What's So Exciting?

A notorious toy in our household is the

big blue bouncy ball.

You know what kind of ball that is.

The one that's in every toy section of every story.

Seemingly millions of balls stuffed into a sky-high bin just

waiting, asking, and begging

for little kids to come and free them

so they can bounce them with abandon

throughout the store.

Yes,

one of those kinds of balls...

Anyway,

the kids LOVE to bounce it but it's off limits inside-

UNLESS they're down the hall.

In which case they go crazy launching it

from one end to the other at lightening speed,

and all under the watchful gaze of the Savior, who,

by some miracle,

has not been hit once.

The boys LOVE this game.

And THAT is what is so exciting!

Sick Day

Little did we know...

the stomach flu was going around!

Ava picked up the bug,

then Owen,

and finally,

me!

Lucky for us,

we all recovered fairly quickly.

Which can't be said for our cousins,

who ended up throwing up all week!

Yikes!

Hopefully this is our last bout with the flu for the season,

but if not,

we've got the bucket ready...

Girls Morning Out

I can remember being woken early

in the morning by my mom

-horribly early in the morning-

and it was for one of two reasons:

1) She needed help setting up her garage sale,

or 2) we were going to the auction.

I always hoped it was the latter,

but after scouring the endless number of booths

under the brutal morning heat,

neither of them really had the edge.

Now that I have my own family,

we hardly EVER go to the auction,

but when we do,

it takes me back!

My girls brought their spending money,

and we comparison shopped,

haggled,

and scrutinized

until they found token items that were just right!

And to my surprise,

the auction does NOT go on forever and forever!

We actually reached the back of it!

I had to just kind of stare at it for awhile,

I was so agog that my childhood belief that it

NEVER ENDED

wasn't true!

H A P P Y  B A R G A I N  S H O P P I N G !



IKEA's Swedish Julbord Buffet

This year we purchased tickets

to IKEA's Julbord Buffet.

And when Gabriel started throwing up

moments before we had to leave,

Samuel stayed home with him

and Great-grandma was able to join us instead!

"Julbord" translates into Christmas Table

and it was quite the spread of traditional Swedish fare

including

Ham, Pickled Herring, and Glogg!

I won't pretend to be a fan

(blame all the non-swedish blood running through my veins!),

but is was quite the experience and

the kids-and grandma!-

had a blast!

Yes,

I took a picture in the bathroom.

Gross, I know,

but Owen loves to stand under the blowers

and he's such a light-weight that it really does almost blow

him over!

H A P P Y  J U L B O R D 

T O  Y O U  T O O !

{P.S.  We ALL got the stomach flu after this! 

Not from IKEA, but from sweet baby, Gabriel!}

Balancing a Shopping Cart on Your Nose...

Sometimes,

as a mother of five,

I feel like I do just that!

But to see it actually happen,

pretty awesome!

We took advantage of the FREE Mommy Event

at the mall featuring a special performance

of the circus that came to town!

The kids were speechless as they watched

incredible balancing acts,

hoola-hoop tricks,

and of course,

crazy contortionist tricks!

It was fun...kind of weird...but fun!

And you can't beat free!

Brothers...

A True First Day

I cannot believe it!

The first day of school is already here!

The summer, as usual,

has flown by!

My girls,

are so, so beautiful! 

And so big!

It really does seem like just yesterday that

I was folding pink onsies...

...

Not only is it the first day of school,

but their first day at a new school!

It's a huge leap of faith for all of us,

but after much thought and prayer,

we enrolled them in a charter school.

We love the classics-based curriculum,

the focus on Founding Father's principles,

and the uniforms, I must say,

rock!

The girls love it and we couldn't be happier!

Fall,

here we come!

Labor Day: Point Reyes National Seashore

For Labor Day we hit one of our favorite seaside places,

Point Reyes National Seashore!

It is beautiful,

and this time,

since we weren't hiking,

we had plenty of time to explore on the way in.

Welcome to Point Reyes Station,

home to funky art galleries and random shops!

"The Box Show", a true "must-see"

on your next visit.

Imagine being given a box (think shoe-box size)

and free reign.

What would you create?

These folks did just that,

and the creativity is crazy fun to look at!

Guess who doesn't want to hold hands anymore?

Window shopping is fun,

but playing oceanside is even better!

But first,

a picnic smorgasborg!

Cold Oven-Fried Chicken + Honey

Biscuits + Strawberry Jam

Fudgy Brownies + Fresh Fruit

=

Heaven

Chillin' (literally), with my Gabriel,

while the others start to dig...

{he he}

Wherein everyone else seemed to

get more acclimated to the chilly weather,

I somehow missed that boat...

And yes,

I seriously thought about swiping Gabriel's blanket too...

Okay,

I get playing in the sand,

and even touching the water,

but seriously,

bathing suits?!?

I T ' S  F R E E Z I N G !

I don't get it.

Is our day really done?

I guess so!

Remember the age old rule:

Leave no trace behind...

Bye-bye castle!

And good-bye old friends!

Thanks for the Christmas gift inspiration.

Samuel,

can you guess what Santa's leaving under your tree?

And no,

it's not a wakeboard... :)

The tradition continues,

we spot another wedding!

How romantic,

the beginning of a new family...

on Labor Day!

Which is appropriate too,

since marriage truly is a labor of love.

...

H A P P Y  L A B O R I N G !

Savoring the Last Few Day of Summer...

With school starting the day after Labor Day

we knew our lazy days of summer were fast coming to an end!

What did we decide to do then?

One day we instituted a mandatory "Pajama Day"-

complete with pillow fights!

Another day was "Water Day",

and the kids went nuts with water balloons and the hose!

I was on serious cooking duty and the top requests won out

with a  Sloppy Joe Night and a Pizza Night!

To cap it all off,

we're hitting the beach with one final hurrah in the sand!

No X-mile long hikes or bike rides included!

Just plain ol' lazin' about

eating cold oven-fried chicken,

ice cold watermelon,

and rich chocolate brownies!

Fall is right around the corner,

but until then...

H A P P Y  S U M M E R !



Detours

Whenever we say,

"Let's go on a (fill in your choice of an outdoor physical activity)",

the kids always say,

"For how long?"

And they have good cause because we usually

tend to stay out three to four times longer than initially planned.

Why?

Because we're on an adventure!

The result of these crazy family experiences?

Picture Lehi's family leaving Jerusalem.

Yes, there's a fair amount of murmering,

but in the end (and unlike the story :),

they all come around and

when all is said and done

we can collapse on the driveway

grateful for the time we spent together-

or at least happy to finally be at home!

On this adventure

we cycled to a new park only to find that it was still closed!

Can you imagine what this did to our team's moral?

We bucked up and headed to another park

before turning for home,

spotting some work being done to the bike path.

We'll have to come back to check it out when it's all finished...

But we'll give the kiddies some time to recover first!