Life is so exciting!!

Last week Dan came to visit and to open his mission call!  It was so nice to have Dan home and such an exciting evening. When we arrived at home we waited a few minutes for everyone to arrive. We got set up on Skype with Scott.

 Austin, Pete and Jessica came over.

 Clare was beauitul as usual.

 Dad and Kari came. Dad was looking for a way to peek!

 Dan took his sweet 'ol time getting this open!

 Dave loves to roll his eyes so that he looks rediculous in all photos these days!

 Dan thought he might let Calvin read it!

 But then he got antsy since Calvin was reading in his head instead of out loud! Dan read the call....

You have been Called to Serve in the Spokane, Washington mission!!!......You will report to the MTC on Aug 15th.

What an exciting call. We are so happy for Dan!

I was super suprised at how early Dan is leaving. Aug 15th is less than 2 months from now. BYU summer term ends Aug 9th. Dan will drive home and spend a long weekend here with the family and then he's off!! Oh, how we will miss him but we are so happy for his new life adventure.

oh, I and I should also mention how awesome Dan is to have lost over 50 lbs in the last 3-4 months. He wants to lose another 50 and I hope he will do it!

Oh and I should also mention that while Dan was here he took my car to get new breaks. That saved me several hours of sitting at a car place with crazy and/or crying kids!

 (jojo was sad to see Dan go)!

Love you Dan!

dog beach

On the crazy mornings when Calvin doesn't make the bus I have decided to make the most of my trip down to San Diego by stopping at dog beach with the girls on the way home. It is 10 minutes form Calvin's school to the beach (25 min to school and then 25 min home).  I love the beach in the early morning. It is not crowded and it is not too hot. I dont' have to worry about sunscreen and shade. We just enjoy the cool foggy air.  When Calvin doesn't make the bus and I drive him to school I am grumpy and feel my morning is ruined. When I arrive at the beach and smell the ocean air and listen to the waves and see the joy of the kids (and the dog!) I feel much better!

The girls have a good time. They love to play in the sand.

 We saw dogs surfing!

 Clare even went in the water on one recent trip.

 I have always kept Jo in a baby carrier or in my arms at the beach but this week I decided to let her down in the sand! SHE LOVED IT!!!!  And, she didn't even try to eat anything. (which is especially good at dog beach!)

 I started calling the girls to come gather their stuff so we could go, and Jo was copying me -- yelling at them too. She is a funny little person. I love seeing her personality develop!

 WE LOVE OUR DOG!!

more great pictures!

A messy and happy baby!  This child eats more than Clare or Alexey at each meal. She loves food. At almost one year she is only 17 lbs!  Tonight for dinner she ate an avocado, a pear, a piece of pizza (homemade), and 4 strawberries. She loves finger foods.  Her all time favorite food is blueberries. Her close second favorites are oranges, banana, pizza (homemade), ice cream, pasta, cheese.

Tressel loves to hang out by Jo when she is eating. ...I sometimes think she I can her hear say in her mind, "a bite for you, a bite for me, a bite for you, a bite for me..." She is definitely learning how life works and enjoys interacting with everyone and everything!

 Jo had a fun trip to the playground where she recently discovered the slide. once again, it is so fun to watch her discover the world! She is delighted in everything!

She was kicking and wiggling to try and get lexey to hurry up and go down that slide!

Dave and I went to visit Min (dave's former chief resident) who had twins April 17th. The were so darling!! JinJoo is 7lbs 11oz right now and looks just like her dad. The boy Jay is  11 lbs.

 I made cupcakes for father's day to suit everyone in the family. A for AZTECS, M for that awful state north of Ohio, O for OHIO STATE BUCKEYES and Y for BYU!  

Gonda pool Rule #1: Think twice before throwing someone in the pool. If you throw someone in, you are going in next. (calvin tested this rule by throwing Clare in fully clothed while we were outside doing yardwork.)

 AHHHHH --- so cute! Can't get enough of this face.

 This is how JoJo poops. I know, I know, you were dying to know.

 It is nearly impossible to get a picture of my husband.  He is like an over sized child.

 but he is extremely cute!

part 2 coming soon. I take soooo many pictures these days that every week or so I have 100's to go through.

summer

Our summer this year is broken up into three phases.

Phase 1: Calvin has school but Clare and Lexey are not in school. June 8- July 30

Phase 2: Calvin and Clare are both on vacation. August 1-20

Phase 3: Clare starts school and Calvin is still on vacation. August 21-September 3.

End up summer -- Lex, Calvin and Clare will all be in school SEPT 4th!

For this first phase of summer we have a sort of lazy summer schedule. Each morning I make the girls do jobs. For Lexey this includes eat breakfast, get dressed, make bed and clean room + help with whatever other jobs I have for her.  She is usually a very willing helper. She is a sweet girl!  For Clare it is piano, journal, 1 page each of math, language arts, and never bored (easy/fun worksheets).  She also has to do her cleaning but often Lex and I will do it for her or help her a lot while she does her other jobs.  Clare will often whine and fuss about her jobs and thinks it's no fair she has so many jobs.....hopefully the whining will settle down soon when she gets used to the routine!   When the kids complain I tell them it is only fair that if Calvin goes to school ALL DAY they can do 30 minutes of work before they start playing for the day!

M-F nothing fun can happen until these jobs are done.  Once jobs are done we swim or go out and do something fun or watch a show on TV.

For piano I told Clare she gets 2 quarters if she finishes her piano before 9am and only one quarter for finishing her piano after 9am.  I hate listening to whining and sulking about piano so this is supposed to cut back on that!  For me, it is a great relief to have the piano over and done with first thing in the morning.  I'd say she is about 50/50 as far as finishing the piano before 9am. She is not a morning person so it is a struggle to do it first thing!

There are probably going to be a few days where we get up and go out early such as if we want to be to Sea World or the Wild Animal Park early. In those cases we skip homework but still get cleaning and piano done in the afternoon before we swim. The kids love to swim and it is nice to have that fun thing to look forward to in helping the kids get jobs done.

Here are a few pics from the splash park one day! Cute Lexey jumped right in!

 Clare with a friend from out of town Savanah! We were so happy to see Janis and her kids one day last week.

 DARLING JO in a swimsuit!!

 She LOVED playing in the water!

 One of the kids took a pic of Jo and I. It turned out pretty well!

 Clare in the pool at home.