Lemonade Stands and Swimming Lessons

We have 2 weeks of summer left and are busy cramming everything in! Last week, the kids had a lemonade stand--with FRESH :) Country Time lemonade!! They charged 25 cents a cup, and made $28.00!! (They got a LOT of tips.) The girls roped our neighbor, Zoey, in to help them and the kids all yelled at cars as they drove by, "It's just 25 cents! It's just 25 cents!"

Alex and his best friend, Lily, just finished their month of swimming lessons. Both of them were pretty afraid of the water at the beginning and are both pretty strong-willed little kids--but their teacher Lindsay did a great job and they ended up putting their heads under the water and swimming to the side of the pool by the end of the session!

On Saturday we're leaving for our summer vacation--a week long stay at a beach house. I'm SO excited and am actually thinking of conveniently leaving my cell phone at home so I wont have to answer any SmallTalk calls. (Just trying to pretend like we're in Hawaii when we're really only 30 minutes away from home) I'm busy trying to find a good book to bring with me--any suggestions?

I just realized that I've been tagged (a week later, sorry Kelsie) so, here are my answers:

my 3 joys:

smell of clean laundry

Golden Spoon--half chocolate, half pistachio with granola

Carmen's smile

my 3 fears:

that I die and Dave has to raise the kids alone

that Dave dies and I have to raise the kids alone

that I'll never find a new therapist for SmallTalk

my 3 current obsessions:

mint 'n chip ice cream

trying to fit into my jeans 

getting Carmen to find her thumb

my 3 surprising facts:

can make water gurgling sounds with my stomach

was a LA Laker cheerleader for 1 day

am an Obama mama (not surprising, though)

I tag:

Kristin Doyle

Heather Sadleir

Sarah Jerome

Chelsey Christensen

Jaime Grant

The rules are: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts and then tag 5 other people. Leave a comment for the people you've tag so they know they have been tagged. 

Beach Camping with the Fam

This past week we had a ton of fun camping at Carlsbad State for 4 days and 3 nights with our extended family-- the Oakes, Bedells, Daltons and Hansens. We all LOVED playing in the water and sand all day long. The sliver of a moon over the ocean at night was incredibly peaceful. Even though I religiously made the kids shower every day after the beach AND wash their hands and feet before bed every night, we were a mess. A fun mess, though. We came home with sand all over every possible thing! After a car detail, 5 loads of laundry, aloe vera on Hayden's tummy rash from boogie boarding all day long and just a bit of sunburn on all of our cheeks--we're mostly back to normal. Here are some pics Dave took on Tuesday of everyone at the beach.

Beach Day!

Yesterday was our first beach day WITH Carmen. She slept under the canopy for most of the time--didn't even touch the sand--and still had sand in her ears and between her toes! Dave and the kids dug a "hot tub" for the cold ocean water, with a moat, for the water to come into. Here's a picture of them waiting for the water, and one from behind as the water came in... sorry about my knee. (This is after it had happened a few times, so the kids weren't screaming and freaking out like they did the first couple of times when the water filled their hot tub) We're ready and excited to go beach camping next week! :)

Narcolepsy?

We've decided that Alex has narcolepsy. At night, he'll walk around in this room often until about 10pm avoiding sleep... but when he's REALLY tired, it doesn't matter where he is or what else is happening--he completely passes out!! And we can't help but laugh and take a picture every time. The funny part is that it's happened in church now 2 weeks in a row... I guess he's just practicing for the bishopbric later in life!

Ode to Mumu and Papa

Mumu and Papa (Dave's parents) stayed with us for a week and a half. We all LOVED having them here and hated to see them go. Papa taught the kids art lessons with oil paints and color pastels. Mumu played with everyone, took the girls to get manicures and out for a girls day, and loved Alex and Carmen. We miss you guys already. See you in September!

Carmen's baby blessing

We are so glad that so many of our extended family members were able to come for Carmen's baby blessing! She held it together for the entire prayer and Dave did a great job. Carmen turns 2 months old this week... we all feel like she's been with us forever, though. She is a total angel--definitely the easiest baby I've ever had--a keeper for sure! We love you Carmencita!

This week in phone pictures

We've been playing so hard this week, I forgot to bring my camera anywhere! Fortunately, I've turned into quite a computer geek as of late and just figured out how to link up my cell phone with my computer via Bluetooth. (Lame, huh?) Although, I think you'll appreciate the week in pictures! :) Dave left on Sunday to go to Yosemite for the week with his dad and the Venturing Crew from our ward. THANKFULLY, his mom (all future references are "Mumu"... don't ask...) stayed to help me with the kids for the week. We've gone to Sea World (twice), the pool (twice), the movies (twice) and the week isn't even over yet.

 The week began with Alex falling asleep during Primary. If this doesn't look hilarious, believe me that it was. He woke up with a puddle of drool on his chair, and a big red mark on his forehead that didn't go away for about twenty minutes. Poor guy missed the snacks in Sunbeams and everything!
This is Dave at the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. He sent it to me today from his cell phone. I know he's exhausted and we should applaud the physical exertion it took to get up and everything BUT--his hand is seriously bigger than his entire head. Good job hiking, honey!

Here is Carmen at Sea World. I had her laying down on this edging in the shade next to a bunch of plants, and she kicked her feet in the cold planting soil and cooed/talked to the plants and trees for about 45 minutes. Soooo cute I had to take a picture.
Here are Anamarie and Hayden getting sprayed in the back at the Bay of Play. Imagine loud, high shrieks.
Hayden is going to be mortified that I'm putting this picture online, but she secretly loved being photographed with Cookie. :)
Here's Anamarie posing at the pool. In the background is Mumu watching Hayden getting ready to dive off of the platform. Carmen is asleep on the lounge chair next to Ana, and Alex is drying off on my chair.


 Thanks again Mumu for playing with us this week! Whoever said that a week with your grandchildren was restful?!?

My dancer girls

Here are pictures of Hayden and Anamarie at their dance recital last night. Hayden kept telling me that she had to concentrate so hard on her dance,  she couldn't smile-- but she became more comfortable during the second show and smiled through both of her dances.  At the beginning of Ana's dance, as the girls were walking up in a straight line facing the audience, Ana pushed the girl next to her backward (so that the other girl wouldn't be in front of her and block the audience's view of her). Later in the dance, she grabbed the same girl and led her to her place in the ending pose. Always a little mommy...

Fourth of July

Jodi's family, Angela's family, and mine decided to ditch the family reunion this past week because we've all had babies within the past few months and driving 10 hours to Trinity Lake didn't sound very fun. (sorry!) We got together for the Fourth of July parade, a BBQ, fireworks, and swimming and a movie the next day. The cousins had lots of fun together (although we missed Andy!) and the adults realized just how outnumbered we are--TWICE the number of kids as adults. Phew! This is a picture of Jodi, Angela, and me with the twins, Zoe and Pete, and Carmen and baby Jack.

Pirate Hayden

Here's Hayden at Carson's pirate party in June. She spoke like a pirate for the rest of the day...aaargh!