June 11 to June 25, 2016: SUMMER!!!

And finally, summer is here! Our bucket list is rather large, so we have been busy trying to hit as many places as we can. 

1. Jelly Belly Factory with our friends the Singhs (and the Doll girls): such a fun outing. The tour now is self-guided, so we were able to go at a rather slow pace and really look at things. We had a great time, and the children each brought three dollars to buy themselves some jelly beans afterwards!

2. Fruit picking in Brentwood with our friends the Johnson's: we went out to Brentwood and picked peaches, plums and apricots at Ranch Zaragoza Farm. It was so yummy! I even made cobbler with those peaches, and it was the yummiest cobbler we have ever had! 

3. Bowling at Paddock Bowl with our friends the Palmers. So much fun! The kids even got to play one of the arcade games (when someone else paid for it but didn't finish the game) and won some candy! 

4. The Peanuts Movie with the Cooks and the Niemans! And o course we got lots of popcorn, and candy from sister Cook! 

5. Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton: we met up with Aunt Jen and cousin Nathan. So much fun! Our favorites were the food, the pig races, the Chinese acrobats, and the reptile show! 

6. After the fair, we drove to Dublin and played at Emerald Glen Park. So refreshing! 

7. Meadow Homes Water Splash Park in Concors with the Cooks, the Score kids (I was watching them), the Hopkins, the Johnsons, the Richards and the Volz. Such a great afternoon with friends!

8. Delta fun with the Palmers: everyone loves the tube (until Kelli, Hunter, Brina and I fell in!) Camilla tried wake boarding (unsuccessfully), and Hunter water skied for the first time after 20 years (and looked great doing it!) Logan loved playing in one of the beaches. Such a great morning! 

9. Six Flags with friends on June 13th!

10. BART ride and A's game on June 13th. The children loved it! 

11. The Jungle with the Cooks on June 23rd. The kiddos had been asking to go for a while! 

13. Mount Wanda with the kiddos and the Palmers on June 15. Logan was not a happy camper on the way up, but loved the way down :) 

14. Bubble run in San Jose on June 11th. My first time (and Camilla's) doing a 5K! We also went to Pleasanton this day, and had some yummy ice cream

From Meadowlark Creamery, and burgers and fries from Bob's Giant Burgers.

And that's it for now! Stay tuned for next week's shanigans!!

She swims!

And I couldn't be any more proud! My little fish is getting quite comfortable in the water these days. I love it. I think it helped that I have been in the water with her the last three days. Yay for having three water safe kids! (Soon) Next up, this momma has to get herself water safe  too! 

Rainbows and most eventfuls

Sabrina is always asking us to say our family prayer. The best part is when we hear her say, "we are thankful for Jesus and for rainbows." And she always asks "to bless the rainbows." It truly is the cutest thing. I wonder if she will ever remember this. 

Also, I made a list of the most "eventful" things each of our children has done. Sabrina was the winner since she has the largest number of items! 

Camilla: ate dog food as a toddler; had big tantrums; would wake up in the middle of the night and jump in her crib (she eventually broke it and we had to duct tape it).

Logan: screamed for 30 minutes the first day of swim team; had to have pepper in his mouth (in two occasions) to become poop potty trained.

Sabrina: had her middle finger cut off  (stitched at the ER); stuck a piece of carrot in nose (sneezed it out two days later); sprayed 409 in mouth; ate hand sanitizer; popped in acid reflux pills; cut off her hair; sprayed perfume in her eyes. 

Oh Brina... You make life so much more exciting 😁

Women's conference 2016: Covenant-keeping Women

Baptismal Covenant: to have his name on us, to keep his commandments, 

Scriptures and prayer to remember our covenants when the winds of the world are blowing.

There is no spiritual power in living in convenience. There is spiritual power in keeping our covenants (M. Russell Ballard).

Visiting teacher: lift where we stand.

To do: action list

Picture of the temple in the kiddos room.

Children need to stand up for themselves with their friends. If the friends will continue to say / do bad things, then those friends are not worth it. 

The people we surround ourselves do define us. We need to make sure we are surrounded with uplifting people. So we can be uplifted.

Read to children from list of bibliotherapy.

Study by topic as a family. Pick a topic and read from the bible dictionary. Or True to the Faith. And underline the ones I like the most. 

Have a study journal when you read scriptures. Elder Scott talks about this in Preach my Gospel. 

Make it a goal to have paper scriptures when reading. Different feel when you read the scriptures on paper. Not electronically. 

A getaway and more

Aunt Jen watched our kiddos the weekend of April 8 so Hunter and I could go on a one night getaway to the City. We had a blast at the California Academy of Sciences! 

Logan turned 6! He requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. And m&m's on top.

I was able to go to Logan's special day in his kindergarten class and read a book about him. 

Swim team season is in full swing! The minis sure love those rubber duckies! 

We went to Valencia during our spring break! And we had a s wonderful time at the Temple Visitors Center. We watched a movie about families, and we were all touched. 

Helping Hands 2016

For our service activity this year, we put together a whole lot of meals for people in need. We had such a wonderful time at the denkinger building. We had the early shift, from 9 to 10.30 am. 

My first flat tire! Not an experience I want to repeat for a LONG time. It happened right after music on a Wednesday morning. I didn't have any friends with us in the car (which is rather eat!) and we were in our way to pick up Logan. We made it to the school safely, and I called AAA to ask for help. They came in record time, which was wonderful. And Hunter was able to come home and get a new tire on the van. I sure felt watched over. Angels are around us. 

Clayton Valley Pumpkin Patch with my son. Such a fun time, although it was windy and somewhat cold! 

Mother's Day 2016

For Mother's Day I spoke in our sacrament meeting! The topic was "the role of family in the gospel of Jesus Christ." I loved talking about this. I feel like the topic of families is so special, ad so needed nowadays. Apparently I did great since President Score asked me to give the same talk at stake conference in a few weeks. Ha! I told Hunter I couldn't wear my fancy dress again, so I needed to buy a new one. At least I get a new modest dress out of speaking at conference! 

Mother's Day breakfast in bed. Apparently, when hunter told Logan that maybe we could have breakfast in the kitchen, Logan was almost in tears. That boy really wanted me to eat breakfast in bed! 

Oh how I love these three crazies. 

Camilla finished her basketball class on May 4. She had basketball every Wednesday from 1.30 to 2.30 for ten week. She loved it, but she was also glad to be done :) 

Reading for the win

Camilla made it to the Library wall at school!  I sure love my little book worm. 

Logan and Brina love taking our lunch outside and having a picnic. Afterwards they played with their water guns. It made me wish for summer! I am so ready to be done with school and be able to play to our hearts' content! Soon! 

But the one thing I will miss during summer is my one on one time with this silly goose. Trader joes is one of her abortive places. Where else can you get a lollipop AND a sticker?! 

Father-Son campout

This past weekend Daddy and Logan went to the father son campout at Anthony Chabot Regional Park. They had such a great time. I love how excited Logan was about it.  He was sure happy. 

Sunday shanigans

Today Hunter is out due to ward conferences. Before he left, being the awesome man he is, he got up at 4.40 and made us a coffee cake. The children were so happy. Afterwards, they played together like they do every Sunday morning while I hey ready / clean after breakfast.  Today though, for some reason, they decided to stay close and play on my bed while I low dried my hair. It made me wonder for how much longer they will want to stay close to me, instead of keeping to themselves. It makes me sad to think that day will come. So for now, I am

savoring today. Today they want me, and although at times I want my space, and to be touched less, I know the day will come when I miss it. So I will cherish, and try to remember that some day, my kiddos will be grown, and gone :( 

Letter Z

This week I hosted out joy school swap for Brina and friends. I love doing this. And it is such a small group that it truly is a joy. 

We did the letter Z out of crescent rolls dough, and we learned about the was toon between baking soda and vinegar. 

It is hard to believe these days of preschool at home will soon he done. Sabrina starts preschool with Miss Gina in the Fall, so that will be a new adventure. I will just miss my little buddy like crazy. 

A birthday, a leprechaun, and a fancy night

Hunter celebrated his 35th birthday.  He was pretty sure he wanted La Tapatia for his birthday dinner. So off we went.  The food was amazing as usual.  Logan has his usual corn dog and fries, Brina ate a whole lot of bean dip and chips, dad ordered his favorite Arroz con Pollo, and I had a chicken burrito. Camilla surprised us by asking to have food from the adults' menu. She had two tacos, and loved them!  Good thing too since the kids' meals are getting pretty expensive. 

In order to catch the leprechaun, Logan built a trap out of Legos. He sure loved the lollipops the leprechaun left behind.

My crazy girls love that swing. 

We went to Sequoia Elementary's BIG auction night at the Hilton Hotel.  It was rather chaotic and I don't think we will ever go back. The amount of liquor was a tad overwhelming, and the fact that the live auction hadn't started by 10 pm, sure made is a tad discouraged.  But it was nice to get all dressed up and have a sitter to watch the kids.  

And although we were wearing our ancient clothes, we decided to stop by In N Out on our way to the hotel. Best decision! They didn't serve dinner until 8 pm, so we would have been starving!