Happy Birthday Tanner

It is still hot these days, so for Tanner's birthday party we played with water balloons. Hundreds of them! Played a few games but they really enjoyed throwing the balloons at each other the most.

 Tanner has been begging for a skateboard. Being only 6 I didn't love the idea, but I saw him playing with our neighbors and he was doing pretty good and is really determined, so we went ahead and got him one, and pads too, of course. 

 Tracie, my sister, made the cake. She did a great job with it. We did a sports theme.

Feelin' blessed

We bought our '97 Subaru Outback in 2006. It had over 200,000 miles when we bought it. I had no idea it would be such a reliable car all these years when we needed it to be. We have been students pretty much the whole time we've had this car and haven't had many problems. My dad did a couple fixes when we'd come back for holidays or affiliations but nothing big. Well, all of the sudden, in the last month, we have had our rotors, radiator and alternator replaced. And we will need our axles replaces soon. Even though it is a bummer, we are so grateful for the timing of it all. We can afford to pay for these fixes now, but while in school it could have been financial crisis. 

And what else has helped me stay positive is the timing of each break down. When our alternator went out, it was about 100 degrees. I drove the car to my dad's shop with all the kids, and it died right when I pulled into the garage. He only had to push it like 5 feet to where he'd work on it. Then I smelled the coolant and noticed the car over heating when we got to the end of our street as I was leaving to run errands. I was able to turn back around and again, not get stranded with the kids somewhere in 100 degree weather.  And the parts were available each time so the fixes were quick and cost less than we anticipated. Even though it stinks that the car is slowly dying on us, I am so grateful for the circumstances. I feel like we have angels watching over us. And one of them is my Dad. He is wonderful!

While we were stranded at home waiting for my dad to come fix the car after work, we had to find things to do, so we got out some paint and paper plates and made some masks. 

Peaches and Pure silliness

It is peach season, and a local store had peaches for $0.10 per pound. I went and got some, along with a couple hundred other people. Craziness. It was like Black Friday. Ashlyn has been eating them like candy. Loves them.

 I keep expecting Dallin to outgrow his silliness. But he doesn't, and maybe just gets quirkier everyday. He came out like this the other day.

 Then we were running out the door to get to church, and we had told Dallin to go grab a couple toys to bring to play with. This is what he grabbed. LOL. When I told him they had to fit in his church bag, these were the expressions I got.

Can't leave Tanner out of the post. No pictures right now, but we will have some soon. His 6th birthday is this weekend, so we are having a party. It is in the 100's all week here, so we will do a water balloon party. He is finishing up T-ball next week, and then soccer starts in September. We are trying to figure out what to do with Dallin. He is old enough to participate in some activities, but which would be the right one for him? I am thinking karate, but I don't know yet. Tanner didn't start anything until he was in Kindergarten, so maybe we will just wait with Dallin too.

Needed this today

My favorite

I forgot to put my favorite beach pictures on the blog. Ashlyn was so fun to watch play in the sand. I personally don't love the beach, but being there with my kids (and my camera) made it really fun.

Harris Beach II {who else was there}

We actually tent camped on this trip. I was worried about it since I have never done it with kids, not really. But the kids slept the best. Nate had to go sleep in the car because our air mattress deflated and he was touching the ground. Once he was off I slept find with Ashlyn by my side. I would do it again, in fact, we plan to next month. 

Cousins. Being silly. 

 Throwing pine cones in the fire.

 Pro Frisbee thrower--Tracie

 My uncle Shaun and his wife Young sok were there too. It is always a fun time when they are around. They  are pretty much adults size kids.

 My cousin Cody and his wife Katy

 My sisters Kris and Tracie.

 Dinner time

My parents came too, but stayed in a hotel. 

 My uncle Justin and his family are in town from Florida too, so they joined us for a day.

 Andrea, and uh, her sister (can't remember all my cousins name, believe it or not. Could be Ashley, Ali, or Angelie. I went to college when after Fran had her 4th daughter, I think, and they have 6, so I have a hard time remembering the last few names. I know, Horrible!)

 Kris sinking in the sand.

Here is how she got so deep. :)

Harris Beach I

We went over to the coast this weekend. It was a quick trip but super fun. We spent plenty of time at the beach and around the campfire. We had a lot of family there with us. I will just post a few right now.

My parents went, and Paul and Paula's family. 

 Ashlyn loved to watch grandpa build sandcastles, then she'd stomp them, of course.

 These shovels were all broken by the end of the weekend.

 Proof I was actually there. I took hundreds of pictures and was in about 5.

 Frisbee.

T-ball

Tanner LOVES T-ball, and he does really well.

 As you can see he takes it seriously.

 His fan club.

Our House

Here it is. Finally. I wanted to wait until there were pictures up on the wall before I took pictures. I didn't take pictures of the kids' rooms because I haven't done anything with them yet. And the master bedroom is still a work in progress. Maybe later.

Here is one view of our living room. This is our family picture collage. I am doing red and turquoise mostly, with some neutrals mixed in.

 Other views of the living room. The ceilings are nice and high. Someday we will probably put our TV where the mirror is between those two small windows and get rid of our armoire.

What do you do with a space like this by the ceiling? I have no idea. 

Our kitchen was hard to photograph; it is at a weird angle.

The master bathroom. Hard to get a good picture of it too, so here are our sinks. 

And our laundry room.

The kids bathroom.

 Our small backyard. It kind of wraps around the back more. We put a slip 'n slide out and left it out too long and it burned the grass. It is growing back though. I think we will reseed for next year. The grass is kind of funky. That mobile home that is split in half will be removed and there are more houses being built behind us. It is a great neighborhood. Several kids live close by that are our kids' ages.

 

We LOVE our new house. Some of my favorite features are the hardwood floors, dark carpet, the cabinets, the granite counter tops, gas fireplace, hybrid heating system, tall ceilings, lots of light, lots of storage space. We also like the ward we are in and the school the kids will go to. We couldn't be happier.

2012 Family pictures

I haven't blogged in a while for a good reason. We bought a house!
And life has been ridiculously crazy. I will be playing catch up as we get settled a little more. I wanted new pictures for my walls so I had Tracie come and take some family pictures. I took the kids' pictures. We are a tough group, so she did great!