Beach House 2011

We headed down to the Beach house in Newport Beach the last week of July.  It is always a great time of family fun.

Jeremiah 9, Carli 7 and Bryce 3  these 3 have had a beachy summer

Carlis gets her Aunt Jayne

Carli was really brave this year.  She took on the big waves!

It is so nice to have Dad off work for a week so he can join us at the beach

Jeremiah had a few of these during the week...

Sully tackles the waves with a little coaching from Bryce....

Bryce shows Sully how it works... these two played so cute together.

Jeremiah with his Calamari at the Crab Shack

Matt teaches the kids to suck the crawfish head... yuck

We made woofems and smores 

these two worked tirelessly on this 2000 piece puzzle... they finished with one missing piece that Bryce hide.

We rode the beach cruisers done to the pier 

I love this photo of Grandpa and Bryce on the boardwalk

Pizza night at the fun zone

I think Bryce enjoyed his ride... not so sure about Carli

I think we are almost to the point where we won't have any kids at the carousel age... kinda sad to think of.

This is what Carli looks forward to all year

And it may become Bryce's new favorite beach house outing

He also found a new love for skee ball

Matt was the champ at hoops this year.

Jeremiah took home some winnings 

Bryce loved fishing

Carli didn't catch anything this year...

actually Jeremiah was the only one to bring home some fish

All and all a fun time!

Happy Birthday Carli

Carli turned 7 this year.... and here is a little peek into her Birthday week!

We had a Birthday dinner at Nammy's house.  Carli picked tacos.  My kids love Nammy's tacos she makes them with BBQ sauce and it is so good.  Carli wanted to decorate her own cake and as you can see she is very creative.

She had to protect her candles from Bryce... he always wants to blow out the candles.

Then we had a swim party for Carli and her friends.

And we went out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson.  They brought her flan for desert and she was not too pleased so Grandpa took her out to the fun zone and let her pick out a sweet treat.  Then she got to spend the rest of the week at the beach house in Newport... and when we got home we had a special FHE,  The birthday FHE is a time for each family member to hold the birthday candle and say one thing they love about the birthday girl (or boy).  Yep, I think she had a great time celebrating her birthday.  And next year she is 8 and will be baptized... I cannot believe she is growing up so fast.

Finding Balance

One thing that I have found really helps keep me balanced is making sure I get a little....

ME TIME

FAMILY TIME

and COUPLE TIME

We visited the dolphins and tigers in Vegas when we were having some couple time.  I look forward to getting away with Matt.  It  is best when we can find a weekend to get away but even just making sure we get a date night at least once a week is so important.  There is nothing better for a family than a Mom and Dad who have set aside time to nurish their own relationship.  This summer Matt and I were able to get away once a month for a mini vacation and it has been so wonderful.  I am so thankful to my Mom who is willing to watch the kids for us so we can have some time together.

June

A few more photos from June...

There was a lot of June Gloom but it didn't keep us from the beach... we headed down to Surfridder every Wednesday to meet up with friends from the ward.  Although, the only other family that braved the beach during June was the Martinez Family.  But we got lucky and actually had some really beautiful days down there.

We took a trip to the tortilla factory and the kids learned how to make their own tortillas.

We meet up with friends at the pool... here are all the boys Jeremiah's age hanging out poolside.  They are such a fun group.

Our garden started to bloom during June and we had a pretty good little harvest of beans and carrots!

Sharing the day

I was so excited to post the 4th photos that I got ahead of myself... so here are some of the June photos I forgot to post.

Every few years my birthday lands on Father's Day and I have to share my birthday.  I am a firm believer in celebrating birthday week... one day is just not enough.  So, we did a lot of celebrating and sharing in the celebrations.

One night Matt brought these cupcakes home for me.  I HEART cupcakes... I am not sure why but I think a cupcake is so much better than cake.


We had a family party to celebrate my Birthday, my Dad's Birthday and Father's day!!!

Bella and Avery made art for me on my patio

I love this shoot of Bella

And a pretty cute one of Avery too

Here is my nephew Ty jumping on the tramp... check out that hair!

cute cousins

Ty loved climbing the slope... without shoes too

Courtney hanging by the pool

the whole family had fun splashing around in the pool... and Matt enjoyed tossing the kids around

Mom and Dad (Anderson) sent me some pretty sunflowers 

So here I am on the 33rd Birthday with all my kids

I spent a day a Glen Ivy with my Mom and girlfriends (it has become a tradition) and when I got home form my most relaxing day my family surprised me with dinner and my favorite treat.... is anything better than chocolate and strawberries!?

Overall is was a pretty fun week... and we celebrated Matt too with breakfast in bed, a cajun cook book and a cajun dinner made by me ;)

Into the night

I had to add these last couple photos from the Fourth of July.  We had stayed on the beach all day and watched the sunset so we could see the fireworks over the San Clemente pier.