Oceanside '10

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We love this annual trip. It was a bit different this year with us staying in a new location besides North Coast Village. 1171 The Cottage by the Sea (really, that was the name on the address plaque) treated us very nicely!

We had amazing driving weather the whole way there, even starting in Mesa. Hardly ever turned on the AC.


Church

Games


5 days on the beach... our favorite. Attempting family pics and adjusting to the cold water.

Enjoying the balcony even with the ugly fake bird I was tempted to toss in the ocean every day.

Dinner and ice cream at the Harbor

hangin out


More beach




Sea World

Funnel cake and ice cream, yes please. Off to Shamu Roooocks!

Lunch on the pier

Make shift laundry basket Kan Jam = lot's o stares by onlookers.

"Marcie, I have on my fwippers. Let's go catch sharks!" For some reason we are always in CA during shark week and for some reason that's whats always on the tv.

After high tide would hit we would mosey on up to our backyard beach. Friday night we had pizza in the sunset...sigh

Picking Jefferson up at the airport. He was gone for 3 weeks on the boy scout National Jamboree. He flew in to enjoy the last few days with us.

PHIL'S!!! Need I say more.


The grand boys.

Thank You, Thank You Damnma and Grandpa!!! Each year we love making new memories with you. I think this year would have to include:

*the child proof balconies/stairway and the "close call"

*cramming 10 people into the Landshark the first few days while the suburban was in the shop

*learning to appreciate spinach leafs in our breakfast smoothies
*actually reading an entire book from the first to the last page
*Testimony and Relief Society meetings, CA style:)
*Lane at Sea World walking over to me with a Starfish in hand while I was changing Rusty's diaper on the bench. The looks of horror on the peoples faces was a classic.

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We were sad to leave but Lane made sure to bring home sand in his ears as a souvenir. Still trying to get that out.

Wet {N} Wild Week

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Yep, I had another birthday on Wednesday. I had to ask Casey how old he was so that I could remember how old I was turning. Turns out I am now 27. I was reminded about the joys of ageing when Melinda found 2 grey hairs while doing my weave on Tuesday. Bah, I was hoping for at least mid thirty's before I had to start worrying about that. Anywho, to make my birthday more exciting I actually got to spend it with the person I have been sharing my birthday with the past 27 years... my twin! Stephanie and Travis are here to visit for a few weeks. With a summer birthday you have to take advantage of the heat so we headed off to Wet N Wild water park in Phoenix. To make it even better we got babysitters for the whole day. It was most wonderful.

We ate brunch/lunch at Crackers first...

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then spent the rest of the day screaming our lungs out on the "scary" rides.


We stayed till they closed then ate dinner at Gecko Grill on the way home. It was a fun birthday!


The next day was fun as well. I love spending time with Leah, Jenni and their kids. If you are wondering where mine are they were either sleeping or crying in the corner. You figure out who was who. Oh and forgive my skanky hair and makeup-less face in every picture. That's as fancy as I get in the summer.




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With our awesome weather this past week ( I say that somewhat sarcastically) we went and tested out my birthday present Casey got me. Do you like it?! The last time I had a bike of my very own was when I was 8! I was so excited!!! Come winter we will be cruising all over the town. We picked up a cruiser for Casey yesterday and set up the bike trailer so we are set!

Haha and no this is not Casey's bike. We went for something a little bit more manly. However it matches his face pretty good:)

Miss Us Much?

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Hey there, it's been a while! Not because we were on a trip or been super busy. Actually we haven't gone anywhere this summer yet besides swim lessons, my moms to swim, the grocery store or Sonic drive thru. Seriously, that's about it!

We did have a fun 4th of July. We started out Saturday by doing our usual- Casey playing basketball then me going to my most favorite gym class, body pump. Casey had to leave again after I got home so what do we do while dads away? Park it on the couch and eat cheese balls for breakfast! Why not, it's a holiday.


After our yummy breakfast we went to my parents for some more good eats and swimming.


Then the highlight of the day was Lane getting invited to the Diamond Backs game with Grammy, Papa and Randon! They looked so cute in there matching shirts and hats Grammy bought them. They even stayed for the fireworks at the end. Lucky boys!

Casey, Rusty and I ended up going in my dads seats. All the ladies couldn't get enough of our little man. He is a flirt... love it! Casey even caught a D-backs shirt when those girls launch them into the crowd. While holding Rusty!

As for a little catch up on us we are doing great! Jefferson had a birthday in June so I had to get a picture of Rusty with his twin. Their baby pictures are identical! Can you see it?!

Lane is a swim-a-holic and is TAAAN! I never knew a white boy could ever get so brown. He is getting adventurous in the water and likes to do "tricks" off the diving board. He seems to have a movie of the month he gets hooked on and will watch at least once a day. Alvin and the Chimpmunks has his full attention right now. We borrowed the movie from my mom and I told him he couldn't watch it until the next day. I knew it was a bad obsession when I woke up at 6am the next morning to him shaking the movie point blank in my face not saying a word knowing that if he woke me up he would be busted. I guess that was his way of not waking me up. He starts pre school in August which I am thinking couldn't come any quicker due to his attachment to the tv. I never thought he would be ready for school but HE IS READY!

Rusty is growing up so fast! He is 7 months and weighs 18 pounds. He is seriously a chub. Lucky for him porked out chubby babies are my weakness. He can sit up by himself and can scoot any where he wants to. He is REALLY close to actual crawling... i just can't believe it. No teeth yet but he will eat a jar of baby food a day along with his bottles. Squash seems to be his favorite and he definitely does NOT like green beans or peas. Must be an inherited thing:) He loves to be in the action and can laugh up a storm. He jibber jabbers a lot and when he does Lane always thinks he's saying wubba so he is now known as our wubba boy. Casey thinks he is going to be the child that climbs out of his crib. Let's hope not!

So kind of like how Lane has a movie of the month, Casey and I have a treat of the month we get hooked on. Unfortunately we have 2 we cant get enough of at the moment. The first one is this amazing caramel, oatmeal, chocolate chips goodness we eat warm with ice cream. It's kind of like caramel cobbler we call it. Oh it's heavenly and we make it like every Sunday (because its heavenly you know). Our other indulgment is the all american perfect treat... puppy chow! We have made 6 batches in the past 9 days ( NO JOKE) and I am making it again tomorrow! It is the best treat for home teaching, get well soon, congratulations, thank you... you name it. However, the first time I made it I used the recipe off the Chex cereal box. It was pretty much an insult to the muddy buddie name. I quickly made another batch with some revisions so I will kindly share my perfect version.

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-7 cups corn Chex cereal. I like the corn better than the rice. It gives it more of a crunch. Also after our high demand for the stuff I buy the Great Value brand and it's just as good.
- 1 stick butter
- 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
- heaping 1/2 c peanut butter. I use smooth
- 2 1/2 c powder sugar

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On the stove melt butter, chocolate chips and peanut butter together. Dump the cereal in a big mixing bowl After ingredients melt pour over cereal and mix until well coated. In doubled layered plastic grocery bags ( i never have paper bags) put the powder sugar in the bottom then dump coated cereal in. Tie the bags then shake until cereal is well coated. Wow, how many times did I say coated?

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Now that is what you call putting mud on those buddies. Oh and it makes for a good breakfast along with cheese balls. Hmm, maybe I should try eating it in a bowl with milk. Reeses Puffs better watch out.

CUTENESS

Last week the boys had a little photo shoot down at JCPenneys. It was a last minute thing...seriously! Getting pictures taken is something that stresses me out the most so I avoid it if possible. I knew I needed to get them done before Rusty got too big and out of his cute 6 month baby stage. Tuesday night as I was checking emails a coupon came through and I saw that you can make your own appointment online.

Why not tomorrow morning? 

Just get them done.

No thinking about it.

 No trying to find perfect matching outfits.

Worring all week about them tripping and getting a big fat bruise or noticeable scratch marks.

Tomorrow it IS!

The next morning I rummaged through Lanes drawers and found his only button up shirt without logos or pictures on it. Luckily he had a haircut the week before or else he would have looked like his uncle David:)

Rusty pretty much only has and wears the five pack onsies from Target everyday. I don't like wearing clothes, why should my kids have to?! We went to the mall an hour early so I could feed them lunch and go to the GAP to find something for Rusty to wear. Told you, what a game plan!

With Marcie's help we managed to:

go upstairs to go potty,

go downstairs to buy an outfit,

go upstairs to eat lunch with no ketchup or milk spills,

go downstairs to look one more time at outfits to make sure we picked the best one,

go upstairs to go poo poo (gotta teach him how to do both at the same time) 

then back downstairs to take pictures.

They turned out so cute!

I  love my boys! I love that I can say my boys! I don't know why I had so much anxiety about it because they both were angels the minute we started posing them. I had a smile on my face the whole time standing back adoring them taking pictures together as brothers. I  know they are going to be best friends and that is the greatest feeling!

Afterwards we took a trip back to the GAP to return the really cute but already have white shirt at home but didn't think to bring it and wish I could keep and not feel guilty $25 pair of shorts. I had intentions of keeping them but just couldn't justify it. Is that bad? Don't tell me if it is! Lane got a well deserved DQ cone and play time on the toys.

It was a fun day. Productive and glad it's over...until Sept that is when it's family picture time. Help us all!

The Tastes Of Summer

We went over to Grandmothers to pick her blackberries which were in big time abundance. Picking blackberries will always be a special memory for me as a child. It is weird that my kids are picking them with me now! How did I get this old? However, I am so happy my boys will get to have their own memories with their great Grandmother. We scored 2 gallons worth and I was tempted to black market them seeing how at the grocery stores they are $3 for 160z. We also picked some peaches and apples while we were at it.

We had 2 siblings graduate from high school. Congrats David and Valerie! We had our traditional celebration dinner at Texas Roadhouse with my family then Casey took Lane to Mt. View and

me and Rusty went to Mesa High.

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The swimming pool has become our second home. Lane is a mexi already and Rusty,well he is going to be our little white boy.