july flew by.

(oh hey, that rhymed.)

i am aware that July isn't actually over. but chances of me posting again this month are slim to none. so, as far as my blog is concerned, july flew by.

We started out July with a fun visit from Eric, Michelle & the boys, and Aunt Christine & Uncle Steve. EBJ was kind enough to bring cool weather with him from Washington, which worked out great on our Disneyland day!

The boys weren't much into having their picture taken. ride rides? or take pictures? they wanted to ride rides!

Emily was adorable. Thanks, Mike & Janica for letting us take her!

We even got to do some Big Kid Rides...

We took the Monorail while they rode Star Tours.

Matthew's such a cool dude!

We stayed all the way until the fireworks!

While everyone was here, we celebrated my father's birthday in style. Pink Flamingo party? Why not!!

Delicious carrot cake, complete with flamingo flare.

Uncle Steve found a very rare treasure! a French Army Knife.... includes only a white flag and a corkscrew.

Opening the presents. Pink Flamingos watching over his shoulder.

It was fun having the kids around. We loved taking them to the park and playing.

Of course, after they left, the HEAT came in. Just in time for the RailPros Family Picnic too! It was a great picnic this year, despite the heat. We all know Emily had a good time...

silly girl.

RailPros Dodger Night was last week. Gabe and I signed up to go and we were so excited, but just as soon as we signed up for tickets, Gabe got his registration appointment for school. He didn't want to risk not getting the classes he wanted, so I took EAK as my date instead. Pretty good date too, she bought me a Dodger Dog and everything!

We had good seats! Not close enough for the players to hear, but Mike certainly tried his hardest... He was getting horse from all the screaming.




this last Saturday, Gabe and I braved a scary world.... the world of Chuck-E-Cheese. Kiera's 4th birthday party was fun, but it is just too much. I promised Momma Linda that she would never have to go to a party there for any kid that Gabe and I might have!

Even still, Kiera thought it was just about the BEST thing ever, and that's what matters...

Birthday Princess!

August? ok. bring it on.

aint that america.

4th of July was a fun filled weekend for us! On Saturday, we went swimming with Miss Emily. It was so much fun! I have always LOVED swimming, and I'm loving that Emily is a bit of a water-baby too!

Look at that smile - and in her Mickey towel that we got her for her birthday. :)

On Sunday, we had a BBQ at our house. Hamburgers, hot-dogs, and potato salad - what's more American than that? Perhaps the red, white, and blue smiley cookies that Janica made!

(and they were delicious too!)

Unfortunately, everyone had to leave before fireworks. They totally missed out! We lit our own fireworks (bottle rockets and sparklers), some of the neighbors lit fireworks, and we watched the Disneyland fireworks from outside our house. I was quite popular with the younger kids in the neighborhood because of my sparklers. I shared, because sharing is caring, and one of the moms was so cute... she said to me, "thank you so much for sharing such a special treat with my daughter!" It was the first real interaction we've had with the neighbors.


the neighborhood boys liked the bottle rockets that gabe had. We didn't share those though, they're a little more dangerous.

And me with my sparklers. I heart sparklers.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!