San Diego 2012

August 2012

We love the beach!  We went with Kevin's family and had a lot of fun!

We are lucky that Grandma Stormy has a time share and treated us all to this fun vacation.

Hours of fun playing in the sand.

My brother lives in California and his family was able to meet up with us for a beach day.

Kevin giving boogie board rides to the kids.

Frankie loved it and begged for more.

He loved his toes getting wet in the waves.

While Scott was reaching for a crab, that big white wave came up over the top of him.  I was so worried that it took him down but he held on tight.  Phew!

The Corvette Diner is a fun family restaurant.  The waitresses put straws in the girls hair.

Train ride at the zoo.

Love these two!

I wish I had a picture of Cole and his friend Kaylee he met at the condos clubhouse.  She's 9 yrs old and he crushed on her big time.  It was so innocent and cute.  I about died when we got a knock on our door and there she was asking for Cole.  HELLO flash forward a few years!  Is he 16?  Not quite.  He's 9. :)  I don't think they even talked all that much.  But he sure wanted to impress her.  He'd comb his hair after swimming and get dressed to go hang out at the clubhouse.  

When it was time to say goodbye she handed him a paper with her phone number on it and they waved to each other.  LOL!!  He must have looked at her number 100 times all the way home and would  analyze his plans with us to call her.  He was so bummed and asked us if we thought he'd ever see her again. Ha!

The summer romance faded a few days after we got home.  He got up the nerve to call her once.  He would not stop asking me if he could.  I was hoping he'd forget about it. ;)  But calling her was actually a good thing.  It was a really short conversation and I think neither of them knew what to say to each other.  From that point on, he never asked to call her again.

Oh Cole, I'm afraid you are going to get girl crazy many times in your life.  

And I am SO not ready for that to happen anytime soon. Enjoy being 9 and save that girl stuff for college. :)

July Happenings 2012

July 2012

This has been a busy month!  After my birthday weekend, we came home and moved.  We moved into our friends rental home temporarily while we look for a home to buy.

Frankie was quite the busy body while I was busy packing and unpacking.

Why does every toddler of mine hunt down my purse to empty out the entire contents of my wallet?

Miss fashionista

Looks like I need to baby proof the cabinets in the new home.

 Found Frankie wearing my swimsuit skirt while I was vacuuming my car.

Watching his siblings dance to the radio and loving it.

Moved in. Hanging out on the porch with friends.

One of the few pictures I have of Cole at a swim meet.  This summer Cole has been on swim team and we have loved it!  It is such a great summer routine.  He really enjoys it and never complains to go.  Meets are really exciting to watch.  Its fun to watch Kevin coach him a bit.  Kevin grew up on swim team and swam through high school.  Something he loves as well.

Birthday Weekend at Pineview

July 2012

For my 34th birthday I wanted to try camping near a swimming lake.  

Fish lake is way to cold to swim in.

We had a great time!  

I was is such a happy mood spending quality time with my family and enjoying my cute camper.

The kids loved playing in the sand.

Frankie explored eating it.

Kevin helped the kids create a scavenger hunt for me to find my gifts, which the kids just loved!

Ice cream and cupcakes to celebrate.

Not bad taken by a 8 yr old.

A perfect way to celebrate!  I love my family!

My Camper: A New Paint Job

June 2012

That's right!  This summer we painted the exterior of my camper.  My dad and I were super egar to paint it.  I'm so lucky that he's into fixing this up with me.  He did all the hard work!  We had our annual family trip coming up and we wanted to have it done beforehand. 

Remember the before?  This is how we found it and bought it.

It was a very hot summer day.  Kevin was out of town for work so me and the kids spent the night at my parents so we could get up early and get going.  Thanks to my mom for watching the kids all day!

 Here we are prepping. Sanding, cleaning and spraying primer to parts of raw aluminum so paint would adhere to it.

. 

Theres a little somethin' on your face Dad.

Workn' hard.

My dad did a little investigating around town to see what the best way to paint the trailer was.  We read a bunch of different way people did it online.  We decided to go with auto body paint for durability.

While at the paint shop asking questions, he found a guy that owns an auto body shop and paint booth and said that we could rent it for a day for $100!  

There's no way we could have done it ourselves without this booth!  The paint was around $350.  

So total with supplies, paint and booth rental, it cost $500 to paint.  

The cheapest I got quoted by a professional was $1800!

Also, there was a guy who works at the auto body shop named James that held our hand every step of the way.  We've never done this type of thing and having his help was so valuable!  

It was a LONG 12 hour day.  We could have even spent more time in fixing dents and body work on the trailer but we didn't have any more time or money.  

With the help of James and my Dad, we wiped off the dust (outside) and taped it up in the booth.

First coat of paint.

A little sneak peak of the color.  

Wow!  That's bright!  I wanted a vintage blue and matched it to a kitchen bowl I had.  I'm happy with it but wonder if I could have spent more time finding a color.

Testing out the spray gun.  Auto body paint is much different than regular house paint.  It's thinner and watery but very concentrated with color.

James helped my dad set the gun up and showed him the ways of painting with auto body paint.

I had to wait outside during the painting process because they only and two masks.  One for my Dad and James wore the other.  Seriously, James was there every step of the way! All 12 hours and didn't get paid.  Remember, he was a worker not the owner who received the $100!  

I got to peak in between coats and be the food runner to feed everybody.  I screamed with excitement between each new coat of paint.  I think I scared James with all my excitement. 

My poor dad never stopped!  I kept trying to feed him to keep him fueled.  

I later sent back yummy Brownies to James at the shop because we really got a professional paint job for only $100.  Yes, my Dad did all the hard work but we learned so much that day thanks to James!

Now for the reveal:

Remember the before?

Yuck.

After. Ahh!  Much better!  And so cheery with my new awning!

All set up on our trip at Fish Lake.

We got those aluminum hubs for the tires.  

I love, love, love it!

Remember the interior? 

Before...

After.  

Complete with new floors and a new foam pad up top for little sleepers.

Before...

After.

A new coat of paint on the fridge and a cover for the stove.

Treats for visitors.

All that's left is new counter tops and back splash.

But that will have to wait til next year. 

The sentimental value of this camper keeps adding up.  With all that my Dad and I have put in it together,  and the fun memories my family has had in it,  I don't know how I could ever part with it!

An addition to the family.