Bonus Vacation

A couple of months ago, Meghan was invited to go with her friend and her mom to San Diego for 8 days. Well, it happened to be when Janie and Derek went off track, so rather than sit home and feel good for Meghan that she got to go, my mom and I decided we could take the other two kids to Cali one more time. My aunt and uncle we very generous, as always, to let us stay with them in Yorba Linda. We left Sunday after church and went as far a Primm, then got to Yorba Linda just before noon on Monday. We hung out at their pool all afternoon, and then took off for Wahoo's and Downtown Disney. My fearless cousin Katie joined us (she's fearless because she sat in the back with Derek and Janie). Here are some picures of us at DD. We decided we really wanted to be inside Disneyland, but we couldn't find an extra 400 dollars. So we settled for some really yummy cookies and a tram ride to the parking garage were we talked about our favorite rides. We topped the night off with a front row seat for the fireworks from the stairwell of the parking structure.




On Tuesday, we headed to Newport Beach. It's worth another 11 hour drive just to come here one day. My very pregnant cousin Lauren came with her kids and some friends and Katie decided to drive today (I guess she's not so fearless after all). We had a great day, very relaxing. We enjoyed our favorite one dollar bags of donut holes and had the best burger ever from TK's for lunch. We barbequed at the Dunn's that night and my Aunt Patty came home from Utah (she was visiting my cousins Mike and Lindsey who just had a new baby).



Wednesday was spent shopping and swimming. We had pizza for dinner and then Josh was nice enough to watch all the kids while the ladies (mom, me, Katie, Lauren, and Aunt Patty) went to see The Time Traveler's Wife. We went to the really yummy yogurt place for the second night in a row afterwards. We headed home the Thursday morning. It was a short trip, but we had fun. Thanks to all the family that accomodated us and hung out with us.

On Saturday Janie lost her other front tooth. She now has no way to bite any food. She looks cute, though. I will put some pics up next of our new basement, which is almost done. Very exciting!

Going, going, gone

All year long I wait for summer and it always goes by so fast. I sometimes wish that I was a winter person because that season drags on forever. But we've had a lot of fun, and we always make a lot of memories that keep us going until next year.

Just as we were about to pull away from our beach site for that last time, Janie lost her tooth (while trying to whack her brother, I might add), leaving a gaping hole in the front of her face. We have high hopes that the world's largest permanent tooth will soon be filling the void.

And, just when you thought school finally got out for the summer, it started again. Janie and Derek started 1st and 5th grades the day after we got home from Cali. Luckily, they both like school. I am headed into territory I haven't been in for many years where I will have all my children gone all day. I guess I will need a hobby now.


We just got back from Snowbird. It's always a fun end of summer, though this year was a little strange because Meghan was at camp and Janie and Derek had school. We still had fun, though, and the kids got to miss 2 days of school.




This is us on the way up the mountain on what was to be a death-defying chairlift adventure. Well, I probably exaggerate a tad. But the storm you see in the background of the next picture made it so that we had to double time it on the way down. What was a leisurely 20 minute ride up the mountain turned into a harrowing 12 minute ride back down. When the lift operator warns you that your stomach may not like the ride down, you know you're in trouble.



The last day of our week included a blue jay that entered our fireplace from the chimney (not shown), and a ground hog (pot gut) that crawled into my sunscreen bag at the pool and scared the bejeebies out of me when I tried to reach into it (also not shown).


Snowbird is the perfect place to go in August when it's 98 degrees in the valley and a cool 80 something up there. We even had a cold couple of days when a freak cold front came through. Now it's time to get back to reality. Sigh.

Ahhhh.......the Beach

So, the beach is one of my favorite places to be. There's just something about that sticky, salty air, the crashing of waves all night long, early morning jogs in the fog, and endless entertainment for the kids that I love. Throw in a ton of family and you've got a great vacation.
This year we had a great camp spot that had plenty of room for all 40 of us. Mark even came down for half of the week, which was so exciting for the kids and for me. Highlights for me are always riding bikes at Newport, jogging and walking along the beautiful marina, the family talent show that attracts perfect strangers, and spending time with all of our great family.
These are just a few of the pics I took. I'm already looking forward to next year!