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!

Testing. Testing. 1..2..3..

Okay. So. You may be saying to yourself...who in their right mind starts a blog with 6 kids in one household because you KNOW you won't have time to update it. Yet. Here I am. Trying to update it...again.

Its been nearly 2 months. WOW! Since I last updated. We have had Christmas, New Years and countless other things in between. I will of course keep this simple and just give you a quick recap.

We took our first OFFICIAL Christmas vacation. We took all 6 kids in one vehicle down to the Southern California where we enjoyed a great time at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knotts Berry Farm. This was before Christmas but all the kids knew this meant it was their big Christmas Present from not only  us but from my parents (Rich and Debbie) who pitched in for some tickets and some hotel nights. Honestly, I don't know what we would do without our families! We had a blast. Some kids got to go on new rides that they wouldn't have tried otherwise and other kids just got a good adrenalin rush from the ones they knew they already would like. I was worried at first that we wouldn't have enough time to get everyone some fun times but we did! We even made an impromptu second stop on the way back at Magic Mountain again. We have our Six Flags Membership so this park is included FOR FREE! Well. Kinda. You know, we still pay our monthly dues. All in all it went great, we will most definitely be making vacations for Christmas more of an occurrence than presents. There is just something so much more special in making memories with  your kids than having them just tear through presents that will be forgotten with hours, days or weeks of opening them!

Once we came back from vacation we immediately rolled right into Christmas. It was busy and hectic and I'm not gonna lie, there were some stress tears shed but it was all worth it in the end. We had our very first Christmas Dinner at our house and even set the table all cute and fancy. Grandma Lou and Blondie even joined us but for some reason we did NOT get a pic of either of them! Next time! The kids were dressed up and honestly, it was a good first Christmas but I cannot wait for the future ones to come!

Right after Christmas, literally, we headed up to Colusa for just a day trip and we had a good time but man was it short! We had to rush opening some of the secret Santa gifts and unfortunately Carina and the Luoma 3 were not with us but we as soon as we had them we made sure they got their gifts! We got there much earlier than most though so we took advantage and even went mudding! Rian loved it, Laneya not so much. Haha.

New years was pretty uneventful as it was just the mister and I, but we went out, and celebrated none the less. We did meet some new people and they have started to slowly become friends and its nice. Nice to have a our circle becoming different. We need different. Just after New Years Jared and I went on our first weekend away! With no kids! YAHOO!! My Christmas present to him was a weekend away so that we could go snowboarding and we took full advantage! We had a blast and although I sucked he was still soo supportive and awesome about it. He had a good time to and I even had him go on one run by himself so that he didn't have to keep stopping. Maybe next time I will learn to go faster and forward! Haha. This time I was all backwards and totally clumsy. Thank goodness we didn't go with anyone else!

After getting back from snowboarding, all sore and sick, we had Megan come down for a little visit. She was bored at home on break and we always love to see her so we made the most out of it. I was terribly sick the first few days but thankfully she didn't mind and then the last couple days we had some adventures. A freezing cold trip to six flags, a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory and a day trip to Old Town Sacramento.

I tend to go on a few field trips with each of my kids during their school careers but I have never been on this one and it was really fun. Laneya's class went to the Lawrence Hall of Science and it was awesome. They dissected squid and got to play with Dry Ice. I am soo very glad that I got to join in on the fun and share this with her!

Aidan had quite the year in football and they each year do an awards ceremony. This year was no different. Of course we all joined up and went there to celebrate his achievements, we grubbed, we talked and we cheered when he got his trophy! Boy did he look like a stud in his tie!

Well as far as crazy busy times, that is what has gone on over the last couple months. Seems so much more calm when I'm just posting fun pics! The last couple weeks we have also endured a new adventure, one into sobriety and building what we can only hope will be an amazing future not only for Jared, but also for myself and the kids. I have a man that has truly shown me that not only does he love his kids, my kids and me unconditionally but also that he loves himself and is ready and willing to make the changes to be a better man for everyone! He is amazing and we are here at day 16 and he is doing great. Learning, meeting new people, making changes and honestly...just doing better for himself.

So very excited for this new journey that I get to enjoy with him and our crazy little (giant) family!