While Dad is Away His Girls Will Play

While Noah was at Scout Camp this week the girls and I had a little fun. We spent time shopping and getting ready for our trip to Maui, but we also played. I took the girls to the free family movie festival that they have at Regal cinema to see Shrek the Third. We went to play at the park (when the smoke was not so bad) and played games. We watched some fun movies together, made popcorn, made homeade pizza, and painted toe nails. We had a great time playing and doing girly things, but by the end of the week we really missed our dad. We are glad that he is back with us.

One week to Maui!

Noah officially started his sabbatical today. He will be going to Scout Camp for the rest of the week and then off we go to Maui for 16 sunny, relaxing days. We are getting really excited. This will be the 3rd trip for us and we can't wait. The first week we plan on seeing some of our favorite sights and soaking up plenty of sunshine on the beach. The 2nd week we plan on really unwinding by laying around the beach playing in the warm crystal clear blue water and snorkeling. I thought I would share some of our pictures from our trips to Maui.

Aubrey's week of swim lessons

Every time we go to the pool little Aubrey tries to swim like her sisters. So Noah and I thought that she might do really well in week of swim lessons. On the first day she cried with the teacher for half the time.















The next few days she did much better, but still didn't do what she does with us. With us she kicks, jumps in, dunks, does monkey walks, and will reach for the dive sticks on the steps. Her teacher was mostly working on kicking and blowing bubbles when she tried to do the other things she would just cry. On the last day I was optimistic that she would have her best lesson yet.


Well a picture is a thousand words...















Thats right she slept the entire 3o min. of her lessons. Oh well!

Preston's Birthday Party

Today we drove to Cameron Park to attend Preston's 3rd Birthday Party. The girls had a fantastic time playing with their cousins and old friends at the party. As the day went on they continued to play in the blow-up pools and water toys. In the evening we played a game together and then had dinner together. We really enjoyed visiting and being there for Preston's special day.

Our day trip to Monterey

On Monday we took a day trip to Monterey with some friends from out of town. We headed to Cannery Row where we had a wonderful time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.





























Our family loves the Monterey Bay Aquarium and in our opinion is one of the best Aquariums ever. There is so many exciting things for the kids to do and see there.

























Our next stop that day was to the Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop also one of our favorite stops in Monterey and in San Fransisco. We love to get the a sundae or two to share as a family. We then walked to our favorite Taffy store and loaded up on our favorite flavors. The last an final stop in our day trip was to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company for a yummy seafood treat. We usually visit Monterey for a few days, but a day there was also very fun and relaxing.

My Girls and I

While Anissa and Aubrey were in Salt Lake attending her cousins wedding the girls and I played. Friday we camped out in the backyard.















On Sat. we worked a little in the yard and then played. We went to the pool to swim and then went to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda. Afterwards we ate ice cream our favorite. We had a great time together, but wished we would have had mommy and Aubrey with us to share the wonderful day together.

Happy Father's Day Noah!

Happy Father's Day to Noah, the father of my 3 beautiful girls. I am so grateful to have such and amazing husband who is the best dad ever. He works so hard to provide for our needs. He is so loving and has lots of patience to deal with our energetic girls. What an Amazing Man!

Branden and Sarah's Wedding!

This weekend I flew to Salt Lake City Utah to attend my cousins wedding. Here is a slide show that sums up my busy, but fun and enjoyable day.

Dedicated to our Fathers

My Father, My Guiding Light

Dad, you’re like the sun to me,
a sure thing, always there,
beaming light and warmth on my life.
Whatever is good in me today,
I owe to your wisdom, your patience,
your strength, your love.
You taught me by example,
as a role model,
how to be my own person,
how to believe in myself,
instructing me without controlling me.
Even when we disagreed,
you held us together,
so our bond was never broken.
I understand what you did for me,
and I am so grateful that I have you
as my solid foundation, my rock.
I respect you, I admire you, I love you,
my guiding light, my father.

By Joanna Fuchs

Imaginary Friends

Does your child have an imaginary friend? Does this imaginary friend get your child in trouble? Are you tired of your child's imaginary friend making messes and never going home? Well let me tell you, Ana has outstayed her welcome at our house. Ana is Autumn's imaginary friend. She is a good imaginary friend most of the time, but lately she has been out of control.

Ana has to have her own place setting at the table including a cup of water. She has her own seat in the car (with it buckled of course), because Ana is always with us. She spends the night almost every night and never wants the fan on which Ashlyn always does. Ana takes my Autumn all over the store when we are shopping. Ana will talk Autumn into just about anything. We have even called Ana's imaginary mom to have her pick Ana up and take her home. At a restaurant she wanted not only Ana to have her own dinner plate, but a highchair and food for Ana's imaginary baby sister. I had it and told her that both Ana and her baby sister need to be with their mommy. As she preceded to argue with me, a group of ladies were giggling about the situation I told them " If your child doesn't have an imaginary friend don't ever get one."

Now Ana's imaginary big sister has been hanging out at our house too and getting into things she shouldn't and I am tired of all of them. We told Autumn that we all need a break from Ana and her imaginary family. Autumn told me the other night that Ana and her family are taking a break right now, but the next day they were all back. Got to love an imaginative 3 year old.

Weekend Excitment!

This weekend was jammed packed but fun for our girls. We went to their cousins 4 1/2 hour dance recital on Sat. Tristan and Kylee have been dancing with Center Stage Dance Academy of El Dorado Hills for many years and do an amazing job. Ashlyn took dance classes there too a couple of years before we moved. Kylee and Tristan were in one dance together and Tristan was in 4 other dances. They did a great job.




















That evening we went to Applebee's to Celebrate the girls recital and Preston's 3rd Birthday. We had a nice time visiting with everyone.



































On Sunday we had a Pre-Father's Day dinner for Art and Noah. We also celebrated Tristan's 5th grade graduation. It was an enjoyable evening with family. The girls had a blast with their cousins playing dress-up, dancing, and putting on a Karate cheer for us.















We punch, We pinch,
We also kick butts.
We are the mighty muscles,
the mighty mighty muscles.
Kylee!
Ashlyn!
Davis!
and don't forget Autumn, Aubrey, and Preston.
123 Punch!

Aubrey is Offically in Nursery

Aubrey is now 18 months and her 1st Sunday(June 1st)in nursery was nothing much to write about, because she didn't make it through much of class. She went to the 1st hour by herself with many tears and so they brought her to her daddy. Daddy then passed her off to me and I went back to nursery to get her to stay.

They were singing songs when we came in the room and that got her attention, because she loves music and loves to sing. Then they had snack. I thought I could sneak away then, but she was keeping tabs on me. She was a good little eater and we moved on to reading books and having a lesson on ears. All she did was clean up all the books the other kids were leaving on the ground and then kept pushing chairs around. The last thing they got to do was play with playdough which she loves so I decided to sneak out at that point. About 5 min. later they brought her to me oh well church was over anyway.
Well today Aubrey cried and cried. She only made it about 15min. without dad and mom. We will just keep trying and make her time out of nursery boring so she will want to go into her class.

Last Day of Swim Lessons!

Today was the girls last day of their 2 week swim lessons and both girls have greatly improved. Ashlyn is swimming with a lot more confidence than when she first started. She has learned two styles of swimming the front crawl and the froggy. She can jump in and swim to a person or to the steps. She can also dive under in the center of the pool and retrieve items. Ashlyn has come a long way and is ready for any pool.

Autumn also improved and gained more confidence going under the water and holding her breath. She needs to work a tiny bit more on her arms and she will be swimming. She can float with her whole face in the water and kick her legs. We are positive with a little more practice at home she will be swimming on her own.

Summer has Officially Started.

Today was Ashlyn's last day of school and marks the start of our summer. Ashlyn had a busy last 4 days at school this week with field day, movie watching, breakfast with her teacher, games, and yearbook signing with her friends. Earlier this school year Ashlyn won the yearbook cover contest for all the 1st grade classes. This is the 2nd year in a row that she has won.

We are excited for summer and Ashlyn is ready too. We have swimming, library visits, playing with classmates, and park days planned for June. In a few weeks Noah will officially start his sabbatical and with that comes our trip to Maui and Colorado.

Chocolate Carmel Brownies

If you love Brownies and Carmel you will love this recipe. Noah and I made them for FHE last night and they were delicious. We highly recommend them!

Chocolate Caramel Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) chocolate cake mix
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 cup NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk, divided
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
• 35 (10-oz. pkg.) caramels, unwrapped
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE cake mix and nuts in large bowl. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and butter (batter will be thick). Spread half of batter into ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

BAKE for 15 minutes.

HEAT caramels and remaining evaporated milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Sprinkle morsels over brownie; drizzle with caramel mixture.

DROP remaining batter by heaping teaspoon over caramel mixture.

BAKE for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 24 squares.