The beach

(Speaking of Harry Potter, I was able to buy my book Monday morning and finished it yesturday afternoon. Joel's been reading it at night. So, things can return to normal at my house now.)

We have been lucky in our hotel veiws. We were on the 25th floor this time and here is the veiw out our window.

On Sat. we went to the beach before leaving San Diego. But because we would be leaving, we did not have the girls get into their suits and enjoy the ocean so that they would not be sandy and uncomfortable on the ride home. One of my favorite parts about being there was the "chilly" 68-75 degrees and cloudiness. (A wonderful break from the 116 we had had all week before we left!)The ocean water was so cold, yet Lindsay's boys and husband got right in to enjoy the water. She said it was probably 20 degrees warmer than the beaches they visit up in Northern California. We took jackets...and wore them. But there were other people there in sweatshirts and what not. Keddi and Mardi loved and spent the entire time, combing the beach for shells. (Mardi never held still so the pictures I got of her were blurry.)Tersa stood on the beach and enjoyed the small waves, just looking out to the ocean and wanting so badly to get in too. Shinara played in the sand, looked for "stuffs" on the beach and watched

the waves too. At one point though, she was in too far (for such a short person) and when the water started going back out, it washed the sand out from under her feet and she lost her footing and fell. I was angry at first because how was I going to clean her up? But I watched her sitting up the bank, a sad dejected little thing and knew it wasn't her fault and I felt bad. So I invited her to come onto the beach with me in the water and she refused. I had to apologize and tell her I wasn't mad and she wouldn't fall in again (not that it would have mattered at that point) because I would hold onto her. We spent a good half hour or so standing in the water, drawing in the sand with our toes while waiting for waves to come in that were too big for her that we would run away from, screaming each time. I guess we looked like we were having a blast because two other little girls started doing the same thing after a while.

Harry Potter party in San Diego

What kind of Harry Potter fan would I be if I didn't attend a book release party? Even if we would be out of town? Before we left, I looked for a library and map-quested the directions so that we could attend. We invited Aunt Lindsay to bring the cousins and headed out at about 10:00 or so. (We had gone swimming at their pool for a while first.) We were only going to take the older kids but ended up with all of them. Trying to find the library was a pain because we left from their hotel and I had directions from our. But we did eventually find it and the first thing we did was Potions. We went to Ollivanders to make wands which was right by Madam Malkins where one could make a wizard hat. We missed the activities in the Great Hall but were able to be sorted by spinning a wheel with the House colors on it and the sorting hat perched on top of the wheel. Mardi gave a feeble spin on her first try. (I think she was trying to "fix" the results.) I commented and then laughed when the wheel landed on green for Slytherin. She insisted to try again because she hadn't given it a good spin. She was placed in Hufflepuff. Each of the kids ended up in Hufflepuff except for Shinara who landed on Red and was given a Griffindor badge.

One of the most entertaining stops was Professor Trelawny's tower.
This girl was completely into it. She was eccentric and crazy in her predictions. She would dismiss them with saying that the were now clouding her inner eye and to be gone. The younger kids didn't seem to understand what was going on really but the older girls thought her predictions for them were funny. Along with Professor Trelawny was a small wizard who was reading palms.

After all of these things, there was a balloon guy outside and the kids wanted his creations. Which we stood in line for over 1/2 and hour to get! He was flirting with two teenage girls at the front of the line and a couple of times answered his phone and stopped making balloons for a minute or two to talk to whoever had called; despite the fact that his line was very long and it was almost time to end the party! But the kids handled it all quite well. Even the two 4 year olds were well behaved and had fun despite the late hour. They got to bed by 12:30 and slept until 9:30 the next morning. (Got to love the black out curtains in hotels!)

Mitchell's Graduation

We are becoming quite the quick weekend trip takers! Joel's youngest brother Mitchell joined the Marines and this last weekend was the recruit graduation. We went to San Diego to support him and attend the ceremony along with Lolly and Lee (Joel's mom and her husband) and Lindsay, Randall, Garron and Mathias. The girls quite enjoyed torturing cousin Garron. He got alot more attention than he's used to!

Mitchell wanted to have lunch at In N Out Burger instead of the lunch for the recruits and their families on base. Wish granted! We only got to spend a couple of hours with him by the time he was on a plane bound for Houston. They have a 10 day leave before they are assigned and continue on in their preparations for eventual deployment.

Shinara's Birthday-completed

No, we aren't all exactly well, but we made it to Chuck E. Cheese last night to officially celebrate Shinara's 4th birthday. She had a blast!

One of her favorite things were the ride games. The simulations of roller coasters. Frankly I was surprised she liked them so well. Here she's riding one with Braeden. And here she is riding one with the first counselor of our ward. Dan Hill and his family had guests with children and decided to bring them to Chuck E. Cheese for games. Shinara went up to Dan with some coins that he insisted she should use but thanked her for offering. I clarified for him that she was wanting him to go with her to spend them. He said it looked like he had a date and obliged her.

Happy? Birthday Shinara

Yesturday was Shinara's 4th birthday. (Thanks to everyone who sent cards and presents!) Unfortunately, we have been struggling with sickness and Shinara was just getting over having had fevers for much of the week. Keddi has had coughing and Tersa started yesturday off with a high fever too. So, the trip to Chuck E. Cheese has been postponed to Mon. night as long as everyone can participate by then. In the meantime, Joel couldn't let the day go by with no special activities so we took the three youngest to McDonalds. Shinara insisted that she wanted doughnuts so we put candles in that and allowed her to open most of her presents.

If all goes well tommorrow, we will meet Wilsons at Chuck E. Cheese and will have more pictures to share of Shinara's continued birthday celebrations.

Reunion still

Britnee took these. My brother Micah, his wife Katie and my Shinara. Our step sister Stephanie and my kids and some of their cousins.

Britnee's husband Travis and our step brother Scott.

More Reunion Pictures

Just a cute one of Joel and Shinara, enjoying the shade on a rather hot day for Draper, Utah.

We had a huge group picture and then family pictures done under a huge tree on a hill. My family was first and as we arranged ourselves and then waited for other families to join us, the sprinklers in the park started going on in shifts all around us. We were sure that at some point we would all get soaked. But the sprinklers never came on where we were all sitting! So, true to form, when my family was done, many of us headed for the sprinklers and played in them a while until the other families were done with their pictures.

The four adults in this picture are my two sisters on the outsides, my sister-in -law Katie and in the yellow shirt is my cousin Meghan. Growing up, everyone always commented on how alike Britnee (far right) and Meghan looked. That is still very true. The little girls are cousins Meghan and Rachel (sisters) and Mardi in the middle.
These cousins are who Keddi spent most of her time with. McKenna is Britnee's 3rd child and Amber is my brother Quinn's 3rd. They got along fabulously and had a great time.

Lorenc Family Reunion

We had a rare opportunity this past weekend and attended a family reunion in Utah for my Dad's family. They have never done anything like this and it was fun to be part of. A cousin of mine has a very large "cabin" in Park City and my Dad asked to use it so that all of his children and their families could spend the weekend together. It was nice to get to do that. Thanks Gabe and Shandi!!

On Sat. we went to a park in Draper where we ate and had activities that allowed us to mingle with cousins, aunts and uncles and their children, some of whom we didn't know at all. Our family had put together a musical number that we performed there and this picture gives you an idea of how big my family is. We had a few hours of free time before we all met at a church building for the sharing of talents and a dance. My girls did a Cheetah girls number called "Girl Power." Yes, even Keddi and Shinara participated and the peformance was a hit!

This is my father's mother Bonnie Lorenc. It was the first time she'd met the younger two and it has been a while since she'd seen the older two. I'm glad to have been able to get this picture. It will likely be the last time we see her. She lives in Arizona and recently had some cancer removed, but they missed some. She will go back in for surgery soon.

Serene Shinara

Joel and Tersa began doing Yoga together in the early morning hours some time ago. And so, mats and tension bands became gifts to them and accesories to the living room (that are stored behind the couch.) Shinara has taken interest in not only the mats but the DVD that Joel uses for their early morning workout. More than once Keddi and Shar have requested to excercise and would I please put in the DVD.

One day while leaving the kitchen, I came upon this site and reached for my camera. Gotta love a three year old who meditates all on her own. (No DVD on at the time!) And here is the downward dog.

4th of July

We don't always make shirts but this year we did and I have to say that they looked much better before I had to wash out the dye. For one thing, they were actually red, white and blue! I need to experiment with the process I guess.
Our Fourth of July started with a ward breakfast that was shared with another ward. Someone had gotten a color guard from Nellis Air Force Base to come. That was cool. We recognized people in our ward who have served our country and after breakfast there were a few activities set up. Mardi wasn't feeling great but Tersa and Keddi really got into the tug of war and I think that Tersa also played water balloon volleyball for a bit. Shinara enjoyed the water balloons before she got hurt and was disappointed to find them gone when she went back over there. Joel went to work after the breakfast and the girls and I went to the pool for a couple of hours. Then we hung out until Joel came home at 4:45.
After our usual BBQ meal with the Wilsons at their house, fireworks were enjoyed in our usual spot . We went to Boulder City and set up at a church. We did the snaps and sparklers on our own before the show and the Flinders, Barneys and Halls showed up right before the fireworks started. It was a good day.