friday night.

Thanks to my family there were some BIRTHDAY PRESENT to put out on the table to make it look FUN. Brandon's birthday gift from me was to go up to UT for the first football game of the season so I did not really have much else to give to him.

I got the picture just before he ate one of the big cookies. I let him since it was his birthday, even though we were just leaving to get some Birthday Dinner.

You can NEVER go wrong with getting Brandon anything BYU related or PLAIN white shirts. He loves them both and never gets sick of them.

My Mom got him the coolest Cougar Sign, BYUhat and BYU polo he is all ready for football season. (If only they were a better team this year...oh well he is a die hard BYU fan!)
All the sister and brother in laws on my side chipped in and got him a gift card to Lucilles BBQ. YUM and this is the gift that keeps on giving because I will get a yummy dinner out of it.

Thanks everyone for making Brandon Birthday a special one.
I love you Birthday Boy, you look more handsome to me every year!!!!

COLBIE CAILLAT CONCERT

A little while ago Brandon surprised me with some AMAZING tickets to the Colbie Caillat concert. I have always been a big fan of hers and have really been wanting to see her perform live. She was SO good live and she has SO many hits. I loved every song she sang more than the last.

She announced a new album coming out in February and we were the FIRST audience that she ever played some of those new song to. It was neat to be the first people besides the band to hear the songs. They are all going to be huge hits, I can't wait for it to come out.

The first clip is her song "Lucky", which she wrote with Jason Maraz. The second clip is a NEW song called "I Do" which will be on every single Mormon girls wedding video this spring and summer. I know if I were getting married after the song comes out, it would be on mine. The last clip is really short of just the ending of her song called "Realize".

THANKS BRANDON FOR TAKING ME TO THE CONCERT, I AM SO GLAD YOU WERE THERE TO ENJOY SUCH A FUN EVENT WITH ME.

Labor Day Weekend

Brandon I were lucky to be able to go up to UT for Labor Day weekend. When we pulled in Thursday afternoon this is who was here to greet us!
Eli and Scott Macdonald (the newlywed)
My parents have a MASSIVE BLACKBERRY bush that grows every year and we didn't even make it in the house before we have already picked and eaten handfuls of HUGE perfectly ripe blackberries. We had homemade delicious blackberry shakes pretty much EVERYDAY!
I wanted to take Brandon on a hike up to the Timponogas Cave because he had never been and I had not been since a 4th grade field trip. It was a long hike up to the cave and a really long tour through the 3 connected caves. Leroy was our tour guide and he and his wife are about to serve their 4th LDS mission. He was a really cute old man!

It was a GORGEOUS hike UP a big mountain. The hike was a lot steeper than I remembered it from my youth but carrying the children and all our stuff after a few breaks we made it to the top of the mountain.
Brandon was holding Lincoln through some of the cave because it was VERY dark (we forgot the flashlights in the car) and stays at 46 degrees year round.
This is called the HEART of the cave because the Stalagmite glows red and is shaped like a heart. You can not tell from my picture but it is really neat to see in real life.

At this point in the cave they turn out the little bit of light they put throughout the cave. It is the blackest black and your eyes can never adjust to see anything. You can not even see your hand right in front of your face! Thanks everyone for going on the hike with me, I had such a fun time and can't wait to go again in about 8 years (which is when Brittany said she would do this hike again)!
Season Opener: BYU vs. Washington. We were able to go to the first game of the season and luckily for us we came away victors. (Thank goodness,anyone who knows Brandon knows it would have been a LONG drive back to California if we had lost)
Brandon, Eli, Dad, Mom and Brenna, Brittany, Adam and I were all there

Although we sat in the NOSEBLEED section at least we were on the shaded side because it was SUPER HOT at the game, even in the shade we were sweating!
During halftime BYU highlighted the All American Quarterbacks that played under Lavell Edwards. They brought all of them out together along side their old coach. It was so cool to see some of the BYU legends before my time.

Night football games are even more fun than day games.

I had a lot of fun playing with Lincoln and Avery. They are such darling kids and I can't get enough of them! Happy Birthday Lincoln 4 years old on September 11!

Avery Sue is so big she is eating out of a HUGE bowl all by herself. I call her Little Sister and I wish I could kiss her cheeks everyday, even though she hits me in the face every time I do.

Grandma Judy's In Town

Brandon's Grandma Judy was one of the most influential people in his youth. Brandon loved to spend as much time with her as he could and nothing has changed. Grandma Judy lives in North Carolina but comes to visit her "home" in Orange County a few times a year. When we found out she was in town we got right in the car to go see her.

Jon, Brody, Brianne, Brandon, Garet, Grandma Judy & Tom

Brody's birthday was August 22nd, Brandon is on September 11th and Garet's is on September 12th, we decided to celebrate them all at the same time. Brandon found a hole in the wall burger joint in New Port Beach (that we wont go back to) that looked fun to test out.

Brandon (28) got help washing the inside & outside of his car, Brody (17) got a huge bag of protein powder and Garet (15) got cash money! It was a fun day, I can't wait to go back.
Happy Birthday Boys!