Happy 7th Birthday

J. turned 7 and was so excited.  Here are our favorite 7 things about little miss J.

1. She has a very large heart. She always makes room for more people to be loved by her. She is thoughtful and gives the best hugs, has the greatest smile and a contagious laugh.

2. She is a great example to her siblings and those around her. Her little testimony is large and she is not afraid to share her thoughts and beliefs.

3. She is extremely competitive and likes to win (at any cost) and will continue to work hard if it means she will win. She does not get this from her mom...

4. She is very analytical. She will think about things for months after the event and will pick apart every detail.

5. She keeps us on our toes. There is never a dull moment with her. She has so much energy and will entertain anyone who will watch. She is so confident in herself and is never trying to "be" anything and tells us she loves herself the way she is.

6. People gravitate towards her and is liked by many. She is a leader and will always create something fun. She is very creative and will turn anything into a fun situation. She is the leader of her extremely large and busy social life.

7. She will try to do most anything. There are few times I can recall her not wanting to try. She is always willing to try a new food (even if it looks gross) try a new activity or challenge herself to do something she has never done and EXCEL when she attempts it.

Back to School, 2nd grade

School started wayyyyy too soon this year. We started August 15th which sounds crazy being that we grew up starting September 4th. 

#1 started 2nd grade and was thrilled. She said "I need to look cool Mom because this is when everything changes. This is when you are a big person at school." It is amazing to look back at all of her first days of school and see her growth. 

1st year pre-school (3)

2nd year Pre-school (4)

                                                                   KINDERGARTEN (5)

                                                                         1ST GRADE (6)

2ND GRADE (7)

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July with lots of good company.

My sister in law's parents were a hit with the sno cone machine and everyone enjoyed more than 1

We had fun playing pool games and enjoying the nice weather

Towards the end of the night we all headed to a friends to light fireworks.

Utah and the final MOVE to California

As the school year ended we knew we would be heading to Utah to collect our final things and make a more permanent move to California. We had kept most of our belongings in storage in hopes that we may one day return. As we had now lived in CA for over 2 years we have loved living here and decided to make this our permanent home unless we have a greater opportunity elsewhere. It was a bitter sweet time because we love Utah and moving our stuff was a final goodbye. This would now be our fun vacation state and we will create many memories as we come to visit with family and friends.

The first day we arrived we had our a bunch of friends over to swim. These girls are #1's dearest friends (practically like cousins.) When these girls and #2 get together it's as if they have never lived apart from each other, everything is so comfortable and normal. It's amazing to think they have been best buddies for 6 years and it continues to stay that way. The girls were excited to meet our newest addition. Unfortunately the last few times we have tried to get together with them and Lisa a major trama in their family has occurred. We missed Lisa but were very happy to see the girls. 

 Later that day we were lucky and got to have our best boy buddies over as well. We enjoyed time spent with Michelle and Colby and love to see the kids interact with so much love for each other. These 3 kiddos were born within 3 months of each other and its fun to remember all of us being pregnant together and to see them now growing up.

We really enjoyed watching Tessa swim and play as her mom had told us she would be too scared to get in. Oh the things kids do when mom is not around...

 During the week I was able to meet Alexander. My niece placed her baby with a darling family a few months back and I unfortunately was not able to meet him since I was recovering from having #3. He is a sweet little guy and I have peace knowing these too knew each other in the pre-existence and I'm sure have a bond that was created before they came to earth. They are about 1 1/2 months apart (we can see who is older...)

His adoptive family was so sweet and kind to let us come and meet his sweet spirit and I hope they felt of our love for him as well as our gratitude and love for them for raising him, loving him and giving my niece so many opportunities in her future. 

We had many people who wanted to meet little #3 and we were so sad (as typical) to not be able to get to everyone . 

                                       

#2 Loves spending time with his boy buddies and spend quality time without his sister in the way playing girly things.

 We had our traditional Taco Amigo lunch and savored every bite.

 After and eventful week Jared had wanted to see his Grandma Irene and wanted to have her meet #3. Unfortunately we never have enough time to do all the things we want in Utah so while he packed up our U-hual I made a secret stop to visit. She and Jared didn't know I was stopping by but had some time to spare and I knew both would appreciate it.

End of the school year stuff

Little miss Tayter Tot getting bigger every day.

To start off the end of the school year and beginning of summer Dad had a camp out. The kids were so excited. Since #1 sleeps walks every night we knew it would not be the best idea to sleep on the grass so they slept on the balcony. To our surprise both kids slept out all night.

#2 Loved making S'mores and drinking hot chocolate. 

#3 loved watching the movie.

We did an early session of swim lesson but by the end of the week #2 was a...not perfect but better swimmer.

#1 enjoyed arts and science day at school. She loved Mr. Valentines nature class which was full of exotic animals like kangaroos and the sticky bug below.

#3 was blessed in the LDS church and we were so lucky to have my in laws fly in from Utah to spend a few days with us. We took them on a day trip to Santa Barbara and stopped at a local fruit stand in Camarillo which they had never done before.

#2 got to enjoy Grandma and Grandpa all to himself while #1 had a birthday party to attend. We enjoyed lunch at CPK and walked downtown.

We also took them to yogurtland. They had never eaten at a frozen yogurt store so this was a special treat.



#3 Blessing Day
June 3, 2012

                                                                 Great Grandma.

Schools out for Summer!!!

We enjoyed our very busy last day of school with a class party. We will miss her 1st grade teacher as she had a fantastic year!

Grandma and Grandpa also got to attend #2's last class party.

First day of summer

I told the kids to go outside and play and after an hour of not hearing from them I checked to see what mischief was going on. I was right with mischief...

They had jumped in the pool fully clothed and were having a water fight with the hose. I loved watching them play in the sun and enjoy that they had a summer break.

I think #2 was thrilled to have his sister home to play with and not be bored by his mom.

They washed and sorted rocks.


It was a bitter sweet moment to look at the full backpack of hard work this last year. I was so proud of their accomplishments and growth and so proud to see both be strong and have a very successful year in many ways. I was also sad because I knew it meant another year had quickly come and gone and we would soon be moving on to 2nd grade and last year of pre-school. I know my sweet babies are growing up so fast and I will miss the crazy, hectic, chaos days of kids but will embrace them while they are here for me to treasure.