more 2014 phone pics

 emery's free reading books that she brought home on the last day of school. What?

 The last day of school was a party

 emery's ballet recital

 Birthday balloons for the sweet little 3 year old

 She worked hard to perfect those "3 fingers"

 happy birthday little frosting lover

 campbell: farsighted

 griffin: farsighted

 emery: farsighted

 quinny's birthday gift came with bubble wrap. Always a hit.

 We made lots of different play-doughs last summer. cornstarch with water, then conditioner and then shaving cream.

 hottest 4th of July ever

 campbell's birthday lunch

 Little buddy will always love his mama. And in-n-out.

 I like to text Spencer randomly through the day

 Our last trip to Grannie Lois's house was sweet and sad. Thankfully, I have little reminders of her all over my house now- an end table, a tray, a picture, a lamp and some jewelry that have become my favorite pieces to wear.

 Our FHE lesson was on working together as a family and then I had a special activity in mind for a demonstration.

 The kids keep picking B.J.'s restaurant for their birthday dinners solely for the spinny door.

 The birthday girl wears what she wants to birthday dinner

 griffin's first video game attempt. He kept saying "I'm number 12!!" But really he was just in 12th place. Last.

 Installing my new stairway light.

 We were all sitting at the bottom watching this circus act.

 ?????????

 Happy 10th birthday little Em

 Griffin and I went to his Kindergarten orientation a few days before school started. He was stoked to get this show on the road.

 So, he gets to his desk and then notices two names are taped to it. What, share?? The red names were the early friends and the blue names were the late friends.

 Well, griffin was having none of that and, if this "Seth guy" showed up he was going to have to just stand by his desk. griffin didn't leave the chair the whole time. I had to point out the different areas of the classroom from his seat and he'd just crane his neck and try to see from there.

 My very first activity with the Young Women and Young Men. We walked across the Golden Gate bridge and had little stations and thoughts along the way and then had lunch overlooking the Bay. Not too shabby of a start to my calling.

 In our primary they let the kids write their own parts for the primary program. It makes the program a little more special and a lot more funny. I got a special phone call from the primary president last year asking me to review and "make any changes I felt were necessary" for one of my kid's parts. I was the only parent to get such a phone call... my kids are just that special.

 Happy First day of school!

 first walk to school for the new school year. Since there's no rain in California anymore we were able to walk all but 2 days.

 griffin's first day of kindergarten

 emery's first day of 5th grade

 We went camping with friends at Point Pinole on the bay. We stayed at the only campground on the peninsula and had the place all to ourselves. Which was good with 8 loud, busy children running all over.

 Quinn slowly left her sleeping bag behind and undressed herself as the night went on. She can not stand to be a little hot or a little cold.

 Spencer was born to coach. He was so good with this group of boys and got them out there playing and scoring goals in no time. I was happy to sit back and watch.

 Little buddy and his first lost tooth. It's painful for me to watch him grow up. I have a picture in my room of him as a 3 year old and he somehow skipped from there to here instantly.

 For the third time I was able to be in the room as Katie brought another little baby into the world. I've had all c-sections so these 3 miracles will always rank as the most amazing feats I've ever seen another woman accomplish. No kidding.

 I got to stay up all night long with this adorable little peanut. She laid in my arms and every time I looked over at her I saw a pair of shiny little eyes staring right back at me. It was well worth any lost sleep and was a very special night.

 At the girls' soccer game quinn hauled her chair over to another family's umbrella and plopped herself down.

Our old fridge finally gave up the ghost and so... here's our beautiful new fridge which has a WORKING ice maker. It's changed my life.