Vacation

Its SO hard to come back from vacation.  I can still smell the candy shops on main-street of Disneyland and see those huge colorful lollypops in my minds eye. Ahhh........Great....now I'm drooling.

Cousins Preslee, Cash, and Tag were able to join us for the first part of the trip, making our holiday even more fun.

 Disneyland was incredible. The kids were in heaven since they were finally tall enough (not Lucy) to ride the "cool" rides. Favorite rides for Abby and Parker included Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. We rode those A LOT. Lucy set the record for most rides on "the pooh ride." She probably rode it at least 15 times during the trip. That is all she wanted to do with an occasional tea cup ride thrown in. Grandma Jan is now a pooh ride expert!

 Karen and Cousin Cole also stopped in for some Disneyland action. It was so good to see them.What a red-headed cutie!

California Adventure has an animation area, where the animators teach you how to draw different characters. Of course Abby loved this. When we were done and compared our sketches hers was undoubtedly the best. Again....where did this talent come from????

 

Ran into Ann, David, and Jack at Disneyland. Seriously, what were the odds that we ended up on the same log together unintentionally. They are wonderful people.

 

And my favorite....Lucy decided to potty train herself on the trip. Hey... when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Jake the Cat

When we were looking at houses....oh, I dont know....six months or so ago...we went to a foreclosed house that had a really cute red barn. And in that really cute red barn, lived a really nice black cat. And my really cute 5 year old son, fell in love with that cat, so much so that we went back many, many, times to feed it. But then the house sold. We contemplated stealing the nice cat for our saddened son, but decided that probably wasn't the right thing to do. So we promised our cute five year old, that when we get a house of our own, he could have a barn cat just like the one in the cute red barn.

Well six months or so later, we moved into our new house, and that five year old did NOT forget our promise. In fact he reminded us of it. So we agreed we would go to the humane society, and adopt an OUTDOOR ONLY kitten the day after we moved in. So we did. And that five-year old loved his orange tabby more than any boy could love a pet.

Soon after we adopted the kitten we noticed that there was a large hawk who lived in the tree in our backyard. (Remember, we had only lived in our house a day or so.) A large, red hawk....who would love to eat the nice little kitten for a snack. So the outdoor kitten soon became an indoor kitten. One that sleeps on our beds, and sits on our laps. Now I have a litter box in my laundry room, and cat toys on the floor. How did this happen????

 

Meet Jake the cat, (aka: Jakey) who weaseled his way into this family.  He allows two-year-olds to carry him around (even by the tail.) He likes it when our dog wrestles with him. He doesn't mind when certain 7 year olds dress him up, or a 5 year old makes him stay in his fort. My kids are obsessed with him, and I cant believe I am saying this...but I sort of like him too.

August Catchup

In August we moved into our new house. We finally have a home we can call our own. It is my dream to die in this house. I know that sounds weird, but really I am prepared to live here the rest of my life. It was everything both Taylor and I wanted. The house was a foreclosure on ten acres and needs A LOT of work. Some day I will post before and after pics, but for now you will have to settle with some outside BEFORE photos.

Also in August, the kids went back to school. I cant believe my little boy is a kindergartner. I am pretty sure the moment you have kids, your life speeds up ten-fold. I couldnt get my camera to work on the first day of school, so I had to use my phone. Then for some reason my phone would only take photos in black and white that day. Grrrrrr.......Are you seeing a pattern of complete craziness in my summer posts???? Im so glad we survived the insanity.

July Catch Up

July was filled with birthdays, packing, cleaning, working, and chaos.

For Parkers fifth birthday we threw an on-the-fly pizza and swim party with his best little buds. And when I say on the fly, I mean I invited people pretty much that day. Terrible I know....

Lucy turned two this July.  She got cupcakes and presents at home. I vow that next year I will be better at documenting her day. :(

Happy birthday to both you!!! I love you~

June Catch Up

Im back....and I cannot say that the last 4 months have not been a complete ridiculous whirlwind. I dont think I have been so busy since well....never, or at least so tired since Taylor was in lawschool and I was trying to hold everything together myself.

This summer I took two (and a half) trips to California for CrossFit. I was lucky enough to get to bring along the kids, and my totally fun teenage sister-in-law for one of the trips. I only had to "work" in the evenings which left a lot of beach time for us during the week. I would have loved to have shown you some of the totally awesome CrossFit Kids stuff I saw too, but felt awkward taking photos of random children exercising without their parents permission. Creapy!!! You'll have to settle for beach pics.

It must be nice to run "free" on the beach!!!

We were even able to meet up with my good friend Jo from Pepperdine on Coronado island. Boy, do I miss her!

"Busy" the Ultimate Understatement

Seriously, this summer was crazy. SO FUN, but SO crazy. And not just a little crazy, but insane, knock you off your feet crazy.

NO, I cannot exhale yet. Just get me through to September and then maybe I can come up for air.

AND through the absolute chaos of buying a house, birthdays, traveling for Crossfit Certs, multiple summer camps, and oh yeah my new job....I have somehow lost my camera cord. Did I leave it in that hotel in Alpine, or the motel in Ramona? Or maybe its in the back of my car. I wouldn't know. Ordering a new one right now would be pointless. Ill be lucky to get Parker and Lucy's July b-day pics up in September....sorry guys!

And now I must return to the craziness. I promise pics (a whole bunch of 'em) when I return.

Just Because...

Just Because I want to see this again in 10 years.

And that concludes me blatantly ripping photos from other peoples blogs.