A Quick Trip to Idaho

 My  oldest brother got married November 6 in Idaho Falls, so I took a quick trip home to be there. I flew by myself, and boy was it NICE. I got to read and sleep and not worry about what my kids were spilling on the person next to us.  Totally relaxing and enjoyable. Once I got to Idaho it was busy busy busy. All of my siblings were able to be there so it was good to see everyone again. But with only a couple of days we had to cram stuff in. I squeezed a haircut in and then my sisters, mom, and I got to do some shopping. We also got to watch my little sister Abby in a debate competition. It really was fascinating, though I left feeling totally dumb...haha. They were using so many big words and talking so fast and debating issues that I knew nothing about. So, I have a super smart sister and I'm proud of her. The rest of the time was mostly spent visiting family...siblings, grandparents, aunts. It was good. And of course, we went to the wedding. The sealing was nice and I am so happy for them. After the sealing they just had a simple luncheon and that was that. Sweet and simple.  :)

Apparently I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to take any pictures...not a single one. So I stole these from my sister...thanks Rach!

 Jared and Kaci

The happy little family

My mom and two of her sisters, Kathy and Karen...I love this picture

Me and two of my sisters...just missing Abby

Rachel and I (and her baby) took the shuttle back to Utah together. It was fun to have that last chance to visit, and of course to have the company for the long ride. We got to the airport and said our good byes at security. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the kids stayed with Jon's parents the first couple of days. Jon went to get them and they came home Saturday. Poor Jon was totally sick the whole weekend. He was a trooper though. Monday he took the day off of work and took the kids to the zoo. They LOVED it. Afterwards they picked me up from the airport. It was so good to be home and be a family again.

Being frogs at the zoo

Matthew is the fly and Emma is the spider, coming to get him....oh the morbid games my children play.  :)

Outnumbered

On (or around) June 3, 2011, Jon and I will officially be outnumbered. We can't wait!

Halloween 2010

I was a little disappointed when I realized Halloween was on Sunday this year, because it meant the kids wouldn't be going trick or treating...and they were REALLY looking forward to it. But, we had so many Halloween activities and got so much candy that I was really glad they weren't going trick or treating. And after their 4th Halloween party in 5 days, they really thought that Halloween was over anyway. So, it worked out well. :)


Jon carved our pumpkins this year, with a little help from the kids. Emma was excited, then disgusted, and then fascinated with it all. She had very specific instructions as to how the pumpkin should be carved.

Matthew wasn't really sure what to think.

This is Emma with most of her preschool class the day of their Halloween party. They got to go trick or treating to a couple places near their preschool and came home loaded with treats and toys.

Friday we went to Jon's work party at lunch. We borrowed some scrubs so Matthew could be a doctor, but he insisted that it wasn't a costume and refused to wear it. Luckily some friends had the same lion costume that Emma was going to wear, but in Matthew's size and they let us borrow it. I thought they made a couple of really cute lions.

Saturday was our church Halloween party. I ran to Old Navy in the morning to see if their costumes were on sale and was happy to find that they were all marked down to $5. I grabbed the monkey for Matthew and that's what he wore for our church party. Emma decided she wanted to be a butterfly(which we already have), so we pulled that one out and she was a "beautiful little butterfly". She thought it was hilarious to flap her wings.

It seems like we've got a tradition going of having two costumes per kid each year...remember last year?

Trick or treating to the classrooms at the church party. Fun fun!

Quotes

Matthew: Whatcha doin' Mommy?

Me: I'm making dinner.

Matthew: Oooh. You're such a big boy. Good job!

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Instead of saying yes or no, Matthew now says "uh course" (of course) and "no sanks" (no thanks). Cracks me up!

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We have been helping Emma memorize the Articles of Faith. She knows the 1st and 2nd and most of the 3rd. However, Matthew surprised us the other night by saying the whole 1st article of faith, unprompted, by himself. I guess you never know when kids are listening!

Our Last Few Weekends

 So, just when I think I have Blogger all figured out, they go and change it. I used to add my pictures in reverse order so they would show up in order, but now they show up in the order you add them...what a concept!  Anyway, there are too many pictures to try and move everything around, so these pictures are all backwards.


We have stayed really busy the last few weekends. This weekend started out with the Megamind wrap party, to celebrate finishing the movie (which comes out November 5...you should all go see it.  :)  It is a good, funny movie.) We  got a babysitter (who generously offered to keep the kids overnight...thank you again Erica!) and got to enjoy a nice adult only evening in the city. Unfortunately our camera died but we didn't know it till we got there...anyone with a Canon Powershot ever gotten the lens error??? The lens just won't open...big bummer! But we had a good time. It was great to have a night out and to finally see Jon's work up on the big screen. He worked so hard and we are so proud of him.


Last weekend, we took our first family camping trip. We've gone with Jon's family several times, but never on our own. I was a little nervous, but it was so fun. The kids did great and we all had a blast. We went up to the Redwoods in Northern California. It is BEAUTIFUL up there. Jon described it perfectly when he said, "You get there and feel like you've shrunk because all of the trees are so big". Some of the trees were pretty amazing...many of them were over 300 feet tall.

 

 walking on a fallen tree

The kids loved all the "fort trees"

On one of our walks we found a bunch of wooly bear caterpillars. The kids thought they were the cutest, funniest things ever so Jon brought 4 home to see if we could watch them go through their life cycle and turn into moths. They are doing great so far.

Warming our feet by the fire

This tree stump was in our campsite. It was hollow at the top, so the kids named it the volcano and spent a lot of time playing in there.

Just some random tickling pictures that I thought were cute. These kids LOVE being tickled.

The last weekend in September, the Smithsonian Magazine did their annual free museum day. Tons of museums all over the country are free one day each year, so this year we chose the Hiller Aviation and Space Museum. It is right up the road from us and we have never been, so this was the perfect opportunity to check it out. It was really cool. I would have loved to be able to spend more time there, but the kids just wanted to get to the toys.

An old helicopter

The kids got to sit in a Blue Angels airplane

Quotes

We went to Target today and took the stroller instead of a cart. Emma wanted to walk, so I filled her seat with our groceries. As we were walking out of the store, she suddenly just couldn't walk and NEEDED to sit in her seat. So she started throwing a fit, screaming at the top of her lungs...you know the drill... I kept walking, knowing that she would keep following. As we got to the car she stopped and screamed as loud as she possibly could, over and over, "I can't keep going. I runned out of allergy (energy)!!!" She got quite a few laughs out of people passing by...and me.

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We were reading scriptures with the kids tonight. We have each of them "read" a verse...we read, they repeat. The end of Matthew's verse went something like this, "...the juice sought the wife of my father".   
Translation: The Jews sought the life of my father

Tidbits

Last weekend my old roommate Shayla, and her sister Lisa, came to San Francisco. We were lucky enough to have them stay with us so we could catch up with each other...it's been 5 years!

We went into the city with them one day...and I forgot my camera at home. But we took our first trip to Ghirardelli Square where we got some ice cream and yummy chocolate treats (the pumpkin spice caramel squares are AMAZING!). We also drove down Lombard Street, went to the completely fogged over Golden Gate Bridge, stopped at our favorite Baker Beach, where there just happened to be a wedding going on...random!, went to Golden Gate Park for a little bit, and ended the day with dinner at Panera...yum! It was a very busy, very fun day.

Last Sunday we squeezed in a trip to the coast. We drove up Highway 1 through Half Moon Bay and then stopped at the tide pools in Moss Beach. It was a perfect day to go and we were able to see lots of wildlife. The kids LOVED it.


They especially loved touching the sea anemones. They thought it was hilarious to touch them and then watch them close.

Matthew, our resident rock collector.  :)

Me and Shayla

Thanks for coming to visit, Shayla and Lisa! We had a great time!



This was some time last week. The kids insisted that their pets (stuffed animals) were hungry and had to eat breakfast. Just thought it was cute.

The most exciting tidbit from this week is that Jon is done with Megamind! Done with 70+ hour weeks! Done done done! He finished at 3:30 last Saturday afternoon, so we went out to dinner to celebrate. It has been SO nice to have him home in the evenings again. It has been especially nice for the kids to have a dad again....to see him every day instead of every 3 or 4 days. They are so happy to have him back. We are all happy.  :)


And a random funny story to end on...

I teach the 7 year old class at church. During sharing time (when they have all the classes meet together for singing) I was sitting next to one of the girls in my class and put my arm up on the back of her chair. She reached over and starting playing with the flab hanging from my upper arm. Then she looked up at me and said, "Oh, I just love your wings. I want wings too! They are just so pretty!" I didn't know whether to be offended, mortified, or just laugh. So I laughed and then put my arm down.

I know my arms aren't stick skinny, but I've lost 35 lbs and I've been working out still, so they are fairly toned. Just kind of a little blow. I'm glad she at least thought my fat was cool. Haha...the joys of teaching primary.