HPTB annual Giants game

I can't think of anything better than ribs on a summer day just before a ball game.

After a great dinner with some of Daniel's co-workers and now we are headed off to get ready for game time. The weather was perfect and the kids were angels during dinner. We ate most of the food we were given...and there was a lot!!

Of course, dinner was just the beginning of our food for the evening. As usual we had cotton candy, soda pop, a bite of garlic fries that went around, and the famous fresh churros! ....I think we might have had some ice cream and kettle corn, but this seems like so long ago, I can't remember.

This was supposed to be a beautiful mother daughter picture until Varun decided to pose! He is one of the associates at the firm. We sat with his fiance and him. They are a lot of fun! We even talked them in to going down to the churro stand.

We had a great time at the baseball game. I don't even know who won, but we had fun. By the end of the game the kids were not scared of Gigante- they even went and sat by him to watch the game. It was fun to see them imitate him. I hope this is a tradition the firm will continue to do.

Berry Picking

This Saturday we went to the Gizdich farm to pick berries. We have been driving to the coast weekly to go to the beach, so the kids did not mind too much. We started in the black berry patch. Lauren had her first black berry and LOVED it. Too bad most of it ended up on Daniel's back!

For some reason Liv likes to wear her hat backwards so the straps are in her eyes, then she had to wear the glasses, but not over her eyes....she is growing up with her own style!!!

Everytime Lu would see a strawberry she would say, "Look, I deed it!"

After some luck with the blackberries, we headed over to the strawberry fields. These were much more fruitful! All the kids got so excited when they found a strawberry because they were hiding under the leaves.

I don't think this smile is me, but I like the hat and the feeling I had this day, so I included this picture of me relaxed and enjoying the sun.

At first we were picking small ones, but the kids learned to be selective in the berries they picked because there were plenty of big ones. We found so much joy in each big (or not so big) strawberry!
The signs where you pick up your berry picking basket said we could "Sample a berry, but no grazing aloud". I must admit by the time we made it to the end of our first strawberry row the kids were grazing...so we had to leave!

But we didn't want to..."Look another strawberry, maybe I should taste it???"

By the end of our berry picking afternoon, the kids were filthy dirty. They all had sandles on, but their feet were still dirty. I love this picture of Lu, it captures the afternoon, dirty feet, dirty face, happy taste buds and tired eyes.

Birthday Party Crashing

Olivia was invited to a birthday party at Sky High Jump, (we went there for Bob's birthday). I was just dropping Olivia off and the other kids really wanted to jump. I thought it would be a lot of fun for them. So after thinking about Olivia's feelings I decided if we kept our distance from Olivia it would be fine to let Chloë and Sam jump. I thought they would only last a half hour or so, but they jumped and jumped for almost 2 hours!

The birthday girl's mom was very kind and let them have some ice cream cupcakes that were left over. I am glad I stayed to let the kids jump and I am grateful that Olivia did not mind sharing this fun activity with her siblings. (I did keep them away from her, so she did not feel like we were crashing her party)

Santa Cruz beach

Every Wednesday a large group of moms from the church go to the Santa Cruz beach for the day. It really was a great day. The kids loved it and I had a nice time in the sun as well.

Although it was a lot of work, I hope we can go every Wednesday for the rest of the month. As I cleaned the sand off each of the kids before we got in the car to go home, the other kids would eat some very yummy watermelon. After I got the kids all cleaned off and they were sitting in the car talking, I sat on the back of the bumper and ate what watermelon the kids left me. I felt guilty for leaving Daniel at work all day as I enjoyed this wonderful day at the beach. I know I live a fairy tale life. But then I remembered how hard I had worked to get the kids ready for the beach and watch them like a hawk on the beach, then clean them off and listen to their music (which right now happens to be Joseph and the Amazing Tech. dream coat) for the millionth time. At that moment I think I worked hard enough to enjoy the yummy watermelon and just sit on the bumper for a few minutes....then an hour drive home and a mad dash to shower and fix dinner before Daniel arrives.

Lauren in not in the picture because she is on my back.

Happy 4th of July

The 4th was on a Sunday this year, so for our family that means a low key 4th.
We went to an early morning church, napped, and then ate dinner.

The fireworks came faster that night than I remember. All of the sudden we were dishing up ice cream waiting for the show to be over, and yet the 5 shows we were watching just kept going and going.

Kira, Sam, and Olivia get along so well. All night they were popping on and off the catwalk looking for the fireworks. Then once the fireworks began they kept trying to fix/re-arrange their blankets and try to get snugly.

Sharky

Jim and Leslie bought a catamaran boat a few months ago. So on the eve of the 4th of July we spent the afternoon playing on Mission Bay and taking rides on their boat.
Leslie said at one point when Olivia was on the boat she thought it would be really fun to jump off the boat and swim like she did in Lake Pleasant with Spencer and Seth. Leslie said the boat was not going too fast so she told Olivia it would be alright to jump off and she did. Jim said the look of terror on her face said enough so he jumped in to swim back to shore with her. It must not have been too traumatic because she never mentioned this to me.
p.s. Sharky is the name of their boat....LOOK OUT KIRA!

10...9...8...7

Leslie had another good idea......Let's launch a rocket. So with Jim's help we did just that. Although Sam is not in the picture he was really excited about the launch...

...until the rocket was launched and he heard how loud it was! So after he saw Chloë running for the car he decided to follow.

In between searching for the rocket once it re-enters our atmosphere (it really does go SUPER high) and Jim cleaning the rocket/parachute, we would sit on the hot asphalt and talk. It was a nice evening with Leslie and the girls.

Lake Pleasant

Everyone in our family will admit that Leslie comes up with some pretty crazy forms of entertainment. This time she wanted us to wake up at 6am and head off to the lake, rent kayaks and a boat....."ok Leslie sure thing". Well, I decided we would sit this outing out. It did not sound like fun worrying about my 4 little kids by the water and with no trees as coverage for our WHITE skin!! Plus I was not about to wake up at the crack of dawn. Well, at 9am Leslie and the older boys and my other sisters headed out the door with Grandpa Mike. As soon as they were gone my mom and I thought maybe this would be fun after all. So we took our time getting our things together and made our way to the lake.

It turned out to be SO much fun!!! THANKS, LESLIE!!

Once again Chloë could not take her arms off Kate, she just loves her!

Everyone had their fill of rowing by the time we showed up. It was really perfect timing. Grandpa Mike took Olivia, Sam, and I on a ride on the speed boat (which Sam just LOVED). We found Valerie and Aaron, and Andrea and Spencer, and Leslie and Chase in the middle of the lake. So Grandpa Mike helped Val and Chase get into the speed boat and Olivia and I got in their Kayak and started paddling.

All we really did was paddle back to the dock to return the kayak, but it was the perfect amount of time for us. Olivia swam in the lake a little with Seth and Spencer. They had the best time!

We all got back together at the dock and were ready to head home. Our coming so late was perfect. Barbie had kept Lauren and Chloë so I could be with the older kids. Thanks, mom. I hope I am as good of a grandma as you are!

Olivia had so much fun she said, "I love this, can we do this for my birthday!"

phoenix

After a long start in June I drove the kids down to Phoenix to visit Barbie and Mike.

Because of the kids swimming classes they really enjoyed the pool. The did a lot of diving for torpedos and other sinking toys.

Nothing beats pouring water back into the pool!

Olivia and Kira braved their way into the deep end. By the end of the week Olivia was able to swim laps.

We enjoyed sitting in the sun after a nice swim eating our lunch. My favorite days were as follows; wake up, eat breakfast, swim from 9:30-noon, drink smoothy for lunch, rest, watch cooking network with Mimi and play cards, dinner at Mexican food restaurant, night-time swim and off to bed. This of course, was easier to do when it was just my gang taking over B&M's house.

Here is Barbie in mid morning shift. She is trying to teach my kids to flush the toilet and wash their hands after they go potty. Thanks mom for supporting me. Barbie gives them a nickel every time they do this. They have quite a collection...maybe we will have to go out for ice cream!
By the way, B&M are in the middle of renovating the west wing of their house. They have been very kind to let me invade their house. I know it must make things harder when we are around, but the kids and I love being with them.

After we got the kids into bed, Kate and I started to make her a rag quilt. It was a lot of fun to work with Kate. She is such a nice girl and very smart. She was quick to catch on to how to make the different parts of the quilt. I love having someone who loves to sew!

Camping

Tony and Eve had planned on taking their family on a summer road trip. After Tony died Eve said she would like to still go on that trip. Ann became Eve's new travel companion. About a week after Bob and I came home Eve and Co. arrived at our house. We decided to take everyone camping at camp Lehi in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Eve's brother, Asiel, whom she had not seen in years, happened to have a summer internship here and was able to come along.

Abby and Chloë look like they could be sisters!

We went on a walk to the pond and let Eve take a nap.

This old tractor was near our campsite. It was great for the kids to climb around.

The days following

Daniel and I spent about a week in Grants Pass. It was nice to be with Eve, the kids and Ann. We talked, cried and started on some business that needed to be done.

David and Daniel.

Jasmine and Gwen

Gwen, Mia, and Alma are great friends.

There is Jessica and John.

We stayed in the hotel right across the street from Tony and Eve's place. Our hotel had a great pool! Eve said the kids had wanted to go swimming here since they moved into their house. So Daniel and Israel took the kids swimming. They had a great time!

Louis had a school performance that everyone attended. He is in the front row with the tan tunic and red sash over his right shoulder.

This is everyone in Eve's family that was able to come: Moana, her mom Ma, Robin, Reuben, Eve and Israel.

Here is Cami, Eve, and her sister, Lani. I am glad we had so much family around because it was a long week for all of us.

This is a picture of the front of Tony's office, ChiroHealth.

Wednesday, June 9th

This morning was Tony's funeral service. Aaron gave the family prayer after the closing of the casket. 8766 gave the opening prayer, Daniel gave the eulogy, Marlene shared a few words (she was Tony's closet cousin...they were great friends), Elizabeth also shared her thoughts, as well as David. Some of Eve's siblings and her mother sang Lead Kindly Light. It was very touching. Tony and Eve's bishop then shared a wonderful message about love and the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was a wonderful feeling in the chapel. I have been to enough funerals to know that I don't like going because all I do is cry. This funeral was different, maybe because I had no more tears left to cry... or maybe because Tony was so young and such a close relation.
Tony was in the Army reserve so Taps was played at the end of his funeral. It was very beautiful.

After the funeral Eve gave a hug to every person that left the church building, you could see the love and support that everyone has for her and her family.


We traveled to the cemetery and John dedicated the burial sight. The family gathered round the grave and we watched as they lowered Tony's body into the ground.