A Day At The ZOO!

Dan took a couple days off work to be with the family. Today we met the Olsen's and grandma (Sue) at the Santa Barbara zoo. We love this zoo! In my opinion it is WAY better than LA. Maybe it is because you get the ocean breeze and not 100 degrees weather. We enjoyed lunch and watching the animals. All the animals were out today which is not always the case. We were amazed at all we were able to see.
I just love this picture! They are watching the tortoises that were right up against the fence.

We just had to take the train around the park. We got to see other animals that are not visible while walking around. So cool!!

We were there for the penguin feeding! I had no idea penguins sound like seals. They do!!

I CAN MAKE THAT NOISE! LOL, mom and dad!

When Cousins Come To Visit!

Jen (Dan's sister), Brian and the kids were able to come down for a little visit. We just love when they come!! We really missed them on the 4th for fireworks! They usually come for the 4th, but postponed their visit so they could be here for Spencer's baptism. Our kids are all just a couple months apart. They love playing together and get along very well. The Olsen's used to live here in Cali, but now they are in Utah, where everyone seems to be going.
We miss them so much! Today we met them at Malibu beach!

Dan took the day off to play. Melanie talked Dan into going in the water! OHHH, the things little girls can get their Dad's to do! It amazes me. She couldn't talk me into going into that cold water. The waves were very small for a while, so Dan took each of the girls out on his back. They had a blast swimming back and forth in the waves. Melanie is our little swimmer. She went out by herself for a while. She was pounded a couple times by the bigger waves, but always seemed to come right up. I was a little nervous watching her from the beach. I kept standing up every time a wave and then another and then another came. I wish I had it on video!
I guess she is going to be our surfer!

Uncle Brian buried Owen and Chelsea. Of-course they needed
sunglasses so the sand wouldn't go into their eyes!

This is my nephew Owen. Isn't he so cute! I just love this picture.

He is always smiling just like this!

MORE Cousins!!!

I always love when family come! This was one of the best visits. No offense to my other family members. I will love it when you come visit me too. Joe brought his family down for Spencer's baptism. I don't think they have missed a baptism or blessing in our family. Joe you are my idol! Let me explain myself before I get into trouble for favoring Joe's family. This year good things are happening for me. My kids are all at an age that I love and Spencer has his problem under control. SOOO, I just loved having Joe's family here. We didn't even need to go places or spend money entertaining the kids. They just wanted to play! AND I didn't have to watch them!! Yes, break time for me! Because Dan and I are living in mom and dad's house we get to have all the company and they have to go back to the temple. That makes me sad, but they are doing what they love! These are just a few pictures that I took of everyone doing their own thing. This is Megan and she is 16. Isn't she beautiful! She is the 1st grandchild. Wow, time flies. She drives and has a boyfriend at home that she missed terribly while she was here. Oh, how I remember those days! If she wasn't hanging out with me, you would find her "texting" or emailing Jason. This is Daniel the 3rd grandchild. He has an amazing personality and reminds me a lot of Spencer in different ways. He loves to tease his sister which reminds me of my brother Matt in many ways. LOL, no offense Matt! Spencer and Daniel played a lot of lego's. This is Ben and Alissa! I don't know their number sorry! I lose track after a certain number. Ben is ALWAYS smiling and Alissa loves to PLAY. I fed them a lot of sugar (whipping cream here). Yes, aunties get to do things like this...sorry Joe!
This is Miranda. She is the most helpful girl I know. She is truly amazing! She was either playing with Maddie or teaching Melanie all about the webkinz world.
AND Joe! This was Joe the first couple days here. He was supposed to be working. It just amazed me how he could work when the kids were literally running around like animals screaming and yelling. What an awesome dad and husband. Heather found out her father was very ill and only had a short time left on this earth. Her father just so happens to live in Simi Valley only 20 minutes away from us. While Heather was with her family in Simi, Joe cared for his 5 kids here...while working. Wow, he was amazing! He even kept my house clean and did my dishes. Thanks Joe for sharing your family with us. We miss you guys already!!!

Post Challenge...thanks Sarah!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I have had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, if we’ve actually met in person or not, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

Happy Birthday Spencer!

My little boy is now eight! I can't believe how time flies. Because it is Spencer's eighth birthday, we really wanted to have a special birthday party(s). It is the year for a friend party (we do them every other year), however, ALL his good (boy) friends are out of town. We decided we would celebrate ALL month long. We celebrated last week with Dave's family and we will have his baptism next week. His actual birthday TODAY started out this morning with the birthday fairy attacking his room. He was very surprised to wake up to balloons and streamers all over his room. We then had a very yummy pancake breakfast (his favorite). He was able to open his presents from us before church. I love having 11:00 church. It is so nice to be able to have the morning to do what you need to do. Grandma and Grandpa Clinger came for dinner and another celebration with ice cream sundaes and more presents. Our family's favorite dessert is ice cream so instead of cake we do sundaes. Instead of eight candles in his ice cream, Spencer wanted eight cherries. I think that would make me sick! Until next week...

I WON! I am WINNER 19!

OK, so I never win anything! I don't even put my name in drawing or do raffles at the schools, because I just NEVER win. Dan does win...but me NEVER! I get this call this morning. It is Albertsons super market down the street and they say I need to come in and claim (our) prize. My mom always taught me that if it sound too good to be true, that it usually is. So, half of me is like, "whatever!" BUT, because it was Nancy the Manager (who I do know, by just her voice) from Albertsons, I believed it and off the Albertsons we go (kids at tow). I was a little worried they might have streamers and balloons going off when I walked in the door, but they didn't get that carried away. Nancy was very excited to see me though. She said she was so glad it was going to a "regular". Yes, everyone knows me there! I don't know if it is because I grew up shopping there and personally know 1/2 the checkers and baggers or because I am there at least once a day with 3 kids a tow, begging for a toy out of the "treasure box". Anyways, they took my picture and handed me a gift card for the amount of $500. I scored! As you can read on the sign in picture #1, you get entered into "the contest" every time you spend $25 using your preferred card. Dan says that was his $25 that won. We (my parents included) use the same preferred card because we all have the same home phone number. So, we all won, BUT I get to spend it because I was the one forced to get my picture taken and it is my MUG that is hanging on the HUGE billboard inside the store. Sorry guys! So, I am telling my friends about it tonight at "picnic at the park" and Denise and Jens offer to go over to the store and take these pictures for me so I could blog it tonight. Thanks Denise and Jens!! I am kind of nervous to be seen there.

Thursday Beach Day!

Yet another Thursday hanging out at the beach! This is what we look like sprawled across the beach front. Lets just say, we Mormons take it over. Today we had the Camarillo ward sitting to our right and TO 4th ward to our left. We had NP1 (Merrill's) sitting with us. Let's see...today we had a lot of out of towners join us too. The Colorado Merrill's and Kjersten Troxel (from Utah) joined our regular crowd. We loved having them here! The more the merrier! If you are reading this blog and haven't been out with us, you have to come! Today I got to the beach at 10:45 and we stayed until 4:00. The kids had an absolute blast playing with all their cousins and friends. It was a bit overcast which was actually nice. It wasn't at all cold, just perfect! The waves were just the right size for the body boarders. It was fun to watch Amy Eschenberg joining her boys in the waves. OK, Denise, Thursday it is me and you girl. I so want to go in the water with my kids. I haven't done it yet...but I will!! Watch for the pictures!

It Is The Law!

We are all hands free here in CA right? I just saw this and had to post it because it is so hilarious! I actually do see people doing some of these things!

Another great day with the Merrills

We have been so very lucky to have my brother Dave's family here visiting us for a couple weeks. Today was a very fun filled day! I took way too many pictures and couldn't decide which ones to post so I made a slide. We started out meeting at Leo Carrillo Beach (of-course). My parents had the day off and my cousin Kim and her three boys also met us there. We stayed all day! The weather was perfect and all the cousins got to get reacquainted. We then all went back to our house for GRILLED PIZZA and FHE. I had asked Mikal (2nd oldest grandchild) to give a FHE on baptism. Spencer will be baptised in just 2 weeks. We have never MADE Spencer wear a white shirt and tie to church, so I had also asked Mikal to talk about the importance of wearing a white shirt. He gave an excellent lesson and then Samy taught us all how to tie ties. He did an awesome job too and we had a blast learning. We then had a huge cousin sleepover with the younger ones (10 and younger). It was interesting getting 9 kids to lie down and go to sleep. Click here for even more pictures!

Jake the Kitten

Grandma Clinger (Dan's mom) has talked about getting a kitten for a while now. She finally did it! The kids had way too much fun playing with Jake. Even Spencer who is totally, deathly scared of animals played with him.

Happy 4th of July!

This is one of my very FAVORITE holidays! I love that friends and family all get together to EAT and hang out. This morning Dan was golfing with his dad and Lee, so we just took our time getting out of bed and getting dressed. I know I should have taken the kids up to the church for the flag raising, but I wasn't going to swing it by myself...sorry! At about 1:00 we met Grandma and Grandpa Merrill at Jamba Juice for a "little lunch". It was so HOT we didn't feel like getting anything but that! We then headed for the park where we met Heather's family.

We all just sat around talking, while the kids played Frisbee, rode scooters, and played cards.


We stayed for a couple hours. It was fun to see Heather and the kids. I can't get over this guy...
This is the second oldest grandchild Mikal. He is huge! He looks, acts and sounds just like my brother David when he was 16. It was crazy to see him all grown up!
We then headed to the Dan's parent's house for dinner and fireworks. They live at the top of a hill in Woodland Hills. Their house overlooks the whole San Fernando Valley. It is always a prime spot for fireworks. Grandma went out and bought the kids their own cute little chairs to sit on to watch the show. We all sat on their large balcony. Firecrackers are illegal here, so we got a HUGE container of "poppers" for the kids to play with. They had fun shooting them off the balcony. It kept them and Dan very busy. We missed Jenn and Brian and the kids this year! The kids kept asking where you were. We especially missed Uncle Brian's sparklers. That is what Spencer and Melanie really remember of Brian and the 4th.

OOOOOO, the beach!

Are you sick of me blogging about the beach. I am sorry, the beach is our favorite thing! Today we met our friends at the beach for our weekly beach day. It was packed! I think everyone and their mother was there. I have never seen so many people there before...EVER. We had a great time though! I love sitting in the sun with my girls friends and watching the kids play. This was the gang today minus a few. These cute kids walked up and down the beach finding sand crabs the whole time. They found probably 100! Is was actually a gross sight to see. I can't believe I used to do the same thing. They are nasty little critters.

This is Melanie showing me one of the BIG ones she found. I made her stand away!

AND this is the cute little girl we lost today! She was only missing for like 8 minutes, but it seemed like forever. It just reminded me of this time. My sister-in-law came into town with the kids this week from Colorado and they showed up at the beach too. It was the first time I had seen them, so I was giving hugs, talking to them. Chelsea wanted to go back to "our group", so I watched her walk away and head right for Spencer. I could see her and Spencer perfectly. Well, apparently she went past Spencer and kept walking...for about 1/2 a mile. We alerted the lifeguards and the whole crowd on the beach started looking for my lost wanderer. She tells everyone that "Abby found me!" Abby is one of her favorite babysitters. Abby spotted her silhouette quite a ways down the beach. When I got to her, she held on to me for dear life. She was so scared! I tired asking her where she went, she wouldn't talk to anyone. She slept for about a hour after that. It took a lot out of her...and me!

This was taken at about 5:00 after everyone on the beach left. I was completely packed up, Chelsea was already headed for the car with her wagon of sand toys and these are my other two AFTER I TOLD THEM TO GET OUT AT LEAST 5 TIMES!! BUT, I didn't get mad. I thought about it....believe me! But then, I called Chelsea back, set my chair up AGAIN and started shooting pictures. Wow, this is the life! We didn't have anything to get back for. Daddy doesn't get home until at least 7:30, so why not? Many memories of my childhood flowed back as I watched them. I sort of jealous! I wanted to be a kid again right at that moment! My mom took us to the beach like everyday during the summer. We camped on the beach for weeks at a time. We were always at the beach and I LOVED body surfing. If there had been someone to watch Chelsea and the water wasn't FREEZING, I would have joined them! I let them play for a while longer until Melanie got plowed by a HUGE wave and it was time to go home. Until next week!