Lots new around here!

So it has been a really long time since I have felt the time and energy to update my blog. We have been pretty busy though with lots of new and exciting things going on.

First - We had an awesome summer! Probably the best we have ever had. It started out with Celise going up to Grandmas with Julie and the girls, I really appreciate you Julie for taking her and making her feel like one of your girls. That was comforting to know she was right at home and she just blended in with you guys! Celise was up north for 3 WEEKS!! I know that is a long time and it felt like forever! But she had so much fun and was able to do a lot of things, all with her best friend, cousin and soul mate, Anneka! She really enjoyed that, we missed her like crazy, but it was a good experience for her.

While she was up north we took the other kids to California and went to the beach. On the way there we stopped in Vegas and went to circus circus. The kids loved it and there were lots of rides for the little girls. Austin was brave and went on the roller coaster and this other ride that hangs you upside down and spins around. He was so mad at me for making him go on it with me, but when we got off he loved it and wanted to go on it again with Dave. That was a fun little trip.

The fourth was a fun day, and fun to be back with Celise on the 5th.

So another fun thing was my parents came to visit us. While they were here we went to the Washington City pool. that was a fun place, the kids loved it. We had a great time just hanging out and visiting for a couple of days. During their visit we had decided that we were going to move back to St. George, so my mom helped me get the house ready to show to people who might want to take over our lease. Well the second people who came to look wanted the house and said that they needed to be out of their place in 2 weeks and asked us if that would work. We of course said yes, and had to hurry and find a place to live. We looked a ton, day and night for a good week and then we finally found a place. It is a big 3600 sqft home with five bedrooms and is right in the area we hoped to be. We are just a couple blocks away from the kids school and being in town is saving us on gas like crazy. The house is really old and the decor is way out-dated, like wall paper on every wall, and seriously at least one huge mirror in every room, some rooms have more. But it is growing on us and we are feeling more at home here every day.

Ok, so we find a house and have to be in it on the 31st of July. but we already have a vacation planned and the three younger girls were going to go up north for their visit with grandma. So we had to have everything packed, and ready to move before we left for our trip. We took an awesome vacation and had to move the day after we got back to town.

OUR VACATION --

We actually planned this one ahead of time, I know that is totally not how we usually do anything, but it was great. So we went to California and stayed in this nice house that my friends mother in law lets us stay in anytime we are in Long Beach. She is so nice to just let us come for free when ever we want! So that always helps with the cost of our trips. We had bought ahead of time tickets to Raging Waters (a water park), Knotts Berry Farm, and a Dodgers game. So the day we got there was about the only day we had to spend some time on the beach. We went and the kids, (just Austin and Celise) played in the ocean until after the sun went down and the beach was pretty bare of people. They had so much fun, we were at Newport Beach and there were some good sized waves. We stayed out that night till about 10pm and went back to the house to get some sleep. The next morning we got up early and made it to San Dimas, to Raging Waters in time to get in line before the park opened. That was really fun. There were tons of slides and fun rides and I think we went on almost all of them. Austin was soooo BRAVE, you know those water slides that just go straight down?? Yeah, well we decide to go on that one and Celise was way nervous the whole way up, but we just tried to hype it up and tell her that it was gonna be so much fun. Well we get to the top, Dave goes first, then Austin (wow that was crazy for him) and then I look over at Celise and she is just bawling, I asked her if she wanted to try it and go first or me first? She just wanted off! So we walked off. I was actually kinda releived, I was scared too! Anyways we had to leave by 4 so we could get to the Dodgers game in time. So we get in the car, we all had to change into different clothes as we were driving and head to Dodgers Stadium.

Seriously out of all the fun things we did, the Dodgers game topped them all. It was so fun, the atmosphere was great and fun. The kids loved it! We loved it! We loved it so much that we went back for another game the next night. So sad though, I didn't take my camera to Raging waters or the beach, so I wanted to make sure that I got a lot of pictures at the game, well before the game even started my camera broke. It is dead!! I am so sad, but I guess I will just have to get a new one :) (somehow!!). So yeah I didn't get any pictures, but they took our picture and put it on thier fan website at the game. Click HERE and HERE to see the pics.

So the day after Raging Waters and that first Dodgers game we went to Knotts Berry Farm. It was really a fun amusement park. We went on lots of rides and really just had a blast. But the most memorable part of that day will always be when we were about to get on a ride and we started to feel the ground shake, yeah um the ground was moving really weird like we were on a platform and someone was moving it back and forth. It was an EARTHQUAKE, we were so stunned and didn't know what was going on, was it a ride above us shaking the ground or what?? Well it lasted for a good 30 seconds and then we started to hear people around us saying that it was an earthquake. Wow that was cool to experience. When we lived in Paradise as kids I remember feeling little earthquakes that just kinda rattled the walls for like a second, but nothing like this, I mean you could actually see the ground moving, it was so bizarre.
They closed the rides down for about an hour to make sure they were all safe, and so we just went to lunch at that time and when we were done with lunch the rides were back up and running. It was a fun place, and not really that expensive either. So we were off to another Dodgers game which was of corse fun and they even won this game which made it even better. WHEW..... ok so we were back to the house to sleep and then in the morning we went to the beach (I think, cant quite remember) one more time and then headed home. We got home around 9pm and had to be up at 8am to get everything moved out, and cleaned so the new people could move in that evening. Yeah it was way jam packed, but very worth it.

I have also been doing school this whole time. If you didn't know, I am now in my second term of my Master's Degree in Elementary Education. I started my first term at the beginning of the summer, and did OK, I had two classes and got B's in both of them. Now I'm just starting my second term, and I love it. I like that I am really interested in all that I am learning, and when I am done in about 1 1/2 to 2 years, I will be a well qualified teacher!!! So with all that is going on, and all the writing that I have to do for school, I have just been putting off updating my Blog. But I think I have covered everything, well the major stuff at least. Hope I didn't bore anyone with this ginormous post :) !