Harry Connick Jr.

Several months ago Beth asked me if Paul and I would want to go to the Hollywood Bowl with them to see Harry Connick Jr. We couldn't pass on that since we had gone to the Hollywood Bowl last year and had such a great time. This year I packed us up a fun little bag of cheese and crackers with yummy sparkling drink. The concert was really good. Those jazz players are quite impressive and it was fun to hang with good friends. 

We left Ashlyn to watch the kids. It was the first time we left the valley with her watching them. But she did great and everything went well. So here's hoping I'm finally officially stepping out of the babysitter game. We still pay Ashlyn but at a much cheaper rate. It's still win-win because it's more money than she would otherwise be making.

Mormon Dodger Night

We don't normally go to Mormon Dodger Night. None of us are that into baseball, the tickets are kind of pricy (well when you're buying 6) and it's been too late for the kids in the past. Plus this year Paul was going to be gone at Comicon, so I really wasn't gonna go without him. I had a friend who was coming in town for the week though and was gonna take her kids so I threw caution to the wind and got tickets for us too. Well my friend got horribly sick that week and didn't end up coming in town (so sad). I wasn't really wanting to go anymore but then some other friends bought my friends tickets so it all worked out in the end and we went and had a good time. Honestly the game was boring but the kids had friends with them so it didn't really matter that much. The Dodgers did win and so that was exciting and the guy in front of us was way into it and dancing all around, so he was more entertaining than the game. 

Afterward they had Friday night fireworks and we stayed for those. That pretty much made the whole night worth it. 

Will I go again? Not too likely. Unless a bunch of friends are going. But I'm glad we went and it did make for a fun outing and experience for the kids. 

Lazy afternoon

The weather was pretty good for summer so the kids took advantage of that and played in the front yard. Carter threw one of Brandon's nerf bullets in our neighbors recycle bin. Those bullets are precious since they are constantly losing them so Brandon wasn't gonna just let the garbage man take it away. So he had me hoist him in to retrieve his bullet. Crazy boy. He didn't seem to care one bit.

I took the kids on a walk to the "secret park". It was so sad when we got to the top to see just how much the drought is affecting our area. This field use to be lush and green and beautiful. It was so crunchy and dry that the kids didn't even want to play in it like we normally do. We played duck duck goose for a while but everyone was being poked by the dead grass so we didn't stay too long. Sad… We need rain!

Still a pretty view at the top though. 

This is what Ashlyn does on walks. She's read a bunch of books already this summer. Really gets sucked in when she finds a good one. It's cute. I wish I read as much as her.

Leah and Brandon prefer bikes and roller skates on walks. 

Disney for Emily's 40th

I love that I remember her 30th Birthday celebration at an Indian Restaurant like it was yesterday. And I love even more that I'm still friends with this awesome gal 10 years later and celebrating her 40th at Disneyland. We had the greatest day (but then again isn't every day at Disney great. Especially when you're with your friends!)

 So I won't mention the almost 3 hour drive it took to get down to Disney and the fact that we left at 2 and started our day at Disney with DINNER, because once we got there NONE of that even mattered. And really it didn't matter anyway because we all got to ride in one car and chatted the entire time. 

Disney employees are the best, most friendly and most accomodating employees anywhere. Except for the jerk at Tower of Terror that told us to go to CA Screamin' at 8:05pm when he should have known it closed for the World of Color show at 8:00pm. They wouldn't budge even for Emily's 40th. But oh well. Besides that one guy, all Disney employees are awesome. You don't even have to tell them it's your friends birthday. They know…and they bring you a cupcake and sing to you.

Terrible shot, but I love this girl so it's going up anyway.

The BEST ride ever! I could go over and over and never get tired of it.

 And yay for more fireworks. Even though once again I didn't get good shots of them.

Cute Emily. She's one of the most stalwart awesome people I know. And she has pretty awesome kids too!

Jackie…who tells the absolute best stories and always makes me laugh.

 And yes, we made those faces on purpose. Brooke told me I had a fun side after all! Lol! Or maybe she said that when I did the "step in time" dance down mainstreet as the Parade went by.

 Disney's 60th Diamond Anniversary year has the Castle all decked out and sparkly. 

Disney continues to be the Happiest Place on Earth. Love you Disney and love you my dear Encino Friends!

Now, what shall we plan for Emily's 50th!

Fourth of July

One of my favorite Holidays of the year is here!

I wimped out and didn't run the 5k this year. But it was okay because I haven't been sleeping very well lately and I was up really late the night before. It would have been really hard to get up early and run it. Next year I will do better. 

We still had a pretty great day though. We had the Tait's over in the morning to swim at the pool. Then we went home, got all cleaned up and headed out to the park. The Smart's and Tait's came with us this year. We BBQ'ed, the kids ran around and played and we watched a really fun firework show once the sun went down. 

I know our country is going through some crazy stuff and lots of other countries think we are pretty awful, but I'm still grateful for this wonderful land I live in and know that God blessed me by allowing me to be born where I was at the time I was! 

So not like me, but I have to admit I really really love my patriotic nails!

My awesome bunch!

The kids playing a game to determine who is "it".

Tag 

Getting ready for the fireworks to start.

It got really chilly. Glad we had some blankets to snuggle up in.

I'm not very good at getting shots of fireworks, but it was a great show this year. Totally loved it. 

Ugh….door signs

Leah doesn't like the boys in her room, so she made these signs to remind them to stay out. No one really obeyed them, so I didn't make too much of a fuss about it until the boys made some of their own.

The next morning they came down for good!

Boys are so much more violent in their drawings.

(incase you can't tell, the top left one is what happens if girls stay outside their room…nothing. And then what happens if girls come inside their room….they get stabbed in the stomach.) What the heck boys!!!

We had a little chat about how that crossed the line.

A quick visit

Got lucky and got a quick visit from this awesome friend as they headed back up to Henderson from their trip down into LA for a friends baptism. It was really fun to see her and get to hang out for a little bit. The kids were pretty happy to see their friends too! We all love the Phillips Family!