full swing

We have enjoyed two weeks with the kids out of school and have been busy every single day!
Here is our catch-up for June...

My cute baby can finally rock the pigtails. They lasted not quite an hour but I couldn't stop staring at her adorableness.

These handsome fellas were pretty matchy matchy. (Tanner adores his older brother, and we have had many talks with Tyler about being kind, reminding him how much he is looked up to. He is trying.)

Tyler's baseball team wrapped up their season with a swim party. Spencer and Mark were co-coaches and each got to present the trophies to the boys. What a cool thing for Tyler and for Spencer.

The pool where the party was had the COOLEST baby pool. I looked into getting a membership...for about 5 seconds when I saw that it costs $1500/year. (Sadie had fun.)

We have spent a ton of time swimming at Parkmont pool. Thankfully, we have wonderful friends who invite us at least twice a week.

We went to a little lake called Cull Canyon. It is usually $5-$6 per person but we went on the free day of the month and it was so awesome! Only 20 minutes away even!

The boys both took swimming lessons. Tanner didn't make a whole lot of progress and Tyler is already a pretty strong swimmer so it was good practice.

We went to the Livermore Rodeo the last day of school. Sadie was tired and grumpy and Tanner was bored...but I wish we had stayed longer.

I had shingles for most of the month of June (I still have it but it might be getting better? slowly...)

Spencer went out of town for 4 1/2 days (Orlando) so I did my "summer toes" one night...

This caught my eye as I was walking through the kitchen... ha.

We have also gone to Great America five times already.

But we went on a date night with the Spears' and actually got to ride a few good ones (rare for the adults)...

Sadie loves the park. My last two kids haven't had nearly as much park time as the first two did.

Emma and Tyler's jobs include reading to Sadie and Tanner every day. I love this "job." And they do too.

Emma is part of a girls' sewing club this summer. I did most of this skirt but she did pick out fabric and helped with a few other parts, and it turned out stinkin cute.

We fed 21 missionaries breakfast (and our own kids) so we did cinnamon rolls and even had a couple left over. We love having the missionaries over.

And with that, here goes July. Jr Lifeguards, 4th of July, more swimming, and then our "epic road trip." It's our one full month of the year with NO SCHOOL so we have to soak up every second. Can't wait!

summer!

Finally! We have been waiting for this day since August! Emma just finished 4th grade, Tyler finished 3rd and Tanner finished joy school. :)

What a difference 9 1/2 months makes. Too bad Sadie wasn't in the above picture...because she would win for "most changed." Emma purposely wore the same shirt on the first and last day. (But we certainly don't jump for joy on the first day like we do on the last.)

For fun, here are the previous two years of jumping pictures:

2013

2012

(Emma also repeated clothes those two years...)

We have ten weeks to play! Some of our plans include the beach, Great America, swimming 1-2 times a week, reading lots of books (both kids have kindles now, and for some reason books are just better when read on one of those), going on an "epic roadtrip," a wedding, and 3 national parks! Wish me luck!

may

I can't believe May is almost over. June means school gets out and summer is creeping in. I am so excited!

Here is our May re-cap. Oh, and I am exhausted, for the record.

Emma is loving tennis. I have pictures of her somewhere, but can't find them.

Baseball. Oh, baseball. It takes up at least 3 of our nights/afternoons a week. Here Spencer is pitching to Tyler while Sadie looks on.

 Let's get a closer look at the back of this cute head. The curls kill me. So jealous.

I went south for Girls Weekend. Here I am with my mom and sister in Solvang. My friends up here have already decided we need a girls trip to Solvang sometime soon.

 Snapped this on our morning walk. Boy oh boy, going on a walk without pushing a stroller and without whining kids who need constant snacks or toys is so refreshing! I could have gone all day.

Paddle boarding might have been my favorite part. My board was not my favorite, but I think I got a good workout...

Sadie started Nursery on Mother's Day. She's not a fan yet.

It was open house at the school. Tyler had hurt his foot so he hobbled around to show us his class. Mr. Schneider really likes him; it's nice when you are the teacher's pet.

 Ms. Weidinger is about to become Mrs. Smith. Emma has enjoyed this year so so much, and her teacher really loves teaching - that is a huge breath of fresh air.

Gualala time came again. The weather was remarkable and it would have been totally perfect, except for... Sadie. She wasn't feeling well (we never did figure it out), and she managed to cry almost the entire time we were there, remarkably.

There was a lot of friend time...

And a LOT of log jumping...

Even Tanner got in on it (he can be bribed, this one).

Spencer jumped off for the first time. Emma was on her 15th jump here.

Tyler spent his time at the river playing with a frog. Or a toad?

We spent Memorial Day at the beach in Santa Cruz. It was gorgeous.

 More baseball...

This one is usually pretty messy when we are at a game.

 We hit 99 degrees during a 3 day heat wave. Yikes...

 These kids love hanging out in the motor home.

I think June will slow down a little. No more Scouts or baseball. Now we can just play!

mother's day

We kind of have a tradition of going to the cemetery on Mother's Day. Our usually empty cemetery is FULL of people, and I love the interaction we sometimes get there. Several years ago when we were there we met a lady who had lost her only little girl a few years earlier. She came to us and said she had seen us on the day of Macie's funeral. This lady was kind but I could tell she was completely devastated still, and she just looked so hopeless. We told her she will get to see her daughter again. I remember Spencer kicking himself that we had no pass along cards or anything to give to her.

On Sunday it was Mother's Day. My 10th Mother's Day. It was also Sadie's first day of nursery. (Here we are doing "Three cheers for Sadie going to nursery!" She wasn't convinced. And she hated it...but that is not what this post is about...)

We got a ping pong table from Debbie (our neighbor) and finally got it set up so we told the kids that playing ping pong will NOT be a regular Sunday activity...but we had to try it out. Everyone is a fan. And I even beat Spencer once.

Then we went to the cemetery. This time we met a nice lady who has a grandson buried in BabyLand, right next to Macie. I like getting to know loved ones of our loved one's neighbors. She also told us her daughter was buried close by, and had died a few years after her son had passed. This lady was there scrubbing bronze headstones, as well as spraying WD-40 to enhance the shine. She sat there looking solemn and it broke my heart.

Sadie and Emma walked around and then it was time to go. Sadie freaked out and wouldn't let me put her in her carseat. So I listened to her and took her back while everyone else waited in the car. She stood by Macie's grave for a little while longer and then didn't object to leaving. She is hard and she frustrates me a lot, but she is a sweetheart and I know she understands quite a bit.

It was a great day for me, as always. I have such a blessed life.