From the phone

Hi friends and family,

The battery in Layla's camera died so I'm down to using the camera on my iphone as my primary way of capturing moments. I despise the camera on the iphone because there is no flash and quality is terrible. Even so, I'm working with what I have and doing so with a happy heart!

I dumped the pictures from my iphone and realized there are some real jewels on here from the past couple of months. These pictures and stories will be in reverse chronological order so if your a stickler for chronology then start at the bottom and work your way up.

The only picture I took during the grueling 13 hour drive home through the night was this single picture after dinner.


We stopped at the In-N-Out burger for some quality food we can trust and because they have outside tables to enjoy the cool California evening. Fortunately for Easton there was a massive parking lot construction going on. In the middle of the lot was a huge dirt mound with a tractor parked right on top. We got in a little exercise by walking the perimeter of the parking lot to wear them out.

They didn't go to sleep until around 9:45 PM. I had to hold my tongue after showing the twins, "Kung Fu Panda" because I really wanted to teach Easton to say, "I love kung FUUUUUUUUU!" with the same level of excitement as the movie. Also, "there is no charge for awesomeness or attractiveness". If I could get him to rattle that line off at the appropriate time he could be a super star socialite. It doesn't take much at age 2.

Close to the end of our trip to NorCal Kendra brought the twins to my work for lunch. It really made my day to see them mid-day and take them on a tour of the building (including the elevator).


Layla's pig tails were a big hit as she bobbed her way through the cafeteria. Both of them did really well considering very few kids ever hang out on site during the course of a normal work day.


Their cousin's birthday party included a huge pool for swimming and an entire table of cakes and ice cream. Easton had chocolate from head to toe by the time his cone was finished.


They both must have experienced the biggest sugar rush of their short lives thus far because of the amount of candy and cake and ice cream consumed over the course of such a short few hours.

Almost every evening included walking the bike path and I took a few shots of the twins wondering along the pavement up and down the hills.


For some reason Easton decided to walk backwards. Not for a few steps, but probably 100 yards or so. It took him forever to cross the bridge, but I was proud of him for being that brave and coordinated.


On one particularly hot day they asked to take a rest on the lone park bench in the middle of nowhere. lucky for them!


There are occasions where we show up early to events or get togethers and we have to figure out how to kill some time. One such occasion was the trip out for sushi with the Del Rio's. We pulled up in the parking lot and looked around for some place to hang out. Play it Again Sports? Sure! why not... So we did a lap inside the store repeating the phrase, "Don't touch that". Kendra said it so much Easton must have thought we changed his nickname to, Don't touch that Webb. They stopped long enough to be silly with construction cones on their head.


Unfortunately the speed of the iphone camera is about 10 seconds too slow to capture both of them looking at the lens.

Kendra and I had an extra special evening out with Neill and Jenny for dinner and a tour of old town. They are such great people and we can't wait for them to spend a week with us next month! Here is Kendra with them down by the river where the ancient indians literally wore holes in the granite rock where they ground their meals each day.


Can you believe the size of the BEETLES in NorCal? That honking huge key as a comparison is the monstrous key to my Pilot. Luckily the beetle was upside down kicking its legs otherwise it might have carried Easton away on its back.


This disturbing picture if from our trip to San Luis Obispo when we visiting down town and Logan showed us Bubble Gum Alley. Look closely on the wall behind and you'll see there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of bubble gum stuck to the wall.


Bubble Gum Alley has it's own Facebook page and also is listed as a destination point on tripadvisor.com. You can see it even more clearly in this picture of Kendra and Logan. I wouldn't say it was a highlight of the trip, but walking down through the corridor of gum was certainly a cool experience.


And here is one last picture of Layla, the most beautiful toddler on the planet. When I get stressed or need a break from work, this is picture I pull up on my phone in full screen so I can have a happy moment and a smile.


Seeing her big hazel eyes and innocence helps me refocus on what's really important in life no matter what's going on around me.

That's it for the tour of my iphone. Hopefully Oma sent the care package of stuff we forgot via overnight mail otherwise I might have to resort to pictureless blog posts. Yikes! How would I ever describe our adventures with just words... Hopefully you won't have to find out.

I told Oma we should have left a self-addressed box with postage already paid because I KNEW we would leave multiple items at their house. Maybe that will become a standard operating procedure for our future trips including the upcoming adventures to Missouri.

See you soon!