The Craziness Continues

Seriously one of these days I am going to feel like I am ahead of the game.  I just don't know when that day will come.  We've had so much fun the past couple of days that the parents of the house walk around in a continual fog.  It doesn't help that I am not feeling well.















Father's Day we were able to spend the day with Papa and Nana and spoil the father's in the house.  We had a lovely breakfast and dinner and the kids gave Damon their homemade gifts.  It was a nice relaxing day.

My little sister and her kids came to stay with us for a few days.  Lily loved being a helper for Baby Sophie.  It was lot of fun having them here, but lots of work as well.

Art Corps exhibit.  Each of the kids showed off their art work for us at the Open House.  The kids really love getting creative with Art Corps

 Noah had an Invention Convention at school and he and his dad came up with a Lawn Protector.  It's supposed to keep the bunnies away so they don't ruin your yard.  Everyone seemed to be interested and wanted to know if they could take it home with them.

The kids wanted to have a campout in the backyard to celebrate National Campout Day.  We got volunteered to be the hosts so we made the most of it.  We had the kids set up the tents, cooked hamburgers and hot dogs, made S'mores treats and let them stay up a little later than normal.  It was fun for them, but exhausting for us and once again we earn the coolest parents award.  It took Damon and I all weekend to recover from staying up all night.  We are definitely old.

Lily is getting ready for her ballet recital which is in 2 weeks.  The girls look very cute in their princess dresses.

Noah had his last band concert at Jerabek.  It was nice to go and hear how much they have improved over the years.

We've also started swim lessons and Noah has scout camp all week.  Our wonderful friends, the Dominguez, stopped by this week too for a to short of visit.  They are great friends who we've known since before kids.  Noah and Jonah have been friends their entire lives and I love getting them together when ever we can.

I am very much looking forward to the end of school.

A Fabulous Weekend

Last year for our anniversary Damon gave me tickets to go see U2 in concert.  The concert wasn't until June.  So the wait began.

This past Friday Damon and I left for Anaheim after lunch.  Nana and Papa were here visiting and were watching the kids for us.  The drive up was nice.  Traffic wasn't to bad.  Our hotel was close to the stadium, but not to close.




We were able to relax for a little bit and then walked to dinner.  We went to Johnny Rockets, a great little 50's diner.  We were the only ones in the place.  The music and the food were good.

We went back to the hotel and then took a taxi to Angel's Stadium.  To make a really long evening short, Lenny Kravitz came on at 7:30 and played for 45 minutes.  He put on a good show.  He rocked his guitars and sang all our favorite songs.

 At about 9pm Ground Control to Major Tom, came over the speakers and the lights went low and out of the tunnel walks U2.  They get on the stage and start playing I Will Follow.  Then they continued to play one song after another for 2 hours.  It was fabulous.

Loved every minute of it and now I finally get to cross off another thing on my bucket list which was see U2 in concert.  I was very happy about that.

We didn't get back to our hotel until after 12am and then we had a hard time falling asleep.   So we watched some TV and had a snack.  The next morning we didn't get up until after 9am which is very rare for us.  We had a relaxing breakfast and then headed out to the Newport Temple.  We had never been there before and it is very pretty.

The drive home was ok.  Traffic was bad, but you can't beat driving along the Pacific Ocean with the sun shining so bright.  It was beautiful.  It was a fun little get away.

Grand Canyon Reunion

The Updike Family Reunion took place at Grand Canyon National Park this past weekend.

It was a lot of fun, somewhat cold and very exhausting, in a good way.

Camping is not an easy thing.  Camping in cold weather is even harder.  It was only cold at night so we just made sure we bundled up.

The cousins all loved to roam in the woods behind our campsites.  They found bones, prints in the dirt and fresh animal poop.  They all absolutely loved it.  We also saw a bird show and a big IMAX movie about the Grand Canyon.

I got to go on a run with my sister.  She's training for an Ironman (woman) and wanted to run.  I'm not so good at long distant running, but we ran from our campsite to the Grand Canyon.  We had to stop and take in the views and then we ran back.  It was fun. 

Damon did a minute to win it game night.  We played 5 different games.  It was so funny to watch.  I also got to sneak away with Damon and watch the sunset over the canyon.  So pretty.

The Grand Canyon was spectacular as always.  One of these days I am going to hike down to the bottom of it.

We also went to some Indian ruins at Wupatki  National Monument as well as Sunset Crater.  My sister had been making fun of Damon all day for driving slow over our two-way radios and when we were leaving the Crater we saw her pulled over on the side of the road by a police officer.  HA!  She didn't end up getting a ticket though.

We ended up spending our last night in Flagstaff, AZ before we drove back home.  We were all so excited to shower at our hotel in Flagstaff. 

It was Lily's first camping trip and she did a fabulous job and absolutely loved every minute of it.  We are so glad we were able to go and spend time with our family.

What We've been Doing

As life continues to go by at an ultra fast past and summer is still no where around we find ourselves getting busier in the hustle and bustle of life.  

Here is a quick look at what we have been doing since I haven't been blogging.

Boys and Basketball-finished up a 10 week class and loved it.  They look forward to playing next season on a team.

Scouts- Noah is all done with cub scouts and earned its highest honor, the Arrow of Light.  We are so proud of him.  He is already into the thick of it in Boy Scouts.  His first camp is in June.

Family Math Night- Lily insisted she go and Damon couldn't say no.

Tennis-every Friday.  Adam is loving it.

Ranch Round Up- I was in charge of the basket auction with another wonderful lady and was busy most of the night, but no pictures.  The kids loved every minute of it, of course, and spent most of their time in the bounce area.

Still trying to cut back on waste in our house.  Getting better at it with regards to shopping, but still have a long way to go.  Haven't been brave enough to do the kids rooms.

Redecorating-the boys room is finally getting a well-deserved makeover with a professional.  It will be finished in July with pictures then.

Learning a new language- We've decided to start learning a new language.  Lily and I, with Adam sometimes are learning French.  Lily is picking it up faster than me. She walks around saying, le petit dejuener (breakfast) and Je suis fatigue (i'm tired).

Piano Recital- #5 Music from around the World.  The kids played folk songs from around the world.  My boys did fabulous.  I did alright.

School projects-so tired of them, but since there is 7 weeks of school left they are still around. 

Family Reunion- Now we are off to the Grand Canyon, which we are all very excited about, for an Updike reunion.  No computers or phones or outside responsibilities for a few days.  Just good ole fashion family time.  Should be a nice break.

I'm just hoping to stay on top of everything so nothing falls through the cracks.  Hopefully life will get back to normal soon and I can resume my usual, cooking new things, exercising and reading. Abientot