August

The girls and I went to one of our favorite beaches, Little Corona, with friends to explore the tidepools and play in the water. Below, some random pictures from August. A date night to see Jim Gaffigan at the OC Fair. Hilarious. A beach day with sweet baby Sienna and Ryland. Neighbors playing games in the front yard. Ice cream cones with friends. And I can't remember if the girls call this game monkey in the middle or horsey rides with dad in the jacuzzi. One of their favorite things to do.

Love summer nights! We had fun with old friends and family and Nate & Dara's in their gorgeous new yard. Swimming, watching olympics and roasting s'mores. We had to drag the kids out of the pool at 9:30 pm. 

Papa organized a family bonfire complete with salt water corn and a hunt for buried treasure! 

We spent a morning visiting GG. We got their and she said "I hope 10 am isn't too early for an ice cream cone?" Her house is known as the "candy house". She's a sweet tooth like the rest of us. The girls love playing in great grandmas jewelry, one of my favorite things to do as a little girl.

Paul and I got away for a night to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary! We stayed at a fancy hotel in LA, slept in, spent a day in Malibu at the Getty Villa, went out to eat, read and relaxed. It was a great 36 hour getaway. Thanks Mimi and Papa!

Gwen and I went on a date to a fairy garden class and waffles. She loves playing and creating in her fairy garden.

Paul  took Gwen to Colorado for the Fort Collins Temple open house. Extra special because they got to go with Grant, Kelsey and Will and spend the night with Mumsi and Grumsi. While they were gone Kate and I worked on her "new" room. She now has her own room and Clara and Gwen are sharing. She chose the color to paint her table and painted it all by herself. She has great taste and loves to decorate and organize. It's been fun working on it with her.

Disney days! We got to meet up with Matt, Rachel and Maddie for some Disney fun. We got extra lucky because we showed up not realizing it was a black out day for our passes. Because it was the first day we were using them (and the girls cute pouty faces) they made an exception and let us in! The crowds were light and we had a great time.

Our last week of Summer we went to Big Bear for 2 nights. We stopped at Lake Gregory on the way to check out the floating inflatable water park. Kate and Gwen had fun on the trampolines and slides.

We went on a "hike" that Clara did not like at all. Ate ice cream cones while watching a movie that everyone liked, and rode the alpine slide, which was also given two thumbs up.

We spent a day at beautiful Shaw's cove in Laguna, Clara met our favorite preschool teacher, Ms Radhika, had a picnic at the park with friends and another kids book club.

We had a summer full of friends, fun, fighting, good food and family. Sounds about right!

July

We flew home from Colorado on the 4th of July and decided to stay home and keep in mellow for the holiday. We had our own pool party and BBQ and played with sparklers. We put Clara to bed and then climbed on the roof of our addition to watch fireworks from a distance. The girls loved being able to go on the roof and we loved not fighting crowds.

Random scenes from summer. Free slurpees on 7/11 with friends, Gwen's "sale" where she sold artwork, cookies and lemons, ice cream cones, the beach, swimming with cousins and reading time. 

Clara turned 3! She's been anticipating her birthday for several months. She had a few specific requests. She wanted a watermelon raft for the pool, pink balloons and a Sofia cake. All her wishes came true! We spent a night at the Great Wolf Lodge that opened close to us and I will never forget her face light up every time she went down the orange waterslide. Her smile was just as big the 20th time she went down it as it was the first. 

Clara is such a joy and a blessing. She is mostly always happy. She loves her big sisters and playing with them. She has the cutest little voice and likes to talk a lot. She loves to read stories, especially If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series and Pete the Cat. She is a girly girl and loves dress-up, princesses, dancing, and painting her nails. We love you Clara!

More random scenes from Summer. Swim meets on Saturdays. Kate and Gwen were part of the Greenbrook Gators swim team and both had several improvements on their times. We are proud of the hard work they put into swim practice and meets. And it was fun spending time with other family friends on the team. We had cousins over and put on a little play, the big girls and I went to Sound of Music with Mimi and Papa and we hosted a kids book club with friends. In July we read one of my all time favorite books, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Beach days! We went to Victoria Beach in Laguna for the first time. It was so beautiful! We found rapunzels castle and a little baby pool just the right size for Clara. The big kids had fun playing in the shore break and exploring tide pools. 

Finally, swim team awards and a new found love for roller skating/blading! The girls saved money to buy roller blades (Kate) and skates (Gwen). We went to Fountain Valley Skate Center and it was just like the skating rinks I remember going to as a kid with neon lights and fun music. I still love to rollerblade and it was fun doing it with them.

June 2016

June! Our apple tree we planted when we moved in 5 years ago produced a bumper crop of apples! 

Kate and Gwen participated in a Broadway-style show for our church's 50th anniversary in Huntington Beach. They performed "Hard Knock Life" from Annie and a Patriotic Song "4th of July". They were so fun to watch on stage and did a great job!

Brad and Nicole got married! It was such a special day and so fun to be around family and friends. Their wedding was beautiful and we are so excited for them. Clara especially loved everything about the wedding. The "cheers" toast and dancing were her favorite. Gwen and Kate loved the candy bar and photo booth.

The start of Summer! We had our annual last day of school food fight and pool party with a few of Kate and Gwen's friends. 

BBQ at Nate and Dara's. Fun catching up with Emily and family.

For my birthday my mom treated us to a cooking class on making fresh pasta. It was a lot of fun!

At the end of the month we went to Colorado. Paul and I got to sneak away by ourselves for 2 nights to celebrate my birthday. We went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park and rode bikes around Boulder and ate delicious food! We came back to Denver to celebrate Mumsi's birthday and enjoy the 4th of July weekend together. We spent dinners outside on the gorgeous patio, went to a rodeo, went hiking and caught up with family. It was a great start to Summer!