We love Daddy!

Will left for Scout Camp last Wednesday. This was the reaction from the kids.."Don't leave! Don't leave! Don't leave!" They chanted it over and over again as they clung to his legs. (Actually if he had one more leg, I would have been right along with them!) We sure missed him!! He finally returned yesterday afternoon. We made signs to welcome him home and waited anxiously for him and all the fun scout camp stories and pictures.























Today after church Will was napping and I found our little scouters sabotaging him. They taped a bat to his fingers and taped him to the sofa. Camden said he wanted to make him into a statue so he couldn't move!! Maybe they figured if he became a statue at our house he could never leave for scout camp-or work again!!! We sure love our Daddy!!!!

WE LOVE LEO CARRILLO!

LEO CARRILLO

This is one of our favorite places in the world-the beach where Will and I met. It is amazing to think that it has been 14 years in August since we met!! I know Heavenly Father had a hand in our meeting eachother. I am so blessed to have found Will in the ocean!!!!

An Adventure Turns Into a Happy Father's Day!

On Saturday we took off for our beach trip to Leo Carrillo. We had plans to stay in our tent trailer in the parking lot of Sams Club or Walmart in Oxnard - for free. (We did it a few years ago). (We wanted to be at Leo Carrillo at 5:30 am to pick some good spots for the week.) We got to the parking lot and noticed there were no other campers there. After asking around, we learned they no longer let people stay there. So, we were homeless! We called a few campgrounds and they informed us there were no spots available all up and down the coast that night. We were figuring we would just have to fork out the money and stay at the first hotel we found - the Hilton. Before we decided to do that, we thought we'd check out one more spot. Thornhill Broom. The surfer girl at the kiosk agreed that there were no spots available anywhere along the coast. We thanked her, and made a u-turn to go back to the hotel. She quickly opened the window on the other side and apparently felt bad for our homeless family. She said she didn't realize it was 8:30 pm-they had a few spots available for late check ins, and there was nobody there yet for those spots so we could have one!!!! We were so grateful to her!! She said if a late check in came, she would have them squeeze in where they could! Wow what a relief!!! It allowed Will to ride his bike up to Leo Carrillo in the morning to get 3 great campsites together for the big family event, and I could stay back with the kids at our temporary housing. While we were waiting for Will, we made this sign out of rocks for him. (This was on Father's Day. Will has mowed "MOM" in our grass before for Mother's Day for me - The least we could do was spell "Daddy" with rocks at the beach - I'm not that talented with the lawn mower!)
















Once we got to Leo Carrillo to unpack for the week, the boys gave Will their Father's Day presents. They had worked on these "bird houses" during the previous week and could not wait to give them to him! They also gave him one to work on together. These are their masterpieces they painted on their own. They became the center pieces at our campground table.

A Well Loved Collection

Hunter gave Camden some baseball and football cards. He was so excited to put all his cards together. That night, Will told Camden he had an old box full of baseball cards. He could not believe it! Will said in the morning he would get them out for Camden. Camden could not go to sleep. It seemed like Christmas Eve. He kept asking if it was almost morning. Finally he fell to sleep and in the morning awoke to a million baseball, basketball, and hockey cards. He was in heaven. He looked at them all day long, over and over again. There is a whole page of Michael Jordan. He could not believe he was holding Michael Jordan basketball cards! Will also has the whole "Dream Team" from the 1992 Olympics. Camden said they were so "sweet"! All the cards have not been so loved in at least 16 years! He arranged and rearranged all day. Finally when we checked on him at night, this is what we found!!! Too cute!

Catching Up in May!

Will and I went on a work trip to San Francisco. One of our highlights was riding a tandem bike across the Golden Gate Bridge! Also, we saw our good friends, the Merrills from college. We had a great time visiting. Thanks, Mom and Dad for watching our kids!

















The day after we returned from San Francisco, Will did a triathlon in town. It was one of the hottest days the triathlon had ever seen (102'). Will achieved his goal by finishing in 3 hours and 29 minutes. He wanted to get at least 3 hours and 30 minutes!!! Awesome! He also placed 3rd in his age group! When we were putting away the old wet suits (Will got a new one!!) our future triathletes ran around all afternoon with them.






















For my birthday luncheon with the Family Girls, we went to Sequoia and the cousins (that were'nt in school) had a great time playing together. We're so glad Emilee and Andy are here this summer!! We'll have more play dates to come! Thanks everyone!

















Camden's last game.... He got to be the catcher and was hitting the ball without the tee! He had a great season. He started out having to use the tee and eventually hit it from the coach almost every time!!!! Way to go Camden!! Now he hits balls over the fence into our neighbors yard every night!

Check out that form!!

Blake was invited to sit in the dug out at the last game. Boy was he in heaven!!! He even got to go out on the field with Camden!!! Dreams do come true! Towards the end of the game, Blake couldn't understand why he didn't get up to bat. Eventually, he kept trying to get in the batters box. We had to distract him with a churro. To top it off, at the awards party, the coach gave everyone a game ball....even Blake! He had to sleep with it under his pillow!

















The Brothers are Baseball Ready!















Blake and Nixon at their itty bitty sports game.






















Blake's head-first slide!

















The grand finale in May was our Memorial Day Gathering and our Newspaper debut! The newspaper reporters showed up as we were putting flowers on the head stones at the cemeteries. Blake and I ended up on the front page!