Cinderelli, Cinderelli

My little helper, Aubrie. What can I say she has got to be the sweetest thing since honey. She is always willing to help out and often times, does chores and helpful things on her own without being asked. Yesterday I  found this...

Cleaning and organizing the pantry in the kitchen. It needed it badly. Carly has since learned that the cereal boxes and snacks are kept in here and so she is always pulling out handfuls of cereal, therefore leaving drops of cereal everywhere. Thanks Aubrie for being one of a kind and helping out so much.

Sunset and a Full Moon

I took this picture a few days ago when the sky had turned so bright and beautiful right before it rained. Sorry my baby is naked. This is her new favorite thing....

Playing in her pool, naked. Yep, she is a nudist and refuses to put on a bathing suit.

Summer blues

I have a case of the summer blues. Which if you didnt know has to be because that summer is half way over! Which makes me sad because summer is my most favorite time of the year. I love the hot days, and cool nights, the smell of fresh cut grass and my kids home each day. I love that sleeping in is a must and that ice cream any time of the day is good. These are things that make summer the best.
 Another reason I love summer is because my first born is a summer baby. The thought that my baby boy will be turning 12 in just a few weeks is spawning the thoughts of him growing up even more than I am ready for him to. Another reason why I might be feeling sad about summer creaping close to an end. And my sweet little Quinn will be 8 before I know it and lots needs to be planned and done for this big event also. But the most daunting thought to me is that I will turn 30 next week. I have been dreading that day for years. 30 seems so old, which I know its not but it just sounds so crazy to say that I have been alive for 30 years. Ugh. Gives me the queasies. Just recently though, my incredible husband planned something big for me. Which got me thinking that 30 might not be so bad after all and took my mind off of  turning the big 3-0.  Mitch planned a trip that I have only dreamed about for us to do for the week of my birthday, he surprised me with a trip to New York! I have always wanted to go there since I was a little girl. I would daydream about the city life and what it might be like to live in such a huge place. I was fascinated by the Broadway plays and since I was such a drama nerd in high school, I wanted to see those plays someday. And now I am getting to do just that! I cant wait to go away with my best friend and experience something truly magical, just the two of us. Which is something that we havent gotten to do much of in 11 years of marriage. So even though summer might be half way over, I am going to cherish each day. Because each day does count and I want to live it to the fullest!  I want to take in every breath of fresh air, smell the flowers that bloom, take evening walks more often and  enjoy the warmness while it lasts. I have so much to be grateful for and much to look forward to.

Harry Potter...The Last One

Last night Caleb went to a Harry Potter Party to celebrate the opening night of the last movie. And I am afraid this will be the last time my boy will play dress up as Harry:( 

Today Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is the last of the movie series to be released. I know its silly to be so sad about this but I cant help myself. See, my little {big } boy now, loves Harry Potter. He loved Harry from the moment we watched the very first movie The Sorcerer's stone together. That spawned us to be very freakishly loyal fans of the movies and when Caleb was old enough him and I began to read the books. Caleb loved Harry and the imaginative world that he lived in. Witches, wizards, goblins, magic, flying, potions, monsters, all of it created another world for Caleb to play in. And he did. ALL THE TIME. He was always wearing his little glasses and was known for using pencils or sticks as a wand. He was Harry Potter for 5 years in a row for Halloween! He would play countless hours of imaginative play time as Harry and Ron casting spells and fighting the evil Voldemort. As a mother, I grew to love this in my boy. Watching him play was just too cute. He would make the funniest faces and would seem so serious about it. He and I found a common interest to bind us forever. We read the books together, watched the movies together and were always talking about Harry and his adventures. The year that the third book was released into a movie, I took Caleb and Aubrie at the time was just a baby, back before you could buy tickets for the movie online, and we waited in line at the movie theaters at 6am until they began to sell tickets. Another year we went to a midnight release party at the local bookstore to get the new book which at the time was The Order of the Phoenix. I cannot tell you how many birthday parties we had that were Harry Potter themed! Harry Potter has become more of just books and movies to us, its a part of who we are now. I know that sounds so crazy but Caleb grew up with Harry. For the past 10 years its been a part of our lives. So today I am feeling sad to see this great story come to an end. I am so excited to see it and for me and my boy to experience the last one together.

My little "Harry". Caleb was three in this picture. The first time he was Harry Potter for Halloween.

Potty's

This post has been a long time coming. It took awhile to get them done and then for me to remember to make this post! Thanks for being patient. Overall we are really happy with the way they turned out. Grateful for my dad who hooked us up on this venture. Thanks Dad and Mary! Dont remember how ugly they were to begin with? Go here to refresh your memory.

 

My favorite thing about the bathrooms are no more floating potty's! Oh and my new jacuzzi tub!

Here is the master bath...

Guess what they did?

Both of them memorized the 13 Articles of Faith in the Book of Mormon! They are both really happy about it and it was such a good experience for them to work together on it. Very proud of you both!

Cali

This past week, I took the kids out to California to see Papa and Nana. As always we had a great time. On the 4th of July, my dad is in charge of a big breakfast in the park for his ward and so we went and enjoyed the food, company and the heat.{Being sarcastic about the heat part}. While we were there, it was so friggin hot and humid. The humidity was killing me the whole time. But thank goodness for the pool:)

                                                       Even Papa got in on the fun:)

A tradition we have while we are out there is to eat at Tokeo Wako for dinner. They cook the food right in front of you and make cool volcano's and fun little tricks while they cook. The kids LOVE this place and so I took a picture of them out in front of the restaurant. Check out Carly's facial expression, its hilarious!

 This was her face while the fire was made...

                                                                 We did lots of this....

One day I braved it and took the kids to Disneyland all by myself. I know most people might think I might be crazy for attempting this great feat but to tell you the truth I was more scared of driving down there than actually doing the park itself. I did good. Only missed one exit but eventually finding our way. Thank goodness for navigation systems. The kids all did great and we had such a wonderful time. It was HOT but we made good use of the ice cream stands:) I have to give props to Caleb. He was super brother/son there. I couldnt have done it without him. Such a mature young man. Grateful for his help!

                                                   
                                                       The girls got their faces painted

                      Even Carly was a pure gem there. She LOVED the parade so much. She was clapping and making cute noises {singing} as the parade went by us. We took her on Pirates of the Caribbean and she really liked it too. But even she couldnt keep up with the Happiest place on earth.

 I have been using a phone app called instagram on my iphone that makes pictures look really cool.

                                    Caleb's favorite part of the trip- enjoying Papa's Big TV...

                            Thanks Dad and Mary for having us out there. We had a great time!

City Champs!!

Caleb and Mitch's team the Braves won the City Tournament for Pee Wee Reese age group the other night! It was such a great season for both Mitch as a coach and Caleb. Caleb struggled the past few weeks with his hitting. He can be such a headcase when it come to the mentality of the game but finally got out of his slump the past three games and did awesome. He pitched the championship game and looked like a champ. Great job to my boys. So sad to see another season of  baseball come to an end. Our team gets to bypass state and go on to regionals because Farmington is hosting regionals this year and so we get to be the host team. Pretty cool experience for the boys. On that note, I want to say that the boys on our team have been really great kids this year. All wanting to learn and all have the passion to play baseball. We are all looking forward to playing next year with the same boys. Go Braves!

New Mexico summer sunsets/nights are the best!

Right after he slid into home plate!

Slugger

Caleb and his best friend Noah. Him and Noah have been friends since kindergarten:) Such a great kid!

Pitcher, pitcher belly itcher:)

The Team, Braves!