Cake Wreck

Yes!  Someone paid money for this!  Long story short...when we were in St. George we ended up crashing a little party that Benson's sister was having for her husbands side of the family! And my sister-in-law's mother-in-law is retiring so they had this cake at the party!  I literally could not stop laughing and had to sneak a picture!

The handwriting is terrible.
It is completely off center.
And my favorite part...the word "you" is spelled wrong AND they ran out of room!

SO FUNNY!

Doheney Beach!

After we got back from our super long vacation...we arrived home for ONE DAY (to new carpet and some other home improvement projects...pics later) and packed up to go to the beach with Benson's parents and some of his siblings!  We had a blast....playing in the sun, sand, and water! The kids loved boogie boarding and collecting sea glass!  We were definitely beach bums for a couple days...and it was fabulous!  So much fun!

 Sammy and Pyper spent HOURS out in the water on their boogie boards!

 Tiger, Nate, Sammy and Pyper

 Nate, Derek, and Tiger getting ready to go out in the water!

 At first Lucy was REAL hesitant of the sand and the water...all it took was for Maile to take her out and play with her...then she was hooked and wanted to go swim all day!

 Maile, Lucy, and Taryn

 The three brothers...Brad, Troy, and Benson

 Tiger and Nate

 Sammy, Taryn, Pyper, and Hannah

 Most of the girl cousins...Pyper, Hannah, Sammy, Taryn, Maddie, Maile, and Lucy

 Sammy warming up in the sun!

 Nate, Derek, Ben, and Tiger chasing the water

 Lucy and Taryn

 Our Family..a little sunburned and wind-blown!

 Lucy liked playing with Papa's binoculars!

 Ben and Nate---hang loose!
 Sammy LOVED collecting sea glass!  It was so fun to walk up and down the beach looking for treasures!

Sammy, Nana, and Pyper

 Ben and Sammy collecting sea glass and other "interesting things"

 Sammy and Maile

 Lucy playing in the sand under the shade

 Nate likes to get buried in the sand

Sammy getting buried by Ben, Maile, and Benson

Then I dropped my camera in the sand....and it is gone forever!  So sad!

Vacation: Part 4---Cabin with Cousins!

After Benson left...we spent the day painting rocks and waiting for my sister Erin to arrive with her 4 kids to spend the next 10 days together!

Once they got there...we spent our time going on walks, riding bikes, eating, staying up late watching movies and T.V., going to the rec center to swim, playing in the rain, swimming at the rec center, playing at the rec center....we pretty much had a great time!


Sammy and McKinley playing in the rain

 Nate and McKinley playing on the playground

Nate and Lucy

 Sammy, Ben, and McKinley played for hours...day after day...under this tree!

We also took a walk around Woodland Lake...

 and wondered where all the water was...

 And went swimming at the rec center...

Then we headed home for ONE DAY before our next trip....that's right after living in Arizona for 31 years...I finally figured out the only way to survive the summer is be gone the entire month of July!

Vacation: Part 3--Cabin in Pinetop!

After St. George we headed to my parents cabin in Pinetop!  Originally, Benson was going to go straight home (someones gotta work around here) but decided to spend the weekend with us!  There is a Rec Center in the neighborhood and my kids love to go to!  We played at the park, played horse shoes, and shuffle board!

 We also love to go to the River!  I think it is so nice and peaceful here!  We can spend hours throwing rocks in the river and collecting wildflowers!