End of June

Some of these pictures just show some randomness at the end of June. Also, Aunt Kaori arranged for us to go visit the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Forth Worth, Texas. It is one of only two places in the United States that prints the paper money.   We took a tour of the facility.  Cameras were not allowed, so we could only take pictures outside.  It was very interesting to learn about how it's done.  And now, every time we have paper cash, we always look to see if it was printed in Fort Worth.

Another fun thing we did was go to a water park up in Denton where I got to visit with my friend Kathy from junior high.  The kids went off and played in the water park while Kathy and I got to visit.  We also spent time in the water as well.  It was quite a lot of fun.

Nathan turned four months old this month.  He is growing like a week and very chunky.  The kids still like helping with him and snuggling with him.  He is quite a happy baby most of the time. 

Annmarie has also figured out how to climb the door frames.  She is always coming up with something, that girl.

Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison

When Corey and I were staying in our hotel for our anniversary, we discovered this little flight museum nearby so when we got home, we gathered everyone up, including Paige and Kaori and their kids, and went for a visit.  I love looking at airplanes and the kids did too. 

Happy Anniversary to Us!

This is what fifteen years of marriage looks like!  Okay, well, this is what we looked like as we celebrated our anniversary.  We went to the temple and did a session.  My brother reserved us a hotel in Dallas, which was so nice of him, and we went to Ruth's Chris for dinner.  I decided that Ruth's Chris is nice, but I'm not such a fancy person and, despite the fact that I love creme brulee, I think I prefer Outback or Texas Roadhouse because the steak is still really good but the sides are more enjoyable to me.  This will probably be the last time we eat at Ruth's Chris unless somebody else is paying.

Here is a snapshot of fifteen years:

We have lived in five different states (California, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, and Texas).
We have owned three homes.
And we have seven children.

I can't think of anything more important or noteworthy than that.  We've held various callings in church, we've moved a lot, Corey has mostly been with In-N-Out, I've dabbled in different jobs, mostly involving teaching, and we've done some fun things.  I am grateful for all of our experiences and the family that we  have.  Happy anniversary!

Another Week of Summer Flying By

I got pictures of Caleb, Travis, Eliza and Jonah cooking this week. Some of the foods that are pictured include muffins, one-eyed toast, hot dogs, beef stew, French toast, tacos, cutting up vegetables, Italian chicken, and grilled cheese sandwiches. We are trying to vary it up by not having the same thing twice in a week. One day a week is always pizza, so the kids rotate days too. I am really enjoying teaching them to cook and they are developing life skills. Plus they are learning how much effort goes into planning and cooking a meal and more appreciative of everyone's efforts. I love this system!

This week our upstairs air conditioning went out.  There were several days between when it went out and it got repaired.  We spent one night trying to bear the heat upstairs but the next two nights, we all slept downstairs.  By the second night, the downstairs AC was having a little trouble too, trying to keep up.  Thank goodness it hasn't gone out yet as well.  It was a costly repair and I'm not happy about that, but I am so grateful that it got fixed.  We made the best of it and the kids had fun sleeping in the front room all together.

I also want to start a weekly field trip this summer.  Every Friday we go to somewhere for a day trip.  This first week we went to White Rock Lake with some of our cousins.  It was pretty warm, but we had a good time.

And of course, we went swimming.  We got a picture of all the Texas grandkids to send to Grandpa for Father's Day.  

First Week of Summer

This summer I have decided that my kids need to learn to cook, so every week the five older kids will rotate through the five weekdays and cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for that day. I don't always remember to take pictures.I did remember to take pictures on the first day, which was Westley's day.  For breakfast, he made cinnamon rolls.  He made pizza bombs for lunch, a recipe I got off Facebook, but by dinner, we had to go over to Adam and Eve's house because our kitchen faucet was broken and leaking water everywhere, so he cooked dinner there, which was chicken parmesan.

I got an app on my phone where you can play with makeup and hairstyles, so I took a fun picture of Annmarie to play with.  Eliza and I have had fun playing with this app.  We tried to go swimming every day this week as well.  I took a picture of Nathan and I hanging out at Adam and Eve's house.  On Saturday, I took Eliza to a local circus that was in town.  I found some cheap tickets and planned a mommy-daughter date.  We had a great time.  When we got home, Corey and Westley had come home from some one-on-one time as well at a LEGO convention and Westley was getting all the kids in on building with LEGOs.  It was cool to go upstairs and find ALL the kids, even Nathan, in the room while they built together.

Last Day of School Backyard Fun

On the last day of school, the kids celebrated by blowing bubbles for Snoopy in the backyard. Snoopy loves bubbles and gets very excited when anyone even gets a container of bubbles out. He was having the time of his life. We had taken him to the vet a few weeks earlier and he is still healthy, just having trouble with arthritis, has developed some random cysts on his skin that occasionally bleed, but is otherwise fine.

Last Week of School

The last week of school has finally arrived. This year really flew by! Travis and Eliza both earned awards for making all A's all year long.  Included are pictures of Eliza with her second grade teacher and Travis with his two third grade teachers, one taught math and science and the other taught language arts and social studies.  Westley and Caleb finished out their years doing well also.