Sorry, August is almost here and I've just been so busy to write here.  I do love to write here.  I've read and heard that "blogging is now done", like not popular anymore.  Well, not for me.  I love this place I can write and post photos of my favorite peeps.

I have had a really busy 3 weeks.  We went to Nevada to visit Mike's family for a week and left the kids for another week with Grandma and Grandpa and their cousins.  They look forward to the trip every year and really have so much fun.  I have to say I look forward to the week they are gone.  I do miss them and it's just weird not to have them around but the freedom!! Mike and I ate out almost every night and I tried a mojito twice, I'm telling you I was wild!  We celebrated his 37th birthday just the two of us and it was fun.  I had lots of work to keep me busy that week so it wasn't all fun and games.

Then they came back and started school.  I have to admit that because of my own awful experience starting junior high (new girl, tiny town, lots of cowboys, didn't fit in), I was nervous for Taylor.  I know he's getting older and all that crap, but really.  He's my boy that was permanently planted beside me for his first 13 months, my boy that I used to play with at the train table and sing Thomas the Tank Engine songs with.  To let him go do things on his own for some reason is hard.  Not so much for Hannah because she has always been independent and firmly had her own voice.  But Taylor and I have a bond, and it runs deep.  We can sit next to each other and make weird music and giggle at each other and just enjoy each other's presence.  I don't quite know how to let him go off to do things that could be difficult, or hard.  I'm practicing though.  He's had a great start at school so all my crazy and unnatural fears were unnecessary.  It's hard to not let your own experiences color your childs'.

Hannah really likes her teacher this year and was so excited to start school, yay!  I love her enthusiasm. She still hasn't gotten into the charter school that she wants to go to but is hopeful.

As for me, I'm ready to say goodbye to summer and get back into a routine. After joining the gym in June and taking off so much time for trips, I'm ready to go on a regular schedule.  I have to get up now at 6:15 in the morning, so that is tough!  Early to bed for me but my plan is to get to the gym every weekday morning since I am up so early.

Also, my brother surprised us all with a quick trip and I DIDN'T get any photos.  Bad me.  How nice to see him! The kids were so happy to spend time with him.

Here are some pics:

The kids swimming at the Bell pool-their favorite place every Tuesday.

Hannah and Katie on the ferris wheel at Scheels in Reno.  Hannah did not like the ride.  At all.

mini golfing!

My favorite porch planter, the flowers go crazy this time of year!

Taylor surrounded by the 3 hounds.  When the kids come home from school they get mauled by the dogs.

First day as a 7th grader (too dark outside to do our traditional pic)

First day as a 4th grader

In between work (which has been demanding) the kids and I have been trying our best to sleep in, do some activities and enjoy summer. Just last week our day went something like this: wake up at 9'ish, enjoy French toast for breakfast and start a mean game of phase ten (which took at least 2 hours), eat a quick lunch, go to my sisters house so the kids could all swim, then shaved ice on the way home. Ahh summer. Here are some pics: summer treats, park dates, Taylor's tree climbing, and Mike's handy work in the garage.

So I've needed a dresser for awhile. My closet is pretty big and has tons of shelving but some clothes just don't work in shelves. My Mom handed me down a very pretty dresser she got awhile ago at an estate sale. I loved the size of it (9 drawers) but didn't like the honey colored wood for my room. So I refinished it in black, de-stressed it, and added new hardware.
The hardware was the hardest part. The existing ones were a funky size that didn't fit standard pulls so I went to a hardware only store. Wow, they had about 150 kinds of pulls. It took awhile to figure it out since they still didn't have my size, but the guy that worked there helped me find one that would cover up the old holes.
 I love the results!! It works perfect in my room with my other furniture.
I kind of enjoy refinishing furniture, it's a fun process. I just need a space to do it in. I was able to use the garage because the garage door finally broke after I backed into it 5 years ago, and it took a week to get a new garage door installed. Thankfully insurance covered everything and a new door opener.

the detailing is very pretty

Before..

After~  I love it!

Lots of sanding and stripping off the old varnish.

Summer is the time I wish I could be a full-time stay at home mom. There is so much to do and I really enjoy the time with the kids. It's fun how they change and each summer is a little different than the last. Taylor has officially outgrown parks. But he's a good sport for Hannah. Hopefully something they both won't outgrow is camping. I love it in short spurts. We just spent 5 days in the big pines of redfish lake. My smart sister booked the best double spot. We had tons of room, nobody behind us and two big tables. Mike and I upgraded our bed this year and it was wonderful. I bought a queen sized cot and topped it with 4-inch thick foam pads. Wonderful nights sleep for us! The weather was great and this year two families joined us and it was so much fun. Hannah had a girl her age to play with-yay! We had a great time and I've talked mike into one more campout this year. Cant wait.
Today I took Hannah and her friend to the water park. It has been in the 100's here so they enjoyed the water. There have been tons of fires do the air is icky. It's going to be a long hot summer.

We've also enjoyed some local parks, good times all around.

Rendi celebrated her birthday at camp!

Beautiful!

Lots of talking and sitting

4th of July!

Love it! Life is good.

Day Three: USS Midway & Coronado Island
We wanted a break from the parks and to have more "free time", so we slept in a little bit and made our way to the USS Midway at the San Diego Harbor.  They have a Navy base there and a ship people can tour.  Mike's dad was actually in the Navy and stationed in San Diego during WWII.  It was really interesting, I'm so glad we went.  It was one of the best things of the trip. The naval ship was in use for 47 years and one time could hold up to 2,500 sailors.  We got to go on the flight deck and inside of the ship, it was over 9 stories!  For someone that doesn't like small spaces though, the inside decks were tricky for me, but so interesting to see all the places.  The aircraft on the flight decks were really impressive and they were open to go inside of.  We then drove to Seaside Village in the hopes of finding lunch and some fun souvenirs (again buying stuff inside the park is a rip-off!  Taylor and Hannah used all their allowance at Sea World.)  We ate seafood (yay for me) at a great restaurant with an ocean view and did some shopping.  Then we drove to the beautiful Coronado Island, home of the Corondo Hotel built in 1888 and home of Mootime Creamery-the best ice cream ever.  It was so good but so rich, I couldn't eat all mine.  We found a beach and enjoyed the waves and then went back to the hotel for some more swimming and dinner. The kids slept like rocks, we did a good job tiring them out!

Hannah in the bunker-I would hate to sleep on the bottom

Day Four: San Diego Safari Park
This might have been my favorite thing.  I really debated on buying tickets to Legoland after reading reviews (many said it was for smaller kids), but if I could do it again I would have forgone the zoo and done Legoland and the Safari park. Oh well, live and learn.
Originally built for breeding animals for the SD Zoo, this 1800 acre facility was made into a park for visitors and it's amazing.  The animals have tons more room to roam and it's like a safari.  We took a 30 minute tram ride through it and got to see the animals really close up.  The grounds and landscaping were amazing.  I wanted to stay to see the Cheetah Run, where a Cheetah is unleashed and allowed to run free, but my troop was tired by 3:00 and so we left to go back to the hotel and swim.  Bummer.  It was really awesome.  We did get to see the lions wake up and I got some great pics.

Day Five-we drove to Carson City and stayed the night, then drove home.  So good to be home, but that's a long time in the car.  Between Spokane and San Diego in 10 days, I logged over 2,600 miles in the car.  The drive from Boise to Spokane might have been the best for scenery though.

This is one of 8 black rhinos in the world-they are extremely endangered-her name is Lola