There's No Place Like Home

We have finally landed. After two weeks in California and then 4 days in Las Vegas we are home - for a while at least. We had a blast in California. Our beach trips provided Paige the chance to collect all the seaweed in the ocean, at least it looked that way. It also helped out with our tans - cool air, warm sun, ocean, what better way to get a tan? Then I broke down and went to Disneyland, I tell everyone not to go in the summer because it is hot and crowded, well we lucked out, this time it was just hot! We did get to go on the new Toy Story ride which was a ton -o-fun! Megan, who was apprehensive to get on came off exclaiming, "That was cool, let's do that again!" I highly recommend it. Thank you to everyone who came with me to help push strollers and hold hands. I swear, one of these days we are going to be able to go with no strollers and no giant bag full of goodies. Okay, maybe we'll still take the goodies. It was fun staying at Grandma's and an even bigger bonus was that Sarah and Austin were there for the summer too. When we didn't feel like going anywhere we just stayed home and rode the motorcycle and sent Sarah down the slip-n-slide. Going down and getting wet was just as fun as watching Sarah. We spent one evening at Lake Mission Viejo where we rode on the party boats and had dessert. Way tons of fun. (This is where I got home sick. Jeff and I had our first date here.) We had lots of good times but we missed having daddy there. So, after two weeks of California bliss, we drove back to Arizona, picked up daddy and the motor home and 12 hours later left for Las Vegas to spend the 4th of July with cousins. We went for James baptism which coincided with the holiday so that meant just that much more fun for us. Jenny and Brent hosted a crazy busy 4th Party in there backyard where friends came and went all day long. Brent bought enough hot dog and hamburgers to last at least 4 more holidays. They were tasty, but we were happy to have sandwiches at Adam and Jess's for the baptism the next day. The kids had a blast with the "sprinklers" and playing the Wii, even daddy got in on the Wii Fitness Fun.(sorry about the movie shoot, I was trying something new with the camera and apparently it didn't work. yikes!)

Sarah made an awesome watermelon cake that I highly recommend for your next party. It was a huge hit. It was so fun to have everyone there but we did miss Wendy and her family, maybe next time. We are home now and have hit the ground running, besides all the laundry to do, I have a backyard that needs a little help and the children start swim lessons today - pictures to follow. Paige starts school on August 6th, so that means school shopping - ugh! It is good to sleep in my bed, although I still have to remember where I am when I wake up in the morning. You know that song, "It's a posh, posh, traveling life, a traveling life for me..." it is nice but it does have it's limits, let me tell you!

Here is a short slide show of some of the pictures from the last 2 weeks. I didn't take quite as many as I did in England and only a few made it into this slide show. Enjoy.