Pacific Beach!

We went, we played, we had a blast!! We were so excited to get to go to the beach this year. Clay didn't get to come with us, he was hard at work while we were hard at play.
We got to go to California with Uncle Colin, Aunt Amy, and baby Harrison. A great time was had by all!
The girls had so much fun playing in the sand and the surf. We of course gathered shells, built sandcastles, swam, and buried Uncle Colin. The water was cold, once your body went numb it was pretty fun. It was overcast the whole time but we all came back pretty pink regardless.

Sydney and Alex even took turns burying each other. The sand was so clean and so soft. There was lots of seaweed from high tide but no rocks or anything else in the sand. It was so nice on the feet!

The girls were on the beach all day long and never once complained about getting bored. When it was time to go in they still weren't ready to leave. They want to go back so bad, we'll have to see about that.

Amy showed them how to make drip castles, and Uncle Colin helped them dig some tunnels in the sand. They got lots of water to make the sand wet for their sand castles.

Amy was in charge of finding a place to stay. She did an awesome job. This is our hotel, right off the beach!! No packing up and driving around to have fun. We just woke up, got in our swimsuits and walked right out to the beach! Talk about amazing! Saved time and we were able to play so much longer being so close to the beach! The view from our balcony was the best. We watched surfers in the early morning and fire dancers at night, all from the comfort of our suite!

This trip is one the girls will not soon forget. I have to say, I love my new camera. I was a little bit worried about taking it because I still wasn't familiar with it. I think it did a great job. It had a beach setting (the coolest thing ever). It was great. I spared you all the boring vacation photos. Narrowing it down to 10 was tough enough!

Baby Harrison was the star of the trip I think. What an amazing baby to travel with. He went from Phoenix to San Diego without hardly making a peep! He was so happy the whole time. I would definitely travel again with him (and mommy and daddy) anytime!

One more adventure has been crossed off our summer adventure list. Let's see what comes next!

Off to the beach!

Yay!! It's finally here. We're heading to Phoenix tonight then off to the beach in the morning. We're so excited we've been having a hard time sleeping. The girls are soooooo excited they almost can't stand it! Alex has her heart set on finding a starfish. I don't see that happening but you never know. I'll probably have to go to a gift shop or something, buy one, throw it out on the beach and have her find it. Knowing my luck, someone would swoop down right in front of her and get it. We'll see what happens. Sydney wants to find lots of shells and of course a sand dollar. I got a recipe from a friend of some solution to take to keep the shells in for a few days to take the smell out of them. Maybe this year we'll actually keep some of the shells we find. The last time we went to the beach, the shells stunk so bad for so long that we had to toss them!

I don't really care what I find. I just want to build a sandcastle, play in the ocean, soak up the sun, and spend the days with family. I'm sure my sandcastle will look nothing like this but we''ll have fun trying!

The one thing we really don't want to see on the beach..... SHARK! At sea world sure, on our beach....no thanks! The girls are so worried there is going to be a shark in the water. Sydney loves sharks. She has every book and poster they make about sharks! She has a shark head hanging on the ceiling above her bed along with posters. She loves sharks on t.v. and in books. I'm going to spend all of our beach time trying to convince her that there are NO SHARKS close to us, so go play in the water.

We'll have tons of pictures and stories about our California adventure to share with you soon! Until then, have a safe and fun fourth of July!! Happy Birthday Dad (on the 4th!)

Remodel update

What can make 2 days off fly by? Texturing our wall, another trip to Home Depot, cleaning house, doing ALL the laundry, and visiting with parents. That can make 2 days off seem so short, before we knew it, it was time for Clay to go back to work (and no more summer school for us so we got to sleep in)! The girls have been so good throughout this remodel project of ours. They always keep themselves busy and try very hard not to bother mom and dad while we work. After a couple of hours of silence, we decided that we needed to check on the kids. We had a sheet hanging across the doorway from the kitchen to the living room to help keep the dust in one area of the house. They were just on the other side of the sheet, so it wasn't like we couldn't hear them or see them pass through for a drink or a snack from time to time. I didn't want you all to think I really do deserve the bad mom award!:) This is what they were doing to keep themselves busy.

I decided that they needed a better tent. I took a break from helping Clay to put together a better tent for the girls, then it was back to work! So after a long day of busy work, it was off to Home Depot to get paint!

Well worth the mess, having them happy and entertained!
So here is the wall after one coat of paint. Yes, it is a pale yellow but there are two other colors that will be going on the wall as well. We found a book that had something called a crinkle painting method. That's what we're going to attempt to do with this wall.

When we're done it should look something like this, with slight variation in color.

Hopefully our artistic juices will be flowing and we can make it look like the picture. If not, watch out Tammy because we'll be calling on you to help us (since your wall turned out so nice we just had to copy it)!

Primary Activity Day

Now this was our kind of Primary Activity. Lots of sun, swimming, friends, and food! The girls and I had a blast at the pool while Clay went to Home Depot and got more things for the bathroom.

Sydney is doing great at swimming. She even swam in the really deep end at the Cove. I was really scared for her but she kept assuring me she was just fine. Both the girls love to swim. Alex isn't quite ready to go to the deep end yet but can dive down to get things on the bottom of the shallow end.

Sydney and the others were doing cannon balls. They were really good at timing them. My kids slept so good that night after swimming and playing all day! I wouldn't mind having this kind of activity day every day.

And the award goes to.....

Yes folks, those are my children playing in the street. I hardly ever let the kids play out front because we live right off a highway and we have no front fence. When everyone else is doing it why not my kids too! The next door neighbor girl and a few other kids from the neighborhood were all out front on their bikes. "Go play in the street kids!" They thought I had totally lost my mind. "What did you say mom?" They didn't come back inside until 8PM. They had so much fun!! Now every evening since they have been playing in the road (carefully of course, and always watching for cars).
So, I wonder if I would get the bad mom award or the cool mom award. I use to play in the street all the time growing up. It's sad times have changed so much. Now my yard gets watered, the kids have some freedom and some fun, and their mom is always watching whether they know it or not!

Long live summer, and long live kids riding bikes in the middle of the street!!

A great day for a great guy!

For Father's Day this year we got Clay a guitar. I hope Clint has lots of free time to have a jam session now and then. I can't wait for him to start playing. Yes, that is Christmas wrapping paper. We didn't have anything else so I turned it wrong side out and had the kids decorate the paper.

Daddy and his girls. We had such a great day celebrating a great father. My girls really love their dad a lot. Their daddy loves them even more but sshhhh don't tell them!

Clay didn't get much relaxing done on his day. We went to my parents and celebrated with my dad as well. We had good food, good dessert, and a good time visiting. Uncle Will even made an appearance! It was a really good day.

The girls picked out daddy's new shirt. They have great taste! Daddy just had to wear it and model for us! Happy Father's Day Clay, we love you!

What were we thinking?!

This whole remodel job started with this wall. We were eating dinner one night, Clay said he would like to sheet rock this kitchen wall. The only thing on this wall was some wood paneling that had been painted white.

So the next morning, bright and early, we start tearing the paneling off. There was a sheet rocked wall behind it! Not in great condition but it surprised us. The condition wasn't the best so we decided to take the sheet rock off and re do it. Now, Aunt Bev, just a warning to you. There is an "M" word coming up so hurry and scroll past this next little part!

OK I warned you! We found a mouse skull in the wall. Totally gross but totally cool at the same time! We took it to school and showed all the kids. They were excited.

Why stop at the kitchen wall? Before we knew it the decision had been made to remodel the back bathroom as well. Huge change for Clay. The back bathroom is like his sanctuary. The one place little girls and a very talkative wife can't go! I'm pretty sure this remodel job is going to get done in a timely matter. I think Clay is already tired of sharing the only bathroom in the house with a bunch of girls!

My poor husband, he tirelessly chipped up all the tile in the shower and all the floor linoleum. He was a real trooper. The end of that first day we were both thinking to ourselves...... What The Heck Were We Thinking???

I actually loved the demolition part. I even enjoyed the cleaning up part. I loved working side by side with hubby. Not very often do we get to do that. I think it made the job a little easier having his own personal cleaning service follow him around on the job. I hope it made it more enjoyable, now maybe we'll get the front bathroom done soon, and the kitchen, and the porch and the carpeting and the........

After filling our dumpster with junk, we filled the truck too! Then it was off to the dump. The kids had never been to the dump so this was quite the adventure for them. The noise, the surroundings, the SMELL. Oh boy! The dump was ripe that day, not to mention a dead skunk within smelling distance sitting in the sun. Yeah, they don't want to go back to the dump anytime soon.

They were excited to be able to walk straight from the kitchen into Dad's bathroom. They thought it was the coolest thing. They were awesome little girls. They kept themselves fully entertained through all of the demolition. I think they were the most happy when we ate Burger King for dinner because Mom was too tired and sore to cook!

Then the shower and toilet went bye bye. Alex got up the next day, "yep, it's still gone", she says. Ha Ha, I have no idea what she thought would happen over night but......

Then after countless, not to mention long, trips to Home Depot, we were finally ready to start remodeling. The girls now associate Home Depot with LONG waits, touching everything in sight, measuring things with a tape measure, waiting for dad, getting tired, playing with sliding doors, playing games with mom in the isles while getting sympathetic looks from other kids and women, and getting to eat out for being so good in the store!

This is Alex's favorite part of the whole thing. Her favorite color is purple, so having a purple kitchen is a dream come true. Now she gets up in the morning, checks the kitchen wall and we hear, "yep, still purple", or "I love our purple kitchen". I think when I do repaint, I'm going to do it after she's in bed so she can be surprised with a magic color changing wall in the morning.

So here is what the wall looks like now. Taped, it will be textured soon, then it's off to Home Depot to get some paint! I'm contemplating colors while Clay contemplates what to put back in the bathroom. He has very good taste so I'm not worried! A huge thanks to Mark and Brad for teaching him a lot about remodeling, home building, and everything else he learned from you guys! We wouldn't have attempted this job otherwise!! Also, thanks to my Dad for all the electrical and plumbing help! What a blessing it is to have a Dad that knows everything about anything. Here is one adventure from the last two weeks. Keep checking back to see our progress, and if you see us anywhere but at the house or Home Depot, tell us to get home and get to work!!

Today it was back to school and work for us. We were all very busy bee's these last couple of weeks. We got the back bathroom demolition done, new plumbing and electrical put in (thanks Dad!), Sheetrock up in the kitchen, managed to go to the theatre with the kids and watch Night at the Museum 2, swim, celebrate Father's Day, walk the dog, and spend tons of time together as a family. Wow, are we beat! I'll be posting pictures of everything here soon. The kitchen and bathroom were quite the undertaking but in the end I hope it is worth all the dust and dirt and hard work! It was nice to return to work, I finally get to rest. Hope everyone had a great Father's Day and I look forward to catching up with everyone soon!

P.S. Cali better watch out cause here we come!!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

My husband loves his girls! I'm not sure I'll be able to say that when they're teenagers, but for right now it's the truth. What an awesome father he is. He does so much with the girls. They learn so much from him. Every night when he gets home from work he is greeted by 3 girls all wanting his attention. What more could a guy ask for (he would probably like some peace and quiet after a long day of work, but no such luck in our home!)

So I saw these questions on my cousins blog and decided to ask them to my kids (Thanks Emily!) Sydney answered some.....

and Alex answered some. It was funny to hear some of their answers. Kids are awesome!
1. What is the funnest thing you do with your Dad?
Alex: Swim
Sydney: go to the bookstore

2. What makes your Dad happy?
Sydney: that we clean up.
Alex: to see his girls

3. What is something your dad is good at?
Alex: working on the computer
Sydney:building stuff
4. How tall is your dad?
Sydney: 6 feet...... I think
Alex: 11
5. How old is your dad?
Alex: 31
Sydney: I do not know......35......wait, 39
6. What did your dad like to play with when he was a kid?
Sydney: Ummmm, cars?
Alex: monster trucks

(Clay is NOT going to be happy that I posted this picture, I personally think it's a very good picture and it shows what an awesome Dad he is! Maybe he won't look at our blog anytime soon so..... Ssshhhhh)

7. What is your dad's favorite thing to do?
Alex: watch t.v.
Sydney: play with us
8. What is your dad's favorite food?
Sydney: Ramen or a salad
Alex: Burger King
9. Where is your dad's favorite place to go?
Alex: to his work
Sydney: Golden Corral

10. What does your dad like best about your mom?
Sydney: doing dishes with her
Alex: that she cleans the house


Like I said.. Kids are awesome. My kids think their dad can do anything. They like to hear him speak Spanish. When he goes outside he is always followed by two little girls. They like making his bed, jumping on his bed, scratching his back, getting tickled by him. They love their dad.

To the greatest Dad ever, we wish you a Happy Father's Day! We love you very, Very, VERY much!