Day 241 (8/29/11) - Maelen's First Day of School

Today was the first day of a new semester for Maelen at Goldenwest College. She is feeling more secure now that she knows she wants to major in communication. We had to have the back to school tablecloth out and here are some first day treats: smart cookies and a pencil made of a pack of Rolo's and a Hershey's Kiss.

Day 240 (8/28/11) - Heart Attack

Maelen's boyfriend, Greg, has a birthday today! Maelen spent countless hours cutting out hearts so she could "heart attack" his house. She wanted me to come along and I was all to happy to go help. When we got ready to leave, I invited Matt and to my surprise he came along too. We put some hearts on skewers for the lawn and the others were on his house, garage and truck. He thought it was pretty great since no one had ever done something like that for him before.

Day 239 (8/27/11) - Puzzle

I love puzzles. This one was given to me by Kendall for my Birthday. It is Los Angeles. I started doing this on my birthday and then realized I had to hurry and get done since I was on the table we eat on for Sunday dinner. I spent way to much time on it this week, but I got it done.

Day 238 (8/26/11) - Nail Polish

Pay no attention to my fat, old lady feet. The focus here is the nail polish color. I love this color because it reminds me of a color of nail polish I saw in Seventeen magazine back in my teen years that I just had to have. It was call Raspberry something...don't remember what, but I loved that color like no other. Ah, memories.

Day 237 (8/25/11) - Rearranging

I have noticed the guidelines that come with plants are not necessarily accurate. Or maybe my gardening skills are not what should they be. After we planted these plants, some in the front were growing too big and overshadowing some of the smaller plants. I grabbed my handy dandy shovel and started moving things around. An activity that I had been dreading turned out to be actually fun and empowering! I can't believe what a difference it makes! Now if these vincas would stop taking over! Good grief, I haven't planted any in about two years and they keep coming back!

Day 236 (8/24/11) - Happy Birthday to Me!

Today we went to see Dr. Pellman for a follow up on Kendall's ear and nose condition. That was all going peachy, however, while we were there we decided to ask about the odd little bumps that showed up last night. Surprise! Modified chicken pox! She had the vaccine so it couldn't be regular chicken pox. By that evening, she had many more. The good news is she didn't get the fever and some of the worse symptoms of chicken pox. As chicken pox go, these were quite mild.

Day 235 (8/23/11) - Oh Pinterest...What Have You Done to Me

Pinterest is a website that will be the death of me. For sure. I have been sucked into all their cute little DIY projects. It fulfills my need to "create". This is my latest project. Just sewed some muslin "ruffles" onto a canvas bag and added some fabric flowers. I love this. Love it. Can't wait to take it to church on Sunday.

Day 234 (8/22/11) - Breakfast Burrito

Jared's breakfast order today was a breakfast burrito. I'm not sure why I was warming the tortilla in the microwave, but here is what happens when you leave it too long. I think you could pole vault onto this thing.

Day 233 (8/21/11) - Family Loveys

I couldn't pass up this tender moment. That way, when we look back at our pictures, I will have proof that we really did love each other.

Day 232 (8/20/11) - Cheesy Matt

Seriously. I do not know what was happening in this picture and why Matt decided to make this face, but that is him. You just never know what you'll get.

Day 231 (8/19/11) - Brent

This is my cute nephew Brent. I have had a soft spot for him in my heart ever since he was little and would sit on my lap to watch cartoons and play with my hair. He would let me know if I had too much hairspray by telling me my hair was "braidy". He also loved to play with Playmobil toys which he called, "Serd (sword) guys". Now that he is older, I love when he takes the time to talk to his old aunt and tell me what is going on in his life and all the things he wants to do. He is a very smart young man with a good head on his shoulders. He can also be a lot of fun...like in this picture. As soon as he saw I was taking a picture, he made this face. I love him to pieces.

Day 230 (8/18/11) - Secret Admirers

Jared looks like he just woke up here...maybe that was the case. This is what we found on our door this morning. Jared's secret admirers struck leaving this cute display behind. Apparently some girls in the Stake got around making some boys feel very loved.

Day 229 (8/17/11) - Kendall's Buddy Brent

Ever since Kendall was born, she and Brent have had a special relationship. Brent has always been so good to her and so attentive. He has taken her to the tide pools, taught her to play the drums and always is willing to play games with her at our family get-togethers.

Day 228 (8/16/11) - Kiffy and Jared

Ok, so you caught me. Some of these next few pictures are from Sunday, but I got behind in my picture of the day pictures and I love these so I am going to use them. So there. Here is Kiffy and Jared playing the piano together. Anything or anyone that gets Jared on the piano is fine with me. Kiffy constantly encourages Jared to keep taking lessons. Love that. Love him.

Day 227 (8/15/11) - Squishy Mae

Well, we may have had to say goodbye to Nick, but at least we got Emily back for a little bit between semesters. Here are her hands squishing Maelen's face. These two are closer now than they used to be, which I am thrilled about.

Day 226 (8/14/11) - Mom's Party

Vicki was planning to have a birthday party for Mom, but as we talked about it, I realized not only was she picking them up at LAX that day, but she would also be gone most of the week before taking Nick up to Utah, so I was bossy and changed it to our house. Poor Mom and Dad were probably exhausted after being on a long flight and still being on London time.

Day 225 (8/13/11) - I Think I'll Start a Paper Route Right Now....

We don't generally do big gifties for our anniversary, but lately our family has been going on walks, bike rides, etc. and Matt has no bike! I found this one for a pretty good price so I thought it would be fun for Matt to have his very own.

Day 224 (8/12/11) - Twins Day

So the day we were waiting for is finally here! We get to take care of the twins for a few hours while Rob and Mandy are moving out of their apartment into the Frekers. Grandpa and Grandma are out of town, so I jumped at the chance to have them. They are such good kids. We had so much fun playing. We even took them to the park and had some fun on the swings. Maelen was feeding them some Gerber snacks and we cracked up when Simone decided to just eat them right out Maelen's hand. When Mandy came to pick them up, they were so excited and kept getting close to her face and saying "HI!", "HI!". It was the cutest thing ever. Love these babies.

Day 223 (8/11/11) - Havasupai

Ok, so they left yesterday, but that was my anniversary so I will blog about Havasupai today. Besides, I am planning to worry all weekend anyway. Here are some of the boys (and one of the leaders) getting geared up for the long trip in the van. They left after 6:00 p.m. and planned to travel there, sleep for a little bit and then get up around 3 a.m. to start the hike in before it got too hot. Crazy. I can't even imagine how wretched Jared will be without sleep. I have to think about that because I don't even want to THINK about the cliff jumping. It's better to just hear about it when they get home....safe.

Day 222 (8/10/11) - Happy Anniversary

I many not get to be with my hubby on our anniversary, but luckily he was kind enough to think of me and send some beautiful red roses. It is also mom's birthday, but I can't even call her or text her because she is Great Britain with her phone off. Happy Birthday Mom!

Day 221 (8/9/11) - Packing for High Adventure

Jared get to go on his first high adventure this summer! Our ward decided to go to Havasupai this year. The boys were in charge of their own food, which I have to admit frightened me a bit. Have you met 14 year old boys? The key was also to pack light because apparently the hike is pretty crazy...especially for boys who haven't had a lot of hiking experience and none with packs.

Day 220 (8/8/11) - 52 Reasons

This Wednesday is our 20th wedding anniversary. However, Matt is leaving early Wednesday to go on a business trip to Crescent City. Wah. Without him knowing, I made a list of 52 reasons I love him on this deck of cards (thank you Pinterest) along with some other goodies and notes and secretly stashed them in his suitcase.

Day 219 (8/7/11) - Missionary Boy

Tomorrow Nick is leaving for the MTC in Provo, Utah, so tonight he was set apart as a missionary. I love this picture with the brothers. Such great boys...I love that they are my kids' cousins and set good examples for them in so many ways. So sad not to have Emily there though. She is at BYU.

Day 218 (8/6/11) - Saturday is a Special Day

Saturday is a big chore day around here. However, sometimes Matt just really catches the cleaning bug and goes full force. He had moved the couch to vaccuum under and decided to actually vaccuum the bottom of the couch. And that was just the beginning! Needless to say at the end of this day, we were all exhausted!

Day 217 (8/5/11) - Sophia

Brett and Kari's youngest, Sophia, is such a cute little bug. Unfortunately this week she has a few teeth coming in and that combined with little sleep has made her a little less than happy. Such a cutie!

Day 216 (8/4/11) - LOGAN!

I LOVE this kid! He makes me laugh like no other but then can be very cuddly when he wants to as well. We have Brett, Kari and family staying with us for the week and we wish we could have spent more time with them. We don't see them that often so it's great to bond with those cute kids!

Day 215 (8/3/11) - U.S. Open

Every year, we (with the exception of Matt) get excited for the U.S. Open of Surf down at the pier. The beach is always fun, but add booths, freebies and all kinds of things to see and we are there. This is Kendall at the Skull Candy booth. She loves all the chaos just as much as the big kids. Although Jared misses junior guards, he enjoyed the freedom of riding his bike down the U.S. Open whenever he wanted to.

Day 214 (8/2/11) - Cousins!

For some reason Maelen thought she could get into a pool with her cousins and keep her hair dry. Boy was she mistaken. Nothing like some cousin lovin' to keep you smiling.

Day 213 (8/1/11) - Rub a Dub Dub, Kendall in a Tub

So glad I bought this tub...I think Maelen has used it more for the singles' ward than I have. I am just glad it is getting some use. However, after Maelen uses it, it tends to sit out for a few days, so Kendall decided to put it to some use.

Day 212 (7/31/11) - Family Day

Today was Nick's farewell. After, we all gathered at the Locken's house for food and fun. Graham and Simone are always so great even though it must be overwhelming with so many people wanting to pay attention to them!

Day 211 (7/30/11) - Nick!

Tomorrow is Nick's missionary farewell. And of course, Vicki has gone all out with food. Since he is going to Florida, she did an alligator theme. Here is a sugar cookie alligator eating sugar cookie Nick. Love it.

Day 210 (7/29/11) - Quilt Show

My Susie and I decided to head over to Long Beach for the quilt show. She picked me up and took me out to lunch and then we headed over to the quilt show. It was absolutely amazing to see what people can do and what they come up with. We saw all kinds of products, patterns, etc. that we "needed" but we were good about resisting. It was just nice to spend a fun day with my friend.

Day 209 (7/28/11) - Last Tournament Game

Just when we were used to going to Costa Mesa every Thursday for water polo, this particular tournament/league/whatever ended. Here is Jared playing defense..for the most part against guys quite a bit larger than him. Jared hasn't hit is growth spurt yet, but when he does...watch out. He manages to hold his own on defense regardless. Way to go Jared!

Day 208 (7/27/11) - Crayola Rocks

Vicki gave these kids Crayola window markers. They have been awesome. Kendall likes to change her drawings and messages regularly. I wonder if the neighbors enjoy them?

Day 207 (7/26/11) - Unwanted Guest

So I am pretty sure this is the little guy that has been living in the backyard shrubs for a few years. Apparently he decided to venture to the front yard and found he was perfectly content in our garage. Although I was happy to be rid of some crickets taken care of by our friend, I was still a little creeped out by his presence. Matt swatted him out with a broom one day, but the little bugger came back and made himself at home in the lip of our garage door. This time Matt chased him further down the street and we haven't seen him for a few weeks. Also, the crickets are back in the garage, so I am guessing he found a new happy place.

Day 206 (7/25/11) - Summer Boredom

When Jared is home, he can be found on XBox playing Call of Duty or on the computer doing who knows what. Poor kid deserves some down time after hours of swimming and endurance training for water polo.

Day 205 (7/24/11) - So Long Leland!

Our friend Leland is leaving for boot camp. He has been trying to figure out what to do regarding school, career, etc. and finally decided on the military. This will be rough on his wife Melissa for a little while, but in the long run, I think it will be a good choice. They came over so Leland could tell us goodbye before he left.