Laguna Beach....

Recently we took our Summer Family Trip to Laguna Beach. Over the last 5 or 6 years we have been lucky enough to visit a couple times each year as Tim's parents have had a home there. Well those days have sadly come to an end because they are moving have moved to Queen Creek. Good news is that they'll be closer to us...really close. Bad news is we have no place to stay now...meaning we won't be back anytime soon.

(Do you want to squish those cheeks or what?)

We packed up the family & car and headed to Laguna with Aunt Lacey in tow. We should have brought their dog "Bear" with us but didn't realize it until it was too late...something I'll always regret not doing.  

{refer to "Bear" post}

When we arrived, it was what the locals call "June-Gloom"; Overcast, drizzly weather although it was now well into July. People kept apologizing for the weather....almost comical to us.

Being the native Valley Arizonans that we are, we were in hog heaven enjoying the cool, cloudy, chilly weather. We even got to wear long sleeves & were loving it!

Some things we will miss in Laguna Beach:

~The Fantastic Beach access~!

~The feel of cool ocean water on your feet...

~Falling Asleep to the sounds of the Ocean~

~Jumping the Waves~!...Can you see Spencer's head?

Jax loving {~The Indoor Pool~}

The kids will surely miss this!

~Getting Hit By Waves~...will only kinda miss that!

~Cute boys showing off their muscles~

~Enjoying the View~

~Making Sand Creations~ with Cousins & watching the WAVES wash them away!

How precious is he...?

What's my Mom doing?

While in Laguna, my 31st Birthday came & went. It was a good day as the kids played at Grandmas while Tim took me out. We grabbed crepes for Breakfast, got foot massages, shopped a little & saw the movie Eclipse (I had a lot of the 1 liners memorized & talked along with the movie.-Reminded me of our first date almost 12 years ago when I quoted half the play. Annoying-but I can't help it!) When Tim & I got back, we took all the kids down to The Beach of course and spent the evening down there.

Later that night, the kids, cousins & I celebrated with chocolate cake made by Tim. I also opened my plethora of cards like this cherished one:

(I have a tail...)

...so I'm pretty much famous
My inlaws lived in this particular house for about a year & a half. It was one of Elvis' homes back in the day. The coolest part of the house is this bell on the back deck that looks over the ocean. Supposedly Elvis would ring this bell when he saw a girl down on the beach that he wanted to come up the beach steps and meet.

{As you can see, over the course of the days the Sun came out. 
And as you can see- So did the People!}

'So Long Laguna Beach
Hope to see you sometime soon-
...before I'm 50.

1st Day of School

Daylan-Kindergarten   Kaylea-2nd Grade    Spencer-5th Grade

The kids had a great 1st day of school...better than I could've thought it would be. I'm so grateful that they all have good teachers this year; especially the younger two. I couldn't ask for a better Teacher for Kaylea!! I'm so glad that both Kay & Day had a number of friends in their classes already. Spencer entered the realm of Middle School which has been hard to swallow but I think he'll do just fine. He has 35 kids in his class & only kinda knew one of them but came home saying he had made a new friend.

And to my relief-Daylan did wonderfully & had a great time!

In the video I love how he wipes his brow & says: "I'm sweaty!"

Being the sentimental person that I am, I love to recreate moments. So I had Daylan wear the same shirt that Spencer did on his 1st day of school & even recreate the "goodbye kiss" in front of the door.

Daylan~2010

& then 5 years ago....(when Daylan was less than 2 months old)

Spencer~2005

Jump forward 5 Years to the Present...

After a Long Day of Middle School

Did I mention that just his bus ride home is almost an hour long?! It's alright though because there are plenty of friends on the bus so we'll chalk it up as "Friend Time."

It was a good day & will be a good year.

*But if only I could just freeze time

& slow down the growing-up process...

I can imagine right?

SeaLife Aquarium

Our last hoorah of  the Summer was the day before school started. I pried Tim away from work & we spent a part of the day at Sea Life Aquarium in Tempe. (The kids had earned free tickets from the Library for reading a lot of books this summer!)

Kaylea,  ever seen the movie Jaws?....

Jax touching a Star Fish

that would be weird if both spence & daylan were twins..

Cutest sillouhettes in town...

 

Jaxson really wanted to take a swim & kept trying to CLIMB IN!!

There were these bubble windows that the kids could stand up in & feel like they were  in there with the fish.

Check out this crazy giant Octopus!

This Octopus was showing off doing tricks & could even change colors.

Just Chillin' with the Villians

Announcing.....

☆My little bro Danny popped the question to his best friend Kayla a few days ago & gave her a beautiful ring. They are so super cute together & I know they will have a wonderfully, happy life!

❤ Congratulations you two! ❤

☆They are celebrating right now on a family trip in what Danny calls: Kaylafornia.☺

"Bear" & "Bentley"

They say that Dog is Man's Best Friend...well in this story he was a Girl's Best Friend. On Christmas morning many years ago Lacey & Ashlyn as young girls, opened up their most favorite gift ever...a white toy poodle they would name "Bear." I witnessed them seeing him for the first time. You never saw two happier little girls. Bear was always Ashlyn's shadow & she loved him. Well a few weeks ago as we were there in Laguna visiting them, Bear was at their home in AZ & something tragic happened. Bear passed away & it was a hard couple days to seem them so sad; especially Ashlyn.
Over those couple days there was a lot of website searching and they came across a video of the cutest little puppy you've ever seen. We all fell in love...yes even me. Within a few days this puppy from Kentucky got on an airplane to California to meet her new best friend~Ashlyn. 

♥Love at First Sight♥

...this would be Kaylea's Puppy! 
{My little girl reminds me so much of Ashlyn at that age...Her love of animals is so strong. She talks almost daily about her career goals as a Veterinarian...& of course daily begging for a pet dog.}
Kaylea woke up at 5:00am the morning that Bentley was to arrive at the airport. She was THAT excited for this puppy! As Kaylea waited hours for everyone else to wake up, in that time she got herself dressed & ready, ate, read books, watched T.V. & watched the waves out on the back deck. She couldn't wait to go to the Airport with Grandma, Ashlyn, Lacey & Macey. 

I think Jax was confused why the 'stuffed animal' was running around.

We like to think of Bentley as Bear's little sister. We know that Bear would want his little Ashy to be happy & we're glad that Bentley's here to do so.
 
What a year or so- of dramatic family events!...
*At least Bear & Hazel can now be friends in Doggy Heaven.

"Start Rowing" & "Good Things to Come"

A friend of mine shared this video from Elder Holland called "Good Things to Come."...I cried. And you will too because I know we all have been there or are going through it now. Jesus Christ offers & promises us "better things," but for us to really appreciate them we have to go through those hard times. I am SO grateful to have gone through the times we've had so that I could be that much more grateful for the little things that I do have, not to mention of course my family who if I didn't have, all the riches in the world would have no value at all.

I also love this story in the Ensign called "Start Rowing" that I keep reading over and over. It compares us going through trials as sitting in a row boat with no wind. When things are going well it's like being in the boat with a swift breeze helping us along our way. But when the wind stops sometimes we just want to give up. Sitting in an overwhelming ocean makes it seem like rowing a little at a time is just too much work for a reward that seems unattainable.

The quote I loved the most that sums it all us is this:

“How often do we not DO more because we pray

for wind and none comes? We pray for good things

and they don’t seem to happen, so we sit and

wait and do no more. We should always pray for

help, but we should always listen for

inspiration and impressions to proceed in ways

different from those we may have thought of."

~Elder John H. Groberg

Oftentimes the blessings don't come right away & it seems like we are rowing over & over again with little to no success. We have to remind ourselves that when we fall to get back up again! I often say to myself I feel like I (or we) are RUNNING IN PLACE, or getting NOWHERE!...but hey at least we're running! But really we are getting somewhere. Even though we may not see it; He does. Heavenly Father is aware of us & our rowing and will bless us with the wind we need in due time.

4th of July

The weekend of the 4th we celebrated with...you guessed it...our 8am church. {which will be changing to 11:00  soon!} Actually BEFORE church we found this on our Kitchen Table:

Kaylea had set her alarm clock for 6 am on Saturday night & awoke early to make us this 4th of July sign. She drew bubble letters, cute them out & then colored each one red, white & blue. Then she decorated with anything patriotic she could find & made a starburst/chocolate creation as well. It melted my heart that she would get up early to make this SURPRISE for our family.

It happened to be Fast & Testimony Meeting that Sunday. It was neat to hear so many stories & testimonies from other people who love our Country...And to remember that God truly did create this country so that the Gospel could again be restored on it...What other place could it ever occur? I even walked up to the stand & bore my testimony of the Holy Ghost (to the large crowd that day) & told of one special experience that had happened to me recently. It was a wonderful meeting that day.

Later that evening we had Dinner at my parents, Watched a Movie, Gabbed & Played a little Foos-ball:

Here are some cute giggles from Jax: 

On our way home back to QC, we thought we'd find some fireworks as we drove. We pulled over for a while trying to find the best spots, but as we pulled into our own driveway we realized we just might never again have to go any further than our own backyard!

Being that the 4th was on the Sabbath, we waited till Monday to Par-tay. We swam for a few hours & the kids had a blast with their Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles. Then it was back to house for a BBQ & later on we went to see Toy Story 3!

Grandpa can always get Jax smiling

Gotta love that one is sound asleep & one is being Mr. Grumpy-Gills
Can't they ever just all cooperate at the same time??
(Tim was not there as he was taking advantage of the holiday to work hard for our family.)

in deep thought as he squats......uh oh-you know what that means!

Dramatic!

The kids loved getting thrown by Uncle Tommy

A lil' Corn on the Cob & Our lil' Firecracker

Sweet Land of Liberty

"When we safeguard the Heavenly virtue of FREEDOM, when we honor it, when we protect it, we will walk with Washington, we will pray with Patriots, and we shall have peace on earth, good will to men." ~Thomas S. Monson

~George Washington at Valley Forge~

(The Artist that painted this picture, Arnold Friberg, died just 3 days ago at the age of 96.)

*Happy Birthday to the Country I LOVE so much!*
....because Freedom is REALLY what it is ALL about! ~Watch This!*

Eclipse Premiere

So Becky, one of my BFF's from High School, won some VIP tickets to the Premiere of Eclipse & I got one! We had a FUN Girls Night in Scottsdale. It was a Double Feature being that they showed New Moon right beforehand. We even were given FREE snacks/drinks & escorted to our seats. I have to say that I had no idea how much fun I would have watching that with friends. -The first time I saw the movies I literally fell asleep-but not this time!

and no i am NOT pregnant although this picture shows otherwise...

We laughed SO hard during New Moon at how incredibly silly yet entertaining it was. It was hilarious to listen to the cat calls shouted out for that Taylor kid (Shark Boy). Girls were seriously fanning themselves & freaking out. And you know how there are just some people that make you laugh when you hear them laugh? Well 2 of them happen to be Jamie & Becky...so it was a great time.

Water Park Fun!

We took Sara with us to the local Basha Pool on a super hot day!...

& this was SO refreshing!

The best thing about the place is it cost like a whole 75 cents a kid to get in!