Pismo Beach Trip

The kids got several furlough days off of school this year because of our budget situation. So, Memorial Day turned into a 5-day weekend. We decided to head to Pismo Beach for a quick trip and left Thursday, right after school got out. We arrived about 7PM on Thursday night and made a quick run to the outlets since Trav forgot his swimsuit. Friday morning we got up and Trav and I took a run on the beach. Running to the pier was fine, but coming back we were running against the wind. It was a good workout though!
After breakfast, we headed down to the beach. Calissa was the only brave (or not so smart) one to get into the water much.

Parker did some climbing. I tried to just let him go and not worry about how many things could go wrong!

He conquered his mountain!

Conner and Calissa tried to follow, but didn't make it too far before they decided to come back down. (Thank you!!!)

Calissa climbing a smaller rock.

Burying Parker in the sand.

Calissa's turn.

Now time for Conner!

Trav and I enjoyed reading on the beach in our comfy camp chairs!

Then it was time to head to the pool. I guess the Boogie Boards work in the pool too!

Trav reading in his cool new board shorts!

(We both got pretty sunburned in the 45 minutes we were in the sun at the pool! Kids didn't get sunburned though so we're good parents, right?)

Calissa and Parker having fun! We had the pool to ourselves that day.

After swimming we headed downtown to have some lunch. It was getting pretty windy and we enjoyed watching the birds try to fly with the strong winds. We also fed a seagull who had a hurt leg. We did a little shopping, got some ice cream and then went back to the hotel to do some reading on the roof patio and the boys played some ball outside on the grass. We went to a yummy Mexican place for dinner and then the kids wanted to go visit the sand dunes before the Melodrama.

Getting nice and sandy!

The Melodrama was Soup de Jour and was really fun as was the vaudeville! We laughed a lot and enjoyed the new actors in the show!

The next morning after breakfast the kids really wanted to go back to the sand dunes one more time!

Picture time! I think Parker likes to climb on things!

It was really windy the next morning. There was sand blowing everywhere! Trav hid behind a tree and I sat on a downed tree with my back to the water so the sand wouldn't get in my eyes (even through my sun glasses!) It didn't seem to bother the kids though!

Wrestling ... their favorite past time!

Until next time ....

Calissa had a birthday, shout hooray!

Calissa turned 9 years old on Wednesday, May 25th. She had been asking for a desk for her birthday for several months. Every time we passed a "free" desk on the side of the road, she begged for it. (Believe it, or not, we passed quite a few over the course of those months!) I think we had convinced her that we would not get her a desk.This was her surprised, happy face when we woke her up on her birthday and she saw her new desk in her room!
She was sooooo excited!
Then, she had to hurry and get dressed so we could have her birthday cinnamon rolls and open her presents before dad and Parker had to leave. YUM!!
She had her birthday party this year at her Grandma's house. She has had a gymnastics party for the last three years, but since she broke her arm and couldn't go back to gymnastics until June 1st, Grandma put on a craft party for her.

Aunt Tina (and Lindsay) helped the girls make little milk cartons (with candy) and a holder to put them in. Here is Jocelyn, Kyrsten and Kaitlyn.

Grandma and I helped the girls make two cards.

Ahreeya, Rachel and Calissa

Calissa and Gracie

Marina and Lauren

Sarah

Aunt Tina and Lindsay

After they did both projects, they decorated their bags with flowers and jewels so they could put their crafts in them. Grandma and Calissa also made each of the girls a necklace to take home too.

Then, it was time for ice cream sundaes! Those girls sure know how to put a lot of toppings on their ice cream!

Happy Birthday Calissa!

(Yes, she was a little hyper!)

Opening presents.

Posing with a new gift!

Calissa had a great time at her party and her friends said it was the best birthday party ever! She got tons of crafty things to do at her new desk!

Thanks Grandma for a fabulous birthday party!

Swing Dance

For some reason my computer would not allow me to upload these last two videos from Dance Festival. (My new computer let me!) So ... here are a part of the swing dance and the beginning of the Hip Hop.

Enjoy!

The Time of my Life

This last weekend was our stake's dance festival. This was the first year that Parker could participate. He had a great time and is looking forward to doing it again in three years. He says that next time he'll do the specialty dances too. They practiced for several months leading up to the event. It was great experience and we enjoyed it so much, we went both nights to watch! Parker, Kevin and Bro. Beard getting ready to swing?




This was the coolest number! They started off in the dark with glow sticks on their wrists. They were dancing in the dark for part of it and then the lights came on. Very cool! Wish I could have captured it better, but oh well!





The end of the hip hop number.





Country number









Swing Dance

This was Trav's favorite part of each night! (ha, ha, ha)

He got to get back into the 80's with the other Bishops and Bishoprics to dance the "Safety Dance!"


Fun times!

Travis did a great job and was a hit!





I was only able to get a small portion of is his dance. I am disappointed ... he is relieved!

Is That Tree Falling Over?

For the last several years I've been wondering if our plum tree in the backyard is falling down. I go out and look at it and ask, "Does it look like it's leaning more than it used too?" I've also gone to look for pictures of things in our backyard when we first moved in to our house. Couldn't really tell. Well ... it's definitely falling over! We went outside after a rainstorm and it was almost leaning against our play structure! We were afraid that it was going to fall on our neighbors fence so we hurried outside one family night to start to cut it down.Conner showing off his muscles!
Conner and Calissa pulling branches away.

Travis showing off his cutting skills!

We discovered a nice crack in the trunk.

It's just leaning a little, right?

We finally finished a couple of Saturdays ago and borrowed my dad's truck to haul the branches to the green waste dump. Travis cut the pieces down to smaller sizes, Calissa and Parker hauled them to the truck and I put them in and squashed them down. (Conner was at a birthday party that day and got out of the hard work!) We have a small pile of firewood left to take camping with us this summer! (Now we just need to figure out how to get rid of the stump!)

Camp Loma Mar

Conner had the opportunity to go to 5th grade camp at Camp Loma Mar in the Santa Cruz Mountains this last week. He was excited, but a little nervous to go. I subbed all week for the 27 5th graders that stayed behind. Conner did the rest of the post. Me and Neal Patel. Getting ready to leave.
Me with all my stuff. That was a lot of stuff.

Getting on the bus . Ready to leave for a week.

On the bus, almost ready to leave. Get it over with.

Finally were leaving!!! See you in a week.

Were at Camp Loma Mar, that was a long ride.

Ryan Parisi, Neal Patel, and me getting ready to go to our cabins.

My cabin, not the cleanest but it got better. Things on the ground everywhere. Yikes!!!

Taking a picture of some seals, couldn't get close enough to get a good picture.

Lots and lots and lots of sea foam. It could've filled an actual swimming pool with it.

The tide pools had a bunch of crabs but the only good picture I got was this one.

This was the best flower I saw on the trip.

Getting in line for breakfast. The food was really good.

This was my naturalist, his name was Sparrow. He was really funny.

The naturalists at the campfire every night.

A picture of all the guys in our class that went. This was during teacher time.

Me in my beanie and jacket at breakfast.

The waves crashing against the little island.

(Jen again. He didn't add enough details for me! :) On Monday when they arrived they had lunch, played some games and went on a night hike. Tuesday, they went on the Oak hike They were supposed to kiss the HUGE banana slugs sometime during the week. Conner decided he'd do it too late, and didn't see another banana slug. He also did a solo hike that day. That was one of his favorite parts of the trip. It rained on Tuesday as well. Wednesday he went to the tide pools at the beach and had the barnyard boogie that night. He liked the barnyard boogie, but it was really loud!) Thursday he did the Redwood hike and they had their skit night. Friday morning was his favorite breakfast: French Toast and bacon! Then it was time to pack up and head home right after lunch! He came home with a smile on his face, very dirty laundry, needing a shower and really tired! It was great to see him be so independent and have such a wonderful experience!)