happy Independence Day, America

I love this country I get to live in. I believe in it. I have hope in democracy and the constitution and good, diverse people who rise up and work hard and rely on God. I am so grateful for my liberty and freedom and rights. I’m grateful to raise my family in the USA.

We are missing Kyler something fierce while he is adventuring in the Dominican Republic.

But then there’s Brinna’s face here.

So yeah.

I think you can measure my level of exhaustion by the fact that I am content with family pictures like these and move on.

After attending church in a skeleton congregation, the Vanegas joined us for food, a swim, and fireworks in the neighborhood.

We are so lucky to be so close to the big park in Gilbert so we could watch the city fireworks show without leaving our subdivision. 

Happy 4th of July!!

ordinary days that I love

A monsoon storm rolled in this evening. 

We had run to Lowe’s to get a few things and when we stepped out you could feel it coming and smell it in the air. The wind was blowing, the heat wasn’t as intense, and dark clouds were in the distance. There is nothing more thrilling than an Arizona monsoon on its way!

After our dinner, the weather was about the same and I knew we needed to take advantage of cooler temps and go on a bike ride. I loaded the baby and Brinna into the bucket bike. Layla grabbed her bike. We started to pedal. We were only a block away when I literally got a single huge raindrop directly in my left eye. Then another drop on my arm. And another on my leg. Part of me wanted to keep riding through the neighborhood in the rain, but I couldn’t let my baby get caught in a downpour so we circled right back around and went home.

The girls went to bed and I settled in to a chair on the back balcony. Lightening flashed in the distance to my right and to the left was a fire works show. I breathed in and out. I marveled at my view. I prayed to Heavenly Father a prayer of much gratitude and, also, pleading for help with some things. I let myself be still and observe the trees and the clouds and the shadows. A gentle rain started to fall intermittently from the sky.

Like a game of sardines, one by one the boys in the house found me. Soon we were all getting a little wet and enjoying the perfect summer weather and the fireworks in the distance. 

Kacin ran downstairs and came back with two basketballs. From the balcony, he tried to shoot to the hoop below and make a basket. He threw too hard. Eric gave it a go and was too far to the left. Perry wanted a turn so I went down to retrieve the balls from the pool and toss them back up to the boys. Perry missed the hoop but almost got me. 

We said good night to each other and everyone went off to their rooms to go to sleep.

I just want to always remember tonight.

The most magical days are often the most simple.

*all of the above balcony pictures were taken at our family lifestyle photo shoot a few months ago. Only memory pictures were taken tonight 

Beach days continued

I’m wishing I was back at the glorious beach right now. It’s just so hot here. 

Take me back to overcast days and a bike ride to Balboa Island…

We took our bikes with us across the ferry.

It’s a really short ferry ride to Balboa Island. 

We met up with cousins and grandma who had driven the car to the pier and then walked on to the ferry. Layla got out of the bike and Harper got in.

We pretty much went straight to Sugar N Spice for balboa bars and frozen bananas.

YUM.






This might be the best picture of the day. Yep, this is us. Nothing less than real.

Brinn loved having her grandma there.

The Schlink girls and Allred girls are always twinning.


Macie shared her hat with Eric for awhile.

And so after we ate our treats and found a bathroom, we headed back. Ha! We just weren’t the right group to spend too much time on the island, but we loved what we did!

When we got back, Perry was having a bit of a sensory meltdown. Too much going on and too tired. His behavior was out of control so I took him on a walk. He was shouting threats and super upset. We found a nearby park. He walks to the sand and I sat on the grass to give him some space to calm down. He knew what he needed. He spent the next 10 minutes scooping sand and letting it fall over his head and legs. He dug into the sand and really let it cover him as he threw it up into the air. It was some intense sensory work. But afterwards, he was ready to walk back and get a drink and was completely calm and himself again. This is a glimpse of life with autism.

This picture was probably taken not too long before a big wave washed Brinna out of uncle Josh’s hands. She slipped under the water and rode the wave up the sand. She was done with the water for awhile after that one! 

Grandma came to the beach and played with Perry in the big hole he had been working on that day. I will redeem Josh here from letting Brinna slip away by saying that he was a big help in building this cool base for the boys.

K was always so pleasant on the beach. It did get cold some of the days so we bundled her in blankets and towels.



Sweet hugs for her baby sis.

She wasn’t so sure when I laid her down in the sun…




She was soon right back to happy beach baby.

And this is mom life. I was tired, my arms were tired, but I scooped up my crying girls and carried them home from the beach. Eric met us as we were approaching the house. 

That night Eric and I got out on a date night for a taco crawl. And donuts. Sancho's Tacos and Seaside bakery for the win!


The next day, some of us rode bikes down to Huntington Beach.

Then we were back at the beach in the afternoon.

Both of these girls took so many naps on the beach. What a sweet place to fall asleep.

Maybe it was just a whole big group nap time.

We cleaned so much sand out of little heads because of games like this.

One evening we met up with cousins for some hot tubbin'.


And a few crazies went into the ice bath.

Austin showed us how it was actually done so you can last longer than one minute.

We couldn't believe when he stuck his head under!

Then Austin dangled the carrot of $20 to anyone who could last 4 min.

I think they almost killed themselves, but both boys went 4 min!!! They said 4 min of torture was worth $20. You would've had to pay me $1000.

These boys needed to warm up their popsicle skin after that.




I love that my cousins still have this merry go round. I remember playing on it when I was little girl. So much fun!




On our last full day in Newport, Gray got his baby snuggles before we headed down to the pier.

It was shops and corn dogs for us. Perry picked out this cool hat.

We saw a whole pod of dolphins.

I love that Perry pulled out the toilet paper roll binoculars that he made at vacation bible school to help him see better.

If he can always make a face, so can I.

We ended our time at the pier with Handels ice cream for the kids and AMAZING açaí bowls for the rest of us. Tru Bowls was my favorite thing ever! 

We met up with Aly at Tru Bowl and I gave the girls a ride bike home in the bike.


We spent one last afternoon at the beach.

I’m so glad we got this week together with family! I can not wait to go back to Newport Beach.