What to do in a Power Outage

when it goes out at 3:40 P.M. and it is hotter in the house than it is outside. You pull out the little smokey. . .


and roast some marshmallows for s'mores . . .

and set up the tent to sleep in the backyard (because the house is a full 20 degrees warmer than it is outside).

The power did go back on about 12:30 A.M. and we could hear all the neighbors shouting with joy, but it didn't go back on before school was cancelled for the day, now to figure out how to entertain all the kids today. :)

Busy Weekend!

This weekend has been a long weekend full of fun activities. On Thursday Zane turned 5.


On Friday we went to the bay and had a BBQ and bonfire (sorry no pics).
On Saturday we had Zane's party with 15 kids. They had so much fun at our water party.



On Sunday we had dinner at my parents and celebrated 3 other family Birthdays (once again sorry no pics).
Then on Monday the boys went fishing. They got the gear for Christmas and have been begging to go since then. Jeff finally took them.

Zane caught a fish. He was so excited! Can you see it?

Then we had a pool party in the rain at Aunt RaNae's. Zander loves the water and is now venturing around the pool on his own.




Also soccer started in the beginning of August. Here are the boys with their teams.

Wating for Daddy to come home

Zander loves being in the front yard. Any chance he gets he goes out there to play (which is why we have installed an additional lock on top of the door to keep him in). He even goes through the backyard gate to get out front. Luckily we live on a very quiet street and don't have much traffic.

Well yesterday I saw him out there just sitting in the spot where Jeff parks his car when he gets home from work.



Here is the close up.

When I asked him what he was doing he replied, "Daddy come home" and gave me this huge smile. Such a ham.

Day of Firsts

Today is the first day of School. Here is Zackery ready to go to 1st grade! Zack almost didn't go to school today. We thought he might be sick so he kept him home but all he wanted to do was play the ipad and he was acting fine so he went in an hour late. I think it was just beginning of school jitters.

Zane is so excited to be in Kindergarten this year! He couldn't wait. When I said goodbye to him on the playground after meeting his teacher he gave me the longest hug. Love this kid!

A first for Ali too. Her first pigtails.

She has 4 teeth too.

Lots of catching up to do

I haven't posted in a while so here are the latest happenings.

OLD POWAY PARK TRAIN

My sister came into town for the 4th and we went to old poway park to ride the train. The boys absolutely love when the cousins come.

4TH OF JULY PANCAKE BREAKFAST

My ward has an annual pancake breakfast on the 4th of July. Here Ali is pushing Cierra and this is one of Alis's favorite things to do lately.

There was face painting and Kathy's (family friend) therapy dog. Ali loves animals. She couldn't get enough of Puka.

4TH OF JULY AT AUNT RANAE'S

Another annual tradition is going swimming at Aunt RaNae's house on the 4th. She always has it decorated so cute and such yummy food. She even had a slip and slide I had to try.

The pool was so nice. We swim at Aunt RaNae's quite a bit during the summer.

TSFL NATIONAL CONVENTION

I just got back from a long weekend in Florida. It was the 2011 TSFL convention and it was great!


Me with Dr. A when he signed my book. He is the reason TSFL got started.

My mom, June, me and Tracy (my roomies and team).


Some updates on Ali. She now has 3 teeth that have come in this month, she is now running around and has such a sweet and happy disposition. It is so fun having a girl. The video below is from last month when Jeff and I went to dinner with Aunt RaNae. Ali was sharing her new trick with us.

She's Walking

3 days after she turned One she decided she was ready. I thought it would have happened a lot sooner, she was walking around furniture and standing up from sitting in the middle of the room since 9 months (plus I walked at 9 months so I thought she would be a early walker too).



This was a few weeks ago, now she is pivoting and turning around and walking all over the place. She has a Frankenstein style of walking still but is getting pretty good at it.

Ali is 1 year old!

Little Miss Ali turned One Year Old today. I can't believe how she is changing into a little girl so quickly. I am enjoying all the time I can while she is still a baby.



Ali opened her first present and LOVED her barbie doll. She didn't want to open anything else.

Notice how she is still holding that Barbie.

She also got a baby doll that drinks a bottle then cries when the bottle is taken away. Ali thought that was so funny.

She is giving kisses to her new baby. I love all the girly stuff!

Ali was a crack up with her cake. I guess she didn't really like the frosting, as you can see in the video. She sure did have fun destroying her cake.

Ali is very vocal, she sings all the time in car seat and loves to dance anytime there is music on. She still doesn't have any teeth and isn't walking yet either. She walks on her knees which is pretty funny but she is getting around fast. She gives lots of hugs to family and loves being picked up so she can give hugs. She is a sweet girl and I love my baby girl!

Zackery is 6!

Zackery turned 6 on Wednesday so I made cake pops for him to bring to school.


Today we had a party for him with some friends. It was a pirate party.

So we made swords out of balloons and I had the kids make eye patches and pirate hats. I think they all had a really good time.

They even played soccer in the backyard. I love this pic of Zack he was to block the penalty shot.

Opening presents was so fun to watch. Zackery got so excited over each gift. This first one is with his new alarm clock from Grandma and Grandpa B (which he specifically asked for).


His friend Aidan got him this King Zhu hamster set. Zane was just as excited watching Zack open the presents, it was pretty funny.

Aunt RaNae and Great Grandpa B got him a boogie board so he can start going out with Daddy.

Zackery is such a good boy. He is my most obedient child and I am very thankful for him. He is such a good helper. He also is very sensitive to spiritual moments and others emotions. He has a big heart for a little guy. We love you Zack!

Memorial Weekend Beach BBQ

On Saturday we had a beach BBQ with some families in our ward. It was a really windy day and overcast (which means I got really burned!) The kids didn't care about the weather and had a blast playing in the sand and ocean.

By the afternoon all the babies were worn out and sleeping on all the mama's laps.

Zander's Surgery

On Wednesday Zander had his tonsils and adenoids removed. This seemed like a long time coming. We first noticed how bad his snoring and sleep apnea was when we went to Utah for Christmas and had him sleeping in the same room as us. So finally 6 months later we were able to get his surgery done. We are so happy to have it done and over with. This poor kid would wake himself up numerous times each night and always be tired.

Here is the best before picture we could get. There isn't much room in there.

Zander is waiting for them to call him into surgery. He has no idea what is to come.

After surgery he got to watch Dora, his favorite thing to watch, and try to recover. Zander had a harder time than Zane did. He cried A LOT after the surgery. He hated the IV and monitor they put on his finger. He kept complaining to get it off.

Let me just say how much I love and appreciate Jeff. He took the day off to take Zander to get the surgery done and then stayed the night with Zander at the hospital. He had to wake up early to take him and then got no sleep the entire night (it was a shared room), and he dealt with a miserable Zander the whole time. Such a great husband and daddy to let me stay home. He was really tired.

Here is how it went.




Now we can't hear Zander snoring at all and he can FINALLY breath through his nose. Hallelujah!

Water Table Fun

A few weeks ago we had a really warm day so I filled up the water table and the kids had a bunch of fun. Ali even loved it.

Zander can't help himself, every time the water table is out he ends up soaked to the bone because he climbs in at sits in it.

Here is a quick video. Ali is telling you about the fun she is having.

Father and Son Campout

Last weekend was the annual Father and Son Camp out with our church. Jeff got off half day and took the boys early. They were the first ones there and got to pick out their site and get all set up and then play for a couple hours before anyone else showed up. Here are the boys being silly.

The boys got to throw rocks in the water (a favorite pastime).

They also got to hike around the lake.

Here are Zack and Zane ready for bed.

And Zander ready for bed.


Jeff set him down then went to the van to grab a tissue and when he came back two minutes later he found this.

Over night Zander had a coughing fit which made him throw up all over the sleeping bag and his clothes (that was about 2 a.m.). So Jeff had to clean all that up then try to get Zander back to sleep. On the way home Zander fell asleep before they left the parking lot and the other two soon followed.