Neighborhood balloon fight!

A few weeks ago I went to Costco on a Saturday morning with my mom. Ben was watching the kids, so he filled up a bunch a water balloons and had some of the neighborhood kids over for a balloon fight. Then they all hung out on the lawn eating treats. Ben always makes everything so fun. No wonder Brooke asks me if I am going to leave on saturday mornings.

A few of the Neighborhood gang

Cole-Tyler-Brookelyn-Livia-Emma

Here are a few pictures of the girls I tried to capture before church. These were their Easter dresses, that I never got a picture of on Easter. Hedy, these are the headbands I bought from Cheryl.

Disneyland in June

I have a lot to catch up on in the last few weeks, so most of our events will tell the stories in the pictures. The girls and I went to disneyland the first week of June with our good friends and neighbors, Stephanie and Kora. It was so fun. A very quick trip, we left tuesday afternoon and drove back thursday evening. It was Stephanie's birthday on wed. so she got in free. We were quite the sight, with two very pregnant ladies (stephanie is due the 1st week of July) and three little girls! We stayed at our friends Tina's house and luckily she was able to meet us later in the day to take Brooke on all the big rides. Brooke absolutely loves roller coasters. And since neither Stephanie and I could go on them, Tina was a life saver. We got to spend a few hours with Noelle and the kids thursday morning at a park and the beach. We miss those guys so much. Diego and Brooke picked up right where they left off and had a blast in the water and playing. And Isabella and Livy played in the sand together.

It was a very fun road trip with a few hiccups (poopy diapers not even two hours into the trip, all the girls crying at once smashed in the little mazda, etc...). But we had a miracle on the way back and all three girls slept at the same time for over an hour!!

Livy still doesn't like the rides, but she loved climbing on everything.

Thanks Stephanie for asking us to go!! It was a great trip!

Bear Country, Brooke loves all the characters and Livy can't stand them.

All tired out!

Brooke and Tina on Splash mountain. Brooke begged to go again and again, and again....

Livy's "cheese" smile. THis is where she was happiest. Climbing, not riding.

We told them Brooke was 7 so she could go by herself. (Hey she is tall for her age.)

Starting off the day on the Tram. Livy clung so tightly to my neck even on the tram that I couldn't breathe.

Good ole' Minnie

Diego and Brooke at the Beach

Lovin' the sand

At a rest stop on the way back. We just let them run!!

Regrets

We just came back from an awesome fireside that James Grant put together on his mission. It was amazing!! It was all different songs depicting the Saviors life with a slide show in the background. Most of the songs were sung by elders. It was narrated with scriptures between songs and a few new converts shared their testimonies. Dave Clark gave an awesome introduction about the life of the Savior. The spirit was so strong. Even with the girls there and trying to entertain them, I felt so uplifted by the message. I am so glad we went.
But as I sat there, I had the same regrets I did when I attended the Gladys Night Concert a year ago with my friend Noelle. I just kept wanting to kick myself for not inviting more friends. Fortunately for the Gladys Night concert, i had invited Noelle (I couldn't have gotten in without a non-member), but I sat there wishing I had invited ten other people because it was so great!! And it happened again tonight. In defense for myself, I did invite my friend Danielle, but it was just this afternoon and she already had plans. So I am committing myself to being more missionary minded and inviting friends earlier. I always invite friends to enrichment activities, and I often do it weeks in advance. But for some reason when it comes to things that are specifically planned for sharing the Gospel it takes me a little more courage to muster up inviting people, and in the end I usually do it last minute. So I don't want to have anymore regrets of not opening my mouth earlier and to more people to invite them to awesome events where they can feel the power of our Savior and learn about His atonement through the spirit that is felt. I am making a pact with myself, that I am going to be a better missionary when it comes to inviting friends to spiritually uplifting meetings or church, not just family-fun activities.

Gualala Pics

Bikes and Scooters all week!

Go Liv!

Boat ride with Poppy off of Point Arena.

Kids at the River

love this little Liv!

Our little fish - can't keep her out of the water.

Heading for the "Deep End"

Jack and Brooke - 2nd generation Bodily & Beck buddies

Tyler, Jenny, and Brookie

Livy has always been more timid around the water. Hopefully she warms up to the idea!

Bodily Grandkids

The daredevil jumping off the log to Uncle Taylor. After this jump, she got back on the log and went just a bit higher. Looking down, she said "I don't want to jump from here." So we all thought she would move down closer to the water, but instead she marched up to the tip top, and proceeded to do this...(stick with the clip below to the end)

Some places are forever special because of the traditions and memories we create there. Gualala is one of those places...so many things to look forward to each May.