The end of an era...

It finally happened. After 9 years, we don't have a crib up in our home! It was kind of bitter sweet to pack it up (I did say pack it up, not give it away!). Our little baby isn't a baby anymore and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that!

So, here is a picture of her sleeping for the first night in a big girl bed. She was soooo excited. She slept in the crib longer than any of my other kids, probably because I had to kick them out before the next baby needed it. But, we don't have a next baby (yet), so we packed up and here we are! Don't you just want to kiss her little cheeks??

Soccer season!

Now that soccer season is almost over, I figured I better blog about it! J started soccer in August. This is his 3rd year playing. He has been having so much fun this year! He loves his team and loves his coach. He's not only the youngest on the team, but also the very smallest. But he puts his whole heart into the game. He has scored quite a few goals, and had a lot of assists. He prefers to play defense, but man, when he's on offense, he's all business!

I love this shot we got with him and his coach, Ken. This was his coach's first season in soccer and he loved these boys! They are a roudy, rough and tumble bunch, but he was always patient when he was working with them. About 3 weeks ago, Ken had an accident and severely injured his leg. I think he was in the hospital for a week and had quite a few surgeries. Anyway, another dad stepped up for the last few weeks of the season, but every practice and game the team would do a huddle/cheer and say "for coach!". Ken finally made it out to Saturday's game (although I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be there!) and the boys were soooo happy to see him. He couldn't run up and down the side line coaching, but he sure did a lot of encouraging from his chair.

Its been a great season and we've met a lot of great people this year. I hope J still wants to play next season and maybe we'll be on the same team as some of the boys from this year.

Family Vacation August 2009

Wow! Time flies when you're having fun...or really busy! I can't believe its the end of October and I haven't blogged for 3 months! Well, I'm going to try to get a re-cap of 3 months in a few blog entries so bear with me!
The last weekend in July/August, we took one last family summer trip to San Diego. Brian grew up there and we have to go back every few years so that he can get his beach fix. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. We LOVE San Diego. We went with the Webb family and the Weaver family and had a really great time.
Here are some pictures to fill you in on what we did (sorry for the lack of editing, but I'm already 3 months behind...editing would make it way longer!).

We played at the beach AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! This was our typical beach set up (thanks Becky for letting me "steal" some pictures from your blog!)

I love this picture!

Becky and S just chillin'

Just having some fun in the sun...

Playing in the sand (building a Volcano!)

This is J's favorite thing to do when he's at the beach!

Cute girls!

So, the next few pictures you'll see some body surfing. To say that Brian loves body surfing would be an understatement. At the end of July, when Brian tore up his arm and had to get 6 stitches, the doctor told him ABSOLUTELY no going in the ocean. But that would be like telling Brian to stop breathing- not going to happen. He always finds a way...

Brian promised the older boys he would teach them how to body surf. It can be pretty rough, especially since Brian almost always prefers to surf shore break. Needless to say, the boys (and Brian) all got pretty tore up in these waves, but they had a BLAST doing it!

Here is a picture of half of the elevator we were ALL crammed into. Pretty amazing the thing could lift all of us!

We stayed at the Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. It was BEAUTIFUL! This was a picture of the lobby on our floor when you get out of the elevator. Lets just say this was the nicest hotel I've EVER stayed in or probably will ever stay in. An amazing friend hooked us up with a sweet deal. We were all so spoiled and we loved every minute of it!

The next few shots are just some of my favorites from the trip. I'm kind of crazy and I'm obsessed with pictures of feet. I wanted to get a picture of all of my family's feet in the sand (around our last name written in the sand..I know so creative- LOL!). Here's what I've got- one in color and one in black and white....which one do you like the best???

This one makes me laugh every time I see it. Yes, Terry did make the dent in my van, but not with his super-human strength!!!

My sweetie pie just having so much fun! This one is on the all time favorite list!

Just so that you know we did a few other things besides just play at the beach (although not too many!) here are a few pictures of us our first night in SD. Brian took us all out to the beach to shore fish. Although we didn't ever catch anything but seaweed, it was fun digging for the sand crabs! (There was supposed to be a picture here of the fishing action but I accidentally deleted it- AHHHHHH! So, just use your imagination...)

Say Cheese!!

Our little S LOVES her Grandma Weaver. What am I saying? We all LOVE Grandma Weaver!!! But S especially does and she took advantage of spending as much time as she could with her!

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and then walked through a beautiful botanical garden (which I have NO pictures of!)..after that we had a little bonfire/weenie roast on the beach.

Grandma got in some good reading time when S wasn't requiring her attention!

B did a lot of digging...

Dena and her son...

J loves to do/play anything that requires throwing or kicking something...including Frisbee!

The guys started a rousing game of pickle after regular old catch got old. It was fun to watch Justin and Brian really get into it!

Roasting some weenies...

As it got dark we drove over to the cove and walked out on the ledge at seal beach. Here's the crazy kids:

As sad as it is, all vacations must come to an end. So, Monday morning we packed up and headed out to Oceanside to play on the beach one last time. On our way out of town, we stopped for some authentic Hawaiian Shave Ice...oh, so nice!

Here's to great friends!

She's such a beauty, isn't she???

Now, that's a blue tongue...

Dena and I with our littlest ones, savoring every bite!

What a bunch of cuties!

How could we resist a shot like this? (thanks again Becky!!)

These two were sooo cute together. They played so much and had a great time everyday.

Obviously, the Hawaiians don't believe in the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" thing. NICE!
We had an amazing amount of fun and were all sad to leave San Diego. We are looking forward to many more family vacations to come!