August Birthdays ALL OVER THE PLACE!

My family knows how to do a party right.. Last night we celebrated 5 August birthdays.. Holy Heck it was a lot of dessert, people, and presents. But I love my family more than anything in the world and I am so happy we live close and get to spend so much time with them! Happy Birthday Mommy # 2, Uncle Chaddy, John Boy, Claire Bear, and Wy Wy!!

There they are! All the August birthday babies!! Well Hayley Mae snuck in at the end, and she's not an August baby.. but she is too darn cute so we let her in the picture! 

First Day of School ALREADY???

I can't believe that the summer is already over and it is time for school to start already.. it flew by but we had a ton of fun all summer long. John is a Sophomore this year and Claire is an 8th grader. I can't believe how quickly time is passing! Pretty soon it will be just me at home!! What will I do with myself? LOL!

My 8th Grader!!

My Sophomore!

Tiny Dancer.. She ROCKS

Our good friend Larissa White (Claire's bestie) spent 2 weeks at the University of San Francisco this summer at a dance intensive, and on the last day they had a performance to show off what they learned. Claire and I took a day trip to the city to watch her perform, and we loved it! This girl is so talented and we are so proud of her!! 

The Girls

Love her like my own!

Besties!

Friends are the Thread in My Life

To celebrate my birthday, my girl Lora's birthday, and my girl Monica's birthday- which are all in JULY. We had a girls weekend at the house. They brought their daughters and we kicked John out at his dads house and we had a great weekend! We ate lots of good food, yummy desserts, A LOT of wine, took the girls to SKY HIGH, shopping, and then later on dinner out just us adult girls. It was a great fun filled weekend with some of my most favorite people! 

Love these girls!

Foam Pit at Sky High!

I was and still am very excited about this cool glass I got at Mikuni's for my Bday!

My girls Lora Monica and Heather!

Dessert and Leatherby's of course!!

Birthdays!

July is full of birthdays for me... My sister Sarah and I share the same birthday, my dad's in later in the month, and 4 of my closest friends all have July birthdays... CRAZY! Here are a few pics of our Birthday Month Madness!!

Joint Birthday means Joint Cake.. with Helpers of Course!

My GORGEOUS sister and I.

As I walked in the door from work on my BDAY John started playing Happy Birthday on the Piano.

 Love that kid!

Happy Birthday DAD!

Did someone say VACATION???

This summer the kids and I were lucky enough to take 2 amazing vacations. The first one in June with my Dad and Mommy #2 to Vegas, we had the BEST time. Oh my goodness, there is no way I can even post all the pictures and describe all the fun we had. This particular vacay, it was just my dad, mommy #2, me, and the kids, so we got some great one on one time with the parents and grand parents and had an AMAZING time. Here are a few of our fave pics!

 Then for our second major vacation my mom, kids, brother's girlfriend, and I all took a road trip to Montana! We were gone for 10 days and we stopped at Mono Lake, Bryce Canyon, and Yellowstone along the way. We stayed in Montana for 5 days visiting my grandparents and aunt and uncle who live there. I personally fell in love with the area and have decided that is where I am moving as soon as Claire graduates high school! Again, I took SOOO many pics on this vacay, so I am pleasuring you with some of my faves. Claire was our expert "selfie" taker on the trip, and I am so glad to have so many pics with all of us in them!

Mono Lake

Bryce Canyon

Yellowstone- Grand Prismatic

Garden Of a Thousand Buddahs

Glacier Park

Glacier Park

4th of July Making Ice Cream the Old Fashioned Way

On our Way home

BFF... STOP GROWING UP

Honestly I feel like a broken record.... these kids need to stop growing up, but I know they won't. It has been so fun to watch my kids grow up with my best friend's kids.. knowing that they will be life long friends like we are life long friends make me so happy:)

2010... They look so little

2014... two almost 8th graders and an almost Sophomore.. where does the time go!!

Happy 14th Blake

My nephew Blake turned 14 this past weekend, and he wanted to take his dirt bike out to Hollister Hills to try it out. Sadly, I wasn't able to go over for the whole weekend, but I was able to go for part of the day on Saturday. It was so fun to see all my nieces and nephews having a great time on all the outdoor toys. Next time I will for sure be taking my kids!

Niece Abi (8) and Nephew Blake (14)

Nephew Wyatt (6)

Niece Hayley (3) playing with "bomes" that she found

Mama and sissy watching brother

"There's Wy Wy".. Hayley Mae 3 years old

Handsome Blake on his 14th birthday!

Stop Growing Up Please

It's hard to believe all these kids around me are growing up, it is happening way too fast! Last year my John graduated 8th grade and so did my niece, now this year my nephew Blake graduated 8th grade, and next year will be our little Claire Bear's turn. It is all happening way too fast for my liking! I am really proud of my nephew for working hard and I can't believe he will now be in High School! Where does the time go???

Santa Cruz for Mother's Day

Last year we started a new tradition to make a day trip somewhere the weekend of Mother's Day. This year we decided to head over to Santa Cruz on Saturday to compromise what us mom's wanted (the beach) and what the kids wanted (action and rides). We had a great day, it was a perfect sunny day, we rode rides, enjoyed the beautiful beach, and had a yummy dinner in downtown Santa Cruz. We are so lucky to live no more than two hours away from such cool places!

Hayley Turns 3!!

The baby of the family turned 3 on April 29th, no she's not mine, she belongs to my baby sister Sarah. Hayley is the last of the grand babies, until the boys decide to get married and start kicking some out! She is so precious to our family and truly has made our little cousin circle complete, before her there were only 7 cousins and with her there is an even 8! She is a feisty little girl, independent to the core, but also the most loving and tenderhearted little creature. She is such a joy in our family and this Auntie can't believe she is already 3 years old!!

Auntie B of course hooked her up with an entire case of "Frozen" dress up stuff for her birthday, although in this picture she doesn't look all that thrilled! HAHA.. and yes for those of you who don't know that is here mama, my GORGEOUS sister sitting in the background!

No birthday party is complete unless the birthday girl has her own personal cupcake to devour! She went right to town and made quick work of it! Love this girl!! Happy Happy Birthday Hayley Mae- Auntie B loves you!

Alice in Wonderland

This weekend my beautiful Claire Bear was in the school drama performance, "Alice in Wonderland". She and one of her besties played the parts of "Tweedledee and Tweedledum". It was beyond cute and the whole cast of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders did an amazing job! So proud of all of them!! Here are some pictures for you all to enjoy.. be prepared I went a little nuts!

Johnny Boy!!

I never thought there would be a time in my son John's life where he would be interested in a sport- I certainly never thought he would play a sport in High School! Well he surprised me by trying out for the Galt High Golf Team this spring, made the team, and even made the top "6" on his team on several occasions earning him the rights to play in matches and tournaments. It was fun seeing him get so involved in a sport and he really loves it!

Sadly yesterday was the last day of golf for the season, but he has already made the commitment to play next year and he will be practicing and taking private lessons in the mean time!



John was also nominated by both of his engineering teachers to be President of the Galt High Robotics Team, "G-Tech". He was nervous because the others running against him were all upperclassmen, but he prevailed and he won the election! He was taken by surprise and looks forward to leading the Robotics Team to State Championship next year! Here is the picture he sent me to let me know he won!


Super proud of my Johnny Boy- he has amazed me beyond words his first year in High School- I'm excited to see what else he does in the next 3 years!!

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