How do you color me happy?

Send some of my favorite people to visit me!

Our great friends, the Ashlock family stopped by again this year while on their annual furlough to the US from their current home country of Thailand. We have known the Ashlocks for quite some time now... they came to our little church in New Bern before we left for Pensacola in 2002. When we met, Abby was 3 and they were about to have their first child. Now with a collective 6 kids, our visits are way more exciting, loud (5/6 of those kids are chatty girls!) and entertaining! We very much enjoyed our week with them. Mostly we just did what we do best... hung out and visited. Ok, talked! (Where'd you think those girls got their gift of gab, anyway?) We also found time to do some fun things. Laura and I were without the menfolk for the beginning of the week, so we took a morning, dropped the kids at the local hourly care business and went shopping all by ourselves! How fun to be able to shop in stores that don't have carts and even.... GASP... try things on without anyone nagging about going home! Oh, and did I mention our lunch? We went to a fancy fru-fru girly place with tasty salads and Roasted red pepper tomato bisque soup. So yummy! We had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the delicious food and conversation without any interruptions. It was so good for the soul!

(This is where I would insert the pretty picture of us in the fru-fru restaurant that I MEANT to take but forgot....)

Ryan grew up in Southern California so he was pretty happy to find some of his favorite childhood candies here in AZ... This one was a watermelon flavored lollipop that had chili powder on it. It was actually really good! Not nearly as hot as you would think, but very tasty. I'll be throwing a bag in my luggage to take to PA for my nephews to try!

Friday evening was MAWTS-1's Sunset Change of Command service. After a dinner of berries and crepes, these 3 headed over for some pomp and circumstance. I'm sure it was nice for Ryan and Laura to see some military formality and Jeremy enjoyed having company at his event!

I found a great deal on some dolly and me dresses that I thought the girls would enjoy. I think they did! We got them all dressed up on Sabbath morning, added some pretty flower hair clips that Laura brought them from Thailand and one silly boy and it makes for a great picture!

Madeline and Amelia were able to experience about the only rain we get here in Sabbath school.

Laura and I stopped for a quick picture to make up for that one I forgot to take. :)

Jeremy, Ryan and Laura hiked Telegraph Pass here in Yuma the morning of Father's Day. I happily stayed home with the kids! Heights just aren't my thing. Can you believe that narrow ledge they're standing on? I would be on all fours, weeping.... possibly vomiting, certainly praying.

This is another view... You can see just about all of Yuma off in the background.

After they scaled back down the mountain, they returned home and Laura made me a most delicious curry for lunch. We then packed up and headed west to San Diego. We were going to the Wild Animal Park the next day, so we checked into our hotel and found an appropriate spot for Father's Day dinner... The Old Spaghetti Factory in San Diego's Gaslamp District. It was a great mix of old factory charm and fantastic pasta dishes. I had the Lasagna Vegetariano and it was very good. I think we found yet another restaurant that we will miss when we leave the west coast.

We had a little bit of a wait when we arrived. Can you tell that San Diego's cool damp climate was a bit much for girls whose normal enviroments are the desert and the jungle?

They let us move upstairs to a family friendly bar area where the kids and dads indulged in a game of pool.

Note to self... Hunger + Boredom = Undesirable Behavior in Small Children

When our bellies were full and happy, we found the rooftop pool and firepit area at our hotel. The kids had a blast warming up around the fire and I think even being stuffed, we all wished we'd brought the ingredients for smore's!

The kids all enjoyed getting a close up view of downtown San Diego (and the nighttime sky) with the handy dandy binoculars!

And is any post really complete without a picture of Abby reading?

Marshall and Lia have always had a special bond. It started back in NC one night during a bible study at our home where Lia set her sights on him and was determined to be noticed.

Happily, some things NEVER change!