More Summer Fun at Brookie's House!

It's HOT and the summer is nearing it's end... so we ventured over to Brooke and Jared's house for one last day of swimming fun before school gets into full swing. Rachel, Jared, Meredith, Mike, myself, and all of our "munchkins" were there. We swam and BBQ'd hot dogs. We made it into a family movie night. The guys rented a movie and all watched it together in the living room while the women watched a "chick flick" in Brooke's bedroom. At the end of the night Brooke, Meredith, Amber, Paris, Camille, Sophia, Layla, and Dominick where all piled together on Brooke's bed. Amazingly enough, we all fit, and it was quite a sight! Too bad I didn't get a picture of that!

Blessed to have a GREAT Grandpa & Grandmother!

Summer is coming to a close, so the kids and I thought that it was time to get out of the house and visit the ranch before all of the frenzy and madness of the school schedule begins! We visited with Grandmother and Grandpa and as always enjoyed spending time in their beautiful yard. Paris climbed on Grandpa's lap and I couldn't resist getting these pictures. Now these are pictures that are worth far more than 1000 words!

Good Looking Fellow

When my camera is with me, and I'm with my kids, I can't help but "click" away! I love my little man! Isn't he a good looking fellow?

Some Experimental Photography

I was recently asked by a young woman in our ward if I would be willing to take her senior pictures. I was so flattered and so humbled all at the same time. I love to take pictures, but I am no photographer. So, I decided to do some study on photography and how my camera REALLY works and then took the kids down to Knights Ferry for some "experimentation." These are just of few of my favorite pictures from the photo-shoot. What do you guys think?

Twilight Book Release Party!

So... finally the time is here, the fourth and final installment of the Twilight series is to be released! Borders in Turlock was having a release party on Friday August 1st. Brooke, Rachel, Meredith, and myself all met at Borders and hung out for all of the fun and did the countdown to midnight for the book release. In these pictures we are just playing around. Brooke is pretending to be "Victoria" and Rachel is "Bella." The night was so much fun! "Alice" read our fortunes and was surprisingly accurate, Rachel and Brooke participated in an "Edward vs. Jacob" debate and were the absolute life of THAT event, and then Brooke arm wrestled for an earlier place in line for the book. She wresteled the biggest woman I've ever seen, and held her own! Congrats to Brookie! After the party we all went to Brookes and read until about 4:00am and then finally crashed! Thanks Brookie for a fun night out with the girls! I love hanging out with my sisters!

Canning Party at the Ranch... Everyone's invited!

Laurie came down to the ranch for the day and invited all of us to come and can plums with her. She's the expert so we were happy to learn! (Her plum jam is the BEST THERE IS!) Rachel, Maryann Berryhill, and myself all gathered in the kitchen with Laurie to can fruit. Together we chopped, cooked, canned, and processed over 30 jars! It was a fun day! While we worked in the kitchen our kids played outside. Uncle Jared set up the "super" water-slide, so needless to say; the kids were entertained. A day at the ranch is never boring! Thanks Laurie for offering to teach us, we had fun! And by the way... the jam is AWESOME!

Pinecrest Campout!

So... what is summer without at least one trip to Pinecrest?! So... Mike and I ventured up the mountain and invited Rachel and Jared to tag along. It was AWESOME! On our first night we watched a "Movie Underneath the Stars" (Journey to the Center of the Earth) and then returned to our campsite for some yummy s'mores. On Saturday morning we had one of Mike's delicious campout breakfasts then packed up and moved on over to the lake. The weather was perfect. It wasn't too hot. (Which was good because there were so many people that the only spot we could find was out in the sun in the middle of the sand) The kids swam, built sandcastles, and just had fun! At the end of the day we BBQ'd some hot dogs for chili cheese dogs, made some more s'mores... then watched one more "Movie Underneath the Stars." This time it was "Wall-e." It was a really fun weekend. It was going to be fun anyway, but having good company to share it with made the weekend all that much more enjoyable. Thanks Rachel and Jared for joining us. We love hanging with you! Like I've said before... our family ROCKS!

This is for you Rachel!

Rachel wanted a few sepia "beach" pictures for Morgan's room, so here are a few that I cooked up. Personally... I LOVE them! (And there's more were these came from too! :)

More Summer Fun!

Rachel had her and Jared's nieces Hannah, Autumn, and Abby visiting, so we all spent the day at the Ripon water park. Morgan is a WATER BABY! The kids splashed around and played together for hours. We stopped just long enough to have a picnic. By the way... the picture of Brenden pouting was just too cute that I had to post it along with all of the other pictures. He was having a "whining" kind of day! Don't we all have those days now and then?

Pretty Paris...

I suppose that maybe I'm bragging, though I don't mean it in that way; but I was overwhelmed when I took these pictures with just how beautiful Paris is becoming. I can see the young woman inside of her coming to the surface. It is a bittersweet feeling watching her these days. I love seeing all of her acheivements and discoveries, I love watching her change and grow and flourish. I also miss that beautiful baby that I held in my arms just moments ago, and that sweet toddler that would wake me in the middle of the night with the famous words: "ppsst! Mommy, it's me, Paris!" She's a wonderful girl with a loving heart and a quick mind. She has many talents, and now on top of all of that... she is just simply beautiful!

Happy Birthday Grandpa, Papa, and Rachel!

To celebrate our July birthdays, we gathered at the river park in Knights Ferry and had an AWESOME dinner that Dad and Meredith prepared. We visited, splashed in the water a bit, took a walk, and finished off the evening with some delicious homemade peach cobbler. It was a great way to spend a Sunday evening! I love our family!

Good Times at the Lake!

Since Laurie was in town we decided to take advantage of the weekend weather and head out to Lake Don Pedro. Meredith, Laurie, Brooke, Rachel, Jared, Amber, and all of our children spent the day soaking up the sun. Maryann Berryhill joined us too! We BBQ'd hot dogs and simply spent time together. The kids had tons of fun swimming and playing with the sand toys.

Uncle Jared the hero... Royce was VERY afraid of the water and wouldn't venture anywhere near it. Uncle Jared took his time and talked Royce into simply sitting next to him and putting his feet in. Jared played games with him and helped him to feel more comfortable around the water. Finally Royce was in the water splashing and laughing right along with the rest of the kids. Good job Uncle Jared!