Let's Take a Closer Look

After I posted pictures of our Fourth of July trip, I decided this family photo deserved a post of it's very own.

The funny thing about this picture is that we were actually trying to get a good family photo. Notice the solid-colored shirts, all of them clean to boot. We even spaced out the matching blue shirts so they weren't right next to each other. Also notice the nice woodsy background, full of nature and what-not. All the foundations of a nice family photo, right?

Didn't quite turn out that way. Well, YOU be the judge:

Not that I was necessarily looking for frame-worthy, I just wanted one with all of us in it. Well, with me in it where I don't have that "I'm-taking-the-picture-so-my-face-is-at-a-weird-angle" thing going on. I seriously am the only one who takes pictures in this family. And I really thought we might have a winner here. Apparently not. I love how Erik is doing something weird with his mouth, I have an odd look on my face, and my normally photogenic children all look grumpy. Well, let's be honest. They WERE grumpy. After all, they had just stood and smiled nicely with their entire extended family for the requisite multiple rounds of a large-group photo.

Sigh. Sometimes you just take what you can get, I suppose. Even if it's an odd, almost-unpleasant-looking photograph of yourself and the ones you love best in the world. After all, this might be an accurate representation of us on certain days, right?

Our Fun-Filled Weekend

Not that I want to spend 7 hours in a car with a sleep-deprived, I-want-out-of-my-carseat-NOW one-year-old every day, but it was worth it to see all of my family over the July 4th weekend. My kind brother

willingly hosted the whole shindig, and we packed a lot of fun into just two days together.

The most popular point of interest was the pool.

It included a slide, and some of the kids proved their bravery by going down it again and again.

Some people enjoyed the pool more than others (these two cuties are sisters).

Don't forget the hot tub!

One night we had a luau

where we ate lots of yummy food.

Here are all the cousins (minus Ben who was having an "I-don't-know-these-people-and-I-haven't-slept-much-in-the-past-two-days" meltdown).

A pretty good-looking bunch, I'd say.

Some other obvious Fourth of July festivities included:

singing with Uncle Matt,

playing with our new homemade weapons,

reading Shannon's latest book,

failed attempts at a nice family photo,

modeling the latest in tie-dyeing fashionwear,


and having an Extreme Ice Cream Sundae free-for-all.

All in all, a great time!

It was so fun to see everyone, many of whom I hadn't seen in an entire year. That is waaaaaaay too long. I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen again. Hopefully that means I can look forward to spending 7 hours in a car with a sleep-deprived, I-want-out-of-my-carseat-NOW one-and-a-half-year-old! Lucky me....

Have you ever wondered...

...what 1,200 pounds of food storage looks like???

Well, look no further my friend, because here it is!

That's right, we FINALLY made the plunge and got a nice start on our food storage. Am I the only one who has felt guilty for the past decade because I didn't have sufficient food storage? It's one of those things that has nagged me for so long, but I just didn't know how to get started. However, thanks to a local woman who spends probably hundreds of hours in organizing a huge multi-stake Walton feed order, I jumped on the bandwagon and bought some staples. Finally.

I'm not sure if I thought it would look like more or less than this, but I'm feeling pretty confident that my family won't starve any time soon. Need to borrow a cup of sugar? I'm your gal. Out of flour? Look no further. Heck, need a few pounds of raw wheat? Give me a call. I even have a wheat grinder. Of course, it's still in the box.... but we can figure out how it works later... right?

They Finally Did It

Well, it took five weeks of hard work but the kids finally completed these:

which translated into their receiving these:

Olivia completed hers a couple of days before her brother, so we got to make two special trips to Target to buy their new scooters and helmets. It was good for them to each have their own trip, complete with effusive praise for a job well done over the past several weeks, and speculation about how much fun they will have riding their brand-new scooter.

All told, I think it was a good experience for them. I'll admit, at times I thought fifty jobs may have been on the excessive side. Their interest and begging for more jobs to do waned after a couple of weeks, but they did complete all 50 jobs, and I wasn't easy on them. They had to work hard for these scooters. Which I'm hoping will help them appreciate these hard-earned prizes all the more.

This afternoon we went to the park just to give them a chance to break in their new scooters. They loved it, and I was so happy for them and proud of them for earning something they will use and enjoy for several years to come. Good job, kids!

Way Back When-sday

This is Ben one year ago. He was three months old.

I love his bald little head, and his happy grin. I don't think he looks a thing like he does now, but maybe that's because I see him every day. The only similarity I see is that he is super cute both then and now.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband who loves and supports me and willingly helps with the kids, even when it's supposed to be his day off. This is a guy whose kids adore him and, dare I say, prefer him over me. I think it has something to do with the fact that he plays Transformers and Rocket Ship and Ogre with them. I just make them do chores.

They sure look sweet, don't they? Wait a second....

Ah, that's more like it! I sure love these cute, crazy people!

Grandma's Visit

Last week Erik's mom came to visit for a few days. It's always fun to see Grandma. The kids love having visitors.

Having a visitor gave us an excuse to take some fun field trips. One day we went here:

It was beautiful.

We had fun digging in the sand, playing in the waves, and enjoying the view.

There was also a zip line there, which suprisingly, both kids went on multiple times. Guess they're growing up and they're not as scared as they once were. And from their huge smiles, I'd say they enjoyed it.
Another day we visited the Getty Museum. We've lived here for 3 1/2 yrs and finally visited this major attraction.



It was really beautiful and interesting. It was nice to expose our kids to some culture for once.

Thanks for coming to visit, Grandma! It was fun to see you!