The Camp Family

Eli's First Day of School

2011-08-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

Eli started PEPP last week, which is a two year kindergarten that our school district designed for kids who have very late birthdays, like Eli. It's perfect for us, 5 days a week, but half day, unlike the full day kindergartners (yay for that!). We live about 1/3 mile from his school, so we walk, it's nice not to have to deal with the traffic. Eli was quietly taking it in that first morning, but he was very excited and not at all sad to see us go!

Jake just happened to have the morning off and could come with us. He was a very proud Daddy.
Brynn and Eli are inseparable, so I was worried she would have a hard time with him gone, but she has been surprisingly fine. She happily says goodbye to him every morning at school and enjoys coming home to play with her princesses, watch only girly movies, or (this will be our secret) spend the whole morning playing unabashedly with all of Eli's toys. I'm surprised at how quiet my daughter is when she is alone. I never would have guessed, she's usually so loud.

Eli loves circle time where they read and learn the daily theme. His teacher is Mrs. Norris and is wonderful!

I can't believe that Eli is already old enough to go to school! I was a good Mom and didn't cry until the walk home. It's been an exciting milestone!

Blowing Bubbles

2011-07-21T16:37:00.001-07:00

There is nothing better than spending a cool summer night blowing bubbles
My kids could spend hours outside with their bubbles

Brynn's concentration is adorable and so typical of a 3 year old

Brynn's 3rd Birthday

2011-07-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

My darling girl turned 3 in June! Here is Brynn with "Sally," the rocking horse she inherited from Eli. She loves to ride and ride, shouting, "ride em' cowboy!" and "yeeeeehaw!"

Her actual birthday was low key. The kids had hand, foot and mouth disease so we had quarantine ourselves for a few weeks and postpone the birthday party. I did make her a birthday cake with her favorite ingredients; chocolate and strawberries. You've never met a chocoholic until you've met Brynn.
Nothing better than licking the beater!

Once the kids were all clear from hand, foot and mouth and I had sanitized every inch of the house, we had a little family party because the Camp's have 6 birthdays in June! Brynn, Lexi, Katie, Lily and Mom (Camp) all have birthdays within two weeks of each other and my newest little niece Aubrey Camp was born on June 29th! The girls each got their own cakes, including Mom. Hers was a salted-carmel-chocolate cake, which I highly recommend. It's another Martha Stewart recipe but no complaints here. The time spent making it is so worthwhile.

One of Brynn's favorite gifts; a litttle mermaid bath doll

Oma and Opa gave both Brynn and Lily Sleeping Beauty dresses. This is the "princess pose." I never noticed the processes doing this in the movies, but both girls inherently pose like this when wearing a princess dress.

Had to throw some blue into this frilly, girly post! Love this little man.

Brynn has never had a "friend" party and was begging me for a 'princess tea party' this year. I kept it small and kicked out the boys! Backyard parties are so nice, easy clean-up!

Little girls love tea parties. Lunch/Treat table

In lieu of goodie bags, we gave out birthday bubble and white-chocolate dipped marshmallows.

The princesses: Sidney, Brynn and Taylor

Carly, Brynn and Laci

Aubrey and Brynn

Look at all that frilly-ness!

Happy 3rd Birthday Brynndy! We love you "lots and lots and lots!"

Preschool Friends

2011-07-03T21:53:00.001-07:00

I was able to participate in another wonderful preschool co-op for the last year. Here's my cute friend Ambyr and our friends' daughter Eilee. She's a twin, and her sister Maya is just as adorable!

Taylor and Eli playing at the Point Loma tide pools during one of our field trips
We had six kids last year. Here are the girls; Sidney, Brynn and Taylor

And the boys; Jackson, Jaron and Eli

We always have so much fun with our preschool friends!

Easter 2011

2011-07-03T21:32:00.001-07:00

The Schultz's hosted Easter this year and the Camp's joined us, as well as my parents and brother Daniel and his fiance Anna. As usual, they made a delicious Easter dinner. Here are the kids at their table:

My handsome boy Brynn, Lexi, Van, Lily, Dane & Eli ready for an egg hunt

Lily

Brynn

Van

The carrot cake I made for dessert. It's nothing impressive, but I had to include this pic so I could rant about Martha Stewart's ridiculous recipe. The cake recipe is fine, but it calls for decorating with candied carrots, which was beautiful, so I had to try it. Total waste of time! I let the carrot strips boil literally 2 seconds to long and they turned black and stiff. Not to mention they were nasty. No amount of sugar will make candied carrots tasty. Carrots are meant to stay crunchy, cold and unsweetened. Anyway, I was able to salvage a rosette from the mess!

My brother Daniel and his beautiful fiance Anna. They were newly engaged around Easter. So excited to be adding another sister to the fam!

Baking with Mom

2011-07-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned on here a few times that the BEST cook I know is my Mom, so whenever she comes into town, we get to work in the kitchen. One of my more fun cookbook purchases as of late is "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and one of my favorite recipes is the basic brioche. You can do anything with brioche! I never knew. I would share it right here, but the authors are pretty strict about copyrighting, so, if you care to link to their site you can find it there for free.

I've made it in loaf pans, as a fluffier tart crust, in a fruit layer cake, in muffin pans, as a bun, and as the traditional brioche, but I prefer the loaf with cinnamon sugar. Here we're doing a loaf of cinnamon sugar and chocolate ganache.
The chocolate ganache isn't as pretty because I think I used too much ganache (say what?! You can use too much ganache?!) but it was mighty tasty. Give it a try. Your hips won't love me but your taste buds will!

SD Zoo

2011-04-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

One of the things we love best about San Diego is the Zoo, especially the "buckets," which is what Eli and Brynn call the Skyfari ride. This day we went with my friend Ambyr and her daughters. Eli and Sidney had fun riding together.

Sidney, Brynn & Eli looking out over Balboa Park

Love this little guy!

An Afternoon Tea Party

2011-04-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

My darling daughter has been begging to use my tea set for ages, so when the kids had a couple of friends over one afternoon, we decided to have a tea party. I let them use all the fancy, delicate tea stuff I had, except I swapped out the pretty crystal topped spoons for baby spoons, that way the could stir like real English ladies without cracking my cups :)

Laci, Aubrey, Eli and Brynn ready to start their tea party Tea parties aren't just for the ladies! Eli like one every now and then too. I even have a tea cup that is sort-of boyish...it's green...

Aubrey pouring some "cream" (aka air..) into her "tea" (aka lemonade...they sampled the berry tea...didn't like it...)

Laci with her tea cup

2011-04-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

We don't get to go to Disneyland with the Schultz's very often because of Jake's schedule, but when we do, we have so much fun!

Lily, Eli and Dane on Eli's favorite ride, Soarin' Over California Jake & the kids with Aviator Minnie

Brynn relaxing in the shade while the 'big kids' ride the rapids. Brynn is barely, barely under 42" and no matter how conspicuously we stuff toilet paper into her shoes, they never let her on the rides at California Adventures. To her credit, she bears this injustice with a smile.

Brynn & Lexi are such sweet friends & cousins!

Our little family in front of the castle

The Armendariz Family Visits

2011-04-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

We met the Armendariz family when we moved to Florida in 2006 and have been friends ever since. We haven't been stationed together since Florida, but have been able to see each other through vacations, like when the came to California to visit family for Christmas. They stayed with us for a night and we had so much fun catching up. Jake and I fell in love with their sweet baby Kensington.

Of course we had to stop by the beautiful San Diego Temple And the Mormon Battalion in Old Town San Diego. Carter and Eli had fun dressing up as soldiers.

Carter and Brynn panning for gold. These two are one day apart! Carter was born the day after Brynn was.

Me, Amanda and Kensi

The Camp and Armendariz Families. We miss you guys! Can't wait till our next vacations bring us together again.

Christmas 2010

2011-04-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Christmas of 2010 over 10 glorious days off and in 4 different households. We started off at our house and were joined by Grandma, Grandpa, Sarah and Matt. Eli and Brynn had a blast making cookies for Santa and waking up the next morning to find that he really did come.

They were happily busy with their gifts from Santa and Mom and Dad for much of the day. Eli's favorite was this shake n'go racetrack. We had a Camp family party at Andrea and Bremen's house in Point Loma and then we all headed up to Lancaster where my sister Erin and Cory joined us from Utah. Eli and Brynn were ecstatic to see even more presents under Grandma and Grandpa's tree! My bro in law Cory, my sis Erin and bro Dan at my parent's house.

Aunt Sarah helping Brynn with her magnetic dress up dolls

Impromptu fashion show for Aunt Sarah's fashion blog.

Face masks are a tradition for the McCammon family girls. We barricade ourselves upstairs and do facials and nails whenever we're all together. It's always so much fun and this year, Brynn joined us!

Hanging out with the fam

From Lancaster we drove up to Idaho to spend some more time with the Camp's. Brynn and Presley hit it off right away.

Early morning cartoon-daze.

Jake's brother Joe has a couple of snowmobiles and we spent an afternoon riding and sledding in the -13 weather. It was freeeeezing but so much fun.

Brynn sledding

Lexi, Dane, Bremen and Josh sledding

My Californian baby surprised me by wanting to stay out in the snow all day long. Eli kept begging to be taken back out. Thankfully his Daddy is obliging. Brynn, Eli, Lexi and Lilly going down a hill

Jake and Annie hauling the kids back up the hill.

Dane and Eli playing some Wii

Spending Christmas with lots of family is what it's all about!

Tea Party

2011-01-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

I caught Brynn and her cousin Lily having a tea party the other day with the porcelain tea sets that Oma and Opa gave the girls for Christmas

They were so cute with their American Girl dolls pulled up to the table...

Pouring and sipping tea like proper ladies

These are their "pretty princess faces"

ahhh...tea parties make me happy!

2011-01-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

Check out how talented and awesome my little brother Matt is:

He carved these designs out of the wood panels, painted them white and then lined the back with black felt. This was his Christmas gift to my older brother Daniel in our family exchange and is meant to hang up...can I put my order in for next year?? I love it! Good work Matt, you rock!

Peace & Love

2010-12-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Jake's Aunt Cheri is an amazing photographer and anytime I need anything photo-related, I can count on her to make me something I'll love. She did our Christmas cards this year and it seems fortuitous that she used "Peace & Love" as the greeting. I had another miscarriage a few weeks ago, my 4th in a row, and it has been hard, very hard get over. We have had such an outpouring of love that it has brought me peace that I didn't think I would find so quickly. I'm still grieving, but I'm doing so with the love and support of so many, and with the peace that they and the Savior have given me. The other night I was struggling and turned to my scriptures. I opened them at random to John and read chapter 14. Verses 18-27 says, "I will not leave you comfortless...Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." These words make me happy and I know they are true. So Peace and Love to your families from ours this Christmas season!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing Thanksgiving this year! Jake had to work on Thanksgiving day, so we celebrated the next day and since this is the first year we're back in So. Cal., we decided to have a big Camp/McCammon feast.

It was so much fun to have 23 members of both Camp and McCammon families on one long table! I love having a houseful of family.

Jake's Grandparent's from Arizona were also able to join us, Grandma Van always spoils the kids with treats! It was neat to have 4 generations of family together.

My parents came up a couple of days before Thanksgiving to help me out. My Mom and I spent two days cooking and you know what, it was so much fun! We chopped, cooked, chatted, tasted and then sat down on the couch and immediately fell asleep each day.

The menu, I wish I took pictures because the food is my favorite part next to family time!

-Brined/Roasted Turkey (I use a variation of my Mom's recipe, it never fails me!)

-Green Bean Casserole

-Succotash

-Yams w/Marshmallows

-Yams w/Crumble Topping

-15lbs Garlic Parm Mashed Potatoes

-Chestnut Sausage Stuffing

-Apple Sausage Stuffing

-2 Raspberry Pretzel Salads

-Cranberry Sauce

-Turkey Gravy

That is just what I made, thanks to my wonderful family that brought all the other food, including another delicious turkey.

Ahoy Mates! Let's Celebrate!

2010-12-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

The night before Eli turned 4, I was laying in bed with him, begging him to stay 3. He said, "I'm sorry Mom, I don't know how, but I just keep growing." Like him, I'm amazed at how this year just flew by, but I loved every minute of my 3 year old and will love every minute of his 4th year. He wanted a pirate party this year (is that like a rite of passage for this age? Seems like they all want pirate parties). These are some of our mateys that joined us, I had to invite some ladies for Brynn but I thought it was funny how they split up, even at this age!

Per tradition, I let the birthday boy pick the menu. It doesn't vary much each year...this year it was wrapped lil smokies, veggie straws, grapes and oranges.
We had a treasure hunt for the goody bags (a few pirate necessities tied up in a paper bag)

We walked the plank

This is the cake I made this year, thanks to FamilyFun.com for the how to. It was by far the easiest cake I've made for a birthday. Definitely going the easy cake route from now on. It's always the biggest stress and you know what? The kids never care!

Singing happy birthday to Eli. I love the little look he is sharing with his cousin Lily, too cute!

Blowing out the candles, which turned out to be trick candles! Whoops! Pretty entertaining and then frustrating for a bunch of 4 year olds.

yum, yum cake. Here's an Eli fact: He prefers vanilla over chocolate. But if chocolate is offered and there isn't a vanilla choice, he'll still take it.

The kids always love a pinata and the best part for me: I used all our leftover Halloween candy (sshhh don't tell my kids) to stuff it!

Eli's present from me, Jake and Brynn came in the mail after the party...what could it be??

A Playmobil pirate ship! That sucker took Jake and I an hour and a half to put together. But it is sooo awesome. I see why people love Playmobil.

Happy Birthday my sweet son! My life would not be the wonderful adventure it is without you. I love playing cars, airplanes and of course pirates with you. I love all our endless conversations, putting puzzles together, going on walks, teaching you how to cook and color and count. Every single thing about you is precious to me, even the tantrums and the "5 more minutes Mom!," because I know it's all fleeting and I'll take every moment I can get. Love you Eli!

2010-11-05T21:09:00.001-07:00

My Mom has beautiful curly hair, my sister has beautiful wavy hair. Seems like everyone has beautiful beachy waves but me. I have super straight hair and I always, always wanted curly hair. Then I had this cutie pie that was nearly bald until she was a year old. When her hair did start to come in, it came as corkscrews. It's bouncy and beautiful and is so completely Brynn.

So if I can't have those curls, I'm perfectly happy with my daughter having them instead.
And I know we all want what we don't have, so Brynn will probably straighten her hair when she's a teenager, but I think it's just adorable right now!

2010-11-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

This pile of books is some of the required reading for my upcoming fall term. That's right friends, I'm going back to school. Earlier this year I transferred to the State University of New York, which has an awesome program that will allow me to finish my BA via distance learning and independent study. I'm double majoring in Literature (already finished) and Anthropology. Classes start on Monday and I'm equally excited and nervous.

It's been a long time since my college days and now I have the added demands of motherhood and running a household, but I found this print that is inspiring me.
I feel like finishing my degree will inspire myself and my children to reach their full potential. And that makes me happy!

Slumber Party

2010-11-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

My brother and sister in law went to San Fransisco for a couple of days and we were so excited to have a sleepover with the cousins! We took the kids to the San Diego Zoo one afternoon. They've redone much of the zoo since I was last here 4 years ago. It has some great play areas for the kids now, including this elephant that kept them climbing for 30 minutes.

ahhh the life of a Daddy
We took them to a neat pumpkin patch the next day. It's up in the mountains in Escondido at Bate's Nut Farm. Jake and I got some yummy almonds and the kids picked out their pumpkins here.

Being silly with Uncle Jake/Daddy. There were some really big pumpkins!

They're best buddies! It's so fun to finally live close to some of their cousins and at least be within a days' drive of the Camp cousins in Idaho.

Lily, Eli, Lexi & Dane

Patiently waiting while I got the apples ready to dip into caramel. Well, Lily was patient, Eli couldn't wait to eat one.

yum! Nothing is better than caramel apples in the fall.

Painting the pumpkins that they picked out that afternoon. See how they're all laughing? They had the best time together!

Bremen and Andrea brought us back this yummy jack-o-lantern sourdough disc AND some honey caramel to dip it in.

It was so tasty!

2010-11-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

This is a giant avocado

We found it in the local farmer's market at our commissary (military grocery store). I LOVE our commissary, not only is it huge and cheap, but it has a farmer's market section!!
Can't wait to crack this baby open for fajitas this week

That is, if Brynn will let me. She rather likes the giant avocado.

2010-11-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

I don't think I ever posted a pic of our new house! We moved in back in June, but it already feels like we've been here for a long time. I'm still not a fan of the two story, but it's impossible to find a single story in San Diego. But it is an awesome neighborhood and a quiet cul-de-sac within walking distance of the elementary school so we love it!

The backyard is itty bitty, but enough room for us right now.
And thank goodness for the long stretch of sidewalk so the kids can still ride their trikes (or bikes or motorcycles or race cars or princess carriage...depending on the mood of the day).

Coronado Island

2010-10-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Coronado Island has some of our favorite beaches in San Diego. It's one of the furthest from where we live now, but it has such good memories, we're always drawn back. When we lived in San Diego 5 years ago, we were only a few minutes from Coronado, and spent a lot of time there. Check out my BYU boys lounging on the beach.

We noticed a slow moving, shadowy shape moving across the horizon and realized it was our brother-in-law Bremen's sub coming back in from a trip. Bremen's a dive doctor for the Navy, meaning he treats submariners and thus has to spend a certain number of days on a sub per month. Pretty neat, huh?!
A favorite of the Coronado beaches is the DOG BEACH! This fine specimen is our dog Layla, the "first child" who has fallen so far in rank it must be disheartening to her, but we do what we can to make it up to her.

She's 6 years old now but she still has her jumping legs and loves to chase tennis balls and great big dogs.

I just love this age with Eli (3 weeks till he's 4..waahhh!) He's really into making deals, bargaining and talking with his hands.

2010-10-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

JUNKED (verb): To take into the mouth (food) and chew or swallow for nourishment, enjoyment or disobedience.

EXAMPLE: "Eli, what did you do with your gum?" "I junked it!"

I just love it when they make up new words. Especially ones that I can use around the house!

2010-10-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

Note to self:

Do not leave the tray of poffertjes on the coffee table all morning or else your 2 year old will feel free to take one bite out of each one.

Ebelskiver, Popovers, Aebelskivers, Paniyaram, Gai daan Jai, Poffertjes..

2010-10-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Most countries have a version of poffertjes by a different name, but we hail from the dutch, so we call them poffertjes. Since it's conference weekend, I busted out my perfectly seasoned aebleskiver pan to make our family's traditional conference poffertjes. If you also have an aebelskiver pan, this is my favorite recipe (I got it from Arne's Solvang Restaurant in Solvang, CA one of my favorite places in CA to visit!): 2C flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1/2tsp salt, 1T sugar, 4 eggs (separated), 2C milk, 4T melted butter. Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk egg yolks, milk and melted butter together in a smaller bowl, once combined whisk into dry ingredients (should be lumpy like pancake mix). Beat eggs whites in a mixer until stiff but without peaks, fold into batter. Pour the batter into each well up to the rim. They cook fast, so if you want to fill them be quick! Last year I filled them with chocolate and cinnamon chips. This year I did bananas and sauteed apples. I use a crochet hook to flip the poffertjes over (that's the tricky part).

They take about 3 minutes to cook through and should be golden brown
Looks like a lot for 3 people? It was! But I know that they keep well in the fridge for days and my kids will love them for breakfast this week. As per tradition, we dust them with powdered sugar before serving.

They couldn't wait a second longer to eat them!

I like to eat mine with strawberry or raspberry jam, but the kids like dipping them in MORE powdered sugar or syrup instead.

Happy Conference weekend everyone!

A Day Off

2010-10-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Jake's schedule has been crazy thus far in residency, he doesn't get many days off and is working most weekends BUT I do when his days off fall on weekdays. We get to go fun places like Disneyland when it's not as crowded.

The Carousel is a must for my kids
Jake & I like it too

They love Dumbo too

Eli & I

Brynn & I cooling off while the boys ride a big kid ride

After Disneyland we headed over to Bremen & Andrea's house for some ice cream cookie sandwiches (yummmm) and rock band.

What can I say? It's a hard life but someone's gotta live it! :)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2010-10-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

We went to a Dodgers vs. Padres game a few weeks ago at Petco Park. Isn't it a pretty ball park? Can you call a ball park pretty?

Brynn telling Dane how much the Dodgers stink this season...
Jake & Brynn

Brynn attacked Uncle Bremen when he brought back peanuts, she liked to lick off the salt and then crack it open to eat the peanut.

Dane hitting one out of the park!

Eli & Dane

The Dodgers followed their losing trend but we still have fun cheering on our team.

Kids' Rooms

2010-09-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

I am so in love with this painting my lovely and talented sis in law Sarah painted for Brynn's room. Brynn likes to lay in bed and count the birds. Thank you Aunt Sarah!

Isn't it so cute? If you want some easy fashion fixes mixed with witty commentary, check out Sarah's fashion blog or click on her button on the right.
Another thing I love about Brynn's room: the kids' 'coming home from the hospital' outfits.

Eli has a new addition to his room too, a huge BYU flag above his bed. When we were in UT last weekend we stopped at Jake's alma matter and Jake spoiled his boy. The blanket on the bed was Jake's when he was a boy. I'm not sure if the flag was a great idea, every morning since we put it up, I've woken up to loud choruses of BYU! BYU! BYU!

Rise and shout, the cougars are out!

bYu!

Festival of Sail

2010-09-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we were in Salt Lake City, UT for my bro in law's wedding (sad story: I forgot my camera) and we home just in time to catch the end of the Festival of Sail on Labor day. We went after the festival closed to avoid admission fees, so most of the sails were up, but it was still fun to see all those big schooners. The Star of India is a museum and is always in the port of San Diego, so we see this one often.

It's chilly in San Diego! We went from the dry high 80's and low 90's in Utah to 63 when we came back home. Brynn hung out with Daddy the whole time to stay warm.

Our favorite, 'The Pilgrim,' had the most ropes and sails of them all.

Eli was in his element here, the boy loves ships, carriers, subs, sailboats, rowboats...anything that floats.

Eli looks tiny compared to the Star of India

The kids & I

Aunt Sarah & Uncle Matt

2010-08-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

My Brother Matt and his wife Sarah also recently flew down from Utah to visit the family. They came to our house for a couple of days for some beach fun, Eli and Brynn love nothing more than the beach with doting Aunt's and Uncle's.

Eli loves playing in the waves and running from them. Brynn is so scared of the waves that she won't go in unless being held, which is funny because she begs me to go to the beach.
The kids and I followed Matt and Sarah up to my parent's house. Brynn was obviously happy to be there!

Grandpa thought it would be fun to set up a tent for them to play in during the day and Eli and he to sleep in at night. They had such a blast!

Yay! Brynn finally will hold still for a pedi, which she insists on every time she sees someone else doing their nails. Grandma did a very good job with those little piggies, unfortunately her pedicures only last about 2 hours (and I complain about mine only lasting 2 weeks..)

The kids know who to go to for a good cuddle, I think Grandpa likes it too :)

Normally Eli would contest bedtime while everyone else is having a good time, but this night he knew he got to sleep in the tent and kept begging Grandpa to take him to bed. He had so much fun looking at the stars and sleeping outside, he talked about it for days.

Thank goodness my parent's have a pool to beat that high desert heat, we all had a lot of fun cooling off in it. Especially when the kids have someone to throw them around like Aunt Sarah.

Part of my family: Eli, Mom, Dad, Brynn, Sarah, Anna, Daniel, Matt.

Drying off didn't take long in the 100+ weather!

It's been a great summer with lots of family around. I love you all! Thanks for visiting Matt & Sarah, we miss you guys already.

Fren-emies

2010-08-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

Eli and Brynn are the best of friends and once in awhile, worst enemies. Today has been a best friend day. I even went to check on them a couple of times because they were playing outside in the water table or upstairs with the trains and I wouldn't hear from them for hours. But they were laughing and chatting away. It's nice to see your kids love each other!

2010-08-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

Some days are just made for dancing and Brynn woke up this day really wanting to wear her ballerina suit.

She is by all means a rough n' tough girl but has an equally girly side.
Brynn danced everywhere she went that day. She thinks dancing is lifting up the edge of your skirt and twirling in circles (Disney princess style).

She even dressed her baby to match her so they could dance together.

I just love dress up days.

Uncle Cory & Aunt Erin

2010-08-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

My handsome boys hanging out in Seaport Village

My sister Erin and her husband Cory flew down from Salt Lake City, UT to spend a few days with the kids and I. Jake has been doing an out of town rotation this month and only gets 4 days off, so we were very grateful for the company! My brother Daniel (who lives an hour away in Orange County) and my Mom (who lives 3 hours away in Lancaster) were also able to come up for a few days. Pictured below is Daniel, my Mom, Brynn, me, Eli, Erin and Cory.

One of Jake's days off fell on their visit so he was able to come home and enjoy some male bonding.
The kids were so happy to have someone to rough house with, Uncle Daniel always lets them climb all over him.

Uncle Cory and Eli racing Brynn and Aunt Erin on Mario Kart. They both think they are the winning kart whenever they play.

We had to take Cory and Erin to one of our favorite San Diego spots, Coronado beach.

We built sandcastles, played in the water, hunted for sand dollars..

And basked in the sun (don't worry, I'm wearing my SPF 100)

It was a quick trip but we had so much fun. The kids adore their Aunt Erin & Uncle Cory and couldn't stop talking about them for days. Thanks for coming to see us guys!

2010-08-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Heaven help us!

The Rite Aid by our house has THRIFTY ice cream!! My favorite ice cream of all time is Thrifty chocolate malted crunch. Friends, this could be my demise.

Another Belated Birthday

2010-07-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

Our cutie Brynn turned 2 on June 10th, 3 days after my hip surgery, so we decided to have her actual party a few weeks later, so I could actually be awake for it :) We had a small party with my parents, complete with swimming, bbq, cupcakes and lots of presents. Oma and Opa gave Brynn her first American Girl (Kit) on her actual birthday. I'll have to get a picture of her and "Kick" (the T sound at the end has yet to be mastered, until then, she is Kick) because Brynn loves her very much.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Brynn this cute Tinkerbell outfit. I foresee it making it's debut at Disneyland in the near future..
Shoes, shoes, shoes. Like any girl, Brynn loves shoes. She has been stealing my heels to walk around the house, so we thought it was time to get her her own pair, a few inches shorter.

I think these are about the most adorable shoes I've seen. Unfortunately, Brynn's feet grew 1/2 a size since Grandma bought them, so they only lasted once. I know Brynn will be tall because he feet are huge (Size 8 for a 2 year old?!). At least I'm hoping this is the case.

She was very excited to unwrap her very own trike. Grandma and Grandpa picked out the perfect trike for her, it's bright like her personality and has a BABY BASKET up front! So cute. Sorry Mom, although the streamers were much loved, they were perhaps too loved and are now conspicuously missing.

One happy birthday girl

Cupcake and singing time! I love the 2nd birthday because they are so into it. I also love these little, proud smiles my kids get when we're singing 'happy birthday' to them.

Love those curls, blue eyes, little nose, spunky personality.

Making a wish

Eli's scoping out the goods. The sprinkles are blue glass slippers, yellow crowns, red poisoned apples, and pearls.

Eli loves this picture, he thinks it's so funny that Grandpa is about to eat his cupcake! Happy Birthday sweet girl! How fortunate we are to have you as a daughter.

Cousins!

2010-07-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had a little Camp family vacation here in San Diego. Joe, Mandy, Katie, Alyssa and Presley came in from Idaho. Josh and his soon to be wife Shannen came in from Utah and Mom and Dad Camp came down from Acton. Andrea, Bremen, Dane, Lexi, Lily and Van had just moved to San Diego as well, so we were all together for the first time in about 5 years! We did some fun things like a beach bonfire and Sea World (Jake almost killed me by letting go of my wheelchair 3 times. But I still think it's the best way to get around a theme park!) But my favorite thing was seeing the kids' with their cousins.

I came in one morning and found Dane, Brynn, Lexi, Lily and Eli perched on the couch watching a movie. Can you guess what movie is on? I didn't even notice what part of the movie it was until looking through the pictures with my sister in law. Magical!
Party animals. They like to watch movies, color with sidewalk chalk, ride bikes and trikes and eat lots of cereal.

This cutie is Van. He melts my heart! We like to cuddle.

Lexi and Lily

Uncle Joe (Alyssa is in there too!) at Sea World

Jake and Eli

Dane and Lexi waiting for a show to start

Brynn was impressed with the acrobats

Eli cheering

Brynn and Presley playing ball

All 8 Camp/Schultz grandkids together (at Oma and Opa's house)

Lexi and Alyssa cooling off with popsicles. We had such a great time with everyone! Nothing is better than spending time with family. Hopefully we'll be able to get together more often now. Love you all!!

Hip Surgery in my 20's

2010-07-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

After we returned from Italy, we picked up the kids from the Grandparent's and moved into a lovely little place we call home in Carmel Mountain, San Diego. We had 4 days (4 DAYS!) to fully unpack before I had major hip surgery. Here's why: I had a cam deformity (think bone spur) in my right hip socket, which was pinching and rubbing my labrum raw. I also had a slight tear in the labrum from when I had Eli. Not because he was huge (because he was!) but because the nurse that was holding my right leg pushed it way too far with way too much force. After this initial injury it only got worse and I spent the next 3 1/2 years going through many Doctor's, MRI's, x-rays, cortisone shots, and physical therapy before we learned that surgery was my only option. My hip was badly deteriorating and I was feeling and walking like an 80 year old. Luckily I got into the orthopaedic surgery clinic here at the Naval Hospital that performs the fairly new and uncommon surgery with high success rates. They used about 50lbs of traction to pull my hip out of the socket so they could get their tiny needles, tubes, saws and cameras into my hip joint to shave down the deformity and cut away the damaged surrounding cartilage and labrum. They also broke my hip to insure it would heal together nicely. After surgery I was on "bedrest" for 2 1/2 weeks and then on crutches for another 3. They took my crutches away this weekend and I'm one happy woman! I go to physical therapy 2-4 times a week to rebuilt muscle strength and slowly return to normal activity. Thankfully this is the only picture of my recovery! My leg is in a CPM machine and ice therapy machine, which I had to do every waking moment. It moved my leg back at forth very slowly to insure that I wouldn't form scar tissue in my joint.

Jake took this picture because I was allegedly hogging all the pillows and my niece Lexi wasn't happy about it! She's a cutie and was playing a long with Jake, who I think was the real jealous one.
And that, my friends, is what has consumed my last 6 weeks. I'm finally allowed to walk and drive as usual and in another 2 months I will be back to my usual antics, I can't wait!

Rome Part I

2010-07-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

After a long day of flights, connections, bus and train rides, we checked into our hotel, rested for an hour and then explored our neighborhood in the Eternal City, Rome. I think I had the hugest smile as we sat in a quaint street-site ristorante, people watching and eating a true Italian pizza. Yes, we seriously ate pizza on our first night in Italy. And many more times after that! The next day we set off right away to check out ancient Rome. Here's Jake and his favorite: the Colosseum.

You can see the living quarters down below. It used to be covered with a stage like the small one you see to the left. The gladiators, actors, prisoners and animals would live in the cells below. Jake & I inside the Colosseum

Close up of the living quarters/cells

Outside view of the three rings the Colosseum is composed of.

Constantine's Arch

One of the ceilings in Augustus Caesar's home.

Fresco's also in Augustus Caesar's home. His house was considered to be very small and plain.

A small view of the Forum

Another small view of the Forum. The Forum is massive, it took us a few hours to just walk 3/4 of it. I heard that 70% of ancient Rome is still buried, so there must be even more underneath this.

A 'modern' day Catholic church built inside an ancient basilica. All that remains of the ancient basilica are the pillars you see in front.

Michelangelo's famous sculptural tomb of Moses (meant to house a pope) in the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli.

Basilica San Clemente. This basilica was really neat because below the current, medieval church is a 4th century church, and below that is a pagan temple to Mithras and the remains of several ancient Roman buildings, streets, and a working aqueduct.

Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome's only Gothic church built in 1280. Frescoes by Fillipo Lippi.

Fountain outside the Pantheon. Besides in all the big piazza's, Rome has fountains everywhere!

The Pantheon

The ceiling of the Pantheon is amazing, it's one of the largest domes ever built. The open skylight in the center of the ceiling is the only source of light inside. Raphael is also buried here.

Inside the Pantheon. It's the only ancient Roman temple to have survived the centuries intact (built AD 118-125).

Piazza Novana, said to be Rome's prettiest square. It's definitely big and beautiful.

Taking a break by one of the fountains in Piazza Novana.

Dessert for lunch, we did this a few times! This was also the last time we had a diet coke at a ristorante, they are absurdly expensive there.

Enjoying lunch with a piazza view.

Jake & I on the Spanish Steps.

Jake & I in front of another neat fountain in Piazza Novana.

We decided to check out the little known Ostia in lieu of Pompeii, which we thought would take too much time and money away from Rome. Ostia was Rome's oldest harbor city. It's one of the biggest and well preserved archaeological sites of Rome. Jake's hanging out in the tombs.

Jake & I on one of the remaining second stories.

Looking down on the bath houses.

The awesome thing about Ostia is that you can walk through and climb up all the ruins.

Relaxing in the amphitheater.

Very few of the second stories remain, but here you can see how high they were built (even up to three and four stories).

We got one of the cameramen filming a documentary on Ostia to take this pic.

I always knew he was model material..

I think this is my "Jake, I'm starving" smile. We did a lot of walking on this vacation, but it was all worth it. It also kept us from gaining any weight, despite the loads of pasta, bread and gelato we were eating!

We spent a few more days in Rome checking out the better and less known sites.

Rome Part II

2010-07-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

One thing we ate the most of in Italy besides pasta? Gelato! I tried so many different flavors, but my three favorite were nocciola (hazelnut), coconut and fragola (strawberry).

Jake and the Vatican wall
The second window from the end on the top row is where the Pope gives his Sunday and Wednesday blessings from. I always thought it would be something grander.

Jake & I in the massive piazza and St. Peter's Basilica behind us.

The dome of St. Peter's Basilica from the terrace of the Vatican museum

The Papal Gardens

Jake & I on the Vatican museum terrace

Modern sculpture in the museum courtyard

Vatican City and the Vatican museum were by far the most crowded of all the sights in Rome. This is one of the museum corridors that we were allowed to take pictures in.

One of the biggest bathtubs in the world! It's carved out of a single piece of marble.

I think this is actually the biggest bathtub in the world! (I don't really know..but it's got to be close). This one was used by a queen who would only bathe in goat's milk.

The ceilings in the Vatican museum are amazing. Some look like they are carved, but they are all painted.

Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica.

St. Peter's Basilica was easily the biggest Basilica we saw in Rome

Swiss Guards outside of St. Peter's Basilica

The moat outside of Castle Sant'Angelo, the Vatican's stronghold

Castle Sant'Angelo

They were a lot shorter in ancient Rome!

Window in Castle Sant'Angelo, just beyond the rooftop you can see St. Peter's Basilica

I love this view of Rome, you can see the Pantheon, Colosseum, numerous Basilica's..

Jake & I on the rooftop of Castle Sant'Angelo

That's the Tiber River below. I don't know how it looks once you get out of the city but within it was pretty muddy.

We went back down to check out the Colosseum one last time before we left Rome.

Jake getting ready to tackle some Roman traffic.

It's true! Italian drivers are crazy in the city centers. And they really do stop traffic to get out of the car and yell at each other. Although it was easy driving once we got out of the city.

From Rome we drove on to spend a few days unwinding in Tuscany..

Tuscany

2010-06-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

It was a nice change to go from the crowded, sometimes smelly buses and metro that we had used to get around Rome to a quiet little car to ourselves. It was also a nice change to soak up the peaceful countryside as we headed to Tuscany. Siena caught our eye as we were driving through and we decided to stop. I'm so glad we did, it is one of the most beautiful medieval cities, I could have spent a few days there.

The Piazza del Campo differs from most "square" piazzas because it's shaped as a shell. They used to have horse races around the perimeter and now they have annual bike races. Can you find me in the picture? I'll give you a hint, I'm sitting down.
This is just 1/4 of the piazza!

Just a sliver of an amazing view. Steep streets with locals eating at an osteria behind us. We found a neat ceramics store here where the husband and wife sculpted and painted all the pottery themselves. We bought a plate to hang and a bowl for serving.

These are all apartments behind me, I love the swag of vines they have running in between them.

Siena's Gothic style Duomo, the exterior is made of black and white striped marble.

ahh diet coke and a teeny tiny car

side view of the Fiat, it was actually very comfortable up front, but the backseat is non existent!

We had to pry ourselves away from Siena to make sure we had enough daylight to explore San Gimignano, a much smaller medieval Tuscan village, where we were staying. this was the view from our hotel window.

We stayed at La Casa di Giovanna, run out of a woman's apartment that had been in her family for generations. She rented out two rooms and lived in the third. Giovanna served us the most delicious breakfast of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, prosciutto, melons and toasted baguette. The room was one of my favorites of the trip, full of old antique furniture that had been her Grandmother's and Great-Grandmother's.

San Gimignano is very small and though it attracts a few buses of tourists during the day, it's deserted with a few boarders and village residents after 3pm. This was our favorite little piazza to wind the evening away, eating a long dinner and taking a walk before returning to the piazza for the obligatory gelato (we had to...it's Italy!)

This is my "I'm starving!" smile

San Gimignano is known for it's wine, olive oil and towers. The medieval residents would built towers onto their houses to signify wealth; the taller the tower, the wealthier you were. There were once 72 towers, 13 remain. You can climb a few of them to get a spectacular view of the village and Tuscany.

San Gimignano is below me, the Tuscan hillside is beyond that.

Jake and a few of the remaining towers.

Tuscany is so beautiful. We climbed the steps a few times to get more of the view.

This is the door to our room, I love how antiquated it is.

The main street. See the window with the shutters propped open? That's our room. We also found more amazing pottery here and added two more plates to our collection.

Jake found an olive grove. We went to a few different olive presses and tasted different oils until we found one we loved. Jake loves olive oil, he puts it on everything, so this was his souvenir of choice. We bought an olive oil that was pressed from local olive trees and infused with saffron. It's delish! But it's being delivered by boat, so it won't be here for another month :(

Jake & I on top of a tower

Jake is showing how narrow the streets are. We accidentally drove down this street! Only residents and hotel boarders dropping off their bags are allowed to drive within the village walls.

You wouldn't expect the shopping to be much in such a small village but there were some amazing leather shops with affordable, genuine leather. I bought a bag :) I'm so glad we happened upon San Gimignano, it feels like it's frozen in time. After a few days here it was time to move on to Florence.

Florence

2010-06-27T21:39:00.001-07:00

After dropping our rental car off we headed toward the historic center of Florence where we were staying. We spent the day walking around the city and checking out Michelangelo's David at the Academia Museum (which is just as amazing as you would think. It's amazing how Michelangelo can capture such detail in stone). The next day we climbed the dome of the Duomo. Here is the first level of the climb on the inside:

It was really neat to see the dome murals up close. This one was taken from the second (higher) level. If you look closely at the picture you can see the the lower parts of the mural depict hell and the higher levels heaven.
There was a terrace on the top of the dome where we saw these beautiful panoramic views of Florence:

Florence is huge! It seemed small to me compared to Rome but it just has a smaller historic center. And although Rome was interesting for it's ancient ruins, Florence was equally interesting for it's Renaissance art. Florence is considered to be the birthplace of the Renaissance.

Jake & I on top of the Duomo's dome. You can see the Duomo's bell tower in the background.

We climbed and descended over 940 steps (steep, narrow and at times dizzily winding steps!) I was seriously afraid that I was going to fall with my bad hip and no handrails. Stairs were my biggest nemesis.

The view we had of the Duomo from our hotel

The Uffizi Museum. We spent hours here one day browsing works by Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Raphael, Botticelli and so many more. We love museums and history so the Uffizi was a lot of fun.

Both nights we stayed in Florence we were treated to free concerts in different piazza's. The first was huge orchestra playing classical music and this one was a smaller orchestra with a big choir and a few opera singers. They set up speakers all over the piazza so you could here the music reverberating blocks away. It was amazing. You can also see one of the two replica's of Michelangelo's David in the background, it's accurate to size so you can see how massive the statue is.

The golden doors of the baptistery to the Duomo

The baptistery in Florence is unique because, unlike most round baptistry's, it is octagonal.

Once we saw the sights of Florence, we got on a train headed north.

Pisa

2010-06-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

We stopped in Pisa to see the leaning tower. The square that it was located in was really unique because it was surrounded by grass, you don't see that very often. In this picture you can see the baptistery, cathedral and the bell tower (the leaning tower).

The cathedral is the real work of art but it deserted inside because everyone goes to see the tower. They have it stabilized for now and were allowing people to climb it.
Good thing Jake was there to help hold the tower up

Jake & I

After strolling around the square we hopped on the bus back to the train station and caught the next train to the Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre

2010-06-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Cinque Terre, translated to "the five lands," was the most relaxing and beautiful cliff side landscape I have seen. Besides San Gimignano, most of our hotels were located in bustling city centers, so it was nice to take a few days in a remote village to unwind. We stayed in Il Borgo di Campi in Riomaggiore. While there we went on a hike that connected each of the 5 villages.

Checking out the main piazza in Riomaggiore.
Our hotel was actually made up of about 25 little cottages nestled into the cliff.

Our cottage was sparse but comfortable.

And this was our view...we spent most of our time sitting out on the terrace reading.

This was taken on the hotel restaurant terrace. We had to eat at the hotel because it was so remote that there was only one bus that ran from it to the village 3 times a day. Luckily the food was fantastic. The chef happened to be the owner of the hotel. One night we had seafood pasta and pesto gnocchi. The pesto gnocchi was the best I've ever had, the pesto was light and the gnocchi just melted in your mouth.

The view of Riomaggiore from the first leg of the hike. This was the shortest leg of the hike and also the most popular, it's called "Via del'Amor."

Manarola

You can see Corniglia behind us.

Looking down on Vernazza.

The leg of hike connecting Vernazza to the final village of Monterosso was closed, so we took a few hours to eat lunch and gelato. Here we're on top of the stronghold tower you can see in the previous picture.

The pier and beach of Monterosso. This was the only one of the five villages that had a beach with a decent sandbar.

The foliage in Cinque Terre was beautiful

The rat tail is alive and well in Riomaggiore! We initially thought it was a mullet, but my southern friend Amanda, who has more experience in these things, informed us differently.

On to Venice! This was a long train ride with a few quick train changes, but we were old pro's at this point.

Venice

2010-06-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

Venice was a wonderful city to end our vacation in. It's the most unique and fairy-tale like city I have ever seen.

Our hotel room in Venice
The view from our hotel room (this is the Grand Canal)

yummy patisseria

one of the many small canals

The streets were so narrow! Most could only fit two people shoulder to shoulder.

The Ponte Di Rialto, the oldest bridge in Venice. They never built another like this because it obstructed the view.

Grand Canal traffic

Basillica di San Marco

Docked gondolas

Piazza di San Marco

I loved the little canals and footbridges

Beautiful Venetian windows

The Jewish ghetto, this ghetto was the first built.

Eating dinner at our hotel's restaurant on the Grand Canal. We had some seriously good food here. Jake had a beef tortillini with a nutmeg bechamel sauce and I had pasta bolognese.

Kicking up our feet, I could get used to traveling like this!

It may be a cliche for tourism, but the gondola ride was so fun!

A gondola traffic jam

Navigating the streets in Venice is nearly impossible. The streets are so winding and constantly change names. We decided to ditch our map and allow ourselves to get lost. It was so much fun!

The Greatest Grandparents in the World!

2010-06-20T11:21:00.001-07:00

Before I can blog about our vacation to Italy, I have to share these cute pictures that our parents would send to us while we were gone. We were gone for 16 days, so needless to say, I missed my kids like crazy. These pictures would make my day! I never worried though, I knew they were in the best care besides my own. We are so grateful to our parents for allowing us this opportunity. I can tell the kids had a great time and love you guys so much! Eli got to go golfing with Opa and Great Grandpa. He even got to drive Great Grandpa around, which he talked about for days.

Eli and Brynn are such helpers at home and it was no different at Grandma & Grandpa's. They saw Grandpa weeding and Eli said, "I want to do it!" and Brynn is not one to be left out so she also said "do it!"
One of their favorite things to help out with was watering the flower and vegetable gardens.

Oma took them to the park near her house

And then they got a bubble bath afterwards. Eli loves bubble baths, Brynn isn't a fan.

It was still too cold to swim in Grandma & Grandpa's pool, but they had fun just splashing.

We learned that Brynn is a HUGE fan of chocolate cheerios

Eli, however, would not even try the chocolate cheerios. He prefers to stick with regular or honey.

They got dressed up to go to church with Grandma & Grandpa Brynn and Oma went shopping! Brynn especially loved the trips to Costco where she got a cute book.

Eli brought Oma Brynn's sandal one day and said, "Oma, the scissors cut Brynn's shoe. Can you tape it?"
Most of all they loved riding their "bikes" at both houses.

Grandma & Grandpa had a big wheel this time and Eli is super fast on it. I love this because I had a pink and white big wheel when I was his age and I remember racing around the yard on it and loving it until the wheels fell off.

Oma & Opa added a motor car to their collection and Eli was excited that it drove on it's own but was more excited that it was green (his favorite color).

A little bit of this, a little bit of that.

2010-06-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you noticed I took a brief hiatus in blogging. Things got really busy. Jake and the YW Presidency put on our ward's dinner and auction and had a ward temple trip the week before we moved. Jake had to check out of the command. Tearful goodbyes with dear friends. Then it was time to pack up and make long drive through the Lone Star State to San Diego. As soon as we got to San Diego we braved the Tricare office to get our regions switched so I could be seen at the Orthopaedic Surgery Clinic the next day. We drove around and looked at houses for two days until we found home. Which is in Carmel Mountain, by the way. I had a few pre-op appointments and then we drove to the Grandparents' places for 2 days. Got the kids settled and hopped on a plane to Italy. Spent 16 days of pure vacation bliss with my wonderful husband. Came home, moved into our house 2 days later. Spent 5 days unpacking and did a marvelous job getting everything out of boxes, put away and settled (thank you family!). Had major hip surgery the next day. Spent the next 7 days in a uncomfortable blur of naps and physical therapy. And during that blur my sweet, beautiful, spunky daughter turned 2. I just love my little Bryndy so much. She's already quick and smart, a little ornery but always sweet. She is Eli's best friend and at times nemesis. I feel grateful for each moment I get to spend with her and look forward to the eternity of happiness that she brings to our family. I feel bad that my health again postponed a birthday party, but when I can walk in a few weeks we'll go all out! 2nd birthday's are big news! Love you Brynn Deanne!!

A Very Happy Un-Birthday

2010-04-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

Eli turned 3 last November, and though we celebrated that night as a family, we had to cancel his birthday party with friends because it happened to be the day I was miscarrying. We've been to a quiet a few birthday parties since then and he always says something like, "I don't have a birthday, do I?" Or he'll get excited when we have a cake in the house and ask if it's his birthday today. After months of these comments I finally realized how important birthday parties are at this age. I had all the party supplies from back in November, so why not have an un-birthday party? My friend Taryn is so talented and also so gracious, she made these cute invitations for us:

I waited until a few days before the party to tell Eli about it. I had been correct in guessing that he would talk non-stop about it until the day of. When he woke up and saw the decorations he yelled, "It's really my birthday! My Buzz Lightyear birthday!" I think he was the happiest boy in Corpus Christi today.

Birthday banner
I realized today how much I love plastic tablecloths. And Eli loved that it had Buzz all over it.
The rest of the house. I also made Jake blow up 50 balloons to have all over the floor. He tried to get out of it but it didn't work.

I let Eli choose the kids menu: chicken nuggets, french fries, fruit, pirates booty and popcorn. Can you tell the popcorn is green and purple? It's lime and grape flavored (jello-caramel corn). The adult menu was a little healthier: chicken spinach salad and parmesan wrapped with prosciutto and fig jam. Good friends! Eli, Jack, (Liam hidden by globe), Jordyn, Naomi, Cooper, Ruben, Eli, Erick, and Brynn.

I love how all the kids gather around for presents. Eli was spoiled and loved it. One of his friends is also named Eli and he was a little confused because I kept saying, "Open this one Eli!" It doesn't help that his birthday is next week too :)

I absolutely love this picture! He looks so happy.

Singing happy birthday

I wonder what he wished for?

As I was turning out his light and saying goodnight he suddenly said, "thank you for my best birthday Mommy" and I rushed back and gave him a great big hug. It was so fun to see him so happy today. I love my Eli so much, I can't believe he turned 3 years and 5 months today :) Everday with him in my life is a blessing that I thank my Heavenly Father for daily.

Sandfest 2010

2010-04-21T18:05:00.001-07:00

We've gone to Sandfest each of the 3 years we've lived in Corpus Christi, TX. Here we are in 2008 (I'm 7 1/2 mo. pregnant with Brynn):

In 2009:
And 2010:

It was a little cooler than usual this year but it still felt great. We went with our friends the Christensen's.

Eli's favorite this year:

Another neat one:

Brynn's favorite. When we walked away from it she said, "bye princess!"

Cooper and Eli checking out something interesting

Brynn and Liam sitting on the base of a sand castle in the amateur section

Taryn and I

Travis and Jake with the kiddos

This is definitely something I'm going to miss about the coastal bend!

Easter

2010-04-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

Easter couldn't have been more perfect this year. I loved having General Conference on Easter, I felt like it brought the Savior into more of the celebration, with a big part of the day listening to the apostles bear testimony of Him and the gospel. After conference ended we headed over to the Volcansek's for an egg hunt and dinner with the Shipley's, Ledesma's and Hodge's. Here Brynn and Jordyn are dancing:

The kids excitedly waiting for the okay to start the egg hunt
My kids are the only ones that like hard boiled eggs, so only about 10 of the 30 were actual eggs. The rest were filled with candy. Eli had to open each egg to see what he got before he would put it in his basket! At one point Jack picked up a real egg and squeezed, then told us, "This egg is all squishy!"

The kid crew: Brynn, Eli, Jack, Naomi and Jordyn

Eli loves his train "basket" (he is probably more correct when he calls it his train bucket)

Brynn checking out the goods. We spoiled the kids and let them eat all the candy they wanted on Easter and threw the rest out the next day.

Trying to get a picture of the kids for the grandparents was impossible! I seriously have about 25 and this is the best.

aerial shot of the Easter outfits, I love to see my kids all gussied up

Naomi got these sunglasses in her Easter basket that morning and wouldn't take them off for days!

Jack and Eli playing catch

It was a beautiful Easter, thanks everyone for sharing the fun!

2010-04-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

Besides the last few humid, drizzly days the weather here in South Texas has been absolutely gorgeous. We took the kids mini golfing on a particularly nice night.

Eli and Brynn love mini golf, Eli is a very determined golfer and will shoot the hole over and over until he gets it.

I love this little mod dress!

Blue Bell ice cream is a favorite Texas find. Trust me, I've sampled many a brand and Blue Bell is the BEST! Eli's top choice is mint n' chip.

Lightning McGreen

2010-04-05T14:19:00.001-07:00

A great friend, Taryn, is the cub chair for our ward and organized the pinewood derby. Eli and I tagged along to show our support. Taryn's son Cooper is favorite friend of Eli's, they both painted cars for a little race of their own. Here they are eagerly anticipating their turn.

And they're off! Eli painted his car entirely green (as it is his favorite color lately) and asked me to paint Lightning McQueen's face on it. Although his car bore the noble name of a champion, it was, sadly, the slowest on the track.
I learned a few things at the derby. For one, the specialty weights make for a faster car than the loose change I glued on from my purse. It didn't matter who was fastest to Eli and Cooper though, they had a blast and felt like big winners when they were presented with trophies and cake pops.

After the race Eli kept re-enacting the big finish.

Thanks Taryn and committee for all you do, we love you for it!

San Antone Getaway

2010-03-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

We're coming up on the end of our time in Corpus Christi and if we don't use our leave while we're here, we'll lose it. So Jake took the week off last week and we had so much fun relaxing at home, hanging out with friends and taking another little vacation to San Antonio to visit some of the places we love best.
We scored an awesome boutique hotel on Priceline called The Emily Morgan. You can see it from the courtyard of the Alamo.

Eli showing off his badge, he's a Texas Ranger now.

We love Casa Rio on the Riverwalk, it's the oldest and longest restaurant on the River and it's good, cheap Mexican food. We also ate at Azucar, which was more expensive but so worth it. Jake and I shared the crab tacos and mole enchiladas...sooooo good.

After our busy days we would take a relaxing walk along the riverwalk and passed by the Alamo each night. Something interesting I learned about the Alamo is that a woman named Clara Driscoll bought it after she found it in disrepair and about to be sold and built as a hotel. Clara also started the Driscoll Children's Hospital here in Corpus, one of the leading Children's hospitals in TX. What an amazing woman!

Exhausted kiddos after long days of fun

Looking for ducks in the river outside of The Guenther House, best breakfast in San Antonio!

Feeding the birds at the San Antonio zoo, the kids loved this.

I don't love birds on my arm but what wouldn't I do to make my little girl happy?

yikes!

A little blurry but I love it anyway, look how excited she is to see the butterflies!

There were so many different types and they would land all over you

Checking out the Japanese Tea Gardens. It was once a rock quarry, then the city paid for a Japanese builder to move out there and build a Japanese garden for the public. He and his family lived on the site and sold tea from a tea house. When WWII came around and the Japanese were under fierce discrimination, they were evicted by the city and protesters. The gardens were renamed as the "Chinese Tea Gardens." After the war and discrimination ceased, the public rallied and the city reverted it back to the "Japanese Tea Gardens." Too much history? I'm sorry, it's too interesting to me!

It was really pretty there

mmm Freddy's Frozen Custard. I recommend a chocolate 'concrete' with peanut butter cups

movie time

stalagmites and stalactites at Natural Bridge caves

These kids had so much fun having their Daddy around 24/7 for a full week

These are Texas caves, so they aren't cold like you would imagine. They are about 70 degrees year round with 99% humidity. Check out how curly Brynn's hair got in the next pic!

It was a great little vacation! I love San Antonio and all the fun things there are to do in and around the city.

How's about ye?

2010-03-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

When I got the kids up this morning I told Eli that it was St. Patrick's Day and he needed to pick something green to wear. He said, "Okay! (because green is his favorite color) Why?" I said "Because you wear green on St. Patrick's day, it's an Irish holiday. Did you know you're a little Irish? Grandpa is Irish. And because I might pinch you." He didn't like that very much. I never did pinch him but he kept reminding me all day, "I don't want you to pinch me, cause that makes me sad."

Then he ran to the closet and grabbed the jersey Grandpa brought him back from Ireland. He said that it was green AND it had a shamrock...what a smartie.
I like this part of the jersey:
We had a little ta-ta-ta-ra this morning with green waffles and limeaide. Now I'd better away off and chase myself, my wee lil' dotes are knackered.

(I had fun learning Irish slang in "An Irish Country Doctor")

2010-02-26T08:13:00.000-08:00

This

little
piggie

stole

heart

And Thus Commences the 2010 Preschool Olympics

2010-02-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned that I am part of a preschool group? Me and 2 other Mom's trade weeks teaching preschool and I absolutely love it. We get together every few months and pick out weekly themes and this week my theme was the OLYMPICS! Jake and I are huge olympic followers so I had a blast.

We made olympic torches (cupcakes in ice cream cones) to kick off our first day of Preschool Olympics
mmmm frosting. I just love that scrunchy face.

The Rolly Polly Race

The Relay Race (kiddos are Eli, Naomi, Jack, Jordyn and Brynn)

The Dog Race. We also did the spider crawl race, bunny hop race, long jump, short jump (since not many could do the long jump), bean bag toss and figure skating.

They all were awarded certificates for their fastest races and then we had a gold medal ceremony

One day we made these shirts to wear during the games (olympic circles are cups dipped in paint, easy and clean for the kiddos)

They stamped the back of the shirts: 'Preschool Olympics 2010'

And I do believe I deserve a gold medal (or two) for this olympic feat

One Year Ago Today

2010-02-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

I was about to log off when I realized that it was one year ago today, almost to the exact hour, that Jake returned home from deployment. I can't believe it's been a full year!! It's been such a great year too. It's true, time flies when you're having fun.
I love my husband so much and being apart from him for almost 8 months was hard. He is my closest friend, my best confidant, my favorite partner in crime. No one can make me laugh or give me peace like he can. I feel very blessed that he is home with us now and that we won't have to face another deployment for 3 more years!

Valentines 2010

2010-02-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

I made these Valentines for Brynn to pass out at a Valentines Day party we went to this week. I love whimsical birds and fell in love with this pattern from Martha. I'm not the most patient and exact with scissors, so my birds aren't perfect like hers, but still cute. Seriously, sometimes I wonder about the chump that has to craft ever so perfectly for that site. I knew Eli would enjoy the the traditional valentines a little more, he choose Toy Story valentines that came with pencils.

Decorating a cookie...notice all she has is the cookie and stick? I didn't feel like dealing with frosting mess, but she was happy enough.

Liam always has a smile for the camera!

There was a 'kid's table' and a 'babies table.'

As you can see, Liam and Brynn didn't think they needed to be at the 'babies table.'

cookie fun

Cute Jordyn and a cute flower-sucker craft

Passing out valentines

Brynn cracks me up! She likes to kick back and relax. She got comfy to check out her spoils.

You've Heard of Hungry Hippos...

2010-02-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

But have you heard of Hungry Dogs?

Who Needs a TV?

2010-02-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

Silly Kids

2010-02-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

My good friend Diane has a vinyl cutting company called Graffitichic and I just can't resist it! I love vinyl, it's such a fun, personal, and easy way to decorate. Eli went crazy when he saw his friend Jack's name spelled out in a train so I surprised him with his own. I also noticed it's helping him spell out his name. I would have applied it to the wall above his bed if we weren't moving so soon, but this way we can take it with us.

Of course Brynn needed something new for her room too, I love this quote from Pinocchio.
And I threw in this one for good measure. I think it's something I will always keep in the babies' room :) If you can't read it, it's from Winnie the Pooh and says, "Let's begin by taking a smallish nap or two."

If you're looking for vinyl, check out www.graffitichic.com!

Mimi's Muffins

2010-01-19T10:08:00.000-08:00

Eli loves muffins. He'll come into the kitchen at random times and say "I'd like some muffins please." At least he says please. I happen to have an affinity for muffins myself, one of my favorites being of the Mimi's Cafe variety; buttermilk spice.

So we are on a lock down quarantine for a few days. The stomach flu will do that to you. I really, really want to go to Hobby Lobby to pick up some paint for a project that I really, really want to work on, but I figured, though my kids' are on the mend, my Corpus neighbors don't want to share the love. A combination of boredom and wanting to baby my sick kiddos led me to the copycat recipe my Mom sent me awhile back for the buttermilk spice muffins. I rarely have buttermilk on hand but did from an appetizer I made for a party this weekend (fried ravioli: It popped up as one of the most popular appetizers on the web, it was just okay).
Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try, I think it tastes very similar to the real deal.

Mimi's Cafe Buttermilk Spice Muffins

Muffin Batter:

1 c. sugar (yeah...these are not healthy muffins...)
1/2 c. butter

3 eggs

2 1/2 c. flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 c. plus 1 tbsp buttermilk

Nut topping:

1/2 c. sugar

1 c. chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven 375. Cream sugar & butter in mixer until thoroughly mixed. Add eggs & beat one more minute. Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl. Add flour & buttermilk to the mixer & beat on low until smooth (batter will be thick). Mix all ingredients together for the nut topping. Fill paper cups 3/4 full will batter and top with a rounded tsp of topping. Bake 20 minutes. If using a jumbo muffin pan, reduce oven temp by 25 degrees and increase baking time 5-10 min.

We want YOU to try these muffins today!

A California Christmas

2010-01-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

After my brother's wedding in Denver, we flew to LA to spend Christmas with our families.

On the way home from the airport we stopped at the LA Temple to see the lights, which are always so beautiful.

Brynn looks so grown up in this picture to me! When did that happen?

Jake and his Dad (Opa) and the kids.

It's always so nice to return to our 'roots," especially with our kids. Jake and I were married in the LA Temple.

Oma and Opa have horses on their property now, Apollo and Summer, who Brynn is petting. Everytime we pulled up to the house the kids would run over to the corral to see the horses.

Brynn made sure Grandpa got in some exercise playing with her

And Eli made sure Aunt Erin and Uncle Cory paid enough attention to him

My Mom had the best idea for the kids' to make rice crispy houses to decorate (a little easier than gingerbread houses). They had a lot of fun and actually did a pretty good job, until Brynn picked hers up, hugged it to her chest (where it got stuck) and said "All done, down."

Eli can hardly contain himself around Grandpa's guitars. I can tell he will be my musical one of the two.

She sure understood the presents this year!

Her favorite present from Grandma and Grandpa: Cabbage Patch Doll. They still smell as good as I remembered!

yessss, Mario Kart!

Brynn's favorite present from Oma and Opa: Bitty Baby! It comes with this cute little backpack to carry the baby, which is half the size of Brynn but so cute on. Today she was wearing her bitty baby in the backpack and the cabbage patch doll in a front sling.

Ohh the anticipation...

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's superman!

Sneaky, sneaky. Caught stealing drinkies from Oma's diet pepsi. I don't condone this but it was Christmas.

Eli and Opa showing off Opa's Lexington hats. The USS Lexington is a naval ship that has since been retired and is a museum here in Corpus Christi. The cool part is that Opa used to do carrier landings on the Lexington when he was in the Marines.

Jake and I met up with our friends' the Ponds while we were in CA. Their little Avery has gotten so big since we last saw her. They treated us to the best pizza at BJ's in celebration of Jake getting his residency. A little better than the pizza we treated them to on base when Matt got his residency...

Brynn dancing with Aunt Shannen (this is Jake's brother Josh's fiancee)

The curly haired twins. Brynn wasn't very nice to Uncle Josh this time around. He grew his hair out since she last saw him and I don't think she recognized him!

What is a trip home without ping pong?

Intense game.

I love these little Hallmark animals, the little penguin on the end wags his tail and the end of the song and says "Merry Christmas!"

Two Down

2010-01-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

My little brother Matt and his new wife Sarah were married on December 19th, in Denver Colorado. We were only in Denver for a few days before we flew to LA for Christmas but we had a ton of fun.

Brynn giving Grandpa good morning hugs while we were waiting outside the temple for Matt and Sarah to come out.
Their colors were black and red, our family chose black since it's easy! I loved this little dress of Brynn's.

The long awaited hug for Aunt Erin, the kids just love her.

Ta-da! Here are the newlyweds. Don't they look so happy and pretty?

Trying to stay warm by sharing body heat. Haha, probably not, there was a little snow on the ground but we were able to take off our big coats for a few to take pictures.

Matt and our Mom, I think she was pretty happy that she got to just show up at this wedding after putting on Erin's a few months ago!

Eli and Uncle Dan, handsome in their suits and ties.

Brynn was a little better behaved at this wedding, I think because we flew in the day before, so she wasn't as behind on her sleep. Girls need their sleep, especially 20 month old girls.

Family shot; 3 out 4 looking at the camera, 2 out of 3 smiling, 4 out of 4 with eyes open...not too bad.

Love my munchkins

This is a little blurry, but you can see how pretty it was. Sarah has three very talented sisters that put everything together. There was a sit down meal and it was amazing, probably the best reception dinner I've had.

Gorgeous cake. Shh, don't tell anyone but we sampled one of each flavor, my favorite was the orange spice.

The 2 month marriage veterans!

One happy Mom

A bunch of the wedding party and family learned the Thriller dance for the reception, Sarah can really move in that wedding dress!

Kids always love a bride. Eli calls them 'princesses.'

I love this picture, you can tell Sarah is having a good time. I even kicked off my heels for the dance floor.

Jake and Brynn having some fun.

I love how all the kids at a reception will find each other to play.

Aunt Erin chasing Eli

My cousin Megan and he husband Steve were so nice to put us up while we were in Denver. They were such great hosts! And they have these two HUGE labs, Max and Nestle. As you can see, they are great with kids. And thus commences the second wedding of the three wedding series; next up: Jake's brother Josh and Shannen in June.

A Corpus Christmas

2009-12-30T13:30:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our family Christmas in Corpus Christi on December 16th since we were flying out later that week and I didn't want to haul a bunch of presents around. Eli was a little confused that Santa was coming 3 different times (early at our house, later at Grandma and Grandpa's and later still at Oma and Opa's) but turns out he really liked it..
One of our Christmas traditions, stocking with little gifts and treats (my Mom got chocolate coins as a kid, we got chocolate coins as kids and now my kids get them too!)

Gag gift: an ornament of the hospital Jake works at. We ordered ornaments like these for some friends and family with a picture of the plane they fly and squadron name. Jake is an unusual Flight Surgeon in that he's attached to a hospital, not a squadron, so he doesn't have a specific plane. I thought it would be funny to get one for Jake because the hospital he works at is ugly and institutional looking.

The kids and their big gifts: Jesse and Buzz

Taking Woody and Jesse for a ride. We have a bunch of strollers in our nursery and all the kids love them, so I ordered two for our house. Eli's was supposed to be green plaid to make it a little more masculine...but obviously it's hot pink. When Eli unwrapped it he said, "My stroller, my own pink stroller!"

And Jake and I kept it light, mostly exchanging books, since Jake found the Beatles Rockband I was going to give him a few months ago. It's really fun, by the way!

2009-12-24T20:58:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Camp Family!

2009-12-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

Good luck with that, Santa.

Countdown Complete

2009-12-16T11:54:00.000-08:00

And we couldn't be more thrilled! It's the spot we were hoping for. Jake was one of 9 residents chosen for the Emergency Medince Residency at Naval Medical Center San Diego (Balboa). There were only 18 spots for both San Diego and Portsmouth hospitals with 30 applicants. I'm very proud of Jake and looking forward to the next chapter, but for now, I'm going to enjoy my carefree time in Texas while I have it!

Countdown

2009-12-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

What are we counting down?

On Wednesday we find out IF and WHERE we are moving in June of 2010 or staying in Corpus Christi until June of 2011. We're really excited. And hoping for a certain somewhere. One more thing:
Just thought I would share.

Breakfast with Santa

2009-12-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

We had breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus last weekend
The kids both loved the pancakes
Brynn was skeptical about Santa

but Eli just plain didn't like him

Our friends Maeve and Leo didn't have such problems.

But the candy canes are the best part anyway, right?

2009-12-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Aren't these little Jamba cups the cutest? Perfect Brynn-sized smoothie.
And this is the perfect Eli-sized smoothie.

The Spirit of Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

I love this season. I love the cooking, the parties, the smells, the cooler weather, the happy people, the giving, the music. If that looks like a lot of food for 2 adults and 2 toddlers, it is. But what is Thanksgiving without lots of leftovers?

Thanksgiving this year was emotional and healing for our family. I had a miscarriage a week before Thanksgiving and was still feeling blue when Thanksgiving came around. We decided to keep it small with just our little family but I decided that I needed to put on the typical feast, I felt like it would make me feel like myself again, and it did. I also knew that I would regret not putting on Thanksgiving this year, especially since Jake was home to share it with us this time. Kisses for Mommy, he knows how to make me happy! This miscarriage was hard on me as I was already getting further along and it was my second in a few months. Next to Jake deploying, it was the saddest thing I have experienced but as with all trials, I have gained much in return. I have to tell you, I have the best husband and friends in the world! Nothing is better than a sweet husband who will let you cry on his shoulder, share in your pain and take over all the responsibilities until you feel like coming back to life. Next to that, nothing is better than understanding friends who will cook you dinner, watch your children, let you cry on their shoulder, share their experiences and gift you chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate. I think I felt true 'thanksgiving' this year.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving and after all I have received the past few weeks, I felt like it was time to get started on Christmas packages for the troops overseas. Brynn helped me roll gingersnaps in sugar tonight. She's not the best helper because half of everything goes in her mouth.

Can I encourage you to send a package to a deployed someone? Jake and I only have one deployed friend right now, so I asked friends' to share the addresses of their deployed friends. I got a pretty good list. Or you could adopt a soldier at http://www.anysoldier.com/. The boxes are free and have a flat rate just over $10 to ship. Such a small price for something that would be so appreciated.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Look at that scrunchy face! This is her new "cheese" smile. You know, I typically wouldn't share something so personal on a public blog but I have felt very blessed with all the love and support we've been shown. Thank you all! I hope your Thanksgiving was as meaningful and wonderful as ours was.

Eli's 3rd Birthday

2009-11-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

Our little (big) boy turned 3 yesterday!! I can't believe 3 years have come and gone so quickly but then I look at him and I think, "You're HUGE! How did that happen?" We had chocolate pudding cupcakes (with chocolate chips) and peanut butter frosting (so maybe I picked something I liked a little more than Eli..it had enough sugar that he inhaled it too) for dessert. Since Jake couldn't be home from work till later in the evening we decided to just have a small celebration tonight with our family. Eli's having his best friends over on Saturday for another party.

We got a package from Grandma and Grandpa that morning with a few presents that I put on the table with a couple from us. Eli asked me many, many times yesterday, "Can I open my presents yet?" and I would say, "No, not yet" and he would quickly add, "Not till Daddy gets home!" So as soon as Jake got home with the pizza (Eli's choice for a birthday dinner..) Eli yelled, "You're home Daddy! Can I open my presents now?" Of course we made him wait in agony a little longer while we ate.
He had been eyeing this particular present all day and it turned out to be shirts :) As he was pulling them out he said, "ooooh! It's shirts! Cute shirts!"

And then he (honestly) said, "So what else we got here?"

He got some pretty cool presents from Grandpa and Grandma but this was his favorite

Eli's favorite movie is The Polar Express so he was so excited to get the book. I love that book!

Brynn was so excited to see a little pink package among the pile, I think she knew it was hers.

I've never seen anyone open a present with their teeth before!

This is what Jake and I got Eli (and Brynn), a bounce house! It's perfect, big enough for 5 or 6 little kids but small enough to not take over our backyard, or in this case, our living room. And it honestly only took 2 minutes to set up and about 3 to take down and put away.

Brynn prefers to go down on her belly

Sweaty boy=serious fun (and also bath later that night)

And the weight limit is high enough that I can hang out inside too

Time to sing! Lucky Brynn got her own candle too.

Cupcakes was a good idea...these two like to blow out the candles with spit.

Happy Birthday Eli! You bring me happiness like no other.

BOO!

2009-11-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Halloween has already come and gone! If you're anything like us you've eaten your weight in candy the past two days and are ready to throw it all out. I ate raw broccoli for lunch...I think my body is trying to tell me something...

Eli really wanted to be Buzz Lightyear and it turned out to be a pretty popular costume this year! His friend Cooper was also Buzz. There were at least 4 other Buzz's at our church's Halloween party too. It was really cute to see all these Buzz's flying around.
Brynn was a ladybug and she surprised me by loving her tutu. She's not a girl of frills and bows so I was expecting a fight. She did ditch her shoes pretty fast though. he back of the costume. I bought it from my friend Becca's etsy shop, she makes the cutest stuff. You can check her site out here. Brynn modified her costume a little by pulling off all the black dots on her tutu.

Going to get some candy

We know you're in there!!

Brynn didn't give up the fight, she kept waiting at that door, hoping it would open with the offering of some more candy. Luckily we forgot her bag, so the only candy she collected was what she could hold! Eli got enough candy for everyone.

Love my little ladybug

I'm a fan of a good fluffy tutu

Brynn and Liam sharing a meaningful look..

Liam, you are a brave man! She has bitten fingers on occasion.

Buzz and Woody aka Eli and Jack

Jake and I at our church party. Jake won most hilarious costume, I think he deserved it! He's the Stay Puft marshmallow man and I'm a very cheap ghostbuster. My costume was a flight suit and let me tell you, I'm a little jealous Jake gets to wear that every day to work. Pretty comfy. A little toasty but who am I to complain next to Jake who was wearing all that batting?

I'm part of a preschool co-op with a few friends and I was lucky to get to teach the week of Halloween! There are so many fun Halloween activities. One day we did ghosts and made these fun ghost windsocks.I think the kids' favorite was the bat day though. We made these bat hats and they chased each other around speaking 'bat' (high pitched squeaking..they are pros, I can guarantee it).

I Declare War

2009-10-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

I realize declaring war isn't the nicest thing to do on the Sabbath, but I know that by saying what I'm about to say, I will in fact be declaring war. So here goes. I, Rachel Camp, have found the best pulled pork recipe yet. But that isn't what will bring the war on, this is: I've tried a few types of BBQ around the US and the best I've had so far is in Texas. Sorry friends, it's true. So I've spent the last few months trying to duplicate my favorite tastes and I have to admit, I was in spectacular form today and ended up with pure joy. Now I can't exactly share my recipe because I added to taste per the size of the roast, but I can share my ingredients. If you decide to try it, I hope you like it as much as we did.

I started with an inexpensive pork loin, sirloin cut. I rubbed it generously with a mixture of these spices: chili powder, red pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, paprika and brown sugar and let it sit overnight. I took it out in the AM and rubbed it with about 1/4 more of the mixture, letting it sit at room temp. for an hour or so. Here I deviated from Texas tradition and used, gasp, a crock pot, because I don't have a smoker. I put the roast and accumulated juices in the pot, along with 1 c. diet root beer, a few tablespoons of hickory liquid smoke (to imitate that smoker taste), a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and half a sliced onion. I set it on low for 6 hours at which time I checked every 30 minutes for an internal temp. of 250-270. Then I pulled the pork and put it back in the crock pot with the juices. Now you're ready to plate up!
We eat ours open faced with a little bit of mayo and our favorite BBQ sauce, Rudy's Bar.BQ Sause. I've tried a lot of BBQ sauce and this is my choice, a little spicy and tangy. You could be ambitious and make your own BBQ sauce but I'm not that ambitious.

(Don't you love the smell of something slow roasting in your house all day?)

Camp Family Food Storage

2009-10-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

Short story: We don't drink that much diet soda, although Jake does consume his fair share. Diet Dr. Pepper is his favorite, it's usually $4.50 a box here (which we never pay, we usually buy the generic Diet Dr. B you see in the pic), we saw it on sale for 4/$12. Jake was the kid in the candy store and we ended up with a whole lotta Diet Dr. Pepper.

2009-10-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

The day after the wedding we drove through Logan to visit Jake's friend Ben, they have been friends since the 4rth grade! They only get to see each other every few years, so it was nice to catch up.
Eli and Brynn loved his Boxer, Shelley. She was a very patient dog/horse.

After Logan we kept driving till we got to Soda Springs, Idaho, where Jake's brother Joe and his family live. I got to visit them while Jake was deployed last year for Presley's blessing, as you can see she's grown quiet a bit since then! She is such a sweet baby, I had a lot of fun playing and cuddling with her.

Brynn had a blast playing with her cousins Katie and Alyssa. She did try to play with Presley too but she's a little rough to be playing with babies. And she is a major toy stealer.

Joe and Mandy just finished construction earlier this year on their house which is on a plot of farmland that belongs to Mandy's family. This is the amazing view from their back porch.

Alyssa and Eli and pro golfers

These two got along so well. They would sit at this counter and start laughing hysterically at each other for no apparent reason.

The Camp family game of choice is nerts, a speed game. And they are pretty fast, I usually come in somewhere around the middle to end :)

Presley looks pretty comfy there!

On the way back to the Salt Lake airport we visited temple square. It was starting to get pretty cold and gray but it was still beautiful.

The kids really enjoyed the reflection pool.

One Down

2009-10-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

My handsome husband and I packed up the kids and headed up to Utah a few weeks ago for my sister Erin's wedding (remember, she is the first of 3 siblings getting married in the next 5 months?? gahhh!).
We went up a few days before the wedding and rented a big house to be the hub. While there, we were able to meet my brother Matt's fiance Sarah, who is super sweet and already a part of the family! Beautiful Brynn was pretty patient for a 16 month old while we were in the temple and waiting for pictures.

Cory and Erin first coming out of the temple

Eli shaking Cory's hand, saying; "Congratulations Man!"

Kim (friends since 12 years old) & I

My cousin Garrett (came up from Colorado), bro. Matt, bro. Dan & I

GQ Brothers

Jake pretty much took complete control of the kids while I was busy busy busy with wedding stuff. He was superdad!

Very cold in this picture. But I'm from coastal Texas, I only own one coat (that I bought specifically for this trip) and it doesn't exactly go with a dress.

So nice to be with my family at the temple and the Bountiful, UT temple is gorgeous.

Jake & I

The cake, before Eli stuck his finger in the middle of the bottom layer (sorry Cory & Erin! I don't think you noticed though...I certainly didn't pipe up...)

Brynn was that one crazy kamikaze kid you usually see at a reception, but she sure was cute

The Grooms' cake...so wrong. (Erin went to BYU, Cory went to the U of U)

Caught with too many desserts!

My friend Melanie's daughter Adelaide loves little kids and gave Brynn lots of love. She's a strong girl to be able to pick Brynn up, she's probably more than half her weight!

It was so fun to have a little reunion with some old friends, I miss you all and wish we lived closer to one another.

We were also able to meet Jake's brother Josh's fiance Shannen (say that 3 times fast). I actually already knew her from when we I was her camp counselor years and years ago! She couldn't be a better fit for Josh and the family. Deep in conversation.."Well, it's been great Eli, but it's past my bedtime.."

Love is in the Air

2009-09-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

We had 3 engagements in our families this year, the latest being last night! We're very happy for you all! The wedding kick off is in just 2 weeks, I can't wait!!

Cory and my sister Erin are getting married October 9th in Salt Lake City, UT
My brother Matt and Sarah are getting married December 19th in Denver, CO
And my brother in law Josh and Shannen are getting married February 13th in Salt Lake City, UT

2009-09-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Meet my newest nephew Van Schultz! He is the picture of perfection, I love how peaceful he looks here. It's about time we had another boy in the mix, Eli & Dane have been the only Camp grandsons for awhile, but we sure love Katie, Alyssa, Presley, Lexi, Lily and Brynn and wouldn't trade them for any boy! I love being an Aunt, I wish I lived closer to all my sweet nieces and nephews. Congratulations Bremen and Andrea!! Can't wait to meet Van.