Sharing the Fun

On Monday, Matt, the girls and I went to the lake again. This time, we were joined with Tim, Katelynne and Cody. We had a great afternoon together. Matt, Tim and Cody wakeboarded, while Kate and I had fun tubing. Matt and Cody ended up tubing as well. The pictures are thanks to my mom.

Home Again

We were a bit anxious as to how the flight home would go. We left Sacramento at 10:30pm

to do the red-eye flight. Before boarding, Mya had a break down from exaustion. Our first

flight was 4 1/2 hours, and headed to North Carolina. We had a 2 hour layover there. Then, it was to Buffalo. Our arrival time was 11:00am NY time. Long trip, but the girls did great! They slept most of the time. Matt and I did the best we could to get a few little naps. We're home, and it feels great to be back. We had a wonderful time with family, but it is true: There Is No Place Like Home! I will have to work on getting pictures up from the trip. At this point, what I am putting up is two pictures from a lightning storm we had on June 20. I spent over an hour trying to catch a bolt of lightning, and this is all I was able to get. I thought the shot of the plane was pretty cool though!

More in California

There has been quite a bit going on these past couple days! On Thursday all the Warta's got together for group photos. It only took about an hour and a half for pictures. It is a HUGE job to take a good photo of that many people... with that many little ones. This is the first picture we've had as a group, in five years. Several additions have taken place since then. Friday was the wedding rehersal and dinner. Saturday was the long awaited day. Mya had been talking about her "White Polka-Dot Dress" since we were back for Kate's Gradutation.... four weeks ago. Mya was in HEAVEN on the wedding day. She was dropped off three hours before the wedding to get

ready with all the girls in the wedding party. She had her fingers and toes painted, pictures taken, hair done.... you name it. She was a mini princess! Mya couldn't get enough of Ashlie and her wedding dress. For the Father/Daughter dance, they played a Cinderella song, and from that point on, Mya wanted to "go see Cinderella-Cinderella". We had a wonderful time, and what a georgeous wedding! A ton of work went into it, and it showed. It was beautiful! Nice work everyone.

As for pictures.... I will have to get back on that. This is the first time EVER in 8 years, I think, that I have gone somewhere without my camera. Matt and I wanted to travel as light as possible.

More Fun in California

On Thursday we went to the lake with the Luna's. The smoke was really thick, but all the other conditions were great! The water was like glass... smooth, that is, and really warm. Matt had been looking forward to trying a flip on the wakeboard. He did great! Never actually LANDED, but he's almost there. We're still proud of him!

Our Father's Day

I have to start off by saying, what an incredible church service we had! I don't know that there was a single dry-eye in the place. Even the men were deeply touched. It began with a new, first time daddy. Then, moved on to what it's like to be a "Daddy's Girl". A man was sharing what it was like to celebrate his first Father's Day without his dad. His father just passed away four weeks ago. There was someone expalining of what it was like to be raised without a father figure, and how the void was filled as he became a man. All of this was tied into how immeasurable our heavenly Father's love is for us.... HIS children. I am going to post the link, because if you have a moment, I highly recommend listening. I believe it's 36 minutes long. http://www.thechapelatcrosspoint.com/ Please note, you will have to click on the "Listen" link, and then select "Father's Day". You won't be dissappointed.

On to the rest of our day! Matt WANTED to grill... I fully intended on making something for him. The girls and I did take him out to OUTBACK after work on Friday, as an early celebration. So, Matt made us a delicious grilled meal, and then we spent the afternoon outside. It was great weather! My girls have such a great daddy. And he does the coolest stuff! Mya loves that he snowboards, wakeboards, and flies really big kites. She doesn't know any other daddy's like hers. Emily can't take her eyes off daddy when he gets home from work. Every dinner is spent with Matt getting the adoration look from his "Little Jibber". It melts my heart! We are SO blessed to have Matt as our provider and protector. He does a great job!

It's Summer Time!

It's finally here! Our weather is now in the 70's and 80's... and yes, some

humidity. We've been spending time outside in swimsuits, and Emily just

wearing her diaper. We're getting our swimming pool up and running. It

will be great when we can use it! Matt could have a full time job just keeping

up with all the yard work. With the warm weather, we get several thunderstorms

a week.. which is awesome! Combine that with the sun shine, and it sure does

make the grass grow fast. Mya gets a lot of enjoyment from picking flowers. It

seems as though, every week we have some type of new wildflower springing

up. At this time, it's daisies. Emily is getting determined to start crawling... to

Matt's dismay. She spends most her time sitting on the floor with toys to play

with, and big sister to watch. She adores her big sister. She has started eating solid foods, and loves them. What a mess it makes! As for me, I spend my

time TRYING to be the best mother, wife, housekeeper, and cook that I can

be. I never seem to get to the point I am satisfied, but as long as I am striving

to meet that goal, I guess it's better than nothing. Maybe someday.....

Whirlwind Weekend

Katelynne, Matt's younger sister, graduated from High School this past weekend. As a surprise, although she found out, we headed back for a few days. Our trip began at 3:30 in the morning, EST on Wednesday. It was Mya's first plane ride. I was excited, and a bit nervous about how the girls would do. We had an hour and a half ride from Buffalo to Chicago. They did great! We had an hour layover, which was nice to stretch out, and get something to eat. Mya was asking when we could get on the airplane again. Our next flight was from Chicago to Sacramento.... four and a half hours. Yikes. Emily took a few small naps on that flight, but Mya had a window seat, and was too excited to sleep. About half way into the trip, she was ready to get off. That made for a long two hours, trying to keep her settled, and calm. We were greeted by Loren, Kathy and Ashlie Warta. Mya was SO excited! Everyone had to get to work, so we headed to my parents house. We spent the remainder of Wednesday through Friday morning with them. We had a great time on Thursday, heading to the lake so Matt could wake-board. We don't have that back here, which has been a huge disappointment for Matt. After spending several hours at the lake, we went to Tim and Casey's house to celebrate Tim's Birthday. It was the first time we had seen them since leaving last year. We met Claire for the first time, and they met Emily. We had a great time! Friday to Sunday morning we spent with the Warta's. Mya had fun getting to play with everyone. They have a new kitten that Mya couldn't get enough of. Friday night was graduation for Kate, Saturday morning was graduation for Cody. Matt had been looking forward to getting away, just the two of us, while we were in town with family. Saturday afternoon, we were able to do that. It was wonderful! We don't have Mexican food in Buffalo, which has been another disappointment for Matt. It's his favorite. So, we headed to Chevy's in Sacramento, and enjoyed a meal near the river. Then, we took a long walk, enjoying each other's company... without having to be interrupted by children. I forgot what it was like to have this kind of time with my husband! This is getting long. I'm going to wrap it up. Long story short... the trip back was not as enjoyable. Due to the time change, and all the excitement and business of the weekend, all four of us were EXHAUSTED. Most of the plane ride back was spent with crying kids. I now have more compassion for people traveling with little ones. It's tough! Now, to do it again in three weeks.