I love the summer

The first week of summer vacation Haylie and I spent at Girl's Camp with our ward. We camped near Santa Barbara. We enjoyed so many activities like kayaking, horseback riding, hiking, eating great food, doing crafts, and learning more about our Savior. We had a wonderful experience.
The camp theme was "Life is Swell." Swell stands for Stick With Essentials Life Long. We focused on the essentials of prayer, scripture study, and partaking of the sacrament.
Making it to the top on our sunset hike. It was an amazing view at the top.l
One of our activities was kayaking in the Santa Barbara harbor and then out in the open ocean. Once we were in the ocean we saw dolphins and seals right next to us. It was a fun experience.
Eating ice cream on the Santa Barbara Pier after kayaking. It was a beautiful day.
My finished oil pastel art project at camp.
These are my two graduating Seniors. Boy am I going to miss them.
Haylie finally did it - she turned 12. We all have been looking forward to this birthday for a long time. We had a Young Women's activity at our home the night of her birthday so we were able to celebrate her birthday with lots of friends. We love you Haylie.
We spent the 4th of July in Newport Beach. For the past 15 years my dad's side of the family has been spending the week of the 4th together at Newport. This is a week that I look forward to all year. I get to see my Grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins and catch up with them. We have this week down to a great routine. My dad walks all of the kids to the donut store each morning for chocolate milk and donuts. Then we spend the day at the beach playing in the sand and water, playing baseball, Ultimate frisbee and taking naps. The evening is spent deciding where to eat and staying up late talking.
So excited to spend a relaxing week at the beach with my family.
The boys preparing for some early morning fishing and tennis.
While we were at the beach house we had a bridal shower for my sister Sara at Ruby's on the Balboa Pier. All of the girls had fun eating breakfast together and celebrating Sara and Mike.


Haylie loved playing with the two year old cousins.
This is a picture of Haylie buried standing up.

These are pictures of my newly redone kitchen.
It's been a busy month with so many more exciting things still to come.

Spring Break in New York City

We spent Spring Break visiting our wonderful friends the Peo's in New York. They moved there last summer and we were excited to explore the city with them. They were wonderful hosts who knew all of the secrets to this great city. Our first day we set out to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Ground Zero. It was so cold that day. We were definitely the wimpy tourist from sunny Southern California.

We were in heaven in M&M world. The Call's love chocolate!
Haylie and Cade in Times Square.
This picture was taken from the "Top of the Rock" or the Rockefeller building. It had amazing views of the entire city including the Empire State Building.
Tanner was instantly interested in the poster of pictures of the fallen firefighters at Ground Zero. He knelt down next to it and studied it for a few minutes. This was a touching scene for our busy Tanner.
One of the monuments on the wall to those who died on September 11th.
Ice skating in Rockefeller Center. This was one of the kids favorite things that we did.
We found a beautiful yellow tree on our day in Central Park.
We ate hot dogs in Central Park. We had beautiful weather that day and the kids had a great time climbing all of the huge rocks.At the Museum of Natural History Weston kept telling us that he wanted to see "Dumb Dumb give me Gum Gum" The museum workers knew just what we were talking about. This was the museum were Night at the Museum was filmed. The kids were excited when they finally found "Dumb Dumb."

What's for Dessert?

My kids love to ask, "What's for Dessert?" Matt is the cookie maker but he was at church meetings tonight so they decided to take matters into their own hands and make cookies by themselves. I wanted to see if they really could do it and they really did it all themselves. I was even served cookie dough while I sat on the couch. The little boys even got to crack the eggs.
Serious supervision to make sure there were no shells in the dough.
This picture is for the out of state relatives. Thursday Lisa came down to visit and as Lisa was out playing basketball with the kids I realized that Cade was about her same size. This picture is to prove that.
With Lisa down for the day I got to hang out with two of my favorite people, Lisa and Tanya. We were having the best day. Shopping(Lisa even bought her bridesmaid dresses), lunch, and then me doing about the dumbest thing ever...
I ran into Tanya's car in my very own driveway. Tomorrow her car will be in the shop to fix the "sister-in-law dent."

Tanner Turns 5

Tanner has talked about this birthday for months. He has been so excited to turn five. He is so full of life and with Tanner you never know what the day will be like. He has kept us on our toes since the beginning. Life would certainly be boring without him. And we love him for it. Happy Birthday Tanner!Tanner woke up early which is not different than any other day so we let him open his first present at 5:15am. He has always been my early riser. One funny thing about Tanner is that as soon as he wakes up he changes into his clothes for the day. He doesn't want anyone to see him in his pajamas. Often times you can find him on the couch at 6am fully dressed and with his shoes and socks on. Now that is what I can an early bird.
Tanner kept telling me that he wasn't five until he had his cake. I guess now it is official.
Tanner, Weston and Marisa ready to play some pin the tail on the donkey.

One Decade of Cade

How can it be that 10 years ago today my Cade was born? We were living in Carson City, Nevada then and it was a very snowy day. He was born 5 days late and was supposed to be a New Year's Eve baby. He was my biggest baby weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces and he still has those cute cheeks. Cade has brought our home so much laughter and fun. He is a sensitive boy and he has a lot a talents. We love everything about him and want to wish him a very Happy Birthday.

Merry Christmas

We did a fun zip line. The kids thought it was great.

Fun in Maui

Aloha! We've arrived in Maui and we are having an amazing time.
We went on an awesome hike. Everything was so beautiful. Our favorite were all of the banyon trees.
This was the view from the top.
14 grandkids and 2 grandparents at the Luau.
What could be better than a virgin lava flow at a luau?
Tanner sporting the snorkel gear.