We have walls!!!

Yay!! I had no idea that they had already progressed so much on our house! Last time our saleslady sent us a pic at the beginning of the month, it was still just dirt! We're really hoping that it'll be complete by the time we move back to AZ on November 1st!!!

Thanks to Matt's sister, Melissa, for driving by our house and taking pictures of the progress for us!! And I'm so jealous of all the rain AZ is getting right now! That's the thing I miss the most about AZ- the monsoon season. *sniff, sniff*

Where the Wild Things Are

Trenda and I have been trying to plan something every Tuesday, just so we can get out of the house. Thursdays are pool days up at Las Palmas, but it seems so far into the week that this helps break things up a bit.

Today a bunch of mommies and kidlets headed to the Santa Ana Zoo! It was me and my three, Trenda, Cade and Ambree, Jessica, Brynlee and Crew, Becky, Jonah and Eli, Michelle and Dylan, Marissa and Malila. It was a tad warm and humid (why did I leave my hair down??), but I think everyone had a good time! I know we did! :) The zoo is a really small one, with no big animals- mostly monkeys with a few others mixed in. They do have a petting zoo and a train ride (we skipped this) as well as a playground area. Everyone packed a lunch and ate on the lawn after we had made the rounds.

Here are a few cute pictures I took today-

Malila, Brynlee, Brooklyn, Blake, CadeWhich came first- the chicken or the egg? Brooklyn, Brynlee and BlakeBrooklyn gets up close and personal with a goat
Blake gives the goat some lovin'
Gavin feeds the goat with some coaxing from Mommy
Washing hands in the troughGavin, Cade, Blake and Brooklyn

How did I spend my day?

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I picked up a book last night before bed, read two chapters then and then finished it today - 302 pages!! Good thing my house was already fairly clean and didn't need much attention today! LOL! Seriously though, it was an really quick and easy read. The chapters were super short and I love that! Makes it way easier for me to read quickly than a book with long chapters. I don't know why?? So that makes SEVEN books read for me in ONE MONTH!! Crazy! Really, contrary to popular belief, I don't just sit on my rear, reading books all day whilst my children run crazy and uninhibited! ;) I'm running out of books (just two left) on my list, so I'm going to have to find some new recommendations!

This book I just finished, Sheep's Clothing, by Josi Kilpack, is about a young teenage girl that is lured by a predator, pretending to be another teen, on the internet. It really made me sit back and think how unsafe the world is "out there," especially on the internet. Anyone can pretend to be someone they are not. Now of course, I'm already freaking out about Brooklyn and Blake in their teenage years!!! Are Matt and I giving them the correct tools to brave the world? Will they be good kids? Make the right choices? I don't want to think about the possibility of my daughter being duped by some sicko person on the internet, yet I know that it happens EVERY day. They've done Dateline show after Dateline show about these psychos. I want to keep my kids in a protective bubble so they don't have to be bombarded with the evils of the world. Satan is trying harder than ever to bring these kids down and it scares the heck out of me!!! Such a great responsibility we have, as parents, to guide Heavenly Father's choice spirits in the right direction. No pressure, right??!

Twice the fun!

What is a twin brother/sister good for?? This is what kept them occupied today! :)



Oh and something funny- Blake has been telling me "Yes, ma'am" all day today! He usually just says, "Yes, Mommy," and I'm not quite sure where the ma'am came from!! So at dinner, I asked him where it came from and he says, matter of factly, "It came from my mouth, mommy!" LOL! Silly boy!

PINK : It's my fav-o-rite color!

Our beautiful PINK temple!!

Friday evening, Matt and I had the opportunity to do a session at the Newport Beach temple. We were there with friends from the ward (also optometry students) and it made it all the more fun! :) This will sound absolutely horrible, but since we've been in California, three years now, we haven't attended a temple in California once!!! We've been back to the Mesa Arizona temple a couple times, but this was the first time that we've attended a California temple. It's always a neat experience visiting the temple, setting aside the cares of the world for a sec to focus on things eternal. It's not always easy or convenient to visit the temple when you have to drive 30 minutes (Newport Beach) or 2 hours (L.A. or San Diego) away from home. Matt and I have been spoiled, growing up less than 10 minutes from the Mesa temple and I guess it's easy to take for granted. So our goal for the next three months before we leave, is to visit a temple at least once a month.

You did WHAT?!?

Our carseats! :)

We were running a little behind this morning, scrambling around trying to get out the door for church. Matt took the kids out to the car and they were waiting for me. I jumped in the car and we were off. We were down the street from the church building and for some reason, I happened to glance in the back seat where all three kids are and noticed that Gavin WASN'T BUCKLED IN!!!!!!!!!! There he was, just bopping up and down in his seat! I freaked out on Matt, because you all KNOW how much of a carseat Nazi I am! Thankfully we avoided any incident on the way to church! Now if it would have been Brooklyn or Blake that we forgot to buckle in, they would have let us know with loud screams that they weren't buckled yet! LOL! I've trained them well! ;)

DONE!!!

My hiatus from blogging is over! We're finally DONE with the last and final Harry Potter book!! Matt and I read the whole thing aloud to each other and it only took us 6 days to finish. Very, very intense! I'm really sad to see the HP story come to an end. J.K. Rowling is an unbelievable story teller! I can't wait to see what they do for the 6th and 7th HP movies!