Here it comes!

It's catch-up time!  Get ready for pictures, pictures, and more pictures!  First off, here's a classic from a couple months ago - Spiderman and Belle having a tea party :)

Parker was fixing something under the fridge and Lily and Samuel were very interested and made great helpers.

 Jeremiah and Lily got cleanings and check-ups at the dentist!

 No cavities here!  Music to this momma's ears!

 To celebrate, we went to Dunkin Donuts!

 Over the 4th of July weekend, we headed back up to Vegas to see Cameron, Emily, Eleanor, and baby Miles.  They were on their way to a family reunion in Utah, but we also got to have a mini reunion with them!  It was so much fun to see all of them and meet cutie pie baby Miles.  All of my kids adored him, especially Jeremiah.  He would just sit by him or lay next to him for a long time, it was so sweet.  I've always enjoyed chatting with Emily, and we got to do lots of it getting all caught up!  I'm so glad they decided to fly into Vegas so that we could spend some time with them.  If only we lived closer . . .

That was one wild rendition of chopsticks!

One of the things we did with the kids was sparklers!  With Eleanor still on east coast time, and my kids who don't last much past 8:30, we couldn't wait for it to be dark outside, but the kids loved them!  Samuel kept putting the hand he wasn't holding the sparkler with behind his back and was cracking me up!  We had a wonderful visit once again - thanks mom and dad!

After we got home from Las Vegas (Like 2 days after) I went to girls camp!  I had a great time, but was definitely glad it was only 3 days!  It was fun to get to know the girls better and spend some time with the awesome women I get to serve with.

 Parker was Mr. Mom while I was gone, and these were waiting for me when I got back :)

 I can't remember where we were going or the story behind this picture, but isn't she so cute?!

We thought that our summer travels were done, but happily they were not!  I had been feeling bad about not being able to go to the Westover reunion, and was feeling homesick, so Parker said, "Let's go to California!"  It just so happened that Marci and her kids were going to be there too!!  And then Amber called and said she was going to come with her kids too!!  I was so excited because I hadn't seen them since Austin's wedding (1 1/2 years ago!)  The only thing that could have made it better was if Jen could have been there.

We did lots of fun things in California.  The 12 1/2 hr drive to get there can't really be counted as one of them, but the kids did do a lot better than I thought they would :)  We got to go swimming in the Browns' pool.  It was a little chilly, but this picture is misleading.  Jeremiah was taking a breath to put his head under the water.

 Sam loved being with his grandma!

 There was this handsome, muscle-y guy by the pool . . .

 And Marci and the cute Gracie.

 Grandma with the kids!

 This was also a time of much celebration!  The beautiful Natalie had her 13th birthday!  She requested a moon walk cake which was SO tasty.

 If I'm going to be completely honest, I do have to mention that the freshly picked Brentwood peaches at mom's house may have tipped the scales in favor of this vacation :)  They are, after all, one of my absolutely all time favorite things to eat.  Ever.  And eat them I did!

 The day after Natalie's Bday was mom's Bday! Marci and I wanted to do something special to show her we love her, so we made her her favorite kind of pie - sour cream peach pie!  This was both of our first attempts at making this particular pie, and it was a bit intimidating making a pie for a marvelous maker of pies, but it really turned out pretty good!  Perhaps a bit over-cooked, and sorry about the filling dripping in your oven mom!  But she told us that she loved it and was very gracious in her compliments to the chefs :)

Besides the peaches, I really wanted to go to CA to see both sets of grandparents.  I'm just not sure how many more trips like this there will be.  We got to visit grandma and grandpa Westover a couple of times and both times I got to really talk with my grandparents about their lives, their parents and siblings.  Priceless memories.

 Here's more from the par-tay:

 I was looking all over for Sam and finally found him hiding on a shelf in the closet.  He though he was very sneaky :)

 Next to peaches, the best food is of course Brentwood corn on the cob!  Samuel shares my love:

It was mine and Parker's 7th, yes 7th!  anniversary while we were there.  It was really fun to be the same place we were 7 years ago again.  Parker made me breakfast :)

Out of order, but here's the spectacular sign the grandkids made for mom's Birthday:

 We also got to visit grandma and grandpa Jensen a couple of times and it was so nice to talk with them and ask them questions.  They absolutely love seeing all the kids.  They both just light up when the great-grandkids are there :)  Grandpa is pulling jelly bellies out of their ears and Sam is saying, "one, one."  You'll also notice that Molly is in this picture - Amber came with her kids a the end of the week and it was so much fun to see them!  Lily and Molly became fast friends.

 The last night we were there was Monday, so we did family night and had a lesson on how to say prayers.

 *Special mention must be made of this adorable baby Caleb.  He is such a fun, happy baby with the best chunky baby thighs I have ever squeezed!  And I got a lot of squeezing in!  I'm so glad we got to meet this cutie!

 After the lesson, grandma brought out the bubbles!  Oh yeah!

We all had a very fun time and were so glad we made the journey to California!  Sidenote- the weather was mid 80s the whole time we were there - unbelievable!  Thank you mom and dad for making it such a fun time for us!

On the way home, we decided to break up the drive and go through Vegas.  We got to see Jen and Kevin and the kids, and Kate and RJ.  I got to see all of my sisters in one week!!  It was awesome, and just what I needed.  I love, love, love my family.