San Diego

The girls and I got to travel down to San Diego this past week with Aaron who had a real estate conference down there.  While he attended his conference we stayed with his sister Angela and her family who live in the area.  The kids had a blast playing with their cousins, swimming, going to the beach, and spending a day at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  I am so grateful to Angela and Jared who let us come visit even though they had just moved into their fabulous new home days before we arrived...what amazing hosts!  Here are a few of my favorite shots that captured some of the fun we had:

The girls did great on the long car ride.

Daphne with cousin Christian

The kids swimming in the pool and Angela's house

Grace sliding down the rock slide

Cousins

Roasting Marshmallows in Jared and Angela's backyard

Julia and Grace getting ready to go boogie boarding

At a crowded, but beautiful San Diego Beach

Eve, Grace, Julia, Ryan, and Dallin playing in the water

Daphne (notice her wet hair...she got knocked over by a big wave because she refused to hold my hand while we were wading in the water!  She didn't even cry after being flipped backwards in the water (classic Daphne.)

Eve on the tram ride at the Safari Park

We love the elephants!

Daphne in front of the African acrobats show we watched at the Safari Park.

When the girls and I went to pick Aaron up from his conference downtown we stopped to watch sailboats in the harbor near the hotel.

Tent+Woods+Marshmallows+Family=Happiness

 A couple weekends ago we got to do one of our favorite things...camping!  We arrived at Pinecrest Lake Friday afternoon and set up camp.  The girls had fun exploring the campsite and collecting "treasures" like pine needles and interesting sticks while Aaron chopped wood and built a fire for dinner and I set up the tent.  We roasted hot dogs, and later made s'mores.  We roasted the most incredibly huge marshmallows that I have ever seen!  The gooey goodness oozed out the sides of the grahams upon first bite...extra wipies were required, but it was oh so worth it!  After dinner we took a walk down by the Lake and then returned to our campsite to put the kids to bed (they were excited to get to bed and sleep in the tent.)  Aaron and I enjoyed a little more time by the fire before turning in ourselves.

At about one o'clock in the morning Daphne woke up and was wide awake for the next two hours!  She didn't cry, only refused to get sleepy...I patted her back for probably 45 minutes and then Aaron volunteered to take her on a walk.  After about an hour he came back to the tent and she was still awake!  He then put her in the car and took her on a drive until she finally fell asleep only to have her wake up when he took her out of her car-seat to put her in the tent!  By this point she was so tired that she gladly laid her head down on her pillow and drifted off to sleep.  Whew...poor Aaron got to sleep in the next morning to make up for his middle-of-the-night daddy duty while the girls and I had breakfast and took a walk.  After breaking camp and packing up our gear into the car, we had a picnic lunch and spent a little more time at the Lake before heading home.  Despite the rough night with the baby, we had so much fun...it was well worth the effort and lack of sleep!

The girls enjoying veggie dip while waiting for dinner.

Sampling marshmallows while Daddy helps roast.

The tallest s'more I have ever seen!  That brown thing in the middle is a well-roasted marshmallow (and a work of art!)

Evening walk by the lake

All tucked in and asleep (for now, at least!)

Grace and Eve enjoying breakfast

Locks of Love

Grace set a goal some time last year to donate her hair to Locks of Love.  This required her to grow her hair long enough to be able to cut at least ten inches off.  Earlier this month she achieved the desired length and was pleased to be able to send in her tresses to be used in making wigs for children suffering from medical hair loss.  She is excited to not only have a cute new hair cut, but feels good knowing that all those nights of brushing through super tangly, long hair was for a good cause. 

Before

During

After

Grace with her new haircut.

July 4th

I am in catch-up mode, so this will be short and sweet!  We celebrated Independence day with swimming and a BBQ in our backyard.  Aaron's family, as well as some new friends came to join us for good food and fun in the pool.  After dinner Grandma made home made ice cream (a 4th of July tradition) and also treated the kids to sparklers and poppers (I'm not sure what they are really called) in the front yard.  After our company left we had just enough time to hop in the car and drive to the fairgrounds, lay out our blanket out on the grass, and snuggle-up as a family to watch our city's fireworks show...it was spectacular!

Daphne enjoying homemade ice cream

Throwing "poppers" down onto the street with Grandma

Aunt Sarah with the girls