Did some organizing of the junk yard of the toy closet early in the summer. I wish I would have taken a before picture so you can appreciate HOW much better this closet looks. And ya know what, it's amazing how much more the boys go in there to play with toys now that they can actually FIND the ones they like and still play with. Sent a bunch to goodwill and literally filled my garbage bin with old, broken, and mismatched pieces.
Yes, my kids fight…no matter how hard I try to get them to stop. BUT sometimes they play pretty darn well together too! And that makes me very happy.
We went to Six Flags on one of the HOTTEST days of the summer thus far and pretty much melted our way through the 2 1/2 hours that we stayed. Thank goodness we have passes and didn't feel the need to stay all day to get our monies worth. Love that this park is so close and pretty darn cheap as far as season passes go.
I got all four kids on Ninja. All of them liked it, except Ashlyn. So we may not ever all make it on that ride again. Oh well. I was proud of her for going.
Played in the ball pit.. that has no air and pretty much no circulation. It felt like a stale sauna. YUCK! But I could not pull the boys out of there.
Look mom, "I'm MAGIC"
We stopped at the first fast food place outside of the park, which is thankfully Wendy's, for some refueling and to try and cool off. Those frosty's definitely hit the spot.
We've done TONS of swimming so far. At least 4 times a week. Mostly in the evening because by 6 the sun has gone down enough over the mountain that I don't have to sunscreen the kids. Pure swimming bliss if I do say so.
Took the kids to the Fish Hatchery one morning for the express purpose of stopping at the fruit stands in Fillmore to buy strawberries. LOTS of strawberries for making jam. And I made a bunch. But I'm hoping to make a little more before strawberries go out of season again. I have a few weeks left of peek yumminess.
The boys like to sleep in the same bed a lot. It's cute!
We had a nice Father's Day with this Awesome guy! Someday I hope the kids realize how lucky they are to have him as their Dad. He's one in a million.
LOVE YOU HONIES!
Brandon being his normal goofy self playing with Leah's magic set.
I've been doing some family history work the past couple of months. I'm happy to say I've found about 90 ordinances to take to the Temple. Mostly on my Dad's side, which is pretty cool and fun for me to find out some about his side of the family. We know SO little about them since his parents divorced when he was young and both of them died when they were young. But along with doing family history, I got my dad to send me a bunch of old pictures. I saw this one on the left and almost did a double take. Brandon and my Dad definitely don't have the same coloring, but as far as facial features and body structure, they're pretty darn similar.
I think they look even more alike in this picture if Brandon wasn't squinting from the sun and if his hair wasn't so much in his face. But still…it's crazy!
Maybe that's where Brandon gets his fiesty personality. My Dad couldn't have been an easy kid to raise. LOL! Love you Dad!
Ashlyn headed off to Girls Camp. She had an AMAZING time and even though it took her a few days to recoop from lack of sleep when she got back, I think she is really looking forward to next year already.
While she was gone, I took the kids down to El Segundo to visit the Smart's and we headed to the beach. It was a gorgeous day and the kids had a blast. I had fun catching up with Lindsey too. Miss that sweet friend!
Chase and Brandon
Ellie and Leah
After the beach, we went back to their complex and swam in their pool to rinse off. Traffic up the 405 back home is terrible so we hung at their house and had dinner until 8pm so that we could zip right home. It was perfect.
Leah got to have a super awesome playdate with her super awesome BFF. They went to lunch at Johnny Rockets and then to the movies to see "Inside Out". Afterward they got menchies and shopped at the Disney store. Rough life for sure! Leah had a blast.
So while Leah was gone and Ashlyn was at camp, I thought I'd take my two boys to see Inside Out too. Well, they had already seen it but I hadn't. So it was nice to not have to pay for all four kids to go. The boys loved it. I thought it was good, but sad.
Snapped a picture of a terrible fire right in our Valley. It's been SO dry and SO hot. This particular fire was thankfully put out by evening, but it shut down the entire 5 freeway through our Valley right during evening traffic. It was a mess. Paul waited it out some before heading home and it still took him quite a while.
Decided to head back over to Six Flags, but this time hit up Hurricane Harbor. Much nicer with the hot weather. The water was so cool and refreshing. It's so nice to get admission to both parks with our Season Passes.
Ugh..I look so old in this picture. But oh well. Gotta get in some sometimes.
I'm sure someday I'll think I look good. Isn't that a depressing thought.
The night before Camp ended, Paul and I got lucky and got to go up and see Ashlyn. Bishop usually goes but it's been a busy church week for him with the death of a ward member and his crazy 6, 12 hour work days at his job, so he asked Paul to go in his place. I was so excited. So we got to go up and hang out with the girls for the evening and watch the Testimony meeting. Best part of course was seeing my sweet girl!
The next morning I headed back up their to pick some of the girls up. I ended up with just Ashlyn and Grace so we stopped for a bite to eat.
Just a smidge of how dirty everything she brought home was. It basically all went straight into the wash.
The kids had a Primary Temple activity Saturday morning and Paul had to represent Bishop again, so he took them while I got Ashlyn. They were quite excited to have their big sister back though. It was so cute!
Even Brandon wanted a hug.
And then that evening the girls had a joint Birthday party to go to at the Aquatic Center. I'd say it was a pretty fun filled first two weeks of summer vacation. There's definitely been some fighting and non cooperation from my children come clean up time, but over all it hasn't been too bad…yet! (I'm so optimistic huh. LOL)
