Lots of girls and giggles!

Amber and I had such a great visit when she came in July. She and I grew up together in Boise and have been friends since the 4th grade. She lives in Utah now, but she made the trip with her 3 daughters (her hubby couldn't come this time) to visit. We packed in as much fun as we could in the few days she was here. We went school shopping in Roseville with our older girls, mastered chopsticks at P.F. Changs for dinner, and swam in the local pool, to name a few. We always have so much to talk about since we have shared so much of our lives together. One highlight for me was going running with her --it reminded me of our running days in high school where we would meet each other half way between our 2 houses and then start our run.

Kaelyn, Jaren, Kazia, Kenna and Keagan. (Karrica is not in this picture) Just try keeping all those "K" girl names straight. It was crazy! We were just throwing out "K" names and even inventing some new ones until we finally got someone to answer us! Poor Greg and Jaren were very much outnumbered this week!

Kenna and Keagan. The spunky ones of the group! Our kiddos played so great together, it was a joy to watch them laugh and interact together.

Karrica is 14 so we had to try extra hard to keep her entertained. She zipped through the books she brought, then moved on to my book collection. One night, Amber and I went out just the 2 of us after putting the little ones down, and Greg borrowed our friends' Guitar Hero and challenged Karrica to a tournament. He and Karrica had a great time staying up all night rocking out.

I had the best time with Amber and her girls and feel so blessed to have her in my life. We used to plan our future when we were little and it included our kids growing up together so I am so thrilled we have the chance to visit and nurture these special relationships!

Living in Paradise

So the past few weeks have been so crazy I have not even touched a computer for weeks! (The fact that we were not hooked up to the internet for 2 of those weeks contributed to that!) Anyway, starting back where we left off from our wonderful 4th of July in Washington--we returned home from our trip with the worst case of stomach flu our family has ever experienced. Each little kiddo got it for 4-5 days, one after another, so we were out-of-commision-sickos for 2 weeks straight. I pretty much only did laundry and distribute saltine crackers for that stretch of my life. The following week, when we were all healthy, my BFF in the whole wide world Amber came with her girls and stayed for a few very fun and giggly days. (More on that later!) Then a few days after that, Greg and I went to San Francisco for Greg's annual Les Schwab meeting (much thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Dickson and Aunt Kelcie who stayed with the kids.) Then the following week, school started for Kaelyn. And sometime in those 4 short weeks, we bought and moved into a new home in nearby Paradise, CA. It has been a whirlwind around here, (AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT TOO!), but we are so happy to be settling in to our little piece of Paradise.

The kids love collecting acorns from the huge oak trees, playing with the pine cones, and spotting deer in the huge back yard. The back yard is landscaped up close to the house, then there is about an acre of untouched "woods"-- already the kids are naming the squirrels (so far we have Chester, Nutty, and Mike)

Enjoying popsicles on the back porch. My 2 favorite things about the house are the front and back porches. (Oh yeah and the walk-in closet, but that isn't picture worthy. It almost is, but not quite) .

Jaren is not flashing gang signs despite what you have heard about California, he is just really into the peace sign these days. Anyway, here are our little people hanging out on the front porch. We are very much looking forward to settling in, unpacking all our boxes, finding a place for everything, then relaxing in our new space!