Monday, July 23, 2012

Summer days in July

 It July and we finally had our first day at the beach this summer!

It was the perfect day to go. Nice and hot at home and hot at the beach as well.

I picked up my nieces and nephews and we drove down to meet friends.

The water even seemed warm...or warmer (its not Hawaii water ;) 

Jacob and Jolene stayed in the water practically the whole time..boogie boarding.





Playing in the sand is always fun...it travels to my car. We could now have our own sandbox from the contents of the back of my car. 





Taylor enjoyed hanging out with JJ who has like a month left before he's off to go on his mission. They threw footballs, hung out in the water, layed out and walked over to get icees.




These guys had fun playing with the seaweed. Ashley even found this weird caterpillar bug that had adapted to look exactly like the seaweed. Ashley even decided to bring a bucket of seaweed home...I could only convince her to get rid of it once it became a mushy mess.






Jenae, making her own personal J...as she's waiting for us to pack up for the day. 




The day before we went to Utah Chimi the chinchilla had two babies. 

They are getting big and have found out how to escape from the holes that chimi has chewed through the plastic covering. Baby chinchillas become escape artists once they realize they can get out so we have to keep patching things up to keep them in. 





Later in the week we had Kate over just to play with Ashley. 

In the past she was deathly afraid of our dogs...before she was afraid of Buddy and now afraid of Maddie. 

This time was a turning point. Normally she would run into Ashley's room and not come out until the dog was outside. This time by the end of the visit she was giving her treats to do tricks and playing catch with her in the backyard! So fun to watch!





The week after we got back from Utah Taylor went to mutual on Tuesday and found out the Priests were leaving on their Super Activity the next day! So we packed him up quick and sent him on his way. 

They stayed local and did things like para-sailing, indoor skydiving, kayaking, snorkeling and more. 

While he was with the priests I brought Jacob and Ashley to Universal Studios to use our passes that are ready to expire. 

We went on the new Transformers ride (Ashley was tall enough)




And we got her on Jurassic park which she wasn't really tall enough for!!

I found out if I brought her tallest flip flops, and had her stand up really tall she made the cutoff. So we got to get soaked on Jurassic Park...twice. She loved it. It was a hot day so we were happy. 




We were waiting to meet up with Angela and Robert for dinner. He had some tests to do at the hospital before his second surgery so we thought this would be a good way to see him before surgery and entertain the kids at the same time. 

My kids were done with the park when it started getting later, and colder so we ate and then met up with them at 7:45 instead (they ended up having a long day at the hospital). Since Ashley was wet and cold I bought her a cheapy souvenir shirt to keep her warm. She was happy and said it could be pajamas.



Universal City walk at night is pretty cool. Ashley and I enjoyed window shopping. 




Angela and Robert braved rush hour traffic with a crying baby to meet up with us. Once they got there we relaxed at one of the 4 tables or so that happened to be under a covered awning. Good thing because it started pouring rain. 

We enjoyed visiting with them...




I got Jacob a funnel cake and he was happy eating it while we visited. We parted ways at about 10 at night...then I got to the car and realized I had locked the keys in it. 

After a AAA call and a long drive we finally got home at about midnight.




This last week my friend Shawna Banagas was down from Colorado for a visit. 

She planned a family evening at the park to get together. Surprisingly it ended up being chilly that evening.




She had family and friends and old ward members all come out to visit. 




Then the ice-cream man showed up. Cold and all the kids enjoyed ice-cream.




Me trying to take a picture of the boys eating ice-cream.






Finally got a picture of our big boys. Troy is hitting 6 feet now! I remember when these guys played as babies together.







The next morning we were up early to drive to our Bishop's Storehouse assignment with the youth. It was replacing mutual that night but only boys ended up coming...except for Ashley. 

She was a trouper and pushed the cart while I helped fill orders. The cart would get pretty heavy at the end but she still wanted to push it!





Jen Williamson helped with the boys and created a race to liven up their time there! Thanks for having a good attitude boys!


Ryan Orr ended up coming over after to hang out with Jacob.

Ashley wanted a friend over too so we invited Maia. 







I ended up having to bring them to the park to separate them from the boys and the airsoft and nerf guns!

I feel like every day I'm playing referee and trying to separate bored kids!

One day we just turned off all electronics and did chores. 

Last night Ashley came to my bed at 4:00 in the morning because she was cold and wet because Taylor poured water in her bed. Well she had poured water in his bed first because he had bugged her earlier in the day. 

I didn't get involved (but I did let her in my bed).

I said "If you don't want to be wet at night don't put water in your brother's bed." 





While Shawna was in town she planned a beach day. We were already planning on going to the beach so we met up with her at Huntington the bad part was it was windy and kind of cold that day. Luckily I threw my checked table cloth in again from the other day. 




The sun came out here and there. Though the water was too choppy for good boogie boarding Jacob had fun in the sand with the kids and Taylor and JJ were out in the water body surfing in the crazy waves.




Shawna and Penny (aka momma gansta rapper in her sweatsuit and glasses ;)




We brought Ashley's friend Soli with us and they burried her in the sand. 
(They said she was supposed to be a penguin)




At 2:30 the kids were asking how much longer. I told them to wait an hour...after an hour they were all back in the water playing. We stayed till about 4:30, hit Wendys and got home at 7:00. Beach days can be fun in the cold... :)





The next day I went out to LA for Robert's surgery to be with Angela, Carol and my mom who flew in for the month. We spend the day together trying not to be too nervous...waiting for word on his status. 

Robert was wheeled into surgery at about 6:00 in the morning and by 7:00 that night we got a call that the surgeon was ready to meet with Angela. He had good news they were able to remove everything that they could see of the tumor and his surgeon said it was only with the help of God that everything worked out the way it did. He will start radiation and chemo when he recovers from the surgery but we are happy that this surgery was more successful than the last one. We stayed until 10:00 when the main surgeon came out (who happened to be Dr. Martin which is the chair of neurosurgery at UCLA medical clinic) and told us he was still very sleepy and wouldn't be out of the recovery room for a couple more hours at least. So we headed home. Angela reports that he's recovering in the ICU hoping to move to his regular room soon where its much easier to visit him. 




Friday was pool day aka hitting up people that have pools for us losers that don't have them. 

Thank you Riouxs for getting us out of our hot house for a bit. 

We had Chloe over for the day. She is down at her cousins and we ended up picking her up and bringing her swimming too.







Oh one last thing... throughout this summer I've had major visiting teaching guilt. We've been gone and busy and I haven't done much visiting teaching wise. I found out this week that it was one of my sister's birthdays...luckily I was able to bring something over. 

The next day I realized I missed one of the other ones earlier in the summer, and I felt guilty when I sat next to another one in Sunday School and I haven't called her since school has been out. 


How can I have excuses for not doing more when I have pictures of beach and amusement parks on here :(


I don't seem to juggle very well in the summer time. Sorry!



4 comments:

Jenn K said...

The water in the bed made me laugh. Sorry. You look like you are doing great keeping the kids busy. I'm sure it doesn't feel like it, but you are an awesome mom! Oh, thanks for the reminder to do visiting teaching. I haven't done mine in ages. :( But I just made the calls to get appointments set. Take care!

Sarah Osborne said...

What a fun summer :) I've never been to Universal Studios, but it looks really cool. That's so wonderful that the surgery went well. And I laughed at the water in the bed too, ha ha.

Sarah said...

I am happy to hear that Roberts surgery went well and they were able to get the whole tumor. We are praying for his recovery and for Angela's strength!!

I'm glad I'm not the only mom tired or refereeing! How fun for you to get together with old friends...that is always the best!

Costa Rica Baby! said...

Great post again Christine! Glad to hear the surgery went so well. I had no idea our week down was such a busy one for you...then again, you're always busy! :) Water in the bed, what was Ashley thinking? Lol.