New dining room!

Last weekend Brian and I ripped up the carpet in the dining room (yes, carpet. What were they thinking??) and we began putting in wood laminate flooring. When you put in new flooring, you also have to put in trim and baseboards. We definitely learned A LOT putting in the new floor so next time (planning on doing the living room too) it will go much smoother and a lot quicker! I learned how to use the nail gun, which I totally enjoyed. ;) I can't believe what a difference it makes. The new room looks SO MUCH better!

New floor!!

The dining room before we moved in.

Next up is to touch up the paint on the baseboards (over where the nails went in) and then paint the fireplace mantle. We'll move the dining furniture back in tomorrow!

Thank you Brian for putting in so many hours to make our home look and feel so nice and comfortable!! Even the kids love it.

He didn't... he DID!!!

So I walk into the dining room and see a red marker lid on the floor. Hmm... that's strange. Gabe's never drawn on anything other than paper so I'm sure he hasn't done anything with it. I call him downstairs to see he's covered in red marker lines. I ask him if he's drawn on anything else and of course he says "No Mommy". Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and check for myself. Here's what I found:

My scrapbook room door

His bedroom door

And he also got the dining room wall and
a wall in the loft.
Here is Gabe cleaning all of the marker up.

He says he will never do it again. I sure hope not!

School's Out!!!

School is out for summer and Ashlyn is happy to be "free". Her last week at school was SO busy! Mostly fun stuff, and also a little musical production called "Bugz". She was the HoneyBee. The best part was when all the girls sang a song called "Be a Lady". It was funny to see her up there with all her sass. She was swinging her hips and being so girly, believe me when I say she really stood out!

We also had a closing ceremony for Girl Scouts (same day as the play) and Ashlyn got all of her try-it patches as well as her official Girl Scout pins. You can see how excited she was! She LOVES being a Girl Scout, I think we've finally found her niche.

My Lovely Friend!

Danielle and her cute little boy, Anthony came to visit us for a week. We had so much fun, I miss Danielle A LOT!! We shopped, we played at DisneyLand and the beach, she even colored my hair for me!! It was so fun to get to spend that time with her. She's such a great mother to her little boy and it's fun to see her in that role. Thanks for coming Danielle & Anthony. We miss you guys already!!!

Ace

This is my new nephew Ace Striker. He is the cutest little thing! I don't know how Dan & Christine got such an easygoing baby, but they did! It's so fun to hold a newborn baby again (no, I do not want another one!). I'm really glad that they will be here in So Cal for a few more years so that I can watch Ace grow into a little boy. Ashlyn is plotting her revenge on Dan (teaching Ace a few things) for all of the teasing Dan's done to her the past few years.

4 Years Old!

Gabe has turned 4! It's true, they grow up fast. He is quickly becoming his own little person with his own opinions and thoughts. His interests are XBOX (I am not a fan of this), anything that has to do with cars or trains, Legos, and his bike.

We celebrated his birthday with a combined party for him and his buddy (they are a week apart and have the same friends) last weekend. We had a luau! The kids all had lots of fun.

Then on his actual birthday, he and I went up to DisneyLand and met up with my cousin Katie and her two little ones. We got there right when they opened at 10am and we actually got on 8 rides before leaving at 1:30. Not bad! Gabe got a "Happy Birthday" button and a birthday phone call from Goofy.

It's hard to think that he will be 5 years old in just a year and headed to Kindergarten. I'll definitely be cherishing this next year as it will be the last for us to spend all day together.

Playing at DisneyLand

Well, we just had to go back. We love DisneyLand and now that Gabe is a bit taller, we can go on so many more rides together as a family. Last week we all got to go on Splash Mountain together for the first time and the kids and I went on Star Tours (which he and Ashlyn both love!). We also went on Soarin' Over California, which was a really cool ride.

Our whole family went to Disney & California Adventure together on Sunday but we only spent a few hours there... it was so HOT! We were lucky enough to catch the High School Musical performance and sat in the front row. Ashlyn has just recently gotten into HSM and when it came time for the performers to choose kids from the audience to dance with them, one of them invited Ashlyn. She was so excited! She had fun dancing in front of everyone.

We ended up going to the hotel and swimming for a few hours to cool off and Brian had to go home to be at work Monday morning. But the kids and I went back over to DisneyLand that evening when it finally cooled off. We watched the fireworks show and went on the newly remodeled Small World ride.

The next day we met up with friends of ours from Utah and spent the day with them at the parks. It was another hot one!!! Thanks Mars, Mel, Avery, and Gracyn for letting us follow you around the parks for the day.

The Pixar Play Parade was so cool.

The Cars were awesome!

Mater!!!

This is Gabe as he watched Lightning McQueen coming
down the road. He was in total awe.



Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo

Gabe & Gracyn

A pic of the kids on the tram.

Brian & Ashlyn went on Indiana Jones together

but the ride broke down in the middle of it so they decided

to take some pics of themselves.

(The ride was fixed quickly and they got to go again)

This water sprayground is such a relief on

a hot day!

Ashlyn all cooled off!

Gabe on the take out food ride in Bug's Land.

Melanie, can you please come back??? Somehow I didn't get a pic of you and I together and I really wish I had!!