aquarium of the pacific

we took a summer field trip to long beach this morning. 

me and a couple of my girls loaded up the car with all our kiddos and set off for a day of fun.

this past year God has blessed me with some new friendships. we pray for one another, study His word together and laugh till our sides hurt. it's the best! {saying this in my nacho libre accent}

we are also trying to plan weekly outings together. this week was the aquarium. 

i think we saw just about every fish living in the pacific ocean and then some. 

the girls had so much fun....and so did mommy. 

elee is one of ella's besties from kindergarten....

these two will be starting kindergarten together in two years...

while walking around the aquarium i passed a girl who looked so familiar to me...someone i graduated with from high school and hadn't seen in 13 years. i said her name, and guess what, it was her! talk about so unexpected and yet so fun. i took a picture of our kids together. riley didn't want to participate...

i think the jellyfish were my favorite. they were beautiful. 

this little guy is the sweetest and the cutest ever. it was so cute to watch him and chloe together. 

coffee time♥

grandma was in town for a few days.
the girls love having her around and the especially love their morning starbucks dates.
if you know my mom every morning is a better morning with a trip to the coffee shop.
we usually stake our claim over as many chairs we can take without getting too many questioning glances and chat for as long as riley will let us...she has been getting quite restless lately.

this morning we were lucky to have auntie j with us.
only 3 more sleeps and gma will be back for the girls ballet recital. not that we are counting or anything.

riley's newest word is grandma...only it sounds more like "marma". she will pick up the phone and start shouting "marma, marma" until i call. what a sassy little thing she is♥

graduation dinner

a graduation that was finally not for barth...he has had 5 since high school.
last night we celebrated the orthopedic residents who are now moving on to become attendings (the big wigs) or fellows (more training...like what we did last year).
it was a fun date night, time to spend with good friends and a farewell all wrapped into one evening.
thanks to grandma, grandpa, auntie j and uncle wade who took such good care of our babies♥

 the graduating class and their lovely spouses...

 lisa and abby...we are gonna miss these two.

 jennilee and me. love this girl♥

splish splash

we stopped by a friends house this morning. 

it was already in the upper seventies and we hadn't even reached noon yet. 

it was the perfect day for some water play but i forgot to bring swim suits. 

riley didn't seem to mind. her poor diaper was about to burst after 10 minutes. 

check out her diaper...

this time last year...

i should be cleaning, but i decided that's not very fun.
i love looking back at old pictures of the girls.
here they are this time last year. my goodness riley has changed a ton.

love her

love this girl.
now that school is out it's like i have my own personal helper around the house.
she loves having jobs to do throughout the day and she does them pretty well.
on top of that she is such an amazing big sister.
now that she can read just about any book you put in front of her, i will often times find her sitting on the couch reading stories to chloe. it's pretty sweet.
can you tell i love having all my girls home with me?

just because...

...it's been one of those weeks...
it was the first day of summer yesterday and i fully intended on taking a few pictures of the girls to celebrate the fact but that didn't happen cause...
my middle munchkin came down with strep throat but has been such a trooper...
it's call week and it's been me and the girls most days and nights...
i think these girls are just about the cutest things ever...
but mostly just because even in the midst of a crazy week that didn't go quite as i had planned somehow these three make it all worth while.

Happy Daddy's Day♥

i was a lucky girl to get to spend the day with my two favorite men...
i love them both to the moon and back and then some more.
they really do mean the world to me.
i am so blessed♥

 with all these matching outfits i had to get a pic of the fab five. riley did not want to cooperate, but at least you can see them all.

we sent the boys off for an afternoon round of golf. it was the perfect day for it. 

 i love this next picture of my dad...

♥Happy Father's Day♥

sun diego

the girls and i spent the last few days in san diego while barth was away at a conference.
time always passes quickly at grandma's while the days are always filled with something to do...that something usually involving "fun things" as the girls call it.
speaking of fun things in keeping with tradition grandma and auntie j took the big girls to the theater to see madagascar 3 followed by smoothies at jamba juice.
speaking of not so fun things both babies are teething...riley is currently cutting 4 molars. not fun at all.

this was one of our morning trips to starbucks...

 the babes in all their cuteness. still smiling.

 ella has mastered the hula hoop...must come from her grandma.

school's out!

it's officially summertime!
ella finished up her last day of kindergarten yesterday. first grade here we come!
what an amazing school year we had.
i am so proud of both ella & chloe. they grew so much this year and worked so hard.
looking forward to the lazy days of summer with my three girls. what a blessed mommy i am♥

ella received the lifesavers award...for lending a hand to help others in need♥

 here she is receiving her certificate of promotion to first grade..yea!!

ella & hunter walking buddies...i think he had a little thing for her. 

not sure why some of pictures are not uploading with good resolution. any tips fellow bloggers?