July/August Update

3 post in a week!

Are you impressed yet?!?! 

Because I sure am!

We had the BUSIEST summer to date!

Oh my goodness.

First up was a trip to SF to cross off one of my bucket list items.

Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

I've never understood why it's the GOLDEN Gate, when clearly it's not GOLD! 

But, whatever!

My sister was in town and luckily this was on her bucket list too, so off we went with three kiddos.

Fun? Well, that's relative. At the time I swear we were going to die, but now, almost two months later,

AWESOME! 

I almost want to do it again.

Read about our awesome adventures with the stairs here.

This little miss developed a clogged tear duct.

This is her after we heard the good news that she doesn't need surgery. Yet.

She had to get her eyes dilated, but just looked so darn cute in the HUGE glasses.

And we made the trek to Utah. All in all a great drive. The kids were on their best behavior and we knocked it out. FAST. We got to my parents house and they weren't even home because they weren't expecting us.

 While we were there we visited the zoo, and took some of the token shots that we try to take every time we go.

Exhibit 1.

Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 3.

As you can see, Madelynn LOVED the gorilla. 

I think she thought it was real, but let's be honest here. Doesn't that gorilla look fearsome? 

I'd be scared if I was her age.

Then we went to Bear Lake for Berry Days.
AMAZING as always.

Lots of time was spent on the boat.

Exactly how I like it!

Pa and Hunter took Madelynn out for her first tube ride.

Mckinley loved being the flag girl.

As you can see, the kids were so worn out that they fell asleep on the tube. 

(I would have loved that to happen, but sadly she's just pretending.)

The kids took swimming lessons.
Sadly this is the only still shot I took. 

Parent of the year I'm telling ya.

I did get lots of videos though, but remember, those don't work.

of course this one decides to work. It's the crappy video.

Erik's parents were wonderful and took us to Chuck E. Cheese's.

We ended up with this gem of a picture.

Sisterly love.

Erik's mom rented a pirate ship for the kids to play on for the evening.

Pure excitement!

Then my brother got married.

Kylie was sweet enough to watch the kids while we were in the temple.

The new family.

For my brother's present, we got him a hotel room.

And my sister and I decorated.

Aren't we the best sisters ever?

See more from the wedding day here.

Mckinley turns 3.

Because she got a dollhouse.

(that's what she says, and still says when people ask her how old she is.

"I'm 3 because I got a new dollhouse from Mommy's Mom!")

I can't get the video of her opening her presents to upload. But next time you see either me or my mom, ask. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen! 

Actually, it was on my old phone, and I can't seem to get my videos from my iPhone to play on the computer. Anyone else have that problem? Any suggestions?

Then a couple days later, She got her party. She is in love with Little Mermaid. 

So a Mermaid party was in order.

I don't think I spent a ton of time on the party, but I do think it turned out really cute.

I got the decorations from Stockberry Studio.

ADORABLE!!

I made these cute little sandcastle cakes for the girls.

(also the candy shells)

Mckinley with her friend Avery
(and yes Avery is this HUGE!! and Mckinley is tiny)

Mckinley's friend Violet.

Modeling our party favors.

Mermaid Tales!

Paige

Mckinley and Ali

All the moms tried to stay cool.

(Our current back yard has NO shade!)

Everyone modeling their towels.

It was so much fun. And I felt really relaxed throughout the whole thing.

Faith in God Progress Sheet

So after my family has been pestering me for quite sometime to update, and Erik is always asking what I do to contribute to Pinterest, an idea struck me today.  I have been working in Activity Days for over a year now, and we had run out of our Faith in God Progress Sheets. I apparently used the master copy I had for one of the girls, and now we haven't been able to track what the girls are doing. I cannot take full credit for this idea. I got the progress sheet from my mother in law and she received it from someone in her ward. I just tweaked it. A little. Okay, a lot. but here it is!  I even got fancy and you can download it here. 

 FAITH IN GOD PROGRESS SHEET side 1

 FAITH IN GOD PROGRESS SHEET side 2

And now I feel better. I killed 3 bird with ONE stone!! (blog update, Pinterest upload, and got something done!)

June

So, our summer has been really fun this year.

I have yet to hear the kids say that they are bored. I'll take that to mean that they are having fun!

We started our summer out in Santa Cruz.

Camping on the beach, the pier, and good friends is a recipe for a GREAT time!

We just hope they invite us back next year!

Then I found this GEM of a bug. Totally grossed me out!

I thought it was one of Hunter's million plastic bugs that are always strewn throughout the house.

For some reason I poked it with a stick before I picked it up. It was a good thing I did!!

It's a Jerusalem Cricket, or Potato Bug.
Gross!!

I finally have two little girls that love to eat!

My parents flew out to see us. It was a great time, but I am lacking on pictures. (of course!)

Hunter finished t-ball.  His coaches said that he was the most improved! He had a blast.

He also finished his year of T-K. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't have done it. There was NO academic increase for him over the year. It was okay for him socially though. He acted up quite a bit because he was so BORED! I have to brag; he's at a 2nd grade reading level and hasn't even started Kindergarten yet! This was his teacher Mrs. Sakamoto. She was great! I can't even imagine a class of 20 boys and not a single girl.

We have spent lots of days at the park. The kids love to play and we most often go with friends.

Mckinley got her first manicure at a salon. She was so nervous about it I could hardly get her to look at me. I don't think we'll be doing it again for a long time.

More time at the park . . . 

We also went down to Elk Grove to a bounce house. The kids had a great time. Hunter was running around so much that I couldn't even get a picture of him.

Madelynn had NO fear. She climbed up the big slides and all over the bouncers.

This last weekend we made our way on a three hour trip to go to the beach. The kids have never been happier.

Madelynn became a sand monster.

Pa Phil was excellent at watching the kiddos. It's a good thing there were 3 other adults close by.

I never thought I'd see the day where this kid would love a nap at the beach over chasing the birds.

Mckinley and daddy loved the down time and caught up on the snuggles.

Hunter and I played in the water and found some sand dollars.

We had a great time!