we babysat.

and we babysat for 16 nights. 

the term 'babysat' is used loosely. the kids are 12(bella), 14(sully), and 17(chris) years old. it's more accurate to say that we were housesitting and hanging out with the kids. 

this is the house we stayed at. it was really nice, and a BIG change (get it?) from our usual set up. the room we stayed in was on the left with the big balcony. 

the first weekend we were there was conference weekend. 6 hours of church a day for two days is hard for me...it was especially hard for the kids. so after the morning session on sunday, we went 'geocaching'. it was fun, but we found better entertainment at the top of this mountain. we would throw a rock up in the air and then all throw consecutive rocks to try and hit the one that was falling. we never hit the falling rock....but we got really close a few times!

 this house almost got hit by a rock more than once...

it was a really beautiful day. i love that it's still so warm here.

the first week consisted of a lot of Office episodes. these kids love the office. jon had never. and i mean never! seen the office until about two months ago! how crazy is that? i watched the first few seasons and then stopped around the time jim and pam got married. (we all know it went downhill from there...) we started from season one and have been going strong! we are on season 8 and are almost office'd out. we are powering through because we want to watch this last season on the days that they are aired. 

on saturday bella had a gymnastics meet up in oceanside. she was pretty sad that her parents were missing it, so the whole family went. we have babysat them before for a few days, so we all know each other pretty good. jon told them he's going to make his children call him 'sir' and i told them my kids will call me 'mother', so that is what they called us for the duration of our stay. we made continuous jokes about being a family and having family time, so bella's meet was a family bonding day. it was so fun watching her! her team was all performing on sunday, and she told them she wouldn't do that, so she was the only one on her team to perform on saturday. i am so proud of my beehive (i'm her teacher at church:) )! she is the second from the left in the last picture with one of her two medals! she placed in a few other categories and received ribbons as well. 

we are proud of our oldest child who got a girlfriend while we were there, haha! she loves bears, so he bought her this bear from costco and used it to ask her to homecoming. he asked if she'd go steady with him that same day. so adorable. 

one night we needed to kill time before picking bella up for gymnastics, so we went to kohl's and picked out clearance ties for the boys. we looked at ties for at least 45 minutes and eventually bought 4 ties for $30. that is not bad! sully couldn't have been happier about getting his own ties. he's never had his own, only hand-me-downs.
(his face is from the office. it's when michael is telling the bartender he's writing a book on management called "somehow I manage" and it's "going to have a picture of me on the cover, shrugging, with my sleeves rolled up." here, sully is shrugging.)

the second week was mostly pingpong. they have a really nice pingpong table, and we took full advantage of it. at the beginning of our stay bella and i were the worst ones. at the end of the two weeks, we were all pretty good! we had tournaments until the wee hours of the night. it was so fun staying with them! we also went to a haunted trail, which wasn't nearly as scary as the haunted houses utah has to offer, but it was sufficiently scary. for some reason jon kept hanging back while we were walking through, so i took to burying my face in sully's back while chris and bella ran (ran!) ahead of us! there was a guy in front of us that was the biggest scaredy-cat. in one of the rooms, some scary person popped out and scared him and his body FLEW back against the wall. he got up and kept walking. another guy flew down from the ceiling and scared him so bad that he flew back against the wall again and his body slid down and slumped onto the ground. one of the girls working there broke character and seriously asked him "sir, are you okay?" way funny! we saw him at the end of the haunted trail laying on the grass just staring up at the sky.
we also watched a few scary movies, ate a LOT of steak, went to olive garden as a family, and quoted the office. they are the funniest kids ever and always remember the best lines! while we were at bella's meet, sully said "my nose is so big that it's always on the prowl." we lol'd for so long! he told chris "see, i can make original jokes, too" since he's always referencing the office. we were surprisingly sad to leave on sunday! we saw them at mutual last night and asked them how it was having their parents home. sully said, "it's.....worse." so hilarious! he was kidding of course, his parents are really nice.
all in all, it was a successful and very funny two weeks with them!

26!

one of these sexy ladies is celebrating her 26th today, and it's not me.

it's amanda! amanda is celebrating her 26th!

(sorry about the scar on your forehead...you shouldn't have chased me around the house with a pin and then tried to run through a door.)

although i haven't been alive for 26 years, i'm certain that i've loved her for 26+ years. she is the sweetest and funniest little lady i know. i wish i was there to celebrate with her, but i know she'll be surrounded by friends and family in her new/old home in utah. 

happy birthday, sweety gurl! love you so much!

babies.

two of my favorite people were blessed with something that in turn blessed me, haha! 

i am a proud aunt of two new baby boys. 

my bff lyndsi welcomed bentley michael in late september and i've been receiving the cutest pictures ever since. 

 cutest new mom.

those lips. 

i can not wait to squeeze him and pat that little bum!

my sister katie had her third in june. i had my plane ticket purchased for two days before her due date, but he came nine days early! i'm so sad i missed the birth, but being with katie for his first three weeks was the best experience. i did the same thing six years ago when she had robbie. robbie was such an experiment child, we have so many hilarious memories of katie's first summer as a mother! 

i need to blog about my trip to utah because there are 10,000 adorable photos to share!

Casper Jon.

see, he liked meeting me for the first time as much as i liked meeting him. a smile at one week old. 

my babies.

 look how tiny this old man was.

and this is him now. amanda sent me this photo during conference and i LOL'd.
he's going to fit in with our face-making family so well!! 

rodeo time!

guess what we didddd! we went to the rodeo on saturday! i have been wanting to attend one all summer, and we finally got the chance. our roommate (yeah...we took in a roommate) informed us about the Poway Rodeo and we all decided to go. more good news: we looked online and (thought) we read that it started at 6 but turns out it opened and 6 and started and opened are apparently two very different things. so anyway, we got there at ten to six and got really awesome parking spots! 

the rodeo queens were handing out the cutest little cowboy candies at the gate. see, if we would have gotten there later the candy would have been gone.  

 look how empty it was. we really thought that people just weren't interested in coming. the real deal was that the rodeo started at 7:30. that gave us an hour and a half to walk around....eat....look at the schedule...get some good seats....talk....etc. 

 when it started though, it was just as good as i thought it would be! except the parts when they abused adorable baby cows. i was expecting it...but not expecting it. one of the saddest things i've seen. steer wrestling and tie down roping...i was very happy for the steers that made it out without getting roped! when everyone was booing, i was cheering! you go little tiny cows! 

 the drill team was fun to watch! i knew i would like it because i loved watching amanda and her drill team so much. it was basically the same with the make up and the bedazzled outfits, these girls were just on horses. 

 my favorite part of the whole night was barrel racing. roomie told us that barrel racing was just for girls. that obviously made me like it more. it was so cool to watch! some of the girls were really, really good. they made it look so easy. some where going so fast that they and their horse disappeared. 

this was the only photo i got of the two of us. 

it was such a fun night!  

last few days in texas.

we've been home from texas for a few weeks now, but i still want to write about the last couple days there. we had such a fine time, i don't want to forget any of it. 

of course, we spent more time riding Lace. he is an off the track (OTT) thoroughbred. he is really pretty and fun (challenging for me) to ride!

it was so awesome having the arena just yards from the house. it made riding very convenient. 

later that day, the whole family went to the natural bridge caverns. i had no idea what to expect, but it was really cool! there were two caverns that a tour guide took us through. the pictures really don't capture the beauty. the rooms were HUGE down there!

we thought those things hanging down looked like jelly fish. the stalactite's and stalagmite's and other formations looked so different from each other. it reminded me of being under water with coral reef, plants and creatures.

that's a scary mask, bro...

here is a picture from the entrance of one of the caverns. you can see the railing going all the way down there, that gives you an idea of how big the caverns were. my butt was sore the next day from walking up and down so many stairs! in the second cave, when we got to the very bottom, we all sat down on benches. then our tour guide informed us that we were about to experience total darkness. we all turned off our cell phones and he turned off his flash light. it was complete and utter darkness. darkness that you can't experience in many other places. it weirded me out so bad! my eyes were playing tricks on me, making me think that i could see the ceiling, or see jon's knee next to mine. he told us that if we were in utter darkness for 6 hours or more, our eyes would not continue to work and we'd be permanently blinded!! my father in law was very doubtful of this statement, but who knows...i just know that i don't want to find out from experience.

this is the natural bridge. that's where the caverns get their name.

i took a picture of this fern and sent it to my sister, katie, saying "one day!"
she and i have both been paying extra close attention to our ferns...we are hoping that one day they will look as happy and healthy and this one does!...they just need some time.

jon, katilyn and i went to the mall that night. it was called the shops at la cantera and it was really nice! it reminded me a lot of fashion valley mall here, or a fuse between the gateway and city creek. we got there at dusk, which is my favorite time of day. it was fun to be out and about in san antonio with jon's little sister.

thursday was lake day!!! i love boating so much, so i was really looking forward to this trip. the dogs were moping around all morning. they knew that we were packing up the boat and that they weren't invited. right before we left, we decided that it would be alright if they came. kathy looked at them and asked if they wanted to come to the lake and got their leashes-THEY WERE SO EXCITED. i could not believe how receptive they were. they jumped in the car and sat so still. when we were two turns away from the lake (the lake was literally not in view) they both started whining. they knew that we were almost there. it was the cutest and weirdest thing! 

jon told me to do something funny, so i did a really cute (...) dance and he took a picture. i thought for sure it was a video, but nope. not sure what my thumbs are up to.

we got there bright and early, and the water was perfect for wake boarding. john, kathy and i were the only ones who attempted it. jonathan and kaitlyn just watched...and slept. 

i can't get enough of this! this dog loves the water so much. 

see how much fun we are having, doing tricks and things? it was a blast! at first...
let me make this clear. most of the time we were tubing, we were doing tricks. however, toward the end of the day, we got back on the tube and stopped rough housing. it was really choppy. jon was laying on his stomach holding on, and i was sitting next to him with my legs off the side of the tube. we were not doing tricks! we were simply unprepared for what the waves had to offer us. we flew up.....and came back down and when we did, the front of my head went slamming into the back of jon's head. the next thing i knew, i was in the water talking to myself to keep myself from passing out. i don't know if i was about to pass out, but i was encouraging myself not to. it was the weirdest thing. we went home soon after that, it put such a damper in the day. we just stayed home and hung out for the rest of the night.

i text my father about the mishap, and he was very obviously not worried.

(annoyed face)

 i love texting him. his choice of punctuation (or no punctuation) is so hilarious.

the next morning, my neck....oh my goodness, i was in so much pain. it was mix of wake boarding, tubing and crashing heads. it made for a really nice plane ride home.

we left on friday. it is always so hard saying goodbye to everyone! we love spending time there whether its working on the house and horseback riding, or touring texas and going boating!

part II video to come...