Sunday, June 28, 2009

Newport Beach, California 2009


Here we are again, one more year at the beach. Tiffany, me, Jamie, Janet, Juliette, Cherisse & Heather.

Most, but not all of the grand kids.

The boys, Shaun, Rick, Jay, Gary, Scott, Adam & Jonathan.

Emily & Steven. His first time to Newport with the family . . . baptism by fire.

My group of peeps. Quinn in front, Truman, Emily, Steven & Cole. I'm in the back with Rick.



This is our sleeping arrangement for the big kids in the family room of the beach house. Really.

Paddle ball with Rick & Quinn. A favorite beach game to play.

Chelsea & Jonathan. His hair is all back!

Our latest edition, not mine but Juliette's! Delilah June.

Truman has dug a hole for himself.

Emily feeling a little cold water.

Who wears a corduroy jacket to the beach with his swimsuit? Oh, I know, Cole!
Emily in a position chosen for her by some family game players.

Jay and his part of the game.Heather, belive it or not, acting like a pouncing cat, once again, part of a game.

Green Day

Last week we vacationed in Newport Beach, CA. One the first morning we walked down to the doughnut shop (a yearly ritual), we encountered the lead singer from Green Day. Actually, what happened was we were sitting around enjoying our doughnuts when Billie Joe Armstrong, A.K.A. the Green Day lead singer, jotted passed us and darted into the men's restroom.

He didn't go unnoticed.

We waited for him to come out, cameras ready in hand.

Those of us that were there, the Jay Tiptons, Rick Tiptons, Tiffany Tipton-Johnsons, & the Juliette Tipton-Hess's, were patient. We waited and watched for him to come out of the bathroom. When he came out, we scurried around and then most of us lost our guts to go up to him for a picture. However, Tiffany would not let this opportunity pass her by. She, camera in hand, encouraged Juliette to run with her to catch up to the artist to get a picture. It was enjoyable watching a 22 week pregnant gal and her sister run after Billie Joe.

When they finally got close enough to call out to him, he stopped, turned around and when asked if they could get a picture he said,

"Do you have a camera?"

To which Tiffany smiled and held up her camera.
He posed briefly with Juliette and then was off again.

Confused as to why the picture is of Billie Joe and Steven? Well, as Emily, Steven and I were walking back to the beach house, we spotted Billie Joe loading up his car after a morning of surfing. Steven, being a huge fan of Green Day, went up with Emily and asked for a picture. He was gracious enough to pose for the one you see.

Of course we didn't make any mention of the other picture incident of the morning!

My baby is 8

Quinn's 8th birthday was celebrated on his actual day of birth, June 18th.
He invited his closest friends in the neighborhood & ward.
The first item of business was swimming.
The gigantic swan proved to be much fun to ride!Rick labored over Quinn's homemade pinata. Can you see the resemblance?

We made snow cones, blue raspberry or cherry. They were delicious.

Okay, I'm no cake maker!
Quinn got to choose what kind of cake he wanted and this year he wanted a guitar cake.
His wish was my command. Again, not a cake maker.
Why is it that the self igniting - re-lighting candles didn't work? What a buzz kill.
Here are the participants from left to right starting after Quinn: Heber, Cooper, Crew, Kaden, Alden, Michael, Neil, Koa & B.J. Truman is in the back along with Rick, the dad and Quinn, the pinata.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Camp Lo Mia. Craft Cabin!

Girl's Camp was June 10th to the 14th. My assignment was to be in the craft cabin. I've gone to girl's camp 4 other times as a leader but always as the camp RN. Can I tell you, the craft cabin is a far better assignment! I got to sleep every night, something you don't get to do when you're the nurse - lots of sick girls, you know.
Anyone remember the lodge at Camp Lo Mia? Such a great place. This is the first time back since I was a girl at camp myself. Not much has changed. After tenting it each year as a leader, I much prefer Camp Lo Mia!!One of the three crafts we did was a cynotype process. Becki was in charge of this craft. You can see our Young Women's Stake President creating her bandanna. We (Becki & Tammy) treated the bandannas with two special chemicals that when exposed to the sun, they imprint whatever is on them. We had the girls choose the natural foliage items we found around camp. It took a few minutes to set the design.
Next, you rinse the bandanna in cold water.
The rinsing process turns the material blue and shows the imprints on the bandanna. Here are some of the finished products.
Each one is unique. The longer you leave the pretreated material out in the sun, the darker your product. I think the girls loved it! This was so easy, fast and cheap!!

The next craft were the pin wheels. I was in charge of this one. The girls got to pick out which pre cut paper design they wanted and then they assembled them. We had 30 minutes to complete each craft per day. This craft required a lot of pre-fabrication. In the end the pin wheels all worked and were enjoyed.

The last craft we did was spearheaded by Tammy. She chose to do screen printing. This bird below was one of the choices the girls got to do.

The girls got to choose from a variety of colors to print this saying on. We had another awesome design for cards for the girls but I can't find it. Camp was a lot of fun!

Goodbye Tony & Amy - Happy 8th Birthday Quinn!

Last Sunday I made an all day spaghetti for Tony & Amy, they moved to Oregon a few days ago. That's where Amy is from.Paige, Amy, & Paige's daughter, Presley.
Being the efficient person that I am, I decided to throw in Quinn's birthday early to celebrate with the Hancocks.
Present time.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Dog days of Summer. No really!

Here lies Ted ruining one of my favorite pieces of furniture.
The problem is that Ted thinks he's one of us.
By, "one of us," I mean,
human.
Do we tell him the truth?
Or do we keep up the facade and let him think what he will?
Ted sleeps wherever he likes. I don't let my (human) kids do that.
They have appointed beds in their own rooms.
I don't think he notices.
A couple of weeks ago we noticed his left eye was cloudy. Sure 'nuf he has a mature cataract which requires the attention of a specialist; a vet optometrist, don't you know?! I guess he is more human than I thought 'cause we take our (human) kids to the optometrist annually too.
Ted will not be left out.
We love you Ted!

Seeds of love.

I find pleasure in growing things, many different things. Take this Zinnia, for instance, I planted it as a seed about a month ago. All I had to do is water the pot daily and move it to the right sun spot in my front yard and presto, like magic, a beautiful flower appeared.
There are more flowers to follow this beauty, they're not ready quite yet. When they do bloom, once again my pleasure meter will be way high!