Let the Backyard Rennovation Begin!

I don't know if you can call it a rennovation if there was never anything done to it in the first place, so maybe its a makeover. Anyway, we invited my Dad and brother down the first weekend in August to help us jump start our project.

In the morning, before these pics were taken the weeds in our yard were as tall as the fence, creating a lovely home for dozens of hornets and these camouflage little fellas.

Yeah, we had three frogs living in our backyard for who knows how long! Anyway, Dad and Logan were superstars and helped rototill the whole backyard, install a beautiful new fan in the playroom,

build a new fence gate,

and build a privacy fence to hide our garbage cans.

Thanks Dad, Logan, and Branden!!!

P.S.I'm sure this is blasphemous for many out there, but... I think we will pay someone else from now on to do all our yard stuff. :)

Vacation Extended

We brought our niece McKyla home with us from Idaho after our trip, and we spent the next week galavanting about central California with her, so it really didn't feel like our vacation had truly ended.We took a day trip to San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay. San Luis is a really chic town that I'd love to go back and explore without toting kids around. This picture, however, is in front of the really disgusting "gum wall" there. Just an entire alley decoratedly stuffed with people's chewing gum. The photo doesn't do the gross-ness of it justice.Nora's addition.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the beach, because our 11-year-old niece had NEVER BEEN TO THE BEACH BEFORE. Outrageous! She loved it and especially had fun collecting seashells.






We ended the day with a stop on the boardwalk for some traditional fish and chips. Our children were by far the noisiest thing in that restaurant, but at least they were happy.

Later on in the week, we headed to Sequoia National Park/Forest?, home of the giant sequoia trees. We had actually never been though, so McKyla's visit gave us a great excuse to check it out. The trees were pretty amazing and it was nice to do a little hiking.






So now vacation is officially over and its back to normal, whatever that means!

July Vacation

We took a two week vacation in July to get out of the Visalia heat and visit some of our loved ones. We did a enormous amount of driving but it was worth it to hang out with all the family. We started by heading over to Denver, with pit stops in Las Vegas and Loa, Utah (thanks for the visit, Grammy and Grandpa!). We had a blast spending a few days with Stepharter and their kids. Nora and Reese got a long SO well this time and I would love for them to be able to play more often.
Emery and Ike actually did pretty well together too, with Emery teaching her little cuz how to crawl.

We arrived on Nora's 3rd birthday and Steph had decorated her place with balloons and streamers in her honor, as well as baked really cool cupcake ice cream cones. (Thanks Steph - that was awesome!)


The view from Steph and Carter's backyard. Fantastic! We LOVED the cool summer weather there. Even the summer showers were a welcome change to our heat waves at home.

Steph and Carter also very graciously offered to babysit our munchkins while we explored downtown Denver together. This larger-than-life cleaning sculpture is in front of the museum of art. Although I still need to visit CO in the snowy months to be sure, we have pretty much decided that the Denver area will probably be our "settling place" in a few years. We've already got Steph there, Bri is almost certain to come back there with he CO native hubby, and if we move there, Mom and Dad may eventually follow. We'll have the majority there, so that means that's where they'll want to be, right? :) We'll see how it all works out.




After Denver, we headed for Branden's parents' home in Smithfield, Utah. Nora got to spend a week with her cousin Audrey who was visiting from New York.


We took a quick side trip to visit my sister Briana and have dinner at Gandolfo's with her cute family.

We ended the week with a birthday celebration at Grandma's with a majority of the Utah/Idaho clan joining us.
Ike with his great-Grandma Nelson. I think she is 94 this year.

Throughout our vacation of endless driving and assorted and many stresses, my husband was a champ. I love him like crazy and I am so glad he's mine forever!

Father's Day Photo Shoot

Ike was a little freaked out by his first picture session, but we got one good one of him to give to Daddy. Nora was our little star, as always!

Father's Day

We were lucky enough to have my dad and mom and brother join us for Father's Day weekend. It was a very eventful three days: Dad and Logan tirelessly applied three coats of pink paint to Nora's bedroom - thank you!!! - meanwhile I locked my mom, the kids, myself and my purse out of our car at the mall and the guys were too absorbed in their painting to pick up their phones. I had to call my friend to drop by our house to get their attention. They didn't even hear the knocking or door bell so Tera volunteered to go on a special ops mission through our jungle of a backyard to wrap on their window - Thanks Tera!!!

We all went to see Toy Story 3 - just "ehh" compared to the others I thought - and then Logan opened his mission call with us and all the other sisters on speakerphone. He's headed to the Peru Arequipa mission - I'm so excited for him! And how cool that he'll actually be learning a useful language. Not that Dutch isn't cool and all... :)

Then on Sunday the guys had to undergo an ice cream taste test with Branden emerging as the clear??? winner.

And that was followed up by the customary Sunday snooze for some of us.