Ashley and her friend Cassidy were planning this project for weeks and every time Cassidy would come over they would end up doing other things and never finish it.
Finally they did it!
They designed shirts by cutting them and making designs and bleaching them.
We used sticker sheets to block out the shirt that they didn't want bleached...
Then we took it outside and they squirted bleach on it.
The next day I washed the shirts for them and voila!
Turned out pretty good.
On this day we did a beach day that reminded me of our beach days of old. Sharla, Penny and Virginia and I all met in Oceanside for a beach day.
Between us we had a lot of kids and friends at our spot.
I've enjoyed all our trips to the beach this year and I'm sad that they are coming to an end with the start of school.
Here is Everett taking advantage of dumping water on his brother while he's buried in the sand.
Ha ha.
Ashley was happy to have Jenna with her too.
After the beach we went over to Virginia's house to swim and wait out the traffic.
Sharla had to get home earlier but we still had quite a group.
Jared showing us how the puppies like to "swim" as you hold them over the water.
Jenna loved the puppies!
A couple of days later we met for Jeff's birthday lunch. His mom, sister and brother came out to celebrate with him.
While we were eating my kids were watching Olive and Violet. Here are the pictures that Olive drew for Taylor...the top one has him holding her hand and the bottom one has Taylor with Maddie the dog.
That weekend we went out with Jeff as a family to celebrate.
Happy Birthday Jeff!!
That Saturday we met Angela and Virginia's family for lunch and then we went to the Santa Rosa Plateau where we hiked.
It would be a great place to hike if it was a little cooler.
These boys didn't mind though.
The next Monday it was time to drop of Jacob for cheer camp.
Some of the new mascots for the upcoming year. One girl broke her leg before camp and another girls wasn't feeling good that morning but it all worked out.
Jacob with his "zoolander" pose.
I liked the shirts that they had for them with their names and year that they graduate on the back. Jacob was the only senior.
While Jacob was gone we did another beach day with cousins and friends...
and Ashley and I did a concert in the park with her church youth group.
We sat in the back so they could throw a ball around and hang out.
Jenae and her family was there too and came over to say hi.
Jeff spoiled us all with funnel cakes and snacks.
That Thursday I went to pick up Jacob from cheer camp. He was in the Anaheim convention center but they had us park at the hotel that the kids were staying at. After traffic, finding the place and then walking for 20 minutes I missed his performance.
I was frustrated but happy that someone had recorded it.
It was exciting that at the end Jacob was "apped" which meant that the company that put on the cheer camp picked him out (along with these guys) to apply to become and employee for them after he graduates. It's an honor even though he won't be 18 in time to be able to do it this year.
Afterwards we went to ESPN zone in Downtown Disney for lunch with Jayden and his family. Jayden will be one of the other mascots Jacob will be working with this next year.
This last Monday Jeff was speaking for New York Life in Vegas so we all came with him.
The drive got longer when we had to wait for traffic in the Cajon Pass.
It was worth it when we checked into the Encore and saw the amazing view.
After the drive we relaxed in the room for a bit and then hit a buffet for dinner.
The next day Jeff had some time before he had to speak so we got up and ate breakfast and headed to Lake Mead to check out the Hoover Dam and take a tour.
We got to go underground.
A guy told us how they made the dam and how it works.
Here is the powerplant. The whole thing is pretty amazing considering the lack of technology when they made it.
Here's the view from the lookout.
The dam took 5 years to build back in the 1930's.
The bridge spanning the canyon built recently with all our modern technology also took 5 years to build.
Here we are trying out our new selfie stick...Jeff is concentrating..
While Jeff spoke Jacob was spending time with a couple of friends he met at EFY who lived in Vegas and Taylor, Ashley and I hung out at the pool.
It was 110 degrees but as long as you were in and out of the pool it was all good.
That night we all met up and ate quickly at the New York Life dinner and then headed over to watch the show we had tickets for.
Since we were staying in the hotel we got a discount on show tickets to La Reve so we took advantage of it. We were on the second row and everyone in the family really enjoyed it.
Here are some pictures from the show...
We were very impressed.
The kids were done for the night but Jeff and I roamed around the hotel some and saw some of the interesting things like the carousel made of flowers.
In the morning we packed up and got on the road to get back home so we could be back to drive the youth group to the beach party in Huntington that evening.
We stopped at State Line at Denny's in Whiskey Pete's for breakfast. Big mistake. Next time we'll go through a drive through or keep on driving ha ha.
With lots of driving we made it home and then to Huntington by 5:00pm. We went from 110 degrees to the 80's. Nice.
Ashley and Jacob had fun...
My favorite was the sunset.
