San Diego

Off we go!  Its about time we take a vacation!  After covid and a crazy few months - we all needed to load a plane an fly away for a few days.    We flew out of Idaho falls, right to San Diego.  The kids were excited to fly and did great!  They had their markers, paper, and ipads - ready to color and watch movies for a couple hours in the airport and on the plane.

Once we got to San Diego, we picked up the rental car, checked into the motel, got some dinner and headed to the beach!  

These Idaho girls stepping onto the California coast line was so sweet to watch.  They all just ran to the water - and jumped over the waves, all three of them squealing the whole time.  (sounds like a bunch of little piglets swimming) 

 

We were not prepared with swimming suits - I thought it was late enough that it would be cold.  The kids didnt care, they all ended up soaking wet.

 

We stayed until the sun set.  Willow was sleeping in her stroller the whole time.  But these three had a blast!

Willow 17 months

Little Willow will turn 18 months old in July, so before we enter toddler years I need to document more about this little baby girl.   She is still the sweetest thing - but only when it is just mom, dad, and sisters at home with her.  Invite anyone else in the house, or go anywhere and she is leery and shy of others.   

She is really good at shaking her head 'no' - and saying "mmmmh mmm", and in No.    She has said "mmmh hmmm" as in yes a few times too.  Its kind of nice being able to ask her yes and no questions.  She has an opinion about most things I ask her.   

She can say "ot-oh" when she drops something.

She says something that sounds like "I see it" and "I did it",  But its all baby talk - jumbled together. 

Sailyr taught her to wave the other day - its funny she hasn't figured that one out yet. Probably because she is so shy - she never has felt the need to tell anyone goodbye. :)

She is walking all over the place - still in the very beginning walking stage where they hold their hands up and walk around like monkeys.  Its cute!

She loves sitting on my lap, and has started getting mad if one of her sisters is sitting on my lap.  She will some and squeeze her way onto my lap and try and kick them off.  The other day on the front porch she was sitting on my lap with a binky in her mouth, one in her hand and a sippy.  :)  She loves her binkies and sippies.

Little baby feet on the front porch.....

The other day I went in to wake her up, because it was like 6:30 and she was still napping.  She was so cute with her binky in her mouth and her sippy in her hand.  :)  and dirty little face from playing outside with sisters.

She loves baby dolls, and will pack one around the house if she finds one.  

Her favorite food is cheese.  If we get a brick of cheese out of the fridge she will yell at us until we giver her a slice.  

Sailyr taught her how to pick flowers the other day - they were actually in the orchard picking these little clover weed things.  But now Willow picks all of my flowers from the baskets on my front porch.  

She thinks her sisters are so funny - they are usually the only ones who can get her to laugh.

She loves going on walks with us in the evenings. 

Loves when we ask her what puppies and kitties say.  She wont bark or meow yet, but she will laugh when one of her sisters does.  

She sings when she hears music.  Its super cute and I cant remember any of my other babies singing. 
 

 And she is still the favorite around our house.  All of her sisters are obsessed with her!

Stampede days parade

Devin and I are officially getting old.  We had plans of camping this weekend, but then we decided we were just too exhausted to get the camp trailer ready.  Ha!  Honestly- we are not as ambitious as we used to be.  

so instead we just stayed home this weekend.  We swam in the pool, got some yard projects done.  It was Stampede weekend, so the girls were in the parade with their cheer group.  They had a blast!  Sailyr has been in a parade with cheer before,  but this was fin and indie's first time.  They loved it! 

Below - fin and indie are sitting in the front, left corner.  Sailyr is in the back, 3rd from the left. 

 Incase you were wondering- yes, my entire paycheck goes to my kids activities.  😅

update

Well -  we got the new car.  It was not what I thought we would end up with when we started car shopping.  And as selfish as this may sound, I don't love it.  I didn't want a new car -  I wanted a used car.  But because of Covid - car shopping is much different than it has ever been.  There is a lack of chips - or some technology that they use in cars now, and becuase of that they cant make cars as quick as they used to?  So used car values have gone up, making it just as expensive to buy used than buy new.  Its hard to find a used car, and its hard to find a new car.  We had to just pick from a list of cars that were going to be delivered soon - most of them already sold - and wait for it to come in.  Luckily ours was on its way in, but some places we went to had a couple of months wait list.  

Since used cars were so much money we felt practically forced to buy new.  And I dont love that I was forced to do anything.  Its a bigger payment than I was wanting - and its a nicer car than I was wanting.  That sounds crazy, but I have 4 young kids - I dont want to feel stressed about keeping it perfect.  

I walked by Willow's room the other day and all 4 of the kids were in there playing. 

And we do have a garden this year.  It probably wont be as awesome as our past gardens - but we got the pumpkins planted so thats all that matters to me.

It was a miracle we got the pumpkins in the ground - life has been so busy. 

 

Pool!

These pics were taken throughout last week.  I think the kids have swam every day since we got the pool.  It was a life saver this week because every day I think we reached 90 degrees.

We didn't fill it up all the way, so that Indie would be able to touch.  She can walk around in it - it comes to about her neck.  This pool has be a little bit of a worry for me, and I made sure to text all the mom's of small kids that live around us to warn them about our pool.  The fence helps - I feel like we can be much safer knowing that little kids cant just get to the pool without going through a gate.

On friday we all got in the pool - then the kids convinced us that we needed more floaties.  So we ran to walmart and bought a few more pool toys.  We also bought this tiny pool for Willow and Birdie.  But Willow LOVED the big pool.  She loved the cooler water, and being able to kick around in it.   Once I put her in the big pool - she wanted nothing to do with the little pool.

 

Girls night

When devin's golf league starts up, that means girls night starts up.  This was our first official girls night of the summer, and my week to plan.  I really wanted to get gel toes for the summer.  So I took girls night to the mall for manicures and pedicures.   Fin and indie wanted their nails painted.  Sai and I got our toes done.  Willow sat and the edge of my seat, and put her toes in the water too.  She LOVED it, and started yelling when they drained the water.  It was funny.  

 

Swimming pool

Back in March we decided we would buy the kids a pool this year.  So we got online to buy one, and apparently due to covid everyone and their dog wanted a pool too.  It seemed all the stores were completely sold out.  There was probably a lack of pools too - but who knows.  All I know is if we wanted to buy one, we were looking at over $800. 

We obviously were not about to spend that much.  

This weekend devin was telling me that temperatures were hitting 90 all week.  Next thing I know he is considering buying a pool on ebay.  I told him no way, we will go to the lake if we are melting.  

But then, we randomly found ourselves in Walmart staring at a swimming pool.  We could hardly believe it.  It wasn't on a shelf, just sitting in a aisle, and it was the only one there.

Devin put his hand on it while I went to find someone to give us a price check.  

$289.

Sold! 

When we got home I went in the house and yelled at the kids. Telling them they made a huge mess in the car and they had to go clean it.  They were surprised to find a swimming pool in the car instead!  It was funny, we had to trick them a little. 

It took ALL day to fill up. 

 

And the kids and their friends lived in it today!   Next time I complain about all the kids living in my yard, just remind me that we do this to ourselves.   😂  but really, sailyr and fin's friends came over.  And of course Indie bounced in and out of it all day.