A week in beachland

October break rolled around pretty quick!

I love that it felt like Summer vacation in the fall.

My family headed to Oceanside and boy was I glad to be able to join this year!

9 blissful days in one of my FAVORITE places.

We made sure to leave as early as we could to miss CA rush hour.

Our intentions didn't work out as planned. 

Nothing like sitting still in traffic at 3:45.

 I swear they have 24 hr. rush hour!

But we finally made it!

I stole this picture from my sister.

I love this bridge on Cassidy street.

We cross underneath it a handful of times per day to get to the beach house.

My dad outdid himself, AGAIN!

This house was 4 levels with I think 10 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms??

Enough for these girls to have their own room, as well as Lane.

Talk about spoiled!

My dad was able to snag an extra day so instead of traveling all day on Saturday,

they got to wake up and play!

The first jump in.

They don't look excited at all!

The weather couldn't have been more perfect.

This little girl did SO good. 

I was nervous she would hate the sand.

Nope, she thought it was the best thing ever.

I have no order to these pictures.

It's hard to keep track what happened what days.

So here is a rough outline of our week!

thrifty ice cream runs

lots of late game nights

When Grandpa hands out his work shirts you get neon minions.

Matching Sunday braids, courtesy of Aunt Stephanie

after church pictures

Free for all in the kitchen.

For as tiny as Scarlett is, she can sure put down the snacks!

I glanced up to see Rusty enjoying a nice back tickle from Marcie

Just about every morning I would take Della in the stroller for a run.

This time Landon and Marcie came with us.

What's good exercise without bringing home 2 dozen donuts?!

This morning's run was glorious!

It was one of those days where I  didn't get tired and felt like

I could go for miles! I noticed these succulents and fell in love with them.

Then I noticed you could buy some with the honor system pay here box.

Luckily I happened to have my wallet and happened to have 7 dollars! ( I never

have cash)

I picked out 2 pots and threw them in my stroller.

They are sitting on my kitchen island and still alive 4 months later!

Gobstoppers and Dr. Pepper, my beach drug of choice

along with fake cheese!

 One afternoon Stephanie whipped up pina coladas

I hear ya boys, hot tub beach side sure hits the spot

Traditional Harbor Fish N Chips for din din

We spent a day at Knotts Berry Farm!

I hadn't been since I was pregnant with Lane.

We were walking up to the ticket line when I noticed Claire!

Nothing like an impromptu  family reunion.

They were there with Martins family.

We split up and took the girls to camp Snoopy.

These carousel smiles didn't last long.

You can't really see, but they are screaming bloody murder!

We were mean moms and made them tough it out, lol!

Nothing like getting evil eye darts from other parents judging you on being 

abusive moms.

The BEST funnel cake of our lives. No joke.

Casey went and off on his own and bought a funnel cake kit

and berry sauce to take home.

Half of us stayed and ate at the Mrs. Knotts chicken restaurant.
Which was recently remodeled and AMAZING and sooo yummy.

My memories of it 11 years ago weren't that good. 

I can't imagine what a dump it must have been.

But it was fine dining for not that much money and with HUGE portions.

I want to go back just to eat there!

Stephanie left Collin with us to take home because they didn't stay for dinner.

Of course with it being late and a long day all of the kids conked out

the second they got in the car.

I looked back to see Collin nice and cozy on Lane.

And then I saw a nice drool spot on his shirt!

It was hysterical!!

Every day these boys ate their lunch perched up on these rocks,

talking life. I wish I could have heard them.

It really amazes me how they never get sick of each other.

No fighting or bickering.

Same with the girls.

I love how these 2 matched without planning.

The men went golfing so my parents and us girls took a walk to Carlsbad for breakfast.

Saying hi to the train

Half  of us had a hankering for Alyses, and the other half for Swami's.

(not that we hadn't eaten at both places numerous of times that week)

My parents took the big boys to Alyses.

Hot chocolate, because it Lanes favorite.

While Steph and I took the girls to Swami's.

I was itching for their acai bowl.

We split a benedict.

Holy Yum.

pizza on the beach

Goodbyes are always hard.

Sunday muffins

With a husband who is in the bishopric and never home on Sundays,

I was tired of the fighting, tv watching (yep, guilty), and the unorganized day it was turning into.

 Our church time was noon, so I drafted a plan and said I will stick with it for a few weeks

and see how it turns out. Maybe needing to shift a few things around.

I came up with SUNDAY MUFFINS!

Around 8 while I make homemade muffins, the kids will work on Faith in God,

or Rusty will read to Lindi, or I will print out church coloring pages or crossword puzzles for them to do. Or I will let one of them be my helper in the kitchen.

This Sunday I guess Lindi was my helper

and Rusty worked on puzzles.

If you look at my pinterest page you can find about any type of muffin recipe!

I think we've made them all!

We eat the muffins then play games.

Usually Della goes down for a nap while we play.

Rusty loves it because... he's my gamer boy!

Lane secretly likes it, too:)

After an hour of games its time to get ready for church.

 By the time we get home we only have a little bit before we head off to dinner

at either one of our parents.

So yes,  I am SUPER guilty and let them watch a nice Disney type movie until then.

IF they were good at church.

We did it again the following week...

...and the next.

Almost a whole year of muffin Sunday!

I must admit I am pretty proud of myself for sticking with it.

Sunday's at home are much more lovely now.

They all know the routine and I love the time I get to spend with them instead

of yelling at them to stop yelling, lol!

Fast Sunday's are a little harder since we now have 2 fasting boys.

We just skip the muffins and play games.

And we also just switched to 8:30 church.

I think we will eat something simple in the mornings then move our muffins and games

to lunch time.

We'll see how it pans out!

Beginning of the school year stuff

It was that time of year again!

I love when Instagram starts blowing up with all of the tearful, sad first day of school

pictures. I hope my kids didn't have their feelings hurt when I posted:

A is for Apple, B is for Bye!

As much as I love them, it just becomes time to get the school year rolling

before an amazing Summer turns to bloodshed of brotherly "love" and boredom:)

I try to make the after school snack on the first day a little more special than 

ransack the cupboards or resort to a bag of chocolate chips like the rest

of the school year goes. 

They beg me for the monkey bread in the freezer isle, so that was easy enough!

A couple of weeks later Lindi started her second year of Shining Star

preschool, only THREE days a week this time!

I of course forgot to take a picture of her on the first day.

But here is her picture page they put in the Shining Star binder.

When you are star of the week you get to take it home and look at all of the

other kids pages.

Craig texted me the night before Mesa High's homecoming wondering if I wanted to drive

the pink golf cart in the parade.

Heck yes I would!

We got to chauffeur last years King and Queen.

Before it started we were waiting in the shade observing all the hustle and bustle.

Rusty was very enthralled with it all.

Especially when this truck packed jammed with teenagers in the back pulled up 

and out popped cheerleaders, football players, basically a sea of  purple and gold.

You could see the sparkle in his eyes.

I could feel the fear in my chest!

It won't be long until that will be HIM!!

And I SWEAR that was just me in high school.

Now I am the mid life crisis mom driving my pink golf cart in the parade. 

I have never seen Della whip around so fast when that "bunny" walked up to her, lol!

Going along the parade route 

the Brazilian float won my vote as #1!

Haha, they made sure it was recognizable!

A close second was the swim and dive team... tarp-ing the back of a truck

and filling it with water. Props to anyone who can sport a speedo proudly.

I stole this off of Marcie's insta story.

After the parade we stayed at the carnival for a while.

Can you tell who the big chicken is?

Silly girl does not like giant stuffed animals!

click HERE index

I did it, I FINALLY finished what all went down last year!

Happy dance, happy dance!

I wanted to keep it in order of how it happened so here is a guide 

if you want to read our super, awesome, amazing (wink, wink and wink) life that unfolded

in 2017!

This sweet baby girl was born!

here

Her blessing day here

All the newborn snuggles HERE

Halloween HERE

Catch up post HERE

Thanksgiving HERE

Christmas HERE

New Years Eve HERE

Trip to UT for baby Christopher's blessing HERE

Catch up post with a wedding and spring break
HERE

Casey's bday bash HERE

Easter HERE

Last day of school and Summer kick off HERE

Grandpa Jesse's funeral and Goodman family retreat

HERE

Summer shenanigans HERE