Summer Round Up

I have been absolutely horrible at updating anything: Blog, journal, facebook, you name it!  Here is my attempt at catching up on the last couple months...

 To finish up our summer fun, we enjoyed a visit from my cousin and his family.  It was so great to have my kids get to know their cousins (or second cousins, or whatever the technical term is) and they were instant BFFs.  We got to meet them at the beach, talked them into staying with us one night, and then took them to the Discovery museum.  It was one of the highlights of the summer!

Erik & Deb with Jared & Cait

Anderson/Otterstrom kids at Moss Landing

Jocelyn Jonas Lilly at the beach

 We also survived swim lessons, but only barely...Jocelyn really struggled with the teaching style of the swim instructor and I'm pretty sure we have now sustained long term damage in the swimming department.  Despite my best efforts (including everything on the spectrum from bribing to threatening to lovingly coaxing to ignoring), we barely made it through each day and it was torturous for everyone.  Lillian did really well and it was all I could do to keep Jonas out of the water! 

We went to our church pioneer day celebration, went camping, helped out with a humanitarian project at the church, and had random fun outings to complete our summer “bucket list.”  

Camping with Woolfords

Humanitarian Project

Slurpee trip!

Pioneer Day

In between buying the house and moving, we celebrated Lillian’s 4^th birthday.  My family and Jared’s Dad were in town which made it extra special and then a couple weeks later we had a friend get together with a BBQ at the park.  Both parties were very fun and Lillian was a little confused on whether she was turning 5 already at the second party with her friends…

  
At the end of July we purchased our first home which is exciting and overwhelming at the same time.  This means every spare second or ounce of energy has been consumed in getting ready to move, working on the house, moving, and then getting settled into the new home.  My parents, sister and her kids all came down to help us with the first two items which was fabulous, and then we flew Jared's Dad out to help us for 10 days with getting the house ready and the actual moving day.  We also have appreciated help from all our friends around here.  We only moved about a 1/2 mile from where we were renting so it made the transition a little easier.  Jared has been happy collecting tools from various sales and craigslist to complete the many projects ahead of us as this house is a work in progress!!  He is really good at diving into a new project every week and mostly enjoys home improvement (minus painting).  The house does, however, have plenty of room for our growing family, and we are excited to be more settled in the area.  When I look at our credit card bill it seems that every third or fourth purchase is from Home Depot or Lowes and I guess I should just get used to this and be thankful Jared has a job to fund our housing projects!