Oregon

When I heard my cousin, Whitney, was getting married I knew I would be there no matter what. With a crazy summer I never got around to purchasing a plane ticket, so that left one option... driving. I really wanted the whole family to go, but it was the end of the quarter so Kevin was unable to miss work. That left me and the three kiddos.
I tried to break up the drive as much as I could.
Wednesday: we drove to Burbank and spent the night.
Thursday: We got a good Grandma breakfast complete with fresh squeezed OJ. We drove to Modesto to visit the Divis Family, some old friends from our Lakewood days. The kids had a blast with their kids.The Divis family converted their 3-car garage into the ultimate wrestling training facility. It was a great place to get all the wiggles after a long drive AND before the second leg of our trip.
We had a great time reuniting with our old friends. It was nice to have so much help with the kids. I actually got to enjoy my dinner while Andy and Didi played with Luke.
Friday: Our trip from Modesto to Myrtle Creek had some challenges. I got a speeding ticket going 80 mph in a 70 mph. Urgh...
I thought I was going to kill my kids at Subway...
But we made it in one piece to my Grandparent's house in time for some berry picking.
Picking blackberries is one of my FAVORITE things to do and I think my kids love it too.
It was a bit challenging because Luke kept trying to pick the berries, I learned the hard way when his shirt got stuck on the thorns. I had to try to keep my distance.
Gavin picking berries...
Straight to the mouth, no need for him to carry a bag...
Hannah looks so grown up...
We returned with purple mouths and hands...
Only a small bunch of berries that we ate with some whipped cream for dessert.
Saturday: Drove to Salem, checked into the hotel and got ready for the wedding. When I checked in, I asked if I could be near my grandparents. The lady put them in adjoining rooms. Such a blessing.
The Wedding:
The BrideLuke kicking it with my Grandpa.
My Uncle Chris
Sunday:
We had a late lunch with my Aunt and Uncle. My kids got to meet my uncle and see how fun he is. I had a nice visit with my Aunt and got to talk about grown up stuff.
We drove down to the Lake of the Woods to stay at my other Grandparent's place. Luke got to spend some more time with my Grandpa.
Gavin bowled with their diet caffeine free pepsi 2L bottles and equate weight loss shakes.
Hannah checked out my Grandma's jewelery and fabric stash.
Monday:
We left in the morning...
And drove all day arriving home at midnight from Ashland to Temecula.
It was a great trip. It had it's ups and downs, but I really enjoyed my kids. Hannah was such a great help with Luke.

Catch Up: 4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July Lots of fireworks and friends. You can have fireworks in La Mirada so a bunch of families contributed and we bought our own.
Out of all the kids there were only 4 boys.
There were 2 Hannahs, 2 Emilys, 2 Sydneys, and 2 Haileys

Sparklers were a huge hit as always.

Our Crazy Summer: June

It's been a crazy summer for the Jones family. We sold our first home. Luckily it went fast so we didn't have to keep our house "show ready" for too long. The 5 days was bad enough. To leave the house we had to get three kids and two dogs out the door and in the car. Then Kevin and I would run around spraying our creamy nutmeg air freshener, turn on the smooth jazz music, and make sure every toy, dish pillow, etc... was in its place.

June:
On Father's Day, Kevin got breakfast in bed. The kids were able to help me a lot more this year and Hannah was pretty excited and stayed busy making decorations for the tray. Kevin got bacon, eggs, chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream, and hot chocolate with whipped cream, cocoa powder, and mini chocolate chips. What a lucky Daddy!

Hannah's Zinnias are growing so big! She planted a seed her first year of preschool and we took the little flower to Grandma's house to plant. Here it is two years later. They are so big!!! I'm talking about the flowers AND Hannah.
Hannah had her end of the year performance, her Junior Kindergarten class danced to "Under the Sea." This is her friend Cole. We became good friends with his family. Everyday after school the kids would play and Tori (Cole's mom) and I would talk for an hour or so. It was so nice and carefree to not have to do anything after school It was a good way to wok on our tans too!She was so adorable, unfortunately, I didn't get very good pictures because I was so far away.
Hannah finished Junior Kindergarten and received some awards. We are so proud of her, she is such a good student and loves school!She got one for being Student of the Month, Outstanding Citizenship, and Excellence in Math and Reading.
Gavin finished his first year of pre-school.
He loved his teachers. He learned all his letters and the sounds. You can ask him, "what letter does night start with?" He says, "night, nah, nah, nah, nnnnoodle, N!!! It starts with N!" I loved bringing his hockey lunch bag to school and playing with all his friends.
This is Gavin and Cruz, they were friends at preschool. Cruz's brother went to Hannah's school, so the two boys got to play together while they waited for the bell to ring at the Elementary school.
We decided to give Emma away. Hannah had a hard time with it, but we told her Emma went to "Doggy Disneyland". Luckily, we had such a busy summer that it kind of distracted her. Here is our last picture of Emma.Beach
I wanted to start a family tradition of going to the beach the first day of summer vacation. I loaded up all my stuff
and took 3 kids to the beach by myself. It was actually awesome! Luke took a big nap under the umbrellaand I got to lay out and play with Hannah and Gavin in the sand. I met my friend Kazia (middle/high school friend) there. Our kids had a fun time together. Hannah and Bryton had fun playing in the sand
Gavin playing in the sand
Tahi and Luke had fun eating the sand
One of the best parts of a fun beach day... the quiet ride home.
Concert in the Park:
Our friends, the Williamsons, invited us to a Concert in the Park. They have 4 little girls who are obsessed with Luke.

Palm Springs:
We met Kevin's Aunt and cousins in Palm Springs. We had fun golfing, swimming, eating, and napping.Happy Birthday Kim!!

We are still alive

We've moved....

We're settling in. We've gone on vacation to Hilton Head SC. Hannah started Kindergarden. Gavin is on vaca in Ohio. Luke has tons of teeth.

We'll fill you in on the details in the future.


-Kevin & Courtney

Waiting and Wanting

I know, I know... it has been a long time. I just wanted to share an update.
We are still homeless and living in Burbank. We move into our house on Thursday!!!! I know it will all be worth it, but it feels like the last week of a pregnancy. I just want it to happen right now!

Hannah is in Ohio on her Mamo J vacation. We are trying to get her into school, but that has been a big pain. They laid off a bunch of teachers last year and now the school is full. They have 15 too many kindergarteners... Sounds like they almost have enough to have a whole new class. She might have to get bussed to a whole other school for a year. I don't like the idea of my 5 year old riding on a bus with older kids.

Gavin is excited for his trip to Ohio. He gets to go there all by himself after our trip to South Carolina. Yes, we move on Thursday and then leave for a week on Saturday.

Luke has 3 teeth and is crawling. He is such a happy little baby when I'm holding him. He's completely off schedule. I'm looking forward to sleep training him when we get into our new house.

There you have it... We are still alive.

House Selling & House Hunting

I have been consumed with selling my house. We put our house on the market a week and a half ago, within a few days we had some offers. We started escrow 6 days later.

House hunting with little kids is exhausting. Luckily, we have an awesome agent who my kids adore and will listen to.

As for now... It looks like we will be homeless by July 19!

6 Months

Luke is 6 months!