Christmas Day

Santa came and brought presents for the kids. It was a pretty low key Christmas morning because our presents to the kids were California, Knott's and Sea World.  We are still looking for what to do to make up for missing Sea World. We'll figure out something. 

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we did the traditional acting out of the Nativity Story.  We filmed it for the first time this year.  I tried to post part of it, but after trying to load for about 10 minutes, I gave up.  Emma was Mary. Ben was Joseph. Gideon was the angel/wise man. Gabby was a shepherd/wise girl. Eliza was a shepherd/wise girl.  Dan narrated and I filmed and gave direction. They had fun, but I think we need to work on a more condensed version to keep the kids attention.

Our traditional Christmas countdown Nativities were looking pretty sad, so this year we decided to make our own.  We found the pattern on the internet.  The kids had fun taking turns coloring the different pieces and gluing them on one day at a time.  Here is the finished product.

San Diego

We were planning on going to Sea World on Wednesday, but they were closed because of the rain. At least we were able to get a refund for our tickets, but it was still a let down. We were really looking forward to it. We were able to go to the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center, which is AWESOME! I highly reccommend it to anyone who visits the San Diego area. We drove back to Grandma's on Wednesday and started back home. It was a long, wet trip and I don't think we'll go to California again if a forecast is as bad as what this week was. 

Knott's Berry Farm

 On Monday we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It wasn't raining the first few minutes we were there and we were able to ride Ghost Rider--a roller coaster the kids all wanted to ride. While we were boarding the ride, it started to pour. We got soaked! They closed the ride after we finished, along with most of the other roller coasters, but the kids were able to do some of the Camp Snoopy rides.  We had brought ponchos that helped keep us a little dry.

Emma was too tall for most of them, but the smaller kids enjoyed them. We were able to go on the Pony Express and the Log Ride a couple of times.  We went on the Calico Mine Ride and a couple others. For the rides that were open, at least we didn't have a line.   

We also enjoyed a 30 minute production of A Christmas Carol, a Snoopy on Ice Show, and our own personal viewing of "A Winter Wonderland", a Peanuts Gang show.  The kids all got to go on stage because we were the only ones in the audience! They ended up closing the park a few hours early, which was really disappointing because there was more we wanted to do.  

Pre-Christmas in "Sunny" California

We decided we wanted to spend sometime in California before Christmas. We wanted to see Grandma Pam and get out of the cold.  we also wanted to go to Knott's Berry Farm and Sea World for our Christmas present to the kids. We were all planned and ready to go. We took the kids out of school the Thursday afternoon before Christmas vacation and they missed Friday.

 We weren't planning on the rain that engulfed California our entire trip! The kids had fun playing with their cousins, Mya and Kaylee. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get outside much.

 Here is Scruffy, Grandma Pam's dog. We had fun, but I really wish it hadn't rained the ENTIRE time.

Bye Bye Prika :(

After Prika had lived with us for about two weeks, I started breaking out with hives.  I was so frustrated and didn't tell anyone for about a week.  I then tried a bunch of different things.  Some would work for a little while, but then stop and some just plain didn't work. 

 So after much inner turmoil, we decided we needed to give Prika back to the breeder.

He picked her up a week ago and we miss her a lot, but my hives have gone away.

I'm less irritable and I feel better.

Prika is enjoying being with her mom and a few of her siblings.  She is still the runt and the smallest of them by a bit. She is such a good dog and a pretty one as well, I think she'll find a new home without too much trouble. Well, it was fun while it lasted, but our home will have to be dog free.

So long Prika.

Finished Yard

I don't think I ever posted pictures of our finished yard.  I took these a while ago, but other than the seasons things haven't changed too much. The lighting isn't great, but it'll do.

 

 This is our front area.  The bushes actually look a lot better in real life and had finally started blooming good before the first frost.

 This is our back yard.

 Here is our playset. Our lot is about a third of an acre, which is huge when you're landscaping everything yourself.  We have been pleased with how things have turned out so far, but I don't think we ever want to do this again.

Here is part of our garden.  We ended up with a bunch of carrots, peas, beans, peppers, and some butternut squashes.  We also had some tomatos, but not as many as we would have liked.  We were excited how much we got considering we just kind of threw it together while we were doing all the other landscaping.

Gabby's Birthday

Gabby turned two!  I have to admit I was pretty sad at the thought of my baby leaving babyhood, but I'll survive.  She got a baby doll that she loves very much.  In fact she has about six or seven babies lined up on her bed each night that she takes care of.  She loves pink and declares anything pink "my pink" and says it is hers.  She had a nice birthday and loves her new pink clothes and is such a girly girl at this point in her life. We love our Gabby!!

Halloween 2010

I feel ridiculous posting these so late, but better late than never.  For Halloween, Emma was Medusa's head on a table (at least for the picture, she quickly ditched the table like I told her she probably would, but she insisted.)  Ben was a ninja.  Eliza was a bat.  Gabby was a giraffe, and Gideon was batman.  Batman was elusive though and I somehow missed taking a picture of him.  Next time I'll have to call up Peter Parker to take one for me.

Jedi Ben is 9!

Ben turned 9 and had a Star Wars birthday party.  We did a modified Jedi Training Academy with ideas I had found on the Internet.  The boys wore "jedi" tunics and we colored Darth Maul and decorated goodie bags with crayons and stickers.  Then the boys tested their jedi abilities by rolling ball down the stairs while trying to hit Star Wars Action figures. We then did lightsaber training with lightsabers I got at the dollar store. We also hit the death star pinata, which the kids actually took pieces of home.  A couple boys actually used their jedi costumes as Halloween costumes at the ward party, so I think the party was a success.

Ben's Millennium Falcon Cake

Where to start?--catch up time

Well my hiatus is over and I need to get back to documenting our lives.  Here is a summary of October:

At the beginning of October, Gideon, Gabby, Prika and I went to a pumpkin patch in Colorado with our church playgroup.  We were able to choose pumpkins, had a hayride, and roasted hot dogs for lunch.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the nice weather.  Prika got along with everybody and we had fun playing with our friends.

In October we finished soccer season (big sigh from Jenn).  With four playing and Dan coaching Emma's team, it was a long six weeks.  The kids all had a blast and all played really well. I'm just not sure I can handle another season, but we are already signed up for next spring, so we'll see how that works out. 

One Saturday in October we went to the temple, and on our way back we stopped at a corn maze.  WE went to a different one last year and like it better, but this year we had Prika with us and didn't want to leave her alone all day, so we went to this one.  We had fun getting lost in the maze.  We did it twice.  The first time we went through in about 45 minutes or so.  We decided to go in a different way the second time and had "help" from other maze people and it took us about an hour.  we still had fun though.  They had a couple of playsets from a playset selling place set up and some blow up thingies that the kids really enjoyed. They also had some animals there that the kids liked seeing.  It was fun, but I think we'll go back to Anderson Farms next year.  They just had more to do.

Prika's Home

 Our puppy came to live with us on Tuesday.  Alex, her breeder, had just given her her first vaccinations and it was a bumby ride from his house, so she was really nervous.  She was pretty anxious most of the day, but was starting to calm down after the kids went to bed. Wednesday she was better and she seems even better today.  So hopefully she'll get used to living with all of us humans and no other dogs.

 We decided to name her Prika, which is short for Paprika.  She loves to chew on her toys. We keep her crate on the main floor of our house and she takes her naps there. She also retreats when she has had enough of the kids, or I'll put here in there when she has had enough of them. She seems to be doing okay with house training.  We watch for her signals and put her out when she needs to go.

It's a Girl!

No, we're not having another human baby, but after much deliberation, we are adding another member to the family. A guy Dan works with has a dog that had puppies and he offered one to us. She is a little girl and is a treeing cur--a kind of cross breeded hunting dog.

Her mom and dad are about 40 pounds, so we think she'll be around that size.

Her mom

Her Dad

When we took these pictures she was two weeks old. She will be ready to leave her mom around October 11th.

Her brothers and Sisters

We had fun holding and playing with the puppies, but I think we wore them out. We are trying to name her and we are very open to suggestions. So far we have come up with: Paprika, Esperanza, Ardilla (squirrel is Spanish), Daisy and Annabeth.

Back to School

The kids started school a couple of weeks ago, but I'm just catching up on blogging.Emma is in 5th, Ben 3rd, Eliza 2nd.  The bus stops in front of our house since we live on a corner, which is really nice. There are 3-6 other kids there as well as ours, so it is fun to meet some of our neighbors.

Eliza is 7!!

Eliza turned 7 and had a bug themed birthday party before school started. We were able to invite some of her best friends. She had a Preying Mantis cake:

played pin the antenna on the grass-hopper

 

she had a blue beetle pinata

I think everybody had a fun time, and Eliza enjoyed sharing her birthday with everyone.

Summer Update

We have been so busy this summer that I haven't had a chance to blog.  We did two more camping trips--one in July to Vedauwoo and one in August to Rocky Mountain National Park. Near the end of July we went to Oregon for a week and a half and saw Dan's family for a family reunion. We really enjoyed seeing everybody there.  Then we went and spent the weekend with my Dad and Claudia in Portland. My brother Rich, and his wife, Heather, and their kids also were there. So we had another mini-reunion. Soccer started at the end of August (we have four playing, so that is our life until it's over). We lost the charger on the camera, so pictures are sparse. But here are some highlights:

 Paddleboarding at a local park.

Here we are at the Historic Governor's Mansion with Grandma Pam when she visited us.

Fun with cousins!

Hiking at Vedauwoo