Camping

This weekend we had a relaxing and fun camping trip. We took a ton of pictures, so I am creating a slide show if you want to watch it. The campground is on an island, and we could hear the waves from our campsite. The beach was a 5 minute (with kids) walk. There was also a small lake. We got there around dinner time (thanks to traffic). After I fed Amy I took the kids to the beach while Aaron set up. The boys loved throwing rocks into the waves. Amy thought it was too windy and too loud. We got back in time to start the fire and get dinner ready. The kids loved roasting hot dogs over the fire. And of course make s'mores. Then we put out the fire and watched the sunset. It was a late night for all of us.

The kids went to bed pretty well, but Amy took a late nap, and did go to bed until almost 11:00pm, and then she tossed and turned all night, and kept me up a lot. Which in turn woke up Aaron. With the sun rising early, we were up early too. 6:15 is typical for for the kids, but I was hoping we'd get to sleep in a bit. And of course none of the other campers were awake, so we had to keep telling the kids to be quiet. It was really foggy, and pretty damp. Aaron got the wood out of the van and started a fire. We've been talking to David about Cub Scouts, and he's really excited to start that next year. We talked to him about how he'll learn about fire safety, etc.

We had pancakes and sausage for breakfast, and David requested a bowl of cereal too. After breakfast, and cleanup we put the fire out, then we walked down to the beach. It was really foggy. We couldn't see the islands off the coast. We went for a long relaxing walk. The boys found lots of cool rocks. Eventually Amy fell asleep, and I rested while Aaron and the boys explored. I tried to sleep, but there was no comfortable position.

Then we headed back to camp, to pack up. Aaron checked out while I headed back to the beach with the kids. He met up there. We wanted to go swimming, but it was still pretty cold, and the fog was starting to burn off. We found the lake water was a lot warmer, and there was still sand for the kids to play in. So we changed them into their swimming suits, applied sunscreen and they played. I put sunscreen on Amy and I as well, but her little cheeks got burned as well as the top of her head (but not the neck where I applied sunscreen). The overcast skies were deceiving.

After swimming and playing in the sand the boys changed back into their clothes and we had lunch before we headed home. It was great just to be away from home. I loved falling asleep hearing the waves and the frogs (no crickets, go figure), being together as a family, and not having a schedule.

I hope the pictures work.

Science Night

Thursday night was Science night at David's school. The kids show off science projects that they have completed, at home with parent's help. I was impressed that just about all of them look they were done by the kids. Maybe a parent helped the child think of an idea, but the kids made hypotheses, carried out the experiments, came to conclusions, and made the posters all by themselves. They also asked if a few parents could set up a few tables. Someone from the Audubon society had stuffed birds and pamphlets, and things. The parents in charge of the school garden had a large poster depicting what the students have done throughout the year, and brought in the portable green house. Aaron did a heart anatomy demonstration. He found lamb hearts, disected them and let the kids touch them, with gloves of course. He talked about how the heart works, the size of your heart etc. It was a hit as you can tell by the crowd.


Then a parent came in with some Oobleck - then that was pretty popular.

Then everyone headed outside for the annual egg drop.


There were a lot of entries, and our kids were sad they didn't enter one. I promised them next year we would enter.

First Harvest

OK, so Sunday was actually our first harvest, but Aaron harvested the radishes and put them in the salad before I got a picture of them. So Wednesday I picked a couple more radishes, but took a picture first.


Yay for gardens! And our rose bushes out front are getting little buds!!
A few of them have aphids on them. Becca - or any rose experts out there - how do I get rid of them? I don't have any bug killer or ladybugs. Also the bushes were cut back really well in the winter, but do I need to keep pruning them?

good deals

I love working with a budget. And lately I've found some really good grocery deals. I thought I'd share some with you. Most of these came because Albertson's had double coupons up to $1 in value. General Mills cereals were $1.50 each if you bought 4 of them I had a $1 off 3, and the store doubled it: that makes it $1 per box. Kraft dressing was on sale for $2 - I had a $1.50 off coupon the store doubled it so I actually got it for free plus 50 cents off the rest of the grocery bill. Litehouse dressings are usually very expensive - but so yummy. there were a few varieties that were on sale for $2.99. I had a $1 off coupon - store doubled it, and I got a Litehouse dressing for $0.99! Kellogg's cereal was also $1.50 each when you bought 4. I had 3 $1 off coupons (each for a different variety) that made them 50 cents each - but in fairness I had to buy the 4th box so 75 cents each. I could only use 3 doubling coupons. That week they also had 8 oz pkg of cheese for 88 cents! And store brand cereal for 88 cents!

The next week they had more doubling coupons, so I bought Kraft BBQ sauce on sale for $1 - I had a 75 cent off coupon, the store doubled it - so free, plus 50 cents off the rest of the groceries. French's mustard was $1.50 and I had a 50 cents off coupon - doubled means it cost 50 cents - and it was a 20 oz bottle. I also got a jar of pickles $3.99, with a 75 cent off coupon, doubled made is $2.49 not that great a deal, but not bad.

OK, it's official, I'm a coupon nerd.

Hiking and BBQs

This weekend was beautiful!!! We went on two different waterfall hikes and two different BBQs. Here are some highlights. Saturday morning we drove about 30 minutes to this little hike - 1/2 mile or so from the parking lot. We found a spot to take a family pictures, But the sun was a little too bright for the timer.

Timothy in front of the falls

David in front of the falls

A family offered to take our picture

As we started talking we found out they were from Utah, and their son was going to BYU Idaho in the fall. Later we saw him talking with a group of Japanese people, in Japanese. They were laughing and having fun, I think he was fresh off his mission;)

Amy and I on the trail

The view from above

The rainbow the mist produced

We took the scenic route back and found a park to eat lunch and play at.

Sunday after church we said goodbye to some good friends. They are off to Dartmouth for Residency. A friend of theirs hosted a potluck BBQ. It was good to see friends from our old ward. David said goodbye to his buddy Natalie. I should have taken a picture.

Monday morning we headed out to another trail. We decided to go fairly early. It was a little bit of a further drive. We got there around 9:30 am and there were a lot of cars at the trailhead parking lot. This hike was about 3 miles round trip.

The kids wanted to take a picture on this rock about 5 minutes into the hike.

Here's the first waterfall

This is the lower outlook point

I had Aaron carry Amy in the wrap at this point, so I took some pictures.

The upper outlook

From the bridge
Aaron is a much better photographer

After the bridge we found a bench, had a snack, I fed Amy, then we turned around and headed back.

The kids wanted to climb on top of this big rock, we waited until the way down

But then I took the camera back

The kids did great on the hike, with only minor complaints. Timothy's biggest complaint was about the dog bite he received. I don't blame him for complaining, I'm sure it hurt, but it was his fault. The boys love animals, especially dogs. But I remind them repeatedly they have to ask the owners first if they want to pet the dogs. We were walking past a family and their dog, on the bridge, and Timothy just stuck his hand out next to the dog's mouth, while it was eating. Yeah, not a good idea. The family felt so bad. I tried to reassure them that it was not their fault. They did reprimand the dog, and apologized profusely. Timothy's finger is fine, but he's got a few marks - they didn't draw blood. Hopefully he's learned a lesson.

We got back to the van around 11:30 am. We saw tons of people on their way up while we were coming down. There were so many cars at the trailhead. Some people had to park and walk about a mile, just to get to the trailhead. We were very glad we went early.

Last night we also went to a BBQ hosted by one of Aaron's fellow residents. We had some good food, and fun times. The neighbor boy invited all the kids over to play. He had 2 water guns and a kiddie pool. My kids got really wet. Timothy's shoes are still wet. One of Ako's boys jumped in fully clothed. Amy was a hit of course, and got the attention of Ako's twins Alex and Theo.She really wanted the Pepsi bottle!

Emily's little boy Jake was also intrigued by Amy. He would periodically come up to her and touch her, on the face or shoulder and then run away. It was so cute. It was a great weekend with great weather.

time is quickly passing

It's hard to believe that there is only 4 weeks of school left for David (I know for some of my readers school gets out next week). Today they had a walk-a-thon. It was so fun for the kids. I didn't get to come and help out, but David did 11 laps (each lap is 1/8 of a mile). Not bad. I know some kids in did grade did 14. Way to go. They each got a T-shirt, and a goody bag from the kid's marathon organization. Next week they go to the zoo, and soon is the carnival, and field day isn't too far away either. I can't believe David will be done with 1st grade, and Timothy will start Kindergarten.

Another milestone is approaching as well. Aaron is done with his second year of residency in 5 weeks! Wow he is so close to finishing. He has one more week of Infectious Disease and then he finishes up the year with ER shifts. He was lucky this month. He had 5 float calls, and only got called in one of those days, and it was just to cover a day shift, not overnight. Next week he covers for someone on Thursday, but we knew that already.

fun stuff

This week has been pretty busy. Just with normal things mostly, and a few extra things. Monday we had a family home evening on the Plan of Salvation. It was Timothy's turn to do the lesson, and he wanted to do it about heaven (well first he wanted obedience and manners, but we covered those two topics the two previous Mondays). I compromised and did the aforementioned lesson. I think it will take a few times to sink in. They did understand a few things, e.g. that we lived in heaven before we came to earth, and that we will die, and then go to heaven. They were enthralled with the idea of the Spirit World, and that missionaries teach the gospel in heaven. The judgment and the veil are concepts they don't quite get just yet.

Tuesday I ran to the store after dropping off David, and then taught preschool for Timothy and Liam, Madison was sick. We had fun doing circus things, and making caramel popcorn. During Amy's second nap I made these rolls. They were for a gourmet potluck dinner/baby shower. Those attending brought part of the meal. I opted for the easy one, or rather the one that I didn't have to buy a lot of things for. The only thing I didn't have was rye flour, and I knew I could buy it in bulk. The dinner was so good, very gourmet, and there were over 30 people there. I brought Amy so Aaron could take the boys swimming. However the pool was closed when they got there because of contamination. They didn't say what kind of contamination though. I'm guessing either had to do with the thunderstorm we had that day, or the water main that broke that morning, or well, you can guess what else it might have been. They went out and bought some ice cream instead. It was raining hard when I left the baby shower and I saw the most beautiful rainbow on the way home.

Wednesday was another busy day. I made an extra breakfast cake for the teacher appreciation brunch. I took Aaron to work (I'll explain later), and then dropped David off early enough for the kids to play and for me to take the cake into the teacher's lounge. After dropping off David I waited for the internet guy to come by. After he left I was going to go to the store, but I thought I'd check my email first. Good thing I did because I had gotten an email reminding that I was supposed to babysit that morning in 15 minutes!!! I had forgotten that it was an early release day for David, so I had to bring her along to pick up David. Ashlyn was a doll, and I had no idea how long it would take to get 4 kids in the van. Ashlyn's mother was waiting for us when I came home with the crew.

That after noon we played a lot and then had dinner. Then we headed to pick up Aaron. He had a conference that was at teh hospital near the baseball stadium, and we had free tickets for the game last night. He had gotten a ride to the conference, we picked him up at the hospital and headed over to the game. We found $5 parking, in a scary location. We were pretty early since Aaron was done over an hour before the game started, but the kids had fun walking around and talking to the other residents that came. We had seats at the very top row. It was a little scary to look down and see how far away the ground was. It was a pretty good game. We enjoyed Cotton Candy, Kettle Corn, and Garlic Fries. We won, but left in the 7th inning because Amy was so tired, and she was refusing to sleep in the wrap like she used to. The boys were also tired, even though they didn't want to go home. Amy did eventually sleep on the way to the van. She also slept the whole way home, and didn't wake until almost midnight! It was a long night, but lots of fun.

I like this one better, even though not everyone is looking at the camera

See, no smiles

Today was another preschool day. Then I mostly worked on the budget. It always takes longer than I think it will. We have had beautiful weather, and it's supposed to be nice for about a week! Hooray for sunshine. We walked David to school this morning - it was so nice. I noticed the rhododendrons are blooming. When I put Amy down for a nap today she apparently noticed I hadn't closed the top drawer all the way. She pulled out a few diapers, luckily only a few before she fell asleep. Also while she was sleeping I had the windows open (great weather!) and a bird flew in. The poor thing kept trying to fly out through the closed windows. After several attempts, I finally got it to climb on the handle of wooden spoon and brought it to the open window and it flew away.

Aaron got home in time for dinner, then it was time to mow the lawn. After we put the kids to bed Aaron called his brother. Anthon came home from his mission today. In fact Aaron called just a minute before he walked in the door. He had been at the stake center waiting for Seminary graduation to end so the Stake President could release him from his calling as a missionary. Since there was a lot of family there waiting to see and talk to Anthon, Aaron spoke to him for a few minutes and then let him go. We are so glad Anthon is home, and we can't wait to see him again.

I think that's it for now. I know, another long recap. But it's just been busy around here.

Another one bites the dust...

Monday night David was wiggling that loose tooth right before scripture time, and it finally came out! Man it bled a lot. David wasn't very compliant for a picture the next morning, but I finally got this one.

weekend wrapup

We have had some great weather recently. Saturday we didn't have anything big planned because Aaron was on a float call (he could be called in if another resident got sick or has an emergency). So we enjoyed the outdoors, and did some yard work. I decided to pull up the weeds that were covering the stones by our back door. I didn't realize they were so big, half of them were covered. I started pulling the grass and dirt along the bottom of the bricks too. Then I worked my way up to the side of the house, and realized that it wasn't just dirt and weeds. There was cinder block all the way up the side of the house. Between the driveway and the house there 1-2 inches of dirt covering the stone. On Monday I discovered there was a brick walkway between the driveway and the concrete by the back door. It was grown over with dirt and grass. How about that.

Aaron had set up some tunnels and and play tent for the kids to play with. We haven't had those out in a long time, since there wasn't much room. OUr garden is looking good, see for yourself:

spinach

zucchini

radishes

one of the tomato plants

our lone cucumber

one of the corn plants

the basil and parsley not transplanted yet

I wasn't feeling well Friday, and again on Saturday evening. But I seem to be back to normal now. Aaron is so good about taking care of the house when he's home. I was so glad to have him around when I took a nap Saturday evening. He fed the kids and gave them baths.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. David gave a talk in primary. I'll have to post the text of it - so cute. Aaron was asked to give a talk next week - that will be great. And after church Nathan came over for dinner (Amy and Evelyn were visiting Amy's family).

I have much more to say, but the battery is running low, and I need to make a trip to the store quickly. More later, but probably not today.

climbing

It's been almost a week, and I have so much to cover. Where to start? I have been trying to upload a video of Amy, but it's not working. I think the file may be too big. It was of her babbling, pulling up to stand at the couch and strategically sitting down, and making her newest sound "vvvv". So she does a lot of "dadada", and bababa", and "vvvvv" She is also pulling to stand everywhere, and cruising a little on the couches. She has figured out how to open one of the cupboard doors (the one that is loose), and she is starting to climb. She climbs over the bars on the kitchen chairs. Last night while I was making dinner she was whining downstairs. I called out to her, while I was finishing. I quickly washed my hands, and when I got to the stairs she was still crying and had climbed three stairs. I guess she really wanted me. So now I can't leave her downstairs without a gate, although I don't know where I'm going to put it. The wall on the left ends before the hand rail on the right. I guess I can't leave her dowsnstairs at all.

What else is new with Amy? She is doing better with other people holding her. Last night at a baby shower I had 4 different people hold her and 2 of them lasted almost 2 minutes. WhenI dropped off David at school she let another mom her her. I also let someone hold her today afterschool while I went inside to get something. When I came back she wasn't crying anymore, that is until she saw me. It's progress. Now if I could get her to take a bottle we'd ber set for our date at the symphony.

More Birthdays

OK, so I'm catching up on birthdays again. And there have been plenty.
April 18th was my BIL David's birthday. He and my sister Eva have been married for 10 years now (Their anniversary was on the 30th)! He works with teenagers out on their own, and is an amazing photographer. You should hire him - seriously!! I've known Dave for over 20 years, and I'm so glad he is a part of my family. Happy Birthday!

April 20th was my SIL Valeries birthday. Valerie is Aaron's younger sister. I'm so glad she lives nearby. We were able to see her just before her birthday this year. She has so many amazing talents, among which are playing the piano, cross-stitching, and baking. Someday she will be an amazing mother, hopefully soon. Happy Birthday.

April 24th was my BIL Anthon's birthday. He is currently serving a mission in California, and will be home next week! One week from today in fact. We are all very excited, and we hope to see him again soon. Then he can continue his studies at BYU. Happy Birthday.

April 27th was my SIL Kimberly's birthday. She is having a lot of fun being a mom of a 14 month old cutie. She is honing her sewing skills, and loves to do family history in her space time. Happy Birthday.

May 14th (today) is my maternal Grandmother's birthday. She is turning 88 I believe. I have fond memories of visiting Grama B in Montana. She also came to visit us several times in CA. She has a great smile, even though she avoided the camera for years. Happy Birthday!

I really shouldn't wait so long to do these posts. I'm sure I forgot someone. Happy Birthday anyway.

fabulous Saturday

Saturday was a great day. It was sunny and warm, but not hot. Aaron got a few things done in the morning while I hung out with the kids. Aaron and David worked on the garden, then we drove out to a new park.
We had lunch and played for a couple of hours. The park is near the beach, so the boys had fun finding shells, and looking for sea creatures in the low tide. The beach wasn't stroller friendly, so Amy and I stayed on the path. The playground was fun, and I realized it was the first time Amy was in a swing!

How tragic! When it was warm in the fall she was too little, and on the warm days so far we haven't gone to a park.

I did a lot of walking, and it was so nice to be out in the fresh air and not have to wear a coat. We even ate dinner outside when we got home. However as the shadows got longer it was a little chilly.

Found a crab.
That tooth is so ready to come out, but he won't pull it!

Loving the swing with Mom

She likes to play with the logs

Oh and It took me 4 weeks to figure out where to put the baby gate. For a while I had it right in front of the stairs, but it didn't fit right. I had to put it in crooked so I would have a wall on both sides.

And I was worried that with just a little push she and the gate would go toppling down the stairs. Then it hit me - why can't I just put the gate in the doorway before the stairs? Tada!