Beach Gymnastics

Just a little yoga gymnastics on the beach.

The weather was perfect so I felt like a kid and had to get my energy out somehow.

Then Alexandria joined me because it was fun.

Happy Birthday Isabel!

My gorgeous girl just turned seven! This year she got her own friend party. The boys didn't want a Halloween party so we cancelled our annual tradition for something different. 

I'm afraid to admit it but I think it's getting easier. All of my kids helped to put the party together. It made it so getting everything ready was almost as fun as the party. Alexandria was in charge of the Gory Guessing Game. AJ helped clean off the patio. DJ and Isabel made the goody bags. And Stella was just happy to be a clown. 

Isabel here's some things I want to remember about you from this year:

You are a great big sister! You were so excited to have a baby in our family that you gave up your room and moved in with your big sister. Then once Stella was here you made up stories and played with her to keep her entertained. 

Your favorite color has always been and still is purple. 

Often I have to remind people how young you are because you seem so grown up. And you're really tall, as tall as your 8 year old brothers, so people think you are older. 

You like going over to Grandma's so you can hang out with Grandpa. He might be one of your favorite people. 

I'm so glad you were home with me for half the day during kindergarten. I loved having Isabel mommy time. You weren't demanding but you were always excited to do stuff together. 

I can always count on you for a hug and a beautiful smile. 

I love you! And I'm so super glad that you are a part of our family.

Happy birthday beautiful!!

Bad parenting skills but a blast

DJ left his lunch at home today. I had extra time so I thought it would be fun to go eat lunch with him and AJ and maybe take them ice cream. What am I teaching my kids? Leave lunch at home = ice cream and lunch with Mom? Not the best parenting technique but definitely a fun one. 

Since Papi isn't home everyone had to go to Alexandria's softball game. Luckily there is a park for the kids. Stella had a blast. We had a blast watching her enjoy the swings. Isabel's hair blasted off on the slide. 

Sleep Tight Little Ones

Don't let him fool you. It's not a brotherly love thing that has him sleeping by his twin. It's more of a "I'll sleep in his bed so I don't have to make mine in the morning" kind of thing. Still cute though. 

The End of California

Goodbye Capistrano Beach!  We will miss you! Eventhough your deceivingly cool sun left its nice red touch on my legs, we still want to come back. 

Next stop...Hollywood! 

Can you tell what our movie stars are? And who told this girl she could grow up?

A Primary Song

Later that night we had fun playing on the elephant and finding crabs and fish in the shallow rocky shores. 

Then we stumbled upon a treasure, literally stumbled as we walked over rocky terrain pushing a stroller. 

Breathtaking!!

One of the advantages of being in primary is I constantly have primary songs on repeat in my mind. 

This scene reminded me of one of those songs. 

Now I am here in a beautiful place

learning the teachings of Jesus 

Parents and teachers will help guide the way

Lighting my path every day.

Wrapped in the arms of my Saviors love

I feel his gentle touch

Living each day I will follow His way

Home to my Father above

I know He lives

I will follow faithfully

My heart I give to him

I know that my Savior loves me.

Now carry on!

Does the Beach Make You Sleepy?

This was my view from my napping spot today. Relaaaxxxxxing! While my beautiful children played....

and played....

and played....

and played....

Really they played all their energy out. Then they napped. 

The beach makes me sleepy too.

From One Big Tub

This is how we got this fabulous vacation last minute. Grandma (with her amazing travel planning skills) saw that someone knew it was going to be rainy and cancelled their reservation. So thankfully, she snatched it up for us.  We love cold cloudy days even on the beach!

This is my kind of beach day.  No need to worry about shade or sunscreen.  It's all provided.

After hours of play they did finally get so cold that they chose to defrost in the giant tub in our room. 

From natures cool big wavy tub to another big bubbly tub.

The End of the World

We drove, and drove, and drove but it was all worth it when we got to the end of the world and it was waiting for us with a welcoming glow. 

Hello Capistrano Beach! I may have just fallen in love with this beach. 

If the end of the world looks anything like this I say bring it on!

Lunch Love Notes

Friday is make your own lunch day. I thought it was cute that DJ and Isabel wrote love notes to themselves and put them in their own lunches. Makes me want to write them even more lunch love notes. 

Resemblance? Mmmm...maybe

Which one of these things is not like the other?  Here we all are around 8 months ish to a year. Who looks like who? Please tell me I can at least claim one of them!