"Santa Monica Beach"

We spent saturday at the Beach playing with cousins.  

It was such a cool beach, totally clean and so much fun!

We love the beach.  My kids were entertained all day. 

Ivy loves the sand and didn't mind that it was all over her hands and body.  

The pier was cool, with all sorts of characters like Batman, Spiderman and all sorts of weirdo's. haha

a beautiful day.

cute little missionary 'tay'...

Olivia & Grace as mermaids.

Grace & Cade kept catching all the little crabs...

my nephew Derek hid Jaxon's new flip flops in the sand as a joke {deep} and then all the boys left & went to Venice beach with no shoes on.

Well Derek forgot to tell us where he buried them so we dug forever looking for them.

 little stinker!

now it's funny!

TOUCHDOWN!!

while we were in Disneyland, Boston and Cory stayed {Boston's request} so he can play in his first Football game of the season!  He loves Football and when we booked the tickets, we had no idea when they were starting. Of course it would be when we were going to California.  I also thought he would just miss it, but apparently it was Not an option!

they're game was in Overtime and boston scored a touchdown and the first of the season!!!

He was Pumped! 

I'm so proud of my boy! 

this picture is off of cory's phone... he doesn't take pictures during the game.  

He's busy coaching the boys. ;)

Homecoming/Farewell

these two brothers shared a sunday together with a missionary Farewell and a Homecoming.

What an awesome day for my brother Derek & his wife Diana.  It was fabulous, these boys are so awesome, serving the Lord for 2 years and coming home all grown up. 

totally loving every moment.

Both sets of grandparents were there, and lots of cousins and family & friends filled

 up the back 3 rows.

The meeting was beautiful, so worth the 10 hr drive! ha

Garrett returned from the cuarnavaca mexico mission and his brother Taylor is going to the Monterrey mexico mission.

Love you boys...

taylor/me/garrett

my mom and some of my sisters...

cousins, who were not really cooperating for a picture. haha

camry/livi/rayne

my dad is famous for his game of chess. 

I think it's pretty awesome that he could even play when it was a star wars set. 

grandpa is always playing "Squirrel" or "run sheepy run" with the little kids.

 It's a grandpa tradition.

Kindergarten...

today was a bittersweet day for me.

these two are our little babies.  they have seemed like it for the last 5 and a half years! 

{we have overly babied them, haha}

well today they finally seemed a little bit bigger...

i love these little guys, and the fact that they will always have each other in class and in school their whole student life, what an incredible blessing.

they were so excited, so ready for their first day to finally start!  I teared up,

 but mostly couldn't stop smiling, they seemed so grown up & so happy.

Boston picks them up and then meets me out in the carpool line.  it's so fabulous.

he loves that he finally has siblings in school with him. :)

"special day"

Ever since Boston got his "special day" before summer break came to an end, 

Hayes and Livi have been asking for one.

So i caved...

they were so fun & simple!  

They picked a letter pancake breakfast, 

met their kindergarten teacher and had their own individual time with her.

ate lunch with lacey at chilis and ate not "1" but "2" Hot molton cakes!  

{it's our favorite dessert EVER}

they played with ziggy {lacey's dog}

went shopping for their own lunch box

and their fav. silly bandz

all before noon, then we picked up Boston from school... Early out.

We had a great last day of summer!!

Hayes & Liv's love love love "snoasis" as does my whole family.  The best part is saying a Fake name when they ask you your name.  After we picked up Boston and a couple of friends from school, we went straight there before the line was ginormous!

the kids said their names...

Hayes~nacho libre

Livi~lucy

and then boston's turn...

he says it with a straight face and the girl couldn't quite understand him so she has him say it again... like 3 more times. it was hilarious!

"fart knocker"

Everyone was laughing...

{and was probably concerned, that i allowed it. haha}

you have all heard of "silly bandz" right?

well my kids love them! 

we have a few little collections of themes going on in our home, but today we  got some disney ones, since we are going to Disneyland in a few days!! 

YAHOOOO!

Olivia actually went with her dad on a father/daughter campout that night, while i took the boys and ivy to Boston's scrimmage football game and then to see "diary of a wimpy kid" 

 which is actually so cute!

my son, the prankster...

i found this on boston's itouch...

under "notes." LOL

he's so funny!

pre labor day sale!!

my handsome 'fifth grader'

 Boston went to his first day of school and LOVED it!

 He has 4 of his good friends in his class and he has the best teacher.   

He brought his football and played at all the recesses.

  I love how he feels too cool to be getting his picture taken! haha

cute little bugger.

This should be a great year!

as much as i hate to feel like summer has come to an end and my kids are all going to be in school,{boo}
 i love the feeling of rededicating myself to a schedule, a real schedule.  like lunch dates and pedicures  with little miss ivy!   This will be so different to have just "1" child at home with me.
It's a little 'bittersweet.'

After school i made him rice krispy treats with his favorite "fruity pebbles" cereal, and we played with our cousins on the waterslide.

last day of summer break...

for my big boy, who is entering the 5th grade!!!

 yesterday was our last day of summer break and i told my kids we can do anything they want!

{except lagoon~wink}

so we went to '7 peaks' water park with some friends,

'jump on it'

got shaved ice at a place that had buzz lightyear and pooh bear rides. 

{they've been asking to go to that place every time we drive passed it, haha}

then we hit the ultimate stop...

"sub zero" ice cream in american fork.

Delicious!

{and i don't normally like ice cream}

They put the creme you pick in a bowl and then use liquid nitrogine to freeze it.

it's awesome.

after all this, he had a scrimmage football game that night and he did awesome!

Boston caught the ball and was headed for a touchdown in this picture.

he is the one in black being tackled! 

he is loving football!

"camp shannon"

after the family reunion in midway, we grabbed my friend cynthia's 2 boys for the weekend while she went out of town.  She said she didn't tell her boys until that morning who was going to be watching them.  when they found out they yelled and shouted out loud "Camp Shannon" hahaha  

i loved that.  

that is a total compliment.

these guys were our neighbors and are a house full of boys, so Boston was in heaven knowing they would come play with us for a few days.

some of the highlights were...

 "flowrider" {all day}  by the end of the day people were clapping for these boys, seriously they are so good on it!

 "night games"

"sleepovers" in the star wars bedroom

 "jump on it" and i video'd zach and boston for some "you tube" action.    

we had a blast!

Zach

  

 Boston

livi & lucy just giggle when they are together...

These two little buddies crack me up!  

we lived right next door to the Simpsons and these two just adore each other.  

Mckay is HUGE for his age and amazing at everything he does,  they are only 1 year apart and this picture is a total classic...

one day we can look back at this picture and have a good laugh at the difference here...

hayes/mckay

 Jump on it