For I remember it is Easter morn, And life and love and peace are all new born. ~Alice Freeman Palmer

Happy Easter.

"At this Easter season, as we contemplate our own mortality and remember loved ones who have passed from this life, our hearts turn to him who promised: 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' Jesus Christ is the literal Savior of the world, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One of Israel, even the risen Lord, who declared: 'Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world … I am the light and the life of the world.

 'I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father.'

This Easter season, as his witnesses, we testify that he lives and that through him, we, too, shall live."

-1st presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

 B's kept it super low key this Easter. Normally we have a big brunch or dinner with an egg hunt for all of our nieces and nephews. This year we had a lot going on with work and school and baseball that we just didn't get around to planning the big hurrah. 




Then we thought Mr. B would have to be in the shop after breakfast but we lucked out being a little ahead of schedule thanks to our Rock Steady Crew! We slept in and the bugs woke us up to discover that the Easter Bunny 



(who forgot to leave a note like he did last year because he was exhausted from a very busy saturday and he just plum forgot) had filled each LilloB's basket with new books, a movie, good ole' pez and a few hazelnut chocolates. He left them by new scooters and shoes!

I put together a jammin breakfast and we sipped OJ and italian sodas from champagne flutes. GK and Papa stopped in bearing baskets filled with treats and bordeaux eggs! It was nice to visit for a while and we spent the morning coloring eggs and riding scooters in the house (gasp) since it was drizzling outside.

After a nap and cleaning up, our little boothohana went to the movies to see RIO. Super cute, funny and highly recommended! We arrived home where Maga and Tutu had hidden all of our dyed eggs and a few plastic ones all over the front yard. JT and HeaBaby had the best time filling up their baskets with eggs. We spent the rest of the evening outside practicing scooter riding and enjoyed a day together.

Ye Auld Renfaire 2011

Every year we go to the Renaissance Faire in Irwindale, CA. The last few years, it’s been held at the Santa Fe Dam. Here’s a glimpse at earlier years. Here too.

This Spring, Rock Steady has quite the full calendar. We knew we wanted to make sure that we attended but weren’t sure which weekend would work out best. As we woke up on Sunday morning, we realized that this was opening weekend so we took the day off as a family for a journey into earlier times.

The food is always the highlight. Of course. Strawberry crepes, scones and cream, steak on a stake, steak sandwiches, roasted corn, mango and coconut fruit ice, english toffee and peanut carmel apple slices… our bellies were happy campers.

A few years ago, Mr B, JT and myself dressed up in faire wear. This year, since only HeaBug and myself seemed game at the last minute, I decided to tribute the traditional garb by pairing my top and corset with jeggings and cowboy boots. HeaBug has a favorite purple velvet tutu dress that she loves wearing so we put a turtle neck underneath and tights on and we had ourself a fairy!

Annually, we buy handmade head wreaths of dried flowers and ribbon. HeaBug got her first one this year and she wore it all day.

JT has had better years at the fair and this year was in a Six Year Old Grump Slump. We’re looking forward to the experience again when he’s seven. Haha.

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.

JT has the official best Kindergarten teacher in the world. As a class, they had caterpillars  in a habitat and watched as they went through their different cycles finally emerging as painted lady butterflies. His teacher, Mrs. S. had a tent that they put the butterflies in so that each student in his class could go inside one at a time and get a close look. It was awesome!

April 3 -Happy Birthday Mr. B

Mr B is a top notch, Gen-yoo-wine, honest to goodness, best of the best, numero uno, Good Guy. He is a Husband, Father, Son (in-Law), Brother, Uncle, Boss, Coach, and Friend. 

One of the hardest working men and best judges of character, Mr B is a difficult man to buy for and even harder to catch off guard. For his 29^th birthday, I surprised him with a Long Beach Staycation. JT was surprised with an overnight trip to Pasadena with GK after his baseball game and HeaBug got an evening with Maga and Tutu.

 We went to King’s Fish House in Downtown Long Beach. Oysters, Sushi, Filets, Lobster, Ahi Steak. We enjoyed the date and I had more up my sleeve. It took some convincing but I told Mr. B we were going to the movies down at the Pike. In the elevator on the way down from the parking structure, I gave Mr B my gift. A small box from Sweet and Saucy. Inside was a lemon filled vanilla cupcake with lemon buttercream frosting. Painted in gold ink on a fondant ribbon was Happy Birthday and inside the box was a room key to the boutique Hotel Avia, located just across from the elevator on Bay at the edge of the Pike.

We enjoyed a night off from listening out for kiddos and midnight potty trips. Views of amazing Long Beach, the ferris wheel was beautifully lit. The hotel is modern and beautiful in design and features a rooftop pool! The next morning, after lounging and watching Nadal and Djokovic play a little tennis we brunched at Johnny Rebs before heading home to our munchkins and Thai food for dinner.

ah, that smile lol

He’s definitely loved beyond measure and we were wonderfully excited to celebrate his special day! Happy Birthday Mr. B!

It is all very beautiful and magical here -Ansel Adams

March was full and busy for us B’s. Then end of the month brought a long weekend due to furlough days for the district. We took advantage of the time and booked a propane heated canvas tent at Camp Curry in the Yosemite Valley. We took our nephew, 11 yr old Bird of the Ontario Imbachs. We took our time going up the 5 and 99 stopping for lunch at Bravo Cheese Farms! What’s  better than cheese?! We stretched our legs and spent an hour exploring this roadside adventure spot. There was a tree/fun house, lots of old and vintage signs, equipment, coke bottles and play things. We fed animals and ate fried chicken and mac n cheese topped off with some ice cream. HeaBug played with her daddy on an old fashioned porch baby swing. We topped it off by picking up some cashews, cheese and jerky.

Thanks to my trusty weather app, we knew to expect cold temps and maybe rain/snow. We got a call the day before we left from the camp to let us know that power was out in the valley and would probably be until Sunday. They offered to let us reschedule if we wanted but ever the adventurers, we knew that we’d be great with tarp covered luggage and four wheel drive on the truck. The road in to the valley was slow due to the snowfall (that I didn’t expect because I lost iphoneness just before we went through the great tunnel). Only one side of the road was open at times and groups of cars were being led by rangers.

 We finally made it to camp and had to hurry to get our stuff to the tent before the sun completely went down since the valley was running on generators, the normal lights that are on throughout Curry Village were down. Then they told us at the front desk that we couldn’t even leave the car seats in the car because of BEARS! I didn’t know that we wouldn’t be able to cook our own food in camp so after a shared dinner of lunchables with trash carefully thrown away in the bear proofed trash cans we put any and all food, toiletries and car seats in the lockers. As we were doing that, Mr B left the locker unlatched since it was literally 12” away from our door. He came out with the next load to find an intruder! Of course while never once losing his composure, we deduced that it was NOT a bear (my first thought) or a raccoon but a ringtail squirrel. We shooed that sucker outta there and did not walk away from an unlatched bear locker  the rest of the time we were there. 

The dark night in a new and strange place made going to be a little difficult but traveling is tiring and it had been a long exciting day so with a small flash light hung as a night light, the tent was knocked out by 9pm.

We awoke to some serious snow that had been falling all night and bravely made out way to the bathroom/shower house. There was a work light lighting the facility but the water was warm. Showering a two year old when it’s 30 degrees outside is an hour long task. 

We made our way around the valley floor via the free shuttle bus all day long. In fact, the whole time we were there, aside from walking, that was our only transportation and even in the snow they operate a great system. We took the kids to the Ahwahnee hotel and went to Yosemite Village, Visitors Center and Museums. Grabbed soup and sandwiches from Denagans deli and were glad we made the choice to rock the camelback as opposed to lugging water bottles around. 

We played some uno and read books and scored some dinner at the pizza patio. Heard rumors that the power was going to be on again soon. Again, we were wiped from a full day and slept a lot more soundly.

Sunday we made our way back to the Awahnee for the infamous Grand Brunch only to find that they weren’t serving it because the power outage. It had come back on in the middle of the night but I guess that wasn’t enough time still. We settled on the regular delicious breakfast buffet and filled our tummies. The snow had stopped and we had an amazing view of the approaching blue skies and sunshine from our seats in the dining hall at the Awahnee. That was that, we spent the morning going to Yosemite Falls and then after a nap, reading and journal writing time, spend the afternoon hiking up to Mirror Lake. It was amazing and the upper portion had frozen over. We ate some astronaut ice cream before heading back down wait for the shuttle.

We spent the evening playing dominos and the kiddos got to watch Despicable Me on the iPad. We packed quickly in the morning and hit the food court at the Yosemite Lodge before making the trek up out of the Valley. I don’t know if the curves on the mountain were more noticeable but HeaBug was fussy and I felt carsick. She finally fell asleep but we had to pull over so I could donate my huevos rancheros back to the park. A few miles more and Bird was rudely awoken with the same carsickness. BOO. Once we were out though, everyone felt much better. 

The ride home was smooth and we can’t wait to get back to Yosemite. Although a little less snow might mean a little more bear...