San Simeon Camping Trip

Last Saturday we took a little trip up to San Simeon to camp with my sisters and family. This was Kelsey's first trip facing forward in her car seat and she liked it! We stopped here... ...and picked up this girl! My sister Cherish flew down from Utah to camp with us! There was a big fire on the way there so the sun was really orange but the smoke was far above us and not a problem. We stopped on the way there and on the way back at Chik-fil-a to get our favorite, the peach milkshake!

So good! We got to camp after dark on Saturday but in the morning we saw this awesome climbing tree in our campsite! The boys had a lot of fun with it. I couldn't resist climbing it as well! After a little church service in our campground, we went to see the tide pools in Cambria. The beach was a beautiful mixture of multicolored pebbles. We explored the tide pools. Kelsey liked grabbing the little crabs... ...and tasting them. The seaweed was amazing. It reminded me of some alien creature. My niece gave me a big Cheeeeese! The 3 sisters! The boys skipped rocks in the ocean. Kelsey exploring with her favorite Aunt Cherish. Jeremy liked this big stick. Our beach family Jeremy and Daddy on a big rock This is what happens when I get bored in the car. Jeremy had lots of fun riding his bike around the camp. Happy Biking Boy Kelsey and her Daddy enjoyed camp as well. She really loved to just roam the camp and get as dirty as possible. On Monday we went to see the elephant seals by Hearst Castle. They were amazingly huge, and kind of stinky! Jeremy had fun using his binoculars to get a closer look at them. The beach at the San Simeon camp was fun too. It was bordered by a creek and lots of wildflowers. Jeremy really enjoyed playing with his cousins. The next morning we broke camp and hit the road as early as possible so we could stop at our favorite place in Solvang. We love to take this little 10 minute hike up to the waterfall. The water wasn't flowing so well as it's the middle of a dry summer, but there was still a little trickle and it was beautiful. It was the perfect ending to our fun camping trip. It's nice to be home and clean again, but we made lots of fun memories and enjoyed spending time together as a family.

Petticoat Lane

I just want to give a shout-out to my favorite little store, Petticoat Lane. It is a consignment store for women that carries clothing sizes 0-14. They also have shoes, purses, jewelry and other accessories. For those of you who aren't familiar with consignment stores, they are stores where people can bring in their items and receive a percentage of what it will sell for. They are really picky about what they accept from people, so everything is like new. I love it! Most of my clothing comes from there. I usually go on the last Saturday of every month because that's the clearance sale! They've got stuff marked down to $2, $4, and $6! I've found some really fun deals there. This Saturday is the sale, so stop on by!

Petticoat Lane

15051 Edwards St.

Huntington Beach, CA

Walking

So Kelsey's been taking a few random steps here and there but wasn't really into it, but now she's taken off! This is mostly for the grandparents, but hey I think she's kinda cute. Enjoy!

Kelsey's Party

Last weekend we celebrated Kelsey's 1st birthday. It was a huge party with about 60 people! We had so much fun! We went with a strawberry theme. The night before the party, we got all the food ready. Daddy dipped about 60 of the biggest, most beautiful strawberries you've ever seen in chocolate. The day dawned bright and beautiful for our birthday girl. We had her party at the Splash Pad, a really fun water park in our area.Our friends and family came from near and far. Jeremy had a lot of fun at his sister's party. This little guy had the most fun of all! We had lots of cousins. And lots of friends from church. Even the adults got in on the fun! Daddy with his birthday princess. We had pasta salad, chips and lemonade.Red, white, and blue shishkabobs with strawberries, marshmallows and blueberries. Kelsey thought they were very tasty. We moved into the park for dessert. Our party guests had strawberry shortcake with lots of whipped cream and one of those luscious chocolate-dipped strawberries on the side. Kelsey had her very own chocolate brownie cake with chocolate frosting, strawberry peanut butter M&Ms and a big 1 candle. She thought that was very tasty as well! Yay for the birthday girl! We love our precious Kelsey. We bribed Great-Grandpa with chocolate cake so he'd come to the party. I made David dance with me to the music playing at the neighborhood church across the street. After Kelsey had a nap we opened presents at Grandma's house. My friends C and K made these fabulous bows for Kelsey so I put them all on her for a picture. They're so cute! Thanks ladies! Kelsey was a lucky lucky girl and got so many fun things. We had so much fun sharing her birthday with all of you who came. Thanks for celebrating with us and making such fun memories!

4th of July

So for the 4th of July weekend we were lucky enough to tag along with my sister and their family to their family cabin up by Lake Arrowhead. We had lots of fun taking hikes, going to the Lake Arrowhead village to watch fireworks over the lake and just relaxing. We also got to go to church at my favorite building ever! It's so pretty. They have all these beautiful windows and is surrounded by pine trees. The mother's room has a window! How novel. I would love our building to have a window considering all the stinky bodily fluids coming out in that room. LOL Anyway, it was a great time and I'm so glad we got to go! This felled tree stretches across a gorge. Our family at the beautiful church building. I wish you could see more of it. Happy 4th of July! My sister bought these yummy caramel apples at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The core on a stick was perfect for Kelsey. My sister and her three youngest children. Waiting for fireworks! It was a great show! The boys by another felled tree. My nephew by the beautiful irises that grow in the forest. Kelsey was nice and light to carry in the backpack. But she really preferred getting out to sample the forest on her own.

Jeremy

So Wednesday was a big day for Jeremy. It started with his math. He uses little cubes to visually help him do his addition. That was the first day that he did all his math problems with no cubes! He's become confident enough with the equations to trust himself and let go of the visuals. Great job Jeremy!

The second thing is that he learned how to swim! Granted, it's just a little ways, but this is huge! At the beginning of swimming lessons last week, he wouldn't even put his head under the water and now he's jumping in, swimming with form, and getting rings from the bottom of the pool. I can't tell you how happy this makes me! For the first time I actually have to watch him in the pool. He was so cautious and fearful before that there was no way he would let himself go under the water. Now, he's jumping in and trying to swim everywhere. Go Jeremy!