Still here

We are loving this summer break. We have been busy busy. We are not used to having 3 whole months of break for summer, and I thought I would be going crazy by now, ready to have the kids back in school. Not the case, though. I am actually dreading the end of summer. The kids have been awesome this summer!

I have not heard "I'm bored" once. The kids are happy to just sleep in, veg out, swim, and whatever else they can find to do. There are plenty of friends around, too, to keep them busy. I think they are enjoying the laziness as much as I am, so they are perfectly content to just hang out at home. They are all getting along, too, for the most part. It has been great.

We have been traveling alot this summer. Much more than we usually do. I have a lot to post:

Baseball tournaments in Utah

Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico (amazing!)

Hopefully, a trip to Disneyland soon, because we have passes that we have to use by September.

Taylor's 1st year at Girl's Camp.

I will leave you with this picture of Taylor just before she headed up to Camp. This is the first year in 5 years that I haven't been to camp. Bummer to miss Tate's 1st year :( I have pictures of these 3 girls on the left on their first day of Kindergarten together. Now, I have pictures of them on their 1st day of Camp. Where is the time going? They are getting to be so grown up.

So, a little recap of Camp. Trust me, if you know Taylor, I got very specific details of every minute of Camp. However, I will spare you the play-by-play. She loved Camp. She slept out under the stars the first night. It kind of surprises me how much of a camper she is. She is such the quiet reserved brainy type, but she really loves the outdoors. Camping, hiking, fishing. I love that about her.

Anyway, it was kind of a bummer that her 1st year at Camp came the week after Philmont. She said Philmont was way more fun, so she kept comparing Girls Camp to Philmont. Philmont was an amazing experience for her. She had Firesides and Testimony meetings with the General YM Presidency of the Church, and General Primary President. Talk about once in a lifetime. She loved both Camps, and I am so greatful for the experiences that all of my kids have had this summer. I will post all about Philmont soon.

Dodger Game

When we went down to Lincoln's California tournament last month, we were able to take in a Dodger game with some of the families from his team. There's something about the feel of a Major League Stadium that is just plain fun. We caught a good game. The Dodgers won, and there was even a Pickle which the boys thought was the coolest thing ever. It's pretty rare to see a pickle in the Majors.

I think my favorite time is when the lights just come on, and it's just about to get dark.

Lincoln and some of his boys. These boys are all good friends. They have been together at least 3 days a week for the past year.

Yeah. How cute is he?!

After the game, everyone was allowed down on the field to watch fireworks. My kids are down there somewhere.

Watching the fireworks. Levi didn't seem to mind them at all. Going to the game was a fun family thing for us to do. Hopefully, we will see many more games together... maybe one day we will be watching Lincoln out there on the field.

Summer haircut

For those of you who know Lincoln, you know that his hair is his claim to fame. He is all about the hair. That is why I am shocked he decided to buzz it off. I can't blame the kid. He has thicker hair than all of his sisters. He was majorly overheating at baseball practice. He is not sure of it. Doesn't think he looks as cute. He is quite concerned that it won't grow back before school starts. At the rate his hair grows, I don't think he needs to worry.

His baseball practices run 3 hours long sometimes. In 108 degrees. I think this haircut is a good thing.

Awards and end of school stuff

This year, all the kids had separate awards ceremonies on separate days. I was at the school pretty much all week between Blake and Lincoln's birthdays and all the awards ceremonies. I'm so proud of the kids. They did great this year!

Blake got her Great American Award. This is an award only offered to 5th graders. They have to memorize all these crazy things like the Gettysburg Address, all the Presidents, the Preamble to the Constitution, and much more. I am so impressed that she got it. Only 27 5th Graders finished everything. Way to go Blake! I wish I could've gotten a picture of her with the trophy they gave her. We had to leave right after she got her award. Levi was OVER the awards ceremonies, so we took him home, and he immediately threw up :( Poor kid wasn't feeling well.

Making sure that mom is watching!

Future trouble makers, right there.

Mom, Seriously, are we done yet?

Dylan finished her last year of preschool.

She looks so tiny next to all those boys.

Ms. Heather has been an amazing teacher to my kids the last few years. We love her!

Woohoooo! I'm going to Kindergarten! Mom, how many more sleeps until Kindergarten? I will hear this every single day until summer is over :)

This is how we roll

This is my ride. It seats 15. Never in my life thought I would drive one of these. But, I quite like it. We took a trip to California this past weekend, and the kids were so far back that I couldn't even hear them. It was quite nice. It will be nicer once we install the DVD system. Dylan asks me all the time if we need to go anywhere, just so she can ride in it. The kids say it's better than a limo. Lincoln especially likes it when he is the only one in the car and gets the whole back to himself. I don't mind driving it, and I'm not even embarassed when I drive up to the school and 10 kids get out :) We are making memories in this thing everyday.

Remodel and everyday life

These pictures are SOOC, so don't judge. I'm not in the mood to edit. Our house is finally put back together. Our downstairs was completely remodeled. New hardwood floors, carpet, and paint. Yay! It feels so clean. The floors are actually darker and more brown than they appear in the photos. Still trying to figure out my new flash, and like I said, not in the mood to edit.

So, here's everyday life for us. Levi walks around all day long with a ball and a glove in his hands. Doesn't really matter what kind of ball. He just throws it, runs after it, throws it again. All.Day.Long. What a good boy. Wish you could see the smile on his face playing catch with his dad. He is thrilled!

Everyday life.

Lincoln and dad watching the game.

Taylor got straight A's and O's this year.


And made it into National Junior Honor Society. She said she wanted to join because it would look good on her college applications. Uh, I wasn't thinking about college in 6th grade, but I'm glad she is.

Blake left for SeaCamp this morning, finally, after waiting the entire school year. There she goes! I hope she has a blast! Life is good :)

Highlights from Disneyland

Last month we went to Disneyland with our good friends the Robinson's. Their kids are the same age as our kids, so everyone had a friend. Since they have twins, Lincoln had two friends. Lucky. The kids ran us ragged nonstop for two days between Disney and California Adventure. Dylan was a good sport while the big kids exhausted all the rollercoasters. She got whatever treats she wanted. I felt like I was just handing out $20's all day long. It was painful.

It had been a while since our last Disneyland trip, because of having Levi, and now with a new baby on the way, it will be a while before our next trip. So, we pretty much pigged out on whatever snacks we wanted, and went on rides until we couldn't stand up anymore. The second night, we didn't even get back to our rooms until 1am. The kids had a blast! It was a really fun trip. My favorite part was watching Levi on Small World. He loved that ride. He was so cute. We went on Pirate's so many times, that he would tense up as soon as he saw the talking skull, because he knew we were going downhill after that. It was definitely fun going with friends. Thanks Robinsons!