Church Back Yard Renovation

Scott and I are very involved in helping make our church more kid friendly. Last year we had the nursery renovation. That was a ton of work and it was so rewarding to see the payoff. This year I got bids for our backyard and our council approved the project thankfully. Check out what we had before:
Would you let your kids play on this? Or this?

Or this ground? We wouldn't let anybody in the backyard because it was such a liability.

It had danger written all over it.

I had planned our very first Vacation Bible School (post to come soon) to run after the yard was finished. The very first day of VBS was the day we were allowed to walk on the new sod. And I am so glad it all worked out because check it out now! It is an amazing transformation.

(Kids at VBS)

More kids enjoying the new play structure.

I am so happy and proud to be a part of this change at our church. It is rewarding to see the end result and to see the children enjoy where we are headed and focused.

What happens at Saddle Ranch....

When six adults go out for the night....

We do it up right.

Making friends with Saddle Ranch Manager.

Who, in turn, gave us VIP treatment the entire night. Everything we did was basically free. We even got a $250 VIP table at the dance floor. But not without a little embarrassment. This is him introducing Scott to the ENTIRE establishment!

Have you watched Saddle Ranch on VH1? Well I really haven't. This guy is one of the main cast members.

We all rode the bull but I have to laugh about this one. Do you notice anything wrong with this picture? This is Shawn and her attempt to ride the bull. (She didn't know she got on backwards).

Shawn, Chris and me.

The rest of the many pictures are like the reel at the end of "The Hangover" movie. Now since I was a D.D, I had just as much fun with the pictures and messing with them but I will save them the embarrassment. But seeing that Scott doesn't know how to use our blog, I'm not too shy to at-least post the video of him riding the bull.

Grandpa and Gramma Archer's visit

It's been a few months of Grandbaby withdrawal so it was time for a visit. We picked them up and had lunch at the Junkyard in Simi. It was our first time there and it was yummy! Next up, Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Then of-course as with any other Friday night, Los Torros for dinner. We can't let Fernando (the guitarist) down.

Saturday morning we woke up and Scott and I headed out for an over night date (post coming soon) to Palm Desert. We returned Sunday night in time for dinner. Here is everyone relaxing before bedtime.

And being silly.

Monday was 4th of July. I blogged on that day already. Wednesday it was time to go home but of-course park pictures first as this has become a little tradition of ours.

Bye Bye Gramma and Granpa A

We will see you soon!

Legoland California

So in Utah, we had this great baby group. We got together at-least once a month and the first 5 kids were all within weeks apart in age. This picture was at our going away party that last few weeks we lived in Utah. (William, Me, Harrison, Andrea, Colin, Juliet, Alix, Yen, Kenzo)- a few were missing. This pictrue was our very first get together as a baby group. You can tell the kids were just month's old. (Me, Will, Andrea, Collin, Alix, Juliet, Yen, Kenzo).

And this was one of our last get togethers at a Farmer's Market.

Their first Halloween (Jack, Collin, William, Juliet).

We haven't seen anybody from Utah since we moved. And guess what? This month makes 3 years we have been gone. So when Andrea said she was going to be in San Diego for work and visiting family, we jumped on the opportunity to get together and catch up! Scott and Harry

William, Collin (look how much they have grown up) plus Reece and Harrison.

Legoland is truly amazing. I have never seen so many legos!!!

Yes all legos

Look at all the boys!

It's so crazy to look at those first pictures and now look at them today. Our baby group babies are going to be in Kindergarten next year!! Where did the time go?

Andrea and me.

I never seen Star Wars (yes I know!) but they have a new exhibit of all Star Wars stuff.

I also posted more pictures on Facebook. Afterwards we went to Sea Life Aquarium.

It was so nice to catch up. I'm glad we got together.

What a horrible Blogger I have been

Time to catch up: Lets start with the 4th of July. We went to Ventura Beach for a nice picnic lunch and stroll along the beach. The boardwalk was lined with American flags.

We watched surfers catch their waves.

We came home to grill out hamburgers before heading over to the 41st Annual Simi Valley Fireworks Festival.
The kids played before it got dark.

Then once it went dark (Harry was out)

It was a beautiful show!