Beach Camping

Well, we finally got off to our trip Monday afternoon while we waited for our car radiator fan to get fixed and after starting we pretty much sat in traffic the whole way to CA. I forgot about the 4th of July traffic it took us 8 hours to get to the beach when it was only suppose to be about 5 hours, ugh! Anyway, we made it, well kind of... on our way we were thinking this is going to be so much work with all our little ones so we changed plans (we were suppose to go to San Mateo and camp 2 nights with our friends and then go to my sister's and camp one night on her mother-in-laws beach). We ended up staying all three nights at my sister's beach. Our poor friends got rained out after one night and stayed at a hotel the other 2 nights. The beach weather was no good! The sun just never came out! The kids still had a great time playing in the sand, running from the water, swimming in the lap pool, being with their cousins Baxter (and Vincent), being with grandma and of course they enjoyed the camp fire!

Daisy and Walt after falling in the water.

Daisy made her a little spot to watch the water.

We were able to see my Grandma Mike who is doing fantastic, visit with my cousin Heidi while the kids swam with her kids at my aunt Joann's.

We also stopped by my dad's and swam some more, had dinner and enjoyed visiting with Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Debi.

A Day at the Wild Animal Park

Since the beach weather was so yucky, we ended up going to the Wild Animal Park. My sister had free passes which was wonderful! My mom stayed home with baby Vincent (my sister's little guy) and the rest of us went and enjoyed the park!

Van looking at the sleepy lion.

Hanna, watch out for the Gorilla!

On our tour we saw lots of neat African animals and heard some very interesting facts!

The Black Rhino can weigh up to 3000-4000 lbs.!

Happy 4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July celebration this year! We first went to our stake breakfast and program, which I always enjoy. Later, our friends Autumn and Jeff invited us to Jeff's aunts 4th of July party (on the 3rd). They had this fun pool that was so nice and warm! Had yummy food, lots of fun treats (homemade ice cream, slushies, chocolate cover fruit and marshmallows on festive sticks, bottled soda...) and some very fun fireworks! We had a great time! On the 4th we went to Jeff and Cindy's for dinner and more fireworks with the Jensen Family.

They had this fun rope swing and this 10 ft. wall that Max enjoyed jumping off of!

Danny doing sparklers with the kids, these sparklers were so nice because they were so long.


Everyone with sparklers.

Swimming Lessons

Luke, Van, Daisy, Walt and Hanna
Like I mentioned early the kids got free swimming lessons so I even took a mommy and me class with the twins. Daisy was doing just fine in her floaties before swim lessons, but poor Walt was too afraid, when I would barley move away from him he would panic. Well, since their swim lessons you would not have known Walt was ever afraid. He jumps off the side (with his floaties on), floats on his back and puts his head under all the time, he just loves the water now.

Daisy swimming (or drowning). Walt swimming.

Hanna enjoyed jumping off this 5ft. high dive with no life jacket and had no problem doing so.

OB, Daisy, Walt and Luke. Van is pretty much swimming without his floaties I just make him wear them because it's much less work and stress on me. Maybe now that my mom's back she can watch the babies and I can watch the others.

Summer

Here is what we've been doing a lot of this summer...SWIMMING!

All kids 5 and under (everyone, but Max) were able to take 2 weeks of swimming lessons through the city for FREE! So I have been taking a mommy and me class with the twins. Thankfully the life guard does it with Daisy for me and uses her to demonstrate. Daisy is like Van in the water, she just jumps right in and loves it! The classes have made Walt feel much more comfortable. Hanna was already swimming she's just improving her strokes and other skills. And when Van isn't being a little stinker he shows his great skills!

My wonderful friend Shelly has this awesome pool and a huge heart! We've been swimming here about 3 times a week. In this heat swimming is all we really can do! So thank you Shelly!

Here is what we haven't been doing enough of...SLEEPING!

Walt

Not sure where these glasses came from, but Walt really likes them and I find it funny whenever I see him wearing them. Danny has started online website design classes, so he did a little editing practice to this photo.

Found Walt in the office with these glasses on, a pen and my phone in his hand. Too cute!

Van

Van fell asleep on the kitchen counter while waiting for his lunch to be done. Would this be considered dangerous?

T-Ball

Max on 1st base.
Hanna on 3rd base.

T-ball season is officially over! Max and Hanna played on the same t-ball team this year, (the Indians). It worked out great for me and Hanna enjoyed being on the same team as Max. Max however, felt that he was playing with the "babies". He did look a little strange out there because he's so tall (at age 6 he started wearing size 10 boys pants and jeans), but he was in the right age group. This might be our last T-ball season, it is too time consuming for me. Excited for soccer to start. I'll be coaching Hanna's soccer team in the fall.

Danny's Skin Infection

Danny was playing racquetball last Thursday and fell and hurt his knee. On Friday he had a fever and a lump under his lower knee. He was feeling miserable and by Sunday he knew it was infected so he went to urgent care, they gave him antibiotics and sent him home. The next evening he was in so much pain and the infection had spread so he went back to urgent care. They gave him an I.V. and stronger antibiotics and sent him home. By Tuesday his infection had spread down to almost his ankle and his friends told him to get to the hospital (in Vegas of course). He went to a hospital in Vegas and was admitted for two days. Danny was treated for Cellulitis (a general term for a skin infection). Because Danny had no open wound (which is rear) they needed to make sure the antibiotics were working before letting him go home. We are glad he's back home and is recovering well. A big thanks to all our friends for there help, concern, love and prayers!

Campus Food Service Ends

Danny has owned his own Food Service business called Campus Food Service and has provided food services for the three community colleges in Las Vegas for the past 6 years. Danny and his brother's, Tom and Jeff started the business as a Hogi Yogi in August of 2003. Soon after they received the bid at the Charleston Campus and relocated there. 2 years later Danny bought out his brother's and received further bids at the other two campuses. Every few years the college has to put the bid out for the public to have the opportunity to bid. Well in the past 6 years he's been doing this no one has been interested in the contract. This year the largest college food service business in the WORLD (Sodexho) decided they wanted the contract, so with that being said Danny was out bid. Danny was shocked that Sodexho would ever want the contract since they are such a large company, but since Danny has been there he has set it up so well that they became interested! They are even interested in keeping Danny's current employees and planning on running it mostly the way Danny has it set up. Danny put in an amazing bid showing how a small business will continue to work with the college and continue to improve their stores, he also showed how his pricing is 20% better on food items then Sodexho at UNLV. The college is just hoping a big company will come in and take away all their worries. Danny is doing just fine and will continue to trust in the Lord. He feels blessed for the hands on business experience and will continue to be an entrepreneur!

Grandpa's Birthday

Cute little conversation I had with Hanna on Thursday...
Me- "Hanna tomorrow's grandpa's birthday."
Hanna- "We need to send him money." (That's what he does for the grand kids)
Me- "Should we send him as much as how old he is?" (That's what he does.)
Hanna- "That will be all of our money."

I had a good laugh and loved sharing this with my dad on his 64th birthday! Happy Birthday dad!

Sharing Your Talents

I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such talented woman here and more importantly that these woman magnify there talents by sharing them with others (like me) who may not be so talented. UNTIL NOW!!!!

One friend does a once a month cupcake class and teaches us fun and interesting cupcake skills. These are spaghetti with meatballs (cupcakes).

Another friend has a monthly cooking class and has given out some wonderful recipes that I've even been enjoying trying out! And more importantly they've turned out great and I've even enjoyed doing so!

Homemade french bread, YUMMY! Made twice last week. And Chicken Parmesan, looking forward to making again!

Another friend taught me how to make this cute little diaper cake!

Another friend taught me a few knew hair techniques to do on Daisy and Hanna's hair! I have also learned how to make hair bows from another friend! I made the hair bow that's on top of the diaper cake. And these too! (Oh, the purple ones, not the brown and white ones.)

Oh ya, and I got my hair done!

THANK YOU, YOU WONDERFUL TALENTED WOMAN WHO HAVE SHARED YOUR TALENTS WITH ME!

Preschool

I had my Pre-K Class graduation and Preschool class program last week, so I'm off until Fall.
Both class programs went so well I was very impressed and I know the parents were too! I currently have no pictures for my Pre-K graduation except for the cute cupcakes we made and the class photo, (my friend will be sending me more so I'll update later). They were awesome though, it was so rewarding seeing their progress! Hanna was in my Pre-K class, which means she'll be starting Kindergarten in the Fall!

Here is my preschool class during their program. Van is in this class, but he still has another year of preschool, then Pre-K.