Two weekends ago we left all our kids home with a wonderful young couple from church and drove up to the Oakland temple for Ben and Barbara's sealing. From start to finish, it was an incredible weekend. 
I got my own endowments at the Oakland temple 13 years ago, and it was wonderful to be back. It rained both times. It's up on a big hill, and they tell my it has a beautiful view of San Francisco. 
There's nothing like being with my family in the sealing room. As always, the spirit was very strong, and I was just so happy for Ben and Barbara and the eternal family they are starting. Now all nine kids have been married to their sweethearts in the temple. What a blessing! 
The rain did slow down long enough for pictures afterwards. 
Then we went to Fenton's for lunch. Apparently it's where everyone there goes after temple trips. It's also the ice cream shop the old guy takes the little boy to at the end of the movie Up. The food was really good, and we especially loved this homemade caramel sauce and toffee almond crunch ice cream. Yum! 
Jen and Uche came from Oklahoma. 
Aaron and Marrisse came from Utah. 
Ellen and Jason came from Hawaii. They've been able to stay here for 3 weeks, and we've loved hanging out with them.
Anna has grown up so much in the 10 months they've been in Hawaii. But she and Brennan are still best friends, and they've spent every possible minute playing together.
The two siblings missing were Maryruth (who just had a baby) and Emily (who went to help Maryruth after she had her baby). We missed you guys, but how wonderful for you. Welcome to the family, Makayla Grace!
Afterwards we went shopping and had all kinds of success. Kristen and I don't have many stores where we live, so we were in heaven at Ikea and Crate and Barrel outlet in Berkeley. 
I'll end this post with some classic laughing pictures from the other end of the table. I don't know what Josh was saying, but he sure had them all cracking up down there.
He is still such an awesome sleeper. In fact he sleeps in later than any of my other kids ever have, like 10:00 or so. The latest was 10:45. And when he finally wakes up, he's starving. He's been known to eat 5 packets of oatmeal. Or 10 bowls of cereal. Seriously, he spends over an hour eating breakfast, screaming for more after each bowl.
He is a climber - he especially likes getting up onto the dining room table and the swing set. In fact I had to photoshop out the huge bruise on his forehead in all these pictures. He has learned to move the step stool anywhere he wants to go. He's particularly drawn to the knives on the counter.
From the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed, he is busy - running back and fourth and moving things from place to place. He'll have some kind of container (bucket, bin, bowl, etc.) and fill it with a bunch of little things, like blocks, one at a time. Then he'll take the container to another part of the house and empty it, one block at a time. Then he'll fill it again and go somewhere else to do it all over again. Funny kid. He also likes to sword fight his brothers, collect sticks and pencils, get thrown into the air by his dad, run away laughing when I tell him to come here, and cheer when his dad or brothers come home.
Last week was the Pinewood Derby, and we had 2 boys racing this year. These things stress me out! But everyone was happy by the end of the night, so I consider it a successful year. 
Getting ready for the first race of the night.
Tyler's car didn't do as well as he'd hoped. He lost against 2 very fast cars, including his brother's, but he won a later race by quite a bit and was happy about that.
The younger boys had fun running around, playing with cousins and eating popcorn and cake.
Kimber had lots of fun playing with the pretzel dough. She was the last one to decide on a letter.
After they came out of the oven we brushed on melted butter and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top. They were so easy and yummy. I should make them more often. 
Brennen W. was the birthday boy. He was so excited about his upcoming super hero party, it was all he talked about the whole week. And it was an awesome party. They were all in the backyard when his dad showed up on top of his roof, dressed as Batman. He jumped off the roof onto a trampoline to save someone. I wasn't there, but Brennan told me all about it on the way home.
K is for Kejia.
Then they took turns popping balloons. Inside each one was the name of an animal that began with one of our review letters.
The girls didn't like the loud pop.
Then they acted out the animals. Here they are being penguins. 
Levi loves baths, and I love bath pictures. I had a fun little photo shoot with him this week.
Often when I try converting pictures to black and white they look muddy and grainy. But this one was so clear, and his skin looks so smooth and soft.
Playing peek-a-boo.
His favorite song is The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Here's "out comes the sun."
He looked so cute in Dallin's monster towel. I love the bright blue color. But I had to take the picture quick because he didn't stay in it for long.
When I first got my camera out he would not smile. So I put a little rubber ducky on my head, and that got his attention. When it fell off, he laughed hysterically. That's how I got all the smiling pictures. After he got out, he put the rubber ducky on his head and let it fall off.
They always like to play on my bed after their bath.
