Beach Trip #2 and company

3/23—The weather was still nice on Sunday, so we grilled chicken for dinner and the kids played outside.  Ella’s been loving exploring the backyard especially the sand box. 

After dinner we went on a walk/bike ride. 

I love this tree this time of year.  I totally need one in my yard.

Then we came home and ate strawberry shortcake for dessert. 

3/24—The first official day of spring break.  Andrew went to play with Jake all day, Luke lost his first tooth, and we I worked hard all day to get ready for our next beach trip. 

The weather definitely looked promising.  lol.  not.

3/25—Aunt Kristin arrived early Tuesday morning.  She helped us load the van and entertained us while we waited for dad to get home. 

He finally got home, and we left about 2:30 for Lincoln City.

The kids watched Frozen on the way there, and we pulled up to the house right as the movie ended.  Perfect timing.  The house was awesome, and we totally recommend it and would stay there again.  Our cousins got to the house about 45 minutes after we did. 

We decided to take the experience to a new level and ate at Mo’s for dinner even though none of us really like sea food.  lol.  The burgers and chicken fingers were good.  haha.

3/26—Wednesday morning’s view out the window.  I much prefer to enjoy the ocean out the window then on the beach especially in March. 

Ella looking cute and ready for the day. 

The house had a great kitchen and a big table, so we cooked all the rest of our meals.  Wednesday morning we had pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then chicken noodle soup and rolls for lunch.  We made carnitas for dinner. 

We ventured down to the beach after lunch.  It was miserably windy and cold.  No one really lasted that long. 

So the kids and Darrin got in the hot tub instead. 

Ella became very fond of her cousin Jenna while we were there.  Anytime she was sad she would cry for Jenna…even in the middle of the night. 

We played tons of games, watched lots of movies, and did this 1000 piece puzzle. 

3/27—Thursday for breakfast we had Darrin’s lumberjack breakfast, lunch was hot dogs, and dinner we had steak.  We had so many snacks and junk food.  I’m pretty sure I gained 5 pounds. 

When the tide got low we went tide pooling and saw lots of cool ocean life.  It was still cold and windy and the kids were freezing, but it was still fun. 

Chad and Darrin played ping pong…I’m not sure who won.  The house also had a foosball table that the kids played a lot. 

All the kids got in the Jacuzzi to try it out.  It was a little tight with 5 kids. 

And we finished the puzzle!  I thought there was no way we’d finish the puzzle while we were there, but we did!

That about sums up our trip!  We relaxed a lot, and it was soooo nice.  The kids had fun with their cousins as usual.

3/28—We drove home and hurried to put everything away cause an hour later Grandma Morris’ plane came in.  We picked her up,  ate leftover carnitas for dinner and then went bowling.  Josh beat us all.  

 

The bunch of crazies that were there.

I finally got the grade for my class.  A-  Yeah!  Can’t complain about that! 

3/29—Saturday we mostly hung out at home and went to the grocery store.  Darrin worked most of the day on the 5th Sunday lesson he had to teach today on Family History.  I was able to attend the General Women’s Meeting with my mom and sister last night which was awesome.  We missed you, Natalie!  Afterwards we went to BJ’s for dinner and dessert. 

Overall a great week of Spring Break! 

Happy school tomorrow everyone :)

A birthday and cheesy waffles.

3/16—Sunday night dessert: strawberry shakes with the fam.

Sunday night family wrestling lol. 

3/17—Monday was Josh’s birthday.  We all woke up bright and early so Josh could open his presents before school.  He got a Lego set, a bike, Pokémon cards, and a basketball. 

Then we had St. Patrick’s Day doughnuts for breakfast.

After the kids left for school, I took Ella to Amy’s, and went to take my StuDev 100 final exam.  It was pretty easy so it’s a relief to have that done.  I should get the grade this week sometime.  Then to sign up for the next class!

Sometime during that day, Ella headed upstairs and was quiet for a long time.  I went to find her, and she was on Andrew’s bed doing who knows what.  She thought she was pretty cool.  Now we have to keep the ladder up during the day.  

To celebrate Josh’s b-day, we went to a pizza buffet for dinner and then an arcade to play games. 

Josh picked to eat in the cartoon room so we watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while we ate.  Ella was in heaven. 

Because we all wore green, we each got a free $5 card to the arcade which was the perfect amount. 

Josh played one game and got his ball in the monster jackpot hole and got over 1500 tickets.  We’re pretty sure he had good luck because it was his birthday.  It took forever for the machine to the count that high.  For a prize Andrew and Josh combined their tickets and bought a lava lamp for their room.  Totally brings back memories of being a kid!

We swung by Toys R Us to pick up Josh’s bike that was being assembled over the weekend.  Who doesn’t love the toy store?

We got home and Josh’s primary teacher stopped by with this gift.  Holy candy. 

Then we quickly sung Happy Birthday and ate a cupcakes.  And hurried off to bed.

3/18—Tuesday we had a little party for Josh.  He invited 4 friends to go see Mr. Peabody and Sherman.  I was a little nervous taking 7 (3 were my own) kids to the movies by myself, but everyone did great!  We got 2 buckets of popcorn, and I even got a nap in lol.  Ella was able to go play with Hudson while we were at the movie.  So grateful she is okay with going to play with friends and going to nursery!

After the movie we came back home and ate pizza and the boys played basketball. 

We had more cake and opened presents.  It was a fun little party! 

3/19—I went to the school to help each 4th grader make salt dough for the salt dough maps they would be making the next day.  It was lots of work and took a lot longer than I planned.  Thankful for Danielle who had Ella all morning and then picked up Luke from the bus and kept both kids even longer. 

When I got back Ethan came over here to play.  I made chicken nuggets for everyone. 

And I’m pretty sure Ella just ate dip for lunch.  She thinks these foods are are just spoons for ranch and ketchup.  lol. 

In the afternoon we had the normal piano, scouts, and Darrin had a soccer game.  When he got home I went to the Jenae’s for a Pampered Chef party.  I was naughty and bought a few things.  I couldn’t help it :)  The party ended shortly after I got there, so I stayed and chatted with Jenae while her hubby was gone.    Grateful for good friends.

3/20—I went to the grocery store to stock up.  When I got home and was putting the food away, Ella was very quiet over by the front door.  I went to check on her and found she had discovered a cutie in Josh’s lunch box, peeled it, and was eating it.  It totally cracked me up.  Silly girl.  It’s now my secret trick if I need to keep her busy for awhile, I’ll put her in the seat and give her an orange.  Bam.  Peace for 15 minutes.  

Later we went to check out the new library and get a book for Josh. 

In the later afternoon, Ethan and Hudson came over to play.  Christopher was here too.  They had a blast hunting for bugs in the backyard.  Oh to be a little boy!

I made corn and potato chowder for dinner.  Most of the kids ate it except Luke.  Then we all took a drive to take Josh to soccer practice. 

  3/21—Friday there was no school.  I made waffles for brunch.  I’ve fallen in the love with this recipe.  Adding the cheese is super good too if you’re up for something crazy :) 

Friday night snack.  Love this recipe here.  This may or may not have been the second time this week I made these :)

Most of Friday and Saturday were spent cleaning getting ready for company.  The weather’s been awesome too, so we’ve been outside a lot. 

Well that’s a wrap.  Looking forward to an exciting week!