This is the Life....

This post is going to be yet again, lots of pics, and few words.

We just spent the last week in a beach house in San Diego!  And man, was it wonderful.  Below is us at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.  Super cool!

 

Here is Kaylee's - "I am having the time of my life dance move..."

 Kase and I at the look out point at Scripps.

 If you ask Kaylee and Konnor one of their highlights of the WHOLE trip, this will be their answer...

THE TEETER-TOTTER.  Kyle and I even jumped on.  We were a little out of balance, so I put Konnor on my lap and we were good to go.

 Kaylee is testing out the Shark Cage.

 

On Sunday of our vacation, we went to a local LDS church.  And while we were sitting in Sacrament meeting, I looked over and saw a sister from my mission!  What a small world!  It was so wonderful to see her.  And then we drove to the San Diego Temple, walked around the grounds and enjoyed the castle-like beauty of the temple!  The spirit is so special there.

USS MIDWAY:

We wanted to see the flight carrier while we were in San Diego.  It was awesome!  Super huge and even had a small surprise for Kyle... His fave. plane in the world was tucked away in the corner.  The F-14 Tomcat.  He has only seen it one other time (on our honeymoon).  I loved the smile that was on his face.  It was a really cool plane.  The kids loved it too!

THE BEACH:

 MERMAN!  I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how I got him to hold still for that long.  But isn't he cute!

 Mermaid Kaylee.  She wanted texture on her fins. 

 JUMP!  Look at Pauls Nike jump/gang sign!

SEA WORLD....

Every baby has to have a little milk!

 Kyle and Konman cheesin it up.

 BURRRRR... We are in an igloo.

 Shamoo Show was incredible.  I have never been to SeaWorld, and have always wanted to go.

It was even better than I thought!

 Grandpa Paul and Kase

 The Dolphin show was my favorite!  It had so many cool elements to it!

 This was a highlight for ALL of us.  At the end of the day, we went to the dolphin pool to see if we could see any swimming around.  Then a trainer came over to us and brought along 4 dolphins.  She trained them right in front of us.  That blonde hair in the bottom right part of the pic, is Kaylee!  We got to pet them, do commands, it was incredible!  The dolphin is my personal fave. and for everyone else with us, it was their first time to touch one!  What a treat!  And it was FREE!  Just in the right place at the right time!

 While the older kids were tearing it up on the massive jungle gym, we grabbed a quick pic with the baby!  Sure love him!  He was such a good little guy the whole day!

 I know what you are thinking... are those boys twins?  ha ha.  I loved this pic of them.  Not sure why, just will always remind me of their cuteness that day!  Little blondies, gotta love em.

 Mormon Battalion Historic Site-  That was a cool place to go.  I had no idea all that the Mormon (LDS Church members) did in the 1800's for the state of California.

 Kaylee's fave. usage of a boogie board.  I sure got a work out.  Good for both parties I guess.

 We got to see these everyday from our porch.  Isn't this one breathtaking?  (It has not been doctored in any way.)

 Kyle and the kids on our steps.

 Time to say good-bye to our awesome trip. 

Create Something!

This short video was so powerful to me.  I remember when Pres. Uchdorf (LDS Leader) gave this talk.  I was there in the Conference Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 
I just came across this clip today, and it reminded me that I don't have to be perfect at creating and beautifying, but I DO love it, and I should do more of it!  So should YOU! 

Friends Forever

Distance may come between true friends, time may go by, but TRUE friends will always be there! 

 Aren't these 3 just the cutest things EVER?  They have so much fun together!

 Sassy faces... SO cute!  They even all wore pink shirts in the same shade, with out planning it!

 We went to the park, we did a prayer rock craft and painted them....none other than PINK with sparkles. 

 

Jumping girl hair!  Look at the volume!

Isn't she so sweet.  

Kaylee and I are lucky enough to have TRUE friends in the same family. 

The 3 children that Wendy has must be the luckiest kids alive to have her as a mom!  She is so loving, caring, and kind!  She is an example to me! 

Shelly, Wendy, and I...Good times!

The Guys go Camping

Kyle decided to take Konnor for a little "Guy time"!  And boy oh boy, was Konnor excited! I told Konnor early that morning that "Daddy has a surprise for you!"  He confidently replied, "Dad is taking me CAMPING!!!!  Yeahhh!!!!!"  He was jumping up and down, he ran upstairs and got his camping clothes, blanket, and came down and asked me where his sleeping bag was.  ha ha  I couldn't believe his intuitive nature, and his joy!  Here are some highlights from their camping trip.  Keep in mind that all of these photos were taken on a tripod and with 10 sec. to get ready for the pics!  ha ha

 Cheeseballs

 FIRE!

 Dinner time!

 That was quite a run to get ready for the pic! 

Love these two guys!  In fact, that is the nickname I have for Konnor... "My Guy"  FYI.
These are the times that our kids will remember the most!  The times we make TIME for them, and make them feel special. A good reminder that it needs to happen more often!

Lake Powell 2011

Lake Powell Is always an adventure!  

This year Kyle rocked it on the wake board.

 Kase and Konnor LOVED to drive the boat.  They didn't seem to mind that they couldn't see where we were going!  ;)

We went for fun hikes!  This pic is zoomed all the way in.  So you can kinda tell that we are really high up on the red rocks! 

 We have some new dare-devils in the family.  Who knew it would be MY children!  Konnor is standing UP on a tube!  Wowsas!  Thank heavens for life jackets, and swim lessons! (not to mention his mamma and aunt Kellie holding on to him for dear life.)  Ok.  so we were only going negative 1 miles per/hr., but still...  lol

 Isn't she cute!

 They LOVED to feed the ducks.  It must be hereditary or something!  I love to feed the ducks, my mom loves to feed the ducks and my sweet grandma Ella loved to feed the ducks!

 Every year, we are doing a themed party.  This year happened to be a PIRATE PARTY!

AARRRRG!

 Our little pirate fam

 Our little fam (minus Kase) on the tube KNEELING!

 That is one strong man... oh yeah, He is MY HUSBAND!

Love Lake Powell, Love the family time, Love the beauty, and Love the water!

Girls Camp!

Ok... so we had a FULL summer!  We had a family reunion and then I went to girls camp the following week, and then the DAY AFTER girls camp, we packed up and went to Lake Powell for a week.  PHew... exhausting isn't it!  But it sure was a lot of fun.  

I was recently called to work and teach the Young Women and it has been a wonderful time to get to know the youth (ages 12-17) in our church.  I love them ALL!

 We had so much fun!  This is us in our matching outfits.  At our camp site.  It was beautiful!

 This is us after waking up at 3am and driving a few hours to the Logan temple.  It was beautiful. 

Cailie and I doing a little kung fu!  We had a great time.  

We learned a lot about gaining friendships, gaining a testimony, and becoming virtuous young women.  These are an amazing group of youth, and I am honored I get to spend so much time with them!  It was amazing watching these girls grow closer to God, and know that they will strive to STAND up against the crazy world and be a girl of faith and conviction.   A young women of virtue and integrity.  They strengthened me this week!

Our FLOWERS!

Ok, I must admit... I really did a good job with these flowers!  ha ah  Just take a look.  Here is our yard in the spring with the new bulbs I planted:

I did alternating Red and pink tulips.  Yellow daffodils and some purple crocus.  It was a LOT of bulbs.  But it kinda looked bare.  Pretty, but bare.

 Then came along the planting season for SUMMER flowers!  YAY!  I planted petunias, marigolds, zinnias from seed, and Many more flowers.  I planted a few hundred flowers in our little front yard.

This is just after planting at the beginning of the summer....

And then... here are a few pics of our yard towards the middle of the summer.

 Ok... this is my patriotic row.  Red, white, and blue for our soldiers!  

We sure love you grandma Lynn and uncle Jake!

 Kaylee helped me with the flowers in the front... Therefore, there is a LOT of PINK!

 Isn't this orange Zinnia pretty!  I love it!

 Ok... so the kids wanted to pose for the camera while I was taking pics of the yard.  They thought it would make for a good pic.  ha ha

 Our flowers are even bigger now, and even more full.  The rock by Kaylees feet is nearly covered with pink petunias.  We have bachelor buttons, verbena, dyanthus, gladiolas, HUGE zinnias, mums, day lilies, asters, lilacs, a curb trim of purple alyssum.  For not knowing pretty much anything about gardening... I think I did a pretty good job.  ;)  I will add some more pics to complete the post.

Fish Lake

 We went to Kyles family reunion on his moms side at Fish Lake (utah).  It was gorgeous but rainy and cold the first day. 

 When the clouds parted, we went on a few adventures.  Kaylee was a posing animal!  Isn't she a cutie pie!

 Kellie and I did a little JUMPING action! 

 Konnor and Kaylee played laser tag with their cousin Brayden.  Konnor LOVED that!  I think we might have found a future Christmas present for him!  ;)

 If you are wondering, yes, that dock was UNDER water! 

 Look at Konnors cute dimples!  I just want to squeeze him!  Ok, I did.

Kase was loving the fun attention he was getting from his aunties and big sis! 

It was a fun time with family.  We ate really good food and played badminton, cards, went on hikes!  It was so nice to just be out in the wilderness, and enjoying the beauty around us.  Sorry not too wordy, but at least I posted.  ha ha