What we REALLY did all Summer. . .

We Hung Out With These Gals

Swimming All Summer Long!

This is the only picture all summer of my three kids together at the pool.

I couldn't get them to slow down for one minute to pose for a picture.

They wanted to SWIM!

I love this picture. It says SUMMER to me in a way I can't explain.

There was some down time just relaxing by the pool. . .

or using the heat from the cement warm them up a little. . .

or chatting with friends. . .

or building forts out of beach towels and pool chairs. . .

But usually they were in the pool.

Kristopher even took the "plunge" and learned to swim all by himself!

Our favorite thing was the diving board!

They got very creative with their dives. . .

And would jump off that diving board with any pool toy they could find!

And then they got really creative and would make the tallest tower they could build. . .

And then. . . .

Jump right on top of it!

Really could summer be more fun than this?

This girl didn't think so.

In fact half the time she didn't even wait to get a swimsuit on to get in the water.

But most of all she loved having little girls all around her!

So much she was even willing to share a popsicle (this would never happen with her brothers)!

We had so much fun swimming this summer.

Thank you to

Marissa, Kyla, Elise, and Olivia for hanging out with us this summer

and Thank you JOAN for letting us use your pool whenever we wanted and for keeping your freezer stocked with ice cream bars and popsicles!

Now as summer vacation has come to a close we are getting ready for our big summer trip to the BEACH HOUSE!

Need a reminder?

Here we are last year!

So this year's theme is SUPER HEROES!

We've been busy all year trying to figure out our costumes.

Here is Kristopher with one idea. . .

What? You can't tell he's Ice Man from Incredibles?

Come on!

Well, tune in next week when we get back to see just exactly what SUPER HERO ideas we came up with.

Goodbye Summer Vacation,

but

Hello BEACH HOUSE!

Town Hall Meeting

Tonight I attended a Town Hall Meeting.

First of all, before I even left for the meeting I tried to get ahold of Barbara Boxer to find out exactly what I should wear to the town hall meeting. 

(I mean I didn't want to dress too nice for one of "these" meetings ya know)

She never got back to me.

So off I went.

And apparently I wasn't alone.

And I soon realized that it didn't matter what I was wearing.

I NEEDED A SIGN, just to fit in.

This one was one of my favorites,

and I happened to be sitting next to him.

(I didn't agree with him. . . he had printed out questions that he had me read over, but I did like his sign)

These ladies were sitting up above me.

(That is my hair, I was taking the picture incognito)

But after scanning the crowd for the perfect sign.

I found it with this lady.

I wished I had brought a flag.

Now this next lady didn't have a sign.

She had a mask.

And she wore it the entire time she was there 

(except for when she gave a 10 minute conspiracy theory dealing with the government and swine flu)

It was a little weird, I'm not gonna lie. I was a tad bit embarrassed for her.

And this lady had an interesting sign she showed off many times during the meeting.

And it wasn't the large yellow one in front of her.

Her sign she carries with her all the time in the shape of her middle finger.

And believe me, she wasn't afraid to show it to us all!

But really the best sign of the night came from Congressman McClintock.

This sign represents the proposed health care plan.

I can't even tell where it starts and ends.

I think he said 39 (now don't quote me please) new government agencies would be created to oversee health care.

It was absolutely a heated debate.

People are genuinely concerned, excited, fearful, motivated, and VOCAL about this issue!

I did see one more sign as I was leaving the meeting.

It was an elderly gentlemen, he was by himself.

He held the door for me as I left,

and his little homemade sign said,

"If you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's free"

WILD, WACKY, and WONDERFUL CALIFORNIA

I could think of a few other words for California right now but on this day we enjoyed the

WILD, WACKY, and WONDERFUL CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR!

Each county has their own exhibit and highlights things from their county and every year we take a picture in front of our very own PLACER county exhibit!

And of course we come to the FAIR for the FOOD!

But our favorite thing at the fair is the ANIMALS!

So you can imagine my disappointment (disgust really) when we found out that they now charge $3.00 a child to enter the petting zoo!

There were plenty of animals you could look at through cages, but it's just not the same.

(in case you were wondering we didn't go in the petting zoo - I had just paid a fortune just to get them into the fair - I was not about to pay money for them to pet animals when every other year they have gotten to do it for free)

It put me in a little bit of a bad mood.

Since it was the still the beginning of the day I knew I needed to change my attitude.

I wanted the day to be fun.

So we moved on to the COWS!

I mean who can't be in a good mood around cows?

Oh yeah - this kid hates cows?

Doesn't he know his Great-Grandpa was a dairy farmer?

BUT, California came through.

We came upon this little exhibit. . .

Kristopher was chosen to go up on stage and participate in a little demonstration on TREES and all the great things we can get from TREES!

AND THEN. . .

The boys got to go rope climbing!

We did a lot of other fun things during the day too.

We watched some fun shows.

We had some good treats.

We saw some really funny people (who I don't think were even trying to be funny)

but nothing could compare to the ROPE CLIMBING!

You know by this picture the day had to be a success. . .

If for no other reason I captured a picture of this kid with his real smile, and it still melts me every time I see it!

Funerals, Family, and Food

When we found out my Grandpa had passed away we began making plans to attend the funeral.

Why was I so shocked that plane tickets would be so expensive on a 2 day notice?

After going back and forth about whether the whole family should go we decided it would be in the best interest to leave the boys home and take Kara with us to the funeral (she's still free)!

We left early in the morning and spent some time in the airport just staring at the airplanes.

I was armed with toys, snacks, puzzles, you name it I had it. . .

and she didn't need any of it.

She only needed dad's lap and the clouds outside. She was fascinated.

We even managed a little nap on the second flight.

The funeral was really good.

I have not seen some of my extended family in years and it was so neat to see all of my mom's brothers and their families.

My sister gave an amazing talk about some of the memories she had with my Grandpa.

I directed (yes I waved my arm - but probably not in the right time) all of my Grandpa's grandkids, great-grandkids, and great-great-grandkids, in a medley of primary songs.

The entire stage was filled in the chapel.

I had to stand down in front to lead them and as they all sang 

"Families Can Be Together Forever" 

I could feel the spirit so strong.

It was such a testimony of family to me.

My Grandpa was in the Navy and was given full honors at his funeral.

So neat.

Kyle was so sweet and bought pink flowers to take with us to the cemetary so we could give them to my mom.

I got a little emotional when I saw my daughter who is named after my mom sitting there next to her. It's the closest she will be to her in this life.

Really though, the highlight of the day for me was having my 2 brothers and my 3 sisters all together. 

I made them all pose in the 103 degree heat for this picture.

(but I'm the oldest and they do what I say)

FOOD

One morning we woke up and took a drive up to Ogden.

We hadn't been back since we moved almost 9 years ago.

We drove by the old house, drove up the canyon, visited the campus of Weber State where Kyle graduated,

and we couldn't leave without eating at JAKE'S OVER THE TOP!

Kara did not know what to do with herself. She had an entire kids meal to herself! No getting the leftovers from her brothers this time!

And you better believe that Strawberry Milkshake was ALL MINE!

On Sunday my Dad's brother and his wife hosted a lunch for all of my dad's side of the family. 

It was such a bonus to get to see that side of the family while we there as well.

I was bound and determined to get a picture of Kara and my brother Kasey.

This is how they all turned out!

I was able to catch these little gems!

Just look at those looks that Kara is giving him!

And try I did to get a picture with my dad and Kara. . .

This is as close as he could get to her without making her scream!

I could blame her attitude on the fact that she was either on a plane, in a car seat, or sitting in a funeral for the past 3 days.

But I think she just liked being with her mom and dad all by herself.  That's never happened. And I have to say it was kinda fun only having one child for a few days!