Happenings

It was a busy week, but it usually is. Here is what we did.

Lots of swimming lessons. Lily is getting better at swimming every day. She has figured out side breathing and is now on to conquering breast stroke. Wish her luck.

Noah had a play at school called, "Gold Dust or Bust". It was a cute musical play telling the story of the California Gold rush of the mid 1800's. He played an Argonaut. They were the Europeans who sailed all the way to California to find gold. I have found Noah's studies of California history interesting because it is new to me. I learned AZ history at his age.

Our field trip on Thursday consisted of being at the pool all day until the lightening and thunder sent us running for home to avoid the rain that came later.

Friday was a fun night for the family. We went to the Padres game. They were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a little boring at first, but come the 4th inning the Padres figured out how to hit and scored 5 runs. I loved hearing all the fam sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch. The kids loved watching the fireworks and the flames erupt whenever someone scored a home run.

Today I auditioned for a San Diego Choir. We will see how that goes. This afternoon we drove up to MoValley to spend time with my family at my Aunt Karin's house. The kids loved playing with the blowup water slides. I didn't even see them all afternoon.


2 late nights in a row make for some very grumpy children and some really exhausted parents. Hopefully we can use tomorrow as a day of rest. 4 more days til school is done.

Star Performers

We had quite the artistic weekend with our Star children. Adam had his "Tacky, the Penguin" play at school on Friday. He, of course, was Tacky. He did such an awesome job memorizing his lines and acting the part. He spoke so clearly and loud, no surprise there. We were so proud of him.

Lily had her Ballet recital Saturday. She had 2 shows. She did a great job and has such potential in dancing. She has lots of fun too.

Lily and her friend, Kayla. They will be in the same class soon. They both did such a great job in their performances.

This is Lily's teacher, Miss Corey. She also danced in 6 numbers during the show and was fabulous. We will miss her when Lily moves up to the next level in September. I will post a video soon!

Lily also finished up her first session of swim lessons. She did great even if she didn't pass her level. She has an amazing backstroke and is still trying to figure out side breathing. We have 4 more sessions to do it.

We really didn't do much this week because the weather was junky. It was cold, a little rainy and I spent most of the week in sweats, drinking hot cocoa. It was a little disturbing for July. Hopefully next week will be better.

11 days left!

A catch Up!

Wow! A lot of time has passed by and nothing has been documented. I guess I haven't been in a very blogging mood. So it is time to play catch-up.

We had a free, well sort of free, Saturday and were able to go see Toy Story 3 at the movie theater. It was good, but sad. I think it was sad for me because I am watching my kids grow up and not playing with their childhood toys so much. I am happy they are growing up, but at the same time I wish they would stay young forever. That movie encompassed that so much. It had some really funny moments too.

Damon left for what was to be a week long high adventure with the scouts. All I am going to say about that is they came home a day and a half early.
Noah had his last band concert of the year. He has improved greatly on the trumpet and really enjoys playing it. We have really been happy with him developing new talents. We are so proud of him.
Lily started swim lessons and has improved greatly over the past week. She has conquered her acquired fear of the deep in. She acquired it last year after some horrible lifeguards took her in the deep water for class and didn't pay attention and I had to rescue her from drowning. Anyway... she is doing marvelously and loves being in the pool. She has even figured out how to get her little weightless body to the bottom of the shallow end to retrieve rings. Eventually she will figure out side breathing.

Adam is patiently waiting for school to end so he can start swim lessons. He still loves absolutely everything. He is most excited for his 8th birthday which is coming up faster than I can plan for. Why does time go by so fast?
For Field Trip Thursday we went to the pool all afternoon and then went out to dinner. Since Damon ended up coming home early he met us at the pool and we had a lovely time together.
Saturday was a fun day. We did chores in the morning and then in the afternoon we went over to the Shoff's house to celebrate Independence Day and Caroline Shoff's 3rd birthday. We had lots of fun over there and a lot of great food, with lots of great people! The men folk cooked and had to clean up and then put the kids to bed.


Saturday night I went out with some of the girls to see the movie Eclipse. I must say that the movies are getting better, but I still don't like the screenwriter's adaptation. We still managed to have fun. It's great having friends! Our eyeballs are all red because we were feasting upon human blood. Just kidding. It must have been the soda we were drinking, right Erika?
Today is America's 234th birthday. I feel like I need to say something in order to recognize what a great day it is. I read the Declaration of Independance every 4th of July. It's words are very sturring. Those men who signed put their faith in God and a country that hadn't even taken off the ground yet and started to build something great. I am so glad they did.

Today after church we went up to MoValley to my Aunt's house for FHE and 4th of July fun. We celebrated all the July birthday's which happened to be all in my family. My SIL, my niece, nephew and of course Lily. She was the only one there so she was very excited to blow out all the candles. We also learned a little bit about my great-grandfather's life and some history about the Horspool name. It actually was quite interesting and my kids and all the other cousins really enjoyed it.






I just threw these last few pictures in for fun because life would be boring without all these guys around. Again, this was a catch-up post. Sorry about all the pictures!

17 days of school left!

Polynesian Field Trip

Today we had sort of an odd field trip, but it was fun none the less. We went to the library to see a polynesian dance group perform. The boys didn't want to go so I took Lily and our neighbor Audrey. Needless to say we were a bit disappointed by the two old dance up on the stage who were whiter than I am, but I was proud of Lily for going up on stage to dance.

Lily got a little bored and started taking pictures with my camera. I have a lot of funny shots that I won't post. It was funny to see the world through want she deems important.

First Beach Trip of Summer!

Lily and I went to the beach today with the Shoff's. Our boys were at school so we took the younger kids and headed to the beach! Dianne wanted to go to Coronado and since I have never been to the beach over there, I know, I lived here 5 years and have never gone to the beach there, we decided to go. I am so glad we did. I am so in love with that beach. It was so great. The water was freezing of course and while we were there over 10 people got stung by sting rays, but we still had a nice time. The kids all got tired and about 2pm so we decided to leave, but we will definitely going back. I have to relearn how to apply sunscreen properly. I seriously look like a candy cane right now. It is ridiculous. I still love it here.

Adam's Date

For Valentine's Day the kids were all given a date coupon. Everyone chose what they wanted to do and who they wanted to go with. The other two had already done their's. Adam wanted to go to Disneyland with just mom. I finally was able to fulfill that date for him. Yesterday I picked him up from school early and we headed up to the magic kingdom.
He was so excited when I told him where we were going. He had no idea. I wish I could have taken a picture. His face was so cute. We had a really fun time together. The weather was perfect. The parks were a bit more crowded than I prefer, but they weren't to bad. We hit most of Adam's favorites except Indiana Jones. It is just hard to squeeze it in into one day especially when there is lines.

The last thing we did was watch Fantasmic! That was great. The last time we tried to watch it it was raining and not fun at all. Last night was perfect and we had the best seats. The hardest part was driving home late last night and of course the recovery this morning. I can't seem to get moving. It was all worth it though. I love my Adam.

A fun Visit

Our dear friends from Oregon, The Dominguez Family, stayed with us over the weekend. They were here for a wedding. It was so fun to see them. We have known them since 2000 and our oldest boys were the best of friends in Oregon. They still get along great. The boys stayed up late talking the first night. They were remembering the good ole days in preschool. So funny.

Keira and I were always pregnant at the same time. Our kids are mostly the same ages. we used to swap kids for babysitting and whatnot. She has helped me redecorate, hang things, sew things, paint and once took Noah in at 9pm at night when we had to take Adam to his first of many ER visits when he was a baby. She also discovered Adam's peanut allergy. Oh, the memories. It is great to have friends!

We enjoyed their visit and are so sad that they couldn't stay longer. We can't wait to see them again.
Today was also Father's Day. We celebrated it the proper way with lots of yummy food and presents. We celebrated with my dad last week so today was all about Damon. He works so hard to provide for us and take care of us. He is such a great dad. We all love him so very much! Hope you enjoyed your day!