Papa's birthday!

Today is my dad's birthday! 54! Iron Chef was the theme for the night. A couple of dad's friends were there, the Bingham's and the Allen's. We drew for teams when we first got there. I got on the fish team with Trina and Rich. Jake got on the beef team with Tori and Soph. Dad was on the chicken team with Janet Allen and Nate. We had 1 hour to make an entree for the judges who were the Bingham's and Fred Allen. Larry Bingham and Fred were videotaping us. We had a table with all kinds of ingredients that we could use. The secret ingredient was (wait for it) citrus! Lemons, oranges, grapefruits, limes. We all made such delicious entrees, it was so fun to eat a little bit of everything when we were all done. The winning team, THE BEEF TEAM! Jake, Tori and Soph won. It was such a fun evening!
After our competition I found Sierra on the floor of the laundry room writing a birthday note for papa.


The Bingham's brought a cake and it was delish! Whipped Cream frosting, angel food cake and berries!


Happy Birthday DAD!!! Love you with all my heart! xoxo


...and many more!

Final Ward Beach Day

Today was a great day! We had planned on going to the last Ward Beach day until we woke up this morning and it was cool at home. I got online and it said the weather in Santa Monica is 68 and cloudy. YIKES! I don't like to go the beach and freeze. Especially when you have to pay $7 in parking. My kids wanted to go so BAD! I text a few friends and asked if anyone was going to go. I got news that a couple of them were still going and bringing sweatshirts. Ok. We got ready and made lunches and headed out. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, warm and the sun was shining. Lots of moms and kids came and it was such a great last day. I got to read some of my book, talk with friends and watch my kids have fun with all the other kids. Well, it did take Ashton a while, he was driving me nuts. He would say over and over, "Mom come play with me", MOM come play with me!", "mom come play with me!" I do love to play with my kids, however I do love to watch them play with other kids when they are right there to play with. I do need to give him some slack because he is very shy and was afraid of asking kids to play. FINALLY, about 45 minutes before we were leaving he was playing with some of the little boys. You can see in the pictures below, Thanks to Heather Keil!

Zoe's birthday, so the kids all posed for a picture and sang happy birthday and then they each got a hostess cupcake. YUM!


Sierra was in the water a lot of the day. She LOVES to be in the water. Doesn't matter how warm or cold. The ocean calls to her. :)



Here is my boy finally playing with the other boys. YAY!
Such a happy ending to our Ward beach days! :)

Kingsnake

Yesterday swimming at dad's, Soph had invited a bunch of friends over and us too! :) We were leaving and one of Sophi's friends was going to go around the side of the house to her car and she was freaking out. I looked at what she might have seen and it was a kingsnake slithering right across the grass by the kids playground equipment. SO COOL!

Storyline Online

My kids love to listen to stories being read to them on Storyline Online. I love that there is an extra chair there but they choose to squeeze next to each other in the same chair. There's a moment, so sweet!

A week

Monday...had a playdate at my friend Christy's house with my 2 kids and her 5 girls...whew! So fun to catch up, my kids said that she is soooo nice and her girls said that Sierra is their best friend. :)

Tuesday was the best pool day EVER! I just love the Patterson's, we grew up together, have known them since I was little. They are so kind and generous. They hosted pool day and I think almost every mom from the ward was there with her littles.
Brittany (with Annie), Maddie, Ann, Rebecca, Natalie


Carly B., Andrea C., Melissa G. Megan C., ME, Kerrie and Miriam (with Melanie)


Me (with Mali Illum) and Ruth A.

If I can't have anymore of my own, I am going to do whatever it takes to get my hands on all your babies :) Me with baby Bowen Lake



Wednesday I registered for school, just 1 class. I'm waitlisted for Psych 101. Just hoping and praying that I get in. I was going to take 2 classes but everything was waitlisted. I was freaking out anyway about this new endeavor. Feel so much better and calmer with the decision to just take one and ease my way back into school. After registering I took the kids down to the pool and we swam together the 3 of us and had SO MUCH FUN!

Thursday I took my kids to the beach along with Sierra's friend, Karlie. Just me and 3 kids. Not like me at all. I usually want someone to go with me, have someone to talk to. What a wonderful day! It was sunny and warm and beautiful. There was a dead seal up on the beach that was rolling in and out of the waves. Two surfers with gloves and shovels pulled him up on the sand and buried him. So nice cause it was kind of gross to look at however, beware when you go start digging giant holes in the sand for your kids. :0 I read my book while watching children. I played catch with Ashton with a football. I played smashball with Ashton. I buried my legs with Ashton. I even got in the water, it was pretty cold. We went to Oxnard and stayed until 4:15. The kids and I loved every minute!!!

Friday Briana came up for the weekend and spent the day at our house with Sophi too. A great day and then to top it off, Jake and I went to the temple for Ward temple night. I love the temple.

Saturday we did some cleaning in the morning. Went on a walk as a family. Me and the kids went swimming again together. Watched RIO together. Went to Chili's with Grandma and Grandpa for dinner. Then Grammy watched the kids and Jake and I went and saw a play, The Music Man. Frank and Troy Norton were both in it from our ward. Fun to see them on stage. :)

Mammoth in the summer

Arrived Thursday night, went to grocery, Gandolfo's, brought home pizza and salad. Ate up cause we were soooo hungry and then went to bed.
Next morning we got up at 6am. We threw on our clothes and brushed out teeth and hair and ran out the door so we could get to the station before 7am. We heard of a secret, if you get to the station by 7am you can drive your car down into the canyon to see all the amazing sites, instead of taking the bus down. We made it about 2 minutes before 7am and were able to pay the $10 and just take out car down. We have seen Devil's Postpile but we had never been to Rainbow Falls. Such a cool crisp morning and so peaceful, quiet. We were out there by ourselves, hiking. Now, my Sierra is such a girl, complaining on the way back to the car about being hungry and dirty. Ashton is quite the opposite, kicking up the dirt, looking for cool sticks, asking what tree do you think is the tiniest, never complaining, loves to hike. Grammy was with us on our trip and actually played with us this time, usually when we go to Mammoth together, she is working the whole time, fixing this and that and talking to different people, she usually doesn't go on adventures with us, we LOVED having her.





Sierra called these the "love trees".
There was a huge fire there and all these trees are new growth, we loved seeing all the baby trees.
We got lost on the way back, we went on the wrong path when there was a fork in the trail. We made it all the way to Devil's Postpile. We saw a young girl out there for a run and asked if she knew her way around well, and she did. She told us to go that way and follow the road back. We finally made it back to our car!
The stream out in front of the condo, the kids loved to play in it.
On Saturday we tried to find hot springs and found nothing. I was disappointed. :( We hiked to the Inyo Craters, a fun hike and mom had never seen them. It rained on us while we were hiking, that was fun. We had a lightning and thunder storm. We went in the spa and watched Rango. We had such a fun weekend in Mammoth.
(view from the condo) It rained on Sunday too as we drove home. :) Highlight...Rainbow Falls, AMAZING!

Happy Birthday Corbin!

2010
2011
1 year! LOVE YOU! LOVE, Auntie :) Kiss Hug