IUPKNPM

Last week we were at Little Corona beach with our fun friends and I saw this mixed up code for Sprinkles come up as the secret word of the day for a free cupcake!! We packed it up and headed over for PUMPKIN cupcake perfection!!

Pure Pumpkin Happiness!!

Party Animals!!

Last weekend we were party animals!!

Saturday was a super fun wet and wild birthday party for our little friend. Jeremy had a BLAST!!! They had a blow-up water slide, and he must have gone down 300 times! He stopped for a short food break, but other than that he was on that slide for 3 hours!!

I think we could have stayed for 3 more hours and he would have been happy!

Kelsey was happy to take it easy in the wading pool with her girls.

And dig for ice in the chest. Cuties!!

Sunday we went to the wedding of one of my Young Women.

It was blistering hot in the sun so I let the kids stand in the shade for the ceremony.

 Jeremy gathered a leaf bouquet.

We were happy to make it inside where everything was decked out in pink, the bride's favorite color. I had dressed Kelsey and I in pink in honor of her.

Jeremy enjoyed the pink candy...

as you can tell from his pinkalicious tongue!

Kelsey's pacifier matched the decor.

As usual, my kids were the first ones on the dance floor! They're dancing machines! They danced with each other...

And with me...

And with other kids.

Jeremy paid his dollar and was excited to dance with the bride!

Kelsey LOVED the sparkling cider!!

And I had fun reconnecting with a girl I used to take dance classes with when I was a young girl! So awesome! Super fun weekend!!

Family Softball

Every year David likes to play softball with the team at work. We have been good about coming some years and not so good other years. Well, this was a terrible year for attendance! We didn't go to one single game!! There seemed to be stuff going on a lot of the nights, and they changed the rules about getting on the Naval base, so it was harder for us to get on to see the games. Well we decided to go to the last game. It was a busy night! There was a ward activity, a beach party, and Jeremy was supposed to go to kempo. We ditched it all and went to the softball game!! It was supposed to be a double header and we got there at the end of the first game. Well, it turned out that they lost that game, so there was no second game. We saw about 5 minutes of it, and it was over. Whoops. Oh well, we made the best of it! The kids played at the playground, we ate our picnic dinner, and then ran the bases.

We were well prepared in our flip-flops.

I think the bat was as tall as she was!

Tough softball chick!

A little coaching...

and a hit off brother's hand!

Then it was my turn. Such form!

Run run run!!!

I'm gonna getcha!!

Safe!! Don't you love how we both run with our arms out!
We're such natural athletes. WAHAHAHA!!!

Sorry we missed the game Daddy!
But we had fun playing softball with you!!

Bring A Friend!

Last week was bring-a-friend week at Soak City. Passholders could buy discounted tickets for anyone who wanted to come with them. The Armstrong peeps asked if we could be friends and so we went together and had a scorching good time!

We started our adventure off at McDonalds where they forgot our honey, didn't give us straws for our drinks, no napkins, no ketchup (with 3 orders of fries!), and my lemonade was a brownish color I couldn't stomach.

Then we got to the park just in time to wait in line behind a day camp who held up the line FOREVER!!! It was seriously frying hot and we were trying to keep our cool, in more ways than one. The kids found their own amusement playing Ring Around the Rosies in line.

We finally got inside, got changed, sunblocked, pottied, lockered, and off to secure the last chair in the park to plop our stuff on.
It was packed that day!!
Apparently other people brought their friends too! LOL

We hung out in the kiddie area for awhile and cooled down.
It felt so good to get in the water!!

Then we decided to leave our stuff there and go to some other attractions. Oh boy, big mistake leaving our shoes behind.
The ground was UNBELIEVABLY HOT!!!
We were running from one shady spot to the next!

We finally ended up back at the kiddie area where I risked getting the camera wet to take a few shots of the cute kiddos.
Next year I want to save up for a waterproof camera!!

Ring-Around-the-Rosies continued...

they loved it!!

Oh the ruffly butts!! If I could get away with it, I would totally have some on my swimsuit bottom too!!

So fun to meet Kyla's sister who was visiting from the promised land of Utah.

Where else can you ride a shark and look this happy?

It was hard to get pictures of the boys because they were always on the go! But here's a shot of Jeremy's last ride down the water slide before we went home!

Super fun!! We got a little burnt, but had so much fun!!
Thanks for coming with us friends!!

Va-NIE-lla Squared

My awesome friend Kyla knows the way to my heart.

This little beauty came wrapped up all the way from vacation in Utah at the Sweet Tooth Fairy confection shop.
Va-NIE-lla Squared. Delicious. Heaven. Oh I love you Kyla.
Almost as much as this cupcake.

I have to say though that this happy moment was spoiled by the balloon drama at the party. As I took my first bite of vanilla confection perfection, I heard the wails of my 7-year-old.
I couldn't imagine what could be the problem. But as I followed his pointing finger into the sky, I saw the entire bunch of birthday balloons we had just picked up from the party store. The huge polka-dotted mylar cupcake, the rainbow assortment of other balloons, all floating away. Daddy apparently had just stuck them under the umbrella and told me to do something with them and was a little annoyed that I had not taken care of them. I hadn't heard him and was a little annoyed that he hadn't tied them down till I could get to them. Jeremy was crying and inconsolable since he had just stated, "You can't have a party without balloons!"
All the while I just want them all to be quiet so I can enjoy my little piece of heaven. Oh well, it was freakin' fantastic anyway.
Thanks Kyla; you rock!!

My Dream House

10 years ago this month we bought our first house. I can hardly believe it's been that long. Due to the lack of funds and handyman knowledge, it looks pretty much the same as it did when we bought it! It is undoubtedly the ugliest house on the block, and has been a continual challenge to us as we have tried to manage the upkeep and learn how to do simple repairs. Despite these things, I am ever grateful for the opportunity we had to buy this house. It has been a home and shelter for our family as we survived our first year of marriage, while David was gone for 5 months to Guam, and when we welcomed each of our babies. David has always looked at houses, and floor plans, and entered sweepstakes for huge multi-million dollar homes. I didn't want to look at anything else because I knew this was all we could afford for now. But David kept telling me to dream big, and as I've come to appreciate our home and the wonderful blessing it's been to us, I've learned how to be truly happy with what we have and still dream of bigger things that may or may not ever come. So taking my husband's advice, here are a few of the features I've decided would be a part of my dream house.

The porch. Huge. Wraparound. Rocking chairs and a swing, pillars and wide steps leading to a beautiful front door.

A library. Oh the endless possibilities for books I could have if only I had a place to put them all.

A sewing room. With room for all the fun fabrics I could find!

The sun room. All warm and cozy in the winter and with screens to let the cool breezes flow through in the summer. Oh the books I could read in here, and the naps I could take. Mmmm...

A play room. Full of all the fun toys and things that are spread all over my house now. Oh the children would be in heaven!

The home theater. So fun! Surround sound, popcorn machine, reclining couches, big screen! Love it!!

The master bath retreat. Relaxation. A big soaking tub with jets and glowing candles reflecting in the beveled windows.

The gazebo. And while we're dreaming big, let's have it overlook the ocean, with music piped in for dancing. The perfect romance.

What would be in your dream house?