Thank You

Thank you to all the men and women who serve and protect our country.

Thank you. Thank you.

We went over to the Shafers home for swimming and BBQ last night for Memorial Day. I love that we have such great friends out here. They are just like family to us.

Emmry loves the water and thought that Tage was the best entertainment all night. I love that Tage adores his little sister. It's the cutest thing ever to see him play with her.

What you MUST wear when cleaning up dog poop

1. Dad shoes

2. Swimming goggles (I personally would choose the kind that cover your nose too)

I asked Tage to go out and clean up dog poop and when I looked out the window to see if he really was doing it this is what I saw....(please don't look at our "grass" as you can tell we don't have any)

Camping in San Diego

May 22-25

The Hunt family invited us to join them camping in San Diego this past week. It was a bit of a last minute decision (ok, not that last minute. 6 days prior notice) and after having problems with the excursion the day before we were planning on leaving and deciding that we just can't drive the excursion the morning of, we debated whether we were even going to go. But after downsizing ALOT (only taking one tent, no bikes, minimal clothes, no stroller, packing only the basic necessities) we crammed it all into the car and hit the road!

We stayed in a hotel Sunday night which was literally 3 minutes from South Carlsbad State Park (where we camped Monday and Tuesday night). We had such a relaxing vacation. Very low key! We hung out on the beach, roasted mellows, played horseshoes, tossed the football and frisbee, flew kites, made tunnels in the sand, played in the water, picked sand out of our toes and so much more low key things. We really did enjoy it! No Lego land, no Sea World, no crazy schedules, just did whatever we wanted when we wanted! Honestly this was the perfect vacation for Tage. He LOVES the ocean and would rather just play at the beach than do anything else.

Ty and Tage attempting to fly a $2 kite. It wasn't really a success, but good intentions though

Emmry and I played in the rocks watching the boys. It was so cute, Emmry would pick up a rock, look at it carefully, and then either put it in her pile by her feet or back on the ground. She loved it!

First time in the ocean! Emmry is a little fish. She LOVES the water. Warm or cold she doesn't care. She would kick her legs and make sounds when we got close to it.

Picking teams for a short game of horseshoes

Tyson's head got burned the first day so he bought a bandanna.

The Frandsen's used to live here in Arizona but then moved to San Diego 2 years ago. It was fun to meet up with them for a little bit!

Along the pier in Mission Bay. People would fish off the pier all day long

Pelicans waiting for some free food. I could literally get 4 feet from them until they though I was invading their bubble.

Roasting mellows with the Hunts

On the way up to the Old Point Loma Lighthouse.....

.....you pass by Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma Military Base. Oh my what a breathtaking site. It is sobering to see so many service members and their families resting there. So many honorable men and women. Over 91,000 people are buried in Fort Rosecrans. Row after row of perfectly aligned white marble headstones dated back to 1846. I could have spent hours wondering through the 77.5 archers.

Lorie V Photography

My sweet friend Lorie took Emmrys 7 month pictures last month. I got the CD back last week and just wanted to share a few.
Ahhhhhhh my sweet baby.

http://lorievphotography.com/

The BIG three-zero!

Goodbye 20's. Hello 30's.

Happy Birthday to me!

Emmry woke up about 6:30, which is normal, so I went downstairs and did a few things. Tage came down not too long after. I asked him what the heck he was up so early for when it is his first day of summer vacation and he could sleep in! He said he just wasn't tired and was excited for my birthday. Huh, ok. The bathroom door had been left open so Zeus drank out of the toilet so I asked Tage to get a towel and clean it up. He whined and complained. I pulled the "it's my birthday, you should be nice and just do what I ask you to do" line and then told him to go to his room and back to bed.

After I fed Emmry she fell back to sleep. Sweet! I thought to myself, it's only 8:00am! Tage is back asleep, Emmry is asleep, I should go back to bed! So I did! About an hour later I hear something being taped outside my bedroom door. Then Emmry woke up. Tage whispered through the baby monitor and asked if he could get her out and bring her to me. We all played on Mom and Dads bed which is Tages favorite thing to do on the weekends when Ty and I don't want to get out of bed. I guess by 9:45 am it's time for breakfast. So when I went ot go downstairs this is what I saw....

Each paper a single letter going all the way up the stairs saying:

H a p p y B i r t h d a y M o m I l o v e y o u {then a picture of a bull dog that had To:Dad From:Tage with Dad scratched out and Mom written above it} s o s o m u c h

that explained the sound of ripping tape.

I loved it! I smiled and said thank you. And this is what he said:

"I was just waited in my room for you to tell me I could come out. I was in there for 2 hours and got kinda bored so I just decided to make you this. But then I had to get out and get some tape. Happy Birthday Mom!

What?! Really?! I thought he was asleep! I left my kid in "time out" for 2 hours! Mother Of The Year award goes to.....me!

Later we did the whole birthday singing and open presents but didn't dig into the cake just then. Ty and I went to dinner with the Jeppsons and the Lambs. We left Tage at Jeppsons with a babysitter (he WANTED a babysitter! We gave him the option of coming with us, but he wanted to have a babysitter because he hadn't had one in "4 years!")

After dinner at Carrabbas (I had never been there so I wanted to try it. Yumm-o!) we all met back at the Jeppson's to enjoy cake and ice cream!

That was it! We came home, Tage went to bed. Ty and I plopped ourselves on the couch. He watched Discovery channel or the History channel and I crocheted. We are definitely old.

Higher Mommy, higher!

First time in the swing

And if you can't tell, she really loved it!

Schools out!

Today was the last day of school! Tage is no longer a second grader!

For the past few years it has always been super hot the last day of school so we have had a party at the pool, but this year it has been cooler and was too cold for the pool so we did 'pizza at the park!' The kids played and the Moms talked. Perfect!

Bring it on summer! I'm ready for you!

8 months

And I didn't even get a picture of her on this exact day. Bummer.

Emmry:
is petite and so stinkin' cute
loves to watch Baby Signing Time
loves to go on bike rides in her bike trailer
army crawls backwards
says dadadadada a lot
growing up waaaaaay to fast
cutest button nose
gets excited when she sees Zeus

Emmry,
You are the sweetest girl ever and I can't imagine my life without you. I love you so so so much. I am amazed at all the things you have learned to do and this is just the beginning. I absolutely adore you my sweet baby.

Love always,
Mom

otter pop

Emmry didn't know quite what to think about it.

She made some pretty funny faces. It was quite comical.

What's on your mind?

A couple weeks ago in church that question was asked. What's on your mind?

It hit me hard. What is on my mind? And then I realized it all funneled down to FAMILY.

All during the day and even when I am awake at night feeding Emmry and staring at the wall, I'm thinking about....
Emmry
Tage
Tyson
church
cleaning
journaling
food (I get hungry at 3 am too ya know)
life in general
goals
and so much more....

...you get the picture. But every. single. one of those things can be traced to my family. Yes, even food. (if I don't cook for them. They will starve and die.)

I LOVE my family. I LOVE that I have the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which allows me to be with them FOREVER.

A year ago today......

I felt this little squirt in my belly. Now, she fills my heart with nothing more than happiness.

I love being a Mother. I love how I am needed in such a big way. I love that God trusted me enough to be a Mother.

I am a Daughter of God. I am a Mother.

Happy Mothers Day!

Bobcat

Now that Tage is 8 yrs old he gets to go to Scouts! He has already passed off all the requirements for his Bobcat award and last night at Pack Meeting and he recieved his award. Good job Tage!

More than just mad

I'm really disappointed.
Who with? Zeus.
Why? He DESTROYED my garden!

I have been so good at keeping him in the dog run when he is outside. He had ruined my garden enough times that he could no longer be "free" in the backyard. On Sunday I took him for a walk and then had Tage turn on the water in the backyard for him to drink out of. Well, I got distracted (like most Mom's do because we have a million things running through our head and a million things to do) and needless to say I forgot about him and didn't put him in the run. Later that night I realized what he had done. I wasn't fuming mad. I was just really really disappointed. For some reason I think that being really disappointed is worse than being extremely mad. So now I hope my bell pepper plant pulls through along with a few (maybe just a couple) beans, peas, and carrots. I'm so sad. The smaller garden area we made for Tage has cucumbers, tomatoes and squash. They seem to be doing ok, Zeus has never really bothered with that section. So at least we will get a little produce out of our sad little garden.

Pink Trail to Awareness

Another activity through our community.

Vistancia's Pink Trail to Awareness.

A 5K walk along Vistancia's discovery trail this past Saturday morning. The weather was perfect. The reason to walk, perfect. Everything was just perfect. It all started with a short opening ceremony talking about breast cancer, stories of survivors, recognizing and thinking about those who have cancer. It was inspiring. There was over 100 people that registered to walk! And I'm sure that we had people join in as they saw what was going on. What a great sight it was to see all those come out and support not only our community, but those that fight this nasty disease.

My friend Aimee and her daughter Olivia joined me!

Ready to go!