simplify

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T09:01:00.000-08:00

I love Valentine's Day, and I especially like to make creative valentine cards with the boys. This year may be my favorite ones we've ever done. We got the idea from Family Fun, and they turned out so stinkin' cute!

We started out by taking a bunch of pictures of the boys holding an old mop handle. We did it in the dining room so we'd get the pretty red curtains in the background. I fit 2 images per 4x6 picture by doubling the canvas size on Photoshop and adding an identicle image to the blank side. Then I typed the words in white so they'd show up nicely against the dark red. I had them printed at Costco, and it only cost $8 for 60 prints to make 120 valentines. Not bad!

Then Tyler and Dallin finished the rest all by themselves (I mostly made Brennan's) this past weekend. They taped a lollipop to the back of the picture, taped the picture to some scrapbook paper I had, and wrote the names on the front. They were all very excited about their Valentine's Day parties today, except Spencer, who won't have any since he's in middle school now. Bummer.

Last night for our Family Home Evening treat I made the coconut cake that Marrisse posted on our family food blog. I tinted the frosting pink for V-day. It was very delicious. Then I broke the glass bowl I used to make the icing because it was so slippery, and in the process I sliced off the posterior DIP of my left index finger, i.e. the back of my last finger joint. I cannot begin to tell you how painful it is. A big chunk of my skin is gone, probably down the drain, exposing a very sensitive huge hole that bled forever last night. Dave spent 20 minutes cleaning out all the shards of glass from the garbage disposal. I was so worried he was going to cut himself. I woke up several times during the night with a horrible throbbing pain in my finger. Then I literally cried allegator tears when I peeled off the stuck bandaid this morning. Dave ran to the store before work to get me some lidocaine gel, telfa pads and a finger splint, and it is feeling much better now. So no fun heart-shaped pancakes for us this morning.

These are my favorite valentines of all. I love these people so much!

I especially LOVE Levi's face in this one!

They love it when dad reads books at night because he always makes them so silly and fun. I married Dave because he made me laugh. He married me because I laughed at his jokes. Now he makes our kids laugh too, and that makes me so happy.

Happy Valentine's Day to the best guy ever -- who cleans up my broken glass and takes care of my wounds and encourages my hobbies and lets me have as many children as I want and is such an awesome dad to them. I am so blessed to have you as my valentine!

Red Carpet Event

2012-02-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

We had a fun primary activity last weekend for the kids to get to know their new teachers.

First we had them sit with their class and play a little get-to-know-you game while we set up the food table.

They rolled dice to answer corresponding questions about themselves, such as, "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

And, "What superhero power would you choose?"

Then we called them up one table at a time to dish up breakfast. We had muffins, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and fruit.

After we got that all cleaned up, they shared with their class several items from home that represented their interests and talents.

Brennan shared dress-ups, an obsidian shard, a spin-art picture and a monkey.

Dallin shared one of his cookbooks, a picture of a chef, a purple slinky, a video game and the book Matilda. He's on a big Roald Dahl kick right now - he reads them in just 2-3 days each.

They were also asked to pack a dress-up item.

Tyler shared artwork, a maze book, a hockey puck, his violin tuner, a pizza box and the book Holes.

The teachers shared things about themselves also.

Spencer shared the book Eldest, an ice hockey puck (thanks Aaron!), a 3D ocean bookmark, an Abalone shell, and a rock-climbing trophy.

Then they proceeded to dress up their teachers.

And one by one the classes escorted their teachers down the "red carpet."

They introduced their teacher to the rest of us and told us all the things they learned about them.

This was the most entertaining part of the activity. The teachers really got into it!

Tyler's teacher even brought some fun music to dance to.

We love our teachers! I especially like her daughter's face (yellow shirt) in this one.

The teachers also shared interesting facts about themselves that we might not already know. Spencer's teacher had his stomach pumped twice in one day when he was a kid.

It was a lot of fun to get to know our teachers and each other outside of class. The kids loved it! And the teachers told us afterwards how much they liked it too.

More Visitors

2012-02-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Aaron and Marrisse came to visit a couple of weeks ago. They both ran in the St. George half marathon, so they figured as long as they were that close they might as well come see us. How fun for us! That's a major advantage of home schooling - they get to take vacations whenever they want.

We had them over for dinner one night. There was something going on every night, since we weren't the ones on vacation, darn it, so we just cancelled violin and tried to eat quick before Spencer left for piano. After dinner we played Hedbanz.

We didn't feel like we'd seen them enough by the time the week was up, so we ran over to my parents' house to hang out with them before they left. Fortunately they aren't early risers, and they were in no hurry to get out the door.

I took some pictures of their kids that morning, but I didn't get any of Aaron or Marrisse. They were out running. Aren't they impressive??

Spencer said he loves hanging out with these girls because it's so easy to make them laugh. It's true - there's a lot of giggling when we get together with them.

I could take pictures of Sophie all day. She's so photogenic!!

As the only boy in their family, Caleb loves to come visit all his boy cousins in California.

Such silliness! He obviously fits right in.

Brennan's been asking me when we can go back to Utah to play with his cousins in the snow.

Treasure hunting in the riverbed

2012-02-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

For last month's pack meeting, our friend Ron talked to the cub scouts about finding ancient artifacts. He has a huge collection, mostly arrowheads and fossils, which he found right here in our town's riverbed. So naturally my boys wanted to go there the very first chance they could get, which happened to be the following Saturday. It had rained the day before, so they were hoping there would be water in the river (apparently that's the best time to find stuff, because the water uncovers the treasures), but it was totally dry. Like most places, we've had an extremely dry winter.

Mostly they just found a bunch of junk, and I only let them keep a couple of things. The old paddle made it home, and I have to admit, it looks pretty cool on the shelf behind Spencer's ocean set-up.

The broken fence piece did not make the cut. The boys couldn't understand why I didn't want their "treasures" in my house. Moms can be so unreasonable.

Spencer's friend Caleb came along.

We had a lot of fun, but we didn't find any arrowheads; we'll have to go back after a bigger rain storm. Speaking of the riverbed, Dave was invited by a bunch of guys from church to go paintballing there a few days ago. He had SO much fun! But he inadvertantly landed on a stick during a dive and got a hole under his chin. He put a stitch into it when he got home. Without Lidocaine. We have some, but he didn't think it was worth it for just 1 stitch. He's amazing!

Party time!

2012-02-05T20:57:00.001-08:00

There was an especially crazy week recently (the same week of the stomach flu and my photo shoot and my baby shower and the cub scout pack meeting), when my nephews Eric and Luke had birthday parties a day apart. Brennan went to Eric's art party Thursday after school. He had a lot of fun, but I wasn't there so I didn't get any pictures. Then Levi and I went to Luke's Cars party Friday morning.

They were going to ride bikes at the park; but it was moved to the church because it started to sprinkle. Then we didn't see another rain drop once we got there, so the kids just rode their bikes in the church parking lot.

Levi was pretty clingy that day. He just hung out with me, blowing bubbles and eating candy from his treat bag.

Such concentration - so cute!

Levi finally got on his scooter. Then he lost control on a slight (and I mean slight) hill, fell and got hurt. He was done riding after that.

Kristen made super cute car cakelets. Of course the birthday boy got to have Lightning McQueen.

Can you believe how long Levi's hair is? He's the one under Kristen. When it's curly, it's cute. But when it's straight, it looks pretty silly. He's never had a haircut because he was bald for so long, but I really need to cut it one of these days.

Levi was happy as long as he was eating. It was a fun, low-key party. Perfect for 2-3 year olds!

Maternity Pics

2012-02-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

I asked a photography friend from church to do a maternity shoot of me a couple weeks ago. I wanted to do it when I was far enough along to have a good sized belly but not so far that I'd be huge all over, so we went with 34 weeks.

We were going to do it the Monday before my baby shower (which was moved up kind of last minute) so I could display them there. I saw that at another shower and thought it was a really cute idea. But then I came down with the stomach flu the night before (it was aweful!!), so we did it the following day instead. I was still pretty sore all over, but at least I wasn't nauseous anymore. She had to photoshop out the broken blood vessels on my face.

She chose an awesome location - just off the side of the road near my house. She checked it out beforehand and wanted to do it here because it actually had green grass. Everywhere else was pretty dead looking. Plus I love the old fence and oak trees.

She kept telling me the whole time how gorgeous I was. You can't help but smile when someone tells you that. It was a lot of fun. I think she has such a good eye for lighting!

My belly kind of disappears when I lie on my back.

I really like how they turned out. I usually just do a quick snapshot right before I have my babies, and they've never been this cute. I'm glad I got them done.

I went to the doctor today, and she freaked out again about me measuring too small. But I don't FEEL small. I feel huge and uncomfortable. I just carry my babies really low. I'm 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced.

Just 3 1/2 more weeks to go!

Thank-you Jen and Uche!

2012-01-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

My siblings and I rotate giving gifts to each other every Christmas. We used to pick names when we lived at home, but now we just go down the list in order. This year Jen and Uche gave us a badminton set, which is awesome. I bought one for Dave a few years ago, and a couple of the kids (one of ours and a cousin) hung on the net and broke it before we even had a chance to play it once. We returned it and were hesitant about getting another one. But this one is much sturdier. Plus Dave can put it up super quick.

I don't think Tyler had ever played before, so Dave gave him some pointers.

I just sat in a chair and hit all the birdies that were within arm's reach, so we were about the same level.

Spencer is an old pro. He's played a bunch of times, including last week in gym. He loves it!

He's like Dave - he dives for everything.

Our yard is the perfect size for it. What a fun gift!

New Years Eve

2012-01-16T22:52:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve we went to the beach, stopping to see the elephant seals on the way. Josh and Megan had never been there, and they really enjoyed it. It's worth experiencing at least once, and it's always amazing to see so many huge animals on the beach.

We even got to see some mating in action, which is always a bit disturbing yet fascinating. We feel like we're somehow infringing on their privacy, but they don't seem to mind us. Actually the female really complains loudly about the whole thing, but the male doesn't get the hint and keeps chasing her all around the beach.

Then we headed down to our favorite beach and enjoyed hours of fun.

My parents had actually never been to this beach, since there were plenty of closer beaches where they used to live. But it's our favorite one, and we were so happy they came.

There was one lone elephant seal on our beach who must have taken the wrong turn at Albuqueque. He drew a lot of tourist attention - there was a huge crowd taking pictures of him. He was quite loud, probably wondering where everyone else was.

The kids buried Peter in the sand - he's actually standing in a big hole. This drew some tourists away from the elephant seals, and they started taking pictures of him also!

Jonathan provided the ambient beachy music. It was lovely.

Tyler was next to be buried.

We really didn't think we'd stay as long as we did, but it was so warm and beautiful and not windy (how often does that happen?!) that we couldn't pull ourselves away.

Several groups walked to the end of the pier.

Someone asked us if we were going to stay and watch the sunset. Dave said no, but then he realized that the sun was very close to setting. So we enjoyed the last sunset of 2011, and it was gorgeous.

After we went home, cleaned ourselves up and ate a quick dinner, we all met back at Kristen and Nathan's house for games and food

It's a good thing Dave and Nathan have each other to play games with, because Kristen and I would rather sit and visit and not play games.

We did our countdown to midnight at 10:00. We figured we were ushering in the new year with Jen and Uche and Ben and Barbara.

Then we left the party to put the little kids to bed. We let the oldest 3 stay up and watch a movie until the real midnight, but Dallin and I didn't quite make it.

Next round of visitors

2012-01-13T13:11:00.000-08:00

Josh and Megan's family came to visit a couple of days after Maryruth's left. On Friday we went to Montana de Oro to walk along the bluffs. I'm sorry there are no pictures of the bluffs. I was still having too much fun with my new lens, which only does close-ups. We'll have to go there another time to get actual scenery shots.

Kristen came with 3 of her kids - Luke was home sleeping and the rest were busy. I love this casual, sunny, back-lit picture of her. Beautiful!

Poor Elizabeth was the only girl there, and she mostly hung out with the adults.

On the way home she rode with Kristen in her new car. She told her that her boys remind her of a boy in her class. Then she added that the boy has autism. She wants to go visit girl cousins next.

Here are some more cool back-lit pictures. I love how they still have so much light and detail, even in the shadows. This is Jonah.

And here is his identical twin brother Ethan. I'm getting so good at telling them apart! (I am right, right?)

After awhile we looped back towards the cars and found a cool grove of eucalyptus trees to climb.

You can't see it in this picture, but Asher was holding some kind of centipede. I'm still not used to having a prime lens, and it sometimes takes closer pictures than I want. I have to move myself back and forth, and there was limited space for that.

That night all the adults went out to dinner without the kids. It's one of my favorite things we do when family comes to visit.

Zoo trip with cousins

2012-01-09T13:22:00.000-08:00

We went to our dinky little zoo with a couple of cousins that week after Christmas. Levi wouldn't get in the picture. He was too busy looking at the turkeys.

I kept telling him not to get too close, but the next thing I knew he was screaming. Apparently the turkey bit his face!

I didn't take too many pictures of animals this time, since they were all too far away for my lens, but this monkey was nice and close.

Jacob got a camera for Christmas, so we were both snapping pictures.

This picture of Peter cracks me up!

Talking to the birds.

After the zoo we ate donuts and played at the park. Then they wandered over to the lake and found a totally cool bridge to play under.

The lighting was awesome under there.

Then someone gave us some bread to feed the ducks and geese. They came close, but luckily they didn't bite us.

It's practically impossible to keep 7 boys out of water, but we managed to stay relatively dry.

I love the rustic grey background in these pictures. It was hard to leave, and we ended up being there a lot longer than I planned. It was a fun day.

After Christmas fun

2012-01-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

My boys love to hear their own voices on a microphone (which is one of the reasons they love to give talks in church), so we gave them a karaoke machine. I have to exchange it because the CD player doesn't work well (it was pretty cheap), but they love the microphone best anyway. They hook it up to our sound system, and it can get really loud. As Spencer told my parents today, we had a loud Christmas.

Even Levi loves to yell into it.

I love his trying-not-to-smile face.

Here's Dallin doing some stand-up comedy.

And Spencer playing ba-dum-ching! on the drums after the punchlines.

We crack ourselves up.

It was hard for Dave to leave the party and go to work everyday, so we met him for lunch at a nearby park one day.

Levi loved having everyone off school to play with him for two weeks.

Zip!

2012-01-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

One of the most exciting things (for Dave as well as the boys) we got for Christmas was our zip line. It's just a kid one and it's not that far off the ground, so there's no need for a harness. It took Dave awhile to install it on Monday, his one day off (that's the problem with Christmas falling on a Sunday), and the boys were out there on it bright and early Tuesday morning.

He tied a shoestring tail to it so they could run it back up to the playground.

That purple string to the left of Dallin is the brake Dave made. He attached a wooden block near the end of the zip line and connected it to a bungee cord screwed into the ground. As they get near the end, the brake slows them down gradually so they don't slam into the tree.

Tyler likes to go down backwards.

The zip line is really more for the older boys, so we got a 2-person swing for the younger boys. They loved the one at the Smalleys' house, and we needed a new swing for our swingwet, since our baby swing broke recently. They all really like it. Brennan stayed home sick today, which is why he's in his jammies. It seems like these two have been sick with colds for months, and it keeps flaring up Brennan's asthma. He even missed the last day of school before Christmas, and he was so miserable that he didn't even care about missing his class party.

Good-bye, Rex

2012-01-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

( picture taken last March)

Spencer's bearded dragon died yesterday. He had been sleeping a lot and not eating, but we figured he was hibernating because he did the same thing last winter. We'd only had him 18 months, and we were hoping he'd live a lot longer. Originally Spencer really wanted a snake and even saved up $80 to buy one (since we wouldn't buy it for him), but when we went to the pet store, we all fell in love with Rex instead. He was friendly, active, cute (or as cute as a lizard can be), and really fun to watch as he hunted for crickets and basked in the light of his heat lamp. I swear, there were times when it really looked like he was smiling, whether he was looking up at the light with his mouth wide open or munching on lettuce. He will be buried in the back corner of our yard, where all our fish have gone to rest. I think we should get another bearded dragon, but Spencer said it would be too hard to lose another one.

Waiting for Christmas

2012-01-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

I had a doctor's appointment two days before Christmas. The boys were off school, so I took them all with me and dropped them off at Dave's work to hang out while I was at the appointment. Then we tried to think of something fun to do, since we were out and all. They were all very excited about Christmas, and we needed to do something to keep our minds off of it. We finally decided on the Morro Bay Museum.

We ate our packed lunch and enjoyed a gorgeous sunny day. It's often nicer there in the winter than in the summer.

There was a big mural outside the museum, and they got a little silly posing for pictures.

Afterwards we went on a little hike next to the museum. Everyone looked nice (I told them they had to shower and look decent, since they were going to Dave's work), so we took some pictures.

They were looking a bit shaggy, though, and I have since given Tyler and Dallin haircuts.

We learned at the museum that the rock we climbed was actually spewed out of the volcano that formed Morro Rock millions of years ago. It looked like a miniature version.

Here's a belly shot. I had another doctor's appointment today, and they told me I'm measuring small. In fact I haven't grown in 2 weeks (and they said I was too small then), so they ordered another ultrasound. I think I just carry my babies low, because they often tell me this. I hope everything's okay.

What to get your parents for Christmas

2012-01-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

It's always hard to know what to get parents and grandparents for Christmas, because they don't really need anything. My parents just moved and got rid of a lot of stuff as they downsized to a smaller home, so we didn't want to give them a bunch more stuff.

They have nine children, so my sister-in-law had the idea of pooling our resources to buy them each a Kindle. This seemed like a great idea, since they both love to read; plus they're nice and small and don't take up too much space.

My only concern was that it was such a perfect gift that one of them might already be giving it to the other. But they weren't, and they were very happy to get them.

It's fun to really surprise and delight someone with a gift. Thank-you, Megan, for the great idea!

I apologize for the use of flash in these pictures. They were taken before I got my new lens.

Christmas Morning

2011-12-29T08:23:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure you can imagine, I took LOTS of pictures Christmas morning. But I don't want to bore you, so I've narrowed them down to my favorites. The boys all got glasses in their stockings that turn little lights into Christmas shapes, like snowflakes and snowmen.

Dallin wanted just 2 things for Christmas - a drum set and a display case for his slinkies. I didn't want such a big, loud thing in my small house; but Santa got it for him, so what could I do? He loves it and plays it all the time. We had to move it into his bedroom halfway through opening presents so we could hear each other.

The boys wanted electric scooters last year, but we told them no because we thought they were too expensive. They were SO surprised and excited to get them this year, since they'd given up hope. Santa must have found a really good deal on them. They like to zip all around the neighborhood, and they keep telling us how much they love them.

Brennan had been telling us for about 6 months that he wanted a robot for Christmas. This is a really cool one. It's programable - it can walk, dance and shoot little discs out of its mouth. Plus there's lots of lights and fun sounds. Everyone has enjoyed playing with it, except Levi. He's afraid of it.

This is the gift that took the most amount of time and thought. It took me forever to search the internet, but I couldn't find anything the right size and price. Finally I found this on ebay for only $5! It was used and kind of an ugly yellow pine with green felt on the inside, but it was just the right size. So I took it apart, sanded it down, bought a new back, painted it and put it back together. This kept me up until midnight a couple of nights before Christmas, but I was really happy with how it turned out. And Dallin LOVES it. He told me it was exactly what he had in mind. Shwew!!

He also got a bunch of new purple slinkies.

I had fun taking pictures with my new lens, so that made it a fun Christmas for me! See how blurred the background is? And how clear Brennan's face is? Even his ear and bathrobe are blurred. That's the shallow depth-of-field.

Levi slept in and actually woke up happy (he's usually quite cranky in the morning).

All the candy in his stocking may have had something to do with that.

Spencer has loved his Perplexus (he finished it last night) and Tyler was excited to get a tuner for his violin.

Can you believe I actually had time for a shower, contacts and make-up? I even made Cinnamon French Toast Bake before everyone woke up. That's because I was up with pregnancy insomnia at 5:00. It took me 2 days to get caught up on sleep.

At first Levi didn't like the drums. "Too loud!" But then he figured out how fun they were.

I think this is the third umbrella Brennan has gotten as a gift. They don't last long, but he loves them.

Levi loves his guitar, and Brennan loves it too. So many of their gifts are interchangeable. It's like they get twice as many presents.

One of the main things Tyler wanted was the game Loopz.

The boys gave me a set of 3 new living room lamps, which I really wanted. It was one of the biggest presents under the tree, and I had no idea what it was.

The main thing Spencer asked for was the game Risk. He wanted it ever since he played it with his cousins at the beach house a couple summers ago.

Yay! New wii games.

I gave Dave a new drill, and he's already used it to make the brake block for our new zip line! That was his big project on Monday, and the boys all love it SO MUCH. I'll post pictures of that as soon as I get some good ones. All the ones I've taken are too blurry.

It's fun to get those old classic games we both had in our families growing up and watch our children enjoy them too.

It turns out my new lens isn't as good at outside pictures with lots of light. Next I want a good zoom lens for outdoor action shots.

Cute Makayla

2011-12-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

My sister Maryruth and her family came from Idaho to spend Christmas with my parents. I had so much fun taking pictures of her cute baby Makayla with my new prime lens Dave gave me for Christmas.

Adorable Christmas dress and hat!!

I love the lens's narrow depth-of-field and ability to handle low-light conditions. It's a 50mm 1.8D prime lens, which means it has a fixed focal length (i.e. no zoom). It's great for portraits and other up-close pictures. It was the first present I opened Christmas morning so I could use it right away. I'll post those pictures next.

We finally got a smile! She was so fascinated by the ornaments that it was hard to pull her attention away from the tree.

But her mommy was being so funny next to me that she just started cracking up. We love this cute baby!!

Holiday Baking

2011-12-26T12:56:00.000-08:00

When I went to my 30 week appointment last week, my doctor told me I weighed 7 lbs less than I did at the same point of my last pregnancy. That was a pleasant surprise, since I have really enjoyed my holiday baking this year. People always ask me if I have strange cravings when I'm pregnant, and I don't think I do. I just like to eat sweets even more than usual.

I did a lot of the baking when the boys were in school, such as the truffles (4 batches this year - 2 almond, 1 mint and 1 raspberry). But they like to help cut out sugar cookies and make fudge, so I did those when they were home.

The marshmallow cream is everyone's favorite part of making fudge. What a mess! I was just happy I didn't have to do that part.

Brennan and Dallin, meticulously weighing out the chocolate chips.

Unfortunately I was having so much fun taking pictures of them breaking up the chocolate bars and such that I didn't notice the sugar and evaporated milk boiling over on the stove. It still turned out tasting delicious, but it was a little softer than usual. I also burned 2 pans of sugar cookies and unknowingly baked with slightly rancid oil, so that my 3C bread and molasses cookies weren't as good as usual. I guess I'm not quite on my game when I'm 7 months pregnant. But we had a lot of fun caroling and handing out plates of cookies to 14 families in 3 nights. Actually we didn't sing to our neighbors the 3rd night because I was pooped, so we just sent the boys out to drop them off.

Spencer's Debut

2011-12-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was Spencer's first piano recital. He's been playing for 5 1/2 years, but I've just been teaching him myself. He got to the point where he was getting better than me, and last year I realized he needed a new teacher. So when we were at Tyler's violin recital in June, we talked to several parents who highly recommended their piano teacher to us.

He played two songs and did a great job. We all really enjoyed the recital. The boys especially liked the hot apple cider and cookies afterwards.

We have been very happy with his teacher. His name is Torsten Juul-Borre, and he's a professional concert pianist from Denmark. The downside is that he's pretty expensive, but we figure it's okay because we avoided paying for lessons for 5 years. He has just the perfect style of teaching for Spencer. He is interesting, funny, and very strict about minute details (which has always been Spencer's weakness), and we've already seen a huge improvement after just 4 months. Spencer loves his lessons, loves to practice, and still can't pass by a piano without stopping to play.

Gingerbread houses

2011-12-19T11:53:00.000-08:00

We made our gingerbread houses a couple weekends ago, but I just barely finished putting them together last night. You see the icing wasn't as stiff as it was last year (I went by memory, which is pretty spotty these days), so it was strong enough for the candy and the walls, but the roofs kept falling. I looked up the recipe I used last year that worked so well and discovered that I was supposed to beat it for 7-10 minutes. That's what I forgot, and once I did that, it worked GREAT.

We made them on a Saturday afternoon, after Dave, Spencer and Dallin got back from a campout (Tyler couldn't go because he was sick) and before we went out on a date. Tyler felt totally better that day, and we had fun buying all the candy together while Brennan was at his primary class party.

The great thing about gingerbread houses is that they always turn out great, no matter who makes them. Candy is colorful and beautiful, and you almost can't mess it up.

Some poeple take longer than others and have to be hurried along.

We had several lessons on how to use the icing bag correctly so that it doesn't all squirt out the back. Dallin is demonstrating excellent technique here.

Our favorite candies this year were the old-fashioned ones from Michael's. Spencer has recently discovered that most candy is too sweet and artificial-tasting, but those ones were not. He must be growing up!

I was only going to make 4 houses, but I had extra gingerbread and decided to make an extra house just in case. It's a good thing I did, because Levi was rather insistant about making his own. He immediately broke a wall and starting eating it, but we "glued" it back together and taught him to put the candy on it instead.

He was the first one done! He was rather proud of himself, and he's always pointing at it and saying, "My house!"

I had so much extra dough that I even cut out tons of gingerbread men, Christmas trees and snowmen to embellish the houses and eat. I did something different this year - I cut out the shapes before I baked them, which was much easier and worked out great.

Now our mantle looks finished and beautiful. It looked rather odd with all the roof-less houses on it.

The Tree

2011-12-18T16:02:00.000-08:00

We were so busy the weekend after we got back from Utah that I didn't know how we'd fit in decorating for Christmas. I like to do it right after Thanksgiving. But Dave put up the tree one night after a hockey game; he put up the outside lights Saturday morning at 7:00; and the boys and I set up our nativity sets and other living room decorations while Dave was at an all-day scout meeting. The church Christmas party was that night, so we decorated the tree Sunday morning before church. Whew!

Levi LOVED putting the ornaments on this year. And he's actually left them alone ever since. Mostly.

See that cute sleigh Levi's standing on? Dave made it in high school. The boys have SO much fun playing with it. Everyone else in his shop class made gun racks.

Dallin put all his ornaments in one spot. Look at his cute baby ornament next to him - those are my favorites.

It's a good thing we take pictures of who puts the star up each year, because the boys take turns. We had to look at last year's pictures to figure out whose turn it was this year.

Chinnigans, etc.

2011-12-16T15:53:00.000-08:00

We had our church Christmas party a couple of weeks ago, and we had a lot of fun games and activities. After dinner we sang Christmas songs with Chinnigans.

This was a huge hit, and all the kids wanted to do it.

As you can see, this involves lying on tables with heads hanging over the edge, covering up the eyes and nose with a hankerchief and singing upside down with fake eyes on the chin. It looked hilarious! We even had a video camera set up with a huge screen so everyone could see them up close.

My boys looked at youtube videos beforehand to get ideas.

After chinnigans we sang the 12 Days of Christmas, with each table singing and acting out one of the days. Our table had 6 geese a-laying. Then each table got a bag of supplies to decorate one person as a Christmas tree.

Then of course Santa stopped by for a visit. He was very jolly and fun for the kids (last year's santa was scary).

He was also very convincing as Santa. His own son Sam, who is 4, didn't recognize him. It was so cute - when Santa told Sam that he heard he wanted a chainsaw for Christmas, he looked amazed and said, "Thank-you."

Fall colors

2011-12-11T22:39:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago Spencer came into the house while I was making dinner and told me I had to take pictures of Levi on the swing. He used to go in the baby swing, but the big boys broke the rope (they did wild and crazy things with that swing), and it was Levi's first time on the big swing.

Spencer was doing underdog and everything. Levi loved it, but he got a tad nervous if he went too high.

Our backyard was looking so pretty with all the fall colors that I had to keep taking pictures. Tyler and Dallin were at gymnastics at the time.

I especially loved the big yellow tree in our neighbor's yard, so I positioned them and myself in such a way that I could see it in the background.

I always think it's the impromptu photo sessions that are the most fun. And they really help capture a moment we would have otherwise forgotten. Tyler looks at these pictures and really wishes he would have been there instead of gymnastics that day. We'll have to plan another "impromtu" backyard session.

Ice skating and Christmas lights

2011-12-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

Another winter thing we wanted to do in Utah was ice skating. We went to a great indoor rink in Bountiful. I didn't do it myself, because I have a hard enough time with balance on solid ground, but I enjoyed taking pictures of everyone having fun out there.

All the Abbotts and Smalleys went too, except Daniel, who was home sick with Strep throat.

I was amazed at how quickly my boys picked it up. It was their first time, and before I knew it they were racing around, playing tag.

So apparently it's a lot like rollerblading, and Spencer even wrote a compare/contrast essay about them this week for school. The muscles and balance are the same, but he liked ice skating better. He even skated like a hockey player. Too bad we don't have an ice rink anywhere near us.

But Brennan had to hold on the whole time. We need to get him on roller blades.

Brennan and Caleb were done before everyone else, so they hung out with me and Levi and ate popcorn and climbed on the bleachers the rest of the time. These two seem a lot alike to me. Too bad they live so far away from each other. They're both small, allergic to nuts, born around Thanksgiving, very blond, and super wiggly and wobbly on ice skates.

I don't know what Marrisse was saying in this picture, but I sure love Emily's reaction!

Spencer recently taught Dave how to rollerblade backwards, and apparently that's the same on ice skates too.

You can't see Maggie's face, but what a cute pose!

At least Sabrina was feeling better. And I'm so glad no one else got sick.

Can you believe how tall Hannah is getting?

Dallin wasn't even sure if he wanted to go, but he LOVED it.

After the skating session ended we hung around and watched the beginning of a peewee hockey game. It looked just like our roller hockey games, but the puck just glided so much smoother across the ice. Now Spencer's ready to move to Utah so he can play ice hockey.

That night we went to temple square to see the Christmas lights. Apparently they had just turned them on the night before, and it was quite crowded. In fact it took us forever to find a parking spot. But it's something I've always wanted to do, and it was all very beautiful. And cold. However, Emily said she's been there when it was even more crowded and cold.

I love multicultural nativity sets. There were a bunch of them.

Such a gorgeous reflecting pool. There were little balls of light floating in the water and a white nativity in the center. So, so pretty.

I'm amazed I managed to get this picture of the Christus without crowds of people in front of it, since there were SO many people in the visitor center. This concludes our trip to Utah. We had such a fun time. Thank-you to my family for hosting and playing with us!

Snow Day

2011-12-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving we went up into the mountains to play in the snow. Dave and my brother Aaron took Spencer, Tyler and Hannah skiing/snowboarding at Brighton all morning. They got there before it opened and practically had the slopes to themselves for the first hour. I was amazed to hear that Dave took the boys to the very top of the mountain and had them skiing blues and greens the whole time. He said they did great, went really fast, and only fell a few times. They LOVED it! This was definitely the highlight of the whole trip for them. Dallin didn't want to do it this year, which is probably good because I don't think he could have kept up.

Then the rest of us joined them for lunch - turkey and cranberry sandwiches. At that point Hannah, Spencer and Tyler were done skiing, so they went sledding with the rest of us while Dave and Aaron stayed and did some harder/faster runs. This worked out great, because Dave doesn't usually get to go as fast as he wants. He loved it so much! In fact he said if we lived in Utah, which is very tempting, he'd want to get a season pass.

We drove down the mountain a few miles until we found a good place to pull over and play in the snow. It wasn't quite as windy and cold there, although I'm always surprised at just how cold the snow is. We really had to bundle up. I'll admit it: living in California has made me a bit of a weather wimp. But my 4 oldest boys don't seem to mind the cold at all.

These girls are just so cute.

As I was editing this picture, Levi came up and yelled, "Andrew!" I was impressed that he remembered his name and could say it so clearly.

One day my boys were talking about having a sister and whether they like girls or not (they tell me there are some really annoying girls at school), when Spencer said, "There are some cool girls out there. She could be like Allison, and she's awesome."

This face cracks me up.

We found an awesome sledding hill, where people had already made a few great ramps. They really caught some air!

Brennan went down a little hill once with Daniel. That was enough for him, and he spent the rest of the time happily eating snow. I think he has pica. He eats ice all the time, so eating snow is heaven for him.

I didn't do any sledding myself, but I had a lot of fun taking pictures. They loved it too, and would yell, "Hilary, get ready, I'm coming down!" to make sure I captured their awesomeness. Then of course they'd want to see their picture when they got to the bottom.

Here's Spencer and Dallin flying through the air.

They did races down the hill.

Spencer said it was the best snow day ever.

After they were done sledding they came back to the car and had a big snowball fight - California vs. Utah cousins.

I love that face!

It was hard to say who won - Dallin cried because he got snow in his ear, but Andrew wanted to stop before they did, so I'd say it was a tie.

Notice there are no pictures of Levi. That's because he had no interest in leaving the car the whole day! He wasn't sad or upset; he just wanted to sit in his carseat, hold his blanket and suck his thumb. Whenever one of us opened the car door, he pointed at it and yelled "door!" because he didn't want any cold air coming in. Sabrina was sick that day and fell asleep in the car, so Emily stayed with them for awhile while I hung out with the sledders, then we switched places. It was a fun but exhausting day.

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-30T13:51:00.001-08:00

We never go far for Thanksgiving, since we have lots of family closeby to spend it with. But we were trying to figure out a time to go to the snow early this year (I'm due in February, so the sooner the better), and we decided to go to Utah for our extra long weekend. That way Dave and the big boys would have family to ski with, and I'd have family to not ski with. We left Tuesday after Dave got off work, drove 4 hours to Barstow, then 9 hours on Wednesday. It was pretty cool - they upgraded our hotel room for free, since they were full, and we got a 2 room suite with a jacuzzi. My boys LOVE staying in hotels, and that one was extra fun.

Thanksgiving was lovely. We stayed with my sister Emily in Kaysville, and it was a relaxing day of games and baking and recovering from our trip. Andrew made an apple pie, with canned pie filling that Allison made from Joy's apple trees. Emily is training a new generation of amazing cooks.

Sabrina and Brennan get along so well. Actually all the kids had fun together. Cousins are awesome.

Dallin, always posing for the picture.

Brennan and Sabrina kept asking me to take their picture. And that's Levi's picture -taking smile.

Some people really like getting their picture taken.

Their cat Teancum was a big hit. Spencer had a bad allergic reaction to him a few times, but he got better as he learned to stay away from the cat and wash his hands lots.

It was unseasonably warm, and they played outside all day. Aaron's family came in the afternoon, and they had fun playing stick wars with Caleb.

Allison's always happy when the Abbotts come, so she's not so out-numbered by boys.

Emily brined the turkey, as usual, and it was so moist and delicious. She wondered if I'd like it, since I didn't like the last turkey she brined for us. But then I reminded her that I was in the middle of my 1st trimester with Dallin at the time and was so sick I didn't like anything.

The girls prepared the drinks - grape juice ice cubes and ginger ale, of course.

Why are my children so goofy? Maggie, on the other hand, looks like she's on the cover of a magazine. And Katrina is eating pink, heart-shaped mashed potatoes. That's the beauty of Thanksgiving - there's something for everyone. After dinner (a couple hours after), we had pies and birthday cake for Caleb, Brennan, Emily, Tim and Allison. It's a busy birthday month for our family!

Rubber Ducky Party!

2011-11-21T08:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Brennan's first ever friend party. His birthday is actually next week, but that gets complicated with Thanksgiving. I'm all about the theme, so I asked him what kind of party he wanted. He didn't know, so I gave him some suggestions - pirates, monsters, etc. - all the things he likes. Then he came up with the "duck" theme, which seemed odd to me. The last time we had a duck cake was when Spencer turned one. But he said he wanted the kind of rubber duckies that are dressed up. That made more sense, since he loves dress-ups. Actually all my boys like to play with those silly ducks, and not just in the bath.

I started out making a basic rubber ducky cake . I used one cake mix to bake two 8" round cakes (actually I only had one 8" cake pan, so I used a round casserole dish for the other one) and a small ball-shaped cake I made by changing the shape of a mini loaf pan (Dave's idea - he's so creative). I used toothpicks to attach the candy fruit slices for the tail and a chopstick to attach the head and beak - Tyler suggested I use an ice cream cone for that, since the orange slice they used on the website just looked like fat lips. I used chocolate chips for the eyes, since the non perils they used looked freaky.

Then we dressed up our duck. First we put a Mr. Potato Head fireman hat on it. That was pretty cute.

But we especially liked the pirate version. I used a fruit roll-up for the bandanna and a chocolate melting disc for the eye patch. Then I drew the lines with melted chocolate chips.

We surrounded him with bunches of fun rubber duckies I found at a party supply store.

As the guests arrived they decorated their treat bags with ducks and stickers. Our first game was Duck, Duck, Goose.

Then everyone chose a rubber ducky to use in our duck races. Dave made a little race course in our turtle sand box using water, irrigation tubing and rocks. Three kids raced at a time, using straws to blow the ducks around the track.

The ducks were a little top-heavy; but it worked great, and they had a lot of fun.

Next we went to our neighbors' house to feed their ducks. They were a little intimidated by us and didn't want to come out, but they did eat some of the bread we threw at them.

The whole group: my five boys plus ten friends from church and school. I was really happy with the turn-out, considering I didn't get the invitations out until four days before the party (somehow it snuck up on me), and the fact that there were two other school parties that same day. But I changed the time of the party so more people could come, and it all worked out. It's funny, because everyone in Brennan's class has a birthday between September and December. There were 4 other parties this week!

Then we went inside for cake and ice cream.

Brennan is not one to be shy by all the attention.

He had such a fun day. He was super happy before, during and after the party. In fact I'm glad we moved the time up to 11:00 in the morning, because it was even hard for him to wait that long.

He loved all his presents. He got a lot of craft stuff, which is one of his favorite things to do. We were busy crafting all weekend.

Levi knows all about opening presents now, and Brennan even let him help.

Finally, we went on a treasure hunt to find the treat bags. The clues were things like, "When you're hungry, don't go quackers! Eat some cheese and _______." And "Rubber ducky, you're the one. You make _______ lots of fun." After everyone left we had a few minutes to recover before we took Brennan and Tyler to other parties. I love birthday parties. They're a lot of work, but they're so much fun.

What a character

2011-11-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

The older he gets, the more of a character this kid has become. He is cute, stubborn, funny and oh, so very entertaining for the whole family. Funny story: this week we went to Cold Stone for the middle school fundraiser. There was a long line (which was actually fun because we knew so many people there), and Levi kept escaping. The embarrassing thing was that I wouldn't know he was gone until someone would yell, "There's a little boy leaving!" One lady said, "I put my hand up to stop him, but he just gave me a high-five and kept on going."

Breakfast is still his favorite meal of the day. He especially likes to eat steel cut oatmeal and grapefruit with Dave. In fact he'll have 3 breakfasts a day - one with each group in the morning.

Unfortunately we're trying to cut dairy out of his diet because his doctor said he may have a milk allergy or lactose intolerance. This is much harder than it was with Brennan, who was so easy-going and didn't know any different. Levi asks for "milt" all day, and soy just isn't cutting it for him.

Levi is my first thumb-sucker. Others tried, but I was always able to convince them to take a binky instead. He is also attached to his "D," which is what he calls this quilt my friend made for Dallin over 7 years ago. I have no idea why he calls it that. He sleeps with it, of course, and wants it whenever he's sad, hurt or tired. He also has to take it with him whenever we go anywhere (it's getting a bit rediculous), but I'm usually able to convince him to leave it in the car.

He loves his SHOES! And he loves to DANCE! So naturally I had to take pictures of him while he was getting down in just his diaper and shoes one day. Whenever we're in a store that plays music, he yells, "Dance!" and starts to boogie in the cart. Another funny/frustrating story: this week I went to Spencer's school to watch and videotape his group perform their singing science song. I took Levi (oops), and he started to cry loudly right before it started that he wanted to go home. I had to take him out of the classroom because it was very disruptive. I begged him to be quiet, but he refused and tried to run to the car. I tried bribing him with gum (he loves it, but I never give it to him because he just swallows it and wants more and more) and a donut afterwards if he'd be quiet. Finally he agreed and sat quietly eating gum during the whole song. As soon as it was over, he yelled, "All done?" The class all laughed. Then he danced happily all the way to the car, saying, "Spencer dance, quiet, gum, donut!!" I couldn't believe it - I was actually able to reason with and bribe a 2 year old. And yes, we went out for donuts.

I've been busy...

2011-11-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

I was in the mood to make fun costumes this year. I tried to nail the kids down to what they wanted to be around the beginning of October so I'd have plenty of time to work on them. I like sewing, but doing it last minute is stressful, not fun. Sometimes we think we might do a family theme, but it never quite works out because everyone wants to be such different things.

However we sort of got onto a food kick this year. First Tyler said he wanted to be a pickle, because he loves them so much.

This is the one that took the most time to make. I didn't have any kind of pattern - just kinda figured it out as I went along. I started out with 4 tall, skinny panels. I sewed them together and just kept tweaking it till it looked right. I tapered the top and bottom, sewed in that stiff interfacing all around the top to make it stand up straight and along the bottom to make it look finished, cut holes for the face and arms and attached fabric facing for a finished edge. Once I got the body looking right, I made little balls out of a different green material. I ripped up a bunch of squares, rounded the edges a little bit, sewed a loose basting stitch around the edge and pulled it together. Then I filled them with pillow stuffing and attached them all around with a hot glue gun. I also hot glue gunned a panel of fabric inside the top to rest on his head so it wouldn't slip down. He LOVED it, and he looked great!

Then Brennan came up with the idea of being a peanut, since it's the scariest thing he could think of. "No really, mom, I have nightmares about them!" In case you didn't know, he's allergic to peanuts.

This one was pretty simple, and it took just one afternoon. I cut a peanut shape out of 3 layers of material - a tan faux suede, batting for the middle and tan cotton for the inside. Then I sewed them with right sides together, leaving a small hole to turn it right side out, like a pillow. I sewed the hole shut and sewed rows of irregular, rounded rectangles all over to give it a bumpy peanut texture. I made two of them - one for the front and one for the back, and used a hot glue gun to connect them at the shoulders and sides with black ribbons.

Spencer said bananas are scary to him too because he hates them. Plus he thought it would be funny, and he's all about funny. He even won the award for funniest costume at the middle school. I was going to make this one too, but I started running out of time and bought it online instead.

Dallin hates tomatoes, so the boys said he should be a tomato. But what he really wanted to be was a purple slinky. In case you're wondering, there were no slinky costumes online for me to use as inspiration, and I almost gave up a couple of times. But I went to Lowe's to get some ideas, and I ended up getting some irrigation tubing (the same size we use in our yard, so we can use it later), which was already coiled like a slinky, and some purple spray paint. Dave connected the rings together with fishing line and painted it, and then I attached some black material shoulder straps. It was a little cumbersome for him to get around in, but he was very excited about it.

Levi didn't want to be anything - he is not into dressing up, like all his brothers. I bought him a cute lion costume, since he loves lions. But he screamed every time I tried to put it on him, so I returned it. On the day of the Halloween party at church we took out our bin of old costumes and had him choose one. He got excited about the vampire bat and flew all around the house roaring.

I looked online for good pregnant costumes, and then I remembered my friend Carol being a pregnant skeleton a couple years ago.

I looked it up online and found an awesome tutorial that included a matching husband skeleton, so of course I had to make that for Dave. First I had to draw stencils for all the bones freehand onto freezer paper, using the online picture for reference. Then I cut them out, using suture scissors for the tiny little finger bones. I ironed them onto our shirts, which worked great. I want to find more freezer paper crafts to do! The easy part was painting all the bones, which didn't bleed under the stencils at all. I put paper bags inside the shirt to prevent it from leaking to the back. I did three coats and let them dry. It took about 3-4 hours, and then I just peeled off the freezer paper.

I love that they chose such unique things to be this year. It was a lot more fun for me.

Banana vs. pickle. Funny boys!!

Carving our pumpkins

2011-11-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

Dave got off work a couple hours early Friday, so we decided to carve pumpkins. This worked out great because there was plenty of good lighting for pictures, and the rest of the weekend was too busy.

Tyler started planning his pumpkin weeks ago. He wanted it to be tall and skinny with a surprised look and pineapple top. How cute is that?

He made a small opening so the pineapple top could fit in there snugly. It worked great, although he didn't have much room for his hand to reach in and clean it out.

Dallin chose the fairytale pumpkin I got at Trader Joe's. I think this is what people use to make pumpkin pie, because it had a super thick wall. He had a heck of a time cutting it out.

Spencer chose a pumpkin with a good stem to be the nose, so he cut a hole out of the bottom to clean it out.

Brennan concentrating hard on drawing his pumpkin's face. He wanted it to be really scary, like a zombie.

It was so hard to get the top off of Dallin's pumpkin that Dave had to use a crow bar. That's one thick pumpkin!

Some of the seeds had even sprouted in there.

It was quite the group effort.

This may be my favorite pumpkin picture ever!

Tyler's so creative - I love the pineapple top! And I love having big kids - he did it completely by himself.

This red pumpkin has a lot of character, and Spencer was the first one done.

Which is good, because then he was able to help Dallin finish carving his.

They looked fabulous! Then we threw them out after the last trick-or-treater left last night because they were starting to get rotten and buggie, after just 3 days. I guess that's the downside to living in a warm climate.

I LOVE Halloween pictures!

2011-10-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

What I love about Halloween are all the great photo opportunities. We went down to Avila Barn a couple weeks ago. Actually we went there the week before too; but I forgot my camera that time, so we had to go back for pictures. The boys didn't complain about going there twice.

Avila Barn is my favorite place to take Halloween pictures. There are so many great autumnal backgrounds!

Since Brennan was wearing an orange shirt, I put him in front of the white pumpkins.

After taking pictures with the piles of pumpkins, we headed over to the hay maze. I don't like to do it because it's too confining and stuffy in there, but they loved it and ran through a bunch of times. I forgot the Benedryl again, but no one got too snotty.

Levi was cranky when we got there (we went right after his nap), but he cheered up when we put him on the tractor. Then he didn't want to get off.

Making tractor noises.

Dave met us there after work, and we caught the last hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.

I couldn't get Levi to smile. Then he saw an airplane flying overhead - that made him happy.

There were way more pumpkins there the second time we went. Apparently they stock the pumpkin patch.

Heading back to the barn to weigh our pumpkins.

Actually we only got one from the pumpkin patch. Spencer wanted a red one from the barn, Brennan got one during our first trip there, and Dallin's came from Trader Joe's. Next up: carving our pumpkins!

Fun with bath foam and ISO

2011-10-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

Brennan had a blast finger-painting with shaving cream at school a few weeks ago. And that reminded me how much fun bath foam is, so we gave some to Levi for his birthday. Brennan and Levi have loved taking baths with it the past couple weeks! They looked so funny covered in foam that of course I had to take pictures; but there wasn't quite enough light in the bathroom, and the pictures all turned out blurry.

So I resorted to turning on the flash. But I just don't like the look of flash - too fake looking with unnatural colors. I really had to fix this one on Photoshop, but I loved Levi's expression.

Careful camera angles and cropping keep bath pictures modest.

If they held perfectly still then it could be clear, but how often does that happen? I played around with the exposure, speed and f-stop, but nothing was working.

Finally I remembered the ISO. I bumped it up almost as high as it would go, and the pictures suddenly became clear and perfectly exposed. I gotta remember that trick. Some are a little grainy if you zoom in, but I'll take grainy over blurry any day.

So if you are looking for a fun bath toy for a 2-4 year old, I recommend bath foam. Just make sure you wash it all off the tub when you're done or else it will be almost impossible to get off later. I remember that from last time.

There are many things you can fix on Photoshop - color, exposure, noise. But there's nothing you can do about blurriness. Look how clear - yay!

Hello, baby!

2011-10-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

I had my ultrasound today. I love those! In fact I don't feel pregnant until I get the ultrasound. Oh sure, I'm gaining weight and I feel the occasional flutter that could either be a kick or a gas bubble. But it doesn't seem real until I actually see that little baby in there, looking so cute and perfect and moving all around.

This time we took Tyler and Dallin with us, since Spencer got to go to Levi's. They were SO excited. They loved spotting the vertebrae and heart valves. It really is so cool. These 3D images are better than ones I've gotten before. It doesn't look quite so alien-like. We love this one - sucking the fist and holding the ear. Reminds me of Levi.

My ob/gyn doctor sends all her patients to the high risk doctors for their ultrasounds, where the actual doctors perform the ultrasound instead of a tech. I like it better because he can tell us right then and there that everything looks good, instead of having to wait for the films to be interpreted later by a doctor. Anyway, when we told him we have 5 boys, he said this one is probably a boy too. But as soon as he put the wand on my belly, he said, "I don't believe it. It's a girl!" We asked him if he was sure, and he proceeded to point out girl parts, saying, "It doesn't get any girlier than that." What a wonderful surprise!

Two!

2011-10-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

Two is Levi's favorite number. In fact he's been telling people he's 2 for quite awhile now. Whenever I say 1, he says 2. When I ask him how many he wants of something, he always answers "2!" When we went shopping for his presents, Brennan was telling everyone they were for his birthday, at which point Levi piped in, "I'm two!"

We went with a truck theme, since he LOVES trucks. Whenever we're driving somewhere, he points out all the trucks along the way. Even if they're actually golf carts or vans. He loves to play with trucks and push them all around the house making diesel sounds. I couldn't find any truck wrapping paper, so I bought generic striped brown paper, cut out pictures of trucks from the internet and taped them on. How cute is that?

The cake was totally easy - three layers of cake with chocolate icing and oreo crumb dirt and construction trucks on top. I baked the cakes the night before, and when I had my back turned, Levi took a big handful out of the middle layer as they were cooling. But that's okay. It's a construction site, so I put a truck there as if it was digging that part out. I decorated the cake after he went to bed, and when he woke up the next morning, he was SO excited about it. He ran into our bedroom, yelling, "Cake! Cake! Trucks! Cake!" Yeah, we chose the right theme.

My parents and Kristen's family came over for dinner and such Sunday after conference. It was so hard for my kids to wait that long. Perhaps we should have a lunch birthday party next time.

We had spaghetti - one of his favorite foods.

We got trick candles, so he got to blow them out a few times. After cake he opened presents and played happily 'till bedtime. My parents gave him a remote control fire truck. He was afraid of it at first because it kept following him around. But as long as I was holding him safely out of harm's way, he was fine. It's not scary any more, and it's so cute to watch him push the buttons on the remote. His cousins gave him a Sit & Spin, which he loves to dramatically fall off of. We got him a big truck with buttons and sounds (he loves it) and a stuffed lion. He's loved lions ever since we saw them at the zoo. He says, "Wion!" followed by a very throaty roar. Then he hugs it and kisses it. OH, how I love this kid!!

Ball Wall

2011-10-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

We sure enjoyed watching general conference this weekend. The boys played happily, occasionally coming in to listen. We also ate yummy food and celebrated Levi's birthday. Between Saturday sessions we walked over to the school to ride bikes/scooters and play ball wall. (Look how flat that ball looks! It wasn't actually flat - just hit the ground hard. Pretty cool)

I had never actually played it or even watched someone else play it, though I do get the ball wall report from Tyler every day after school. It's his favorite thing to do at recess, and he also likes to play it with Dave for their date nights.

It used to be one of Spencer's favorite things to do at recess too. But now he's in middle school, and everyone is boring and walks around talking and acting all cool during recess.

I love this cute picture of Dallin! He doesn't like to play ball wall. He's still into chasing and being chased by girls at recess. I get that report after school too. In fact I hear more about recess than anything academic.

I even played a game with Dave! It was a lot of fun. This is not the best picture of me, since my face is washed out in the direct sun and I have a double chin taken from this angle, but it's better than all the lunging-for-the-ball pictures Spencer captured. By the way, I am now wearing maternity clothes. I grew out of all my regular pants last week. I did laundry, and when I took my jeans out of the dryer, none of them fit. I'm 19 weeks along, and my ultrasound is on Friday!

I pushed Levi (and Brennan when he got tired of riding his scooter) in the stroller. Between that and playing ball wall, I got enough excercise to wear me out for the day.

Brennan comes home every day telling me all the rules the kids are breaking at recess. I didn't think he was much of a rule kid, but when he gets to school, he is the perfect student.

More about Levi's fun birthday to follow.

Doot and Wee-why

2011-09-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

Luke came over to play a couple of mornings last week while Kristen was out of town. She said he didn't even mind her leaving, since he knew he got to come play at "Wee-why's house." When I told Levi that Luke was coming over, he yelled "Doot, yay!" They really like each other. Their names are just a bit tricky to say at this age.

They are 9 months apart; when Levi was a baby, Luke couldn't wait for him to grow up so they could play together. He just knew they were meant to be friends.

Now that they're both talking (sort of), they can even have little conversations with each other. They really crack each other up.

Cousins make the best kind of friends!

Airport Day

2011-09-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

Our tiny little airport does an Airport Day every year. I took the boys a few years ago when Dave had to work (I'm so glad he doesn't do urgent care anymore), and they've wanted to go back ever since. They were hoping to get free aiplane rides, which they missed last time, but they didn't have them this year. They did have helicopter and plane rides, but they were $75 and up. No thanks. They loved watching this helicopter land right in front of them. It got very breezy.

But at least they got to get all buckled into the helicopter seat. That was fun. (Thanks for the tip on making collages, Carol! I did this on Picasa, which is a free download. Pretty cool.)

We went there early in the day to beat the heat, but it was still pretty dang warm. I spent most the time sitting in the shade of an airplane and eating kettle corn. Yum.

We watched the remote control planes do stunts and such. I liked it when they moved to the beat of the music

Spencer bought shaved ice for everyone to share. What a nice brother.

It was very cold.

They had a little combat show in which the remote control planes tried to hit each other's tails. The plane with the longest tail at the end won.

Spencer happened to be at the right place at the right time when someone asked him if wanted to launch this rocket type of airplane. They did a big countdown and everything. That was fun for him. I even got out of the shade to watch.

Summer sledding

2011-09-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

There is a little astroturf hill in the center of the Santa Barbara Zoo that is made for sliding down on cardboard. I have no idea what it has to do with animals, but it's one of my boys' favorite things there. We had a few minutes to wait for the dinosaur show, so they all went down a bunch of times.

Meditation sledding.

We even saw people bringing their own huge pieces of cardboard into the zoo for this. It's quite popular.

The sledding was too scary for Levi. He had more fun playing in dino eggs.

Santa Barbara Zoo

2011-09-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

We went to the Santa Barbara Zoo a couple weeks ago. We bought a membership to our little local zoo, which only cost $50, but it gets us into lots of other zoos for free. Otherwise it would have cost us $64 for one day. It's a pretty sweet deal.

We were trying to decide between Fresno and Santa Barbara (which are both about 2 hours away), so we checked the weather forecast: 99 degrees in Fresno and 75 in Santa Barbara. That made the decision easy.

Levi loves animals right now, so we were excited to take him there.

The elephants are my favorite.

And the lions. Levi has been roaring like a lion ever since.

We even remembered binoculars. Go us! But one thing I love about this zoo is that the animals are all nice and close.

Obviously there is no resemblance between my sweet little boys and those primates.

Then again...

A couple of bald eagles. Very majestic.

The California condor, an endangered species that is hideously ugly.

But it has a huge wingspan, so I guess that makes it kinda cool.

We happened to go on Vulture Day, so there were stations set up throughout the zoo with docents teaching us about the various kinds of vultures. Brennan is demonstrating the actual size of the California condor wings.

The weather was fabulous - overcast and cool when we first got there and then warming up enough to take off sweatshirts after lunch. As my sister Jen once said, bad weather is against city ordinance in Santa Barbara.

We also happened to be there during their dinosaur show, which was actually pretty funny and entertaining.

Duncan the dinosaur walked around the stage and roared, which scared Levi at first. It even pooped on the stage - right in front of my boys. Of course this was a huge hit. They laughed about it forever.

See, I was there too.

This leopard had his head down for the longest time, but then he finally looked up for a quick picture.

This picture cracks me up! Levi is smelling the flower.

Another great smelling-the-flower picture. Too cute.

Tyler LOVES taking pictures. He thanks me all the time for the camera we gave him for his birthday.

See that red train in the background? We didn't do that this time. The lines are always super long, and the prices have gone up. Totally not worth it.

I'm thinking about printing out a bunch of the animal pictures and making a little book for Levi. He loves looking at them.

Okay, I'm done now. It was hard to narrow down all my pictures - I took a couple hundred. Going to the zoo is way more interesting for me when I am taking pictures.

Movie Reviews

2011-09-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

I'd like to draw your attention to my newly updated movie reviews to the right. Apparently I hadn't reviewed any new movies since April, so there are quite a few of them. We don't watch movies that often, but after 5 months, they really add up. I really should do it more frequently, because my memory was a bit fuzzy on some of them. Since Netflix upped their prices, we went from 2 movies at a time to just 1 in order to keep our cost the same. I didn't mind though, since I was running out of ones I wanted to see. Plus we don't have as much time to watch movies now that school is back in session. If you have seen a good movie, new or old, please let me know. I am always looking for suggestions.

Let me just tell you one of my little movie cover pet peaves. I don't like it when the names at the top (you know, of the main actors in the movie) don't match up with the pictures below it. I understand that they like to put the most popular actors first, but they should align the picture accordingly. In the above example, it looks like Angelina Jolie is Johnny Depp and visa versa. Isn't that annoying?

As you can see, this one is much better. They line up just right. But poor Hailee Steinfeld, who did an excellent job and had a bigger roll than the 2 guys on the right, isn't even listed. Also annoying. Okay, I feel better now. Maybe Hollywood will read my blog and realize their mistake.

Back to School

2011-09-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

Life changes so completely for me when school is back in session. This year is a big one for us - Spencer started 6th grade (middle school!), Tyler's in 4th and Dallin's in 2nd, and Brennan is in a pilot program called Transitional Kindergarten. The school year came quicker this year (our summer was 9 weeks instead of the usual 10), but the boys were super eager to start. They love school, and they couldn't wait to wear their new clothes.

We are loving the TK program! The cutoff date to turn 5 for kindergarten in California is December 2nd, but they will be moving it up to September 2nd within the next couple of years. So they started a new program just for kids with birthdays between Sept. 2nd and Dec. 2nd (that's Brennan - Nov. 28th) who are still technically old enough to start but really not ready (that's definitely Brennan). It's regular kindergarten hours, every day for 4 hours, and it's at an elementary school down the road from us. Plus it's free, since it's through the school system. It's kind of a step between preschool and kindergarten, and he loves it!

He had a wonderful 1st day as a Pifer Panther! He loves his sweet teacher, Mrs. Root. He made 2 best friends - one of whom was born the day before Brennan and whose mom and I shared a room in the hospital when they were born - what are the chances of that? There are only 12 kids in the morning class and 11 in his afternoon class, and they overlap for 1 1/2 hours/day. After 3 weeks of school, he still loves it and comes home excited every day.

So it's just me and Levi at home for a few hours. I love my schedule! The boys make their lunches the night before to reduce craziness in the morning. I exercise at Curves a little bit earlier this year so we can have scriptures and prayers at 7:15. Spencer leaves at 7:30 to ride his bike to school with his cousins and friends. Then Tyler and Dallin walk to school at 7:45 and Dave leaves for work around 8:00. Brennan and Levi play together for a couple hours while I do my morning routine - breakfast, shower, dishes, etc. We drive Brennan to school at 10:15, run a quick errand or two (so easy with just 1), go home for lunch and put Levi down for his nap. Then I have 2-3 glorious hours all by myself to read, clean, organize, bake and nap. I love it! I usually have to wake Levi up to get Brennan at 2:15. Tyler and Dallin walk home at 2:45, and Spencer gets home around 3:30. I love that it's staggered so they can take turns telling me about their day. Last year the 3 oldest would rush home and compete to tell me their news first. About the above picture of Levi: the downside to our new wood floors is that he can easily slide the chairs anywhere he wants and get into any of the cupboards. See those knives? and marshmallows? He sure keeps me on my toes!

End of summer

2011-09-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

We spent our last day of summer vacation at the beach. Lots of other people had the same idea, because it was pretty crowded. But that's okay - it's a big beach.

Levi the climber. We had to hold onto him pretty close, to make sure he didn't go over the edge. This kid scares me.

It was pretty foggy and chilly. It's been hovering around 100 the past 2 weeks, so it felt pretty good.

I love the contrasting colors of the water, seaweed and bird in this picture. I'm glad Spencer asked me to take it. I wouldn't let him lean over the edge with my camera to take pictures, so I told him to point out things he wanted pictures of.

Heading back to the beach.

The boys put wetsuits on and went boogie boarding. But the waves were pretty small, so they mostly played in the sand instead.

Of course you can't build anything in the sand without lots of water.

After a couple hours we grilled hamburgers for dinner. Then we went home and collapsed. The beach is a lot of fun, but it wears us out!

Big Basin Redwoods

2011-08-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

We hadn't gone camping as a family in 3 years. Dave takes the boys once or twice a year, but I usually look forward to that time to be home alone or with a baby. Since our unexpected trip back East took all our vacation money (last minute tickets are pricey!), we decided camping would be a good, inexpensive family vacation this summer.

Some docs from Dave's work recommended a campground in Big Basin, which is about 20 miles north of Santa Cruz. It took us 3 hours to get there.

Well actually it was supposed to take 3 hours; but with the delay of a flat tire, it took over 4. We were just so grateful that it happened near a K-mart, where we could park in the shade and go to the bathroom. Our insurance includes roadside assistance, and the tow truck came to help in less than 10 minutes.

One thing we loved about this campground was that our site (155) was so secluded. We were surrounded by woods on all sides, and the nearby campsites were blocked from view by hills and trees. We had water and bathrooms (toilets only, but they were nice) very close by. We saw tons of poison oak, but miraculously no one got it. We did, however, get lots of mosquito bites. We weren't as diligent with the Off as we should have been.

Another thing we loved was all the hiking! We love family hikes. We went on one right next to our campsite after we set up camp and ate dinner. Then we went on a 3 mile round trip hike (Sequoia) to a waterfall the next morning and a 1/2 miler (Redwood Nature Trail) the next evening. Then the kids were itching to do one last one before we left, so we redid the one next to our campsite after we had everything packed up.

Brennan, smelling a freshly cut tree. It must have fallen recently and was obstructing the path.

This is how my family hikes: the 4 big boys run ahead (they especially love to race all the downhills),

while Dave and I walk at a normal pace with Levi on Dave's back. Then the boys wait for us to catch up or run back to us if we're taking too long. Even Brennan kept up with them this time. I take lots of pictures along the way, although Spencer loves to steal the camera from me.

Coastal redwoods are amazing. They are so big and strong and can continue to live even after being burned by fires. One tree burned for 18 months (you'd think someone would have put it out at some point) and still survived. I took this picture from inside one of the burned out trees.

We stopped for pictures and snacks at the waterfall. I made trail mix because all the ones at the store had peanuts in them. It was really good.

We thought it would be bigger, since it made so much noise for the last bit of the hike. But there was probably more water in it than usual for this time of year, after that super wet winter.

This almost 2,000 year old tree shows various points in history, such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence, at about the year they occurred in the tree's growth. Amazing to think that some of these trees were around at the time of Christ's birth.

The 3 oldest boys went to the junior ranger activity Thursday afternoon (they did a water study in the creek) while Levi took a nap and Brennan and I did another little hike and ate Twizzlers and gum (I had to make it fun for him, since he was sad he was too young to go with the big boys). We also walked around the little museum and gift shop, where I bought another air mattress. Ours lost all its air that first, rough night, which reminded me why I hadn't camped in 3 years. We slept much better the 2nd night.

The half mile hike I did with Brennan and then later that night with everyone is the most popular one. It has the tallest tree there, called the Mother of the Forest. It's 329 feet tall. It also has the oldest tree, called the Father of the Forest. It's estimated to be about 2000 years old.

One of the best things about camping is eating yummy food. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs the first night, since that was quick and easy, and chicken and corn on the cob the 2nd night. Then we used the coals for our dutch oven dessert - cherry chocolate cake. It was so good and so easy to make.

I invented this super yummy campfire treat. First I stuck a marshmallow onto a poker. Then I wrapped it with a refrigerated biscuit, flattening and stretching it first to make sure it completely covered the marshmallow. Then I cooked it over hot coals, being careful not to burn the biscuit. When it was evenly browned all over, I covered it with spray butter and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top.

The outside is crispy, and the inside is all melty and gooey. Yum!!

The boys loved our nightly visits from raccoons. They came right up to us while we were sitting around the campfire. I was surprised at how BIG and unafraid they were. They eat well around all those campers. They never got into our tents, like they did to some fellow hikers we were talking to. We were sure to keep all our food in the car at night.

We packed up Friday morning and did that last hike by our campsite. Spencer started to get sick on the way home with a fever and sore throat. The rest of the boys got it after him, except for Dallin, who had it before we went. I was thankful for the timing. That would have been miserable if everyone was sick while we were there.

We love redwoods! They are so beautiful and tall and majestic. They are even fun after they fall down. You don't realize how tall they are until you see them on their side, stretching on forever.

I love this cute pose of Tyler and Dallin. There were so many fun things to see and climb there. We didn't want to leave.

Can you see how swollen Tyler's eye is? We all got mosquito bites, but his were the worst, as usual. We were just grateful we didn't get poison oak again, because that would have lasted much longer.

Grampa's funeral

2011-08-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice funeral for my grandpa. My brother Ben sang, "Accentuate the Positive" - one of grampa's favorite songs. My dad gave a wonderful eulogy. All the great-grandchildren sang, "I Am a Child of God," and then the Bishop gave a beautiful talk about the plan of salvation. Afterwards the relief society served lunch to the family, and we stayed and visited for hours. Another great thing was that the young women babysat the small children during the funeral. This was very helpful so that I could just sit and listen and cry without having to wrestle with Levi.

Grandpa's 4 children - Michael, Marilyn, Judy and Ron.

Not everyone was able to stay for the internment, which was held 2 days later. The funeral home doesn't like to work weekends. It was the nicest day I've ever seen in Los Osos, which is usually very cold and windy when we put flowers on grandma's grave. But it was sunny and warm.

Since grampa fought in WWII, they had a military honor ceremony for him with three rifle volleys, taps and folding of the flag.

Presentation of the flag to my mom.

We lingered and visited some more, and people pretty much left from there to go back to their various homes.

The flags on the veteran memorial were flown in honor of my grandpa that day.

Unexpected family reunion

2011-08-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

Right after Dallin's birthday party, my dad called to tell me my grandpa Wight died. We knew he didn't have much time left on earth, but it was still a shock. The following week was a big family reunion. All of my siblings were able to come (minus a couple of spouses and cousins), as well as lots of extended family. Even my great uncle Juan drove in from southern Utah with a couple of his sons. It was so good to spend time with all these wonderful people. We met at various parks to play and eat together.

We didn't think we'd get to hang out in Morro Bay with the Smalleys so soon. What a treat!

Here's my cousin Teri's little guy, Zachary. What a cute, happy baby! We enjoyed having her family stay with us one night.

Her daughter Katie is such a mother hen. Whenever I didn't know where Levi was, I'd find her retrieving him.

The recycled tires at Cuesta park turned everyone's hands and feet black.

Ben used his summer camp leadership skills to organize some fun games of tag with a twist.

There were bunches of kids playing, and they had such a great time.

Even Levi got into it.

They did rock/scissors/paper whenever they tagged each other at the same time.

Maryruth's family drove here from Idaho and arrived right after the funeral. But we were glad we got to see them for a couple days and meet cute little Makayla.

A bunch of the boys cought frogs in the creek at Sinsheimer park.

Super Dallin

2011-08-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

Dallin had a superhero friend birthday party a few weeks ago. He's not so much into the usual superheros (Superman, Batman, etc.), but he loves to play Super Dallin. So we went with a generic superhero theme.

I loved how the cake turned out. Dallin had a very specific idea of what he wanted it to look. He wanted it to be the actual shape of a flying superhero. I searched and searched online to find a good one to copy. I finally found one he liked, but it didn't have any instructions. So I baked a small round cake for the head and a square cake to cut up into the shape of a body, using the scraps for the hands and feet. It turned out way cuter than I thought it would, and Dallin was thrilled.

When the guests first arrived, they decorated t-shirts by spraying bleach onto a card stock stencil of the first letter in their name. We put grocery bags inside so the bleach wouldn't bleed through. I made them with my boys earlier this summer, and they love them.

Kristen's family went to Fresno for the weekend, but Peter stayed behind and spent the night with us so he could come to the party (yay!).

Then we played sumo wrestling and catching pillows at the bottom of the steps (back by popular demand), saying something about how they needed super strength and quick reflexes to become superheros. Once again, the games were a big hit.

Before the party Dave asked if this activity would be too rough for the girls. But no, not these girls. They are both really tough, and they totally got into it.

It turned into a big pillow fight, and I couldn't believe it when I saw Mason getting into it - he's usually so quiet and shy.

Then we ate pizza, cake and ice cream.

And opened presents.

As things were winding down, I said, "Okay, time for treat bags," then proceeded to look for them. But I couldn't find them anywhere, and the kids all looked worried. Then out popped Tyler, dressed as a masked villain. He told everyone that he hid the treat bags and that they'd need to use their superhero powers to follow the clues and find them. Then he laughed his evil laugh and ran away. He planned this for 2 days, and the execution was fabulous. The clues were things like, "Superheroes may have super strength, but they can still get the common cold. Where do they go to get cough medicine?" and "When danger strikes, superheroes are ready to swing into action."

The shirts were dry by the end, so they were able to wear them home.

The next day we had a family party at Kristen's house. Dallin loves his journal and spy pen from grandma & grandpa.

Last visit

2011-08-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went down to SLO for dentist appointments. I figured as long as we were down there we should do something fun. First we went to Cuesta park for a picnic lunch. But when we got there I realized that I forgot to pack the peanut butter (I didn't have time to make the sandwiches before we left), so we went to my parents' house to borrow theirs. I'm so glad we did. We ended up staying and visiting with them for a couple hours. We got to see my grandpa Wight while he ate his lunch. He was alert and really happy to see the boys, as usual. Two days later he passed away. I'm grateful we were able to have that last visit with him.

After we left their house we went over to Cal Poly to see the horses. We hadn't done that in years. We even thought to pack baby carrots to feed them.

We wanted to see more animals, so we drove over to Avila Barn for all the usual activities - we played with toys, ate samples, saw animals and bought a yummy snack for the way home.

We left around dinner time and started to head home when we saw big electronic signs reporting an accident on the grade. So we went home the long way and met Dave in Morro Bay for fish & chips. It was a fun but exhausting day. I could barely keep my eyes open those last few miles. I collapsed on the couch and slept for 2 hours.

The lost wetsuit

2011-08-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

Spencer went kayaking with the 11 year old scouts last month and accidently left his wetsuit at the beach. Actually we were borrowing it from his cousins, and he was really upset about having to pay for it. So we went there early the next morning, and lo and behold, it was still there. Yay! Then we spent the day at the beach and Cambria.

It was still pretty chilly there, so we didn't play in the water. But there were lots of other things to do.

Dallin and Brennan played in the eucalyptus trees, and Spencer and Tyler made a fort on a cliff above the water.

I just followed Levi around and tried to keep him out of the water.

Here's his picture-taking face these days.

Then they discovered this super fun place where the roots from the trees are all exposed. They climbed the awesome trees above and played in the roots down below.

Tyler's poor poison-oak covered face. This is after 3 days of oral prednisone, which cleared it up in just a week. That's a lot better than last time, when it lasted a full 3 weeks.

Afterwards we drove over to Cambria and had a picnic lunch. Then we walked around the shops, where Dallin bought a cookbook at the fun cooking store for his birthday. You should have seen the faces on the store owners as we entered each store. They were a tad nervous about 5 little boys, especially the crystal and fossil store. But they did great, and we had a really fun time. Before we left, we ate super yummy cinnamon rolls at a French bakery.

Rock climbing at Cabrillo

2011-08-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Dave and Nathan took 7 of the boys (our 3 oldest and their 4 middle ones) rock climbing a few weeks ago. I sent my old camera along with them. Here's Dallin. Apparently he zipped right up the rock.

I think Alec and Braden took most of the pictures. There were lots of close-ups of Braden's face.

Tyler loves repelling. We just found out that a picture of him from an earlier rock-climbing trip will be on the front cover of an electronic guide about Cabrillo. Pretty cool.

I wonder how they got some of these angles.

It's always super helpful to have another adult there to help get harnesses on and off as well as belay and encourage the climbers.

Everyone got to do 2 different climbs - one was easier and everyone was able to get to the top. The other was trickier, and only a couple made it all the way up. They were gone ALL day. They came home filthy dirty and super happy.

Until the next day when Tyler (and Spencer, but mostly Tyler) developed a severe case of poison oak. Apparently the frequent warnings to stay out of the brush were completely ignored. His eye was so swollen we could barely recognize his face. Pictures to follow.

Happy 4th

2011-07-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

We love fireworks, and we were really bummed last year when July 4th fell on a Sunday. Plus our town didn't have money for fireworks anyway. So this year we were very excited when some last minute donations made it possible for our money-strapped town to do fireworks again.

I love holidays! And I love to do simple little things to celebrate through food. I made American flag pancakes for breakfast by putting blueberries in the corner for stars and red sugar crystal spinkles in rows for the lines. Dave had the idea of puting the sprinkles in a half-folded sheet of paper to make it easier to pour. I thought they turned out so cute, and the boys LOVED them.

Dave spent the whole day working on the sprinklers, since all of our grass was dying. The boys and I made these fun fireworks hats from Family Fun again. Then after dinner we went to the park for fireworks.

We were so stoked about parking. We usually park in the field, which is fine, but it costs money and involves a lot of walking. Well this year we missed the turn and went into the park to turn around, but the attendants there said they thought there was one (free) parking spot left. Sure enough, there was one right next to where we usually sit to watch the fireworks. People probably just assumed it was full, like we usually do, because they were already parking really far away. It's little things like this that make me happy.

We had a couple hours to wait, so we played football and ate lots of snacks and walked around.

When it got dark we played with glow sticks and took crazy pictures.

We even thought to pack our light-up Mickey Mouse toy, which has since broken. I guess we'll need to go back to Disneyland to buy another one.

It was an awesome firworks show. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Levi was scared, so Dave put a blanket over his head. He was fine after that.

Here's the grand finale. I like the Saturn one. Afterwards we just casually walked over to our car and drove home. It was fabulous!

Dinner and a Movie

2011-07-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

I'm getting behind on blogs. You may have noticed. I guess summer's keeping me busy, which means I have even more things to blog about. It's a catch 22.

So back at the beginning of July, we got together with family to celebrate birthdays for Dave and Jacob. We met at the park by mom and dad's house, which was actually quite crowded because there was a baseball game going on with fireworks afterwards.

We had pizza, because that seemed easiest. Kristen made chocolate cake with cherries, and I made scotcheroos. Dave's not a huge cake person, and he had already had 2 cakes at work.

I also like to make scotcheroos when I know there will be other dessert options for Brennan, since they have peanut butter in them.

Then we went to the drive-in to watch Cars 2. We traded Levi for Jacob and Peter, since it was too late for Levi (actually, it was too late for everyone, but they love it), and Jacob and Peter really wanted to go.

They all started out thinking they wanted to watch from the roof of the car, but that didn't last long as the sun went down and the temperature dropped.

Brennan and I fell asleep during the movie. Pillows, blankets, late night, etc. But from what I saw, it was a cute movie. Several adults told me they didn't like it as much as the first one, but my boys all said they liked it way better because there was more action.

It was very crowded! We got there 30 minutes early and still had to park in the back. But that's okay, it's a big screen. It's a really fun thing to do with the kids. And at $2/kid (under 12), it's cheaper than the movie theater.

Jellyfishing!

2011-07-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

The last night before Emily's family left to go back to Utah and Spencer and I flew back East, we all went out for fish and chips in Morro Bay.
After dinner everyone ended up down at the water catching gobs of tiny jellyfish (not the kind that stings).

Then we drove down to the park at the end of the embarcadero, and the big kids ended up down at the water again, looking at big jellyfish.

We stayed a really long time, not wanting to say goodbye. The kids played at the park and the adults chatted.

Luke and Levi love Jonathan's longboard. Big brothers/cousins are so cool.

We sure miss these fun people. Why do we all have to live so far away from each other?

Cub Scout Day Camp

2011-07-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

The first week of summer was cub scout day camp. Unfortunately it was the hottest week of the summer so far. The day I volunteered was over 100 degrees.

Our pack was in charge of the skills station for one day. After a police officer talked to each group about bike safety, we helped them make license plates for their bikes. We had a heck of a time finding adults to help us, so my nephews Alec and Braden came to the rescue.

They were there all day, helping 125 cub scouts laminate their license plates and punch holes in the top. The great thing is that it counted towards a 6 hour community service requirement they needed for boy scouts.

I actually really enjoy being at day camp. There is so much happy energy, even in 100 degree weather. Plus I love to see my boys and nephews having fun.

The highlight of the day was when the fire department came after lunch to spray all the boys. They had done it the day before too, so when the boys saw the truck coming, they all started screaming and running towards the fence.

This went on for quite awhile.

I think the firemen were having fun too.

They had fun throwing their hats into the air and watching the water blow it around.

It sure cooled them all off.

Emily's son Daniel came to day camp too. She heard someone say, "People have come all the way from Utah to be at this day camp!" Plus Emily helped me with the skills station and her son Andrew was a den chief for the day. I hope they come back again next year!

This was Peter's first year at day camp.

Tyler loved everything about day camp, but getting sprayed by the fire truck was his definitely his favorite part.

Elephant Seals

2011-07-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

My sister Emily and her family came to visit right after school got out. We went to the beach with them, but first we drove up the coast to see the elephant seals. They had never taken their kids to see them, and it's always fun to watch all those huge animals sunning and fighting on their favorite local beach.

Look how bright pink the inside of his mouth is. It looks fake.

There are different age groups here during different times of the year, and when they're not here they're hunting in Alaska. The most exciting time is around Valentine's Day when they are mating and having babies. Right now the juveniles are here. They are like wrestling teenage boys, learning how to fight for a mate.

Kristen and her family came too. There was a bunch of us.

The fighting is always fun to watch. Otherwise it's a bit boring when they're all just sleeping.

Then we drove down a few miles to Hearst Beach, our favorite. Dave grilled hamburgers and hot dogs while we were looking at the elephant seals, so lunch was all ready when we got there. Then some people played in the waves while other people made sand castles and forts.

Dallin's best friend Ronan came along. This was about a week before he moved away.

Here's Emily youngest, Sabrina. I can't get enough of that curly red hair!

The big boys had fun building a fort and running around like wild people. Yay for cousins!

End of the year stuff

2011-07-14T09:21:00.001-07:00

I know we're halfway through summer already, but here are some highlights from the end of the school year.

Tyler had his first violin recital. We love his teacher, Don Charles. He's 85 and has been playing the violin for 80 years. He accompanied Tyler to make his songs sound really fancy.

Tyler played 2 songs: Mary Had a Little Lamb and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He played both songs perfectly!

Spencer finished up his hockey season. He lost his final game, but he got 1 of the goals.

So we ate at Good Ol' Burger to cheer him up.

Dallin was so happy to have Mrs. Young return to school for the last few weeks. Her son Cooper was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, and she was out for a couple of months.

Dallin earned 2 reading awards. He can't get enough books and started sneakily reading Tyler's library books.

Tyler also earned a reading award,

as well as a creative writing award. He LOVES to write and wants to be a writer when he grows up.

Spencer got a science award for his invention. He was disappointed with how little science they did in school this year, since it's his favorite subject. They focus so much on reading, writing and math for testing that science gets ignored. He also got a reading award.

A word about awards: although I am always very happy for my kids when they earn them, I can't stand the awards assemblies! They only have them 3x/year now (they used to be monthly), and there are so many kids earning awards that they are super long and boring, especially for the little kids I have with me. They spend the whole time fighting for my lap then running away making too much noise. But we go and take pictures because it means so much to the one getting the award. It's what moms do.

BBQ, Crabs and Badminton,

2011-07-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

It's been said that funerals make good family reunions. It's a sad reason to get together, but it is sure good to see everyone. I really enjoyed visiting with Uncle Ray. He stayed several days, helping to get things done around the house. He spent a morning fixing the tractor and an afternoon mowing the grass.

Alicia did an awesome job grilling chicken.

And we can't go back East without having a crab feast!

Poor Kai was sick with a fever. I've never seen him so still and quiet.

Once the front yard was mowed they set up the badminton net and played all weekend.

This is Christine's husband, Tony. They're sure happy to be back from Oklahoma.

See all those gnats flying around Dave's head? They spent more time swatting at bugs than at the birdie. There are some things about living back East that I don't miss, although the fireflies at night were pretty.

Patrick brought the badminton set and crabs. He was the hero of the day.

Noah is sure growing up to be a handsome young man. The haircut helps.

Celestial is always happy!

She loves silky scarves. This is currently her favorite.

When they weren't playing badminton, they were playing basketball. Who chose Dave to guard Jason?!

Jason (Alicia's husband) is such a crack-up. He's always a lot of fun to be around.

Love this pic of Patrick! What a cutie.

This one is a little blurry, but it's a classic Alicia smile.

I like this picture of Dave's mom, relaxed and visiting with her daughters.

The pool game between cousins was hilarious. They spent the whole time complimenting each other. "Nice shot." "That was so close!" "That almost went in." "Good try."

Elizabeth had to work on Saturday, so she came out Sunday to help finish up the crabs and play a few games of badminton. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of Kat, since she was in and out all weekend.

It was fun to watch Blaize getting into the game. Spencer had a lot of fun hanging out with his cousins. He was really glad he got to go with us. And I must say that traveling with just 1 big kid is SO easy. He even carried all the luggage as we ran to catch our connecting flight.

We had some extra time on the way to the airport Monday, so we stopped to see the hospital where Spencer was born.

He took a ton of scenery pictures. He loves going back to his roots.

David Carleton Anderson 8/10/44 - 6/20/11

2011-07-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

Dave's dad passed away on Monday, June 20th. He had struggled with his health for several years, but the last 5 months were especially difficult.

Dave flew out on Tuesday, and Spencer and I followed on Thursday.

A bugle played Taps at the grave site. His dad was a naval barber in the Vietnam War. Then bagpipes played Amazing Grace. He said he never heard that song without getting goosebumps. It was beautiful.

Presentation of the American flag to Dave's mom.

His dad had dual citizenship, and he had happy childhood memories of living with his grandparents in Toronto.

Dave's Grandfather, Carleton Edward Anderson.

Although we know his dad is free from earthly pains and trials, we will truly miss him. He loved his wife. He raised 9 children. He worked hard to support his large family. He had a strong faith in God.

We will remember him for his love of crabs and the Chesapeake Bay, talking like Donald Duck, constant puns and word play, scrabble, food, good deals, constant reading (especially The New Yorker), maps and architecture.

We are grateful for the legacy he left us and our children. We look forward to the day that we see him again, and we know that through Jesus Christ's atonement and resurrection, he will live again.

Preschool Graduation

2011-06-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

We had a little preschool graduation at Kristen's house a few weeks ago. We had it in the evening so all the families could be there. First we had dinner (we all brought various dinner salads and rolls) and then we had a little program.

Emily Z. started it out like we did every time - with the Pledge of Allegience, weather of the day, days of the week and months of the year.

They wore the caps they made at Heather's house.

Then Hilary W. helped them sing a couple of songs (like If You're Happy and You Know It), and they each said what they wanted to be when they grew up. Brennan said he wanted to be a firefighter. Eric wants to be a knight.

Instead of diplomas, I handed out scrapbooks I made of their preschool year.
But I made them give them back to me because I still need to finish them. It's high up on my to-do list.
Then Heather and Kimber handed out sunflowers to each of the kids to give to their moms for teaching them all year.
Afterwards we ate cake and visited while the kids played 'till late into the night. It was such a lovely evening. We're going to miss our preschool friends.

Peter Pan

2011-06-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Last Friday my kids performed in the school production of Peter Pan. They've been practicing since February, and they had so much fun. They LOVE acting. I can't even tell you how much. They are sad it's over and want to be in another play right now.

Dallin was Michael and Tyler was John. They were so cute! I made their pajamas because I couldn't find any that looked old-fashioned. Then I couldn't find any good material (all we have here is Wal-Mart), so I bought some cheap flat sheets. They were perfect. Now my other boys want me to sew pajamas for them too. I got Tyler's hat and glasses at an online costume store.

Spencer was hilarious as Smee. I bought large adult clothes and sewed them to old t-shirts and shorts along the bottom seams. Then I filled them with pillow stuffing and sewed the tops shut. Dave had the idea of attaching the stuffing to his face with toothpaste, and it worked great. I bought the glasses at the same costume store.

Some of the pirates, getting into their role.

Dallin waking up in the opening scene.

Tyler pretending he can't see until he puts his glasses on. I couldn't find black glasses, so I painted them.

The opening song, "You Can Fly," was so cute and well-choreographed. They were jumping back and forth between the beds and such.

They did so well remembering all their lines. Dallin knew what to say, but he'd forget when to do them. So we practiced lots the night before, and he did great.

"I Won't Grow Up," one of my favorite songs.

Enter the pirates. Every time Spencer was on stage he made me laugh. Even when he wasn't saying anything.

My nephews Peter and Jacob were also Pirates. Don't they look cute?

Peter makes such great faces.

Peter Pan is really the perfect play for kids. There are pirates, indians, fairies - something for everyone.

The pirate ship was incredible. Nancy (my friend who directed the play) used the old sets from Bye Bye Birdie that the stake put on the week before, and she borrowed a bunch of piratey things from Ron Daniels to decorate it. Wow!

The whole cast - 53 students! Nancy is just amazing. What a great experience for all these kids. If you'd like to see all my pictures from the play, they're on Flickr.

Memorial Day

2011-06-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

We went to the beach on Memorial Day, bracing ourselves for a huge crowd. But to our surprise, there was hardly anyone there. We parked right next to the sand and got a table with a BBQ and everything.

The weather was pleasant (probably mid-60's).

The beach is so enjoyable now that Levi is old enough to like it.

The waves were decent for boogie boarding.

Tyler skim boarding.

Then we all took a walk down the pier.

Levi liked it until he got to some cracks between the boards where he could see the water down below. That scared him.
Then we grilled ribs, garlic bread and veggie kebobs. We had the place to ourselves by this point.
After dinner we roasted marshmallows. Brennan was so cold that he spent the rest of the time in the car.
We made oreo s'mores. I made it up. I wonder if anyone's ever thought of it before? Yum!

Art Festival

2011-06-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was the annual art festival downtown. Between hockey in the morning and a birthday party in the afternoon, we could only be there for an hour and a half. It was so much fun! We'll have to make sure we can be there longer next year.

Half the park was various types of artwork on display, and the other half was free hands-on activities for kids.

In the middle was an art auction (a bunch of artists had 2 hours in the morning to complete their paintings for the auction) and these fun people walking around on stilts.

They also had a station where kids could try out different musical instruments. Dallin fell in love with the trumpet. I have always thought he was a trumpet kind of person. Since they completely took music out of the elementary school (grrr!), the kids aren't exposed to instruments to even know what they want to play. I hate school budget cuts.

The canvas painting was supposed to just be for teens, but they let us have one for the whole family.

I divided it into 4 sections, and they took turns painting. I love the picture they made! I even hung it up.

Ag Day

2011-06-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Last week was Ag Day at school. When I came home from exercising that morning, everyone (including Brennan) was furiously searching for cowboy clothes. It was 7:30, and when I asked if anyone had eaten breakfast, the answer was no. They are so into dressing up for things!

When I went to the school later that morning, I didn't see anyone else dressed up - except for the real cowboys, of course.

These pictures of Brennan were actually taken the day before. He dresses up all the time. I may have mentioned it before.

Spencer was wearing a flannel shirt and cowboy hat, but it got too hot for the shirt, and the wind kept blowing his hat off. He did wear it for the cock-a-doodle-do competition, though. He came in 2nd place. I didn't see it, but his proud teacher told me he did an excellent job, strutting around and everything.

There were a bunch of 4H kids demonstrating various things. Here's Tyler doing the stomp rocket. These cowboy boots were from Dave's mom. They used to be hers, and they all wanted to wear them. Tyler won.

The little boys and I got there an hour before lunch and walked around to all the stations, visiting the boys and seeing all the animals. Dallin was in the sheep contest. When he told me about it, the lady who was showing these chickens made a sheep noise. Dallin said, "Wow! You're good. You would have won first place!"

Then we stayed and had the BBQ lunch with them. We were there for awhile, since none of them eat at the same time. The kids were bummed that there weren't as many animals or fun tractor exhibits this year. But now they all want to be in 4H.

Hockey

2011-05-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Just like school, hockey is winding down for the year. It's been fun to watch Spencer really improve over the past 2 years. In the beginning he was more of an observer (we were happy if he ever touched the puck), and now he's one of the top players. He said that as his skills have improved, he cares more about his own performance than whether or not his team is winning. Which is good, because they're in 4th place out of 4 teams again this season. One thing I'm especially impressed with is that he passes to everyone, even the newest players. He says he remembers how that felt.

Facing off with his friend Ryan. Too bad they're on different teams this season.

He's especially good at maneuvering the puck past a crowd. Unfortunately he's had a few penalties this season for hooking.

It's just fun to watch him, and he has become so much more responsible. He gets all of his gear ready on his own (there's a lot of gear), and pushes us all out the door to get there on time. It's been really good for him.

Making Money

2011-05-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

The boys are always looking for money chores. And since Spencer gets to babysit, Tyler is taking over the lawn. He gets $5 for the whole thing, and he does a good, thorough job.

He's lucky he doesn't have allergies, like Spencer.

It's so big and heavy for him. He really has to put his weight into it, especially on the turns.

Yep, he still his his wrist band from Boomers.

Mormon Helping Hands

2011-05-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

Last month we participated with a big service project our church does every year, called Mormon Helping Hands. There's an article about it in the Paso Robles Press with a picture of Dave and Dallin and my friend Nancy. I had fun chatting with her the whole time.

This year we went to Centennial Park to pick up trash and pull weeds along the walking path.

Levi learned the word trash while we were there. He was so good, just hanging out on Dave's back and saying "trash" the whole time.

Here's Spencer and Dallin with Nancy's daughter Kaitlyn.

And Tyler with her daughter Madelyn. This picture cracks me up. Tyler's just standing there with his hair sticking up, and Maddie's posing all cute.

The boys worked pretty hard, but there were so many distractions, like the huge caterpillar they're looking at here.

As Brennan saw me working on this blog, he said, "Remember the dog poop mom? That was nasty. Let's go back and see it again."