The girls were super excited to go to their annual daddy/daughter date with our ward. Husband got himself a new Hawaiian shirt just for the occasion. They love when Daddy can come to these things!
Later that night we got to babysit our cute great-niece Allie while her parents were having one last overnight date before their new baby arrived. Husband was very good at making her happy. Allie's mom told us she usually went to sleep around 9. This picture was taken around 11:
SO sleepy! LOL She sure was a lot of fun - the kids loved having a "baby" in the house.
Here we have little sister all ready for her last dance recital. She did a fantastic job. Her group did a dance to I'm All Shook Up by Elvis. Man, that girl can move those hips!! They always stick her in front because she doesn't let the nerves get to her, she just does her dance and the girls follow her. She's decided to do big brother's dancing/acting/singing group next year. We'll miss this fantastic dance studio, it's been perfect for our girls.
We got to watch our cute great-niece again while her mom and dad were at the hospital welcoming her new baby brother. We sure loved playing with her! Such a cutie!
She was not, however, even remotely thrilled with swimming. Despite her adorable bumble-bee swimsuit and Auntie Courtney trying to calm her, she barely tolerated being held near the pool, let alone being in it. Poor baby!
Since a lot of us were in town we had a BBQ get together.
Cute cousins!
This little miss was waited on hand and foot, whether she wanted to be or not.
We finally got proactive and hired a good friend to redo the approach to our driveway. We wanted to do that when we poured all the concrete on the side of the house, but we didn't have time. So we finally got around to finishing it. We had a company come out and cut the curb to widen the approach. Little brother was glued to these windows.
It was fun for the kids to watch the guys break out all the old stuff and then pour the new stuff. And now our driveway is as wide as city code allows, which is super nice when we back the trailer in. Plus we have finally gotten rid of all that gravel, which was the point of that project to begin with.
One of these days I'll even remember to take a picture of the finished product.
My niece had her baby boy in the first week of June. Her husband had to go on a cattle drive for work less than 2 weeks later. So we had her bring the kids and come stay with us so we could help her out. We sure love these babies! Being a great-Aunt is the best!
Husband and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary by heading up the mountains to Daniels Summit. We took the fourwheelers and did some riding, enjoying the beautiful view. It was perfect weather. We watched some tv after a delicious dinner in the lodge's restaurant. We went to sleep around 9:30pm - we were exhausted! I guess the only reason we stay up late at home is so we can be alone, and since we had been alone together all day we didn't need to stay up!
On Father's Day, we spent some time with Husband's family at his Grandmother's house. We managed to get all of the cousins on the teeter totter!
Big sister is loving young women's. This particular week, my beehives combined with the deacons for slip-n-slide kickball. We stretched vinyl sheeting out for baselines and each base was a little kiddie pool. Some very generous ward members allowed us to use the hose from their home across the street from the park. Big sister was very graceful in her sliding:
Her mother, not so much...
This activity was a big success, though. The kids had a blast and didn't really want us to stop. Always the sign of a great activity!
At the end of June, we embarked on our much-anticipated family vacation to California. The plan was the beach, Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, and the Safari Park. We made sure we were packed up completely the night before and got up early Saturday morning for the drive. It's a 12 hour drive, but honestly I felt like our kids did better than they do on an 8 hour drive. We stopped at rest stops every couple of hours, and gave them 5-10 minutes to run in the grass. Thanks southern Utah for having nice rest stops. In Mesquite, we got gas and then went to a park down the road. We ate our packed lunch and the kids played for half an hour or so. SO much better than McDonald's playland. I didn't feel ill afterward!
We rented a condo in Oceanside that was just a few blocks from the beach. It was also a block from the very active train tracks, but the boys loved hearing/watching the trains. Fortunately, with the windows closed the train noise didn't keep us awake at night. Anyway. We pulled in around 5pm. Before we got to our condo, we stopped and got groceries and went through a drive-thru for dinner. After many treks up the stairs, finishing dinner, and getting things settled in, we decided to go check out the beach. No swimsuits since it was getting late, be we went and waded in the water a bit. The kids loved it!
Sunday morning, we headed to church in the Oceanside first ward for Sacrament Meeting. With a couple of our kids with anxiety, going to a strange ward without even cousins to help out was out of the question. So we headed to the San Diego temple. My goodness, but it's beautiful! Pictures do not do it justice. We let them wonder around an explore until they got a little too rambunctious, then we headed back to the condo.
We took the kids to the beach for the afternoon, or until the waves got crazy and started getting our stuff wet. Little brother was not going anywhere near that water, but the other 3 loved splashing with Daddy.
A pic of the kids playing in our condo. 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, and the girls slept on a sofa sleeper. Thanks to the kitchen, we saved a little bit of $ on food, and it was nice to have home cooked meals a few times during the week instead of eating out for every meal.
After the beach, we headed down to the pier. It was quite a walk for short little legs, but they all made it. And fortunately, were worn out enough to sleep well that night.
Monday morning we headed out to Sea World. I love this place in a much different way from Disneyland - it was so nice to just go from one exhibit to the next at our leisure - not really a lot of waiting in line. A lot of exhibits are indoor so you get a bit of air conditioning. The kids just loved it all.
Checking out an aquarium full of fish
The killer whale show - We went to 2 of their shows on Monday. We sat in the splash zone in the morning 'cuz it was hot, but we didn't get a drop on us. When we caught the afternoon show, we got wet, and the boys did NOT appreciate that AT ALL. The family behind us was laughing at their sad reaction - or maybe it was me and husband telling each other we were clearly parents of the year. haha! Whatever, it cooled us off and that was a good thing.
The outside/warm weather penguins. One kept making this really interesting sound, and his chest would go concave every time he made it. The kids were fascinated!
The polar bears. There were 2, and when we got there they could only be seen on the tv that displayed their den through a camera. They were asleep. Darnitall. However, we'd only been there about 1 minute, when they suddenly started getting up and moving around. Apparently it was feeding time, and these bears knew it. Fish were thrown from above, and one went diving into the water after them. This other one wasn't getting in the water, so they through some fish right at the glass, which landed on the ledge next to the glass. If it weren't for that 6 inch glass, little brother could have touched him. We got video, ohmygoodness was he excited. He loves those polar bears! We were so glad we hit this exhibit just right, we got quite a show!
Little brother checking out his friends, the polar bears.
We moved on to the beluga whales, who also put on quite a show. The kids loved this one, too.
Really big fish in the aquarium.
Over the course of the week, we got this feeding-our-kids-in-an-amusement-park thing down. We found some pretty good food for lunch, and the kids ate most of it. By mid-afternoon, they were hot and hungry and tired, so we stopped to get them popcorn and fill up the water bottles. Husband disappeared for a moment and came back with this:
It's Dole Whip in a real pineapple. He didn't tell me what it cost until later. This guy spoils me! He knew I would just love this treat, but I wouldn't get it for myself 'cuz it's expensive. So he got it and we shared it. I got to scrape out some of the fresh pineapple to eat with the ice cream. Man, that was good! Husband knows that the way to wife's heart is through her stomach!
We caught the dolphin show and the sea lion/otter show, and hit a few more of the exhibits. We found the sesame street playland. Despite being exhausted, our kids were excited to play. While husband took them, I ran back to the polar bear gift shop to get a tiny polar bear stuffed toy for little brother's birthday on Friday. I even managed to keep it hidden from him the rest of the day!
Kind people were taking pictures of each other at this part of the entrance, so we got a good pic of our family. We left 20 minutes before fireworks, which made some kids happy and some kids sad. They were sure tired! All in all, a great day!
Driving by the San Diego temple on the way back to our condo.
The next day was a beach day. Unfortunately for us, there was a surf warning most of the week we were there. 6 - 8 foot swells. So we didn't do a whole lot of swimming in the ocean. Big sister tried and took a tumble. I had to work to get her to go back so I could remind her that she really does love the ocean. We did a lot of digging in the sand.
little sister
little brother - who shouted often that he needed his buckets of water refilled. He was not intending to go near the water. We did finally get him to get in a little, as long as he could hold our hands.
Husband did go out for a swim. Wife tried for a minute, but quit after she took a tumble, too.
Playing in the ocean with Daddy.
Big brother has no fear of the water at all. This made his mama nervous! He did mange to not get swept out to sea, thank heavens.
We finally got littler brother in the water!!!
That night after showers and dinner, we went for a walk. My sister and mother were sending pictures from their day in Australia, so I had to counter that with this. Haha! I think they win, but it was a very beautiful view. Afterward we went to Baskin Robbins. The kids hadn't ever been and now wonder where it's been all their lives.
Next up was the San Diego Zoo.
We saw SO much here, I won't even try to cover it all.
The kids loved the hippo. Wife did NOT love the mass of humanity gathered around this tiny corner to view the hippo, so Husband stayed and got pictures while wife went to a bench to practice her breathing. LOL
Orangutans. They had a baby who put on quite a show stealing mama's food and running after her when she tried to get away from him. This particular guy couldn't be bothered to walk anywhere, he rolled all around in front of the glass to get where he wanted to go. The kids thought he was hilarious.
It was by far the hottest day we had while we were there. Big brother is hard to keep full, hydrated, and cool on a regular basis. This day tested his (and his parents) limits. We had to keep pouring water on him. The ridiculously expensive souvenir cups ended up being a great investment 'cuz we got free or $1 refills all day. We drank a lot of lemonade. When it just was too much, we stopped for expensive ice cream. $36 for ice cream, I think. SO worth every penny. Everyone got full and cooled off.
Little sister
Big brother - He's trying to open his mouth as wide as possible to maximize the amount of ice cream he gets in his mouth on this bite.
Daddy
Big sister
Little brother
Ooh, look! a rhino!
Little brother loved the giraffes
Kind souls once again offering to take pictures for us. People really do have good in them!
The pandas. In the heat of the day, it was a 45 minute wait. We were not doing that. However, the zoo cleared out around 4:30pm. Then we just got to walk right up! Such cute things!
We skipped doing dinner in the park and went to Mimi's Cafe, instead. The kids do pretty good at restaurants, thankfully! I much preferred this to the food they offered at the zoo.
The next day was the Safari Park. I loved this. Shade and misters and benches EVERYWHERE. So much nicer than the zoo. I loved the zoo, but it was a lot of work to keep kids happy in the heat. The Safari Park has less animals, but a nicer experience for viewing them. Here are the cute tiger cubs:
They were playing around when we got there and we got quite a show. SO cute!
Some bald eagles - so cool to see them up close!
Daddy's favorite part of the day - the cheetah run. They let this cheetah chase a toy on a retracting string, so you get to see up close how fast they are. Holy smokes, they're fast! The kids didn't like standing right in the sun, but this was the best spot to view it without paying $12 per person for the shaded viewing area.
our little bats
This big gorilla was definitely showing his dominance! He really chased down one of the other gorillas and for a minute it looked like we'd get to see a fight. Fortunately, we did not. Don't think the kids would've loved that.
Once again, the park cleared out around 4:30 and there weren't nearly the crowds. We finished our tour on the tram - it was so cool to see this HUGE space with all these animals in together. Afterward we found a playland and the kids befriended a cute little 2-year-old girl. Never did catch her mother's name, but she was thrilled we were from Utah. She'd spent 9 years here until her job moved her to California and she missed it. She thanked us for our kids - they were super sweet and gentle with her daughter.
The elephant display was my favorite. I love these majestic animals.
The Safari Park menu is the exact same as the Zoo, so we headed to Olive Garden. We had the best waiter, the kids kept commenting how helpful and friendly he was. I had to tell him and I think they made his night with their compliments. Again, much preferable to the offerings at the Safari Park
Friday was little brother's birthday. He wanted IHOP. We convinced him the restaurant at the end of the pier had pancakes, and he relented. We drove as close as we could and then walked down to this old 50's style diner. It was awesome! Instead of coloring pages, they each got their own paper cut-out of a classic car to put together. Sweet!
Really yummy food!
All done with breakfast!
The plan for the day WAS the beach. However, the 8 foot swell warnings convinced us to make another plan. We didn't want to sit around all day in the condo for little brother's 5th birthday. Fortunately, our passes ended up helping us out. They were good at all 3 parks for 7 consecutive days. I didn't care about that when I bought them, they were just the best deal I could find. I was really glad we could go to Sea World 1 more time without spending more money on admission! We decided we'd just go see the killer whale, dolphin, and sea lion/otter shows one more time before heading home to pack. It was actually really cool that day, so we sat well out of the splash zone.
Kiddos watching the killer whales underwater
After the dolphin show.
We stopped at the store to resupply for the drive home and to find a cake. We ended up with a cheap ice cream cake, but all little brother cared about was that he had a candle. We headed back to the condo and the kids watched movies while mom and dad packed. We had leftovers from all our other meals throughout the week, so everyone enjoyed some leftovers. After dinner we headed down to the beach one last time. See those rocks in front of the homes behind us? We were sitting right in front of those rocks during our 2 trips to the beach. This particular night, the water was reaching all the way to those rocks, and sometimes splashing up into the backyards of these homes. The only people in the water were the surfers, nobody else was on the beach. It was crazy how powerful that surf was!
After our walk to and from the beach, we were ready for birthday cake. Little brother was thrilled!
Finally 5!!
Everyone waiting for their slice of cake
We gave little brother his polar bear, and he was only a little excited...okay a lot excited!
The drive home was good. There was quite a lot of traffic heading to Vegas for the 4th of July, so that got a bit slow. Other than that, though, it was a pretty pleasant trip home. The kids did great.
The night we got home was the night Riverton was doing their fireworks show, so we went to watch at my sisters in-laws house. They live close to the park and have a nice view, and it's not crowded on their front lawn. We were setting off a few fireworks Uncle Jon had bought, and here's where we learn about guardian angels. One tipped over. I watched one part shoot clear over to the neighbors and explode right under their front window. Before panic could set in, I turned around to gather my 4 little chickies only to discover that Husband had little sister by the hand and she was screaming. Now I have 2 little overreacting girls, but this I could immediately tell was serious. Husband just said loudly "She needs water!" and turned to help big brother. I grabbed my sister and said "Water!" and we ran towards the hose. Her brother in law came running up with a cup of water and he poured it down her back, and by then her father in law had the hose on. We just stuck it on her back, clothes and all. This little girls is amazing at calming down. You tell her to take a deep breath and she does it! What kid does that? We got her calmed down a bit and I took her shirt off. She had two pretty good looking welts - we couldn't tell if she was burned or just bleeding or what. My sister started a bath and once that was full, we turned off the hose and got her in the tub. We rinsed her off with soap about 15 times to make sure there was no chemical residue to burn her. She was shaking, but fairly calm. Big brother, fortunately, was not hurt at all. Just scared. The firework somehow made it down between little sister's back and the chair she was sitting on. She had her jacket draped over the chair, and it has holes and singe marks. Her shirt has the same, not quite as bad. Our little girl has quite the guardian angel. With the way that firework fell and was exploding in literally every direction, this should have exploded in her face. I have no idea how that firework made it down to the one spot where it could do the least amount of damage, except to see that my Grandma Shirley is watching over her namesake. Little sister has always felt a close bond with her, just as I did as a child and still do. My baby still got hurt, but husband and I just kept remarking to each other how miraculous it was that she didn't lose an eye or have severe burns. She kept saying after we put some burn treatment on (and the burn treatment stopped stinging) that it didn't even hurt. The worst part honestly was that the bandages we put on irritated her skin. Here's her back the day after:
She even went to Sacrament Meeting the day after. She was too worn out to stay longer, but more from staying up late and I think the stress of it all. I believe in miracles and guardian angels, people. I don't know why everything happens and why my daughter was spared worse injury, but I believe miracles and angels had a part in it.
It's good to have an Aunt Summer who will hold you and make it all better!
On the 4th of July it was time to celebrate little brother's and Uncle Sam's (our country) birthday. I knew there was no way I would be able to make a cake for little brother since we were just getting back into town. Fortunately, my friend posted these on Facebook while we were still in California and said she was going to be making these for the 4th. SOLD I ordered 2 and little brother was thrilled with them. He said "NOW I can be 5!"
Opening presents!
Happy Birthday Boy!
Blowing out those candles!
And a few other fun summertime pics
Little sister hanging out with her cute cousin Grace.
Our apricot tree TOOK OFF this year! For the past 4 years it has barely produced a handful, if that. This year it went nuts! My MIL got somewhere around 100 quarts of nectar made, we made a ridiculous amount of fruit leather, and gave lots away, and ate a lot fresh, too. Oh, I love fresh apricots!!
We've spent a lot of time at Aunt Scooby's pool this year. The kids are such little fish!
We went to visit Aunt Shaye and her family in Idaho for a couple days. The kids love their cousins!
Little sister loves cuddling
Big brother loves doing Kylie's hair
Little brother loves his mama. I think.
Big sister loves Uncle Brodie. And watching the Avengers.
Swimming at Aunt Shaye's! Big brother and Big sister
little sister
little brother
We also did a campout with Husband's side of the family up at Lodgepole:
Daddy relaxing for a minute
Big brother doing Grandma's hair
Little sister and Aunt Natalie, Uncle Matthew and Uncle David
Grandpa!
Big sister loved the hammock Uncle Todd set up
little sister and little brother hanging out with cousin Alex
Everyone loves our new baby cousin!
Daddy and Uncle Todd taught big brother how to play catch. He did awesome, especially considering he's a left-hander playing with a right-handed mitt.
Big brother liked the hammock, too.
Little sister taking her turn learning how to play catch.
Air soft guns with cousin Preston!
Mom got to go to girls camp with her beehives, and big sister is one of those! We went to Heber Valley Girls Camp and it was amazing!
Big sister is the one in the coral colored "toga"
service project - http://www.daysforgirls.org/http://www.daysforgirls.org/
Hike - overlooking our camp
SO pretty!
Just a few of our awesome girls
Big sister in the gray shirt playing caterpillar
Mom and the other amazing leaders
Big sister in the blue shirt - ready to do the big swing
Husband came up as a priesthood leader for a bit and he got to do the swing. He did lots of funny poses, I'm told, everyone really enjoyed the show he put on. The favorites were superman (see above photo), spiderman, peter pan, angel moroni, and a shimmy.
Mom got to run the ropes course called Lifeline. I got to blindfold the girls and put them on a rope course maze thing. They had to hold on to the rope and find their way. I told them to hold on and not let go, and someone (a priesthood leader) would be there to welcome them home. Only a few let go when "the devil" (one of the other leaders) told them she had a shortcut. One actually thought the "Savior" at the end was the devil and wouldn't let go when he tried to welcome her home. Haha! It was interesting to do the course myself in our training, and then to watch the girls do it. These sweet girls have no idea how much their leaders love them and want to help them succeed, and this course really put that into perspective for me. Awesome testimony building experiences up there!
Cousin Kylie came to live with us for a couple weeks. She and big sister both really like Grandma's newly redone guest room.
And now we are in back-to-school mode. These kiddos are growing so fast!
Big sister all ready for 7th grade.
Big brother is starting 1st grade
Little sister starting 4th grade - Her first year at our charter school, so shes' starting at a new school. She's excited/nervous!
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