Graduation and HOT summer days!

Well, the craziness continues, It has been another fun weekend full of graduation parties, pool and beach days and getting ready for our trip to Utah. My sister Autumn graduated from high school on Thursday! She is such an amazing girl! I can't believe my little sister is so grown up! She is the BEST babysitter around..... my kids ask when auntie Autumn can come and babysit again. (Maybe I can hire her to come live with us for the summer) We are so proud of you Autumn!

Congratulations!!!

We LOVE Aunt Autumn!

A big hug from Avery

The BIG Happy Family!

The weather lately has been unbearable and my girls were out in the sprinkler at about 9AM. (check out Ella's pose) that girl is SASSY!

Yes, Logan is wearing a PINK hat! I got to the beach and realized his hat was not in my bag. Luckily I had Ella's old hat in the car. We headed to the beach Saturday thinking we would get some relief from the heat..... HA! We were dripping wet with sweat unless we went into the water. The heat was CRAZY!

What a day!

Catch Up

Where do I begin? Last weekend was so fun and so busy that I don't even know where to start! All I know is that I was rushing here and there and my house looked like a bomb went off. This time of year always seems to be this way though...... This week has been crazy too and I am sure I will be playing catch up for awhile this summer. Here's to fun-filled summer days!

We went to the Angel's game Friday night and sat in the nose bleed section but still had fun! (Avery must be looking at the guy selling cotton candy)

Our whole group (26 in all)

All of my brothers were there except for Jeffrey who's on his mission in Honduras. My brothers and sisters and I have great memories of Angel's games growing up. Mom would wrap the hot dogs in foil and pack the peanuts, popcorn and soda so that we could enjoy the game (and my dad wouldn't go broke)

Aunt Jaqueline with Avery and Ella during our mini tailgate of Costco hot dogs, soda and churros. You bet our mom taught us well!

Saturday bright and early our ward had such a fun 5K at the regional park. We had so much fun!

One of the games was the "diaper dash" for the little ones. We could coax them with anything to get them to cross the finish line. Logan was only interested in ONE thing.......

THE VOLLEYBALL! The dads were playing sand volleyball and Logan went straight for the court chanting "ball, ball, ball!"

Here I am trying desperately to keep my kids from getting a volleyball spiked on their heads

After the park we ran home, I ran to Costco for flowers (remind me next time how crowded Costco is on Saturday) and we hurried to get all glammed up for the dance recital!

It was fun to see so many friends at the recital. Here's Avery and Paige before they went in. Can they just stay this sweet?

Londyn, Avery, Kaili and Ella having fun at the dress rehearsal.

Avery loved seeing all of her friends from other classes at the dress rehearsal the day before.

My little dancers did such a great job!

Phewww...... what a day! Now we go home to get ready for the Father's Day Festivities and Uncle Derek's Baby's Blessing! (more to come)

Our Dad Rocks!!!

Ella's shirt says it all! Happy Father's Day Sweetie! Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father!Our kids adore you and are so lucky to have the best daddy in the world! Here's a picture with each of them and why they love you.......

"I love my daddy because ......he loves me and plays with me and takes me on daddy daughter dates."

"I love my daddy because......well, um, um, I, I, like when I give him hugs and kisses"

"I love my daddy because....... bah, bah, bah" (ball, ball, ball) this kid is truly obsessed with anything round that can be thrown like a ball. He likes to play ball with daddy!

We love you daddy! You're THE BEST!

My Graduation Present!

We did it! Our Carribean cruise is booked and we are packing our bags this August! Darren graduated last May from USC's MBA program....... 3 LONG years! He started the program when I was pregnant with Ella, and graduated 3 months after Logan was born. Darren would always say he was going to take me on a cruise when he was done with school to celebrate, but with a nursing 3 month old it just wasn't happening last summer. So we are so excited to go on our first cruise to Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Cozumel and Labadee! Darren's mom is coming for 3 weeks to visit and take care of the kids while we're gone.... she's the best! Thanks sweetie for all your hard work in the program... I can't wait!

Fun Weekend With Friends

Our good friend Andrea was visiting with her kids this week from Minnesota so we all got together for a family BBQ! Thanks to Stacy and James and their huge backyard, the kids could run free. We had LOTS of delicious food and enjoyed catching up with each other. We have been getting together lots lately....... it only took 15 years to reconnect (are we that old?) Thanks for the fun day girls! Summertime has begun!

Such a big boy!

Derek and Gavin having fun on the teeter- totter

Paige and Ella being sweet

Taking a ride in the wagon

Can you believe we gathered them all for a picture! The moms with the kids.

Just the Girls!

LOL! What a face!

They played hard.....can you tell?

Grandparents Day

Avery was so excited for her "Poppy" to come to her school on Thursday for Grandparents Day! They get to show them their classroom and meet their teacher and then eat lunch together. It was so fun to see how excited Avery was when my dad came walking up the path toward her classroom. (of course I had to stick around to take pictures!) After school she said to me, "I wish grandma could have come too, but sometimes I feel like she is there." Okay, how sweet is that? Then she said, "whenever we go to poppy's house, I feel grandma there too." (sniff, sniff) I thought that was so sweet! It always amazes me how children can be so in tune and teach us so much. My kids sure love and miss grandma and even pray everyday that Heavenly Father will "bless grandma in heaven." Avery had such a fun day.... thanks for coming dad!

A "FIRST" For Everything!

Yes....Logan is "officially" walking at 16 months old! He took his FIRST steps this past week and now there is no stopping him! He is so funny how he is "top heavy" as he wants to walk faster than his little legs will go.

Avery went on her FIRST big yellow school bus ride! Her class went on a fieldtrip to the beach where they learned about butterflies. I think being on the bus was the highlight.

Logan ate cereal with his FIRST bowl and spoon! He does really well at drinking the milk as you can see here.

Ella had her FIRST swimming lessons with Miss Shannon! She loves to go to her house and learn how to swim! She is doing really well!

Update:

Obviously the taste doesn't even phase them! Don't they just look like they are saying....."nice try mom, we are NEVER going to stop sucking our thumbs!"