Wacky Weather!

Today is has been raining all day! Not exactly what you expect for June 28th, but it's been kind of fun. Fun for all except for Claira! She insisted on putting on her swimsuit so she could swim but then was upset about being cold. Go figure.

We still went to swim and they practiced the backstroke and were being pelted in the face the whole time. But they were still happy and wanted to play in the baby pool afterwards. Those crazy kids!

Then we had hot chocolate and popcorn and watched Star Wars and Claira got in her snuggle jammies and all was well in the world again.

Thank you, phone, for capturing these precious memories.

Another Claira First....

Claira had a very traumatic event happen last night. Claira was stung by a bee! It was pretty much the saddest thing ever. I remember quite vividly the first time I was stung by a bee....I was at Oakdale Heights School running around after school waiting for my mom to be ready to leave and I stepped on a bee and Mrs. Speece helped me and I remember saying, "But I didn't do anything to it! I was just walking around!" I was very dramatic and crying (surprise surprise) and you would have thought my arm was cut off. Claira cried and cried and has some weird phobia about bandaids and ice and anything that will help her so we couldn't put anything on it and after crying for a while, just fell asleep in my arms. But today, she woke up fine and forgot all about it, and I did not dare remind her!

Nevada City.

Last Thursday night, right after the kids had a swim meet, we headed up to Nevada City to see Kathy. Unfortunately, the reason for her visit was that her dad passed away. He died a few months ago and the Harper family was getting together to bury his ashes in a family cemetery in North San Juan. But even though it was a sad reason to get together, it was a very fun two days. My kids were super excited to see Kathy and we left our house around 10pm and rolled into her little hotel room right after midnight. The room was small but we fit everyone! Jessie on a little bed in the back, Kathy and Camry slept on a roll out cot, Than, Gentry and I on the 'big' bed, and Claira and Pacen on the floor but in the middle of the night Claira climbed up with us and almost made Kathy pee her pants as she opened her eyes in the dark and all she saw Claira standing in the middle of the floor staring at her. Kath has watched way too many scary movies.

In the morning, we all got up and ready and found a place for breakfast. This was the breakfast crew. Walt and Becky and a lot of Harper relatives that I don't know really well all met up later for the service.

My kids hanging out at the hotel. If you are ever in the area and need a fun place for a getaway, go to Nevada City! It is so fun. Than and I went there for an anniversary and I just love it there. It's such a fun little town to walk around and look in the shops and everything is cute and old.

I had to zoom in on this one. Who doesn't love this sister love?

One of my favorite things about living out in California is that we have gotten to see Than's grandparents a bunch of times. Not many people get to have their grandma and grandpa around anymore. They are relatively healthy and very active and my kids love them and it's very special for me to watch those relationships. They are coming camping with us (staying in a hotel, of course!) and I can't wait! Who goes camping at 85 years old??? It's pretty amazing.

After breakfast we headed off to the town to enjoy the candy store and The Gray Goose to shop around. Kathy gave the kids each a dollar to spend and you would have thought she gave them the moon.

And Kathy grew up in this area and lo and behold, we are walking down the street and we hear, "Kathy!" and we turn around and it's Kathy's BFF from the 8th grade! It's a small world after all. :)

Just more proof that Gentry and I do exist.

We met up with a bunch of Harper's at Uncle George's house and then headed off to North San Juan for the service. This family doesn't get together very often and so it was neat to be kind of an observer to everyone catching up. There has been a lot of drama over the years but they all still love each other.

Walt, George, and Kim

Kathy's dad was John Jesse Harper. He was Than's grandma's brother. When Kathy was 12 (I think) her mom died of a heart attack and for a time, Kathy and her brother and sister, lived with Carolyn and that time really changed her life. It was a sacrifice for Carolyn and their family at the time but it was what they needed to do.

These are three of four remaining sibblings. I think there were 9 kids all together. Than's grandma is in the middle.

With the spouses....

The children...Kevin, Kim, and Kathy.

Here's one of the things I love most about Than. He just helps. It's not like anything was that planned, but he was there and saw a need, and just helped without being asked. Love that guy.

Kevin has some name stones made and so they got the concrete ready and poured in his ashes and then put the stone in.

Than's grandpa, Herm, said a few words that were very fitting for the occasion at the request of John. He said that he lived his life the best that he knew how, and that with the little knowledge that he did have, he didn't always make the best decisions but that it was the best he could do. And he reminded all of us of the scripture that says where much is given, much is required. We have a lot of responsibility to do good since we have been so very blessed.

The kids were super through the whole thing. Really patient and just listened. I kind of love that picture of Camry and Pacen though. They crack me up.

We love Kathy and we were glad to be there to support her. She's always to good to us and our kids. We're lucky to have her and just wish she'd move out here to California!

The Taylor's Came!

To answer Annette's question from Jana's blog, I have been BUSY!!! It's not surprising. Than and I keep having the conversation about having to say no to some things but not actually saying no to anything at all. But somehow we make it work and we're all happy and tired for it. I'll blog about the most recent thing that we did and perhaps I'll work my way back.

Monday afternoon, the Taylor's came to visit! We had a fantastic visit but there was one major problem the first two days. It was SO DANG HOT!!! And our house has no A/C. I really think that anyone else would have just left because it really was miserable at night and the kids were up way too late just talking and sweating. Monday afternoon we tried to beat the heat (and wear out the kids!) by heading over to Bill and Peggy's to play on the most awesome tire swing ever. That thing is so much fun. But I didn't have my camera! ARGH! We swung in their shade and the kids played in the sprinklers and had a great time. Monday night Shauna and I got to hang out that night by ourselves while we shopped for Daisy's birthday and when do we ever just get to go out and shop??? I think it was a first but let's hope not the last. :)

Tuesday was Daisy's birthday!

Happy third birthday, Daisy! She is really such a sweet little girl. Sometimes a little stinker but mostly sweet. But aren't those the best kind of girls anyway???

Shauna bought donuts for her birthday breakfast and my kids couldn't have been more pleased. I love the sprinkle right on Claira's nose. She opened presents and then.....

...we all decided to go to Six Flags!

A super fun day, but also a super HOT day. Probably the hottest day of the year. I think this picture shows it best.

Let's just see how close I can get to that mist! I was white trash and got myself totally soaked with water in my clothes, but it felt so good! We watched some shows, got soaked by a killer whale, rode some rides, Camry got brave and rode the snake roller coaster FOUR times, and Heidi and Pacen were just cute because they we brave together and wanted to wait just so they could be in the front.

And Shauna, Kaylee, Heidi, and Pacen even rode on that! They are getting so big.

That night we celebrated the birthday some more with an ice cream cake!

We hung outside letting the kids play and waited for the house to cool off. Even with all the blinds and windows shut it was still like a little oven in there!

Some of us were happier than others....

I can't remember what set him off. I think he tripped and was not happy about it. :)

And meet the Optometrist! He's officially graduated so now we can get free exams! Oh wait...I meant now he can get a real job and not be a student anymore! Woohoo!

The little BFF's. This could have been the cutest moment of the day when Claira says, "Daisy, you want some of my cake?" and then continues to feed her even though Daisy has a plate of her own. They are so cute!

For Ben's graduation present, we offered to watch their kids overnight and send them into the city for a little overnight date night. They had NEVER left their kids. Heidi is seven so it's been a long time. We sent them to Tiburon where Than and I went a little while ago and they loved it! I kept getting texts of things like, "This is the BEST day ever!" That made my heart happy. While they were having a fantastic day, I was watching all the kids! That would be 8 kids 7 and under. That's a lot of kids if you were wondering. But they played really well. And Than was here to help on Wednesday afternoon. The hardest thing is just feeding that many kids. Dinner was kind of a mess, but it was also rushed because we had a swim meet that night. We took all the kids and got some very interesting looks from people, but it was more easy than having to entertain them at home. And Pacen and Cam did great! They are getting to be good little swimmers!

That night everyone crashed in the living room. Even Penny.

While we were at Six Flags, I caved and bought all the kids cheap little capes, and they LOVED them! But, the didn't have any masks to go with them, so I took a little mommy lesson from my friend, Cari (her little boy lives in masks and capes!), and looked on a blog how to make them and voila! Now we had masks! I have to thank my mom because I took all of her sewing stuff and every now and then I'll do a little project and she'll have just what I need in her sewing stuff. She had just enough elastic in her box. It was a little present from her that was greatly appreciated! Love you mom!

Did you know that masks and capes make you run so fast the camera can't catch up with you??? (Or really I just had my camera on the wrong setting! I think they still run faster.)

They spent the day in "training" and fighting bad guys. Pacen had to train all the girl superheroes. They were pretty darn cute.

After all that playing, we all felt like this!

But we are so glad that they came to visit! It was totally crazy but totally fun. It was like a mini preview of camping in Fort Bragg with all the Hancock's next week. Bun instead of 12 people there will be 28. YIKES! Doesn't more people just mean for fun?!?! I think it does.