park play

(the heart attack contraption)


(seriously, is this not a heart attack waiting to happen?)

(hanging out)

(just one place for a Mom to have a heart attack)

(Harmony says she misses the Guam palm trees)

(taking a little nap break)

(sliding down the huge slide)

We love our housing!! Parks are everywhere! The kids, because of bad behavior have lost all video game privelages. Yesterday boredom had set in so we went for a walk.

We walked down to this one that we hadn't played at yet. The kids scared me to death by hanging from some of the highest spots!

I asked Ethan if he was trying to give me a heart attack and he replied, "maybe"!

We LOVE the zoo

(fish pond)


(poor Mason with sun in his eyes)


(the smelly goats)

(fountatin at the top of the picnic area)

(zoo poo)

Although the Santa Barbara zoo is not very big, there are a lot of fun things to do & see. When we need a break from the house, it is a short drive up to Santa Barbara.

A few days ago, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed up. We sat at a table near the "sliding hill". The kids were prepared with boxes to slide down.

They spent forever looking at and feeding the fish. We also spent a lot of time in the petting zoo area. Stinky.

We have yet to take a train ride but have decided that on our next trip we will.

I brought the wagon and a stroller so I ended up hauling Connor and Ivan around!

We ended our trip with a visit to the gift shop. Ethan was a little worried about the bag of "zoo poo".

Mason grabbed a stuffed monkey and hasn't put it down since! (:

House pictures pt. 2

(the boy's door with vinyl lettering)

(Ethan & Mason's room. When I finish decorating he is going to have a space theme)

(Ethan's verrry red dresser)


(view 2)

(1st view of the boys' Spongebob bathroom)

( oh how embarrasing! Connor and Ivan's room. When clean and I finish decorating, they have a sports theme)

(her door with vinyl lettering)

( the side of her room)


(her verrry green dresser)

(Harmony's room! Her favorite colors are orange, blue & green)

OK here are a few more pictures. These are of the kiddo's rooms. I would just like to say now that after asking Connor & Ivan a thousand times to clean their rooms...well, they still didn't.

House pictures part 1

(Shelves that Ben put up for me!)
( my scrapbook desk. This is built in and I quickly declared it as MINE)


(just ONE side of my craft closet)
(upstairs hall)

(She loves having her own bathroom)


(our boring bedroom)

(Our master bath. Love the two sinks)


(Our nice big walk in closet!)

u
(Can you guess whose side of the closet this is?!)

The other day, I tried to get a few pictures of our new place. This is just some of the upstairs though. So I will try to get the rest up later!

Oops

(Outside the museum)

It's been awhile. Yikes. So what has happened since the 4th of July?

**Mason turned one!! A sad but happy occasion! I can't believe he is so big...

**we had a wonderful day at the Santa Barbara National History Museum. Where I fell and twisted my ankle while trying to take a cute picture!

**celebrated 12 years of marriage to my best friend and sweetheart

**have forgotten what Ben looks like as we hardly ever see him :(

**sent the big boys off to Cub Scout Day camp

**the kids constantly going outside for "a roll" down the grassy hill

**lots of the mundane things: grocery shopping, laundry, meals, cleaning, video games, family bonding time over Wipeout...

I am honestly going to try harder to update but you know, "life moves fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you might miss it!" I don't want to miss anything!

the 4th

For the past seven years, we have sweated our way through a variety of fireworks shows. While the East Coast was having record breaking temps, we were sitting in camp chairs covered in blankets!

Normally, our new ward, has a big 4th of July bbq. However, with it falling on a Sunday this year, we just spent our time watching fireworks and enjoying hot cocoa.

This was Mason's first 4th of July. Last year, on the drive home I started having major contractions. 6 days later there he was!

Ivan oohed and ahhed over every firework he saw. It was so cute. I think that is one of my favorite parts of motherhood, just being able to watch things through my childrens' eyes!

pool time!!

The other day, the kids were turning into zombies. Their beautiful eyes turning into red squares and their thumbs and pointer fingers were cramping up. So, I braved the pool...with 6 kids!

The 5 older kids, went to the "big kid pool", while I took Mason into the baby pool. I don't think tat kid has ever held on to me so tight!! He was not sure about it at all!

I carried him over to the other kids, thinking he may have more fun being with everyone...but nothing doing! One taste of chlorine water and he was done! So I dried him off and sat him in one of the pool chairs.

He had more fun paying with my hat then he did in the pool.

If he is like the other kids though, he will be a water baby soon!

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

(splish splash!)


(taste test)


(yum!)


(picnic basket)


(sidewalk chalk)


(new books)
(In N Out burgers)

When all the world is green?

** You stay up late
**You sleep in
** You play with bubbles in the yard
** You have picnics
** you go to the zoo
** you play video games
** you play legos
** you have picnics in the backyard
**you play at the park
** you taste test strawberry jam
** you stay up late for movie nights
** you get forced to do errands with your Mom
**you bowl in the backyard
** you drive your Mom crazy with "I'm boreds"
**you get to play with your cousin at the pool
** you read books
** eat yummy cheeseburgers
**write messages and draw pictures with sidewalk chalk