Ketchup With The Keiths

Happy Birthday James

2011-05-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my favorite pirate James!

James had several friends over for a birthday party - Pirate style!

He makes one cutie patootie pirate, doesn't he?!

ARRRRRR! A surly looking crowd!

Pinata time!

Lots of Pirate Bootie!

One year older!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful to be a mother and to be entrusted with 4 of Heavenly Father's children. I love them so much and I thank Him every day for allowing me to be a mother and to have these sweet children sealed to my husband and I for eternity. And you have to admit, they are the cutest kids in the whole entire world!!! Happy Mother's Day to me!

Who Rocked the Pinewood Derby???

2011-04-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh.... the much anticipated Pinewood Derby. We were so excited about it this year that Joshua and Earl made his car the day before. Such is life! But it turned out to be a great night.

Cast of Characters

Pack 36 - All Dens

The STRESS!!! Joshua is on pins and needles....

On your mark, get set.... GO!

A very proud 1st place winner!

Joshua ended up taking his car to the regional Derby and getting place in the top ten!

Good job!

Happy Easter

2011-04-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

Easter came and went ... and I'm finally blogging about it! I honestly can't remember if anything extraordinary happened except our usual morning Easter egg and basket hunt, but the kids love Easter (almost as much as Christmas!). Here are a few pics:

Jilly loved finding eggs all over the house.

Some great Easter gifts...

I couldn't resist adding this picture. What an adorable kid!

American River Half Marathon

2011-04-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

Earl and I decided this year to keep our sites set on being physically fit and having goals to work towards in keeping this goal. We signed up for the American River half marathon and diligently worked out to be ready for this race. Our friends the Colborn's signed up with us and its always fun to run a race with friends!

These were the only pics I could find. I look like I'm walking... ok, my run really isn't much faster than a power walk, but that's ok! This was my second half marathon, and I loved the course. Very simple... Up one path, loop around at the halfway mark, and back the way you came (for the most part!). I liked being able to watch for Earl and see how far ahead of me he was running. I finished about 2:19 and Earl finished about 1:52.
I love feeling accomplished.

We finished... that's all I have to say!
Except then we forgot where we parked our car.
And after walking for another 30 minutes we were very thankful that the Colborn's drove past us and gave us a lift so that we could scour the neighborhood and find our car.
We were really tired and cranky at that point.
But we found our car and made it back home ... to spend the rest of the day watching, yes, you guessed it... baseball games! With no shower and no rest. But that's what you do in April when you have 2 kids on baseball teams.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

2011-04-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

It's the time of year that we run ourselves crazy going from practice to practice, game to game... and we love it! Josh and James both decided to play baseball this past spring. Here are a few pics...

This was Joshua's first year on the minor league! What a change from coach pitch, but he did great and proved to be an excellent athlete. He was on the Red's and had several successful plays throughout the season!

Look at the concentration....what a great year!

This was James' first year on a baseball team (on any kind of team! He didn't play soccer in the fall and REALLY REALLY wanted to play baseball!). His team, the Mets, was a tee ball team and he loved, loved, loved it! His coach, Coach Kenny, is behind him in this picture. He can't wait for next year already!

I love this picture!

And our fabulous cheer leading squad!

We kind of go a little crazy with the long days, countless practices and games, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

He's a FIRST CLASS kid

2011-03-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of JON! He is quite the scouter!!!

He received his FIRST CLASS rank award at the Court of Honor in April.

Mom is becoming a very decorated Scout Mom!

Ahhh.... He's going to be 12 soon! Where did my baby go?

Most of our boys and leaders in Pack 36. We love Scouts!!!

Happy Birthday Princess

2011-03-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday to my favorite little girl! She had her two "bestest buds" over for a play date and we had cake and ice cream to celebrate. Jillian was a princess for the day!


Blow out those candles!

She got her very own Rapunzel Barbie and a dress that she could wear to match!

I love my baby girl.... she will always be my baby.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!

2011-03-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

Josh turned 9 this past March and decided he wanted to have a sleepover. (Yay! I ~~LOVE~~ sleepovers!)

He had 3 of his very good friends over and I think it was a hit! We started out the night eating PIZZA, then moved on to a Nerf gun war, and later a movie and "calm down" time. No death threats from the parents, but we got pretty close!

WATCH OUT! It's the Nerf Gun Bandit!

The traditional Keith Ice Cream Birthday cake. We aren't big frosting fans here!

Chow down little dude! That's a huge bite of cake!
I'm pretty sure it was a success. My 9 year old doesn't verbalize such things, but I think it was fun for him and his friends and I'm sure he's already planning for next year. Heaven help us all!

A Great Family Weekend

2011-03-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

It is a rare opportunity for my whole family to get together and last weekend we had the pleasure of traveling to Fresno for my niece Hannah's baptism. My kids were so excited to see all of their cousins on my side of the family and we spent the morning with many of them at the park (Maddy, Emma, Christopher, Hannah, and Jon - great smile!)

My sis Heidi and her precious baby boy Rustin.

Cousin Benny - one amazing sports fanatic!

My sis Maree and her kids, Hannah and Christopher.

Jill chillin' with her new toy from her Auntie!

My sis Aimee and her daughter Emma.

We took a bunch of family pictures later in the day before the baptism (I'll post those later! Gotta get them from my sis!) and had pizza with everyone afterward. We were able to sneak in a quick visit with our Grandpa Earl and on Sunday with Grandma Geri and her family. It was a very busy, very quick visit and we packed as much into the two days we were there. I'm still trying to recover ;)

Blue and Gold Dinner 2011

2011-03-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Isn't that the sweetest smile :) Josh loves cub scouts and was so happy to finally get to participate in his first Blue and Gold Dinner. We've been going every year for Jon and now it was Josh's turn! He received his physical fitness belt loop and is going to move up to the Bear Den this next week. I love how cub scouts give us, as a family, an many opportunities to talk and learn together. He accomplishes the various goals, but I always feel like our family gets a little piece of what he accomplishes.

"The Coolest Cake on a Hot Day" was GONE at the end of the night! Ya baby!

SNOW!

2011-01-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not trying to catch flies... we spent a day during MLK weekend at the snow. It was so beautiful up in the mountians - warm, sunny, we could have worn our bathing suits (just kidding!). It was kind of icy in some spots because of the lack of snowstorms during January, but it was still very fun for all of us! The best part was seeing my kids' reaction to the snow and how they liked/hated it.

Dad had a great time carving out some good runs for us to enjoy. Jill even got a few runs in too! She's our little dare devil!

Jimmy and Jilly ... not big fans of the snow! It only took minutes for Jimmy to start complaining about being wet .. "My pants are wet, my hands are wet!" It's amazing what you don't know if you don't live in the snow. I think my kids prefer to just visit the snow. But they really liked making snowballs and throwing them at me!

Josh and Jon having a great time on the slippery sled that we borrowed from our neighbors. I took the little kids to the car and these two boys stayed with dad for another 30 minutes and had a blast! They could have stayed all day.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and once we saw the Highway Patrol ticketing cars on the road that we were parked on, we decided it was time to head out. We stopped for Pizza in Grass Valley and headed home. It was a great day!

Annual Scout Christmas Tree Recycling

2011-01-08T22:11:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of our cub scout and boy scout troop! Every year for the past several years our boys go out and collect donations and sign ups for Christmas tree recycling. They spend many hours and walk miles through the neighborhood and even collect in front of various stores in the area. Of course, they wouldn't be able to do this if their troop leaders didn't organize this fundraiser for them and I am so grateful for their service! Our boys did a fantastic job again this year! I'm so glad my boys are part of this troop! Great job!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

December came and went...

Here is a recap:

Jon had his first band concert playing the clarinet. He's really good! I think his piano experience has helped him to become a great clarinet player. Great concert!

Josh and Jimmy had their winter concert at their school. Unfortunately it was SO crowded at the concert that taking pictures was out of the question. But we got a few at home.
You gotta love the hats. Priceless!

On Christmas Eve everyone got to open one present. Of course, it was the one present that mom said they could open ;) New PJ's and slippers for everyone!

Jilly got a box full of Princess Barbies. She was in Princess Heaven!

And James got a bunch of Toy Story stuff from Santa! Go Santa!

Josh has been in his own little Lego world ever since Christmas...

Jon had his first "grown up" Christmas and got some snow gear (and a few toys! He's not as grown up as he would like to be yet!)

And no Christmas is complete without a good book to read (or listen to on your commute!)
Earl has a Gerald Lund fix for a few weeks with this latest set!
I knew I would get him to appreciate my reading bug sooner or later.

We enjoyed being at home this year and relaxing together as a family.
It's hard to get a few days off from the hustle and bustle of real life, and this Christmas was a true vacation from all of the crazy schedule!

The Happiest Place On Earth

2010-12-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

This is the most anticipated vacation of the last 3 years.

Our kids would love to go to Disneyland more often, but we've made it a tradition to go every 3 years. But after this last trip, we may need to go more often!
We had a BLAST!

We took the kids a few days before Thanksgiving break began (Shhh... don't tell the school!) and drove ALL the way down to LA. Poor Jill had a pretty high fever the whole day, but thank goodness it only lasted for the day. She was rested and happy for the park!

After riding a few "scary" rides (according to Jill) in Fantasyland, we noticed the new Tangled Princess was meeting and greeting fair princesses, so naturally I HAD to take my little princess.

This was the most endearing conversation between two beautiful princesses! My daughter (and I) will never forget how Rapunzel greeted and talked to Jill like she was her best friend.
It was ADORABLE!
Did I mention it was ADORABLE!?

This is as close to driving that either of these boys will get to driving...EVER!

Jonathan had the chance of a lifetime to be in the Jedi Knight Training. He's convinced his hat helped him get picked. I'm almost sure it helped! This MADE the trip for him!
Notice the look of concentration as he practices...

...and the battle ensues....
He won of course! And graduated with honors from the official training!
Well done son!

Autopia stresses me out...

We ran ourselves RAGGED all day and about 9 pm we finally went to dinner. Jimmy couldn't even eat his food. He just put his head down on his chair and somehow didn't fall off after he fell asleep. Poor guy!

Day 2 - I decided to stick it out and wait to meet the princesses with Jill.
It was worth it!!!
Belle is one of her FAVORITE!

And Ariel IS her favorite!

And later we ran into Tiana!
We were in Princess heaven!!!

We ran into several of our favorite characters and got autographs...

And it just so happened our cousins from Fresno were going to Disneyland on the same days we were there... what a wonderful, happy, and fantastic coincidence!
Grandma and Grandpa Givens came as well and we all had a great time together on Friday and Saturday.

Daddy will protect his baby girl in that creepy Haunted House!
I love it when it's decorated for Christmas!!!

Mommy and Jimmy went on Space Mountain together SEVERAL times.
Jimmy's FAVORITE ride!
Notice who is in the front row in the pic below...

Joshua LOVES all roller coasters! He's my little dare devil! He and I finally got to ride Screamin' California for the first time and we loved it!!! On Saturday it was raining just a little when Josh went with his Uncle Matt and cousins on it one last time. Well... it started POURING while they were on the roller coaster and they got SOAKED!!! Great timing! They wished they had their ponchos with them!

Daddy and Jilly in front of the Beauty and the Beast flower (but you can't see the flower! Bummer! It's still cute to see them together!)

Sadly we encountered quite a bit of rain on Saturday and didn't take ANY pictures!
But we had a wonderful time! And I really hope we get to go again soon... especially with our cousins and gramma and grampa! We all have the same attitude when it comes to rides....
we GO GO GO GO GO! Ride as many rides as we can as many times as we can!!!!

And then we drove all the way home on Sunday.
The End.

The Great Race

2010-11-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

Earl and I traveled with our friends Ken and Freyja to Santa Barbara to run the
SBI Marathon and Half Marathon!
No, we aren't crazy.... Just goal oriented!

Isn't he handsome?! I was playing around with the camera on the drive there.

Hi. That's me playing around again.

That's a picture of my shoes. I know. So interesting.
The black chip is my Nike+ chip and the pink is the race chip.
Let me just say how happy I am to have a working ipod for the race.
Earl wasn't so lucky. His ipod kept resetting itself and he had nothing to listen to on his nice, long, long, long run.

That's me at 4:30 in the morning getting ready for the race. Crazy!!! We had to be there at 5 am and then walk over a mile to the starting point. Earl had to be at his bus at 4 am to be bussed to his starting point. The race didn't start until almost 7 am!!!
BTW... don't wear your favorite Yoga capri pants to run 13.1 miles. They aren't spandex. You might sweat and look like you peed. I'm just saying.... I might have some experience with this one.
And BTW.... don't put your Gu in your bra and run 13.1 miles either. Just not a good idea.
I learned a lot from this experience....

That's Freyja and I after we crossed the finish line.
Laura - 2 hr. 19 min. 58 sec.
Freyja - 2 hr. 48 min.
YA BABY!

Freyja got this great picture of Earl right before he crossed the finish line!
Earl - 4 hr. 35 min.
And he finished!!!!!!! I'm so proud of him!!!
And then Ken finished. We were getting a little worried about him, but he made it!
Ken - 5 hr. 50 min. (I think... correct me if I'm wrong!)
AND HE FINISHED TOO! SO VERY PROUD!!!

We finally got some food, showered and napped a little and the guys let us take them out for a little sight seeing. We were all a bit stiff, but we couldn't miss the chance to take in a few of the sights. Santa Barbara is so beautiful!!!

Ken and Freyja
Marathoner and Half Marathoner

Yep, he's a Marathoner too! I claim him as my own!

It was so much fun to spend the weekend together and accomplish this goal.
Don't we look happy?!
Yes, it's the Advil.

Art on the beach.... the guys working on it said they don't do it for the money. It's their profession. Niiiiccceee!

Goofing around....

Earl - "Do I have to put my shoes on and go home"
Laura - "Yes honey."
Earl - "Ah, man..."

We were all winners... or weiners... or crazy... whatever you may think.
And we are going to buy stock in Advil.

And he's off and running again.
Another Marathon - maybe not
Another Half Marathon - ABSOLUTELY! I can't wait!

Halloween

2010-10-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

Cast of Characters:
Josh - Ninja (3rd year in a row... cheap costume!)
James - Jack Sparrow (I bought the accessories 2 years ago on clearance... so cute!)
Jillian - Belle from Beauty and the Beast (borrowed costume from Melanie - THANKS!)
Jon - absent from pictures because "he's too old to dress up".
I'm not complaining.

This is the best I can do... I didn't take hardly any pictures this year!
I know. I'm a bad mom. I hope I can redeem myself next year.
Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, my kids and my husband decided it wasn't a great Sabbath day activity to go out trick or treating.
(Notice I didn't say anything about myself... I really had no opinion on the matter.)

The night before Halloween we had a great trunk or treating activity with our ward family at church, and when my kids brought home buckets FULL of candy, I didn't feel too bad about them not going on Sunday night. I definitely didn't want anymore candy in the house!
And the kids were happy.
And I was happy.
And the whole thing was made even better by having a pot luck with some friends and hanging out at their house on Halloween night.
Then we came home late, saw that 2 of our 4 carved pumpkins were smashed on our front lawn (and of course I didn't take any pictures... Sorry Earl! He worked really hard on his pumpkin!).
Oh well.... as I said, there is always next year ;)

My Favorite Things....

2010-10-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

Bishop's Pumpkin Patch.
The most awesome pumpkin patch in the world.
We don't miss it. Ever.
I think I'll still go even when my kids are old and grown and out of the house.
I'll have to eat the pumpkin cake.
And you don't have to be a kid to appreciate pumpkin cake.

Yep, she is the cutest little girl you ever did see jumping in the hay.

Perfectly spaced teeth Jimmy. How I love that smile!

Growing up way way way too fast for me!

The annual pictures on the ginormous pumpkins. I'm not a photographer.
I just pretend to be.
Say CHEESE!

"Owww Mom! The sun is in my eyes! Don't you know how to take pictures???"

"No I will not put down my pretty rocks. Sheesh!"

I love how Jimmy's little head popped up in the back of this picture. So funny!

I had to bribe him with corn dogs to smile. The things I do....
I'm so disappointed in myself.
But it worked!

"Now give me my pumpkin cake!"
And we ate.
And we loved it.
And we will go again next year... for sure!!!

My Cub Scout

2010-10-13T16:16:00.001-07:00

Josh LOVES LOVES LOVES Cub Scouts.

Did I mention that Josh LOVES Cub Scouts?

I'm pretty sure he loves Cub Scouts more than his mother ;)

That's what it looks like (to me!) in this picture.

Josh earned his Wolf award last month and 4 arrow points. He loves going to his den and pack meetings and spending time with is den leaders. It also gives us, as parents, one on one time with him that he needs.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that Josh LOVES Cub Scouts!

Way to go Josh!!!

And The Weiner Is...

2010-09-09T14:32:00.001-07:00

We aren't THAT competitive... I promise! But last month, it got a little out of control.

Earl and I are on the Nike Plus website (along with some friends) and have been running and logging our miles in some friendly monthly competitions. It's very motiviating and I feel very accomplished when I look at my miles and see how far I have run in the morning or my total for the month.

Anyway, last month, Earl decided he was going to log at least 100 miles running during the month. The record was 80 miles set by our friend Ron. But Earl was given some fierce competition by our buddy Ken (who is also training for a marathon with Earl in November). Anyway, at the last minute, Earl and Ken both did a little "sneaky" running and tried to one-up each other. Earl was pronounced the winner on the website, but Ken should have actually won the monthly competition (even if he only WALKED the last minute 2 miles that he tried to log in!). Being the sore loser, proclaimed winner that Earl is, he found the perfect gift for our friend while on a late night Walmart run.

Earl thought it would be fun to wrap it up and give it to Ken at Ward Council.

Now you know the truth about what REALLY goes on at Ward Council.

Can't read the bottle... Here, take a looksie....

We love you Ken!

BTW... Earl is logged about 103 miles and I logged 69 miles during the month of August!!! I was so excited that I surpassed my goal for the month by 19!

We are both training now and Earl will be running the marathon and I am running the half marathon in November. Wish us luck!

Pretty Princess

2010-09-09T14:13:00.001-07:00

This morning I put Jill's hair in a ponytail with a pretty bow, put on shoes and socks, got all dressed. Within 5 minutes everything was undone.
Hair bow... Out
Rubberband.... Gone
Shoes... Across the room
Socks... On her hands like gloves
Yep, I was a little annoyed since we were getting ready to leave.
Obviously we didn't leave fast enough!
And then she came to me all dolled up. Too cute to pass up!

Peek-a-Boo!

Just adorable! You can't be annoyed with that!

Gone Are Our Lazy Summer Days....

2010-08-19T14:57:00.001-07:00

Yep, it's that time of year... I send the kids off to school, wave "Bye Bye" and go home to a much quieter and not so messy house! Don't get me wrong, I love my kids! And I love having a break from school, homework, and everything else that goes along with it. And I really love the freedom of summertime and doing all of the fun things that we do together.
But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the first day of school!

Our first stop... dropping Jon off at his NEW school! He's a big Middle School kid now! I can't believe my baby boy is old enough for the whole middle school experience. He was totally surprised when I told him that they don't have "recess" as he remembers. They now have a "break" in the middle of morning classes and after lunch. He's not too happy about it... he's still a little kid at heart! He also didn't like that I kept telling him to turn around and wave at the camera. What can I say... I just wanted to capture the moment like every nerdy mom there!

What sweet faces!!! It's pictures like this that make me miss them when they are gone all day! James started Kindergarten (is he really old enough?!) and Josh is now a big 3rd grader. Jill had to be in the picture because, let's face it, she's so darn cute! James is having a bit of an adjustment to ALL DAY Kindergarten. He asks every day this week if 1.) does he have school today and 2.) is it a long day? And then he asks me what I am doing today. I've learned to not tell him exactly what I am doing. He feels left out. :(

First in line on the first day of school. Feelin' pretty special!

It is such a weird feeling having only 1 child at home all day now! I ALMOST don't know what to do with myself... but then I look around my house and I get over that feeling really fast. Jill and I are loving our Mommy/Daughter time together. I'm going to treasure it while it lasts!

New Blog to Check Out

2010-08-17T19:52:00.001-07:00

This is a really cute blog I came across on Yahoo today. New Dress A Day is the inspiration of an out of work, get to work gal who didn't want to wallow self pity. She was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia and started her own blog about creating a new fashion from something she finds at a thrift store. The catch is ... she can only spend $1 fixing it and she is making something new from something old EVERY day for 365 days! She's incredible! Way to go Marisa! I'll be following her :)

Summer Tidbits

2010-08-09T15:43:00.001-07:00

Just a few (ok, a LOT!) of pics to show what we've been up to all summer...

PLAYING IN THE BACKYARD

This is where Jonathan stepped on the slide and busted a big hole in it. But now we have the right glue to repair it. Hope it works!

BILL AND BINKI'S CAR SHOW.... always fun! The shirts are my favorite!

ARROW OF LIGHT AWARD FOR JON.... right before his 11th birthday! Way to go son!

BOBCAT AWARD FOR JOSH .... and now he has a few beads too! Almost a Wolf!

COUPLE OF TEMPER TANTRUMS....

A FEW VISITS TO THE GAP WATER PARK...

COW APPRECIATION DAY AT CHICK FIL A.... great way to get a free lunch for the whole crew!
MORE ADORABLE KID PHOTOS...

SEA WORLD IN SAN DIEGO.... We visited my sister Maree and her family and had a great week there!

WENT TO THE BEACH A FEW TIMES ... We got to see a lot of Earl's family while we were there too! A mini family reunion!

James took a spill on the boogie board... too bad because he was doing so good! Josh and Jon could have stayed out there all day. They loved it!

SCIENCE MUSEUM AT BALBOA PARK ...

MORMON BATTALION EXHIBIT IN OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO ....
YUBA CITY STAKE PIONEER TREK ... Earl and I were a "Ma and Pa" for a youth family and we had a great experience (although I am not a camper and didn't really enjoy no showers and only port a potties for 3 days!). Our testimonies were strengthened and we have so much more respect and love for our pioneer heritage. Thanks Mom and Dad for taking care of the kids!

Summer isn't over, but we only have a few days before school starts! I don't know how much we can pack into our week, but we are sure going to try to enjoy every last moment. It's been a fun summer and it's gone by too fast :(

Back in May.... I Was the Biggest WINNER!

2010-08-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

So wayyyyy back in May I saw a sweepstakes on Facebook sponsored by The Milk Mustache Campaign that you could enter if you write a little paragraph about how you use milk to boost your family's daily nutrition. Being that my family drinks tons of milk (NOT!) I jotted down a few sentences. It went something like this...

Our family uses milk in our hot and cold cereals for breakfast. We add milk to our mac n cheese and creamy pastas at lunch. We encourage having a cup of milk with our dinner or we add a little chocolate syrup to it for a treat for dessert.

You didn't know I was such an accomplished writer.

The prize for this award winning essay.....
A TRIP TO LA TO THE BIGGEST LOSER SEASON FINALE!!!!

I am a self-proclaimed Biggest Loser junkie.

So is my husband.... it's our "thing". We love love love to watch this show together. 2 hours a week of good, quality TV time together. Yes, I said QUALITY!

So I zip off this essay, and then the next week I have one day ... ONE DAY ... that I say to myself, "Self, I am not getting on the computer at all today. Not even to check my email."

Yes, this was the day that I got an important email telling me I WON!

(stupid self learned a lesson that day... check your email.... no matter what!)

So the next day when I allowed myself to check my email (as I was eating a double cheeseburger at McDonald's.... a fine eating establishment for "Biggest Loser" fans) I see this email saying that some lady is trying to get in touch with me because I won tickets to the show.... my phone battery is dying.... I call her..... I'm in shock!

Sweet!!! The next week, and with a heart-felt thanks to my dad, Sarah P., Meggan K., and Melissa B. for helping me with my kids, my husband, Rebecca (my bosom budy and fellow BL fan) and I hopped on a plane and took off for LA on an all expense paid trip. Ya, I know, I get a tax bill at the end of the year. Big deal! I'll take it!!! It was one of the highlights of the year for me!!!

They had us stay at the Sheraton Universal Studios in Studio City. Little did they know when they made the reservations, ALL of the contestants and their families from BL were staying at THE SAME HOTEL! Well, all except the top 4 contestants. That's ok... we still met them all!

In the lobby of the hotel we bumped into Danny, season 8 winner.

O'Neal with Rebecca. I kissed his cheek.... I ♥ him!

Shay got another sweet deal with Subway!

Sunshine with Toa, Koli's sister. Toa is sending me "I ♥ Koli Bear" t-shirts. I love her. She is my new best friend. Thanks Toa!!!!

Sunshine! She definitely had the right team color.

Darrell... in the lobby again...

Ali, the host of the show. I hate this picture. I should crop myself and my double chin out.

Rebecca with season 1 winner Eric. And he wasn't the only one with massive armpit problems. Let's just say it was SUPER hot at the taping and at this exclusive after-party that we "wormed" our way into.... no, we weren't on the guest list, but they added us. Thanks again to the Milk Mustache Campaign and the fact that I could just "drop" that info at the door. Nice....

Holy Moly You Rock Koli! My favorite!
He should have won the 250k, but ONLY got the 100k.
Hey Toa, there is a pretty cute girl in my ward that I should set him up with. She's adorable. You want her info? Is he interested?

Ashley, the ALMOST winner....
She looked FAB!

Miggy. She had so much spunk and I loved her! I was sad to see her go. We had a great time visiting with her and learning about the cookbook she is putting together now! Way to go!

I loved these ladies!!! Cheryl and Sherry! Don't they look so beautiful!

This guy looks SOOOOOOOOO different now!!!! I love his dimples!!!
Daris is my running inspiration now. I run about 4 miles at a time now and I'm hoping to run a half marathon this year. He told me that even at his heaviest, he could run a mile in about 9 minutes (I'm pretty sure that's what he said... that's incredible!)

Sam. Sam. I love your biceps Sam. He should have won too. (Sigh....)

Oh, Ya, Baby! Too hot ladies!

After ooogling and harassing the contestants to DEATH we finally pooped out in the lobby. It was such an amazing experience! We had a blast!
P.S. Enter online contests! Only about 2000 people entered the contest that I entered.... my odds were pretty good.
I'm a believer!
And don't call me on Tuesday nights in the Fall! I'll be watching The Biggest Loser and running on my treadmill when the weather turns colder. Ok?!

Little League Over Finally!

2010-06-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

We made it! Baseball season ended the end of May for Josh and the beginning of June for Jon. We had so much fun, kept ourselves SUPER busy, and loved every minute of it!

Joshua and his crazy team.... they had a lot of energy!

Jon and his teammates at their End of Season party. They had a blast playing laser tag!
(Note to self and Jon: Next time you go play laser tag, where dark clothes. It helps your score.)
I'd blog more, but I have too much to "ketchup" on... see future posts...

R.I.P.

2010-05-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

It was a very sad day in our home on Monday. Our beloved Lightening McQueen shoes took their last journey out into the world, and came back irreparable (notice the break in the strap at the heel). :( The loss will be felt by all as we try to replace our dearly beloved shoes.
And boy oh boy, will that ever be a hard task!

Can you see how loved they are? Can you imagine the miles they have shuffled, the bikes they have ridden, the games they have played???

You can see them here taking their first ride on the new Lightening McQueen mother of all bikes at Christmas time.

And here on Jimmy's 4th birthday taking a spin on his new scooter...
(remember... we just celebrated his 5th birthday!)

This was about the time our relationship began with our dearly beloved...
in June of 2008.
Now, many of you moms reading this will congratulate me for dressing my 3-5 year old child in the same pair of shoes for almost 2 years.
Some of you may find that offensive....
And smelly....
And very dirty....
But alas, this was not my doing!
(I tried very hard just recently to lose, break, threaten to throw away, the list goes on....)
But it was not to be.
So it is without any fault of my own that the "Lightening 'Queens" bid a final farewell to us, and all of you, as his journey has come to a very untimely (or timely!) end.
Jimmy will love you forever!

Happy Birthday to My Jimmy Boy!

2010-05-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little boy is 5 years old! He's growing too fast! He has been talking about his birthday for... well, every day since his last birthday! (not uncommon for kids his age!) We celebrated last night with a few of his buddies.

Can you see the little Buzz Lightyear and Woody on the cake... that's how I decorate!

... Jimmy pretending he is embarrassed... WHAT! He has been WAITING AND WAITING FOR THIS DAY!!!

Some very fun presents from his friends!

His mother brainwashing him into cheering for the correct baseball team...
I know... we can't help the fact that my other boys are on the other CA. teams, but I need to be sure that the RIGHT team is supported by SOMEONE in our family!
Your welcome Dad!

My favorite picture! Jimmy and Daniel saying Cheese! Good buddies!!!

BTW.... why is he so against girls all of a sudden??? He wouldn't allow girls to be invited to his party! What! Maybe it has something to do with having a little sister now.... hum!
I'm not complaining... I'll encourage it as the years go on!!!
Mama loves her baby boy!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES! I LOVE YOU!

Pinewood Derby ALMOST Win...

2010-05-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well, after much blood, sweat, and lots of sanding, we had 2 pinewood derby contestants ready for the annual race. I can't say I was excited (and neither was Earl for that matter. He had double the fun this year! Pure sarcasm here!) but I was happy for my boys and their chance to make it to the regional finals. They didn't :(

And they were under strict orders to 1.) not taunt others or 2.) cry for any reason. They are both a little bit competitive (that's a major understatement!) and I was a tad worried about the outcome, especially with 2 of them racing. But... they listened to me AND there was no crying. Ok, I think they listened... I'm not positive there wasn't any taunting, but a mother can hope, right?!

Jon won a few heats, but in the end, he got about 7th or 8th overall... not too shabby! It's not last place! (That was a major concern in our household... I wasn't as worried for my boys as I was for my husband... he he he!)

The race was SO CLOSE! But in the end....

Joshua got 4th overall.... bummer...
I'm not too sad :) They had a great time and Earl loved making the cars so much he got a new sander just to finish them off. Any excuse to get more manly tools!

I Got "Told"

2010-04-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

Jon - Mom, why do you get to go on the computer on Sunday?

Mom - Because I'm the mom.

Jon - But you don't let me and Josh go on the computer and do things we want to do on Sundays, so you shouldn't be allowed to go on the the computer either.

Mom - (talking to Earl) Did I just get "told"? Did I hear what I think I just heard? (talking to Jon) So are you saying that we shouldn't be able to do things on Sundays that we like to do? We should only be able to do things that we don't want to do?

Jon - Well, you don't let us play video games so you shouldn't be able to go on your email or anything.

Mom - Hummmm ....

I think we are hitting that beloved preteen age.... I think I'm getting paid back for all of the sassy remarks I made to my mom at his age. But I'm smiling :) See :) It's part of finding joy in the journey, right? Gotta love being a parent!

My New BFF!

2010-04-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

I got myself a great big dose of Ree recently....
Ok, more like the past two days on my couch reading and eating up her blog.... oh, I wish I could eat her blog! It would taste so good!
I decided that I need to move to a house on her ranch out in the middle of nowhere and have mid afternoon "sweets" swaps and let our crazy chitlins roam the wide open spaces together. It sounds like a midwest dream (have I ever dreamed of moving to the midwest? I can't say I have until I started reading her blog.). But she got me thinking....

Uh Oh! No, no thinking in my house! I'll have none of that!

What is wrong with blogging about whatever the heck you want to blog about? I don't do a lot of blog searching, web searching, internet stuff ... it's just not me. I've got my regular thing I do on the computer, and that's about it. My theory is computers eat all of our time, and I just don't have enough time to sit on the computer all day, musing about anything and everything that comes to my frazzled mind. But reading her blog was like therapy for me, except I didn't have to pay someone I didn't know a butt load of money to give me advice on life, love, lessons I need to learn, yada yada yada... I just get to read FOR FREE all of the simple lessons she has learned, things she has cooked and wants to share, pictures of her family or kids that help her remember the simple joys she has in her every day life. She is so honest, so "herself" that I know we would be BFF's. I have a handful of wonderful friends in my life that I love dearly and can sit around and shoot the breeze about anything and everything, and I would LOVE to do that with Miss Ree one day. I'll put it on my bucket list.... but that will be another post!

In the mean time.... I'll start adding a post here or there about anything and everything..... a little somethin' somethin', and a whole lot of nuttin'! Anyone wanna join me? Feel free....

Because that's what blogging is for, right?

Joshua's Baptism Day

2010-04-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

We had a great day on Saturday! Joshua was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was so excited and proud to become an official baptized member of the church. The spirit in the meeting was so strong as we watched Earl baptize our second son.

My parents and Earl's dad traveled from Clovis and Fresno to be here for the special event. My dad gave the talk on baptism and he did an awesome job! He asked Joshua to help him share with everyone what steps we need to take to return to live with our Heavenly Father, one being baptism. I think Joshua will always remember the steps he needs to take because he was taught by his grandpa on this special day.

Joshua already has such a strong testimony of the gospel and a firm desire to obey all of our Father in Heaven's commandments. We are so proud of him for following the example of our Savior and being baptized. We love you Joshua!

Almost Easter

2010-04-01T15:06:00.001-07:00

I could not for the life of me get all 4 of them in one picture together on Sunday! And they all looked so cute and handsome! Just had to share!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

2010-04-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

We LOVE baseball season!!!
Jonathan and Joshua are both in little league this year and that means double the practices, double the games, and double the FUN! Just a few pics... we haven't taken very many...

Joshua is on the A's and plays catcher and other infield positions. He's turning out to be a great baseball player! He caught a pop up in the infield just the other night... way to go!

Joshua at bat!

On 3rd base! Say cheese!
I'm so glad he's having a great season so far! He's got great coaches and is learning so much about the game.

Here is Jonathan in the dugout during his first game. Unfortunately this was the only picture we have so far... more games to come! He is on the Padres this season, has wonderful coaches as well, and is really improving from last year! He's a bit more timid... not an aggressive athlete at all! He really loves baseball and I'm so glad he decided to play this season! More to come...

Birthdays And More Birthdays...

2010-04-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

March is a BUSY month for birthdays in our family! Joshua turned 8 and had his first sleepover party (ya, mom and dad had to really set some hard rules!). The kids had fun (I think!) and played video games and watched movies until I made them go to sleep.... around 1:30 am.... I don't remember! He will be baptized in our church on April 10th. We are so proud of him! He's growing up so fast!

Joshua loved his ice cream birthday cake (a tradition in our family).

Joshua and his friends: Joshua G., Jordan, Jeffrey, and brother Jonathan.
The "J" boys!

Our pretty princess girl Jillian celebrated her 2nd birthday just 5 days later. She started her day with her favorite breakfast of waffles (she says "wa wuls") and we added some strawberries and whipped cream (her FAVORITE! Bring on the whipped cream!)

... had her own ice cream birthday cake later that night...

... and got little dolls and furniture for the dollhouse she was given (thanks Melissa B.!).
I'm not sure who was more excited about the dollhouse stuff... Jillian or her brothers! They had a lot of fun playing with it together!

Two years has gone by so quickly... I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast. Makes me a little sad, but I look forward to the upcoming years... Barbie's, dress ups, nail painting parties... I'm so glad I have a little girl!

Blue and Gold Dinner

2010-02-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

We had the Blue and Gold dinner for the cub scouts and their families last night. Our ward pack has combined with two other ward packs now which is nice because we all had so few cub scouts. But together we have a really nice group of kids (and a very big, crazy dinner because of that!)

Jonathan's cake contest entry (with some help from mom!)
The theme for the contest was the commemoration of the 100th year of scouting. He won the "best planned" award for his cake! I think I was the only mom there that didn't have to cut his cake for the kids at dessert time! Sweet! So easy when you have mini cupcakes!

He received his Webelos badge, religious knot, fitness award, and handyman award.
We are so proud of our cub scouter!!! His goal is to get his Arrow of Light by the end of May. I know he can do it!

The had pinatas for the game of the evening (and it was out of control!)
Jonathan was one of the last few that had their turn at bat... one swing later...

PURE CHAOS! Notice James (brown pants and shirt) dog-piling on top of the kids to get the candy. What my kids will do for some sweets! It's obvious that their mother doesn't give them candy very often :)

Rattie Nattie

2010-02-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

Daddy gave Jilly a new nickname recently. She woke up one morning looking like she worked all night on her hairdo. Too cute!

"Stop! Don't take my picture! I'm not beautiful yet!"

The "I'm-Not-Quite-Awake" look.

Wow! She cleans up real nice, doesn't she?! What a pretty girl!

Wake Up!!! It's Christmas Morning!

2010-01-14T16:24:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas morning! It's so much fun when your kids are bouncing you out of your bed because they are so excited! They can see all of the gifts under the tree on their way to our bedroom, but we FORBID them from going downstairs until we brush our teeth and look marginally presentable. We didn't take a lot of pictures this year, but here are a few of my favorites...

Josh decided the night before that someone should play "Santa" and hand out the gifts to everyone one by one. Ya, that lasted for about 1 present per person, then it was fair game for all! No one paid any attention. But Santa gave the kids lots of fun gifts this year. Some of our favorites are...

Jonathan was so happy to get the new GI Joe DS game! Yes, it was on his list to Santa and Santa actually gave him something that was on his list.... I love 10 year olds! (hint of sarcasm)

Jilly got all of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters and a few of the stuffed animals that she didn't have as well. She is so in love with all of the "Mickey" friends!

Jon and Josh got ipods... Wow! Santa is nice!

Jilly watching her new "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas" movie. The love of her life!

Jimmy got a new bike!!! He was so excited! No hand-me-down for him! Santa got him a Lightening McQueen bike with training wheels and he LOVES it! He wants to go out every day and have me watch him ride his bike. Notice how he is wearing his Lightening McQueen clog shoes (yes, they are the same ones he's been wearing for about a year and a half!).
Thanks Santa for all the nice gifts!

Josh's Winter Program

2010-01-14T16:08:00.000-08:00

I feel obligated to post this since I love my son dearly, but to be honest, I have no idea what the point of his class Winter Program was all about. It was based on the book "Snowmen at Christmas" and they had different classes act out different parts of the story. But watching K-2nd graders can be so "painful" at times and I didn't really get what was going on! And I was trying to take pictures and watch Jimmy and Jillian at the same time, which is almost impossible! Of course they were all cute and sang a few songs. I was so proud that he did all of the movements for the songs and even smiled! There was one little boy that screamed the last song that they sang. There were so many of us in the audience that were laughing so hard we were crying. I love these performances solely for the fact that they give the kids an opportunity to perform, and that's a huge self esteem boost that all kids need! Josh was great!

New Primary Song

2009-12-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

Here is the new Primary song for 2010 that is not in the Children's Songbook. This is a great side show... take a peek!

Jonathan's 1st Piano Recital

2009-12-13T17:43:00.001-08:00

Jonathan had his first piano recital after 2 1/2 years of lessons this past Friday night. He was fantastic! He played 3 pieces: the first was Wake Up Call, next was Keep the Commandments, and the final piece was Jingle Bells. He played perfectly and we were so proud of him and all of the effort he put in to practice for his performance.

Jonathan with his teacher Lorie Martin and Trevor Martin. Jonathan and Trevor take lessons together every week and have been friends since he was 2 years old. Thanks Lorie for having the recital and being such a great teacher!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-13T17:08:00.001-08:00

We were SUPPOSED to go as a family to hunt for a Christmas tree this year, but Jillian came down with a fever and she and I stayed home while the boys all went on the annual hunt again. Earl is such a sport! I don't think they were expecting to see so much snow! Of course, we don't own snow clothes (why would we???) and the boys thankfully had their heavy coats. I think the boys had more fun playing with the Knudson family in the snow than looking for a tree (except Jimmy who was miserable the whole time!). But they didn't let their mommy down and found a beautiful tree to bring home.

They had to drag the tree back to our truck! Thank goodness the Knudson's truck is a 4 wheel drive. Can you tell how relieved Earl is that the adventure is almost over?!?

Earl stopped on the drive back for a Kodak moment. Handsome boys!

Yes, it is beautiful! Jillian kindly redecorates it every day for us too!

Thanksgiving Adventures!

2009-12-13T16:26:00.000-08:00

We started our Thanksgiving day with a BANG! Our power was knocked out for blocks because someone hit a power pole with their car. Thankfully we woke up in time to head out at 6:45 for the RUN TO FEED THE HUNGRY. Earl has participated for several years now and Jonathan and I joined him this year. We ran the 5k together (well, I dragged Jonathan for about 2 miles of the run) and Earl ran the 10k... his personal best time for a 10k at less than 51 min. We had a great time running with the thousands that participated. When we got home, we found our power still hadn't come back on, but we continued to get ready to head down to Fresno to visit our families for the holiday. About 2 pm, we still had no power, and were getting ready to cancel our trip (we didn't want to leave a freezer full of food and no power!) and Jonathan came to me and said he prayed and asked Heavenly Father to make the power come back on because he really wanted to go see his grandparents and cousins. I told him that sometimes Heavenly Father has other plans for us (hoping he wouldn't get his hopes up) and just minutes later, the power came on! My lesson in faith came from my 10 year old, and I am truly thankful for him and his faith!

We had a great time visiting family, shopping and just hanging out! Thanks for Aimee the family for having us and to Grandpa Earl and Dad for making great turkey dinners while we were there!

Ghosts and Goblins

2009-12-13T16:06:00.000-08:00

I'm a little slow with my posts lately, so I'll do a few to catch up... Halloween has come and gone, and we STILL have candy leftover from the many parties and doors we knocked.

Jillian caught on really quick how the whole thing works... go up to a stranger's house, get candy, eat candy. It was great... for her! Of course, for days after, she carried around her pumpkin and I finally had to take all of the candy away. She was the cutest princess you ever saw! Who wouldn't want to give this precious little girl some candy!

Jimmy decided to wear his Buzz costume again this year (YAH! One less costume to buy or put together!). He loved it for a while, but after a few blocks of knocking doors, had to practically be carried home. The costume was wearing him down!

Here is the whole crew together. Josh was a ninja again this year (Cha Ching! Saved on yet another costume!) and Jonathan wanted to be a Grim Reaper (his version... not sure how much of a costume it was, but it worked for him!). Sadly this was the best picture I could get of all of them, but after the annual picture it was all smiles while we ran from door to door with our neighborhood friends.

What Did You Think???

2009-11-21T22:29:00.000-08:00

Did you see the movie yet? What did you think??? Can you guess what team I'm voting for??? HEHEHE

My review: Much better than the first Twilight movie by far! Better special affects! And the muscles.... WOW! If I was 17 again, I would love to meet this guy! Earl thought it was slow and didn't have enough action (not surprising... he REALLY didn't like the first movie). I thought they didn't spend enough time in the film on the part of the book that takes place in Italy. But who are we to judge??? Just another "cult" member in the audience, drooling over the young boy muscles, and cracking jokes about everyone else on the side (I'm sure we didn't make any friends with the people around us :P). My cousin Louis calls us all "Twilitards"... yep, I own it. You can tease me all you want! I love the series of books! The movies... I'm ok with so far.

The Amazing Race

2009-11-17T21:53:00.000-08:00

THAT'S MY MAN! I'm so darn proud of him! Earl set a goal to run a half marathon race on Nov. 14th and DID IT! He amazes me all the time! He is a wonderful example to me of setting a goal, working hard toward it, and achieving it! I am so grateful for him.

So happy to finish!

The award winning runners! Courtney (ran the marathon and qualified for Boston!), Ron, Earl, and Cameron! You men are awesome!

Another year... another visit to Bishop's Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a tradition for many years (since we moved to the Sac area about 8 years ago!) to go Bishop's Pumpkin Patch. It wouldn't be fall if we didn't go... it's so much FUN! Every year we go, every year we take the same pictures. Here is a little from this year!

"Would you take the dang picture mom! It's too sunny!"

The kids love the hay jump!

Josh had too close of an encounter with a pillow a few days before and lost 2 teeth! He's officially toothless!

Never too old for the rocking horses!

Crazy climbing kids!

We ♥ Coyote Mountain!

Jill kindly jumped in a mud puddle while we were there! It wouldn't be a visit to the pumpkin patch if someone didn't end up with mud all over them!

Sweet Jillian

Adorable Jimmy (my little model boy!)

Jon's growing up too fast!

Josh ... he actually smiled for the pictures!

I love taking them to the pumpkin patch! It's one of my favorite things to do with them every year! Can't wait for next year!

A Date in San Fran!

2009-10-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

Earl and I had a great day in San Francisco today! We saw the show "Wicked" with our good friends Ron, Rhonda, Tina, James, Rebecca and Cameron. We had a great time! We got babysitters for the kids and headed out late in the morning, drove to San Fran, saw the show, drove to Vallejo for dinner, and drove home. Our bums are a little sore from so much sitting today, but it was oh, so worth it! What a fabulous show! I want to go again!!!

I'm not going to say anything about the storyline of the show except it's about the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz. That's all you need to know! It was fabulous... from the singing, to the actors (Patty Duke was in it!!!), to the costumes, to the storyline... and the one liners were great! My favorite one was "I'm generously selfish and deeply... shallow." Guess you had to be there and see it to appreciate it :) It was wonderful and I'm so glad we were able to go.

A Day in the Bay

2009-08-31T13:15:00.001-07:00

Some friends of our's, the Graff family, were going to be in Martinez on Saturday and asked if we would come and visit them (they live in Arizona now and we haven't seen them since they moved), so we made a day of it with the family. We had lunch with the Graff's in Martinez, then headed over to Oakland and spent some time at the Oakland Temple.

We went to the visitor's center, saw some beautiful artiwork by Arthur Frieburg, the many many different volumes of the Book of Mormon in languages that I've never even heard of, the Christus statue, and then went for a walk on the roof of the temple and saw the beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay. It was a blazing hot day... you would think it was cooler in the bay area, but not on Saturday!

Then we took a little drive over to the North Bay area to Stinson Beach. We aren't sure we can endure the drive again... Highway 1 is soooooo twisty and curvey! We all got a little sick to our stomachs. But the beach was wonderful and so much fun for everyone! Too bad we couldn't spend more time there. We needed a few more hours!

It was a lot of hours in the car but worth it! We had a good time together!
We need more day trips....

Summer Update

2009-08-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

I've been a HORRIBLE blogger lately! It's more of a way for me to journal our family's "happenings", but I just haven't made it a priority this summer. So here is a recap of our summer "fun times"...

• Earl and I went to Spain! I know, I already blogged about that! But it was definitely MY favorite part of the summer!

• Earl was called as the new Bishop of our ward. We found out the day before we left for Spain, so needless to say, we had a lot on our minds the whole time we were there. It was great, though, because we knew we needed to "soak up" as much rest and relaxation as we could before REAL life hit us back at home. He is slowly but surely getting used to this new position and all of the many responsibilities that go along with it. He's not home very much anymore :( but we are so grateful for his dedication to his calling and the example he is to our family. We ♥ our Bishop!

• I took the boys to Fresno for a week in July. We stayed at my sister Aimee's house for most of the week and the kids LOVED being able to spend time with their cousins 24/7! It was fun for me too... I can't remember the last time I stayed up late at night chatting with my sister. She's wonderful and I wish we lived closer to all of them! We went to Wild Water Adventures, The Fresno Met Museum, swimming every day, and much more. It was nice to be able to spend time with some of our family there.

Fresno Met Museum... Bob the Builder Day!

Bath time after swimming with pretty cousin Maycee!

Making gumdrop castles with the cousins

• We took a little weekend trip to the bay area and went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, stayed in a HOTEL (the kids LOVE sleeping at a hotel!), then spent the next day roaming the streets of San Francisco with our good friends the Gomez family. Walked Pier 39, ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, walked along Baker Beach, got lost in the Presidio for a little while, then drove home late at night. It was a fun, fast get away for the weekend.

• I took the kids for a little day excursion with our friends the Knudson family to Bridgeport - a nice area along the river about 45 min. northeast of Marysville. The kids loved swimming, playing in the sand, jumping off the huge rocks into the river. It was such a great day full of friends, sun, relaxing in the water, and fun! We can't wait to go again... hopefully soon!

• School has officially started as of Monday this week. That's why I am blogging... I actually have a little bit of peace and quiet before they come home from school! Jonathan is in the 5th grade and has the same teacher he had last year, Miss Irvine (he loves her! She is great!). Joshua is in the 2nd grade and has Mrs. Faringer (he really wanted her for his teacher too! He looks so excited to start school, too. Doesn't he?!). We are all so glad to be back into the routine of school and looking forward to another great school year!

James HAS to be in the first day of school picture. He's sad that he doesn't start preschool until September :(

SPAIN!!!

2009-06-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

Earl and I spent 12 wonderful days in Spain! It was such a great experience to go to Europe for the first time (for me!) and for Earl to go back to his old missionary stomping grounds. It may take a few minutes, but here are some of my favorites:

Layover in Atlanta (Ann & Clay Gillming, Mike Richins)

Past border control in Madrid... We made it!

After being up and traveling for about 20 hours, we finally made it to Madrid. Quick stop at the hotel and then we were off on a walking tour. We took a gondola ride across part of the city ... such a beautiful view!

Palacio Real from the gondola...over 2800 rooms inside! We went on the tour in our free time that afternoon and it is so beautiful! Funny thing... the royal family doesn't live there anymore. They have a different palace about 30 min. away.

Egyptian temple in Madrid ...

Statue of Don Quixote outside the Palacio Real - whoever took the picture cut his head off. Oh well!

Inside the Plaza Mayor... I was so excited to see this. I've seen this so many times in movies and on TV... I WAS THERE!

One of the many crazy people that dress up in the Plaza Mayor.

Beautiful Madrid... fountains and plazas everywhere!

View of Toledo in the background

Yuba City group... we were combined with a group from Arbuckle and another group from Ohio (about 30 people total).

Famous Spanish dish Paella flavored with Saffron and has lots of shell fish and shrimp and vegitables. Yum... you know how much I love fish (insert sarcasm!). But I ate it, and even pealed and deveined my own shrimp! :)

Cathedral in Toledo.. took 300 years to build!

Bridge over Rio Tajo in Toledo.

Sword and jewelry factory in Toledo. Had a demonstration on how to make swords and jewelry. We bought a cool sword and hunting knife in a sheeth and also some handcrafted jewelry.

Spent the evening as dinner guests of an old coworker of Earl's from Arthur Andersen, Christina and her husband Pablo. They served us a very nice 3 course meal and we chatted till the wee hours of the morning! They traditionaly eat dinner about 10 pm or so in Spain.... very different from here in States!

Monastery in El Escorial (about 1 hour from Madrid). Although we were unable to take pictures inside, here are a few of the outside. Built in the 1500's in only 27 years, it was a religious retreat for many royal families. It is an active Monastery and school now.

Inside are the crypts of famous kings and queens of Spain (Felipe II and his wives, their children that had died, Don Juan and many more famous Spaniards). They were amazing! Elaborate gold and marble rooms with coffins embedded in the walls.

The Valley of the Fallen - monument and tribute to the fallen soldiers of the Spanish Civil War built in 1941-1959. A beautiful Church was built inside the mountain and the bodies of fallen soldiers, who were Catholic, are buried inside the walls. Also buried inside was the dictator Franco. It was amazing, but again, no pictures allowed inside. The cross on top of the mountain is 35 stories tall and is an amazing site from miles away!

The Roman Aquaduct in Segovia, Spain. What a site!

Yuba City group again. Segovia is a very picturesque town... and very hot that day!

Patronato del Alcazar de Segovia... a real castle!

Jousting armor inside the castle.

Gardens of the castle.

View from the top of the tower of the castle. It was the steepest, narrowest winding staircase to get to the top... major workout for my thighs!

Kimmey, Ann and Me!
No DIET Coke... only Coca Cola Light!

Bridge and river in Cordoba. The water looked so muddy!

Mosque and Cathedral in Cordoba. Orginally built as a mosque by the Arabs, but when the Christians conquered the Arabs they turned the mosque into a cathedral.

Candy cane arches of the mosque portion of the church. It is huge inside!

High alter of the cathedral.

Choir loft of the cathedral. Very beautiful and intricately carved woodwork! And the ceilings... amazing!

A view of the bell tower on the cathedral.... so typical of the streets of Spain!

Seville, Spain
Torre del Oro...the place where Christopher Columbus and explorers had to pay taxes on their bounty.

Ann and I patiently waiting for Earl and Clay to finish playing with their cameras on the river banks in Seville. It was about 12 am and we really wanted to go eat Churros con Chocolate and frozen lemonade! YUMMY!!!

Feeding the doves outside the Plaza de Espana in Seville. They were pecking in my hand!

I love this picture!

Plaza de Espana - built for the 1929 World Exposition. Also in a more recent Star Wars movie.

Each province of Spain represented at the Plaza de Espana - this is the one for Barcelona. Beautiful painted tile work!

Seville Cathedral
So many of these cathedrals are built in the middle of the towns and it is very hard to get a picture of the whole thing. This was my favorite out of all of the cathedrals we toured!

High Alter - all gold!

Tomb of Christopher Columbus - parts of him are buried in 5 different locations! Everybody wants a piece of him!

Top of the bell tower in the cathedral. You had to walk up 35 winding ramps to get to the top! They built the ramps so horses could carry the men to the top to ring the bells... smart! Walking was not fun! Especially in the 108 degree heat! But the view of Seville and the rest of the cathedral was wonderful, so it was worth it! Earl has a picture a lot like this in his missionary scrapbook.

Went to a flamenco dancing show... very fun!

The temple in Alhambra, Granada.
I didn't learn as much about this temple in our tour because 1) it was so flippin' hot! and I couldn't concentrate and 2) our tour guide had the weirdest accent... too hard to understand sometimes. I did learn that it only took 13 years? to build this gigantic temple and it felt like it went on forever! It was huge! The grounds were so beautifully landscaped!

Awww... such a cute couple! View of Alhambra in the background.

Our tour guide explained to us that the Spanish women, many years ago, used to talk to their men with their fan covering their face like this. They would say (and I quote the tour guide) "I love you. I hate you. You were too quick." HAHAHAHA! I'm still laughing about this ...

Gibraltar, England! Yes, we went to England!
The rock of Gibraltar is located at the most southern tip of Spain and is owned by England, hence you have to pass through boarder control and then cross an airplane strip (we were stopped because airplanes were landing and taking off at this time) to get to the city on the rock. About 30,000 people live there.

At this point on the rock you can barely see the coast of Africa and it is also where the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. A very significant point of geography! I was loving it! I have a phetish for maps! Also significant because many countries and groups of people throughout history have fought for control of "The Rock".

Wild monkeys live on the top of the rock and are protected and fed by the government there. Earl got this cool picture of some monkeys fighting!

Saint Michael's Cave inside the rock. We hired a tour guide with a van and he took us to 6 major points of interest on the rock! This was by far my favorite! It was so amazing inside! Hard to take pictures because of the lighting.

Yep, that's me standing next to a monkey!

Playing at the beach outside our hotel on the Mediterranean.

Earl was the photographer most of the trip and was playing around during our visit to Mijas.

View of Mijas Pueblo.

Barcelona, Spain
We took a train and traveled overnight to Barcelona - the last stop on our trip. What a cool train... no pictures (we took video) but it was 1st class! This picture is at the Park Guell designed by Antonio Gaudi - a very famous architect who designed many buildings in Barcelona.

Only 11 of us (all from Yuba City) decided to extend our stay in Spain and go to Barcelona. Our courier and tour guide, Thomas, is in the middle in the black shirt. He went above and beyond what he was employed to do to help us all enjoy our vacation... planned side trips for us, helped us figure out what to do in our spare time. He became a great friend by the end of the trip and we were so grateful to have him with us!

The Sagrada Familia Temple - a cathedral designed by Antonio Gaudi. Work began in the 1880's and is still going on today... at a cost of about 20 million per year! Earl calls it the "melting" cathedral because of the facade. It was so amazing! And so TALL!

A side portion of the cathedral that is being built.

La Pedrera - also designed by Gaudi.

Battlo House - designed by Gaudi (kind of looks like a dragon)

Our last night in Barcelona - we went to a great fountain show!

View from the fountain show and all of the fountains that lined the streets.

This was the most memorable vacation Earl and I have been on so far. And to think I had to choose from the 1100+ pictures we took to share with all of you! We had the time of our lives together! Spain is a gorgeous country, rich in history. I hope some day to go back and explore more of the country! 12 days was not enough!

Fun Family Weekend

2009-05-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

We had a great time spending the day together on the 15th. Earl ran in a 10k in Folsom with some friends early in the morning (Ron, Earl, Cameron (aka Bishop), & Rebecca). The kids and I met him there... it was already so hot, and the course was really hilly, but they all did a great job! Way to go Earl!

No, the kids didn't sprout feathers overnight... these are the wild turkeys that like to run around outside Earl's office. We stopped there after the race and the kids had a great time chasing them down to get a few pictures.

After lunch we went to Earl's friend and coworker, Brenda's house in Lincoln. She breeds and raising racing horses and has almost 20 right now. We learned so much about them, the care she gives them, their names (didn't know horses could have so many names!)... they are amazing animals. And they all have such distinct personalities. Here is Jill meeting one of the horses. She got a little spooked when the horse started sniffing her and checking her out. It was fun! The only problem was Jonathan... the poor guy couldn't stop rubbing his eyes. He was miserable... don't know if it was the horses, the hay on the farm. He was glad to leave!

The rest of us had a great time. Thanks to Brenda for letting us come! We had a great time!

Happy Birthday Jimmy!!!

2009-05-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

Jimmy turned 4 on May 11th! Every day he asks me if he is still 4... it's so cute! We went to McDonald's with a few friends for lunch... his favorite lunch hangout!

Jillian sharing french fries with her buddy Malia

Love this picture!

Then we had some more friends over that night for ice cream cake and presents.

Jimmy has been fighting his brother Josh for months now over riding his scooter. We figured he would love one of his own for his birthday... and boy were we right! He loves his new scooter and helmet!

Happy brothers now!

We love our sweet Jimmy! He is adorable and funny and I love his big eyes and quirky smile! It's hard to believe that he's 4 already! Happy Birthday big boy!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-26T22:13:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day was the BEST! I was given the most beautiful homemade cards, love coupons, and gifts from my boys. My sweet honey bought me beautiful roses. He also made sure I didn't have to cook or clean during the day... I loved the breakfast burritos and bbq hamburgers for dinner. I requested all of it and the food was great! Thanks honey!

I'm so blessed to be a mom and have the most wonderful children! They are all so unique, so sweet, so beautiful in every way! I'm also so blessed to have a wonderful husband who helps me more than he can ever know! I don't tell him enough just how much I love and appreciate him.

Time to blog again...

2009-05-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've been spending so much time working on getting pictures off of my computer and onto a portable HD and DVDs. I'll just do a quick update and try to do better this month!

We went to a cool bbq and easter party the Saturday before Easter. There were about 12 kids there and our gracious hostess, Sarah P. (with the help of some friends), filled 475 plastic eggs for an extreme egg hunt. I've NEVER in my life seen so many eggs! The kid's baskets were FULL of candy when we left ... oh, and I forgot to mention there was a pinata too! She is the ultimate party thrower!

Jonathan fishing for eggs on the covered pool!

Say "cheese" Josh!

All the kids got a money egg... James was thrilled! What a sweetie!

Jillian crawling around with a carrot in her mouth the whole time.

Easter morning we had our own little easter egg hunt and French Toast with strawberries and whipped cream. We've discovered that Jill loves to have the whipped cream sprayed onto her finger or in her mouth! Hahahaha

The following weekend we went to an air show at Beale Air Force Base with our friends Ron and Rhonda. It was BLAZIN' hot that day, but we had the best time looking at all of the different planes, helicopters, aircraft carriers and much more! And the air show was crazy! I've never seen planes do stunts like these planes... going straight up into the air, flipping and flopping... makes me nauseous just thinking about it! Here is Earl and Jimmy in the cockpit of a fighter jet!

This is my pretty princess wave as we were going up the ramp into the aircraft carrier.

This is all of us minus Earl who took the picture under the belly of a B-52. You can't believe that a plane this big can even get up in the air... the wings are longer than school busses! Ron (upper right) used to be the mechanic for a B-52 bad boy in the air force. He was in heaven! It was fun to spend the day with Ron and Rhonda!

Oh, and Jonathan's baseball team finally won a game a few weeks ago! At least they won ONE game this season! He's hangin' in there... but is really afraid of batting right now! He's been hit a few times at bat :( Poor guy!

Our New American Idol

2009-04-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

He's trying out in about 13 years for the 21st season of American Idol... does he get your vote? He might not be David Cook, but he's a close 2nd to me!

Baseball Season

2009-04-17T23:39:00.000-07:00

Jonathan wanted to play baseball this spring, so I took the plunge and signed him up a few months ago. Of course, as I was finishing the paperwork, he got his first bloody nose playing catch with a friend. Needless to say, that's just the beginning... but Earl and I both warned him that "everyone gets hurt in baseball at some point". It's a fact! I'm sure if you are reading this and used to play yourself, you are nodding your head right now :)

We've had a few "bruisers" already, but overall, our young man is doing exceptionally well for his first season EVER! He's a little old to have never played, and thankfully there is one other boy on his team that is also new to the sport. He learns something new every game, every practice, and it's great. It's a big commitment for him and our family (2 nights a week practice, one week night game, one Saturday game... EVERY WEEK! 18 games total!), but it's been so fun to watch (and sooooo hard at the same time!).
2 stories:

1) Jonathan was walked, got to first, STOLE second (way to go!!!), base hit... ran to third. Looked at his coach and said, "This is the first time I have ever been on third base. (Pause)... this is the first time I have EVER been on base!" So cute! So innocent!

2) Jonathan goes up to bat... probably the 3rd time he had ever been up to bat. Goes and stands in the "box"... wrong box... home plate was behind him! Oops! The Ump helped him move to the correct position. It was so funny (and hard to watch... I was yelling at him!)

OK, it's just not funny anymore!

2009-04-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

My wonderful son Joshua sleepwalks occasionally. Actually, more like every other night lately. It's always about 10:30 or so at night, he "wakes" up (he's asleep with his eyes open), tromps around the house like he's mad or upset or crying about something, we have him go to the bathroom (and sometimes have to pull his pants down for him!), and direct him back to his bed where he immediately falls back to sleep (except one time when he kept sitting up and laying back down while saying some sort of nonsense about how he just couldn't do it? I don't understand!). Now, many of you (family mostly) know that I used to sleep walk when I was his age too. Yes, I did some pretty crazy things (set the table in the middle of the night, tried to pee in the bath tub) and I'm sure some of you will add more in my comments. You won't embarrass me... I was little. But Joshua pulled a stunt tonight that he better not EVER pull again!!! I'm downstairs checking on blogs (about 10:30 again), hear a door open, hear another door open, hear Jillian start crying, then crying louder. I go upstairs and find Joshua giving Jillian to Earl in our bedroom!?! What the...?!! I don't get it? She was sound asleep! I totally yelled at Josh "What the heck are you doing?" He said "She was crying so I got her." I could tell he was totally asleep! He has no idea what he just did! Tomorrow we are putting extra locks on 1. the front door and 2. Jillian's room. I never thought I would have to lock my boys out of their sister's room for this reason! What a nut! Boy are we going to be laughing in the morning!

Jillian's 1st Birthday

2009-03-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by...
My baby is 1 year old! We celebrated her special day with another of mom's famous ice cream cakes. We put a Mickey Mouse toy on top as part of the decoration... she is infatuated with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse right now!

This is Jillian checking out her treat!

Hmmm... Maybe I'll give it a try...

Yummmmoooo!

She just stuck her whole mouth in the ice cream... it's faster that way!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the past year..

Jillian Leigh Keith
March 19, 2008
8 lbs. 12 oz.

A few days at Sutter Roseville Hospital with RSV - May 2008

Jillian the Princess for Halloween

We love our Jilly Bean! She is a joy to have in our family!
Happy Birthday Jillian!

Joshua's 7th Birthday

2009-03-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

Joshua's party was a blast! He invited a few friends for a "tech deck" skater birthday bash and had a blast. All of the kids are decorating their party favor bags. From left to right: Adam, Jonathan, Tyler, Jeffrey, Josh, Jimmy, Mitchell

Josh goofing around with his buddies while eating pizza!

Tyler's pile of pepperoni's... who doesn't like pepperoni? I don't get it!

Josh won the Balloon Stomp game!

We had a Tony Hawk pinata... Jonathan was the one to smack his head off.
(ok, we couldn't find a skateboard pinata...we opted for the one that looked like Tony Hawk!)

Get that candy!

Skater ice cream birthday cake. I made the half pipe with fruit roll ups and wafer cookies. Topped it off with a Tech Deck skateboard and lego guy and waa laa! One cool cake!

Joshua blowing out the candles. He had no idea what kind of cake I made and loved it!

Loved all of his presents! Lots of Bakugans, Tech Decks and a little $$$. Grandma got him this Bakugan case... he loved everything!

I'm sure he's counting down the days to his next birthday...

Behind on my blogs...

2009-03-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

I've gotten behind on my blogging, but here are some photos that my friend Melissa took of Jillian today. She turned 1 year old today! I have more to write, but for now, enjoy!
I posted more on my facebook page (for those of you who are FB fans!)

Pay It Forward

2009-03-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

I copied this from my sister Maree's blog... it should be fun!

Pay it FORWARD--How it works:

The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive at some point during this year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive will be a total surprise--to both of us.

The CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO! Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions). Then come back and let me know that you are going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift. It's THAT easy!

Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify. Good luck!

Say Cheese :)

2009-02-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

Is this the CUTEST face or what?! Kind of creepy looking teeth, but so sweet! We love to see Jillian smile!

Another tag...

2009-02-17T14:22:00.001-08:00

I wasn't actually tagged in my friend Emily's blog, but I thought this would be fun...

1. Go to my documents/pictures.
2. Go to my 6th file folder.
3. Go to my 6th picture.
4. Blog about it.
5. Tag 6 people to do the same.

This is a picture of Jonathan in front of a huge lego astronaut man that was in the cafeteria at the NASA Space Center in Houston Texas. It was a trip we took back in 2003 when my brother Rob was released from his missionary service and we went with my parents to "bring him home". It was such a fun trip! We had a great time at the Space Center and since I haven't scrapbooked anything from the trip, I don't remember everything we did! Bummer! But I do remember going on a tram tour and seeing a replicas of very old computers that were used back in the day of the first space crafts. Very interesting! Technology has come a long way!

So I tag:
Maree
Aimee
Dad
Jenny
Rebecca
Melissa

February Happenings...

2009-02-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

I can't keep up with the blogging lately... too busy, too little time!
Here is the latest:

Earl and his friend Jeff

Earl went to the Amgen Tour of California in Sacramento on Saturday. Spent the WHOLE day looking at the cyclists and was in utter AWE of their speed, bikes, etc. He took over 500 pictures! Why, you ask? I don't know... I don't get it... but here are a few of my favorites.

McDreamy was there... AND I WASN'T!!! I was pretty bummed about that one to say the least! If you don't know who he is, GET WITH THE PROGRAM PEOPLE!!!

Lance Armstrong was there! Earl was thrilled to be able to see him ride in person. He is very proud of his pictures since Lance was riding at probably 30 miles per hour.

Lance Armstrong's bike! No, Earl wasn't the one who stole it... I promise!!! But here is a great picture of it before it was stolen! Cool!

It was a great day for him to be able to enjoy with some friends, watch the tour, and practice taking pictures :)

Friday the 13th was my birthday. I'm one year older, but I don't know if I'm wiser too! Hehehe! I hope I am! The kids had the day off from school and Jonathan and Joshua slept over at the Knudson's house. My little ones slept in until 10 am!!! This is just unheard of... not normal for my house! I had the whole house to myself all morning... it was so quiet and peaceful! Thanks for that great birthday gift! Earl bought me beautiful flowers. My favorite are dark red roses, and he buys some for me almost every year. He also brought home a wonderful cheesecake which we are still picking at each night. We are savoring every bite! The Gomez family (friends of ours from when we lived in San Jose) came to stay the weekend with us and we had a great time with them from Saturday until Monday. We cook, eat, talk, play, cook, eat, ... you get the picture. We have a great time with them and miss them already! And yes, we made ANOTHER PERFECT flan! We are soooo good!

Laugh of the Day...

2009-01-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

Picture the scene: Joshua is sitting on the toilet (usually does this twice a day about 20 minutes at a time) and the rest of the family is gathered around the kitchen table.

Mom: Josh, get off the toilet! We need to say prayers so dad can go to work... he's going to be late!
Josh: Ok, I'm folding my arms.

Earl and I look at each other and laugh! It was too funny...

Happy Birthday Earl!

2009-01-25T17:55:00.000-08:00

Earl celebrated his ** birthday this past Wednesday. He had to work (of course!) and I asked him what he wanted me to make for dinner. He couldn't come up with any good ideas (I must not be the best cook :) and so I mentioned chinese take out. He had a coworker recommend a place called Lincoln Chinese... WONDERFUL! I'm hooked! Little did he know that he gave me a birthday present by bringing home dinner... I got so much done that night since I didn't have to cook!

Later that night, we were reading scriptures as a family and Jonathan read a scripture in Alma that talked about the resurrection and "every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame."
He looked at Earl and said, "See dad, you'll get all your hair back."

We laughed... oh, I laughed (Earl will laugh some day!). We love our children!

Fun Run Saturday

2009-01-11T21:21:00.000-08:00

Earl decided to do another 10K this past Saturday benefitting ALS. Before the actual run they had a kids fun run. We bundled up and took the whole family! James did the 1/4 mile for ages 0-5 years old (mommy went along for moral support!) and did a great job. He decided to turn around and go back before we hit the halfway mark... oh well! We ALMOST did the whole 1/4 mile! Then Jon and Josh lined up for the 6-12 year old 1/2 mile race. They did awesome! I was so proud of them! It was so chilly and cold but both of them finished and got awards and a free Rivercats lunch bag AND lollipops from Sees candy! I love the looks on their faces after the race was over. Priceless! Unfortunately we didn't stick around to take pictures of Earl doing the 10K race. He did really well coming in at 58 minutes (same time as the 10k on Thanksgiving.... the guy is so consistent! ). It was a great Saturday and we will do it again for the next race!

A Few Good Pics

2009-01-09T14:48:00.001-08:00

What a bunch of crazy kids! Joshua had been begging me to let him take a bath for days (I'm so impatient... I hate how long it takes for them to take baths. I prefer showers!) So I told JOSHUA that HE could take a bath, and this is was the scene I found a few minutes later.

This is my new oven. I didn't want a new oven... I didn't have a choice. It was this or pay lots of $$$ to "maybe" fix the other oven. We opted to buy a new one... we already spent plenty on repairs for the other oven. It's NICE! I didn't want too many perks, but I wouldn't trade them now. I have a convection baking and roasting option (with a built-in probe to put in whole chickens, roasts, casseroles... it's the COOLEST feature!). Also a fifth burner in the middle that is oblong with a grill pan (see picture) that you can use (just replace the grid in the middle... it's amazing. Perfect grilled cheese in minutes.). AND it's a double oven... yes, now I can cook a turkey and the green bean casserole all at the same time!

Jill woke up with really crazy hair one morning. She is crawling on hands and knees now... watch out world. Ummm... I need a gate... soon!

Technology! Almost a drug for these boys! This is a common picture when their mean mom actually lets them play DS for a little while.

Christmas

2008-12-29T21:46:00.001-08:00

Everyone got new jammies... they say "Wii" all over them AND have a pocket on the side (to hold your Wii controller of course!)

James' favorite present! Lucky kid!!!

Joshua's favorite gift!!! He's one happy kid!

It may be small, but this is definitely Jonathan's favorite gift! I love it too! Mom's getting some use out of it as well!

Jilly's gift to mom and dad was sleeping in until 9 am! What a gift! This was her favorite present from Santa... she loves to say cheese!

I got Earl a pair of PJ bottoms for Christmas too! He thinks they are silly but very comfy! I had to get them for him... he's so much fun to watch playing Guitar Hero!

There aren't any pictures of me this Christmas. I was in one picture in the background. How is it that the one who keeps the blog never has a picture of herself? Oh well... maybe next year!

Turkey Tortilla Casserole

2008-12-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

I don't make a lot of casseroles... they take time, and I don't have a lot of it lately. But this is by far one of my husband's favorite and I'm making it for dinner tonight! When we first got married, my husband did a lot of the "my mom used to make..." and that's tough competition when he's talking about my mother-in-law's cooking. She's a great cook - one who can make something great out of just about nothing - and I'm not like her! I'm no master in the kitchen, but over the past 13 years I have made this recipe a few times each year when we have our wonderful leftover turkey. I think I've almost mastered it, as long as I use a lot more fried tortillas than the recipe calls for (Earl doesn't like it too saucy!). Here is the recipe... try it out! Warning!!! Don't make this is you are watching your weight or cholesterol. It's dangerous!

Turkey Tortilla Casserole

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
16 oz. sour cream
1 small can diced green chilies
1 c. milk
1 tbsp. minced dried onions
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
3 c. (or so) chopped leftover turkey (dark and light - chop it up and put in in a zip bag in the freezer after Thanksgiving. You can make the casserole whenever you want!)
15-20 corn tortillas (cut in triangles, fried in oil - don't use store bought chips!)
Jack cheese
Mozzarella cheese
sliced black olives

Soak minced onions and garlic salt in milk. Mix soups, sour cream and chilies. Add milk mixture to soup mixture. Layer in 13x9 greased pan: chips, 1/2 meat, 1/2 soup mixture, cheeses. Repeat layers ending with cheeses. Sprinkle with sliced olives. Cook at 350 until hot and bubbly. Use more thicker chip layer if you don't want a really saucy casserole.

The Best Christmas Ever...

2008-12-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

We had fun at a few Christmas parties last weekend... here are some pics...

Jimmy got a stuffed hippo and gift card from Taco Bell from Santa at the Lillard's Christmas party. He got to see Santa again at our ward Christmas party that night. He said "This is the best Christmas ever!" I love how Christmas is so exciting for him.. 3 is a fun age!

Never too old, right?! Not if it means you get a Cold Stone gift card!

Erika the Elf, Santa and Jillian
(Joshua WOULD NOT sit on Santa's lap... said he wasn't the real Santa anyway!)

Daddy and his girl (she's not a "daddy's girl" yet, but it will happen soon!)

Then Erika "crazy-go-cart-driving-woman" took all 3 boys on a ride. Wow! Don't give that girl a license for a while. She's a manic behind the wheel! Of course, she gets a lot of practice, but it's hard to watch as a parent. Later I found out Jonathan didn't wear his seatbelt! I about died! He got the lecture... from a number of people!

Jimmy's helmet is so big!

We had a blast, the kids were so wiped out by the end of the night (and so were mom and dad!!!)
We love Christmas parties!

Tis' the Season to Remember Our Savior

2008-12-10T22:57:00.000-08:00

I was just made the new Enrichment Leader in our ward and we had our Christmas Social tonight. We called it a "Cozy Christmas" and it turned out really nice. Everyone brought a favorite munchie or appetizer and we had a short lesson about the symbols of Christmas (thanks Shannon for helping us remember the symbols of Christ all around us during this season!). Then a few of us had some craft items available to make very simple ornaments to give to sisters that we visit teach or anyone else. I had a poem matted on some card stock with a simple flat head nail with a red ribbon attached. This was the poem:

A Nail at Christmas

It's Christmas time at our house
and we are putting up the tree.
I wish I could find one simple way
to remember Christ's gift to me.

Some little sign or symbol
to show friends stopping by.
The little baby was born one day,
But He really came to die.

Some symbol of His nail pierced hands,
the blood He shed for you & me...
What if I hung a simple nail
upon my Christmas tree?

A crimson bow tied 'round the nail
as His blood flowed down so free
to save each person from their sin
and redeem us for all eternity.

I know it was His love for us
that held Him to that tree,
but when I see this simple nail
I know He died for me

I love this poem and the simple ornament you can add to your Christmas tree as a reminder of our Savior and his sacrifice for us. Use it in your family home evenings or give it to someone to spread the Christmas Spirit.

With my new calling comes the challenge of organizing our "classes" or activities for the coming year for our Relief Society Enrichment Program. Give me some feedback! All of you "lurkers" who are scoping out my blog and never leave comments, here is your chance! Let me know what your ward has done, is doing, what you would like to see happen in your Enrichment Activities. I could use some ideas and help! Thanks!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-01T16:40:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving celebrations in our home are pretty low key the last few years. Earl took off early with some friends and ran the 10k for Run to Feed the Hungry in Sacramento. He came in just under one hour - Go Earl! You rock! I was making turkey and other traditional side dishes at home (in an oven that had a burned out connection on the sensor - it wasn't sensing the correct temperature inside all the time!) We borrowed an electric roaster oven from a friend (thanks Sorensen family!) and thankfully had a good, finished turkey. I was worried about the turkey turning out in our undependable oven, but I didn't mind cooking the side dishes in it. We had a wonderful late afternoon lunch and then had a few friends over to share pies for dessert that evening. We all sat around, stuffed our faces again with more unhealthy treats, and thumbed through the after Thanksgiving Sale ads.

We made a list of items to shop for at the stores and took off about 4:45 on Friday morning to get some great deals. We hit Sam's Club and Target and said "Enough is enough" and went to breakfast with some friends that were out shopping as well. It was so much fun! This is the second year that we have done this and I'm sure we will do it again next year. We get so much Christmas shopping done this way!

The boys went with Earl on Saturday morning to find a Christmas tree for our home. They had a really good time tromping around the woods and found a really big, beautiful tree for us to decorate. We've got half of the lights on it so far and hope to finish the decorating for family night tonight! The boys get soooooo excited when we get out the Christmas decorations and it's hard to keep things under control. My diningroom looks like a tornado hit it right now :)

I'm making door hangings with the extra boughs from our Christmas tree and have about 5 door hangings that I am going to decorate and let the boys sell for extra Christmas money. How much would you pay for one? Would you pay $15, $20 or more? Let me know...

Quirks? Who me?

2008-11-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

Here are the rules: "MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS"
1. Link to the person who tagged you

2. Mention the rules on your blog

3. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
4. Tag 6 bloggers by linking to them

5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged

Jenny tagged me... thanks a lot!

#1 I can't handle it when the toilet paper is not on the dispenser the CORRECT way! This means that the paper needs to roll over the top of the roll and out towards you, not roll down the wall or cabinet it is attached to. Sounds pretty OCD, doesn't it... but I don't care. If I come to your house and the toilet paper doesn't roll the CORRECT way, I'll probably change it for you. I don't care if you take offense to my correction or not! Go to a hotel, people, and look at the way the paper rolls!!! Take note and fix yours before the paper police get you!

#2 Water... water please... water! I can't survive without my cup of water! I just have to have one close by. I take one everywhere with me... in the car ALWAYS! And if I leave it at home, I feel like I am dehydrated and dying of thirst. It's probably more mental than physical, because I do keep track of how much water I have each day (for the most part!), but it's my thing. Have to have my water!

#3 I love my planner. I was introduced to my passion of planners by my friend Lorie, and it is never far from reach. It's my obsession... if I don't make my notes in it, then I will lose the note I wrote on and the thought is gone forever. But not with my trusty planner. Each year about Sept or Oct I go to Barnes and Noble and buy the latest color. This year is bright green, next year's is a pearl-like light blue. I write anything I need to write down in it... schedules, events, appointments, etc., and sometimes even big "firsts" like when the baby crawls for the first time, or talks or anything fun. I've used it as a journal throughout the year so when Christmas comes, I have a record of what we did during the year (heaven knows I don't remember ANYTHING anymore). So many reasons to have a planner!

#4 I cry WAY TO EASY! Not PMS stuff or if someone teases me, no no no, it's not that. It's the little sentimental things like... taking the kids to Disneyland the first time (and the second time... I get teary on Main Street!), first day of preschool, Kindergarten, etc... listening to a song's lyrics that touch my heart (I'm a bawling baby when I listen to Hilary Weeks "Day of Praise" alone in my car!). The silliest things set me off constantly! I feel like an idiot admitting to some of the things that make my eyes leak (yes, Maree, we have the same defective genes!). It's part of who I am and I'm working on learning to accept and embrace.

#5 I am a control FREAK! It manifests itself in many different ways... the way the dishes are loaded into the dishwasher, the way the bed is made (I'll just re-do everything... I can't let some things just "be"), the way my kids are dressed ... I'll send them back upstairs if they don't match well enough (I'm getting better at letting that go lately), the laundry in general - what is washed on what cycle, temp setting, how it's folded/put away (my boys get so tired of me nagging them about their messy drawers!). So I admit it... It's not something I'm proud of, but I'm hoping that in the not too distant future I can learn to embrace the "Love and Logic" parenting techniques and remember that if it doesn't personally affect me, then it's not worth waisting my energy on, right?!

#6 I used to eat ice cream every night. It was (and still is!) another one of my obsessions. I live for a good bowl of homemade ice cream. I make the best vanilla and chocolate homemade ice cream. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Baskin Robbins Peanut Butter and Chocolate ice cream. I will stop anything for Leatherby's Toasted Almond ice cream with their homemade caramel topping, whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry. I really don't need any toppings though... just the creamy, sweet, silky feeling of ice cream running down my throat is all. But, unfortunately, I've stopped my every night habit over the past year or two. I'm down to maybe once or twice a week. I'm hoping to lose a few more inches and this is a very bad habit! Thanks again to Lorie Martin to introducing me to yet another one of my "quirks". She's responsible for my homemade ice cream recipes - hence the picture above shows part of the recipe (bad bad bad!!!). You know I love you still!

I choose to have another quirk... my love of Diet Pepsi! I'll drink Diet Coke, but prefer Diet Pepsi!

OK, now I know that many of you have already done this, but here goes...
I tag the following:
Dad
Kham
Janice
Jennifer
Aimee
Heidi
Maree

I can't wait to check out your blogs!

Yes on Prop 8!!!

2008-11-03T23:20:00.000-08:00

I was reading my dad's blog tonight and he attached a link location that I am going to attach to my blog as well. It is a demonstration of Yes on Prop 8 supporters in Poway (east of San Diego) where my sister Maree lives. It gave me the chills and had me shedding more than a few tears. I am so grateful to know that there are so many people who were willing to spend the day standing on the street and bringing attention to the vote tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7mZo-I_HTY

I also want to acknowledge the wonderful man in my life... my wonderful husband Earl (of course!).. who spent his Saturday in the pouring rain with about 20 other members of the Marysville Ward rallying for support for Prop 8! You rock Earl! It was raining and windy and cold and they were so awesome to stay their ground. Thanks to all of you for your service! Let's pray that the Yes on 8 vote will be a landslide!

I love that cheesy smile!

Another Tooth Bites the Dust

2008-10-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

Joshua had a horrible time giving in to the visit of the tooth fairy recently. He just wouldn't let us pull his tooth out. Finally Earl noticed that he wasn't brushing his teeth very well at all, so he tackled him, brushed his teeth really well, and brushed that tooth right out of his mouth. Josh was so mad, but got over it as soon as he found his dollar from the tooth fairy. Well, Earl also brushed his other bottom tooth loose, so the whole drama started over again with Joshua not letting us pull his tooth out. By the time Sunday came, his tooth was literally hanging on by a thread! It was just flapping around like crazy in his mouth and making me sick! I couldn't even watch him talk. Well, I told him he couldn't eat lunch until I pulled it out, so he decided he wasn't hungry. Then I told him he could have chocolate ice cream and oreo cookies for lunch if he would let me pull it out. He didn't believe me. I took him downstairs, scooped the ice cream, put the cookies in and said, "do you believe me now?" Well, he STILL DIDN'T BELIEVE ME! So I did what any good mother would do... I tackled him, sat on him, held his arms and Earl pulled it out. This was the result... and absolutely no bleeding. What a wimp! And after all of that, he lost the tooth! I mean, he physically lost the precious tooth that he didn't want to part with. He had to write a letter to the tooth fairy. Good thing she pitied his evil, mean parents and still left him a treat. I didn't know that there could be so much drama surrounding a loose tooth.

It's pretty easy to use a straw now with so many holes in his mouth!

Don't laugh... it's not funny!

Halloween Fun!

2008-10-31T22:13:00.001-07:00

We've been having too much fun the past week with all of the Halloween parties! The boys are all at the age where trick or treating is the one thing that they all look forward to almost as much as Christmas morning. Of course, I had just had enough of children by this afternoon that I stayed home and handed out candy while Earl took the boys trick or treating. That was fine because Jill and I played and talked to all of the kids (and too many adults and teenagers!) who came to the door. Everyone was a sucker for Jillian's tiara... she is so good about leaving it on her head. I call her pretty girl and she just smiles and laughs. She has been practicing her wave and "hi" (sounds like haaaaaaa) to everyone who waved at her. She also said dadadadadada tonight... Earl didn't believe me, but she did! Here are some of the hightlights of our night:

Buzz Lightyear.... to Infinity and Beyond... or just around the block for a little candy!

Somebody got caught with her hand in the candy bowl!

Jillian practicing her new word.... haaaaaa (interpreted "hi")

Ok kids, dump your candy so mom and dad can steal a few pieces... err, check it!
Right?!

Bishop's Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Every year I love to take the kids to Bishop's Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland. We have so much fun there! There are so many things for the kids to do... the list is too long. And the best part is if you go on a week day, it's free to park which makes it even better! We didn't have a lot of time this year to explore and play, so we hit our favorite spots and sites, took some pictures, and ate corn dogs for dinner! Here are some of the highlights...

This was the best picture I could get this year... the more kids, the harder it is to get everyone to look at the camera!

I thought this was a great picture of Jonathan with Jillian ... there is a huge patch of gigantic pumpkins that is so fun to explore and take pictures in.

We went with our friends this year... Hannah and Eliza Carr and thier mom Jenny. It was fun to have another adult there to keep me company and help with the kids. Thanks Jenny!

Jimmy is my little animal lover. He loved brushing the goats in the petting zoo area and feeding them. The other boys just ran from them... they like to see them, just don't like to touch them. I don't think they would do well on a farm!

More fun things to play on....

Another photo opp... how many crazy faces can you make?!

Such a cute baby! She loved her first trip to the pumpkin patch!

And we always take a ride on the train! It's the best!

How late is too late to send out birth announcements?

2008-10-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty embarrassed that it took me 3 months to send out Jillian's birth announcements. I ordered them in July and had the addresses all filled out and everything... just let them sit there on the counter. Call me lazy... I am! My rationalization is that I bought address labels to make return labels on the computer and just didn't do it. I kept saying I was going to do it, and now it's October and so I just mailed them. It would be even more embarrassing if I sent them with our Christmas card. Yikes! That's coming soon! But here are a few more recent pics I took of Jillian today. I thought they were cute, and I made her bow, so I was really proud of them.

Fun at the Fountains

2008-10-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

We had a fun family night at a new shopping center in Roseville last Friday. Went to Costco (because no trip to Roseville is complete without stopping there), had dinner at Panda Express at the mall (kids' choice), and went to explore all of the new sights at the Fountains. Earl and I had a fun time just watching the kids. It's always so much fun to see them enjoying the world around them. We could have stayed there all night. They had a blast!

The Fountains is a really nice shopping center with (you guessed it) several different fountains spread out around the shops. The highlight of the whole experience is the fountain that shoots water with different lights and misters to popular songs. It's so fun to watch the boys and even Jillian enjoy the show.

Jonathan and Mommy with the cool misters (Joshua called it the Lava) behind us!

Joshua and James in Awwwhhh!

Too cute... had to add this one! Jillian enjoying the show.

The really fun part came after the water show when we let the boys change into their swimsuits and play in the cool water feature outside the shops. They loved to let the water shoot up their bums.... boys! And Jimmy loved to just run around the whole thing and try really hard to not get hit. It was a really warm night and perfect for a fun night in the water. They had a blast!

We spent a ton of time just enjoying the warm evening and letting the boys play in the water and then at an adjacent playground. What a cool idea to put such fun things in the middle of a shopping center. I'm totally hooked. Now, if I could just go into the stores instead of just looking through the windows, I would be thrilled! Who has time to shop with 3 boys and a baby?! Better question is who wants to shop with 3 boys and a baby? It's just not easy!

Owweee!

2008-09-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

James bit the dust again! How do you get your toddler to wear a helmet and keep it on? Let me know... I'm up for suggestions.

New Slide Show...

2008-09-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

I added a slide show of the first part of 2008 (through June). It was really fun to upload and play with the program! If you have a few minutes... take a look. I'm going to do another slide show of the rest of 2008 later. It's posted at the bottom of the page.

Earl is obsessed!

2008-09-18T22:31:00.001-07:00

Check out Earl's latest creation at the bottom of this page. He made it, I didn't!

The Tooth Fairy Is Coming...

2008-09-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

Jonathan had a very exciting and semi-traumatic day. He got very scared when he was in church, eating a piece of candy, and heard his tooth crack. It was hurting really bad! He came to me crying and I figured out that his molar was loose. I don't think he realized that your all of your baby teeth, even molars, fall out eventually. He couldn't stop wiggling it all day and wouldn't eat very much at all because "it might fall out". I told him it was going to fall out anyway, so go ahead and eat and get on with life. He said he was afraid he would eat something and it would fall out and he would swallow it. His dad said "That happens sometimes". Thanks Earl! Anyway, about 2 minutes after he said that he just stuck his finger under the tooth and sure enough it came right out! Way to go Jonathan! You did it all by yourself! Now, how much money should the tooth fairy give you for a molar with a silver cap on it? We'll find out...

I Found Your Tag, Maree!

2008-09-12T22:42:00.001-07:00

I have not been keeping up on the blogs, and so I'm paying for it now by reading too much, too late at night. These nights get me into so much trouble! I have so little time to myself these days.

So here's the scoop... Maree tagged me some time ago (I don't remember when) and I just read it tonight. These are the questions: List: 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 fears, and 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 3 people at the end of your post.

Ok, here goes...
Goals: to get through each day and go to bed happy (I get frustrated and unnerved way too easy lately), read my scriptures (I'm not doing very well at this except with our family at night, and those 3 verses that I hardly hear, if I hear them, aren't doing very much for me), to spend some quality time with my husband this weekend.

Obsessions/collections: checking my email, drinking enough water each day, my sweet baby!

Fears: something bad happening to any one of my kids, my husband losing his job (it's a bad economy), illness.

Random/surprising facts about me: I really like to eat ice cream and have to watch how much I eat of it now (spoon to mouth.... no, no, no, it really does go from your spoon to your hips!), I can't remember the last time I rented a movie and almost did today but didn't (not surprising.. I'd rather be on the computer tonight), I can say all 50 states in alphabetical order (and you can too if you learn the song "50 Nifty United States").

Tagged... Jenny, Dad, Rebecca (because you just started your blog and you need something to blog, right?)