So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good bye...

Sunday we cried our eyes out as my brother Dave, my sis-in-law Courtney, and their little son Charlie moved away from the state. It has been a sad month watching Courtney pack up, Charlie grow, and Dave graduate, knowing that at the end they would be leaving us.

While my inclination is to be down in the dumps depressed, I am trying to instead be grateful. Grateful for the 2 years they lived here. Grateful for the many good meals we shared together. Grateful for how they loved and played with our children. Grateful for how they came to the rescue and were always there if we needed something. Grateful for how they are so easy to be with and talk to. Grateful that they'd watch BYU games with J. Grateful for their willingness to mix with our friends. Grateful for the weekends they tended our girls so we could take a trip. Grateful for the double dates we shared. Grateful for the crafts we (girls) made together. Grateful for the holidays/birthdays we celebrated together. Grateful for how they supported our kids at their events. Grateful that we got to see and love Charlie as a newborn. And mostly I am grateful  for the good memories that we will always have of their time in AZ.

I love you D&C and little VCR and will forever be grateful that you lived so close to us!

 

 

  

  

 

Scholastic PDF workbooks

My friend JoLyn just posted about how scholastic is offering their Ready-To-Go Digital Resources for just $1.00. I jumped right on and ordered 10 workbooks for the summer. They have some awesome stuff on there for every age group (PreK-8th grade) and the sale ends May 31st. Click and check it out today!

I can't believe

kindergarten went by so fast!

From the first day of school,


to the last day of school, this girl learned, grew, and came out smiling.

 

I understand what it means when people stop me in the store and say "It goes by so fast." 

Because it really does. 

Oceanside 2012

My awesome parents hosted us for a week at a beach house and we loved it. All of my siblings and their families came, along with my lovely grandma. The only misfortune was that J had to leave Monday morning to go back to work and missed (and was missed) hanging out. Thanks again parents for making it such a great, memorable, and relaxing vacation!!!

Everyone had a day to plan, cook, and clean up the meals. Genius because the rest of the time you showed up for something delightful to eat.

Beach pictures. I got a Canon Rebel T2i for Christmas and this gave me an excuse to read the operating manual. Still much to learn there...

 My lovely Grandma Mary. She was wonderful to have around. So helpful, patient, fun, and easy going. She talked one night about her history and life experiences and it will always be a treasured memory of mine. I'm so grateful to know that my girls are old enough to remember their time at the beach with her. 

The toothless smile.

Loved catching this shot. You know there is push back among sisters.

 The littles were scared of the waves at first, but braved it with Grandma's help.



 Wave jumping was the favorite activity every day. We never seemed to tire of it. 



 We had some good sand castle building even despite the higher than normal tides, thanks to the huge moon.



 Loved being with little C as he enjoyed his first major league ball game at the Padres stadium.


 
Panning for gold at the Mormon battalion building. It has been redone and totally rocks.

The crew. Minus Claire and Skippy who were looking for the bathroom. Toddler and pregnant lady, you know.

Beach bike riding.

We were actually just .5 miles down the beach from Junior Seau's home, where he took his life the week before we arrived. Every day people were in front of his home paying their respects.

Touring the USS Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego bay. It was incredible to see that thing inside and out and Lauren decided that she learned more there then she would have at school that day. Yep.

Luckily the beach house had this awesome tub, beacause there were a lot of sandy bodies at the end of the day.

 

It turned out that the same week we were in San Diego, J's brother and his family were there with my sister-in-law's family too. We met up for some beach time at at the Padres game and the girls loved getting to see their other cousins.

8 on the 8th

We celebrated our 8th anniversary in style at the beach last week.

 

Since J was out of town on the actual day of our anniversary we stole out a few nights early for a wonderful dinner at 333 Pacific in Oceanside.

 

We ate a delicious meal from the sea, and spent the wonderful evening walking along the pier and by the waves as we talked about our years together.

I'm grateful for every one of them and can't wait for more to come. Life with JCR is a dream come true.