Summer is almost over!

Well, school shopping has begun, summer is winding down and even though the kids (I am sure) could go for another month or two of summer, this momma is ready for them to get back into school. We started out with minimal bickering this summer and these days its almost a daily occurrence again which means...the children must return to their normal habitat of school, homework and that torture called "real life". We like to teach them at a young age that its not all awesomeness.

After camping we were still on a GO GO GO mission and these are a few of the things we did...

Saw Al Pacino Live...Yes. Oh. Mah. GAWD! I got to listen to one of my absolute favorite people in all the land speak live in Reno, NV. A huge thank you to both Rich and Jared for making this possible. I swear, the night was amazing, minus the $60 I lost at the BlackJack table. Yeah. Apparently I can't win unless I am sitting at a penny machine. Either way it was amazing. Also happened to run into (very briefly) some acquaintances/friends from back home. Cute! He was really great and just this last weekend Jared and I watched one of the newest movies he has out. Danny Collins. Probably the first Al Pacino movie I ever cried during. It was pretty good, and oddly a total chick flick. Rich was soo kind he kept 5 of our 6 kiddos (Carina was in Ventura with her Tia) and he didn't even have a meltdown by the end. Brave, brave soul.

The other awesome thing that has happened is that my friend Lauren and her wife Kari had their baby girl. Emerson Grace Pryatel Tucker. I honestly didn't think I could fall in love with another baby as quickly as I fell in love with my own and yet...I totally have. She has melted this aunties heart and I absolutely love her. She was only 5lbs and just itty bitty so of course we went out and bought as many small clothes as we could find and shipped them right out. Sad to say they are still even a little big but glad she got them. We will be seeing her in a couple weeks and I am sure this blog will be inundated with even more baby pics!

Since we have been on week to week schedule with the kids, I haven't totally taken advantage but I did get to do something I don't normally do and snuck in a weeknight baseball game. It was totally fun and Desiree and her sis in law were tons of fun! Sometimes I forget that I have friends out there that will do fun things with me. I get so caught up in home life! Its always a good reminder to stay close!

The most recent big event that occurred is that Rich and Sherrie finally had their wedding reception. Sadly I didn't get to join in the fun of Cancun but I did finally get to meet Sherrie's sibling and boy are they incredibly fun, outgoing and they like to karaoke. My kind of people completely. I really had a blast and ALSO had the  honor of making Rich a grooms cake. Sherrie gave me an idea and I ran with it. Soo much fun! My kids weren't able to go as they were having fun in Tahoe with my parents and my brothers but it was a quick trip so I suppose they didn't miss to much. Next time, we always have next time. Jared also took a detour on our way up and we went this totally random way and saw this cute little town called Cool. Of course. We took pics. Duh! It can't go without being said however that in all my years of knowing Rich I have never seen him so happy and I am ecstatic that I get to be a part of it all. He is a great man and I can only hope this happiness continues.

The most recent depressing event is that we started back to school clothes shopping for the kiddos. Yes. It was as painful as it sounds. I went in with a nice hefty bank account balance and left with one that was all murdered and non existent. The good news is that Rian is all taken care of, the girls are almost all taken care of and I won't have to buy clothes for like...a month. Or at least until Christmas. Haha.

Up next on my list is to start planning for Carina's Sweet 16. I cannot believe my baby is going to be 16 soon but its true. First party at our house, first party that I get to really get all 'grown up' on and hopefully its great. If not, oh well, I am sure I will have fun planning anyways.

Life has been crazy, it hasn't been without its hardships, what with schedules changing for Jared, football starting and my crazy kids being on all sorts of trips and vacations and of course our own hectic stuff but I would not trade it for anything. EVER. I love this crazy life we live and am so blessed to be on it with my crazy guy!

Fun in the Sun...meaning...CAMPING!!!!

Okay. So we finally got to go camping and it was AWESOME!!! I mean. Camping is pretty epic no matter who you go with or where you go but I like to think our camping trips are the best. We went up to Cal-Ida campsite right near the Yuba River and it was amazing.

2 campsites.
3 tents.
4 days.
3 nights
6 littles.
2 tired grown ups.
1,000,000 mosquitos.

Doesn't get much better than that! We settled right in, set up camp and the adventures began. Of course with all of us there are moments of fear, arguing, and so on but honestly all the kids did soo well. They broke through some fear barriers, became a little more rugged and showed me especially that they are a tough little bunch. We had a great time and although the day of packing up was a little rough, the trip all together was pretty dang good. I love our little family and the memories we get to make.

I did also see the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and I have decided for sure that sometime before I am 40 I will take a week long or month long hike on it. Just me, a backpack and maybe some company. Either way. How exciting!

So now onto the pics and such to just SHOW you how great of a time we had. Not as many pics as normal because to be honest, I was caught up more in the moments and being behind the camera wasn't the first thought :)

Carina drove for a bit, until she almost killed us. Then I took over. 

Coolest rope swing ever near our campsite. 

 I am actually learning to L-O-V-E the random faces in our group pics!

 Aidan was the only other one brave enough to get on!

 

 

 Pano setting on the iPhone is awesome in these. Click on these pics to see them fullsize. So pretty!

 Honestly. My man is hotter than yours.

 When you gotta go you gotta go and Rian ALWAYS has to go!

 I swear they were having a good time!

 Aidan was a huge fan of the gold mining. We didn't find anything but not for loss of trying!

 Cool waterfall near our campsite.

 Tyler. Pose. Ha! This kid.

 I didn't even know lakes existed that prohibited swimming. Thank you Sardine Lake for disappointing.

 We stopped at a mine and took a tour. Not bad. We did see bats. That was cool.

 Christine said it was sooooooo easy I could do it while camping. So I tried. It worked.

 last but not least. an epic pajama pic. She gets her style from me.

 

 

 

 

Although the camping trip has been the highlight of the summer so far there were also a few other things we cannot forget so here are the pics from a few other random days as well!

 

 

Carina, Jared and I played in a Softball tournament. We dusted off the old gloves and gave it our best college try! We didn't suck.

 

We celebrated the 4th the same as last year with only two littles only this year we went to Downtown Suisun City and it was AMAZING! They fireworks were literally right above us. So fun!

 

 I finally got to see Bubs play 2 t-ball games. So cute. He did awesome.

Pinterest struck again and we built a console table. By we I mean Jared. haha. I decorated it. 

 

Not often do I catch some super cute moments but this was just too adorable to pass up. Jared teaching Aidan how to BBQ. I seriously think my guy is amazing.