Beach Weekend with the Deckers

So one of my best friends from High School came to visit us. We always love it when the Deckers come to play. We hit the beach two days in a row. We had a great time and the kids all had a friend. The first beach day was perfect and filled with lots of boogie boarding.

Corona Del Mar Beach

Kristen & Meredith

Travis and Dave boogie boarding
Yes......Travis's arm is around Dave (they are on separate boards)

Kenzi, Kennedy, and Brynn

Kamryn & Emery

Luke, Camden, and Drew

Huntington Beach Bon Fire

The second day was a little more dramatic (I will keep it brief): The beach parking lot was full, so Kristen and I got dumped curbside off the highway with 10 kids and tons of beach equipment, baby Reese had the HUGEST blow out I have ever seen, the meet up location kept changing which meant we couldn't find Kristen/baby, lost Kamryn for awhile till the beach patrol truck came driving up with her sitting on his lap, Travis and I had a heated discussion on who lost Kamryn, the waves were huge and crazy, Kamryn screaming, wind blowing, cloudy, wearing sweatshirts, snack food sandy........Kristen said everything was little more "intense" at this beach!

I have to say after the drama settled and we went and hung out at the bon fire, it turned out to be such a great night.

There is something so special about having a friendship that has lasted this long. Can you believe we have known eachother for 20 years! I love having a friend who knew me as an individual, before I had kids and a husband. Who really knew who I was/am. Kristen, I feel so blessed to have had you in my life for this long. Thanks for hauling your family to Ca to spend some time with us!

Beach night!

A New Freedom!

So Kamryn has started climbing out of her crib, which means this new found freedom. So we had a crazy night with her to where I just have to blog it to remember it.......It was Saturday night going into Sunday our a/c was broken and it was HOT! Our neighbors were playing music loud till 1am and then quiter till 3am! So it has already started rough.....around 1am I heard a noise. It was Kamryn in the boys room with the light on. She had all her crib toys piled on top of the boys and was jumping on their bed while they were sleeping! So I put her back to bed.......at 2am I wake up to find her going around the whole house and turning on all the lights! I put her back to bed......at 3am Travis finds her downstairs in our pantry with 10 plates in a circle with bitten crackers on all of them! He attempted to put her to bed.......at 4am we hear the piano playing?! Guess who......Kamryn was playing the piano in the dark, in the dark! It the middle of this exhausting night she had thrown up 4 times, but still acting totally normal......now come on, if I am cleaning up throw up four times at LEAST act a little lethargic, so I am still not chasing a wild toddler in the middle of all the puke. Anyway, such a wild night.....needless to say I have gotten a little more strict and she has only snuck out once (for a fist full of Licorice at 5am) in the past 2 weeks. I hear a big girl bed calling!

Young Men's High Adventure

Travis went with the Young Men's on their High Adventure this year . He had a great time just hanging out with all of them. Some of the leaders told me that you couldn't tell who the kid was, as you can tell from the following pictures......he had fun wrestling in the surf, and telling stories.

Camp at San Onofre

Play Time

Oh Travis!

Wrestling with the Bishop

Not many Bishops are known for tackling all their young men....kind of funny. He is such a good friend to them all.

The Shipp's are in the House

My dear friend Julie Shipp came down with her family for a visit this weekend. I met her on the first day of nursing school orientation and we have hit it off ever since. We had such a blast with them. Beach, BBQ, hot tubing, swimming till dark, hiking, double date, and desserts. I can't wait till they come back!

Kamryn and Austin

Me and Jules

Brynn, Kennedy, and Sophie

Beach exploring

Lily, Drew, Luke, and Tyler

The gang on a hike

Julie & Meredith

Julie is a special friend....she was with me through all the ups and downs of nursing school. We studied together EVERY NIGHT in the library together till closing. We would share a seat on the bus at 5 am that would take us to the hospital for our clinical. We went to Mexico together for a Pediatrics rotation. We took our RN boards together and thought we flunked together (both ended up passing). Got our first RN job together. We had missionaries out at the same time. Went on double dates together. We were there for each other when each got our Mr. Rights. Love ya Jules.

Double Date Night

Julie, Ryan & Travis, Meredith

Happy 11th Brynn

My Brynne is 11yrs old. I remember 11yrs being such a fun year. Brynn is such a good helper that I loved having a day to honor her. We had a pool party and of course had yummy cake and ice cream. Brynn would never miss those for the world!

Make a wish

She got lots of great presents and $$$

Brynn set out all of her family and friend b-day gifts on her bed. I am so happy you had such a great day Brynn. You are mommy's special helper and friend. Love you!

Morongo Fireworks

I was a little bummed seeing the July 4th was on Sunday this year. So we found a place that did fireworks the Friday before for free, so we jumped on the chance to see it. It was super windy and out in the desert towards Palms Springs. During the firework show I saw at least 4 fires start because of the dry desert conditions, all the fire trucks were busy driving from one fire to the next. It was one of the best firework shows I have seen, we had a great time celebrating our 4th a little early!

Waiting for the fireworks to start

Our faces tell it all in this shot. A firework just exploded really close to the ground, which started one of the bigger fires.

Kamryn not so sure about all the noise.

This is what the back round scene looked like by the time it ended. I guess that's what you get doing a firework show in the middle of the desert!

A New Love

Kam Kam has found a new love......move over Minnie, Mickey, and Pooh, Dora is in the house! Notice her on the edge of the couch watching a Dora cartoon, along with wearing the "Back Pack, Back Pack!"

Poor Drew

A ladder + 4yr old curious boy = Trouble

I guess he hid for 45 min under his bed after this happened....so sad! He was trying to climb up on the ladder and then he says it started to fall so he grabbed onto Travis's clothing rod which brought the whole thing down. No, we normally do not have a ladder in our closet, our AC was getting fixed in the attic. Glad you were not hurt Drew Boo!