First Week of Summer...

The girls are going to help me this summer with the kids while I keep trying to work from home a little bit. They were so good this whole last week. They played school with them, made art projects, made up a play, and in this picture, Carson was Pooh and Avery was Tigger. It's only 120 degrees outside and he's wearing all wool....at least he's eating a popsicle, huh? :) I love it! They've been having a wonderful time and I'm so proud of the kids for being so good to help me. We're making it work; it's not always easy, but I can't ask for better kids so I'm very blessed! They're good to each other and they're so responsible! So far, so good...


This was such a fun moment. Cody laid down on the floor after work and the kids all laid down on him, around him, by him, whatever and they just sat there and talked. I love that we have these moments to just relax and have some quality time with the kids. They're such good and fun kids and they all love their dad so much! I just wanted to remember this time when they all were excited for dad to come home, they all wanted to be right with us, and they all were getting along so well. These are good times to remember.....

SCHOOL'S OUT!!

Brittany had her 5th grade promotion on June 13th! I still can't believe she's going to Middle School next year. I'm definitely having a hard time with all of this. I like the fact that Brit & Bailey have been at the same school. I like that they can look after each other and that they pass each other during the day. I like that they know what's going on and if one doesn't tell me, the other one does. I'm not sure how I feel about splitting them up! I guess it all comes down to me not being ready for this! I think Brittany is fine, but I'm having a hard time. I'm sure it's all going to be fine and it's going to work out, but it's going to take some time. :) She had a fun day and they had a cute slide show with all of the kids' baby pictures and when hers came up on the screen, Carson said, "Look dad, they have a picture of Avery." It was pretty cute! She has some really cute friends and that makes me feel a lot better that they're all going with her. I know it's going to be a fun experience for her, but it's just going to take some time for me. Congratulations on a great year, Brit! There are only great things to come and we're all looking forward to it! We're so proud of you and love you very much! Looking forward to a fun summer...

This is her teacher that she absolutely loves and she moved to Utah halfway through the school year. It was really traumatic for the kids but she made it back for their last week of school and they all loved having her there. She was an excellent teacher and she really had an impact on Brittany and I'm grateful that she took the time and encouraged and challenged the kids and made them all feel like they had a place. What a fantastic teacher and it meant so much to the kids for her to come back for their promotion!
Brittany's sweet friends - Kathleen, Blanca & Gloria.
Such sweet kids! I love this picture!

Bailey and the rest of the 3rd grade had a field trip to Pawley Pool the day before school got out. I drove a few kids and got to hang out with them at the pool. This is Bailey's cute friend Danielle. They've been such good friends and Danielle just lives down the street from us. Brittany & Bailey have such a great time with Danielle and Carson just loves Drew and Brinley loves Carson....okay, she has a little crush on him but it's so cute. Drew and Brinley are Danielle's little brother and sister so it's fun to have them right in our neighborhood. The kids are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and I know we're blessed with the people we have around us. Bailey had a really great year. She had a great teacher, wonderful friends and she's looking forward to next year....Thanks Bailey for being such a great student and for making us so proud. We love you and know there are great things to look forward to. Keep that sweet smile and positive attitude and you'll do well in whatever you do. We love having you in our family and are proud of you for the choices that you make. Love you!

Why You Should Wear Sunblock!

Okay, so this is not a flattering picture at all, but I thought I'd just throw it in as a reminder that I'm not ready to do anything like this again for a while. I had a couple of spots on my nose that I was concerned about so I went to the dermatologist and they were able to just freeze one of them off right in the office, but he was concerned about the other one so he shaved it off and sent it to be biopsied. I called the office a couple of weeks later to see what the results were and they asked me to come in the next day so they could cut it out because the biopsy had come back positive. It was basal cell carcinoma, so that's the most common type of skin cancer, but they needed to get it out.

I went into the office the next day and it looked like a M*A*S*H unit. Everyone was walking around with bandages all over their faces and heads and necks. It looked like everyone had fought the good fight and lost. It made me a little nervous, but after I went in the first time, I came out with my big gauze bandage over my nose and felt like part of the group. I met some really fun people while I was there so my 6 hour trip to the dermatologist was at least pleasant. They had to dig twice to get it all so that wasn't fun and then I had to wait 2 hours for them to stitch it up. It was a really long day, but they did get it all and I ended up with a really cool bandage that made me look like I belonged in Phantom of the Opera. The only thing that really scared me a little is this same thing happened to my mom and she actually ended up with Melanoma so I guess the moral of the story is, time to wear my sunblock. I'm pretty good about it now, but I guess all of those years of laying out on my trampoline, slathered with tanning oil is catching up with me. I was definitely the youngest one in the office so I guess it's either be a good girl or look forward to more fun trips to the dermatologist. I think I'll be good!

Thanks to my sweet friends who bailed me out for this whole day! Cody had a job in San Diego so Roxanne took Avery & Carson for the whole day and Dayna brought Brit & Bai home from school and kept them at her house. Shari helped me get my house cleaned up for Tom and Niki's visit and I know I wouldn't have made it without all of them! I have such wonderful friends down here and I love them all! Thanks for all of your help and for making it all bearable! Don't know what I'd do without you! I need to take a picture of the end result though, because I got the stitches out this last Wednesday and it looks great! They did know what they were doing after all!

Tom & Niki's Visit

My cousin, Niki, her husband Tom and their family came down a couple of weeks ago and we had so much fun with them. They gave us our "family fix" for a little while. It's so fun to have people come down here because when we go up to Utah, we usually see everyone in a group and when they come here, we get to visit and the kids play and it's a lot more relaxed and fun. Don't get me wrong, I love to go to Utah and I love to see our family, but it's just a little different having the visits come this way. I hope that makes sense. We haven't seen them in a while and our kids usually play at camp, but it's been a while. They were a little shy at first, but as soon as we got over to Cody's mom's house and went swimming, everyone was fine and they all got along great. I love that about kids.... We had a fun afternoon at Cody's mom's house swimming and then Niki and I made a Costco run and went back to our house and had dinner and set up the waterslide. I think the kids were all pruned by the end of the day.

We swapped kids and Emrie slept here and Bailey went with them and slept at their condo and we met up the next day for church. It was fun having visitors and our ward loves having more people, especially in the summer because everyone leaves, so they fit right in. We hung out all day Sunday, we went to their condo for swimming on Monday and then we met up again on Wednesday night here for pizza and games. They managed to do a few things around the desert while they were here and they let us know how it was because we still haven't made it to some of the attractions around here even though we've been here for 2 1/2 years. We had a great time with them and are so glad they were able to visit. It was fun for all of us and we can't wait for them, or any other family members (hint, hint) that want to come again. We had a little withdrawal when they left but the kids are just excited to see them when we make it to Utah. Thanks for a really fun weekend!
We've really been into water balloons lately....it takes 45 minutes to fill them up and about 2 minutes to throw them all. The kids loved them so it was well worth it, I think! :)
The kids all played so well together. We barely knew they were all here, well, most of the time.

Carson & Dallin were buddies! It was so cute to see them together. Carson loved having someone his own age to play with. I can see them being good friends at camp....I hope we can make it!
We ended up eating a lot! Niki said she's blaming her 5 lbs on me....I had a major sweet tooth while they were here so sorry about that! I had to do a little extra running the next week too. I guess I am getting older.

Water balloon fight! I think Tom ended up pretty wet at the end of this whole thing!

Niki left here with a great tan. I should've hung out with her more. We definitely don't look like we live in California. When it gets this hot, we stay inside! I need to take a day to lay in the pool!


You've gotta love the hair! The girls had so much fun and it was really fun to see how similar they are! Emrie and Brittany got along so well and Bailey & Casie were the little drama queens. I love it!

Happy Birthday, Sierra!

Polly & Avery - I love this smile!
Grandma & Beau
Our bathing beauty!

Our niece, Sierra, turned 13 on June 1st. We had a fun get-together over at Polly and Sierra's and got some cute pictures of everyone. We haven't gotten together much with our family....life kind of takes over and it was really fun to catch up with everyone and spend some time together. We love Sierra and it's so fun to spend time with her and we've loved being able to be part of her life since we've moved here. We used to see them a couple of times a year when we lived in Utah so it's been fun to be closer to them and see them and know what's going on in their lives, even though sometimes we don't get together as much as we should. We all love you and we hope you have a wonderful year, Sierra! We had fun spending the day with you.....good things are coming your way!

Father / Daughter Party

The girls had a fun Activity Day activity on May 29th. They had a western theme and the girls (leaders) prepared hot dogs, chips and fruit for the dads. They had a square dance and did the do-si-do and had a wonderful time. Brittany was worried how they were going to dance with just one dad, but I think he did all right. What a fun opportunity for some bonding time for them. We always have all the kids when we go anywhere and sometimes it's a lot and having just some quality, two-on-one :) time was so much fun for the girls. They loved just spending the evening with their dad and he's a pretty fun guy! I don't blame them a bit. I'm so grateful for the cute relationship Cody has with all of our kids....he's a pretty good sport because we made him wear his "cowboy" pants and we couldn't find his hot cowboy boots, so he wore his work boots instead although it was over 100 degrees outside. He was sweating the whole time, but did it for his girls! I always loved him in his cowboy pants anyway! :) Fun night was had by all! Thanks Lillie and Adena for such a fun evening and for going to all of the work so the girls could have a date night with their dad. They had a great time!

Summer Fun

It's time to play catch up. There's been so much going on and I don't want to miss anything.... A few weeks ago, I helped a family find a house to lease and had gotten paid for it and so, with summer coming up and the kids being so good about helping me around the house and helping watch the little ones and all of that, we decided we wanted to surprise them! I've been so grateful that I have very adaptable children because they've really had to kind of go with our schedules, but they've been really good sports. We really miss having a pool, especially when it gets hot, and I thought we really needed something to do in the water so they can at least go outside a little bit this summer. Well, Cody and I watched the sales and decided to plan something fun. I had an open house in the morning so I told the kids, if they cleaned the house and did all their chores, they'd get rewarded when I got home and it would totally be worth it. Well, I got home and the house looked pretty good so we sent the kids upstairs and told them not to come down until we went up and got them. Cody and I hurried outside and set up their surprise. We went up and got them and gave them each a swimming suit and a towel and told them to come downstairs. We led them into the family room and they opened their eyes and starting screaming. Most responsible parents probably would have bought food and clothing; well we bought this instead......



We had such a fun day! Shari and her kids came over and we had a blast. Shari was dressed and looked all nice....that didn't last long. We had an all out water fight and she was right in the middle of it. She had Chandler, one of Kolette's boys, with her and I laughed so hard when he filled up a cup with water and poured it right down the back of her pants. We filled up water balloons, jumped on the trampoline, ate cookies and laughed A LOT!! It was a much needed break and the kids had a great time. We definitely need to have days like this more often. You'll see this waterslide in several of the next posts.....it was money well spent. We can always eat Ramen, right??? :)