We started off the wonderfully busy weekend at Rio Del Mar Beach near Santa Cruz. It was so beautiful! The weather was perfect and sunny, the water was cold but refreshing, and the girls had so much fun! Jon’s sister, Rebekah came for the weekend and we really enjoyed her company.
The girls had some fun with sand castle smashing before we headed out.
The super famous Mystery Spot! (There are so many cars around here with the bumper stickers…)
We stopped off at the Mystery Spot. It was so strange! There is some type of gravitational/magnetic/optical anomaly surrounding this little cabin in the middle of the woods. Look at the height differences! The level says that the board they are standing on is level. Brandon is definitely the tallest until they all switch places.
And this little T that Jon and Jenna are on is level as well, but if you want to be taller, you just stand on the right side.
For the 4th we went to an Oakland A’s game. It was much more fun for me, being closer to the field this time. It’s amazing how your taste for something can grow when your spouse likes it so darn much.
We have lots of fun in the pool at Jon and Jenna’s apartment. Maggie loves playing the the hot tub, since she can only last about 4 minutes in the normal pool (and yes, it’s heated to 78*) before her lips turn blue. She loves when the jets turn on because then she can play with the bubbles. And of course we love the hot tub as well. Who doesn’t? 
We had a the BBQ going as well, and ate some delicious burgers before heading to San Ramon for some beautiful fireworks. They get more creative every year! There were some smiley face ones and the blue looks like blue, instead of purple.
All in all it was a wonderful weekend that left us all a little sunburnt, but remembering and enjoying lots of family time together. I am so grateful for this country! We have so much opportunity and freedom, when others are left in destitution and poverty. I try to keep in mind that I have everything I could possibly need and most of the stuff I want. It’s amazing how blessed I am.
Stay grateful.
I really love living in California! It’s just so beautiful here. And I truly love having family close by. Jon and Jenna have made our time here so much fun! June was a fantastically busy month. We went on lots of little trips and enjoyed lots of outdoor time. Jenna, Katelyn, Maggie and I were intending to meet up with some people from Jenna’s ward at the beach, but we took the wrong road and ended up at Half Moon Bay. Can’t really complain. We decided to go scope out the tide pools instead of driving the 2 more hours to meet up with friends. The tide was high when we first got there but we had fun playing on the beach, watching the sea lions bask in the sun and dropping rocks into the little stream flowing into the ocean. 
Our stake had a 50th Anniversary Party weekend. Friday night there was a SWEET carnival. There were little games for the kids, fishing and biting the donut off the string and bean bag tosses. AND….. it was catered by Coldstone Creamery!!! You could choose from 4 different kinds of ice cream then go to the topping table and have you way with it. Oh it was so delicious! I got Strawberry and Cakebatter ice cream with graham crackers and lots of caramel syrup on top. There was chocolate and candy pieces and sigh, it was just so fabulous. The little ones LOVED the ice cream, check out their faces and tell me they didn’t love it. We brought Jon and Jenna and met up with Monica and James. Monica and Jenna actually went to high school together in Sandy, UT. Small world, eh?
Jenna turned 24 the day after the carnival (the eleventh). We had a fun time swimming and thrifting and eating cake. Her half siblings and dad came for the swimming, presents and cake :D
Brandon is one of the hardest people to buy for, because when he wants something, he goes out and gets it or if I have actually gotten the chance to buy it he already knows what it is. Sigh. Sometimes, however, a genius thought hits me. This was one of those times. Growing up Brandon had a cat shaped syrup pitcher. As the syrup came out the mouth there ensued lots of puking sounds while syrup was being poured. I found a puking duck on ebay for Father’s Day! It has an awesome hat, a little suit coat and a tie. It’s so cute! And he didn’t even guess what it was beforehand! I was so proud to have come up with a good present that he didn’t already know about. Of course…that left his birthday (July 30) sadly lacking in anything resembling a cool present. Sometimes you just can’t catch a break.
A couple weeks later we were able to meet up with people from Jenna’s ward. A bunch of moms get together and take there kids out to play so that everyone can have a good time. This lake was so neat. It was like a swimming pool – life guards and roped off deep ends and a diving platform for the older kids, but it was sandy and wonderful. We had lots of fun playing with other kids and getting to know other moms.
A friend got some free tickets to a San Jose Giants game, so of course we went! I have to say, I really enjoy minor league games better than major. The atmosphere is more fun, it’s cheaper, and you can actually see the players because you’re not sitting forever away. I’m much more inclined to pay attention to the game when I am close to it, and I can’t afford to be close at a major league park.
We found a fantastic splashy park in Dublin. (I actually just found one in our town-so we’ll start going to that one now) It has little fountains everywhere and the water pressure varies, making it so much fun for the kids! Maggie really loved it, and Katelyn could not have been more happy.
Our summer has been so wonderful so far! We are excited to have so much to do, and fun people to do it with! Yay!
