S U M M E R

I helped lead worship today at church. I can't remember the last time I did that ~ it was nice to be back but also so tiring. The true hero was my guy, who watched the older kids in the morning before church and then took them out for fun so I could get a nap in this afternoon. Serving takes the whole family doesn't it? Also, my heart was bursting by all the people who took care of Abby while I was busy during service. We have such a wonderful church community.

I recently listened to a podcast by Christine Caine. It's from Faith Community Church Audio Cast and boy did it move me. If you listen to it you'll understand me when I say I'm widening my tent and digging my tent anchors deeper by serving today. We will see what the future holds.

Abby Girl's first Dodger game.

Summer is flying by!

Pool House Update

It's been a loooong time coming, but here we are with a mirror in one bathroom and grass on part of the lawn! *all the clapping emoji's

And the crux of the problem with finishing anything lies below. All five us of 'helping' Josh install the mirror. 

Slowly but surely. And that's fine by us.

Disney Day

We went to Disneyland too! 

Abby Girl's first trip. She had a lot of first's this week. In true third child fashion she never even entered Fantasyland. Her first rides were Jungle Cruise and Pirates!, and then a trip through Star Wars Land. heh.

Josh is an undercover Star Wars nerd so he was low key stoked to check out the new land.

The kiddo's even got to build their own droids courtesy of their grandparents.

Emerson named her Droid Withme. Seriously. Not sure how that came about but the name has stuck and so it goes. Tonight Withme was beeping away at me in the living room. How do I turn you off??

We had a narly ending to our day. We couldn't find our car in the parking lot > which is unlike us. Josh went up and down the rows and rows of cars a dozen times before we finally enlisted the help of a security guy on a bike. While we were all searching the earthquake hit (spooky being on the top of the parking structure). 40 minutes later we found the car, in the new lot > which is separate but apparently connected. -_- Josh and I thought it had been stolen and I cried when they found it because it was late and how was I supposed to get two tired kids and an exhausted baby home without car seats? 

You know what they say though, what seems hard now ends up being a really good story later. 

Even so, I've missed Dland. We didn't renew our passes because life is ramping up but maybe if I had known Abby was going to be such an easy baby we would have done it anyway. Either way it was really nice to go back and spend the day making memories and having a fun time.

Tomorrow we are watching the Women's World Cup in the AM before heading to church and then going to the Dodger game in the PM - Josh's last day off and closing the week with a bang. Good night all!

The 4th

I think the 4th may be my favorite holiday. Don't hold me to it but I like that it's unstructured and just plain fun. Also, it's a rando group because people aren't tied into their family groups like normal holidays. So wonderful!

That's all I've got! We took some pictures before everyone started showing up and then it got busy. If you want an entertaining recap see my sister's saved stories on her insta feed @thesnyderfive. She's really honed her insa image. Dare I say if she went public she could be an influencer??? I mean, six figures to post videos and review products? Doooo it.

Thank you Meliss for the proof of fun!

No guarantees we get the Tuggy House again next year but here's to hoping. Open invite for all to join us if we do!

Legoland

Josh had this week off so basically we crammed an entire summer in the span of 7 days. Two days at Legoland, our annual fourth of July bash, Disneyland with Josh's side, and everything else possible squeezed in the middle. We are all beat! Abby even fell asleep mid smile today.

But we made some wonderful memories. 

Legoland was a first for all of us. It was very...theme-y. lol We stayed in the knight room and boy, I'm not too keen on sleeping surrounded by a fake castle but the kids loved it so we sacrifice. hah. They had a small scavenger hunt in the lobby area that gave you a code to a "treasure chest" in your room. The kids were ecstatic to find lego treasures inside! Also, some of the line queues had lego building areas for the kids, kind of cool. 

If you scroll through pics on my phone it basically looks like it was Abby and I hanging out and nursing the whole trip because that's what I did the entire trip. I don't know who I've become nursing in public without a cover, and also walking and nursing, and at one point, dancing and nursing. I no longer know myself  but also no time or energy to waste on changing it. A bit freeing actually. I'm so in right now. Put me on the cover of the ads people!

It was our first vacation just our fam in a long time. First one as a family of five. It was nice. It feels like we are emerging from this past year and settling into something. 

Landon rode the mini roller coaster. Unlike his sister (see below) he's a bit more hesitant about them. After it was over I asked him if it was a thumbs up or thumbs down and he replied that it was two middle thumbs mommy, thumbs up for the beginning and thumbs down for when it went fast. haha. 

And a quick one about this picture. We have never done the paci's. I have nothing against them but my other two never really needed them and I didn't want to deal with weening them off later if it wasn't a need. But my mom bought this thing with an animal hanging off of it in a last ditch effort to save us all on the ride down to Carlsbad. Surprise, surprise it worked! Give me aallll the paci's >>> and also it better still be working for our annual fishing trip too. *fingers crossed