This Week

So last week was one week I would like to not have to think about ever again. Our air conditioning broke and the whole week was pretty much consumed with figuring out plans to get it fixed and trying to survive the heat of July in the dessert. Honestly it could have been way worse. It was only in the high 80's that week, but that meant my house was not much cooler. Combine that with some major mugginess from the rain we got the weekend before, and some serious chain smokers living next door polluting the inside of my house from having to leave the windows open, and it was not exactly enjoyable.

Monday came though and the air conditining repairmen were over bright and early. We hung downstairs while they worked and by mid afternoon we had wonderful magnificent cold air! It was glorious!

They also put in a new air return so now we have two, which the guy told me is like having both nostrils unplugged. Lol. I actually do feel like we get better air flow through out the house. So here's to better energy efficiency and saving money in the long run because new A/C units aren't exactly cheap!

Tuesday we swam with friends. Brandon refused to let me take his picture. And actually threw water at me while I had my phone in my hand to keep me from taking his picture, so he pretty much lost IPad the rest of the day. Stinker!

Wednesday I took the kids to the dollar movie and then ran some errands. Had an ice cream social that evening with the YW and the outgoing presidency to thank them for all of their hard work.

Thursday I decided to head to the church for a few hours and get that YW closet organized. Sure felt good to figure out what was actually in there. 

Then I printed up some quotes to make a new spiritual thought book for the girls on Sundays.

Friday we headed to Hurricane Harbor with some friends for the day. The kids had a blast running around and playing in the water together. I tripped and skinned my toe up really bad at the end of the day and so that pretty much caused me to sit out the rest of the time. Then Brandon lost his tooth on the way home. Crazy memories we are making here. 

Brandon promised me he would let me take him for a hair trim the day before school started, but not a bit earlier than that (insert eye roll). Whatever. I guess if it doesn't bother him having it hang in his eyes, it shouldn't bother me.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Special Olympics down at the LA Convention Center to cheer in the stands. It's a Youth activity but I'm bringing my family with me. We're gonna be watching Powerlifting and Table Tennis. I think the kids will enjoy it.

Trying to beat the heat

Cute little bird was sitting in my window Saturday morning for the longest time. So I snapped a picture.

It was 80 degrees in my house Saturday morning at 11 am, so I packed up the kids and headed to the beach for the day. Paul had to work some OT that day and there was no way I was going to melt at home all day with no working A/C.

It just so happened that I found out some other friends were gonna be at the beach as well. So I texted her and invited myself. It made the kids happy to have friends and made my day easier since they were completely occupied.

Brandon doing his thing at the beach. 

The water was actually really nice. I even got in myself and that doesn't happen very often. It's usually way too cold.

Cute kids "surfing" at the shore line. Pretty funny watching the water come up to their boogie boards. We sure love the beach.

We stayed late and stopped for some fast food on the way home. Got home around 9:30. The house wasn't blazing hot by that time. Kids all showered and crashed in their beds. It was a good day.

Six Flags

Six Flags is getting so much more fun as the kids are getting older. We can actually get on some real roller coasters and not just hang out in the kiddie area (although we still do that some too). Ashlyn doesn't love roller coasters too much and Carter is too small for some of the big ones, but we found things everyone wanted to do and had a fun day. By the time we left, we were MORE than beat and were ready to come home and just relax for a little bit.

I didn't take enough pictures, but we got to go on Twisted Collesus, Jet Stream, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and a bunch of other little rides that I don't remember the name of. The highlight of the day for me, Porter, Brandon and Dewy was going on Superman. It's the ride that shoots you backwards up a straight track at 100 miles per hour and then drops you back down that fast. It was CRAZY FAST! Like the ride was literally only 30 seconds long but I was shaking when I tried to stand up. But gosh, it was fun! Brandon was nervous but so brave to go on it. I know I wouldn't have been that brave as a 7 year old. Love my little thrill seekers. 

So far the rest of the week has included swimming with friends, grilling hot dogs and hamburgers at the pool and trying to stay cool. Our A/C went out on Sunday night so we've been dealing with that. Thankfully the weather hasn't been too terribly hot this week and the repairman will be out on Monday to put in a new unit. We can last until then right? Sure hope so. 

Concert time

These lucky girls got to go to the Imagine Dragons Concert with friends Monday night. It was their first real concert and they had a BLAST!  Even got a t-shirt to remember their fun night. 

We're sure blessed with good friends.

A fun Friday

I can't say every summer day has been blissful around here. We've had some good ones and we've had some bad ones. Most bad ones involve too much fighting, not enough helping and a good amount of whining. But I try to focus on the good ones more than the bad and hope that my kids grow up thinking life was pretty okay despite everything not being perfect all (or any) of the time.

We had a fun Friday. Carter got invited to a primary friends Birthday party. It was at a splash pad and the whole family was invited. We don't have any public splash pads around our area so it was fun to get to go to one. The kids thought it was going to be boring but as you can see from the pictures, they all had a really great time. Brandon did fall on the playground equipment and bit his tongue pretty bad. He held ice on it and walked around spitting out blood for a good long while. But once it was sufficiently numb from all the ice and it quit bleeding, he was back up and running and playing with the kids.

That Darby McCoy is one strong girl. Almost two years younger than Ashlyn and she's the one lifting her up to gather "pokey balls" from the tree.

Brandon wouldn't smile for me, but I didn't let that stop me from taking his picture anyway. 

Ready for cake and presents.

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I loved seeing them all play together and enjoy themselves. It was a great day. Not too hot, but definitely sunny enough for some water play.

We came home, got cleaned up and headed to a free library event at a local High School. It was environmentally themed about the "Great Butterfly migration" and the guy was a little "weird" but he did some pretty fun tricks and Leah got chosen to be the butterfly. So she was up on stage just about the entire show and got to get up and flit around as he sang and did tricks.

So overall, it was pretty fun and the kids had a great evening.