Newport Beach with Family and Friends

On July 8th my sister Daidre and her 4 kids arrived at my house from Texas. We were so excited to spend 3 weeks with them. Unfortunately Daidre didn't get to just come and relax at my house, I had to drag her to CA the very next day. I had photography shoots lined up and so we decided to have a little fun while we were in CA. Our first stop was Newport Beach:) My in-laws, sister-in law Kathy and her family, and my old neighbors from Upland all came with us. I was excited to spend time with family and friends.

This last March, while I was working in CA again, I took my kids to the beach to photograph them there. Jayden happened to get wiped out by a wave while fully dressed. He says he almost drown. I would have to disagree, but now he is terrified of the waves. He just happily played in the sand under the umbrella the whole time. I didn't mind at all:)

Much time was spent digging some sort of whatever.

These are Kathy's men. Her husband Tim, his two boys, and their son Garrison.

I'm sure Garrison wishes he was out in the ocean with his brothers and dad. Someday...Garrison.

My little Sadie loved building and playing in the sand.

My cutie, putootie, niece, Kati Mae. She doesn't get to go to the beach very often and as you can see she loves it.

Kara spent most of her time in the water boogie boarding or body surfing. Unfortunately she got badly sunburned on her face. She had never been sunburned before, but now she knows what it feels like....ouch.

GO KARA GO!!!

My sister Daisy Mae showed up a little later. All of the kids were so excited to see her, but they were full of sand by this point...

Kipp was deemed as unhuggable due to the amount of sand on his body:)

Here's Daisy's action shot...come on Daisy...don't play in the ocean like a sissy....jump in!!!!!

Her main squeeze, Dave, went to play with the kids in the ocean. They sure like spending time with him.

Here's Dave's action shot. I think if Daisy and Dave were having and action shot contest....um, Dave would win. Sorry Daisy:)

Emma took the hat and goggle look very seriously....hahaha!

All in all, we had a great time!!!! Although next time we need to apply more SUNBLOCK more OFTEN!

The Arizona White Mountains

For the 4th of July this year we decided to go camping with our neighbors. We haven't been camping since Jayden was born. I feel like life stopped when he was born...why.....I do not know. So FINALLY we were off and my kids were SOOO excited.

The car sure gets tight when 6 people go camping:)

We weren't even there yet and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. The cool air on my feet was enough to make me grin from ear to ear.

GREEN....GREEN....can I tell you how much I miss the color GREEN!!

We got t0 the AZ White Mountains after about 6 hours of driving. It was cloudy, cool, and beautiful. I was in camping heaven. Our neighbors had gone the day before and found us a spot.

To my amazement my neighbors had chosen a spot right next to some LONG TIME friends of my parents...The Roseberry's. My jaw just about hit the floor when I saw them. I was so excited to see all of them. They live about 25 mins away from me in Mesa, AZ and here we were 6 hours from home camping right next to them. What are the chances?

This is my dads great friend Brent Roseberry. They have known each other since their missions to Brazil.

On the 4th of July the kids wore red and white starred bandannas in their hair and celebrated in their own way.

Here my kids are with our neighbor's girl Madison and their dog Bandit. She is a year older than Alison. They are giving out a shout for the 4th:)

The kids created a fort. Notice all of the moss that is on the ground of the fort. They pulled it out of the ground around the campsite and made a soft floor. What a great design.

These were our tents. Jayden wanted to sleep in his cars tent, but it wasn't water proof. It rained a little everyday. So we just set it up for fun. The girls slept in the tent furthest away and David, Jayden and I slept in the orange one.

Here's our campsite. We were so happy to be camping with the Parry's. They had all of the camping equipment you'd ever need. They took great care of us and they are so much fun.

GREEN and beautiful. Here we are on our way to go fishing at Big Lake.

A creature that was found a long the way.

The adults didn't have fishing licenses so we were there to let the kids go at it. David stayed busy baiting the lines and fixing stuck poles.

Alison got the first catch of the day....but we decided we didn't want to eat it, so we threw it back.

What a happy, adorable little guy.

Sadie was just as excited to be fishing as everyone else.

Emma got the second catch of the day. Once again we put it back.

Maddy was the only one that caught a fish....about 3 inches long. My girls loved the crayfish, but were very disappointed that we didn't have fish to eat for dinner.

That night David played his guitar by the camp fire and we all sang songs, laughed, told stories and had a lot of fun....

....then we got crazy:)

Emma was very excited and proud of the moth she caught.

David brought his hammock and the kids had a blast with it.

I think there are too many bun, buns in the hammock!!

We went for a drive and enjoyed the scenery....did I say it was so GREEN?

Fishing attempt number 2......unfortunately it wasn't any better. We have decided that next time we will rent a boat. My girls were so sad and I felt so bad for them.

This is one of my favorite games and my neighbor Vernetta is a blast to play with. She is super competitive and funny. Life is way fun when she is there;)

This is our group on the day we were leaving. The Parry's actually have 6 older kids. Two of which are on missons in Africa and the Dominican Republic and the other 4 live in Utah. Madison is their youngest and only one at home.

On our way home we stopped for lunch at Dairy Queen.

Ali and Maddy.....happy friends.

Perfect way to end the trip. We hope to go again next year!!!!

My Creative Emma

The other day Emma decided to make a Ukulele out of card board. It's amazing to me that she even thinks up these ideas. I thought it was adorable.

Although it did get a little dangerous when the pins were pulled by the rubber bands for a long period of time. All of a sudden the pins we being shot across the room:) Thank goodness we found them and no one was hurt:) Back to the drawing board.

German Pancakes

Yesterday the kids and I went to visit my sister-in-law, Nichole, and their cousins. Nichole made German pancakes for a fun lunch. We LOVED it. We loved it so much that I made them again today. The recipe is soooo easy, but not the greatest for those with high cholesterol.

Put 6 Tbs butter in a 9X13 pan. Place in a 425 degree oven. While butter is melting, in a blender mix: 6 eggs, 1 Cup Milk, and 1 Cup flour (white or wheat). Then add mixture to pan with melted butter. Do not stir. Bake for 20-23 mins.

Don't let the large pan deceive you. It puffs up in the oven, but flattens as it cools. It becomes a thin layer along the bottom of the pan, although it does ride up the sides some.

It reminded us of the eggy taste of french toast. It barely feeds my family of 6, but it sooo yummy. Thanks Nichole for teaching us something YUMMY. We will definitely be eating this often:)