Landon-George Bang Bangs and Cheeseburgers

Getting to spend time with our nephew Landon was just fabulous! He is so cute and says the funniest things! He is really starting to talk a lot and say a lot of new things, so I had to try and get video of a couple of them. SOOO SORRY I recorded this vertically, because now I can't rotate it. You're just going to have to turn your head. He loves Curious George and has the Curious George bandaids which he calls George bang bangs. He is obviously trying to say bandaid, but just hasn't quite gotten it yet. It is adorable. Of course in the video you can hear all of us more than him, but you do hear him say it quietly. He also says "cheeseburger" instead of cheese when you take a picture of him. This is now what my kids say too. He is just so cute!

Oklahoma-4th of July

The last 2 summers now we have spent 2 weeks in Oklahoma visiting Greg's family. This is our 2nd year spending the 4th with Greg's brother Jeff , our sister in law Kari and our sweet nephew Landon. Landon looks just life Jeff, so when Brennan and Landon are together it is like looking at little Greg and Jeff. 4th of July was really fun. We went to a parade in Edmond and then Kari and Jeff hosted a party at their home. Fireworks are legal in OK, so the kids were able to have some sparklers. The first picture of Greg with the boys cracks me up! Joshua and Brennan wanted to see the fireworks, but they aren't until about 10pm, so we woke them up to come out and see them. Joshua had no recollection of it at all and was actually really upset with me that I didn't get him up. He was totally awake and looking around the whole time, but I guess he was actually pretty out of it (hence the funny picture). I showed him the picture of him outside and then he sort of remembered it.

Cambria Sunset

Everything in Cambria went really well. Of course it was a sad time to be there for the funeral, but it was wonderful to be in the place that she loved and get to see family. My mother in law captured some beautiful pictures of the sunset there while I was getting the kids to bed. Honestly-if you ever get a chance to travel to Cambria, CA...it is beautiful. It is a quaint little town-I think about 4000 people or so with beautiful beaches. We had a great time visiting with my cousin Daniel from Englad and I was so sad to say goodbye. I wish we lived closer. I know we will go there with the kids someday and meet his new wife-come October :)!

More Cambria Pics

I just thought these were cute of Joshua and Lauren. Lauren loved these flowers, so we took a pic of her with them. The other pictures are of elephant seals that are on this beach by Cambria. My Dad came with and helped with the kiddos. There are these little ground squirrels all over the parking lot by the elephant seals and they would come right up to you. Honestly, they were freaking me out...I was afraid they were going to bite Joshua. Squirrels kind of give me the creeps. I think it is because of the movie Christmas vacation where the squirrels jumps on his back out of the Christmas tree :).

Cambria-At the Beach

Let me explain: 1)Brennan having a great time "pretending" to accidentally trip and fall onto the ground so that he can roll in the dirt. 2)Greg, Juan and my cousin Daniel from England 3)Gramma Lyndia and Joshua-he explored forever by these rocks 4) My crazy cousin Daniel swimming in the frigid water-he said it was the coldest water he had ever swam in- I was surprised, because I thought England would have been colder 5-7) the kids 8)nephew Dominic
9)Dominic and Brennan trying to figure out what they can hit with their sticks

Getting Caught Up-Our California Trip (Santa Barbara)

As many of you know, my Grandma passed away the middle of June. We drove up to California for the funeral. We were so thankful that Grandma Lyndia could come and help us with everything. On the way out there as we were getting close to Pasadena, we starting hearing this rattling noise, almost like a rattle snake, coming from our engine. We rolled down the window and thought it might be another car...but it was ours. Thankfully-we stopped at a QuickLube type place and this guy there had a friend down the street that could look at it quickly and tell us what might be going on. When we got to the friend-he was so nice-took a quick look and was able to tell us it was the compressor going bad. We were able to make it to my Grandma's, but with NO AIRCONDITIONING!!! By the way-it was record breaking heat in CA that week. Our temperature was showing 115 on the car. It finally cooled off once we got to Santa Barbara and we stopped to let the kids get out and run around on the beach for a little bit. Brennan ran straight for the water and went in almost to his waist-in his clothes! It was so funny-he kept throwing himself down into the sand acting like he was tripping and then saying "OW". I know he was doing it, because he thought he would get in trouble if he was actually doing it on purpose. We took our car to a place up by my Grandma's and got it fixed while we were there-our trip cost a lot more than we thought it would, but we were grateful to have airconditioning the whole way home. When we stopped in Palm Desert-the temp said 122 and when we got out to go in the gas station it literally felt like my flip flops were melting to the asphalt. I know I am an AZ girl, but it was ridiculous!

Finally a toothless girl!

I thought that tooth would never come out! Well-last night my sweet neighbor Norma came over and we were talking with Lauren about her tooth. I told her that I really would like it if she could try and get it out before we went to OK, because I wasn't sure if the pressure on the plane would hurt her (when I was in 7th grade I had a loose tooth on a flight and I thought my mouth was going to explode!). Anyways, she kept just giggling and said she was just a little afraid it would bleed. Ms. Norma said "If you pull it out right now I will double the amount of money your Mom gives you for your tooth and you can come to my house right now and get the cash." I was laughing so hard! I said what if I gave her $100 for a tooth or something crazy like that. She said "I know you don't". I said "What if it was $20"? She said "I know you don't do that either". I told her we give her a dollar. Anyways, Lauren went upstairs and pulled it out!!! She went to Norma's house and came home with $3!!! Norma is just too sweet. I am so glad that she got it out. Last night I was talking with Lauren at bedtime and I told her that I couldn't believe she pulled it out and she said "I know I can't believe I pulled it out for money". It was sooo funny!