Beach Camping

Kids & Money:
While we were beach camping, we walked down the block to get some pizza. While eating, Curtis was telling Avery about interest and that if she puts some of the money she earned away, it will grow and get bigger. She said, "Wow, is that magic?"



Kids & Food:
The other day Mikaya said, "Can you burn that for me?" What she meant was, "Can you cook that for me?" I was thinking, "What does that say about my cooking?"

















"Pirate Day" while camping at the beach. Avery loved swinging from the branches of this cool palm tree in our camp. The kids also loved going on a treasure hunt all around the campground, prepared by the older kids in our group of friends.

The Mormon Battalion Museum

Mikaya panning for gold. Maybe she will find a large nugget so we can afford a house around here.




We went out to the Mormon Battalion Museum again to take family pictures. Here are a few pictures from that. The girls got to dress up, pan for gold, and see the views of "Old Town" from a tower.










Avery's 1st day of Kindergarten! She has the most sweet and capable teacher. I am in awe of her classroom, with one full wall of brightly painted characters from books, dress-up clothes, train sets, and a puppet theater. They work hard and play hard every day it seems. Mikaya and I walk Avery to and from school each day, which takes about 15 minutes each way. Mikaya also loves playing at the playground at Avery's school each morning, for a few minutes, with her friend Dalton. Avery is happy to have three of her friends in her class this year. She is also meeting some other nice friends as well.

Some of my sweet little nieces, Stella and Lilikoi!

Sandi came to visit us!

We had so much fun while Sandi was here. We went to a local park and had a picnic, swam a lot, went to the beach twice, went shopping, went to the Mormon Battalion Museum (looked like it was done by Disney), went to an airplane museum by Curtis's work, took a trip to the local library, and spent a good time talking. It was so fun to have an extra set of hands to help with everything! The kids loved waking up each morning to spending some special time with Grandma Sandi, complete with pancakes, tents, and books to read. Thank you for coming to see us; we loved it!



Drew also came down for a day, while Sandi was here, and we had a picnic at the beach. Curtis and Drew went surfing that morning, before we got there. Avery and Mikaya are always excited to see Uncle Drew. We loved this awesome old "woodie" car, so Sandi took our picture by it, for Paul.



Here is a cute picture with Coronado Island in the background.



We showed Sandi Curtis's work while she was here.


While Sandi was here, we decided to go swimming at our pool. Avery was yelling from the pool, "It's really hot this time"; which I translated to mean, "It's actually going to be warm enough to be pleasant this time." But, the whole pool was literally as hot as a hot tub. It was the craziest swimming experience. It was fun to watch the other people as they got in and looked really confused for awhile.




Coral has had a ton of fun this summer. I loved having her home. She spent lots of time with Avery & Mikaya, went out to lunch with me quite a few times, went swimming and to the beach with friends, and had fun at EFY and camp. Coral loves to go skateboarding on her longboard, boogie boarding, and even recently found her scooter and decided to ride that with her friends.

Cute jackets that Sandi bought Avery and Mikaya for Kindergarten and preschool.




Pancakes in the morning made by grandma.




Coral and her friends.





More of Coral and her friends.




Coral and Avery cheering for a volleyball game.











Our three girls.




Curtis took Avery to her Kindergarten orientation to meet her new teacher!



Little Red Riding Hood



Avery and Mikaya looking at pictures with grandma.



Wonder woman?



Mikaya swimming.




Avery loves to go down the water slide all by herself.

I put this entry in backwards. Start at the bottom; it will probably make more sense.

Going on the shuttle to the pool.





You don't know how happy Mikaya and Avery were to see their daddy when we got home from our trip. He looks pretty excited too.



Avery took our picture, from her car seat, while we were driving home through Zion's National Park, from Idaho/Utah.




Avery loved seeing Zion's, and I let her take some pictures as we drove. So, we have some really great pictures of Zion's from a whole bunch of different, somewhat crazy angles. She took about a hundred, so we did get some normal ones, too. They fell asleep like this after we left the park. I guess the new scenery wasn't nearly as exciting.



Avery and Mikaya camped in the tent with my mom.



Avery and Mikaya got to take a much safer ride (see the next entry) around the campsite on "Sassy" and "Trouble", who were actually the nicest and calmest horses.



While we were camping for a night with my parents at the KOA, Coral and I decided to ride horses together, but there was a mix up and not enough spaces for us both to go. It ended up being probably a good thing I didn't go, because the route they took was right by a cliff. One of the teenage girls and her horse actually fell right over into a bush. Luckily it wasn't by the cliff. I think that the route they took would have been a little too much for me! Coral was just glad to be alive when she got back, but surprisingly still had a smile on her face.





We had so much fun visiting my parents this summer, while Coral was at EFY for part of the time. We went swimming, shopping, took a trip to the dairy to get some ice cream, played paper dolls, changed out my windshield (very necessary), went to a delicious Chinese restaurant, and went camping. My mom and I even got to go to Education Week at BYU Idaho. I loved having my mom all to myself for the day.




I don't have any pictures, but we got to see more of my cousins. I loved seeing Jared, Jason, Nicole, and Evan, and their awesome families. We had so much fun having/watching a huge water fight, that my mom jumped in on, with her sister, Becky.



My dad with Avery. They love their Grandpa Minton.





I was so excited to see my cousin Callie. We all love her! Her son Jordan is leaving for a mission soon. It was so fun to laugh and joke around with them again.



Swimming at the hotel.




Avery and her favorite toy at my parent's house.




They aren't quite ready but, they ate them anyway. My mom usually makes tons of delicious apple sauce out of the apples when they are fully ripe.



Eating Apples from G & G Minton's apple trees.


Swinging at Grandma & Grandpa Minton's.




We took Coral to EFY at BYU again this summer. We always take a rode trip up to drop her off and then continue up to see my parents. I love it because I get to talk to Coral a lot during the drive. We also love to play music to pass the time and enjoy eating fast food (for a few days). Of course fast food gets old pretty fast and we are ready for real food pretty quick. We went swimming when we got to the hotel and dropped Coral off the next morning at BYU, after eating at the Creamery. She was in the exact dorm I was in, while I was at BYU, for EFY this time.