Summer = School (WTHECK)

Yes it is still summer. Actually we're in the middle of summer. So why, do I ask you, does Lorin have to go back to freaking school? Yeah not really happy about it, however nothing I can do when you live in a district that believes in year round school. Yes Lorin went back to school today, by little big girl now goes to school ALL DAY. No joke, if Mike worked 8 hour shifts instead of 10 hour shifts he would leave 20 mins before Lorin goes to school and come home 20 mins after she got home. Another thing I'm not really happy about.


She, on the other hand, was so excited. We met her teacher yesterday and Lorin really likes her. She likes being a big girl and getting to ride the bus to and from school. And she really really likes the idea that she gets her own desk and coloring box now that she's in 1st grade when in Kindergarten they had to share desks and the coloring boxes. She likes taking her lunch in her new Jonas Brothers lunch box and getting to eat it at lunch with her friends. And the first thing she said when she came home was that she got three recesses. Oh the little things!!!

What am I going to do with out the glue that hold the younger ones to the TV? JK. It actually went really well today. Christian and Kaki played so nice together. They are a lot closer in age so they play more at the same level.

This is part of the posse. Last year it was just Avi and Lorin in class together. Then they met a friend Kayla that lives down the street from us. And this year Ethan gets to be in their class and they have another friend Brynn that moved across that street that is in their class also. With the posse growing each year it makes me sad to think that if we stayed here, by the time she was in high school she would have a great group of friends. Which is really important in these days.


Lorin's not the only one that went back to school. I started taking online courses through AMU. I started my first class the week we went to Hawaii. Mike got me my own pink mini laptop, that I've named Lady, especially for school. My goal is to be done in about 2 years with my bachelors in Sociology. I haven't really thought about a career plan because my plan is to stay home with the kids still. But we've always thought it was important that I continue my education too. Not only in case I were to need to work but also as an example to our kids.

So far all I've had to do are little quizzes and a couple papers. Nothing too big, but I'm sure it will come. :)

Californ-i-a

After the most awesome trip ever we headed back to Cali and we're able to spend another week there hanging out with our family and friends. We planned a beach trip on Saturday and invited what ever friends could come for an old fashion Bonn fire. Growing up we use to go the beach every summer and at the end of the day roast hot dogs and marshmallows at the pits at the beach. When we've ever taken our kids to the beach we've never stayed long enough to do this with them and so I thought this time we have to.

We packed dinner and snacks and towels and headed down after lunch. Two of my brothers, and both my nieces went with us. After a longer then normal drive down there we finally got there and the kids of course headed strait for the water. Well after going to Hawaii, California beaches are not that appealing. They smell and the water is cold and dirty. But the kids didn't care. One of our friends went early in the morning to reserve the pit for us. Thank goodness cause man was this beach crowded!!

Lorin and the girls got to drive in Uncle Spencer's way cool convertible. Welcome to California traffic. On of the things we DONT miss.

Of course the girls dropped their stuff and ran for the water. We grow fishes in our family. They love water. Lorin loves her cousins too. When we're visiting them I will go hours without even seeing her. She is just off with them doing whatever they are make believing at the time. And they love making sand castles

Christian got dunked by Uncle Paul. And he's smiling about it. See nothing but fishes.
Mikes BF Dave and his wife and Dave's brother Devin and his wife met us there too. And just like Lorin, Mike disappeared. Go figure.
Awesome sunset!

Kaki was trying to feed this little doggy her Cheetos. It was the cutest thing

Mike and Christian, the spin and get sick game. This is the spin.

This is the get sick..

When Lorin surfaced she had stories of sea weed and sand and waves. I don't even really know what she was saying. It was all kinda slurred

Dave and his wife Katie and their little baby girl Savannah. And Devin and his pregger wife.

Danny and his wife LeAnn and their daughter Cat. Danny saved the pit for us. We owed him so big. He got there at 6 am and by 8 am all the pits were gone.

After In-N-Out run. YUMMMY

But the kids were out, to bad. No In-N-Out for them.

On Sunday after church Mike's mom's family had a little throw together family reunion. It's been 15+ years since Mike's seen a lot of the family on that side of the family. And because there's so many of them not all of them could make it. His mom has 18 brothers and sisters. Not all of them are alive and not all of them live in the states. These are pretty much the ones that do live in So Cal.

Our family and Mike's mom

Mike and Christian in their Hawaiian shirts

With all those aunts and uncles you can imagine all the cousins. This is only a handful of the guys.

And the grand kids that were there.

This trip to Cali was the hardest trip for me to leave So Cal. I've forgotten how much I miss a lot of things. I'm real glad it's not that far of a drive or flight so we can visit often. Sorry to all the friends we missed. Not to worry, we'll be back and for much longer next time :)

ALOHA - OI part 1

For our 10 year anniversary this year I told Mike I wanted to do something big! I wanted a second honeymoon but this time better. So we decided to go to Hawaii. Neither of us have been there before and it was a perfect place to go and relax. We decided to do it a little early for two reasons 1. Hawaii is so much funner in the summer and 2. we dont really think we're going to actually be together on our actual anniversary. We started talking to some friends of ours to see if they want to go also and everything fell into place for all of us to go.



We stayed the first 4 nights at Bellows AFS. It's an old Air Force base on the east side of the island and it was sooo sweet!! We had our own little "shack" right on the beach and the beach was a private one. So there wasn't a ton of people and in the mornings we would get up walk about 20 feet and there was the beach with only one or two people on it. The water was great, warm all day and crystal clear. The base rented boogie boards so one day we went out and boogie boarded, it was the best. And the last night we stayed in Waikiki at the Marriot. A super nice hotel and we had the best view of the ocean.



The kids stayed with my mom in Cali and got completly spoiled. We took Lady(my pink laptop) and we were able to video chat with the kids a couple times. They didn't really miss us, they were having to much fun. Grandma had planned something everyday, either water park or slippin slide to exhaust them and keep them busy.



It ended up being such a great week. We planned carefully with our friends before hand what we really wanted to do and what could wait for our next visit. The only thing we regret doing was the dinner cruise. It was fun and an experience but it was overpriced and the food wasn't really that great. My favorite had to have been the PCC. The luau was delicious and the after dinner show was amazing. The church really knows how to do things right! We saw Pearl Harbor which was a sombering experience and of course the swap meet at the Aloha Stadium.

All in all it was an awesome trip. We had so much fun with our friends and were able to spend some great time together. We would love to make this an every year event and take the kids to just play on the beach.

ALOHA - OI part 2

4th of July

For the Fourth of July this year we were planning on going to Park City again and spend the night like we did last year. But about the beginning of June Mike got an email from someone at the guard base asking if anyone wanted to volunteer to do the honor guard for the Stadium of Fire. And then we read that Jonas Brothers were going to be there and that Mike would get free tickets for the fam and we knew we had to go.
Through the military Mike has had the opportunity to do the honor guard at many different ceremonies but this one was going to be a great last hoorah for him before he leaves.





My friend made the girls the cutest outfits for the 4th. She has a blog and sells some things that she makes for little girls and she has an etsy store. There's a link in my friends section it's called Rustic Raspberry.(just a plug for her) And I made them matching flowers for their hair.

So we went down to The Freedom Festival a little early so we could enjoy the rides and shows. This is Lorin, she loves, loves, loves to jump on tramps.

And Christian and daddy went on a ride while we waited in line for the tramps.

Waiting for the show to start. We got awesome seats on the field. But the only thing we were aloud to bring were white towels to sit on.

The host for the show was Glen Beck, he was great. This was the practice the night before the show that Mike had to go to.
This is the huge flag that the military was retiring. It was made by a BYU student who started it as a Home Ec project and then got the help of her ward to finish it. It was so big it took 60 army men to roll it up and carry it onto the field.

SheDaisy.

And of course the main event, Jonas Brothers. Lorin was jumping around and singing and dancing. I didn't realize she knew all their songs.

Christian didn't care to much for the JB's he zonked half way through and that's when the white towels really came in handy.

About half way into the JB's show Mike had to go change and then he left right before they were done. You couldn't see him from where we were sitting but they were escorting the flag and the men carrying the flag on the field.

They coiled the flag up and put it in this fake cauldron. Then ceremoniously lit the fire. I guess they didn't really burn it here, they took it to a factory to burn it because the fumes would have pretty much killed everyone around it.

Then of course they don't call it the Stadium of Fire for nothing. The fireworks at the end were awesome. We could feel their heat and got paper droppings on us throughout the show.

We had a great time, driving home sucked!! It took us 2 hours to get home. But it was all worth it. The kids had so much fun. My little sister watched Kathryn during the show, I knew she wouldn't make it. I'm grateful that Mike has the opportunity to serve our country, we've been on the fortunate side where Mike has not had to go on many TDY's. And I know sometimes he wishes he could go a little more, but I am really grateful that on the 4th every year we can celebrate our freedoms and show our appreciation to those who have given their lives in death or just in timely sacrifices.

Real brief

WOW....I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. We are still here and still alive. Just not home. So far this summer has lived up to it's reputation, which we knew was going to be busy. We'll be home next week and I'll post, I promise! We did get good news from a phone call this week, an important date is in the works and will soon be known. THANK GOODNESS!