im sorry i keep doing these huge updates. i want to renew the  site more regularly, but other things (people) keep taking precedent.  so, without promises of future regularity, here is a big picture update. 

a long time a go (it seems now) we visited our old roomates Kat and Bas. The little boys were real cute together.
and i like this picture of jonas and kat. he looks like he wants to eat her.

my aunt and cousin from alabama were visiting for a couple of weeks. we got to do several fun things with them...beach, sea world, boomers. i really like them. my aunt homeschools her 5 kids (oldest in college now). so she has a wealth of wisdom to share. my kids loved hanging out with lauren (12). she was super fun to play with.

charis and pax  got to do a small pottery class in leaudacia with a fabulous lady who is a professional potter. we want to do more in the future.

charis chose to make beads out of her clay. despite my doubts, her necklace turned out really cute. 
my dad turned 70. we had a big luau for him. we all took turns crying as we talked about the steadfastness, generosity, integrity and humility of my dad. it was a great time of honoring him, and honoring God for blessing him.

we got to celebrate fathers day at the pannikin (fav coffee shop) with caleb's dad. we played carcason (a fun board game similar to settlers), and the kids begged him to talk in his donald duck voice over and over again. he's funny.
our friends from valencia, sarah and rob, came to visit us for the weekend. we kicked off their stay with a 3rd of july party. 

several hours were spend doing art. small art. artist trading cards to be specific. they are tiny pieces of art (baseball card size) that you are only allowed to trade, not buy or sell. here are out favorites from the weekend. 

other old valencia friends came to join the fun saturday night. charis and pax wanted to take pictures. so the adults stood there and posed while the kids took photos. this time they told us to be silly!
rob and caleb might have played a lot of video games. it was so fun to have them here. we're already planning a trip to their tiny apartment in hollywood. 

i got an early call tuesday morning from one of my favorite people. sarah jane. her and her husband are truckers, and they were passing by fallbrook  that morning. we met at the freeway exit and talked for over an hour. it was so fun and unexpected to get to see her. my  kids were totally impressed by her huge truck.