{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor,  and remember.

{3 boys born at church since the end of February ~ there is one more not shown}

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor,  and remember.

(Brudder's 4 month well check.  Snow White came along for the ride!)

4 MONTHS:

Weight: 12 lb 13 oz, 5%ile

Height:  24 1/4", 13%ile

Head circumference: 40 3/4cm, 22%ile

::Ninoo's Visit::

We had another fabulous visit with Ninoo (aka Selina)

I met this dear friend in Philadelphia about 11 years ago.

She is so kind to visit us about two times a year, and she spoils us rotten.

She loves to cook and bake, exercise, play with the kids, etc.

She loved meeting baby Beck.

We had a great visit to our favorite thrift store and made out like bandits.

She has learned to bring a bigger suitcase than what she would normally bring in order to fit everything back in to get it home.  This time she really needed it!!

How DARLING is this one year old gorilla, Monroe?  We loved him!!!

We had a nice day to ourselves without kids shopping in a nearby beach town...
we visited the San Diego Zoo Safari Park...
we went to my boot camp fitness class one night...
we did some walking/jogging together...
saw fireworks together on the fourth of July...
she babysat for us so we could go on a date.
We had a great time at a local winery and then dinner.

John always enjoys good conversation with her and this visit was able to help her with a financial budget.
She cooked us some delicious meals and made her famous sangria.

It was an absolutely wonderful visit and I'm hopeful that she went back home to her stressful job a little more relaxed than when she arrived.

We look forward to our next visit...in January maybe??

:Some Random Photos:

I cleaned out my photo card again :)

Here is what I found:

Last day of school with Chase's girlfriends.

Proud Papa with his kids on Father's Day.

Hanging at the beach.  This is what our "getup" looks like these days.

Baking with Chaseroo.  It was actually fun!!

Playing with our neighbor friend.

Showering off after swimming in the pool.

Sweet sleeping baby.

Watching a parade on the Fourth of July on Coronado.

My almost 4 month old sweet baby boy.

We hope ya'll are enjoying your summer as much as we are!!

{Our Trip to the Fair}

It's that time of year...when the fair comes to town!

We have a huge, fun fair here, just a few miles away.

John & I have always loved going to it every summer...

and now it's even more fun with kids!

John took an afternoon off of work and we headed over to Del Mar.

It was a perfect day and we were all so excited...

until the off site parking lot was full & we had to park (&pay) on site!

Then the traffic was awful and it added an additional 45 minutes to our getting there...

then Brudder started screaming...

and had a long walk to the gate...

But, we finally made it and had a blast!

We bought the smallest package of tickets at a "bargain price" and let Chase go to town.

This was priceless.  To see the joy on her face as she ran from one ride to the next...

The funny thing is, we noticed a trend.  She was so darn serious on the rides, nary a smile to be found.

Until the next to last ride, which was little dune buggies that bounced around a track.

She smiled and laughed through the entire ride!

We were totally cracking up that she was so serious...see if you notice!

This "ride" was awesome.  She saw it and kept pointing at it saying she wanted to go on the playground.  When we realized what she wanted, we weren't sure if we should let her go all alone.

This sweet little girl on there all alone with all these big kids, climbing a net, stairs, crossing a swinging bridge.

But, we let her and she was DELIGHTED!!

We just watched her and kept saying to each other, is this safe???

Finally she made it down with a great big smile!!

We pretty much thought she rocked!!

After all the tickets were spent, we had dinner. 

Chase wanted a hot dog on a stick and ice cream with sprinkles.

But she did walk around saying, I want an apple on a stick, cotton candy, ice cream, etc.

It was pretty funny.

And there are plenty of healthy options of fair food.  John & I had something from a chicken booth.  He had the biggest grilled chicken sandwich we'd ever seen and I had kabobs.  It was delicious and guilt free!

Then it was pretty much time to go home.

We had spent our small fortune for the year...

time to save back up for next year!!

::When the Cousins Came to Town::

Oh what joy we felt when our sweet Cousins came back to town!

We even had to sneak over and surprise them with a hello as soon as they arrived.

Unfortunately we don't have a house large enough to hold everyone, but thankfully friends do, so they stayed quite close to us.

This was the first day, mere minutes after arriving...

Best Friends Ever reunited!!

(**all photography is thanks to Aunt Anna)

In case you don't know, this symbol is Best Friends Ever!!!

::There were many moments of Cousins holding new cousin Becker::

I guess Toby didn't get in on this action???

Oh, he must have been too busy on his skateboard!!

:Uncle John was quite impressed with his skateboarding ability:

:Worshiping together as a family again at NCPC:

(I bought these African made dresses several years ago for E, A & W and now they've been passed down to A, W & CJ!!  I think they were done with photos!!)

:Fun at the Beach:

:Just hanging at the pool at Barrieland:

Thanks for coming back to San Diego for 2 weeks of fun!

The highlight was when we got to stay together at Barrieland for 3 whole days.

It was bliss!  Who'd ever think bliss and 7 kids would be in the same sentence?

It was soooo blissful, that we are going to Seattle in August to continue the fun!

We can hardly wait!  See you soon!!