Water Babies and Awesome Daddies

Rayleigh has been such a sweet delight lately. I think it's due to the fact that she's taking a nap each day in the car. She hasn't taken a nap at home in months. But sleep totally makes a difference in a child! She has been talking so much more. She says to me, "Come on!" in her cute little voice when she wants me to play with her or "Sit down" when she wants to play on the floor. She calls Jack "Joe" and is all the time repeating me when I say things like, "Hi Jack!" or "Oh no Jack. No No" She says, "Ill show you!" when she wants to show me something. If Jack is crying she'll say "Joe bonked his head." When she's tired she'll ask to "Watch a show." I just love everything little thing she says. While she is blossoming into a smart, vivacious little girl, Jack is now entering the crazy toddler stage when he screams and throws food and lays down and kicks when he'd mad. It's all completely adorable and completely exhausting. ha ha She loves to play in the front yard or in the car and will sneak away as fast as she can to get to those destinations. She pretends that our front wall is a train track and yells, "Choo chooooo!!!"

She helped me bake brownies after church on Sunday. Whenever I'm in the kitchen cooking she pulls up a chair and tries to help me. And a few times, when I'm rocking Jack to sleep, she'll slip in and quietly hand me 3 blankets from his crib and then pull open his drawers and find cozy socks and piles those all on him too. She's turning into such a little mama!

Parker started Stand Up Paddleboard camp at the Newport Back Bay Waterfront Resport and he LOVES it! I'm so frustrated that my babies are still too little to hang at the beach with me all day or stay up later. The traffic getting home is ridiculous. But they have been such troopers. Ray has been getting a nap which has been great but Jack's naps have been cut short which has been hard. The good news is that every one sleeps soooo soundly at night. On the first day I had this vision in my head of a nice picnic on the beach before dropping him off at camp. The picnic lasted all of 10 minutes and I was chasing one or the other baby every 5 seconds. 

The Back Bay is super fun! There is so much to do! They renovated the playground and the kids love playing on it. We walk the trail around the bay and take the bridge to see the boats every day. And I've been taking them to the pool for a couple hours. They LOVE the pool. The beach is great but they get so dirty. The pool is my favorite. We've made some friends too!

Tuesday was Tanner's last day off before starting his new job with Sunmar in Pomona! We are so thrilled to have him closer to home! I prayed every day for Tanner to be blessed with a job that fulfilled 3 requirements 1) closer to home so he could spend more time with his family/be home for dinner time/take Parker to sports practice 2) more money 3) better leadership and a sense of culture/fraternity. He was offered this job and we had dinner with the owners and then a lot of drama occurred and the job was taken off the table. Meanwhile he was offered about 6 other jobs and settled on one that would have been potentially a massive amount of money but the buildings were further away. The night that he signed on that job he was offered again this job with Sunmar and he was able to take it. They have welcomed him with open arms and he's so happy! But before he started I wanted to have one last hurrah! 

We rented a Duffy Boat and took it around Balboa Island. It was so fun looking at all the million dollar yachts and mansions. Tanner was nervous that the babies would fall out and drown but they were perfect. We were hoping to grab some food to eat on the boat but we ran out of time. I'd for sure do this boat ride again! It was a blast! We got breakfast burritos when we were done and took Parker to camp and then hung out at my Mom's until he was ready to be picked up.

I saw this little graphic the other day and It's literally my life. ha ha

I love watching Parker in his element. This kid is going places. He loves the water and is so great at making friends and being a leader. I'm just so proud of him! 

On Thursday when I was at my car about ready to drive home from Newport a man stopped me and said my tire was flat! Aint no body got time for flat tires! Obviously I called Tanner. I had no idea what to do! The babies were off their rockers and so ready for naps, I was stressing about traffic building up... the more time I wasted trying to figure out this tire situation the louder the babies cried and the slower traffic was getting. PLUS, Parker had scouts and was going to miss if we didn't hurry! Tanner told me to call AAA so I did but apparently our coverage was inactive or something. So he told me to drive to a gas station and put air in the tire. He had to FaceTime me and walk me through it but with Parker's help I did it! I felt so proud of myself. ha ha It took an hour and a half to get home but the babies slept the entire time so we were watched over for sure!

Parker missed scouts.... and Splashball because Tanner took him to the Angel's game! He caught another ball and they had a great time together! Ray was up later than usual due to her nice long late nap so we had a  tea party! I wish I could freeze time. Or relive some moments over and over. She is just the most adorable person on the planet. She set the "table" herself and did an oh so wonderful job. She kept asking so politely for more water to pour in the cups and would daintly drink from them. Oh, she has my whole heart! I love this 2 year old girl!!!

Everyone was beat by Friday but that didn't stop us from having a good time! I left Father's Day shopping to the last minute because it's soooooo difficult trying to take my 3 kids anywhere! My Mom was going to help me but she ended up getting sick and wasn't feeling up to it. I had no choice, I had to go or else Tanner wasn't getting what I'd planned for Father's Day. 

So I drove to Mission Viejo and ran to Nordstrom to have Parker pick him out a tie. When we went to pay for it, it was $100 so I had to run back to the display and find another one.... on sale. Meanwhile Jack is going crazy. So tired. Ray was perfect and Parker did his best to help me. I had to use the bathroom but the double stroller wouldn't fit so I left the kids out in the hall while I ran in and about 3 people offered to help me. ha ha I bet I looked like a hot mess. Then we ran down to LuLu Lemon to get Tanner some swanky sweat pants. I had my eagle eye on the one male employee, asked him what to get and was in and out of there in less than 5 minutes.  Jack is still screaming. We ran to the Disney store because Parker REALLY wanted BB8 Mickey ears and he was so upset when they told us they didn't have them. I'd pulled Jack out of the stroller because he was losing it but then we almost lost him! We left the mall and went to Costco to get Universal Studio tickets. (Harry Potter world....) One thing. Just one. But Costco is NEVER easy with kids and the people there were not as friendly and accommodating as they were at the mall. The lines were excruciatingly slow and at this point all my kids were crying. People were so rude to me and I had to try so hard to keep my wits about me. We grabbed some pizza which the babies screamed at and refused to eat (they were just... beyond over it) And by the time I got them all back in the car I was bleeding somehow.... And of course I'd been sweating since it all began. Blood, sweat, and tears went into Tanner's Father's Day gifts! But it was worth it!!!!

We played extra long and hard on the beach and then had a fun time swimming. We took a walk and had snacks and I tried to keep the babies happy with chocolate milk while we waited for Parker. On Fridays the campers get to play on the floating inflatables and Parker had a blast! It's the day he looks forward to all year!

Every night this week we've watched a movie in bed with Parker. It's fun having a kid old enough to stay up and hang with you. We usually play games but movies are fun when you can stay up late.

Saturday, we made an effort not to GO anywhere. Tanner made us a yummy breakfast and then took Parker to help some new families move in. Tanner opened his gifts and was super stoked. Parker made him this sweet poster- he stapled his finger while he was working on it and cried like he was on fire. I was in the shower (cuz where else would I be when Parker is screaming bloody murder?) but he was just fine. We invited ourselves over to our friend's house to swim and they were so kind as to let us stay all afternoon. Tanner got us some yummy Mexican food to eat and the kids were so happy to be in the water. 

Parker helped me make some rice crispy treats for our family party on Sunday. And that night we got a babysitter and took Parker to the movies. We saw Finding Dory and it was so good!

My mom spoke in church so we all went to her ward to hear her. She gave a beautiful talk. I love hearing her words over the pulpit. She's so wise and so saintly. The babies were maniacs and wouldn't stay still/quiet so we had to take them into the Relief Society room and turn the speakers on.

 It was a super hot day and we planned a little party at the park but we ended up at Jon's for root beer floats and orange Julius'. I love being with  my family! And I love that we have a day to honor our dad's! Dads are so important and valuable! And I have the best dad in the universe!!!! 

That night Parker slept over at my parents house. He's so lucky to have that one on one time with his grandparents. I'm so thankful for them and their influence on my son. He loves them so much! And he had a great time. My mom slept next to him. So sweet. Tanner and I played outside with the babies. They love the corner where the dirt is and Ray made a fun game of throwing dirt on Jack's head. He wasn't too happy about it. But Tanner did what Dad's do best and used the hose to clean them up! ha ha

Jack went to sleep right at 6:30 but Ray stayed up a little later and LOVED having that one on one time with us! It's a pretty rare occurrence! We took some selfies to mark the occasion. 

Tanner FaceTimed his Dad and had his mom give him a fun mini quad-copter that he'd sent to the house. Monte had a blast flying it around! He's such a stellar man. I love this picture that the girls shared of him back in the early 80s. I wish I could spend more time with Monte. He's such a strong, hardworking, selfless person. I'm lucky to be his daughter in law.

Father's Day was great! Summer time is great! Life is great!