Our days staying at the beach were truly a relaxing vacation. We played at the beach everyday and got to spend lots of time playing with Parker, Miles and Mary. The kids were so happy and content to be there and Emma would tell me about 50 times a day how much she loved me and how much she loved being a "beach girl". As you can tell from the above pic of the boys on the boogyboards it took them a little bit to figure out what they were supposed to do with them?? Our return date changed about 50 times and ended up being about a week longer than originally intended. Dusty surprised us by driving in really late friday night and then spending the weekend with us which was soo fun and then Grandma and Isaac came a day after he left and spend the rest of the week with us. It was so nice having my mom there and so fun for the kids to have grandma there to build sandcastles with and go swim in the ocean with. Plus I was ready to have another adult around more. I love my kids and it was really nice to have it just be us there but after a week of just me and my kiddos i was ready to have some more adult help and great company.

First days in LaJolla

It was tough to leave the 105 temps and come to the beach and wear sweatshirts and play at the beach but in the end we obviously decided to. My kids slept for the first 3and a half hours of the drive over and were great. I am loving just hanging out with my kids doing whatever we feel like which has included playing on the beach, playing in the sandbox, swimming and coloring plenty of pics. Emma of course was trying to ride the boogie board and was knocked off right away and then was knocked down by more waves and is now pretty scared to go near the ocean again. I feel bad that it happened within the first 5 minutes of being near the ocean but we will see if she warms back up to it at all.

Lets cross our fingers we make it to 11.....

10 years ago I went to bed the night before excited and not feeling nervous at all. I remember sleeping great and feeling calm all morning getting ready. 10 years ago I wasn't really into makeup and had my 15 year old sis. apply my makeup while my sis in law did my hair.(wasn't really into hair either) 10 years ago I got to marry my best friend . I have always felt so lucky to be able to find him so early in life. I don't usually write anything about "us" but i figured 10 years deserves a post of its own. He is the one I know I can call for anything and he will always come through (aside from when I need him home early), I love that he know me soo well and knows how I will react to situations or crazy people, and he loves me for it. We work well together and although his laid back personality can sometimes drive me crazy I appreciate it daily. I always knew he would be a great Dad and Hunter and Emma both prefer him to me. My fav. thing he does with our kids is read to them at night. This weekend we spent time at the bookstore so he could pick up the call of the wild and my side of the mountain which were his fav. as a kid. We celebrated by having the greatest weekend together at home with out any kids. Friday we dropped the kids off and picked them up late Monday night and I enjoyed every second. Dusty of course missed the kids much more than I did and by the end he was noticing every baby and little girl wherever we were pointing them out to me. I apparently spend a lot more time with my kids and was completely fine knowing they were having a great time playing with cousins and spending time with their grandparents. We saw movies went to our fav. restaurants, got up early and hiked, went to the temple, shopped, played tennis, almost finished painting our house and just enjoyed being together without interruptions. Plus it was nice just being in our own house. I'm ready to do it again.

Sometimes Emma throws huge fits

and sometimes they are in the car on the way home.

so sometimes I just tell her to come inside the house when shes done throwing a fit.

and this time Ben felt bad and went outside to try to get her to come inside and to see if he could help her.

This time he got kicked in the face by her and he came in the house crying.

He is way too nice to her.

and i love the way his eyes turn turquoise when he cries so i had to snap a quick pic.

Hunter headed out this morning on his bike to go do some yard work for someone to earn some money for his cub scout day camp. He worked for an hour and a half and then decided to go inside and watch a football game with them. He also is just finishing up his season of Flag football and had a great game last night on defense. He and Christian and Chase had a huge cheering section and i think they all loved it. At the end of the game Hunter was dancing after he made a good play and looked over at out section of friends to make sure we were all watching and then continued his dance for a while.

Like I said, Hunter was struggling a bit during these pics..............

So if you had to decide

a b

c d

which of these pics to put up on your wall which would you choose???? My kiddos are uncharacteristically terrible for me when I take pics of them, so I took advantage of a mini session another photographer was having just minutes from my house and love the different look she was able to capture. Hunter and Emma struggle a bit in the taking pic department but Ben always looks cute for pics. Which is funny since he is my one who is out of control most the time.