Miracle of miracles...

today we all made it through the entire sacrament meeting without anyone whining that they had to go to the bathroom or get a drink, everyone managed to keep their hands to themselves, and Lyndie didn't have to get taken out by Dad...I don't remember the last time this happened...in fact I don't think it has ever happened!

May be they were just all tired of the three previous days of camping but since they all managed to still wake up at 6:30am I really don't think that was the case.

We spent the last three days camping at the beach where I grew up camping as a girl. I loved watching the girls create the memories that I have as a child: riding bikes around the campground, playing in tents, climbing in Papa's trailer, hiking up to the bluff, kayaking, rolling in the sand, listening to the trains, boogie boarding, playing games, and just spending time with family and friends!

My favorite line from the trip came from my niece Addie when we were hiking up on the bluff...

I was explaining to the girls that we shouldn't get by the side because we might slip and fall into the ocean and she says, "Well unless your earring falls out." ...."No," I said, "I will buy you a new earring if it falls out. Do not go by the side, even if your earring falls out."

Malia kayaking with Dad...she is definitely the brave girl in the family!

Members of the blue nose club.

Photos galore

My sister says my last post was really lame...well this one is just full of photos. Enjoy! We are so happy to finally have some sunny weather around here. Last month was full of JUNE gloom...and even our trip to Utah was pretty gloomy (well the weather was, not the company) photos from that trip will come at a later date.

I still haven't figured out how to get my kids to sleep in, this morning we made it until 7:30am but I think that was only because they played hard all day yesterday and then we went to a wedding reception where they danced for an hour and a half before we went home to bed.

We had quite the adventure last night we took my sister's 4 kids with us to a wedding reception, that's right we had 7 kids under 8 with us a reception. I can't even imagine having that many kids! We had to take 2 cars to get there, I guess if we had Justin's dream car...the dodge sprinter, we could have all fit in one vehicle. Once I got everyone their treats and Italian sodas...sorry we held up the line, while I had 7 drinks made, the only mishap was the forgotten belt on Malia's new dress that I had to go back to the church to get.
We are enjoying doing a lot of nothing these days...the pool, beach, and playing in the backyard are what most of our days consist of and we are loving it!

Finally blogging...

but only because I want to enter to win this really cool book called Fast, Flirty and Fun about making quilts. It is written by a girl I knew in college way back when! I figure I could give it to my sister and convince her to make me something out of it since she has the patience for quilting that I really lack! I learned about it on a site called SummerTimeDesigns that if you are into digital scrapbooking you really need to check out. Her stuff is so CUTE and the best thing is that is FREE!
That's it for now....may be one day I'll get back to being a regular around here again!

House Update....

we are almost done! And it is so much fun, we love all the extra room, I am especially fond of my new bedroom - the skylight and vaulted ceiling rocks, our beautiful yards, our big huge couch that we can ALL sit on together, and I can not forget my new bathtub. Everytime I take a bath I feel like I am in a really nice hotel!

The girls were suppose to get the new big bedroom with the walk in closet but as it started to take shape I began to think why am I giving this to my kids? So I told Justin I wanted it and he was just fine with it.

Take a little walk through our house with us..it's not all done but pretty close!

Front yard

Welcome to our home......

Hallway to the bedrooms...

Bathroom, Justin redid it about a year ago...I just finally hung the pictures back on the wall

Our new bedroom, the part over the headboard of the bed is vaulted and there is a skylight in it

Our old room...now the girl's room

This is the view looking from my kitchen into our old living room, the TV still has to be moved and the brown wall will become our "office" area

Future home of our wood burning stove in the family room

Big couch in the family room, there is a place for the girls to play behind the couch

Another view in the family room, the door on the left goes into our "new bathroom"

The girls love the bath too!

Part of our backyard

Part 1 of San Diego Vacation

Time for the MONTHLY update

I can't believe that it is already May. Really where do the days go? Lately I have been sleeping a lot or least feeling like I want to but they can't have all passed me by that quickly, could they? I went to get pictures from this last month and realized they were all still on the camera. Now that I have them loaded I decided I wanted to make some scrapbook pages so may be later you'll get an insight into our past month.

Look we now access our family room! Which also means it is much easier to banish our children to the backyard. I can't wait to move in the furniture, the painters and electrician come this week...and this next weekend we should get to move into our new bedroom! Hurray! The end of construction is in sight! Up until yesterday there was a piece of plywood separating the rooms.

Ballet School

The girls and their cousins performed in our ward variety show at the beginning of the month...I had almost forgot about it until I saw it on my sister's blog. This month has been an overload month...I can't wait for it to be over!

They did a little ballet school where they had a new member "Frankie" (he's our home teacher) that they had to teach to dance. They got lots of laughs and loved performing!