Circle of LIfe

Wow, what a beautiful day. On Thursday my niece Rebecca got married. Doesn't she look absolutely beautiful. They are going to have cute kids, that's for sure!!!! I remember the day this little baby was born and now she is a married woman. They got married in the San Diego temple.

Julia was a little flower girl. Rebecca's theme at the reception was "a few of my favorite things" from Sound of Music. They had tons of pictures on display of Rebecca and Gerrit doing fun things, and they even had a dessert bar complete with their favorite treats. As you can see, Julia was a "girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes".

Rebecca's little 11 year old brother Jonathon has to be the funniest kid I know. Seriously.

Oh the agony of trying to get a good family picture.

Look, she smiles:)

Isn't that cake beautiful. Julia is posing with her cousin Lauren who got married last year. My sister is very happy that she only has 2 daughters:)

Party is over!!!

I teared up watching Rebecca dance with her dad, because as she was dancing with him, Mike was holding Julia and swaying to the music. I can't imagine that someday our precious little girl will grow up and have a family of her own. Sometimes I think that Julia will always be 2 and then I remember that it was just yesterday that I was pushing Rebecca on a swing.

Doing things that I am not good at

This week I went waterskiing for the first time. Or maybe I should say, I attempted to go waterskiing. I did get up once for a few seconds after trying about a million times. Mostly I just experienced inhaling water through my nose as I fell face first in the water. Then I moved onto wakeboarding which was a little easier, although still quite difficult for someone like me.:) I don't have any pictures of me waterskiing, just one of Mike and I in the tubes. Cole showed us how much he enjoyed being on the boat by sleeping pretty much the entire time.

And these are the young pros who made it look so easy.

Once again, I am reminded that the reason why I run is because I do not excel at any other outdoor sport. (ok, I can ride a bike) So for all of you coordinated folks out there, be grateful for your skills. There are so many things I would love to do if I could. Tennis, basketball, volleyball etc etc. And please don't tell me that I could learn with enough practice, because let's just be honest, no amount of practice will change my genetic inability. I was always chosen last in 6th grade for PE sports teams because I was the gimpiest. In the ballet classes my mom used to force me to take I was always the tallest, oldest (because I could never advance to the next level) and most awkward.

If you ever want to feel good at any sport, just invite me to come with you, because I guarantee that you will always be better than me. Yup, I am the weakest link.

Today we went ocean kayaking and everyone else did just fine except for me who got absolutely pummeled by a wave. Even the life guard came running over from her station to find out what was going on. And yet I will try it again next time because I think it is kind of fun. I will try water skiing again too if I have the chance. I guess I just have no shame. I'm bad at things and yet I don't even have enough pride to stop doing them.

Good thing Mike is coordinated, or our children would have absolutely no chance.

Surprise Getaway

Last weekend, Mike surprised me on our anniversary with a getaway to Cambria. He arranged to have the two bigger kids go to my sister's house and then took Cole (can't be away from him for longer than 3 hours) and I to Cambria. Cambria is a tiny town on the central coast. GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS!!!! We went on a beautiful little hike.

We tried lots of delicious treats at the farmer's market.

My favorite adventure of the weekend was visiting this fascinating house called NitWit Ridge. Some crazy guy built it entirely of things that he salvaged from working as a trash man, and from items (driftwood, shells etc etc) that he found along the beach. Those of you who know me well can understand my level of awe and wonder at the thing.

How about a his and hers bathroom?Thanks Mike for such a wonderful weekend and 6 wonderful years.

What not to wear

Last week my sisters and I went to my Mom's house for a few days with our kids. My Mom asked us to help her go through her closet to get rid of clothes that were out of style/worn out etc etc. We had a hilarious hour or so going through and evicting certain items from her closet. Not everyone could agree on everything so we had to vote occasionally. Mom tried to veto certain items and so we told her she could keep them to use when she gardens but not wear in public.
She ended up with quite a stack to give away. I then coerced everyone to choose a shirt or vest from the give away stack to wear. Not only did we take the following picture but we walked down the road to Pinkberry (over a mile roundtrip) in our ugly shirts and then went shopping at TJMaxx wearing the item. It was a riot:) Which proves that fun is cheap:)
Now, can someone come and do the same thing in my closet. I know I am no fashion plate and I probably wear a lot of scary looking out of date things. Oh, and once you go through my closet and get rid of half my clothes could you take me shopping and pay for it all. please:)

Take me out to the ball game.....

Cole enjoyed his first Dodger game this past week.

The "big" kids had fun too.

But Laura had the most fun zipping Cole up in her jacket to keep him warm!