Surprise Cousins Visit

Last week we got a surprise visit from Trek's Dad & his brother's wife & kids.  Carolyn & the kids have been visiting Opa & Oma in southern California for the last couple weeks & they thought, "Let's go see Trek & Dani!"  

It was perfect because we didn't have anything planned last weekend so we could just enjoy the time with them.  They came up on Thursday night & stayed until Monday morning.

Friday we just hung out mostly. . . had a picnic at the park, & just played together.  We had night games Friday night on base so the kids got to play in that as well.  My kids have never lived around cousins so it was REALLY fun to have Emery, Ella, & Bridger around for a few days.  After night games we had the teenagers on base come over for some board games until 10 pm.  I love being the party house!

It was SO fun playing with my nieces & little nephew.  We hardly ever get to see them so I enjoyed the time I got to spend with them this weekend.

On Saturday we took them all down to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  It was insanely busy, but the kids had a blast.  We let them ride one ride (the chose boats) & then just hung out on the beach for a few hours.

The beach was gorgeous.  It wasn't too hot or too cold.  It was just perfect. 

 

After the beach we took the kids out to their favorite type of food for dinner

BREAKFAST FOR DINNER.

We found an IHOP nearby & they were in heaven.  I swear my kids could eat pancakes for every meal & be happy.

On Sunday, Lorien & Cadence made Opa some peanut butter balls.  Those lasted all of 3 minutes before everyone had them devoured.

We also watched Inside Out with everyone since Opa hadn't seen it yet.

It was SO sweet watching the cousins cuddle during the movie.  Ella just loved Bladen.  It was darling how she would cuddle him.

On Monday, the girls did a "spa day" in the Mickey Mouse bathroom.  Cadence & Lorien painted all their fingernails & toenails with sparkly glitery polishes.  It was great bonding time for them.

It was a great weekend & a wonderful surprise.  I miss them already.

Happy Birthday To Me

Well, another year comes & goes.  I don't know why time travels SO fast these days.

I turned 35 on July 6th.  35!!!  That's half of 70.  I feel SO old right now.  But I'd like to think I'm still young, spunky, & full of energy . . . so here's to another fabulous year.

Trek & the kids surprised me with french toast for my birthday breakfast.  They are so cute.

I got some pretty cool things for my birthday this year.  And of course, I didn't get ANY pictures because I'm normally the picture taker at our house.   But I got some cute clothes & shoes from my friend Nancy, a paper cutter from my Grandma, TONS of frosting coloring & flavors for my cake decorating from my mom & dad, a camping hammock (like the ones I fell in love with at girls camp) & a bike from Trek & the kids.  I haven't had a bike in over 17 years.  I'm SO excited for family bike rides.

My friend Nancy always sends me an extra special piece of jewelry for my birthday each year too.  This year I got this gorgeous 4 karat ruby pendant.  It's BEAUTIFUL.

 

We had a family bike ride that evening & it was AMAZING.  The kids rode a full 5 miles without complaining & it was just fun.  It was probably hilarious seeing 7 bikes all in a row.  Canyon rode on Trek's bike with him since he's still too young to bike himself.  It was a blast.  A perfect birthday.

4th of July

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. . . especially since my husband is military.

Our ward had a fun activity on the morning of the 4th.  It was a big pancake breakfast with a flag raising & Trek spoke on freedom.  It was beautiful.  Then there was a fun bike parade for all the kids to participate in.  We had a blast.

For fireworks, we actually hiked a few miles with the kids behind the base & found the most amazing spot to watch the fireworks.  It was perfection.

I felt festive in my statue of liberty dress.  (I love dressing up for holidays)

And that afternoon, after the ward breakfast, we got invited to go to Golfland with our friends to celebrate the 4th racing each other down waterslides & playing miniture golf.  We didn't have any plans on the 4th which made me sad, so this really brightened up my day. 

The whole family  had a blast!!!

Summer Days

Ever since I got back from Girls Camp I feel like our whole family can actually ENJOY summer.  I feel bad that most  of June was taken up with planning & preparing things for camp, which was a blast, but I feel like I didn't do as much with the kids as I could have.

But now we're off on adventures having a blast in the summer sun.

I love the downtown farmer's market here in Mountain View.  They sell things, but they also have all sorts of fun activities for the kids to participate in as well as a car show.  The kids got their faces painted, played with bubbles, tic tac toe, & a few other games, & Bladen climbed the 30 foot climbing wall.  We expected him to get a few feet up, but no . . . he made it up the entire 30 feet & rang the bell at the top.  We were SHOCKED.

We've also been doing night games here on base all summer on Friday nights.  On July 1st we had water games & filled up over 1000 water balloons (my hands hurt after that).  We played Capture the Flag, Ghosts in the Graveyard, & had an epic water balloon & water gun fight with 65 kids/teens from our ward & in our neighborhood.  It was pretty awesome.

We've been wearing the kids out by playing hard outside all day that it's SO cute to see how tired they are.  I love watching my kids sleep.  They are so sweet.

We also took a family trip to the theater to seeing Finding Dory.  It was really cute.

And we've made a few trips to our mall here as well.  My kids like to ride the little cars in between the kiosks.  Our mall is awesome.  It has a Lego Store, a Disney Store, Build A Bear, & then an Apple Store for Trek & a Sephora & LUSH for me.  :-) 

It's been a great summer so far.  We've had a ton of fun.