Saturday, February 2, 2008
February 1, 2008
Now it's a new year, and I'm excited about it. We have a lot of cool things planned, including another get-away trip for Anthony & I in 2 months. We booked a cruise for the caribbean again, but to new destinations of course, some of which I'd never heard of. Samana, and Tortola... I dont care that much where we end up, actually, everywhere in the caribbean is nice! I'm just super excited to get back onto a cruise ship & have that completely care-free vacation feeling, and spend a week with Anth alone. I hope the experience with this cruise line (Norwegian) is just as nice as with Holland America.
My awesome sister Natalie and her hubbie Tyler & 2 boys are coming to stay at our house while we're gone and take care of our children. I'm really happy about that. Going away on a trip isn't as enjoyable if you have any worries about the kids at home. This is situation I feel good about. Natalie is very capable and has the right personality for this kind of responsibilty; meaning, I wont be concerend with whether she's getting stressed out or not, like I would with my own mother & dad, or even Anthony's parents, although, less with them. (Actually, with my parents, it's more my dad that I worry about with our kids there because they'd be a distraction to them with the schooling & other tasks they need to get done - thats really important to my dad to not have it interrupted) SO, I am so glad Natalie volunteered. I actually never even thought of asking her before. We love her so much; she's really great, someone you can rely on with something like this.
So. what else. We also are planning a trip to Disneyland at the end of the year, when Kayla turns 2, and once the rides at Disneyland (like It's A Small World) are open again, as they are being updated and under construction for most of the year.
Joseph will play football this summer. Anthony & I went to a crab feed / fundraiser dinner for the Jr. Eagles in Elk Grove last night. We got to mingle with other parents & meet Joseph's coach. Joseph is absolutely in love with football and is excited to play. It's for sure his favorite sport, maybe even favorite thing. I think it's good; I like to see him want to do something active. Sports are really good for boys. And girls too. And it's really cute. He talks about professional teams and players, watches games, even when he's alone, knows more about it than I do, for sure, and even beats his dad at Madden '08 on the x-box 360. The other night Anthony, who is absolutely shocked at how good Joseph is at the game, being that Joseph had beat him once or twice already, was determined to beat him. I mean, he was talking with his tough but silly voice "You're goin' down, Joseph! I'm gonna kick your butt!" etc. but was actually serious, and wanted to prove to himself I think, that he could win his six year old son. A couple minutes later I hear him yelling in disbelief and laughing, blown away that Joseph won. It was hilarious.
I registered Joshua for kindergarten last week, so he's ready to go this fall. He had to catch up on immunizations, however, before being able to register. Poor little guy had to get six, I think, different shots. It was pretty dramatic. I wasn't thinking about what a dramatic little personality JOshie actually does have when I took him in. He was acting so brave about the whole thing leading up to the big moment, that I didn't realize how he would fall apart once the poking started. Joseph was really tough for his kindergarten shots, so I guess that's what I was remembering, therefore expecting. Far from it. Joshua whimpered and then burst into tears with the first finger prick, which is really quite painless. So I knew I'd have to hold him down for the rest. He was crying pretty loudly and saying things like "Stop! Stop! Please stop" & "It hurts more than anything!" (so dramatic sounding it actually made me want to laugh a little...I know, I'm cruel). Although the shots were over quickly, the drama wasn't. Josh continued to cry and whimper and fuss in the dr.'s office, in the car, and throughout the day. He really milked it, any sympathy and attention he could get. I should've known; he went through a little phase a few months ago like this, where he'd act dramatic and want attention for the tiniest boo-boos. He even fell down on purpose so he could tell me he was hurt and needed a bandaid. !! I wasn't particularly sweet about it. "Josh, you're fine. Dont be silly. You're four years old, you're a big boy. Be a little tougher." etc. were the type of responses he would get. Perhaps that's why he did it. If I had just played along and given him the dramatic pampering he desired, he may have dropped the act and moved on to something else! Anyway. Who knows. It is definitely interesting to see the differences in your kids and yet love them equally.
We had a fun family night a few hours later, for Joshua's sake, having gone through horrible shots. We drove out to John's Incredible Pizza Company in Roseville and enjoyed the evening together. We were going to go to Chuck-e-Cheese (the boys request) but once Anthony discovered they had a John's Incredible pizza here in Roseville (we had been to it once in Fresno with my family & it was a LOT better - better tasting pizza, better games, rides, bigger, nicer, newer, etc.) Chuck-e-Cheese was forgotten, and the boys were fine with it. They had a lot of fun. I did too. I loved doing the bumper cars with my two boys; Anthony got it on homevideo.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
Halloween this year was pretty fun. We went to a ward halloween ho-down the weekend before the big night came. THese pictures are from that. As you can see I was a witch, kind of, only because the hat was $2 in BelAir and I thought to myself that it would go good with little Kayla's black kitty costume. I hadn't planned to dress up but what the heck. Joseph and Josh were in black also as a ninja and a skeleton. They had a lot of fun at the ward party, mostly jumping on the trampoline and running around with all the kids. They had hayride and pony rides going on, and then a trunk or treat. Simple... Wednesday night we went up and down our street trick or treating after pizza and rootbeer at our house with Anth's family (Bob & Wendy, Aaron & Joyce and kids, Jared & Dusty and kids) plus my mom & half of the kids. My mom decided to come stay Tuesday night and Wednesday night & do Halloween Rancho Murieta style this year since their moutain nieghborhood really doesnt work for small kids. It waas fun. Wild, a bit messy, and by the end of the visit we all felt totally sick from the junk food, but what can you do, Holidays come once a year. It has just always been a bummer to me that all three junk-food holidays come once a year three months in a row - bam bam bam, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I always overeat. It's terrible.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Pumpkin Patch
I love these photos of Kayla with mommy (yes, me)... I drained them of color so they weren't such a bright orange tint.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Pokemon Party
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Gotta Love 'Em!
My Future Missionaries
Cool Bros
These little dudes are soooo much fun. I love them to death. Love every little detail, things that often go unnoticed by adults. I love the way they think and the things they say. I try to see things from their perspective. That actually helps me a lot in parenting, teaching, and disciplining. These little guys have a great life. A Dad and Mom that love them and spend lots of time with them, and who are often strict and stern; we take the job of raising young men seriously! But we are goofy and fun too. It's a blast.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Hmm. We’ll have to keep an eye on this…
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Happy 4th
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Family Home Evening
Anyway, I enjoyed it. They were so cute and they are so smart. I like seeing them learn important concepts and understand basic gospel principles at such a young age.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Kayla is 7 months old now and is such a good girl. She has been the easiest baby experience I have been blessed to have. She is easy natured and happy. Sometimes she is quiet and calm, sometimes she is extremely loud, much more so than my boys were. She likes to scream for fun, and "sing" - just a constant noise coming from her mouth. She likes her blankies, dollies and teddy bears; she actually gets excited when she sees her toys sometimes, which I find interesting because the boys showed no interest in objects. They didn't even want their pacifiers. Kayla is a pacifier girl, but she also likes to suck her thumb or fingers if there's not one around.
She just learned to sit up this past week. She sits very well now, for minutes at a time, and when she's tired she just flops over, twists to her belly and tries to get in a crawling position. She can't get up on her hands yet, but she does good with her lower-half, pushing up to her tippy-toes!
We love this little girl soooo much, (duh! sounds silly when you say it) I'm so thankful we got our girl after our two adorable boys. It was definitely a surprise to me. I was amazed when I saw the ultrasound. I had prepared myself for another boy, since that seemed the more likely thing to happen. I love the differences between my sons and my daughter. There's so much more joy and love that comes with each kid!! So fun, we're loving it.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
End of the School Year thoughts...
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Sunday Afternoon
In an hour we will walk down the street (2 houses) to mom & dad's for dinner. They just got back from Washington DC and being that they missed Anth's b-day on Wednesday of this week they invited us for dinner. Anthony's birthday was a good day. He took the day off work. I let him sleep in by taking Joseph to school for him, and then taking Joshua & Kayla with me to the gym. After working out, I quickly got my hair trimmed at Super Cuts, hoping that josh would behave and that Kayla would stay sasleep by my feet in her carseat...it all turned out okay. I was trying to rush back to pick up Joseph from Stacy by noon, so I left a little early from the hair cut, not getting the layered look that I wanted, unfortunately, but no big deal. However Anth called as I was leaving Super Cuts to say that I didn't need to rush back because he was getting Joseph from Stacy and would meet us in Folsom for lunch, so I could have stayed a little longer to finish the layers but oh well! We met at Pita Pita, our favorite sit-down but fast food restaurant. Shwerma, falafel, basmati rice, yummy sauce, pitas, hummus, mmmm.... So Anth was happy already. Two of his main three sources of happiness had be fulfilled: sleep, and food! :) It was just a great, kick-back day that we spent together as a family. For dinner we drove back out to Folsom to his sister Christine's house for a Telford family dinner because Scott's family, Star & the girls were in town, and also to have cake & icecream for Anth's b-day.
We enjoyed the visit. The kids had a great time, as always. My boys love playing there. We adults had fun too, talking and laughing until it was time for cake. The boys helped me decorate daddy's "28 is Great" cake with oreos and candles; it was pretty cute. They also made a cd with my help for their dad. "28 is Great" Joshua recorded on the mic with his adorable 3 yr. old voice, and then Joseph said,"28 reasons why we love daddy" followed by 28 things we thought of together, taking turns saying them. It turned out really cute.
Anthony can't believe that he's twenty-eight years old, has been out of highschool for a decade, and has been married to me for seven years now.
Last Sunday we had a lesson in Relief Society about having a sure foundation that we can fall back on when we are going through difficult trials in this life. The teacher was Jo Taylor, our ex-Relief Society president and my OBGYN, whom we all respect, and also enjoy because she is so unique. I like her lessons; her teaching style is different from anyone else I've listened to. She is very direct, almost harsh in her approach, but it's almost refreshing. She speaks openly, shares her honest thoughts even if they are weak, or unpopular. And she moves on from one point to the next, speaking very quickly, trying to share all of the content she prepared for her lesson which is probably 3 times as much as most people prepare.
Anyway! I found this lesson to be very interesting because it made me realize how blessed I am and feel very thankful for my foundation. Jo started out by sharing a few horror stories of people she knows personally, and even of her own experiences, of suffering and trials in this mortal life that seem unnecissarily cruel. And then she asked the question, "Have any of you ever felt so down/depressed, or that your trials were so overwhelming that you felt abandoned by God, that it caused you to question your faith?" She asked it in a way that seemed obvious that she had often felt this way and as if she expected everybody else to have experienced that feeling as well. She followed it up with, "Have any of you not felt that way?" and acted a little surprised when I raised my hand. Only one other lady also raised her hand, and she was the one to speak for us. She briefly explained that although she had felt down and suffered from trials, etc. she had never felt abandoned or questioned things, doubting her faith. That is how I feel, and it is due to my sure foundation. It is also due to a blessed life of comfort and ease, with no intense suffering or difficult trials so far. But I truly believe that if difficult trials come that I would still feel as I do now, knowing that my Father in heaven does not abandon his children, but cannot save us from trials and suffering, for it would destroy our growth and progress in this perfect plan of salvation, and it would completely destroy the gift of free agency. God will not interfere with men's choices and the consequences because he loves us, but I believe it pains him more than we comprehend to witness the cruelty of his children or the pain we suffer. This is a subject that I care about very deeply, especially since it is so misunderstood by most people. I really like Truman G. Madsen's words on the subject in his book 'Eternal Man'. I also love 'Four Essays on Love' and 'The Highest In Us'.