Movie Reviews

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

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

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

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

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.