A zebra fishy!

Steven took the boys to the Skyway to go fishing while I went to the Relief Society ice cream social and broadcast.  I think they told me that Dylan caught a fish all by himself, but the dang line broke when the catfish was a foot above the water.  Then Isaac and Steven caught this fish together.  Pretty cool!

Look both ways before crossing the . . . beach. Really?

There were bull dozers, and other big trucks driving along the shore line. 

One came close to running over my kids!  They were watching, but I really don't think I should have to worry about traffic on my relaxing beach day w/ the family!

It left crazy tire tracks that don't belong on the sand.  So, they had a guy follow with a sand-fluffer-rake-zamboni-attachment in the back. 

I LOVED that soft sand:)

Baby foot prints!  (Because the ones I kept making aren't as cute)

For one, we didn't have anything planned on a Saturday morning! 

I decided not to run the Kansas marathon. 

Steven isn't going to run it b/c of his new job, so we're going to transfer our tickets to Martin and Katy's wedding instead. 

I honestly hadn't been training as much as I should have been doing.  Since this church calling, there's always something on Saturdays!  I can't blame my lack doing long runs on that, but you all know I can't wake up early to run for 3 hours.  The most dificult part about training for a marathon is the time.  My body was ok with it, but I seriously didn't figure out how to find the time to train.  I know I could have finished it, but it would have been the worst day of my life b/c I'm slow and it would have dragged on and on and on and I would have been so irritated! 

Maybe we'll run the Disney one. 

Good luck Uncle George though.  Maybe next year. 

Back to our beach morning.

 Isaac rolled down the sand.  You can see his tracks. 

 Dylan joined him later, but not 'til after he threw the frisbee with Steven for a while. 
I think he's better than I am. 
Steven and I threw the velcro paddles and tennis ball game. 

 Steven said he saw a bunch of sting rays when he swam.  We waited for them to pass, then we all went out.  Look at little Isaac. 

 And little Dylan.

Then we ate lunch there at Caddy's, took naps while I went for a jog, then on to the evening activities.

a fiesta

We stopped by our church's Spanish Party on Friday night.  Of course my parents were there.  They support every church activity.  It's true that a lot of work has gone into each and every event that is either at church, or is put on by church members.  It's all volunteer work.  I have been the party planner before (and still am for some of the events), so I want to support the church events as well.  It was mainly for the members of the new Spanish group, but their youth go to my youth group meetings and I know a lot of them, so we're all connected!  It reminded me of my in-laws.  I should have invited them. 

We were only there for about 20 minutes.  The kids had fun!

awesome lighting, and ramblings

I've been wanting to go to the beach to watch sunsets lately. 

I haven't gone since my siblings were in town. 

Yesterday, when we were on our way to a RS (church) activity for desert, the lighting was amAzing. 

I wanted to bottle up the sky, the green grass, the rust-color on the driveway I hadn't even noticed before, everything.  The color was in the air, I wanted to swish my hand through it. 

It was so golden/orange/bright/VIVID. 

The sky was much bluer than I could capture.  It's not a cool picture, but has that ever happened to you?  Amazing lighting? 

The sky had beautiful pinks and colors contrasted with baby blues all the way to my mom's.  (Where the desert was.) That night, I went for a night run then when I got back, I just looked up at the sky for a while while on my back in the driveway.  The clouds morphed and it drizzled on my already humid self.  I don't want summer to end. Ever.  Florida should be summer year round. 
I decided. 
We can vacation to see seasons, or come to FL to escape the seasons.  Who's with me?  (It seems like everybody is ready for fall.)  Not I.  I'm scared of it.  I'm scared of being crazy busy and stressed and not having enough $ to shower my loved ones with gifts and really cool Christmas cards.  (I hate money.)  I love our pool and want to be able to swim in it year 'round w/o having to clean the leaves out in the cold months.  We went swimming today.  I love Florida, my family, and awesome sunset lighting:)

ferocious baby tiger brothers

my grandma sent me an email forward w/ this picture in it, and since my kids have tiger shirts . . .

comercials

Dylan: "Mom, do you know what a stain is?"

Me: "Yes, it is when something like a shirt gets dirty then still looks dirty on a spot or something even after it is washed." 

Dylan: "You need Oxyclean.  Just go to the cleaner store and buy some." 
___________________________________________

TV: [Pillow Pets comercial starts]

Dylan to Steven: "And they are even machine washable!" 

TV: "Just throw them in the washing machine!" (or something, I wasn't there)

Dylan: "See?!" 
___________________________________________

TV: [anything for a boy]

Dylan: "I want that for my birthday!"

TV: [anything for a girl]

Dylan: "I want to get that for Malia for her birthday!"
___________________________________________

(This is why I like the kid channels without commercials)

Meet Tarzan. [You Jane.]

Dylan was in just his undies the other day and when I asked him where his shirt and shorts were, he said that he was Tarzan.  I let it go, whatever.  Then the next day, I asked him to put on his shirt and he told me that Tarzan does not wear a shirt.  I asked him to at least put shorts on, but he thought that was rediculous since "Tarzan doesn't wear shorts."  I thought it was a phase, but then, when I let him pick ANYTHING out at the dollar store and he found a green and white clothes line "Tarzan vine" and begged me to hang it up somewhere, I knew this wouldn't pass soon.  So, I figure, if I can't beat it, join it - right?!  So guess what little Dylan will be for Halloween. 

Tarzan, of course, because he already is! 

You should hear his Tarzan yell.  It's a soprano voiced sweet song.  We're working on it, but I laugh every time. 

So, if it's hot out like last year, he'll be wearing something like this with a Tarzan wig.  If it's cold, he'll be a gorilla again - his idea. 

(I happened to have some loin cloths from a Halloween before Dylan and Isaac's time.) 

Dylan wants me to be Jane, so maybe I will . . .

P.S. Who showed him a Tarzan movie or book?  Not I.

Happy Birthday Ada!

We went to Ada's 1st Birthday Party! 

First, yummy dinner, then the kids crowded around to see the presents, of course.

The kids were then busy playing with those toys and didn't care about cake. 

Time for Ada's smash cake! 

Perfect!

And because it's already after Ada's birthday,

I can share her birthday pictures (one of them.) 

She has never been under water like this!  Her mommy really let go!  Such a big girl now!

My Izee

Isaac is in his element.  Are those his PJ pants behind him on the door mat? 
Is he wearing any pants? I wonder.
OK, he IS wearing pants. 
But here's the better question. 
Q: What are these doing here? 

A: He had an accident outside and didn't need them any more. 

Here are some cute pictures of him snorkeling.  The mask is still too big, but he can swim with the fins by himself! 

soccer game #2

first let me show you Isaac's pre-game show. 

He looks to see who's watching, then goes for it!

and again (and again etc)

and loves it. 

he kicks the ball too. 

Dylan is waving at me when his coach is trying to get him in line.  Love that boy!

Once the horn is blown, he's a little soccer machine! 

We love watching him! 

He scored . . . in the wrong goal, and was a little embarrassed and didn't want to admit it.  But he only made that mistake once.  (And it's because last week they got to shoot in the goal they had practiced on.  I don't think his coaches told them what goal was theirs b/c he scored right in the beginning of the game.) 

This is his team mate, Benjamin.  They're the star players. 

Dylan figured out how to run back on defense.  I love his little smiles when he knows we're watching him and are so pleased w/ how he's playing. 

Here's Benjamin's high five after they had both fought to get the ball up to the goal.  Benjamin finally scored, but he high fived Dylan for the assist.  What good sportsmanship! 

That's the face of a determined sweaty dirty boy, ready for some Pei Wei for dinner.  Thank you Granddad!!

5 is a crowd

Meet our new addition, Chili Lynn:

She fits right in . . . 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 curious little babies in my sand box:)

Her full name is Chili Lynn Crew.  Noah and Malia got her from a rescue shelter last Sunday.  So I get to babysit her today too!  I think she is a coon hound.  She has been here one hour and has already had 2 accidents, one of each, but they were easy to clean and sanitize so we still love her.  Yay, now I don't need to get a pet for my own kids, thank you Crews! 

K, gotta go play some more!