HALO (but not really)

David has been jumping out of planes too much. He now owns his own parachute and gear, and is on his 37th jump. In this set of photo's, Dave is jumping at a low altitude of 4000 feet to get his "A" License. A bit freaked by the low jump, he pulled his chute while his body was in a strange position and almost got the thing wrapped and caught around his legs, as you can see in photo number 2. Luckily for my brother, he corrected himself in time and successfully obtained his license. AND THEN GOT BACK ON THE PLANE AND JUMPED SOME MORE.

Hmmm.....

See this map of dirt? This is the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department annual Mud Run. It's a six mile obstacle course all in the mud. Some friends and I (including Brett's sister Michele) are signing up to do this race in September. I have never done anything like this before. This track is three miles around, so you have to run it twice. Many of you know that I have been exercising like crazy to lose weight, and now I am training like crazy to get ready for this monstrosity. Bad idea?

Because I love Julie.

Where were we when this was taken? Do you remember???

Just so you know....

This right here is the best doggy in the world.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

On July 7, nine years ago, Tyler was born in Reno, Nevada. He had the fullest head of hair and the darkest eyes of any baby I have seen born into my family. He still does! We had a little party for him at Tutu's house. Next weekend we go to Aunt Michele's to celebrate again with more family.

Tyler's birthday cupcakes. They fell over in the car and melted a bit. Oops.

Matt's buddy Liam.

Presents! Woo hoo!

Blow out your candles!

Land of the Free

Our cul-de-sac threw its first Fourth of July block party this year. We have so many kids on our street, mostly all boys, and they had so much fun. A neighbor went so far as to paint the kids hair, do face paint, decorate their bikes and put on a little parade with them. Those kids were outside all day long. I feel very blessed that we are able to live in this community, we have found a great church family, wonderful schools, and so many new friends in this town. I think we will stay! Happy Fourth of July....

Here we are lined up around the corner from our house waiting for the fireworks to start. The lake across the street was packed with thousands of people, our town does its own fireworks show every year. Look at Nick trying to read his bible in the dark!

Bang

Starting the day the right way, with lots of sugar.

I love spun sugar. Look away.

Matt, Mom, and Puppy.

Tyler in the middle, getting ready for the parade.

Tyler wrote "God Bless America" on his bike decorations.

Family Visits

My brothers are here this week, visiting mom and hanging out. My Dad was out last week, so our house has been feeling like a hotel.

We have been to the beach a few times this week, Huntington and Laguna. The men preferred Huntington, the waves were better for body boarding. Chris and David are so sunburned! David was trying to tell us that this was his first time swimming in the ocean. Mom couldn't remember if that was true or not....

Can you tell which beach is Laguna and which is Huntington? The pictures are not in order, see if you can guess!

I also attempted another batch of cupcake pops yesterday, and I was really impressed with the results. Everyone else must have thought the same thing, because there are none left. Tyler's birthday is next week and he wants me to make some blue ones for his party.