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!

July Fun- including TWO trips to the ER...

Yes, you could say July has been the most eventful month of the summer! We've had some really great fun...and two trips to the ER. J was the reason for our first ER visit...

As you can see, his forehead and eye are severely swollen (Quasi-moto style!). While we were camping, he had something bite him on his eyelid (I vote for a spider..ew...). Luckily, it was the day we were heading home. He swelled up bigger and bigger all day. Finally as we drove in to town, I called the advice nurse. She consulted with an on call Dr and told us to stop at a drugstore for some benedryl and go straight to the ER. So, we did just that. What did the ER doctor say? I believe his exact words were "Why are you here?" Yeah. 10 minutes and $180 LATER, we were told that we didn't need to be there and that we were already doing everything we could for him. Thank you advice nurse!!! NOT A HAPPY ENDING to a very fun trip!

I signed all three kids up for swim lessons at the new community pool with Jody and her kids. They had a total blast. They had great teachers and got to play with cousins. Win-win situation. On the last day of class they got to ride the water slides. The day they waited for had FINALLY come!

Here's B coming down the slide for the first time!

Now its J's turn! I believe his response was "THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!!!"

S wouldn't go down her slide without the help of her teacher. But she had fun and did it again and again!

Here's B just chillin' (like a villain...)

My shark boy with his cousin just after riding the slides.

S really loved taking swim lessons (she's the one laughing in the picture). She got a lot more comfortable with the water. We are happy about that.

Our second trip to the emergency room just took place yesterday. Fortunately for you I do not have a picture to post because there was a serious amount of nastiness there.

Brian and I were trying to put together a little dog kennel outside so that our sweet Sadie will be able to reside outside when the weather is nice (I can't take the dog hair ANYMORE!!!)

Anyway, its metal fencing. Brian was trying to push two pieces together and it snagged (or actually gouged) his arm (no more details needed- just know it was way past all layers of skin-nasty!!!). 2 hours and 5 stitches later (along with a tetanus shot) he was a new man!

So, yes, we've lost a significant amount of money this month. But, hey, we have health insurance AND our family is safe and healthy. What more could I ask for???

We {heart} Lake Tahoe

We have a family tradition- every summer we join up with Brad and Julianne and family to go camping for a weekend. This year makes four years running. We always have fun and the kids just LOVE it. What kid wouldn't??
This year we went to Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful weather!! Our camp sites were okay (I booked them this year, and I'm no longer allowed to be in charge of that :) We realized we prefer to be more secluded than we were. Our camp site was about 500 yards off of Highway 89...so, lets just say we listened to cars driving by all night. I personally prefer to listen to nature while camping. But, that's just me.

Here are some pictures of our fun:

Our family went for a hike on Friday morning-planned by B. It was short, but sweet. Really beautiful.

Just playing in the freezing cold water!!!

View from our hike. It was right above Emerald Bay. Much love for Lake Tahoe!

The kids had tons of fun playing in the sand. They got together with a few other kids and made a little pond for some baby fish they caught.

Our bathing beauties!!!

All the kids playing in the sand

Brad with some of the kids right before dinner on Friday night...

Hanging out around the fire on Saturday morning.

These boys together = TROUBLE!! They are really good boys...but they are definitely BOYS. They had fun killing the huge ants that were everywhere, and moving rocks and building forts. What else do boys do while they are camping???

We had such a fun and relaxing time. Can't wait until next year's trip!!!