Rocky Point in August?

Going to Utah for 5 days just wasn't enough vacationing for this family, who likes to keep the road hot. Ben asked me if we could squeeze in a quick trip to Rocky Point before school started. The weather is just so muggy and hot during August, and it wasn't my number one pick. I checked the weather, and it said it was going to be in the 80's and have isolated thunderstorms. I knew what that meant; overcast, warm and perfect! We booked our favorite room and headed out Friday. Its much easier to be spontaneous when you don't have to pack all the baby stuff.

The first day we got there it was sunny and hot. We spent the first few hours at the pool as we were waiting for our condo to be ready. The kids had fun on the slide and soaking in the hot tub. They made some friends in the process. Once our room was ready, unpacked the car and then headed to the beach. They just added these awesome umbrella's, which provided a great escape from the heat.

I left my camera in the room, but the older two had fun jumping the waves, while Ethan and Sophia played in the sand. After a few hours at the beach, we came in for dinner, got cleaned up, and went out for Thrifty. Sophia fell asleep on the way there, but had no problem waking up for her scoop of ice cream. When we got back we watched some of the X Games, and I read a bit. I was so tired, and we all went to bed about 9:30.

The next morning I woke up to find Boston here. Guess he figured if he was awake he might as well enjoy the day.

I sat out with Boston for about 20 minutes and enjoyed this view. The overcast sky was a welcoming sight. I knew it would be a nice enjoyable time on the beach. We still had the warm air and water, but breezy and shaded! Everyone else woke up about a half an hour later. We had some breakfast on the patio and I read my book a bit. Here is Sophia with her "baby cup". She wanted to use this everywhere. Picture this scene, Sophia walking to the beach with this shot glass of orange juice. Hopefully people knew we weren't the world's most irresponsible parents giving their 3 year old a screwdriver to start her day!
Ben trying to take a picture of me after I just got up....hasn't her learned? The tide was a bit different this time. This time low tied was a bit later in the morning, which was fine with me. No rushing out at the crack of dawn! This time, it wasn't as far back either, but in return, we also got some great waves to play in later in the day. When we got to the beach, the kids didn't waste anytime looking for sea life. This time we brought a net. Sophia had fun looking at the small sea crabs who found refuge in little shells. Aubrie spent most of her time trying to catch fish. I joined in the fun. We ended up catching five.

Before the hair braids!

After

Ethan's "home for the crabs"

Our kids are the only ones wearing goggles at the beach. It's very smart actually. It keeps the salt from burning their eyes!

Relax is Ethan's middle name!

Corn Dog hair!

The vendors got lazy and just hung out in one spot! This time we just bought bracelets.

We stayed at the beach for about 4 hours, and then went back for some lunch. We spent some time inside just relaxing. I finished my book out on the patio while I enjoyed my lunch, and the kids and Ben watched some more X-games. Then we went to the pool. Boston was happy to find that his new friend was staying in our Condo tower and he and all the kids played tag for about an hour, while Sophia spent her time swimming in the pool and sitting in the hot tub. The kids started diving and doing flips off the waterfall, and the others kids joined in, until security came by and told us that wasn't allowed.
Here is the view of our room from our private pool. No pictures of the main pool this time.

After a few hours at the pool, we headed back to the beach for a few more hours of jumping waves and enjoying the warm breezy weather. After our time at the beach we went to the pool for about another hour and then we cleaned up and went into town for dinner. Sophia fell asleep on the way there, and slept on Ben through most of dinner. Again, I didn't bring my camera. But we had a great table right by the water. The kids had fun throwing chips at the seagulls and pelicans. Ben and I ordered a fish platter for two. I was a little nervous since we hadn't eaten at this place before. It turned out to be very good. Aubrie had a shrimp cocktail, and the boys played it safe with quesadillas. After dinner we walked through the shops. Ethan got a few shirts, and he was dying for this arrow gun and kept eyeballing the sling shots. We finally left and headed to Thrifty. Boston was happy that they had his favortie at this particular Thrifty. The night before they didnt' have his Cotton Candy ice cream and he had to get Bubble Gum. He got two scoops, I guess to make up for not having it the night before. I could hardly stomach one spoonful of that sickly sweet ice cream, neverless two whole scoops. Blah. Ethan was sad because he wanted that dart gun. Ice cream wasn't enough to cheer him up. You know its bad when ice cream cant do the trick. He tried to hide how sad he was, but you could see it in his eyes. Ben took the boys on a "walk" and came back with two of the guns. Ethan was happy! He said "I knew in my mind you were going to get this!" I then asked him why he was so sad then if he knew he was getting it. He then said, "I just knew in my mind right now!" LOL

After dinner we went home and watched some more X games, and Sophia and I played her Leapster together. Yes, Ben asked me to get the braids this time, too. It was nice to keep my hair out of my face, but they hurt my head, and made sleeping miserable. They came out the night we got home.

Ben and the kids spent a lot of time play Mappy on the DS! Then we all played the fasted round of Clue every (Aubrie winning on her second turn). Then we played a round of Yatzee. In the middle of the game Sophia came to us and said she was tired. We told her to get her PJ's on. Then she came back in her PJ's and said she was tired. A few minutes later she came to tell us she turned down the covers. She sat in Ben's lap for a bit, and then took her Leapster into the room. Then next thing I know she is out like a light, under the covers with the fan aimed at her head. I told Ben, "There is some great parenting right there, when your 3 year old puts themselves to bed!"

The next moring we packed up the car and then headed to the beach. We had fun jumping calmer waves and just hanging out in the water. Ethan and I also spent time builing a sandcastle with a fortress wall around it. Sophia spent a lot of her time just sitting on the shoreline letting the water rush over her legs. Around noon we headed up to the pool for some lunch, but the cook hadn't come in yet. After swimming for about an hour, and still no cook, we changed and went into town for lunch. We couldn't decide on anything we wanted, so we all agreed that two scoops of Thrifty ice cream sounded good! The kids thought they were in Heaven, but soon realized an hour into the trip why Mom insists on lunch first. They were all hungry, and so we snacked for another hour, until we made it to the McDonalds at Gila Bend. Luckily we got across the border fast, or it would have been a long wait till dinner.

Ben and I both agreed that the trip was awesome. It was so laid back, and fighting was almost non existant. The kids all had a great time, and the weather was awesome. I'm glad we had this one last trip before the craziness of the Fall hits us!

Montezuma Fun!

So after all the swimming/diving lessons were over, I was feeling like my days were becoming structureless (is that a word?), and unproductive. I decided it was time to plan some fun activities. The first one was a swim party for friends. I made chicken salad sandwiches, and everyone brought their favorite dish. It was a lot of fun catching up with everyone, and the kids had a blast, too. Definitely need to do that more next year.

The following week I decided that a trip back to Montezuma's Well was in order. A nice cool day at that park sounded like fun. However, the weather channel kept predicting rain. The day I planned on going, I checked the computer and it said scattered thundershowers. At first I threw in the towel, but then something said, "Just Go!" So I packed up lunches, some sporting gear, and we headed out.

When we first got there, we all sat down and had lunch. That was nice! After lunch, it was very hot, and I spent about 30 minutes setting up a net for badminton. When I finally got it up, I quickly realized my kids had NO idea how to play. They couldn't even hit the birdie. I was a little frustrated (and hot) and thought, "why did I come up here again?".

I decided it was time to play some baseball under the shade! First we warmed up with some throwing. Then we took turns at bat. Everyone got to hit the ball 4 times. We used 3 trees (in perfect position) as the bases, and with each hit would see how bases we could run. The kids had a blast doing that! Sophia just explored why we played. It was amazing how easy she was! Nature makes for a good babysitter:)

After baseball, we played a few games of crochet.

While we were doing that, Sophia found the small "creek" and started playing in it. She had the right idea getting all wet!

After crochet, we iced ourselves down and then played some volleyball.

It was getting hot, and we were running out of water, so I took our empty water bottles to the water fountain. As I was doing that, I heard Boston screaming. He had a racket in his hand and he was running all around. As I looked closer I could see that a bug was chasing him. It was the funniest thing. It finally stopped and then they all had a good laugh.

When I got back Boston and I played some more badminton, and he really started catching on. In the mean time Sophia and Aubrie took a walk through the "creek" and when they got back I joined them. Boston came over to see what we were up to, and we started to try and push each other in. Boston got more wet than he wanted, and started to get frustrated. So I just jumped in to distract him. Soon we were all getting wet, and it felt great! At that moment I thought, "This is a great day! I'm so glad to be here!" I decided that gymnastics would be skipped for the day so we could stay longer.

We played some more baseball, climbed trees, played more crochet, and sat under a tree and relaxed.

We ended our day with some more badminton. It was Aubrie and I against Boston. We were having fun, until I started hearing this buzzing by my ear. I kept thinking how weird it was that it wasn't going away. Then the kids yelled, "Bee!" I started running from it and it chased me! I ran all around the net, to the car, around the car, back to the net and it kept pursuing me. It was scary in the middle of it, but when it finally stopped, we all were laughing so hard. The kids wanted to play some more and I said, "NO WAY"! They finally convinced me, and the bee started attacking me again. I'm thinking he wasn't a fan of badminton. I finally stopped, and then it started chasing Aubrie and Boston. I finally decided it was time to go. We quickly put the rackets away and packed up the net. As we were walking to the car, the bee started chasing me again. I quickly hopped in the car and shut the door. After it left, I hurried all the kids in the car and threw all our stuff in the back. We all had a good laugh once we were all safe in the car. I think it defiantly will be a memory they have forever; their Mom running around screaming as a bee chases her!

On the way home the kids were complaining they were hungry. I stopped at the gas station and gave them money to get what they wanted. I waited in the car with Sophia. They LOVE when I let them do stuff like that on their own. I was wondering how they would determine what to buy with the seven dollars I gave them. I was impressed. They all bought something for themselves, Sophia and surprised me my new favorite candy bar (TWIX). They even came back with a dollar fifty!

About five minutes into the drive it started raining really hard. It didn't rain once the whole time at the park. I'm glad I listened to the spirit and not the weatherman, because I would have missed out on an amazing day of fun and memories with my children!

Our new family additions

So in attempt to catch up on the last half of July, I think I'll start with our new pets. It started off with Sophia seeing a lizard under the trampoline. Aubrie crawled under there and caught it and put it in a Tupperware container. She asked me if she could keep it and I told her "sure", assuming it wouldn't make it long. She then got online to see what lizards eat. She called Ben to pick up some crickets from the pet store. Aubrie also asked him to get him a light and a container. Again, I thought there was no harm in this. The poor thing needed to eat, and how much room is a little container and light going to take up? Well I should have known better, because Ben doesn't ever do anything simple. He came home with this thing!

I was like, "Where are we supposed to put it? This thing needs to go back!' Then miraculously the desk in the office was clean, and this is where it went. Well, when the small lizard was in the thing, it started to seem ridiculous at how big the aquarium was in comparison to the small lizard!

So then it became a quest to hunt down another lizard to give the first one a friend, and to somewhat fill in the vast space of his home. Finally they found one. A bigger one! He got the end of his tail cut off in the process, but that's the good thing about lizards, he'll have another soon.

So now we are a family of 5 pets, and are making frequent runs to Petsmart for baby crickets. Luckily it's close by.

My toothless wonders

Aubrie and Boston have been complaining about loose teeth for about a month now. Boston got to a point where he would say, "Can you just come in my room at midnight, while I'm sleeping,and pull it out for me!" Of course, we didn't do that. I was wishing they would just fall out so I didn't have to hear the complaining any longer. While they were anxiously waiting for their teeth to fall out, Ethan was biting on a lego Tuesday and it got stuck on his tooth. He pried it off and in the process loosened one of his bottom front teeth. So here I am with 3 kids complaining about sore teeth. It soon became a race to see whose tooth would fall out first. They were even more anxious since this week they have been gathering their money and trying to figure out how to buy the Lego Harry Potter video game. (They even went as far as to spread out all the new sand we got for the yard, without even being asked. They were hoping for payment! hee hee)

Yesterday morning Ethan comes running down the hall yelling, "my tooth fell out, my tooth fell out!" He was brushing his teeth and in the process he lost his tooth. The kids were all excited knowing that would be more money for the Harry Potter fund! (This was Ethan's first tooth loss, so it was big time excitement!)

Later that day Aubrie disappeared for a bit in my Mom's bathroom. I told her to meet us in the pool. When she came out she came straight to me and said "I love you Mom", and flashed me a huge toothless smile. Aubrie thought it was so cool that they both lost their tooth on the same day. She then reminded me that even though she knows the Tooth Fairy isn't real, I still had to pay her because Ethan would get suspicious.

Today while Ben and I were out, we get a text from the babysitter that Boston wanted us to know his tooth came out. I'm beginning to get a bit suspicious here. Are my kids pulling their teeth for Harry Potter? LOL Here are my toothless wonders!

Goodbye Young Women's:(

So here is "that" post I said was coming. I'm sure it's not too hard to figure out. Today was the day when my long reign in Young Women's ended. It actually ended a few weeks ago when I was released, but since it wasn't announced until today, it didn't feel quite real. Each time I have been released from Young Women's I have been a basket case. The girls become like second daughters to me. All the other times I have been released it has taken me off guard. This time I knew it was coming. The Lord was preparing me in so many ways. Of course, I didn't want to admit that's what he was doing, but I wasn't surprised when it came. Ben was shocked that I didn't shed a tear. Ironically enough, the one time that I didn't need two weeks to deal with it, I got it. All the other releases were done the day of. Funny how that works out. Anyway, though I didn't shed a tear, and felt at peace about the change, today took me by surprise when the water works came. It first came when Aubrie started to get all upset when they announced the releases. She started tearing up and saying things like, "Mom, are you going to be in there when I turn twelve. Does this mean you don't get to go to camp when I go?" I don't think she remembers a time when I wasn't serving in the Young Women. I collecting myself pretty fast and thought, "That wasn't so bad! Way to keep under control, Rachel!" When third hour came, however, not being in Young Women's really hit me hard. I'm excited for whatever new calling lies ahead, but after FOUR years of serving with the youth, I think I was kidding myself when I actually thought I could go through this release without a cry fest. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my Young Women today and tell them how much I love them and will miss them, but those Young Women from my old ward, wrapping their arms around me at the temple the other day reminded me that they probably know! Thanks for that extra tender mercy Heavenly Father. And hopefully I'll be back in there to greet Aubrie when she comes in!;)

Our Karate Kid

We finally took Ethan to his first Karate Tournament. It's so hard to go during the school year, because of soccer. I was so happy that we finally could take him to one. We told him on Tuesday that he would be going. He was so excited. He kept asking "how many days till I get a trophy." Gotta love the positive thinking! The whole family got up this morning to go and support him. It's the first time I really saw Ethan look nervous. Usually he could care less. He kept watching all the kids practicing their Kata's. About a half an hour after getting there, he saw some boys from his Dojo. He ran over to them and started talking. That seemed to relax him a little. The funny thing is that the majority of the boys are older. Like 5 years older. But he just fit in with them, like they were kids from his grade or something. That's a trait I wish all kids could maintain through adulthood!

Moving on....the first kids to compete were those with weapons. Those Kata's were cool to watch. After the weapons was Ethan's division. He was really nervous, but did well.

He paused during his Kata, and that hurt him a little. He didn't get anything wrong, but since the judges don't know all the Kata's they judge on fluidity, and not exactness. Kind of weird, but good to know. I was proud of him for doing his newest Kata, instead of doing the one he tested with to get his orange belt, even though he probably would have scored better with that! The people from his Dojo knew! He got fourth for his Kata, which he only got a metal for. I could tell he was hoping for one of the trophy's. He still had his sparring.

He did well, and won his first round. In the end, he had to sparr his friend from his own dojo. His friend took first and he took second. He was so happy to get a trophy!

All the kids were so happy for him, and wanted to hold and look at his trophy. Ethan wasn't letting it go for anything. Guess he is going to be asking us to take him to some more tournaments in the near future! After the tournament we took the kids to JuJu Berry, per Ethan's request! I won't be surprised if Ethan opens an ice cream store when he's older!

I'm so proud of Ethan. He works so hard at all he does. He has been doing so well in his music class. This week he started composing. When I say composing, I mean picking out notes on the piano, and writing the notes down on paper. He made a little book, on his own, of all his songs he made up. One of the songs he picked out on his own was the theme to Polar Express. He stapled all his composed songs together to look like a piano book. It's not Mozart by any means, but I LOVE that when he takes in an interest in things he really takes it to another level. He has such a creative mind! I love how Heavenly Father has blessed me with such amazing children who are all unique and possess different qualities. How boring it would be if they all came cookie cutter.

Dive Championship

So I have never really been nervous for one of the kids events, until this Friday. Actually, I have been nervous about this meet for a few weeks now. Ever since Aubrie came close to hitting her head last time, I've just wanted to get this over with. This past week she finally got her flip back, but when they got to the pool for warm up, her head came close every time. I just said a quick prayer that she could do her flip without injury.

The Championship Meet was much harder than the others. There was one team they hadn't competed against yet, who happened to have the most kids and especially in Aubrie's division. Several of them were gymnasts, and Aubrie could tell she was in trouble when the girls who were warming up were doing fulls with a twist. Needless to say, it was stiff competition.

Because all the teams were there, the meet lasted 2 and 1/2 hours. It happened to be one the hottest, muggiest days of the summer. The audience was hoping to get splashed!

Ethan did well, except he had one failed dive because he thought his coach told him to do a straight dive, but he was supposed to do a tuck. His other dive, and his flip were awesome. He ended up with second place. (No pictures turned out of Ethan and Aubrie)

All of Aubrie's dives were beautiful, and high scored. She also completed her flip and got good scores. Unfortunately the other girls were doing higher difficulty (Aubrie is still afraid of the back dive) so she ended up 5th. She still was the highest ranking girl on her team.

Boston did AWESOME. There is one boy who is AMAZING, and has the audience in awe with every dive. He has been taking gymnastics since he was two. Boston competed against him last time and got worked. He knew he would have to compete against him again, and would probably not get 1st place. Boston had a tuck dive, back dive, straight flip, and one and a half.

Each dive was flawless, but the other boys were higher difficulty. Boston's last dive was the one and a half. He never nailed it at practice. He got up there and looked like he was in a different world, he was so focused. His dive was FLAWLESS. Even the Audience gasped it was so beautiful.

When he came out of the water the whole crowd was cheering. I wish I had my camera to take a shot as he was coming up the ladder. He was beaming from ear to ear, and when he got out he did a little fist thrust! This is him when he got out of the pool.

He still knew there was no way for him to get first, but he was happy with his performance, and so were we. He was only points behind the other boy, which was huge. While they were tallying scores, all the coaches dove for the audience. They let the kids score and announce. They had fun doing that. Even Sophia got in on the announcing. I like how they made it so laid back and fun for them, especially since it took so long to do the scoring. Though I'm glad its over, I'm also glad they had the opportunity. It's been great!

After the meet, we stopped at In-and- Out for dinner. Before we got there, we went through the Chick-filet drive through for Aubrie. While waiting in line, we saw a family walk out dressed like cows. We remembered it was cow appreciation day, where you got a free entree if you dressed like a cow. Ben and Aubrie hurried and made these horns to try and get some free nuggets. The staff thought it was funny, and gave him free nuggets! Gotta love Ben for his philosophy of "it never hurts to ask, or try!"

A Temple First

Yesterday was a first for me. It was the first time I got to escort someone through the temple. One of my friends, whose husband was baptized a year ago, went though with her husband yesterday! She will be sealed to her husband and children next Saturday!!! I have so been looking forward to the sealing. There is something special about seeing a whole family being sealed, compared to just a couple. I know both hold equal significance, but there is just something more emotional about it! Anyway, last week she was animate about the day I would be getting back from Utah. When I told her the date, she soon asked me if I could be her escort. I was honored, humbled, and honestly a little nervous. I was hoping that I would be able to help make the experience as comfortable for her as possible. It was great being her escort. I loved being with her and watch her soak everything in. Not only was it amazing getting to see her experience everything, but it was also a great review for me. It also gave me some more insight that I desperately needed. Lately, I have felt as though my temple trips have been a bit bland. I know that sounds bad. Ben and I have been going routinely every month, and I felt as though I hadn't received any , "Ah, ha" moments, and I was feeling guilty for feeling that way.

My friend told me over and over how much she appreciated me and needed me for her experience in the temple. But she may never realize how the Lord not only answered her prayer, but my prayers as well, through her. I love when the Lord works that way. It's so personal and is another witness at how much he loves and tends to our individual needs! After that amazing experience, I walked out the temple doors to find my Young Women from my old ward on the temple steps. They came running up and showered with me with hugs! Again, something I really needed. (It will make more sense in a post to come) Thanks Heavenly Father for tending to the details!