Family beach pics....

I know I already did a post with pictures from our vacation at the beach in California, but these turned out so cute, I thought they deserved a post of their own. My sister-in-law Melissa took these family shots for us and did an amazing job....








I took these ones of my kids. Not as good as quality but pretty good none-the-less...

California Vacation 2010

So we just got back from the best family vacation in California. Josh had a family reunion in Newport Beach, and we decided to make a trip of it and visit my family as well. We had such a great time. Our first day there was Emma's birthday! So we wanted to do something fun. Something we couldn't do in Idaho....so we went to the Santa Monica beach! We first walked the Pier for awhile and rode the Ferris Wheel. Which was actually a first for me! Then we just played and ate lunch at the beach. On the way home we stopped at a pizza place and had cake and presents. We had the whole place to ourselves! All in all, one of my favorite days.

The next day for dinner we went up to a campsite I went to as a kid and had foil dinners and s'mores. Two of my all-time favorite foods ever!! Then we just hung out and played hide and seek. So fun for the kids.

The next day we made our way down south to Newport Beach for Josh's family reunion. The first day we hit Disneyland. We got to use our free tickets we got from doing the "Disney Give-a-Day Give Away". We got a babysitter for Landon so we were really able to enjoy ourselves. Riley could go on every single ride, except one, so that made it really fun for everyone. She didn't really like every single ride, but still....We were there ALL day. I don't know how people do Disneyland for 3-4 days in a row! I spend all day there and I don't want to see that place for a LONG time!

Then the next couple of days were spent at the beach! There's something so relaxing about just sitting on the beach. The kids made sand castles, played in the water, collected sea shells (which we got to smell in the car the whole 14-hour drive home), and just played with their cousins. It was honestly one of the best beach trips I've ever had. They were great beaches! I seriously could have stayed another week. On the way home, Josh and I were saying that we wish we could freeze time and the kids could just stay the age they are right now. They are all so much fun-I don't want them to grow up.

I took so many pictures, I figured a slide show was probably the best way to show them. Here are just a few...

(Click on the "X" to close out the the annoying pets game that is covering up my captions on the slide show.)

Bieber Fever!

This last weekend was the much anticipated Justin Bieber concert! We went down to Salt Lake with a few of the girls' friends and their moms. There was 11 of us total. I think the concert pretty much exceeded the girl's and my expectations. I don't think any of us have been anywhere so loud in our entire lives!! There can't really be anything quite louder than thousands of tweeny boppers screaming at the top of their lungs at anything--and I mean ANYTHING! They'd scream at anyone that walked on stage, if the lights dimmed down, anytime the opening act would say Justin's name, and that's all before he even came on stage! Once he came out--forget about it! You can't even hear the person next to you. My girls may have lost their voices and I may have lost my hearing, but it was so much fun! So happy to have shared it with my girls!

We carpooled in our friend's big white van. You can't see it very well in the picture but the girls wrote all over the windows "Bieber Fever" "I love Justin Bieber" etc. We got a lot of looks, honks and some even stopped and took pictures. We sorta felt like celebrities.

We stopped for lunch at Red Robin

Swam in the hotel pool

The girls standing in line to get in

Emma and Livia

Katelyn, Kylie and Journee

Me and my girls

I think this picture pretty much sums up their excitement and just how LOUD it was!

4th of July 2010

Another fantastic 4th of July has come and gone. The morning was spent at the annual Idaho Falls parade. Love it! Look forward to it every year. Then we went to Josh's sister Melissa's new house is Rigby for lunch. So happy to have them close now. Then the day ended with a bang at the fireworks. There's something so comforting and secure about holiday traditions. And the 4th will always be a family favorite!

Yes, I'm aware that Katelyn makes this face in every picture. With or without flashing the peace sign.

Mason's traditional 4th of July 'do.

Riley and Grandpa Bradshaw

A fun festive variation of a trifle. Yum!

Landon munching on a cookie at the fireworks.

The kids sipped on rootbeer floats at the fireworks.

By the end of the night the kids were zonked out for the drive home.

Rebuilding my Faith....and my Driveway.

I think I'm finally in a place where I can talk about it without crying now. Last month, Emma goes down stairs and discovers that the basement floors are soaking wet. We run downstairs to find 4 rooms flooded! We found water coming up through the drain in our storage room. It was awful! To make a very, very, very long story short, we found that a sewer line was improperly installed back before we bought our lot. It had caused the line to cave in and thus began to back up into our house! What began as digging a hole in the back yard to repair the broken pipe, ended in digging up much, much more than that. Much to our luck, the line happen to run right under our driveway. In the end, half of our driveway was dug up. I'm talking a 12-foot gaping hole in the middle of my yard and driveway. The workers were all saying that we will never find anyone to take responsibility for the mess and that we would be responsible for all the expenses. Our insurance paid for the downstairs but wouldn't even touch the yard. It was the worst week of our lives. It was the biggest nightmare. But, in the end the people that installed the pipe took responsibility for the mistake and paid for everything. Everything! It was an answer to many prayers.

As they were repouring the concrete for the driveway, Josh and I decided to etch a scripture in the concrete that helped get us though this whole ordeal. It was, D&C 122:7, "...that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." You know how people always say they are grateful for their trials, well, I can honestly say that I am grateful for mine. And that is saying a lot. We've had a lot lately. I'm grateful for this experience in that it not only rebuilt my faith...but also my driveway.

Katelyn Turns 11

Katelyn just celebrated her 11th birthday! Holy cow...that's almost 12! That means Young Women's and Middle School!! But, not yet, I still have another year so I'll try not to get too ahead of myself. Her birthday party was a lot of fun. She decided to have a "Minute to Win It" birthday party this year. Our family is a huge fan of the T.V. show, so she thought it would be fun to do a lot of the same games they do on the show. The girls had so much fun doing the games, but I think it was even funner to watch!
The friends...

The games were hilarious to watch. This is Katelyn doing the "Elephant March"...

Riley tring her best at "Worm Diving"....

Katelyn concentrating while doing "Movin' on Up"...

Riley really got into "On the Nose"...

The oh so yummy Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Cake...

But one of the highlights of the night was watching Katelyn open up her gifts. One in particular...

She got tickets to see Justin Bieber in concert in Salt Lake next month.

She gets to go with a couple of friends, her mom (lucky me), and yes...her little sister who earned a ticket as well, for getting straight A's every quarter this last year. I decided it was well deserved. I had two little girls bouncing off the walls all night!