SIX birthdays and a happy Easter

Happy little Elle celebrated her 6th birthday on April 20. She has such a fun personality!

Mindy, Ryan, Ashlyn and Carter

Grandpa and GoGo with 10 of our 16 grandchildren on April 23, 2011. (Carter was sleeping and Rich's family was at Treslee's family reunion.)

After our home-made Cafe Rio "picnic" and an energetic Easter egg hunt we needed to cool off! What started as putting our feet in the icy cold pool ended up being a full on swim for many of the grandchildren. Swimming suits were optional!

Greg, Bastian and Ande

Devin, Allison, Mollie and Sam

Sorry Adam!

Adam, Anya, John and Ella

An Easter egg balancing game

Adorable Mollie

Ashlyn's find!

Carter had his first birthday on the 16th! He's the sweetest little guy ever!

Sweet Ella turned 6 years old on April 21. She is an angel! At her Peter Piper celebration little John won a ball out of the grabber machine with his tokens. He immediately gave the ball to Ella. A little bit later, Ella did the same with her tokens and gave John the ball!

Grandpa John finally reached 60! He's been looking forward to it for awhile now! He says, "I am finally at the age I feel!"

Brian, Scottee, Charlee, Oaklee, Jaxson (Journee and Trevee are watching over them, I'm sure! It was Journee's birthday on this April 23 Easter celebration day.)

Our family has great reason to rejoice! Not only are we able to be together and enjoy the chaos and joy of it all, but we get to look forward to this lasting forever through our Savior, Jesus Christ who made all of this possible! We love Him!

Spoiled/Blessed

Three trips in four weeks....so spoiled, I mean blessed! John and I went to Monterey, CA in celebration of our 36th wedding anniversary. We had such a good time!

At the Monterey Aquarium we were amazed by the creatures that have been created for our enjoyment! How great is our God!

Leafy sea horse! We took this bus on a four hour trip around Monterey, Carmel, Pebble Beach and the 17 mile coastal highway. AMAZING! The scenery, the stories of movie stars and the sites of over 200 films made in these areas was so interesting to see and hear about. We were shown movie clips of films right where they were made.

Here is the magnificent Pebble Beach Lodge.

I'm on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach!

Another view of the Pebble Beach 18th hole. John put his toe under the fence line so he can say that he's been on that amazing course!

Behind us is the Lone Cypress Tree that is symbolized on products and a movie company's logo. Monterey Cypress trees are rare and oh so beautiful!

This little guy came running up to our feet when we got off the bus to take pictures!

The rock behind us is COVERED with sea lions and seals working on their tans!

Ice plant in the Springtime is all over in CA. This picture doesn't do the bright fushia justice, but you get the idea! I took so many pictures of just scenery because it was astounding! As you can see, the days were sunny and cool and just gorgeous!!!

Cannery Row is a fun shopping and eating district with everything from hot dogs to sea food, old movie parafanalia and the latest fashions. Also the Aquarium is located there. We felt like a king and queen at the Marriot where we stayed. Whenever we pulled into the drive, several attendants greeted us by opening our car doors, taking the car and then opening the hotel doors for us. Never had that kind of treatment before!

We ate and shopped on Fishermen's wharf that was across the street from our hotel. Here we are at Bubba Gump Restaurant on Cannery Row having ...what else...fish!!!

The chocolate malt I had at Ghirradelli ice cream shop was yummy!

This is the dining room of Hearst Castle. Our family just might be able to fit around this massive table! There was silver everywhere! This room was the inspiration of the School of Wizardary dining room at Hogwarts! (Harry Potter) This is the underground pool at the Hearst Castle. It is below the tennis courts!

Just gorgeous! (Hearst Castle patio-just one of them) The front of the castle. It is so enormous that our two hour tour only included the castle's main rooms and 4 bedrooms and one of the many guest houses.

Another picture of a portion of the castle grounds. That is the ocean in the distance.

John is in one of the greeting rooms here where the art canvases came from the 16th century on castle walls and the statues, decorations and rugs all are from European collections and very old. William Hearst was a collector of the grandest things! His money came mainly from his father's mines and his investments.

Back in the early 1900's, you had really arrived if you were invited to the Hearst Castle. Many of the BIG stars of the day spent time there.

This is the outside pool-10 feet deep!

This is where we ate our first fish dinner and clam chowder that was too good to be true! Our seat over-looked the harbor where the seals and sea lions barked and swam!

Four days of pure bliss and 36 years with the man of my dreams! I would't trade a minute of it for all the castles on the planet!