July

it has been a full month folks! (that is a word kent uses and so i thought i'd give it a whirl =o])

we went to a story time at the LA temple visitor's center and then had a picnic on the temple grounds. it was fun! but something we will not be attempting again, even though the sister missionaries put it on every week, because it took us more than an hour and a half of driving time each way. BOO!

i LOVE this picture of seth and jenna gazing up at the Savior =o]

they loved looking through the BoMs in all the different languages. it was pretty amazing actually. 

they have some great displays! including one that shows a video of "grandpa jamie's vineyard" =o]

they were good sports about taking pictures =o]

trying to touch the doors =o]

caleb actually knocked on the door before i realized his intentions and called them back lol 

another major event was caleb's half birthday!

kent made him this cake =o]

and i took him and his best friend will out for "ice cream"! these two boys absolutely crack me up! 

sampling the flavors...

they made their selections...

added their own heaping spoonfuls of toppings...and were in HEAVEN!! 

after a couple minutes they decided inside the shop was too boring and wanted to go out to the patio.

MUCH more fun!! =o]

then when they got bored with that they decided jumping off the wall was the hip new thing. 

after about twenty minutes of that while finishing their desserts in between, we headed over to target for them to get their best friend shirts. super heroes!!  by this point the sugar was REALLY kicking in and they were going bazerk the whole time we were in line. it was so hilarious i took a video that i will have to post at some point. they fight with each other. like, calculated, full-out, hand-to-hand combat. no crying. no tapping out. THEY FIGHT. and it's hilarious to hear them at it because they say things like "aw! that was a good one!" and "watch this!!" or "i'm gonna jump kick you next, SEE?!?!" and they just take it from each other. i don't think caleb will ever find another friend like will. ever. 

there was a mom in front of me that said with this inquisitive smile, "are they both yours?" and when i said they were just friends and always did this when they were together she responded "oh. cause you just seemed so calm about it all." did the part where i videoed them tip you off, or something else? lol   

the match continued all the way to the car. 

caleb slept in his new shirt that night, and wore it the next day too. which was sadly the last day will would come over to play because he moved that weekend. we had known it was coming, but it was still hard to say goodbye. 

and not just for caleb. will's mom andrea was one of the best friends i have here. this is us at her baby shower i helped to throw before she left:

 you know those people who just change your life in such a profound way that you will feel connected to them forever? well that is her. she is a blessing in my life!

for my half birthday i signed up with my friend carly to be my coach through the PIYO program!! it is rockin' hard and i am loving it!

kent finally got his father's day present: a tool chest! (with a much needed LOCK lol)

and for his half birthday he got a cabinet for the garage to organize all the stuff, again with a much needed LOCK on it! he and caleb had a blast assembling it and i think it was a quality way to spend their sabbath afternoon as father and son. they even had sunday music on =o]

we went to the pioneer day picnic and basically the only successful part was taking these ridiculous photos. that should give you an idea about just how much fun we had. maybe next year we will be able to handle staying for more than an hour and leave our grumpy pants at home =o]

we continue to do our musical mondays for summer school. Seussical: our minds are powerful tools for imagination and creation!  

wicked: we can learn a lot from people who are different than us. we can still be friends! 

and newsies: chase your dreams and never EVER give up!

tuesdays are our days at the library and we finished the summer reading program last week. they all reached their goals and got their prizes, it was great! =o]

on wednesdays we swim with friends. but we haven't been the the park on a thursday yet because other stuff just keeps happening! maybe august will be the month...

other than that we have just been hanging out!

this is charlie and the chocolate factory =o] we have a MAJOR thing for reading a book and then watching the movie to go with it =o]

the kids have been way into pranks lately and i came home from book club to several surprises, this being one of them =o]

we got on a lego kick (you'll see why we fostered it in the next post =o]). this was mine when i was little and i busted it out of storage for them to enjoy. we love passing down our toys to our kids =o]

kent is busy busy busy with work and can feel the winds of change brewing. 

i have been enjoying working out, researching and planning about homeschooling, and being part of my book club. this was our book for the month:

this was one of my favorite parts:

i am grateful for this book because it helps me to remember to choose love. 

i also taught in RS about pornography the last sunday of the month and it was GREAT!

natalie is waist deep right now in the magic tree house series. she read 22 books in 5 days people. it is out of control! i now understand what my sister and sister-in-law meant when they said they couldn't keep up with their children's thirst for books. 

one morning about 20 minutes after morning devotional i realized i hadn't seen natalie so i went back upstairs and she was still sitting on my bed, just absorbed in her stack of books =o]

she made a magic tree house lol

this past week she was starting to go through them a second time until the library got more in, when she discovered their website, and now she only re-reads them for 30 minutes each day so she can have 30 minutes of screen time. =o]

additionally, she has enjoyed doing all the extra worksheets we found while cleaning out the office/classroom in preparation for the next school year =o]

caleb is enjoying himself at whatever he is doing for the moment =o]

this is one of kent's soccer jerseys and caleb wears it with pride =o]

jenna continues to be her little ball of energy self =o] she really is just a sweet and spunky girl!

and seth continues to grow like tomorrow has come and gone! he is starting to sign and truly be just one of the kids. we all adore him =o]

2/3 of the summer-- POOF!

Camping at Big Bear Lake

we went on our annual camping trip last weekend for another one of kent's summer fridays. we LOVE camping! but we will love it even more when it doesn't involve a pack n' play =o]

this is for ONE NIGHT lol

we made the ridiculous mistake of not reserving a campsite beforehand and so got to drive around to three different campgrounds before getting the LAST spot at this one. and we were on the way out when natalie shouted "wait look! that one has an open sign!!" whew! we decided to be grateful to even get this sunny sandy one! =o]

we brought this chair for seth to sit in and when he got just as dirty in it as out, i strapped it to the table bench and he had a ball watching the kids run around or they would bring him things to look at when i needed both hands to do something, which happens so often while camping! 

natalie brought her daring book for girls and had fun reading about all the things we could do while camping before doing them lol

like admiring our surroundings =o]

playing i spy with the sets of binoculars that we brought, 

exploring! (my personal favorite!)

playing with rocks 

and building fires! 

unfortunately both jenna and seth had a fever the entire time we were gone. seth is teething and jenna kept complaining about her ear popping. she kept telling me she was tired and asking to sit in her car seat with her "baintee" (blanket). no naps for either of them the whole time we were gone didn't help matters. luckily i had brought some tylenol for seth so they both made it through. 

one of our favorite parts of camping is the FOOD!! =o]

for some reason my kids think lemonade is like the most special drink ever. (sometimes i feel like i have turned into my aunt who calls soda "the bubbly death" lol and kent just shakes his finger at me and smiles in this certain funny way i can't explain when the kids tell him he shouldn't be drinking soda because it isn't good for his body ha ha)

here is jenna on one of her tylenol induced highs =o]

caleb caught sight of all the marshmallow around his mouth just as i snapped the picture ha ha 

after i put the littles "to bed" for the fiftieth-and-only-good-until-we-turn-in-time, we sat around the campfire telling stories and waiting for the stars to come out so we would use the astronomy book and maps we brought. the kids were in heaven with our undivided attention =o]

the night was rough. let's choose to not remember it =o]

here is the shell shocked seth saturday morning lol

here is what 'sleeping on the hard ground while waking up every 30 minutes but still having a great time' looks like =o]

and here is our little breakfast chef going to work! this kid has got serious skills!

after breakfast i realized that i hadn't gotten hot yet. you know how when you are camping you wake up freezing but then you get overly hot after a bit. didn't happen. should have been the first clue. while in the tent getting all the kids ready for the day, kent mentioned that he "didn't like the look of those clouds" when he got back from taking out the trash. a few minutes later it started to sprinkle. kent started packing stuff up outside and i started packing up inside and gradually it turned into a steady rain. seth was happy as a clam crawling around the tent and playing with all the stuff, jenna was zoned out in her sleep deprived and feverish stupor with her blanket and fingers in the corner, and the older kids were "helping dad" and having a blast the whole time breaking camp so it really wouldn't have been half bad that we had to cut the trip short, except that we had a muddy tent and tarps to clean up and had to bring food back home. food brought back from a campsite is hard for me to swallow lol oh and we didn't get to practice our knot tying. ah well! next time =o]

the drive home was just as long and winding as the way up had been, but at least the kids slept. kent and i kept encouraging each other that next year and all the years after this are going to be a completely different story for camping, and all vacations really, since i won't be pregnant or nursing a little baby, because for the past almost EIGHT YEARS every time we went camping one or the other was true! this was a fun trip, and we are looking forward to future trips even more!!