More fun

We took this little train down the coast. It was fun...now the girls can say they've been on a train! Unfortunately they were more interested with the little cards than the actual train ride.

Here's the bubba...

We couldn't find the seals in La Jolla so we went to the temple instead!

Fun at the Beach!

The kids with their cousin Maddi...I have to admit that I am aweful at taking pictures of everyone. This is the only one I have of my sisters kids...oops! Kathryn and her kids were fun to play with!

Bad shadow by the photographer!

Oh, yum!

Aren't those the cutest, fattest little feet!

Jenna was in heaven! The biggest dirt/mud box ever! Oh, the joy

Fun in Disneyland

Alice in Wonderland...our first character! The girls loved it!

Mulan- We waited the longest for this little event. Three princesses to take pictures with. It was by far the favorite thing for the girls!

This was the one thing Eliza wanted in Disneyland wo we got their faces painted. This was the sweetest lady who did them. She had a great time with the girls.

And at the end of the day this is where Jenna finally had had enough...tuckered out!!!

We had a long fun day!

Aviation Nation

This is one of the funnest things to do....hang out with the planes at Nellis. We had a great day!

My Sweet Baby James

Okay, okay, I know you think I'm crazy but he is adorable. I actually went over to take a picture of him as he slept in the jumperoo but he woke up and this is what he did...just giggled and laughed. He is soooooooooooo fun.

My Gentle Heart Thinker

Last night I thought I was being such a good mom. I sang the girls a couple bed time songs. I was much better at that with just Eliza but last night was fun. I decided to sing one I used to sing to Eliza every night. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray, you'll never know dear how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away." I went downstairs and a few minutes later she comes crying down the stairs. She said he had a nightmare. Was she even asleep? So, thankfully dad came walking in and saved the day. He took the girls to bed. After he comes and asks me if I sung her a new song. I told him what song it was. Eliza was scared someone was going to come and take her away. Poor little thing! But really what 5 year old can make logical connections like that. I felt bad for her but then got a little impressed that she even made a connection. I have thought about some of those lullabies before... tree tops breaking, down will come baby, ring around the rosy, ashes, ashes.... I'll have to be a little more selective in my nighttime music!

Miracle on Sandcastle

The last couple weeks have been a bit busy. One thing I have been doing is helping this sweet lady in our ward. Karen fell a few weeks ago and thought she broke her arm so I took her to the ER where it was confirmed that she had. Poor thing was in so much pain. Later in the week we took her to a DR who said the sling was perfect for her break and didn't need a cast or anything. Well, things didn't get better and after the weekend she couldn't be reached. Her son called to have me go and check on her. I picked up her visiting teacher and we headed out. I'm so grateful to Debbie for dropping everything and coming. We were able to get Karen on the phone but couldn't get her to unlock the door. After waiting for her for 25 minutes we called 911 and had them come and help. After a bit longer they were able to neatly break into her home. I have no idea what they did but they were fabulous. So... we headed back to the hospital. This time she had to stay for a few days. Her son came down the following weekend to take her home to Utah with him....

Here is the miracle. He had no way of getting her around. Really she couldn't walk and needed a wheelchair even to get to and from the car. He was also concerned about her using the bathroom. My friend Pat had a chair thing that can be used in the bathroom and was delighted to get it out of her house. I went over to pick it up and on the way I see a garage sale on Sandcastle. There was this wheelchair. It was Sunday so I debated for a moment and then decided it was worth at least asking about. The wheelchair was quite old and bulky but it would serve its purpose. After picking up the bathroom chair I got in the van and went to the sale. I pulled up an asked "How much for the wheelchair?" "Oh, sorry, this man just bought it." "Darn, just a minute too late." The other lady there says..."Oh, I have one in my garage, come and have a look."
I crossed the street into the neighbors house. Out come a perfect little chair. It is wonderful! It was little and looked about 50 years newer than the other one. So here I am wheeling and dealing on Sunday...ummm...
"So, how much for the chair."
"$10"
"No problem, let me get it. It is perfect, she just got out of the hospital."
"Oh, is it for an older person?"
"Yes. She just got home the other day and doesn't get around very well."
"Just take it."
"Are you sure? No, take the money."
"No, its fine, God provides for the bigger things in life."

I wanted to jump for joy. A miracle if I've ever seen one. Someone had a need and God did listen! A true miracle!

Squeezable!

Is he not the cutest ever? Ok, you don't have to answer but seriously he is scrumptious! This would be his second bath of the day. The first happened because breakfast was so much fun and messy. I even took the opportunity to cut his hair. So handsome! Tonight Eliza was helpful enough to feed him spaghetti while I was out of the room for a moment. She is such a good helper and had the best intentions. He happily played in the water while I washed most of the dinner dishes. He's by far the cutest thing I've had in my sink lately...

Happy Halloween!

Oh the sugar and fun. Here are the munchkins...James was the perfect elephant, Jenna was so happy to be a giraffe and Eliza was Dorothy! Scott's is so obvious I don't think I need to explain... and if you don't get it you need to watch the office from this last week.

My tired Jenna

She had asked me to cute up more chickenfor her less than 10 seconds earlier.

Conference Weekend

So, I'm just a little behind...but only a few weeks. Here are some pictures from our Utah trip. We had a fabulous time. I'd give you a blow by blow but I'm too lazy and only have about 5 more minutes... Here's the cliff note version

We went to my friend's house in Hobble Creek...ABSOLUTELY beautiful! We could have spent days there... the kids obviously had fun in all the leaves!For those of you family members...try to guess who we visited next... I rode on this merri-go-round many-o-times.Here's a great ride for the grandkids! The girls loved it!Lawrence Flake! How cool is that. He lives almost next door to my friend I visited earlier! He had horses and cats...I cannot say they went unharmed.Isn't he cute! Sunday we interrupted other friends... I'm so grateful for good friends!Wynn and the girls.Grandma and the chubbubHere's the whole gang. Corey was ready!!! Herb was able to work on my back this night. I couldn't walk for 2 days but it feels much better now!

Sorry for skipping so much. It really was a great trip. We stayed with Aunt Ellen and had a great time with her and her dogs. So nice to see family!

Some things shouldn't happen twice in the same day

Ok...I just have to get this out into cyberness because it is STILL haunting me. Yesterday, Tuesday, morning I woke up to James...casually did my thing...took him downstairs and fed him. Since he was up a bit earlier than usual we just hung out for a while. Finally I decided it was time to shower...about 6:30am. I had him in my arms as I entered my bathroom only to see a cockroach the size of Texas on the floor. I SCREAMED, but didn't drop the baby...Scott made an attempt to sound...um...awake. Holy Crap - I've never seen a bigger creature! My knight in shining armor rolled off the bed and came in to... scare it into the closet. THANKS! Now it was in my clothes. With all the sympathy he could muster he said "It's probably been there for a long time anyway." Are you kidding me? I wanted to die. There are just a few things I don't deal well with...jumping bugs (including crickets, grasshoppers) and COCKROACHES! He promised to spray as soon as he got home from school that night.
I went through the day and every time I entered my bathroom I scanned the floor expecting the little creature to be sitting in the EXACT same spot greet me....duh! No such luck. At the end of this very long day full of the usual Jenna exibitions, tutoring, schooling, meetings and such I was ready for bed. I went up to my room, carefully scanned the bathroom and decided it was okay to enter the closet. I took off my shorts, folded them and was about to set them in the pile of clothes when I looked and saw my little friend from the morning. No screaming allowed! The kids were asleep. I shoved my shorts into my mouth and ran out of my room! I whispered down the stairs at Scott to come and kill the thing. Thankfully he came equiped with a shoe - mine.
After smashing the bug Scott picked it up to put in the garbage. Are you kidding me? The thing might come back to life! It was ENORMOUS! Nothing is impossible for those things. So we flushed it. Then I couldn't sleep thinking it was going to swim up the toilet and bite my bum the next time I went to the bathroom.
Oh the joy of living in the desert.

Peaches Peaches Peaches Pickles

My parents came down this last weekend and brought 4 boxes of peaches and half a bushel of cucumbers for me! Oh the joy! They also brought a bunch more peaches, like 14 boxes, for friends. What great parents! Even though their stay was short we accomplished a lot. They got in Saturday evening... we just hung out and distributed the peaches. Sunday was full of fun things...Like Eliza's 5th birthday!

I spent the morning decorating her cake, making a peach pie for the grown ups. We were pretty spoiled!

Monday mom and I did 35 quarts of peaches, froze 2 bags of peaches, 2 batches of peach jam, 13 quarts dill pickles and 8 quarts sweet pickles.

When I say we... let me explain that mom did most of the work. I kind of felt like the manager while she cut peaches. She would get a set in the processor and then ask what else I wanted as she kept cutting. So we froze them, jammed them...whatever we could. My mom is a HARD worker! We our last batch of peaches was in the water within 4 hours of starting! She is amazing. It also helped that dad entertained the kids and ran to the store when we needed!

So we will enjoy these for the rest of the year and hope they come down to help next year!