Snorkeling in La Jolla

We have been talking about going snorkeling in La Jolla for a long time. And finally we did it! The weather was perfect yesterday too. Made us wonder why we don't live there.

Our new friends Jenna and Ben came with us. They were so much fun!

Jenna and I took the kids on a walk to see the seals and walked out on this wall thing. See what happened to this little family? That happened to us! Hysterical! Kennedy took off screaming and running for safety. Grayson about had a heart attack and I was laughing.

Here's the after pic of Kennedy. This face says it all. She was dry before I "made" her "go walk out on that thing".

The water was nice I'd say about 81*, but Justin swears it was 77*. Either way it was not necessary to wear a wet suit. And you wouldn't believe how close fish were to the shore! It was amazing. Justin touched a few of them. I just looked. We will definitly be going again.

"Girllls... what are you doing?"

When it's quiet, you've got to wonder what's goin' on. 6 months ago it was MacKenzie. Just grabbed on to a little pony tail and chopped it right off.

Kennedy, my problem solver, came to some conclusions of her own last night. "My hair was getting in my eyes mom!" She too hacked off a good chunk right in the front.

Today... we went to my hair girl who fixed MacKenzie's 6 month old situation and masked Kennedy's new bangs with some long big girls lookin stuff.

Does she EVEN look 4?! For something she wasn't supposed to do, her hair looks dang CUTE! Daddy needs to keep those guns close and ready.

Big Bear Lake

We took off yesterday morning and went to Big Bear Lake. We've been here almost 2 years and have yet to go to any lake (besides Silverlakes which doesn't count). We rented and pontoon boat and went cruisin' around.

The kids LOVED it. Kennedy wanted to go faster, Mackenzie wanted to drive and Grayson was happy it was nap time and he wasn't at home in bed.

Katelyn came with us. Are you kidding? Like she would miss out on something like this!

And we did some doughnuts... oh wait that was MacKenzie driving.

Justin wanted to water ski, but no ski boats for rent right there. Bummer. Maybe next time.

Grayson speaks

Well a little. During our camping trip he just started talking. Maybe it's just me that can understand, but it's so cute. You'll have to never mind the Kennedy yelling from the bathroom in the background:)

Mammoth Excitment

On our camping trip to Mammoth some exciting things happened. Katelyn was driving while the tire blew out... that was fun. I must compliment her on letting off the gas and coasting to the side and out of traffic. Good job Katelyn.

Not so fun when you have to unload the back of the car, but we shoved and pushed until this bad boy came out. The CHP that pulled up to check on us... totally knew Justin! He offered to change the tire for us, except I had NO IDEA where the rest of the jack was and neither did he. Don't chippies know everything? All I could find was the jack stand but not the pumper thing and the screw-losener thing. Then I realized:
1. My car has never broken down
2. Because my car doesn't break down, I know nothing about it
3. I'm an idiot for never looking

Turns out the jack-pumper-thing is under the hood! Figured that out AFTER we waited for the insurance guy to come fix it. Dumb. Lame. Waste of 90 minutes.

Girls Day Out

MacKenzie's friend Brooke had a movie party @ her house yesterday. She invited both Kennedy and MacKenzie to come over for 4 hours! Sweet! It was a win, win, win. Here's the girls before leaving the house.

And here's MacKenzie still with the sunglasses. She looks awesome, why take 'em off? Thanks Brooke for making their day SO much fun!

Another New Bird @ the Pollock Zoo

We got rid of Ping, see ya later! I won't miss your poop all over the place.

We replaced the bright green Indian Ring Neck with a purpley-blue parakeet named Sally. I'm thinking Sally came because of the trip to Sally's beauty supply after getting the bird. Hmm. But here's the new trick. It took about 5 minutes (if that) for him/her to figure it out without biting.

Power Bill

So we signed up for the summer discount plan with Southern California Edison. That means they can turn your AC off in the event of an energy crisis while reducing your bill for participating @ the same time. We have a swamp cooler we run all the time so do I care if my AC gets turned off... no.

I got my power bill for this past month and it's $10.07!! That's right just a hair over ten dollars! I can't believe it and hope it's not some kind of freak-we-actually-read-your-meter-wrong-and-now-we're-gonna-charge-your-$2,000-next-month accident. But for now, I'm okay with my bill. Oh that all bills were so small.

kids room decor?

I painted the kids bedroom (okay only a few walls so far) blue and bought this mural to stick on there. It's gender neutral right? I couldn't believe some of the sale prices at this web page. I've look at some before and the ones I liked were at least $200. For stickers! Are you kidding me!? My friend Kristin sent me this site and I really liked, but will let you know if it's worth it in a few days when I get it and put it up on the wall.

The Proposal

Did anyone else see this movie? It was SOOO good! Okay so I saw it a few weeks ago, but I'm gonna go to the movies again today and thought I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

If you like The Office... Oscar's in there too and he's hysterical!

Mom, can you get me out?!

Hey man, you climb in and can't get out... not my problem. After a good 20-30 minutes of yelling for me to come get her out she was in there after being told NOT to because Grayson was "taking a nap" it oddly became quiet. All I heard was Kennedy breathing down my neck. "Hmmm," I thought to myself and Kennedy out loud. "I wonder what happened in there?"

Doth mine eyes deceive me?! They BOTH fell asleep! How about that.

"I'm Sammy"

Remember when we used to record our voices on tape and then want to listen to it right away? I thought that was so fun. The girls say the craziest things when they watch themselves being video taped (or is it digitalized not-taped?) on the computer.

Camp Trees

We live in Southern California and therefore we go to girls camp right smack in the middle of fire central. It's located up near Lake Arrowhead at a church owned facility called "Camp Hinckley". 2 years ago this is what Camp Hinckley looked like after the fires.

Thousands of dollars went into restoring some of the cabins that were completely demolished, but the effects of the burnt down trees are still everywhere.

Each afternoon of camp we go to the "sacred grove" to feel the Spirit while listening to the speaker. It was once a secluded space surround by trees, but now through there are more burnt limbs than anything else. This year one of the stake leaders decided to gather money to buy HUGE trees to plant (not those teeny little things that take 50 years to mature) and have the 3rd & 4th year girls plant them as their "help the environment" certification.

They had so much fun digging their holes while listening to a little inspirational music (we had a sound guy with his little itunes thing FULL of 8,000 songs... I planted myself down at the computer while playin some digging tunes for the girls. Who ever said Kelly Clarkson wasn't inspiring?)

I should've taken an after pic, but if you look hard you can see a little tree behind the maroon long sleeves girl. Little tree... it's way taller than she is! I think we planted 12 or 14 of those all around the grove. And you know I didn't think much of it until the last night when the camp host addressed the girls and stake to thank them. He was so touched that we would purchase the trees AND get all the permits required to plant them. Isn't that the coolest thing?!

Girls Camp

I'm goin' to girls camp!  It's exciting and scary.  Exciting for me, scary for my MIL who's watching the kids while I'm gone.  Good luck with that Kathy!

At my funeral

I just got a call to play the organ at a funeral.  It prompted me to think of the Hymns I would want sung at my own funeral.  "Come Follow Me"  Ha!  If anyone cries at my own funeral I'll ask permission to come back as an angel and smack them.  Is that blasphemous?

What's on your potholder?

After 5 years of service this potholder has had it and to be honest I'm tired of looking at it.  Nicole Para mailed this to us in Bakersfield... we didn't vote for her.

Nor have we given her a bath.

Farewell Nicole.  Hello solid red!

My new fav

I loved this book!  It's the story of Mary and Joseph's life before, during and after the birth of Jesus and through the death of Joseph.  Mary is strong-willed and in Joseph's face... and after thinking about it she would have to be!  In her world they weren't even supposed to walk over the alloted steps on Sunday for fear of "breaking the Sabbath".  Next thing you know she's carrying a baby out of wed lock?!  And then tells her fiancé about it when she's already starting to show?  Come on.  Heavenly Father HAD to find a woman with a backbone.  Fantastic book, you have to read it!

mackenzie dancin

That girl can shake it!

The party!

Getting Bigger

It's birthday week around here and MacKenzie's turning 3! She loves "lips" (code for chapstick or gloss) and make-up. I've never seen anyone re-apply so much in one day.



Kennedy has become Grayson's mom. This morning I rejoiced as she pulled him out of his crib by herself and poured him some milk in a sippy cup! Sweet. She's hired. Her and her "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" nose. (She made it herself out of a fruit roll up).


And Grayson... he is one high maintenance child. The girls went to Grandma Carla's last week and I was all alone with him while Justin worked. The whole week I could hear the words, "having one child is the hardest thing you will ever do." I can't tell you how many times I heard that after I gave birth to Kennedy. At the time I thought everyone was CRAZY! They're not.


I mean look at this sweet face accessorized with a pink head band. He's so cute, but there's no way I'm holding that 30lbs of wiggle all day.

Cabinet painting... again!

It's so refreshing to have a little peek back at move in condition. Makes me not feel so bad for the 1/2 done makeovers. But can you see the carpet in this pic!? It was by the toilet too, yuck! I'm surprised they didn't roll out carpet in the shower.



Here's the new shower minus the new glass shower door. (Thanks Mariann and Mark for the curtain, rod and shower hooks! They totally surprised me with a happy-new-tile-job-in-the-bathroom gift and I love it.) And the cabinets after my 2 second sanding job.

Justin wanted white, but I just had to do black because... it looks SO GOOD!


So when I'm takin' a shower in here... it's awesome. H-U-G-E! Almost a little too big and dare I say, drafty? But I love it. There is nothing worse than touching the side of a shower while in the process of scrubbing, eww.
And the floor! The tile boy had to cut almost every single piece. I felt so bad for him, but LOVE to outcome. We never would've done the diamond thing on our own.

And now back to the kids bath. I went out and bought hooks, but Justin wouldn't let me hang them directly on the wall, "they're just gonna get ripped off." So he routed a piece of wood, slapped that up there and THEN put the hooks up. I love them! Thanks for the ideas. Still looks a little bare, huh.

Facebook quizes!

You can't tell me you've NEVER taken a facebook quiz. I have. Sometimes I just need to know which Jane Austen heroin I am. Well today I needed to know what kind of storm I am and here's the outcome. (I love the part about dogs and small children, HA!)



Your Result: Thunderstorm

You are a thunderstorm, you like the power of your rumble but have a comforting quality about you. Some find you romantic and can cuddle up when you roll in, and others are terrified of you - especially dogs and small children.

Baby you can drive my car

How cute is this little Highway Patrol car? Our friends have the coolest toys and I had to borrow their camera to take some pics. We totally need one of these.

But I think this one is a little easier to find. Grayson didn't realize that if he stole some platform shoes from MacKenzie, he could've drivin' this one.

Master bath is gettin a facelift!

We moved in with the intention of changing the master bath into a master gigantic shower! I've seen it done by my in-laws out in Derby Acres and thought, "what the heck... we could TOTALLY do that!"

Well after the kids bath, we decided to pay someone else to do it and I'm SO glad we did. It's not done, but here's the progress so far. Should set tonight and grout will come in the morning.

Now for your opinions. I wanted this sea blue look, but now that the shower looks awesome, I kind of don't want anything to distract from it so I'm back to brown again. What color for the cabinets? Black just looks SO good, but I don't know. Cream? Let me know.

Tabby for ransom

Kennedy forgot Tabby the Cat @ Jared & Kami's house last week. And then we got this:


If you ever want to see your precious kitty again you need to meet our demands. We need 1 or more of the following:

1 million dollars
Passes to Disneyland
A visit at 4th of July
A cruise to wherever
A house
A new car
10 lbs of sugar
10 lbs of flour
5 bags of chocolate chips
pack of butter from Costco
Vanilla
2 dozen eggs

You have 24 hours to meet our demands.

The kidnappers

The DL

I haven't done a WHOLE DAY @ Disneyland in a while, but we survived... and it was awesome. I mean they only have 3 days to get everything in and it's always more fun with more people. Here's a little slide show of day 1.