Surf Bread?

Today at Trader Joe's Kade saw this bread and had to buy it. He said "mom...buy this surfing bread!"

Whatcha gonna do with all that yunk?

As any good Dad does, I was flexing for my kids a while back. Ella got big eyes and was super excited. She said, "Woah! There's not even any yunk!". I hadn't yet learned the definition of yunk, so I asked her to explain. I added some photos here that depict her description. Apparently, you want to avoid yunk.

Say no to yunk.

-Matt

Who needs fall foliage?

We just had the best time at the beach. The weather was beautiful. It reminded what I love about California. The beach...in October. I'm just kidding about not needing fall foliage, though. I still love it. I love fall. As a side note--today I was talking to Ella about what kinds of things she could try. She is currently in Soccor and doesn't really care for it. I was suggesting softball and some other things and I said, "what kinds of things do you like to do?" She said, "I like going to the candy store." That is Ella in a nutshell.

Isn't the light so pretty? The weather was gorgeous-especially after about 10 days of clouds. Don't get me wrong-I have been loving the cloudy and rainy weather. It was just nice to see some beautiful sunshine.

Kade is pretty much obsessed with this sport. He was FREEZING but did not quit.

I love watching Ella spin

I love these two.

I love this picture.

Ella's Kindergarten Graduation

Ella had a great year of Kindergarten. She made lots of friends and was very social. I was really proud of how she made new friends and learned many new things. She loved it! Her teacher was Mrs. Harrah and the aide was Mrs. Guy. The ceremony was super cute and the song adorable.

Ella and Emily

Mrs. Harrah and Mrs. Guy

Ella's 6th birthday Party

Ella had a tea party for her birthday this year. She had so much fun. Claire and Cambria were the assistants and painted the girls nails, did make up and helped them with their crafts.

Here the girls are making necklaces, bracelets and decorating hats.

So the story behind this is that Kade was totally harassing Sophie who was in full princess mode. As seen here she was trying to fight him off saying "go away dumb prince, I'm a princess!" I was laughing so hard.

Sophie, Miriam, Joey, Sarah, Ella, Malia, Emily and Kaylee

The Birthday girl

Ella, making a wierd face.

Marshmallow cake

We also had a pinata which Kade kept calling the enchilada.

Two years ago today...

Two years ago today my mom went to Heaven. I can't believe it's been that long because it feels like yesterday. I think about her every day and miss her so much. These are our last pictures taken as a family. We just went out to the garden of the hospital. It was really emotional for all of us but what I love about these pictures is that I can feel the love we all have for our mom and each other when I look at them. We are a really tight family and going through this together with our mom brought us so close. We continue to rely on each other to help fill the void left by our mom. I love my family so much.

Aunt Jeane, Uncle Mike and Uncle Pat

Mom and Dad

I don't know what to say here...I love these girls.

My Family...

...will be together...

Forever.

I love you forever and ever Mom.

Happy Birthday Carson

Today is Carson's 8th birthday. It was the funnest day and I wanted to post pics--but my camera bad luck continues. Stephanie has mis-placed her camera with all the pics for the last week. We are hopeful it is at the place we were at today. Anyways--back to Carson and the fun day we had. We started out with Tim Horton's Donuts for breakfast. Then we went to the Wild play park. They had this really fun ropes course with zip lines that the kids loved. They also have this 160 foot bungee jump off a bridge into a river below. The kids weren't old enough but Carson was really wanting to do it. It gave me butterflies just looking at it. Me, Matt, Claire and Carson did a big zip line tour that was super fun. The kids were so brave. Ella was ready to go for it but the age limit was 7.

Well I hope I can post some pictures soon but I wanted to say happy birthday to Carson. I can't believe he is 8. He is such a light in my life. He is always so kind and thoughtful. He is energetic and loves to play sports, hunt for lizards and bugs, play games of all kinds, eat treats, and wrestle. He has been loving tidepools--searching for star fish, anemonies, hermit crabs and other sea creatures. He remembers to tell me he loves me and that he likes my dinners. He does great in school but mostly loves recess. He doesn't like to read but loves when I read to him. He still loves to snuggle and comes crawling into our bed more than anyone else. He is conscious of right and wrong and wants to do right. I am so proud of the little boy that he is.