Day One of Gammi Camp

We decided to have a Gammi Camp this year for the kids.  We've done it before but it's been a few years. But I must say, the camps were nothing like this one! 

We started camp on a Wednesday afternoon by heading to Kangazoom.  The kids love kangazoom.  It's a giant bounce house.

When it was time to go, we grabbed snacks from Gammi and headed up to Angels Camp (about an hour and a half).

When we got there, it was golf cart rides and swimming!

We knew we were going to be making scrap books as a craft, so we took lots of pictures so there would be plenty to choose from!

The girls all decided a "mermaid" picture was a must.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to capture the perfect head toss for each of them......

After swimming it was time to set up camp.  The kids wanted to sleep in real tents in the backyard but we decided this would be a good compromise.  The porch camp out.

 All snug as a bug.....

I'd like to say that they all stayed in their beds and went to sleep........but they didn't.  There was lots of bedtime singing and water breaks.  And complaints about weird noises. And then most of them ended up on the floor of Gammi's bedroom.  *Sigh*

Happy 3rd Birthday Shayli!

Shayli is three! And she couldn't be more thrilled!  She shares a birthday with her uncle Brendan so we decided to do a joint birthday party.  And when you have a summer birthday, you have to have a summer party......which means more swimming and BBQ-ing!

We took over Jenni's house (again) while her and Doug were on their Alaskan cruise (jealous!).  We had a great time swimming and eating.  In fact, it seems most fun comes when eating.....or is that just me??

Shayli got some new goggles for her birthday.  She loves them. As well as her new water bottle. These three year olds are certainly easy to please.  It's the older ones who get a little more particular!

At three Shayli is our little sweet heart.  She loves her siblings and is happy to be the youngest one that gets doted on.  She loves to twirl hair.  Especially her mommy's.  Every night  before she goes to bed I lay by her and she tugs out my hair tie and commences to twirl and stroke my hair.  (And I have a confession.....I actually love it too.)  She tries her hardest to keep up with Kyson and does a pretty good job of it.  She is also a sugar fiend and I'm usually telling her she cannot have a cookie for breakfast on a regular basis.  She has the sweetest little voice and has a way of working her way into everyone's heart! (Maybe I'm biased.  But it's my blog so I get to be)  Happy birthday Shayli!

Tahoe Retreat

There are sometimes perks that come along with Ryan's job.  For instance, the time we got an all expense paid trip to Lake Tahoe for the weekend........  ;)  I know. I'm jealous of myself.

We went up Friday afternoon and got there just in time to freshen up and head out to an expensive restaurant with the rest of the group.  (I'm having a brain freeze or I would tell you the name of the restaurant.)  All I know is I had food for three hours straight people.  Three hours straight.  Appetizers galore, salad, entree, and dessert.  Have you ever had grilled watermelon?  Well you should try it.

After that it was almost midnight so it was back to the hotel to sleep off the food.  We got up the next morning and decided to go for a hike.  It was beautiful as expected.  At noon, we headed back to the hotel because Ryan was going golfing on the super nice and super expensive course that is up there.  I, on the other hand, had the the afternoon to myself.  So I read my book and walked around all the little shops. And I found myself some super cute sunglasses.  Which I didn't buy because apparently sunglasses don't fall under "all inclusive."

After Ryan got back from golfing, it was back to another awesome restaurant that overlooked the lake.  It was beautiful and delicious and fun to watch the big boats on the lake.  We had a great weekend!  Thanks Aunt Liz for watching the kids!

Happy 4th of July!

We celebrated the 4th of July by waking up early and enjoying a pancake breakfast with our Ward.

After that, we hit the pool for a barbeque at Jenni's house.  It was super hot so we were super happy to cool off! We ended the night with our own display of fireworks.  I was ready for bed after all the excitement.

 The next day we headed up to Avery which is in our old neck of the woods.  Just a bit farther up into the mountains.  We had another pool party and barbeque with friends from our old ward.  We are always happy to have an excuse to get together and see everyone!  The kids kept busy riding the Caboda, jumping on the tramp, having a lip sync, swimming and playing in the tree house.  Overall, it was a great weekend with great company! Happy 4th of July!

Newport 2014

We have been partying all summer long in case you were wondering.......Here are some pictures from our trip to Newport Beach this year.  

buried alive!

 You can see all the older girls out in the water with the boogie boards.  They loved it.

 Shayli loved climbing the lifeguard stand and jumping off it.  I finally just stopped watching because I was sure she was going to break her leg yet she insisted on continuing to do it. She has a little bit of Kyson in her.....She and Kaitlyn kept each other company climbing up and jumping off.

The mornings are always a bit chilly but it actually felt wonderful! We stayed in the beach house with Rob and Liz's family this year.

I asked my friend Jamie to take family pictures for us at the beach.  This is what Shayli looked like after we were done.  I was a little horrified to say the least.  But rest assured, we got some photos of her before she rolled around in the mud!

Kyson went out with his daddy to experience boogie-boarding.  I daresay it was a hit!

And really.  How much cuteness can you stand???

me and lexi

 We made sure to make a few villages with numerous castles and motes.  Unfortunately they just are too tempting for the little godzillas we had stomping around. They only lasted a few hours before they were crushed to smithereens!

Kendri was a boogie board champ! In fact she finally dragged me out with her and I was pleasantly surprised at how warm the water was.  I thought for sure I would be freezing!  We boogie boarded together for awhile until Kendri decided I was going out too far for her liking.  She went in to dry off while I stayed out and challenged the ocean.

 Lexi made sure to send a note off to Grandma and Pa in Colorado....I'm sure she was trying make someone envious......

What else did we do? Hmmmm......We long boarded down the boardwalk to get ice cream cones, we played capture the flag at night with glow-sticks, we roller bladed to get doughnuts, we had a barbeque with some old friends and just hung out at the beach!  We had a great time and the kids have decided that being professional beach bums doesn't sound half bad!

A tribute to the Giants.....

Sometimes Ryan gets free tickets to the Giants games. Actually he gets them quite often.  Anyhoo, he usually has 4 and then he sees who is available to go to the game with him.  Kyson just happened to be available the other night and jumped at the chance to go! He had the time of his life. 

He got on TV.  Which was kind of scary, he informed me later.  He was told to pretend the camera man wasn't there.  And Kyson did NOT want to screw up.  So he froze.  He actually looks like a statue for about 20 seconds.  It's funny.

He got to high-five Pence (I don't even know who that is but apparently I am the only one in the dark).

He also wanted to make sure he was even allowed in the ball park so he insisted on being treated like the adults.  No explosives here people.

Did I mention Kyson had the time of his life??  Because I'm pretty sure the cotton candy would've been enough for him.

But throw in an ice cream cone on top of an already perfect night???? Hog heaven.

Lexi got to go to the next Giants game. I was really worried about her night after Kyson had such an exciting time at his baseball game.  I needn't have worried......

Barry Bonds happened to be there.  And Lexi happened to get his autograph.  The End.

Ps. Kendri is next.  Keep your fingers crossed she catches a fly ball.

Happy Mother's Day!

I love Mother's Day.  My kids love it too.  I'm always sure to be showered with love. What can I say?  They love a good celebration!  This year was no exception.  I woke up to my ritual of Lucky Charms in bed and then was spoiled with poems, homemade jewelry, pictures, etc.  After church we went to Jenni's (Ryan's sister) house and the men cooked us dinner while we amused ourselves.  It was wonderful.  Thanks for making it a great Mother's Day!