May...swimming, the fair, family & old friends

May was hot! Good thing Grandma has a pool and lives close. All of the kids love to go swimming and do very well, except Julia. She's afraid of the pool and will only sit on the top step. She doesn't even like me to hold her in the shallow end. Maybe by the end of the summer we'll have her enjoying it more.

(My California girl)

She does love to wear her swimsuit and doesn't she look like such a California girl with her sunglasses and flip flops?

(What a sweet big brother Gage is!)

She is probably the safest one near the water. Everyone looks after her and makes sure she always has her water wings on. She will go in the "little pool"...the hot tub. She thinks it's just for her.

( Julia's do it yourself make up)

This month Julia has gone from angel child to wild child. I can not tell you how many times I have cleaned up messes she has made this month. She decided to draw on her face with Jack's markers, she dumped half a bottle of dish soap on the carpet and couch, she hid behind the couch in the front room and dumped a bottle of baby powder out, she dumped the cheese mix of the macaroni and cheese box in the same place, she got into my make up and lotion and rubbed it on my closet wall, and she opened a bottle of baby lotion which was part of a baby shower gift and tried to wash her hair with it. I'm tired.

(The "Toothless Wonder"... as my Dad would say)

Ally has lost 3 teeth on top and a couple on the bottom. I hope she doesn't loose anymore for a while, she's getting to look like an old lady and will have to start gumming her food!

(Brave little Ally)

Ally's class went to the county fair for a field trip. Her favorite part was the Rain Forest tent. She got to hold a scorpion, a tarantula, she pet a python, and got to see a lot of other cool animals.

(Rich and Luis...in jail!)

Rich and I also went to the fair to help out at the church's exibit. They had a whole town built that looked like the old west with history about the settling of San Bernardino, family history info, and a picture spot (as you can see above...Rich and Luis, his 2nd counselor in the Bishopric, dressed the part and went to jail).

(The honor of the Baby Grand)

We visited Grandpa and Grandma's several times. Usually it's just Rich, Julia, and I that go but the kids were out that day so we took all of them. Jeremy gets the honor of playing Grandma's Baby Grand since he can play. The rule is no one can touch it unless they play.

Grandma gave him pointers and showed him some original sheet music she still had from when she took lessons long, long ago. I think the music of Moonlight Sonata she had was from the 1920s or 30s.

(Kristin, Lani, Autumn, and me)
Last Saturday Rich and I went to Newport Beach to meet some old friends we hadn't seen in a very long time. The guys are all of Rich's friends from highschool and we've known the wives from our Institute group before we were all married, all except Autumn...Dal had to wait a while to find her but we're glad he finally did.

(Rich, Dal, Scott, and Mike)
It's always fun to get the guys together, although we hear the same stories they always tell, they are just like highschool boys all over again. It's cute to sit back and watch how much they enjoy eachother. I did notice that Rich is the only one with grey hair...maybe it's the five kids!