Monday Night Fun

Some friends invited us to the Lake today and we were so excited when the sky turned from clouds to sun! We picked the kids up from school and headed up to the Lake. Brandon was first in and was skiing like a pro! He's 4 yrs old.

Tanner wanted to try next and he got right up the first time.

Then Ashlyn showed us her stuff.

The Dad's then had to show their boys what they could do in their old age...Brian has a pretty bad sprained ankle, but didn't want to pass up this chance.




We ended the evening with lots of fun tube rides. First all 5 little kids went together...Then the girls, then the boys. Payton was loving her turn out there also! Brandon and Tanner hit a major wave/bump and the tube went flying in the air multiple feet high. Tanner let go and says he was flying like superman. Brandon hung on for life and came down hard on the tube and it didn't feel too good! As we pulled around Tanner was yelling, "That was AWESOME!"




Here are some other favorites of the night. Blake and Emma also were there, and they too had a lots of fun!

New Preschool

Kamryn's old preschool teacher is not teaching this year, so she has a new school! She wasn't too excited about it in general, but at meet the teacher last week I couldn't get her to leave. Hopefully she's having a blast right now and so she'll want to go this year. It was a 2 day a week battle the entire year last year. And now she goes 4 days a week, so I really hope her attitude changes and we can avoid that drama this time around. So far so good.....she had no struggles getting out of the car this afternoon. Then we headed home, put Payton and Blake both into bed, and now I'll get over 2 hours of quiet-time!

Blessing Day

Blake was blessed at church by his Dad on Sunday August 3rd. All our family that is close by was able to come, and my Grandparents came over from California.

2 Months...

12 lbs 4 ounces 64%
24.25 inches 90%

Blake is so much fun. The past couple of days he started "talking" as he smiles. Like little coos and almost a giggle every now and then. He sleeps like a champ too. He falls asleep before 8 and I then I still wake him up between 9 and 10 to top him off before I go to bed. He goes right back to sleep and sleeps 8 or 9 hours until 6 or 7 in the morning. While we were in CA he reverted a tad and I fed him at 4 am each night. We were all in one hotel room and I didn't want to risk him waking up Payton. But once we got back home he got right back on schedule.

The kids just love him to pieces also!!

First Day of First Grade

Tanner was SO ready and excited to go back to school. I had all the kids with me as I took him and so I didn't want to park like three blocks away and walk him to the playground to find his teacher's cone. I mentioned dropping him off and he was ALL for it. He hopped right out and I drove away (feeling so guilty! but seriously-girls had no shoes, bed head, and no stroller for the baby and we literally would have had to park SO far away from the school itself) Anyway, I passed a friend walking and asked her to check on him. She called me later and said he was right where he should be and was have a great time! He's come far from the shy scared little kindergartner. Anyway, his first day of school turned out perfect!

Beach Time

I love love love beach trips. I was so ready for it this year also after being so home bound all summer long. We met up with the Hunsaker's at a Hotel after leaving my Grandma's and the headed to the Beach to visit Brooke and Tyson Homec (who left good old AZ and recently moved back to Palm Desert...) We spent a couple days in the amazing beach weather, and we loved every second of it. Two nights in a row we headed inland and went to dinner at the Irvine Spectrum Mall, and that too was a blast. On our way home we stopped in the Desert to say hi to my Dad and let the kids see his furniture store and so they could see why Grandpa travels to California each week. It was a good break and we are glad to be home sweet home...5 days til school starts!! Here are some favorites from the trip...

Blake is a baby that basically "never" cries......but of course he's screaming in our only family shot of the trip! Little cutie...

Brooke, Lalani, Kristy

Kamryn and her good Buddy Jackson

What it'll be like to have 5 kids in the car (not anytime soon)....w/ 4 in car seats...

Some beach shots:

Grandma Abuela's

I made the tough decision and decided to skip my 10 (actually 11) year High School reunion so I could spend some time visiting family in CA. On our way to Newport we stopped by Ita's house (my Aunt Laura) Her kids are close in age to my kids, so they were so ready to get out of the car and go play! Believe it or not, they even have 3 dogs, and my scaredy cats did a great job...You should see the size of Toby....he weights like 160 if I remember right....I'm talking a HUGE dog! And my kids are still talking about cute little Poshy (Posh is like 4 lbs). They had a blast and it was fun to catch up with Ita and Guy for a couple hours.

We then headed to my Grandma's in Newport. I grew up calling her Grandma Abuela (grandma grandma- hah) We put the kids right to bed and stayed up until after 11 talking about the old days...I wish I had a tape recorder with me that night so I could always remember the stories they told us. They talked about when they first came to the US from Argentina with three young boys(my Dad was 9 I think) and stories about "life" once they were here. They actually came to Mesa Arizona first and he was selling door to door in Guadalupe. He said while doing that, he though, WHAT? I didn't come to all this way to be in a place like this! (those weren't his exact words, but close enough) He then hopped on a grey hound to head to CALIFORNIA to sweep floors in a factory for a while... Fast forward 45 years or so to a beautiful home on the Balboa Peninsula. I loved it-I can't believe I hadn't heard any of it before!

She always prepped her pantry when we'd come visit for a week as kids, and she did the same for my kids! She called and asked what kind of cereal she should buy for them and they were SO happy to have fruit loops for breakfast that morning. They knew she had bought them special just for them.


Every summer Tia Juanita (my grandma's sister) comes up from Argentina and stays with them while it's wintertime down there. As a child I remember Nonno and Nonna(my great-grandparents) doing the same thing. Anyway, it's always nice to see her also, even though she doesn't speak one word of English and my Spanish is HORRIBLE as I've gotten older. She isn't fooled by the usual smile and nod that I would respond with. She knew I was clueless! Here she is with Blake. She held him all morning while we got everyone ready for church. It was a great night and I'm glad they let us stay with them.

Blake's First Haircut...

Some may think it's too early, but I think there is nothing better than a little boy and a new haircut! I would wash his hair each day and 10 mins after it dried he looked like a bum with messy hair going in every direction. It definitely changed his whole look, and I think he looks chubbier in the face now. He was so good for it, and I think I did a pretty good job for my first time!



Now, this last picture is totally gross looking, but I loved the comparison, so I wanted to share!! Tanner had almost twice as much hair as Blake and it was tons darker also. Sometime I'll whip out my 2002 CD of pictures and I'll post some of the boys at the same ages...they look a lot alike-that's for sure!


Check previous post to see his hair the night before I cut it....

Blake and Halle

My sister Heidi had her baby while we were gone! July 5th. She was a whopping 8 lbs 12 oz! (9 days early) We went by Wednesday night to see her. She is so cute! Here's some pictures we got of the two on the couch. (Blake got sunburned a little in the SHADE while we were camping-that's the mountain sun for you-so strong! You couldn't tell in real life as much as you can see it under his eyes in these pictures. At least it didn't seem to hurt or bother him...he even started smiling for SURE the day after he got the sunburned cheeks) The two babies are 5 weeks and one day apart! Close, but not as close as Payton and her cousin Hailey that are 9 days apart!