End of the year going ons

Ashlyn had her end of the school year band concert last night. Would have been nice if I had gotten a picture of her all dressed and ready to go, but it was kind of a crazy afternoon and I forgot. But she had practiced a lot and I think she felt pretty confident with her songs. And for a group of mostly 4th graders who had never played an instrument before September, they did a really good job!

If you look really close you can see her in the front row behind a boy that is standing up playing drums. Or, at least you can see part of her red hair anyway.

Then, this morning was the awards ceremony for earning 150% of your AR goal for the last trimester. Ashlyn was still a little bummed about her teacher throwing out some of her books during the first trimester and not counting them, so she didn't get the trophy. But she was still glad she worked hard and got the pin for her medal. Leah was super excited because this was her first time being able to earn her medal and SHE DID IT! Even with her teacher upping her goal a few weeks before the deadline. She worked hard too and read lots of books and took lots of tests. I'm super proud of both of them. It was worth sitting there with Carter for TWO hours to get to see them receive their awards. Sure love those cute girls of mine!

Just seven days left before summer break is officially here! Yahoo!

A beach celebration

I think Tina's birthday has turned into a yearly tradition of taking a girls day to the beach. I know....I'm a lucky spoiled girl. It was a small little group this year, but we had so much fun hanging out, chatting, relaxing, and let's face it....a lot of eating. It was a bit chilly this year, but before we knew it, it was 7:30. So we packed up and headed to get some dinner at The Habit and then back home to our cute families, who were mostly all asleep. 

Me and my cute friends.

Like I said, I'm a lucky girl! Sure am grateful to have these ladies in my life.

And on the way home, Paul's Toyota Highlander, which use to be my car, hit 100,000 miles. It was monumental so I had to take a picture. Luckily I was in a parking lot, so it was a safe picture taking. It's been a good little car to us and we hope to have it for many more years.

Mother Daughter hike

Look, my Activity Day group is growing. And we get another girl turning 8 in July. It's very exciting. I guess technically two of the girls in the back are friends of Meaghens, but still. They come often enough that they count. 

We went on an early morning hike last Saturday with the girls and their moms. It was a simple little hike. Probably didn't walk for more than 30 minutes because we had to save time for donuts and chat time. I think the girls had fun though and I'm glad everyone was able to come. I sure love these cute girls. They're a good group of friends.

After our hike and donuts, we walked over to the nature center and got lucky because this lady had just walked out with a barn owl. The girls had fun talking to the lady and hearing what she had to say about this pretty owl. 

42 years

This is Forty Two years together. Cute huh! Funny thing is their Anniversary was on the day WE returned from our Newport getaway. So we celebrated for them. But the funniest part was they both forgot it was their Anniversary that day until the evening. I guess that's what 42 years does to a person. We celebrated with them the next night at Rattlers, one of Gary's favorite places out here in Cali. 

Happy Anniversary to my favorite In Laws!

You made it this far, you might as well stick together for, well....eternity. (he he) Love you guys!

Our weekend in Newport

We left Saturday about noon and drove down to Newport. Got some lunch and got settled in at our hotel. Relaxed a little and then got fancied up for our dinner cruise with the Phillips. Yes...that's right. We totally ended up on a weekend getaway to the same city (within 5 miles of each other) on the same weekend, without even planning it. Once we found out though, we snuck in on their date night to celebrate Tina's 30th birthday. Lucky me that Tina loves me enough to let me crowd in. The cruise was amazing. Probably the best evening of the weekend. We toured around the bay for 3 hours, danced (just a little cuz I didn't marry a dancing fool), ate yummy food and laughed and chatted together. Such a memorable experience! 

We had a room on the bay with an ocean (well bay) view over looking a little golf course. So of course, I had to sit out on it and read my book(The Great Gatsby). Started and finished it that weekend (it was short). It was good, but horribly tragic and I wasn't expecting that. I still wanna see the movie though. But I'm definitely glad I know what happens.

Saw two movies in one day. My head was spinning a bit by the time we got out of the second one. Both were really good but intense. I'd say Star Trek was much better! Did I really just say a "Star Trek" movie was good? They've come along way from the old ones. 

Got a pedicure and a facial. Both heavenly! But no one beats my sister in facial superiority. Wish she didn't live all the way across the country!

Stopped to chat with the kids. Sure missed those cuties! 

Ate at Cafe Rio....twice! YUMMY!

Walked down to Balboa Island from our hotel. It was only a mile away. Then we walked up and down the bay and took a ferry over to the "fun zone" area where we rode a ferris wheel, got some ice cream and Paul played a few games at an arcade. (No weekend getaway is complete without Paul playing a few arcade games. Seriously, I think we went to one on our honeymoon too. I'm not even joking.)

We even ran into an old roommate of mine from my BYU days. One of my last roommates before Paul and I got married, so she knows Paul also. It was so fun to see her and her three kids and husband. I haven't probably seen her in 5 or 6 years. Totally random, but way cool!

And this pretty much sums up most of the meals I ate that weekend. Too much good food in too short of a time. But it was sure fun!

And on the way home we started thinking about our next get away destination. Such fun memories with my wonderful hubby. I'm one very very lucky girl!

Got home Tuesday afternoon and found some happy (and very spoiled) kids and perhaps some tired grandparents. But they are sure good sports and the kids just love them. Carter asked where they went for days after they left. Also grateful for all the handyman skills of my Father in law. I'm not sure he stopped much while we were gone. Whether he was playing with the kids or fixing something around the house for us. Paul and I couldn't be more grateful for wonderful parents/in-laws who made this weekend possible for us. We'll give ya about a year break before we bug ya again!

Last week

Lots going on around here as we wind down the school year. Here's a little of last week.

 I decided the "kids" needed some Cold Stone, so we had to take a pit stop after school one day. I don't think Carter ate more than a bite or two, but he sure was happy to have his own.

Brandon likes to sneak into our bed at night. Usually some time between 12 and 1 am. Most of the time I don't even hear him come in. Probably because he suctions to Paul like a little leach and I continue to sleep the night away in bliss. Love our king size bed.

Open house was Thursday night.

Ashlyn's fourth grade mission project. Her and Paul worked on this together. I love how Paul is so good at helping, but really lets the kids make it their own. While I think a lot of other projects in her class were really well done, there is honestly NO way a lot of those kids did them by themselves. Not that Ashlyn did either, but I like a nice balance of it looking good without looking like an adult did it all. 

Here's Ashlyn with her teacher Mrs. Smith. Can't say I LOVE this teacher any more than her last fourth grade teacher. She literally made Ashlyn cry over a science page that was colored wrong.  But Ashlyn has definitely enjoyed her second half of fourth grade more than the first. So over all I still think moving her out of the split class was a good decision. She's learned a lot and done really well and doesn't actually dread school everyday. So that's progress. Hoping and praying for a good fifth grade teacher. She deserves one.

Leah with Mrs. Hawkins. She's been an excellent teacher for Leah. Leah has really learned a ton this year and done so well. She loves school and can't wait for second grade. 

I snapped a photo of Becky sneaking into Tina's yard last Friday morning to surprise her for her big 30th birthday. Sometimes it's fun being sneaky.

Becky made this amazing sign for Tina too. I don't think mine would have looked even half as good, so Becky is now dubbed the poster creator. Lucky girl!

Brandon got to go on Father/Son's campout with his Dad AND his Pop Pop last Friday night. He had a blast and came back pretty nasty dirty. I'm glad he got to go. Good memories for sure. And Pop Pop is an expert camper, so I know Paul was MORE than excited to have him here visiting to go with them. 

Next year, Carter's going too! Yahoo...then me and the girls will have a true GIRLS night!

Wow what a day

The kids were out of school yesterday for a State Budget cut day. I had just gotten on antibiotics for an ear infection the day before, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from having a fun day with my kiddos. After much debate in trying to decide WHAT to do (we wanted to go to the beach but it just wasn't warm enough), we ended up heading out to Underwood Family Farm for the morning. We left at 11 am and stopped at McDonald's on the way out for lunch. It was a beautiful day and the weather there was great. We went with a couple of friends and really had such a nice time. The kids ran around and played together, we fed some animals and let the kids play on a moon bounce for a while. We wanted to go on a wagon ride, but apparently that is only opened on the weekends. We got home about 3:45 pm and sat down for a few minutes to relax. At about 4:10 pm another friend of mine texted me to see if I wanted to meet her at the park. Well, of course I would rather spend time at the park then do what I should have done, which was to clean the house, so off we headed. The kids continued their fun playing with their friends and I got to chat with mine while enjoying the awesome weather we had yesterday. At about 6:15pm, we left the park and zipped over to Little Caesers Pizza and then home for dinner. Got home at 6:45pm, fed the kids, tried to pick up a little bit and then as soon as Paul got home at 7:15pm, left again for a Stake Mother/Daughter Activity. The theme was "I can be a missionary now" and they had two fun and highly energetic speakers. Then they taught us some zumba moves and finished the evening with a cute necklace craft and dessert. By the time the event was over and we got home it was almost 10pm. Wow.....I was beat! But it was such a fun day. 

Brandon and Elijah

Ashlyn and Grace. Ashlyn couldn't be more happy to have Grace at church and church activities with her lately. The primary president was at the activity and commented on how cute it was to see Ashlyn happy and running around with someone. She's been the only girl in her class the entire time we've been in this ward and I don't think many people know the "real" Ashlyn because she's so quiet and keeps to herself at church.

I have the funniest, silliest friends. 

Brooke with her daughter Darby who will be 8 this next Friday. yahoo!

Ashlyn, Darby and Ashlynn

Most of the time when I'm not home to put Carter to bed, he insists on texting me before he will go to sleep. He can be pretty persistent, so Paul has just learned to go with it. Here's a screen shot of him saying goodnight to me. I think it's SO cute! 

Oh and because I know you are all on pins and needles, our moths finally died. The boy died on Tuesday night and so on Wednesday I put the girl one outside on a leaf thinking I would give it some freedom and fresh air on her last few days. But the next day we went to check on her and apparently a bird or something had gotten to her and tore her to bits. I know...gross and sad.  Brandon was the one to find her with her head a few inches away from her body and her wings a foot from that. I know...I know...TMI.

The eggs went in the trash. No more moths for us!