The Juice Box

A couple more things from 1st Grade

2011-09-05T16:35:00.001-07:00

As the school year was wrapping up Cole received another award from his teacher, this one for citizenship. (He's sporting his awesome SC jacket that I love.)

And then, I was so lucky to get to be one of the chaperones for Cole's class on their field trip to the zoo. I loved going with them!!!
Here's Cole on the bus with his best friend.

The kids were so funny. For the first half of the day they were constantly asking when they could eat lunch.

They were just so hot and hungry.

They were so happy for lunch time. The second half of the day their question changed to, "Is it time to go home yet?" So funny.

Here's Cole with some of his class. His teacher is on the end. We have loved her so much. She was a wonderful teacher to Cole.

Baby Carter

2011-09-05T16:13:00.001-07:00

Also back in May, my sister Emily had her 6th baby. She had a little boy named Carter. Cole and Luke loved getting to meet him when he was about a week old.

Cole's birthday (celebration #4)

2011-09-05T15:17:00.001-07:00

Our last celebration was at my parents' house. My mom made cupcakes and I made little flags of different countries to stick in them. Cole loves looking at flags from different places so he was very happy with his cupcakes.

Cole's cousins were so sweet to make birthday cards for him and bring little gifts for him.

And Cole was thrilled to get some more geography puzzles. He was very happy to sing some of his countries of the world songs for everyone as well. He now has memorized the names of every country in the world, what continent they are found on, what they look like, and where they are in relation to each other.

Cole's birthday (celebration #3)

2011-09-05T14:19:00.001-07:00

Cole had been asking for a while to have a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. It ended up being a lot of fun! Cole invited 5 friends to come along and they all had a great time burning through their tokens.
We started with eating pizza but the kids were pretty antsy and didn't take long eating.

Onto the games.

Cole and his good friend Reo.

Our hostess gave Cole a birthday medallion that he thought was pretty cool.

Then Chuck E. Cheese made an appearance and helped sing happy birthday to Cole.

Being the birthday boy, Cole got to spend a minute in the ticket blaster machine and try to catch as many tickets as possible. When it was over, he had a ton of tickets and got some pretty cool prizes.

We ended the party with some chocolate cake.

Family Reunion 2011

2011-09-05T12:05:00.001-07:00

Cole was so lucky to have his actual birthday land on the first day of the family reunion in St. George. He got to have another little (or not so little) celebration with tons of cousins and aunts and uncles.

It was so nice of Aunt Rebecca to have a birthday cake there for Cole and also for his aunt Melaina who's birthday was the following day.

The family reunion was so much fun as always. A lot of time was spent at the air hockey table by both Cole and Luke.

I was just tickled by these two. Luke and Olivia are both 3 and seemed to really be enjoying each others company on this particular afternoon.

Luke was such a fan of Riley during the reunion. All day long he wanted to follow him and would constantly ask me, "Where's Riley?".

Making and eating smores.

And sometimes it was fun just having a cousing spin you around in one of these chairs.

Spent lots of time in the pool.

The boys were so excited to get to have the attic as our "bedroom". They loved having their own little beds to sleep in.

Breanne was the photographer and took the most beautiful pictures of everyone.

She was so generous to do a photo shoot of each family.

And last but not least, our Lukey.

Cole's birthday (celebration #1)

2011-09-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

Cole turned 7 this year. Somehow he ended up having a few different parties. The first was a small celebration the evening before his birthday with just his mom and dad and brother. We had donuts (which has kinda become our tradition--making a whole cake for just the four of us isn't really necessary.) And then he opened his presents from us and both of his grandma's.

One of his gifts from Grammy Susie was a pillow pet. It's a brown bear that Cole named "Penny". He loves Penny so much.

One of his presents from Grandma Suzanne was the complete second season of Avatar: the last airbender. Our family loves this crazy, silly cartoon.

And Clay thought it would be fun for Cole to have his own bow and arrow. A nearby park has an archery area with haystacks and targets that anyone can go practice on.

We sure love our 7 year old!

Stake Fair

2011-07-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

So these pictures are from back in May, I think.

Our stake is so fun! Every year they have a fair for all the kids and we hadn't checked it out in years past, so we made it a point not to miss it this year. The boys had so much fun with the assortment of bounce houses and slip in slides. I especially loved seeing them on the pony ride.

Just some pics. from Easter

2011-06-26T00:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, slowly but surely catching up, just two months behind.
We had a lovely Easter doing all the traditional things. First the boys found their Easter baskets. One of Cole's gifts was the 5th Harry Potter movie that he and Clay have been reading

And among Luke's little goodies was a light saber

We did an egg hunt out front

And then dyed some eggs. When I told Luke we would be dying eggs he said, "But then they won't be alive!" Funny boy.

Luke's 3rd Birthday

2011-06-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Luke is 3 now! His birthday was in April and to celebrate we had a party at my sisters house. It was a combined party for Luke and his twin cousin, Connor, and cousin Ben who was turning 4 that month.

The kids were so excited to play in the spider-man bounce house

But Luke preferred playing upstairs with some of Ben's toys.

We had a batman pinata

and then it was on to opening presents. Among his gifts was a big stuffed alligator that turns into a sleeping bag which he has slept with every night since.

Cakes never turn out how I plan them too, and this one ended up being a superman cape.

Ready to blow out the candles.

Luke finally warmed up to the idea of jumping in the bounce house.

And once it was time to leave, it was hard to get him and Cole off :)

Coach Pitch

2011-06-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

Cole really enjoyed playing coach pitch this spring. He did a great job playing for the Diamondbacks!
(The day before these pictures, he had a spill on his bike, hence the nose injury. When I checked out his nose a little while later and said, "Oh Cole, your poor nose", he said back shamefully, "I know, it's the British Isles".)

Here he is with his good buddy Bennett.

Playing ball...

Coming home

So proud of his trophy. Go D-Backs!

St. Patrick's Day 2011

2011-06-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Clay has been so into holidays this year. On the morning of St. Patrick's Day, Clay had fun green hats and beads set out on the table for the boys.

He also put together a treasure hunt for them. Here they are looking for the next clue.

At the end were little paper treasure boxes filled with gold nuggets.

Luke loved wearing his green bowler hat to the school that day and getting lots of attention from the other kids.

We ended the day with green eggs and ham. Pretty silly.

A costume party?

2011-06-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

Okay so Clay's birthday was in March. We celebrated his 34th at his parents house immediately following the talent show (in the previous post).

For his birthday, he wanted the kids to have some gifts too. So he ordered some really fun costumes for them. Here they are:

Buzz Lightyear

Dobby, everyone's favorite house elf (complete with pillow-case shirt)

And Harry Potter.

Just a little chicken

2011-06-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

Oh to be faithful in keeping a blog. The hours usually reserved for blogging (8:00-11:00 pm) have a way of turning into sleepy time or catching up on reality tv time. Anyway, I'm not giving up and I'm hoping to spit out a few more posts tonight.

So back in March was the elementary school's talent show. Cole wanted to participate again this year and he and Clay actually had his act all planned out months in advance. He sang a song in Spanish called, "Los Pollitos" which means "the little chickens". It's a cute little song about a momma hen taking care of her baby chicks.

We were so happy to have my mom, my grandma, my sister and her boy, and Clay's parents come up this way to watch his performance. Cole did a great job and his costume was a show stopper in itself.

Something I want to remember about this night is how happy Cole was afterwards. He was so pleased with his performance and having his family there, and especially excited that we were going straight to grandma and grandpa's house for the weekend immediately following the show. ON the walk from the auditorium to the car, he was bursting with joy. He said things like, "Mommy, I'm just so happy. I just don't know what to do, like seriously, what am I going to do, I'm so happy. I'm gonna explode!" He's always a happy kid but this was beyond happy. He was completely elated and it was so fun to see.

"I'll take geography for 500 Alex"

2011-04-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

(Ok warning, the level of bragginess in this post may be unbearable). Anyway, it all started when, well, it's hard to say when it all started. It was probably around the time that we checked out this atlas from the library.

Cole loved looking at the maps inside and spent large amounts of time doing just that. And started enjoying drawing some of the places, especially the good ol' U.S.

For Christmas we got him an interactive US map which he also loved. And again he spent lots of time looking at it and hearing the information about the various states.
At this point, I thought he would enjoy learning a song (that my little bro. taught me when I was like, 10) that recites all the states in alphabetical order. As expected, he loved learning this song.

So with all this love of the states going on, I got curious. And one day, a few months ago, I asked Cole if he would like to have a blank map of the United States and see how many states he could fill in. I didn't know exactly how he would do, because aside from the song, I didn't spend any time teaching him anything about the states, and he hadn't been learning about it in school.

I was totally blown away when he wrote in all but three states on his first attempt.

And I loved the way he spelled some of the states. Like "Tenisy" for Tennessee.

After the blank map game, he decided it was the best game ever and the next time we visited my family, he gave all the grown-ups a blank map to fill in. He LOVED grading all the grown-ups work!

The love of geography continued to expand as Cole learned all the U.S. capitals from a song. Learning this song was followed by learning the president's of the United States song. And as far as the first song he learned, the alphabetical one, because of that song, he can name all the states in alphabetical order in under 30 seconds.

He's looking more outside the US now and learning songs that list the nations of the world. It cracks me up when he makes comments like, "Mommy, that chipped paint is shaped like Lisutu" but then a few days later he says, "actually I got mixed up, it's actually shaped like Luxembourg and Lisutu is more shaped like Maine". He loves to ask me or any grown-up, "Do you want me to name as many countries as I can from (fill in the continent)?" He will then list the names of countries that I surely have never heard of.

But even just our planet is not enough. Cole has expanded to studying the solar system and beyond. Last week he composed a song about the solar system, and with Clay's help, made it into a music video. These are his lyrics:
Mercury you'd think would be the hottest
Because Venus is the hottest one you see
After that comes Earth, the home to all of us
And then along come Mars with two moons uncircular.
(musical interlude)
After that comes Jupiter with the Trojans
Then along comes Saturn with the beautifulest of rings
Uranus the sideways
And Neptune, by my opinion it would be the coldest.
(musical interlude)
Ceres in the asteroid belt and then
Pluto once considered as a planet
Humea eliptical and Makemake
And Eris in the shattered disc region.
(Musical interlude with more verses to come)

Oh, and this picture is an example of what Cole's Sacrament Meeting doodles have been as of late.
We may have a cartographer on our hands.

"i believe in science"

2011-04-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

Cole loves to participate in all things school. So when the science fair came around, with participation being optional, he opted to be a part of the fun. Clay and Cole decided on a mold experiment. For a month we had the pleasure of observing mold growth on bread.
Cole loved attending the science fair and showing his display board to the other kids and especially to his teacher. He waited with bated breath for his teacher to arrive so he could show her his work. He took me aside to where no one else could hear us and said, "Do you know why it's so important to me for Ms. Biederman to see my experiment?...Because she's my favorite teacher". He had to take me aside for this so that none of the other teachers would hear and have their feelings hurt. He is always overly cautious about others hearing something that could be hurtful, like when he waited til we were across the street from the school to tell me about the janitor, "Mommy, I loathe Mr. Ross. He never lets us eat our fill at lunch time".
Anyway, here's Cole with his project:

got your goat

2011-04-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

(another adventure back in February) We hadn't been to the zoo in a really long time, and I wasn't sure that Luke even had any recollection of ever going to the zoo, so we decided to go on a fun family outing to look at some animals.

Cole always loved climbing in these caves. Luke was too scared to explore because it's so dark in there.

Luke enjoyed viewing most of the animals from Daddy's shoulders.

Trying to take a picture of Luke in front of the zebras.

Cole in front of his favorite animal, giraffes. (Although the giraffes are really blending in in this picture.)

We stopped by the petting zoo. Luke was just not sure what he thought of all the goats. There was one goat in particular that was especially aggressive. For a while, it was following Cole all over and Cole was getting really nervous about it. In the end they both enjoyed brushing this nice, relaxed goat.

Red Velvet

2011-04-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

Valentine's Day was so lovely. My boys made me feel so loved. They gave me this beautiful gift.

I loved the card that Cole wrote for me. "Here are some delicious cupcakes" written his own way.

WOW! Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were so delicious! I then found out that the recipe Clay and the boys used, actually made 100 mini red velvet cupcakes! So we enjoyed spreading some valentine cheer by dropping off plates of cupcakes to neighbors.

We ended the day with a red dinner.

Princess Jasmine

2011-04-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

When baby sister Katie was little, she prefered to be addressed as Princess Jasmine. She was such a fan of the movie Aladdin and would love to recite lines from it in Jasmine's voice, like,
"How dare you! All of you! Standing around deciding my future! I am not a prize to be won!"
She was very dramatic. Now that she's older, she's still dramatic. And she's found her prince.
Katie got married in January (oops, guess I'm a little behind on posting) to Ryan. It was such a wonderful way to start 2011! The ceremony was beautiful and so were the bride and groom :)
My sister-in-law Breanne was their photographer and I got to just follow her around videotaping everything on my little camcorder.
Here's a tiny bit of footage of their first moments as husband and wife:

I need my family to email me more of the pictures, so for now, I just have a few.
Here are all the siblings

And here are my little men

Lots more pics at breannelarsonphotography.blogspot.com

Christmas Break 2010

2011-01-12T21:10:00.000-08:00

The first few days of Cole's winter break were spent inside, doing nothing aside from trying to stay dry and warm. It rained and rained.
So it was such a relief when the rains ended and my sister Amanda invited us to go to legoland with her and her little boy, Connor. Here's Luke and Connor checking out the map.

Riding the train.

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Marveling at the amazing lego creations.

Cole loved it too. Here he is in front of New Orleans.

Had to get a picture with Hagrid.

Feeling great peddling along on this ride.

The next day was Christmas Eve. We had a wonderful get-together with all of my mom's family. I was in charge of helping the kids do a live nativity. Very low key, but I loved it! (It's hard to tell, but Luke was the "star".)

All the mexican food was delicious (the treats were great too!)

There were two white elephant gift exchanges, one for grown-ups and one for the kids. Here are the kids ready to start passing gifts around.

We went back home that night and woke up the next morning to find Santa had eaten his cookies, and his reindeer were mighty hungry too.

Santa also left this letter (ALL of this was Clay's doing) explaining that they were such good boys, that as a special treat he had one of his elves design a magical quest for them, and if they were successful, their Christmas presents would magically appear under the tree.

Along with Santa's letter was another letter, this one from the elf who would be guiding them on their quest. This letter explains that there are 7 noble feats they must accomplish, each one helping a magical creature living nearby.

The letter also explained that this Christmas sparkle and these two wands were needed for their mission.

They were also provided with a map.

Here's Cole and Luke ready to help out some magical creatures.

Most of these creatures lived at this park. Here, they did a magic spell to help a troll living under this bridge.

Here, they helped some pixies. Clay kept himself hidden at all of our stops, but always close enough so that the boys could hear the sound effects coming from his laptop (sense the elf had said that the boys would be able to hear the magical creatures but not see them.)

Well, as you can imagine, the boys were successful in their 7 noble feats and had just enough magic left from their Christmas sparkle to make their presents appear. When they got back home, their presents were all under the tree and there was a note of congratulations from the elf.

Luke was very happy to get his Buzz Lightyear. It was the only thing he asked for this year. Also, I had to get him these wings because he is constantly pretending that he has buzz wings anyway.

Cole is so into maps lately. I searched everywhere to find him something fun and map-like.

We also added to our pet family. We got the boys a snake, which Cole has named Peter. Peter is a baby corn snake and he loves us very much. I regret I don't have a picture of him yet.
The next day, we had a wonderful time at another Christmas celebration, this time with Clay's family. Afterward, we got to spend a couple days with Clay's parents. The boys loved playing with Grandma's new toys,

and walking around the harbor,

and spotting some seals,

and poking at sea anemones with sticks to try to get them to close up,

and Cole insisted on walking to the very very very end of the jetty. We had such a great, relaxing time! Thanks for having us Suzanne!

Once we were back home again, Clay still had several days off work. It was so much fun to have him around all day! We enjoyed so many outings with him like going to see Tangled (which was fantastic)

going out to the yogurt shop--one of those where you serve yourself and pay by the ounce. This place has only been open for about a year but I don't know what this town did before it existed. We love coming here!

Took the boys to the indoor playgound. Luke was the perfect age for this, Cole not so much but he was a good sport.

For Christmas we got year passes to Magic Mountain, so we had to go try it out. Here's Cole and Luke doing some driving.

Luke loves this room where you can shoot balls and vacuum them up.

Cole enjoyed being on stage during this looney toons show.

It was so cold outside! But the boys didn't mind at all. We had so much fun. And I think these magic mountain passes are gonna make 2011 pretty sweet!
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Sad book worms

2011-01-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, Cole and I started reading the Harry Potter books. I love them passionately, and Cole got completely hooked on the series as well.
The first book is so much fun, getting introduced to the wizarding world.

Second book is another great adventure, light and fun.

Third book, super thrilling, more intense

Fourth book is many readers' favorite. But this is where Cole and I ran into some trouble, around page 700 or so. A death. When I read the words to him, "(blank)was dead", he was in shock for about 10 seconds, and then began to cry. He said he was done with Harry Potter. And that was it.
Luckily, part of him missed the nightly ritual of reading HP and after a week he needed another dose of it. And we did only have a few chapters left after all. So we were able to finish the fourth book with some mixed feelings from Cole. But I think he had mostly positive feelings about the book by the time we finished.

Although book five is available to him, he has opted to take a breather. I thought the novelization of Toy Story 3 would be a nice light read. But I was blind sided. I wasn't expecting to have an emotional reaction to this book, but I read the last chapter to Cole mostly through tears. And when I got to this line,

"But Woody knew that the most special part was that it was the last time he'd ever get to play with Andy",

I had to have Clay come and take over reading because I couldn't even choke out the words. We're a bunch of crazies over here huh?

Family Pictures

2011-01-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, Breanne took some family pictures of us. I know she must be tired of my gushing over her, but I can't help it. She is such an amazing photographer! So talented! She did my sister's engagement and wedding pictures also and holy cow, the pictures are unbelievable.
But for now, here's our little family (that many of you may have already seen on fb)

This post is also a small tribute to Cole, and to better explain my thoughts about him I have to talk about a movie. I saw "Mr. Holland's Opus" about 15 years ago when it first came out. I loved it then and still love it. For those of you who have seen this film you'll remember that Mr. Holland dedicates and sings the song "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon to his son, Cole. That scene is so touching, and now as a mom of two boys, calling a boy "beautiful" is so poignant. That's exactly what little boys are. And of course, I love when Mr. Holland ends the song with, "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Cole". Oh, it's just too much. Cole has become my beautiful Cole.
I love how he loves us. It was not at all surprising to hear him say to me the other day, "Oh my dearest darling mother, you are an angel descended from above". I love how close he feels to Heavenly Father. He told us last week that he has decided to start saying prayers before he eats his lunch at school and that he did so that day. He bore his testimony for the first time last month. He practiced for weeks beforehand and when he got up to speak it wasn't the generic primary testimony you usually hear. I love how he will not let us skip FHE, ever! Clay helps him prepare every lesson and he loves writing out FHE lesson plans, or as he calls it, his agenda. I love how he loves music, and will sing for anyone anytime no matter how large the crowd. Also, he is the only child I know of who has "humble days". These began because he was constantly shooting down our praise for him, saying things like, "No, I'm not the best, you are the best, I'm the worst". I wanted him to start accepting compliments by simply saying, "Thank you". He held firm to his belief that it's better to be humble so we compromised. Half the days of the week are "humble days" where he can disagree with praise for him, the other days are called, "thank you days" where he just has to say thank you when he's given compliments.
I could go on and on, but I'll stop here for now. I love both, no wait, all three of my beautiful boys!

Wedding #1

2011-01-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

For months we have been looking forward to two weddings in the family. In December the first wedding came. The beautiful bride was my cousin Alexa. She and her husband Christian were married in the SD temple.

The newlyweds

My grandpa Tommy and grandma Lyla

My uncle Jimmy (and father-of-the-bride) with his 3 other gorgeous daughters.

Then onto the reception for some dancing (Luke and cousin Annie)

And some relaxing

And pictures with the bride.

And among the guests was this couple, baby sister Katie and her fiance Ryan (wedding #2, which I shall get to later).

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Clay's family. We went to his parents house and enjoyed a delicious feast. It was so nice to have a couple of Clay's brothers there along with their little families. Breanne provided a Thanksgiving coloring page and crayon turkeys for each of the kids to keep them entertained until it was time to eat.

Here's the kids feasting.

School Days

2011-01-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

Here is Cole's school picture for this year that I love!

And here is Cole at the awards assembly (back in November) where he received the Principle's Award for...diversity. We were a little unsure about what this award meant exactly, but at the assembly the principle explained that this award was for students who were kind and courteous etc. to everyone.

Also, I have the honor of being the art docent for Cole's class this year. This was our first project inspired by Starry Night.

And here is Van Gogh himself, although in this pic. you can't see the candles glued to the brim of the hat. (Did you know that Van Gogh put candles on his hat so he would have light to paint at night? And passerby would have to tell him if his hat was about to catch fire.) Anyway, I'm definitely enjoying this opportunity to get to be involved in Cole's class.

Halloween on Sunday ain't bad

2010-11-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

I must say it was nice having a quiet, cozy Halloween this year. Since it was Sunday we just stayed inside drinking hot chocolate, eating treats, carving pumpkins, baking seeds, and Cole (with Clay's guidance) made a delicious pumpkin pie! Of course, Luke made sure our Halloween wasn't too dull.

Who do you want to be?

2010-11-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Perhaps no other day forces us to ask ourselves the question, "Who do I want to be?" more than Halloween. The costume options are endless, it's just a matter of finding something that inspires you.

Cole didn't have any trouble deciding to be "Woody" this year. And I think this costume suits him well. We recently saw "Toy Story 3" at the $3.00 theater and in my opinion, it is the best animated film of all time. It so beautifully captured the magic of imaginative childhood play; play that has helped create Cole's very being, his soul, his world! We've been playing a story recently that never ends. Anytime Cole and I have a chance to play he wants to pick up where our story left off. We're only on chapter five, which shows how often we're able to sit down on the bedroom floor with toys, just me and him. It's good that we're pacing oursleves though, as the "chapters" are held to a higher standard than stories Cole and I used to play, say when he was 3. Cole provides a lot of the plot, and amazes me at his ability to incorporate unexpected twists, betrayals, suspense, humor, sentimentality, etc. into the story. Cole is better at adding these components than I am and it takes all my brain power to keep up.

Luke did not really ever have a final decision on what to be for Halloween. Every time we asked him, he would answer something different. To Cole's Halloween parade at school, he dressed in his superman costume. (This is Luke with Cole's buddy, Seth)

I like this picture--"Howdy, little lady!"

Then that night at the Trunk-or-Treat Luke was a lion. But this is just Luke's personality. He is wildly unpredictable and rarely just himself. Throughout the day, I'll mistakenly address him as "Luke", and he'll quickly correct me, no--I'm Buzz, or I'm Superman, or I'm a puppy, or I'm a kitty (said super fast as though it's all one word).

Trunk-or-treatin'

Clay sort of cheated on the dress up thing. For work, he stuck a bloody sword through a couple cereal boxes and carried it around. But I don't think this really reveals anything about his soul.

I didn't dress up. I couldn't think of any good ideas until it was too late...at Cole's Halloween parade I saw the costume, worn by one of the teachers, that made me think to myself, "Ohhhhhh, oh what I would give to wear such a costume as that on this very Halloween. That is who I want to be!" It was Mary Poppins, in all her glory. She even had the umbrella with the bird head handle. Where did she get that I would like to know. The thing is, I wouldn't just love dressing up as Mary Poppins, I would love to be Mary Poppins; beautiful, sweet, practically perfect in every way.

Brothers together...

2010-10-23T23:14:00.000-07:00

Luke's been getting a little scared at night. He told me he wanted me to sleep with him because he was scared. I asked, "What are you scared of?". Luke answered, "I'm scared of anything". Poor sweet little baby. I reminded him that he has big brother Cole right next to him. Then Luke snuggled up so close to Cole that he was practically on top of him.

A while later, I came in to check on them. They were both asleep and snuggled together so sweetly I had to take a picture. (You can also see Luke's favorite stuffed animal that he's been sleeping with every night, "Krystal Fox", and hidden under Cole is his beloved "Teddy".)

I asked Clay if him and his brothers used to cuddle like this :)

Cole made up a little saying that he and Luke both say to each other now:
"Brothers together--be friends forever!"

Mostly swinging on the beach

2010-10-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we went to Clay's parent's house to watch general conference with them. It was delightful as always. And of course we had to take some walks on the beach while we were there.

We certainly weren't expecting to run into this massive thing on the beach. We were all very excited about getting to see it take off into the ocean.

Clay was able to snap some pictures of it going out to sea.

The boys spent a long time on the swings

Messes I love

2010-10-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

I love when cousins come over and have a picnic lunch on the front room floor and then help make dessert by dipping strawberries and raspberries in chocolate (thanks Breanne for the tip) and end up wearing a lot of it

and get little tiny orange and yellow punch-out foamie circles all over the carpet from making candy corn people

and leave behind hand-made costumes from their perfomance and taping of "The Three Little Pigs"

and print off picture after picture of coloring pages that they color so carefully and then write across the top, "To Amy, Love" followed by their name.

We were fortunate enough to have Cole's cousins and my sister over last week to spend the day with us, along with my mom and grandma. We had so much fun with them! After we were done making our messes, we all went to In n out by the airport to welcome my cousin and her husband who had just flown in from Texas. It was great to get to see them, even for just a short time.

And I sure hope these little guys will come visit us again soon. I was seriously so sad to put away the sweet messes from our fun day together.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2010-10-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, time just keeps on ticking, and life just keeps on moving and changing. Here's a couple of recent changes in my family:

My sister, Emily, is expecting! This amazing woman will be the mommy of 6 children!

And, this baby sister, Katie, is getting married in January (in this dress)! This was only the second dress she tried on and she fell in love with it!

Darn it--I had to delete the picture. Katie doesn't want her guy to accidently see her dress before the big day. (Although I'm sure he doesn't spend his time catching up on my blog).

This Speaketh to my Soul!

2010-09-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind the times. My sister Stephy had recommended this video a long time ago, and I have just recently become obsessed with it (especially love from 3:15 on). This is Jon Schmidt, best pianist/composer on the planet!

The Fantastic Four

2010-09-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

Brayden

Brodee

Cole

Luke

These four boys have spent soooo much time together over the last two years! They have had COUNTLESS play dates! We have loved all the fun outings to the park, the beach, the movies, and even California Adventure. And we have loved their sweet mom, Jaime, who has been the most wonderful friend to me!!!!

So how sad for us...a few weeks ago Brayden and Brodee moved away...far away...to the other side of the country! And they took their parents with them too.

We miss them so much! Have fun on your new adventure guys!

Unashamed

2010-09-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

I knew Cole had been taking a framed photo of me and him to school everyday. I had assumed that he was keeping it in his backpack, just to peek on every now and then. But a couple weeks ago when I had to go into his classroom and sign him out in the middle of the school day, there it was sitting atop his desk, angled towards him, for the whole class to see. I then realized that this picture had been lovingly displayed there EVERYDAY! He is not ashamed of his love for his mother. Bless his sweet little heart!

Just for Kicks

2010-09-21T20:45:00.001-07:00

Cole started his first season of soccer a few weeks ago. His team name is the Green Swords but he was pushing for the name the Green Craniums. Oh well. On opening day there was a banner parade where all the teams walked down the track with their banner. It was super early in the morning and TONS of people were there, although not a very good showing from Cole's team. Cole loved the parade and LOVED learning all the funny names for the other teams like Super Sonic Killer Bees, and Grass Stains and Toxic Waste.

This is Cole at his first game, taking an orange slice break. He's really happy to be trying out soccer this year. His only struggle is losing focus on the game! He very easily starts daydreaming. I was telling him today to only think about the ball: Cole, you want the ball, you want to destroy it, you want to KILL IT WITH YOUR FOOT! Poor kid, he just doesn't have one competitive bone in his body. He seems to be having a good time though, so that's all that I care about.

Luke is enduring soccer season as best he can. We always bring Luke's ball so he can practice soccer too, but he usually prefers wandering around or picking some random spot of gound to lie on.

Who's IN first?

2010-08-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

Here's Cole on his first day of first grade. Today went so well! He loves his teacher! She is 100% sweetness! I could care less if she teaches well or challenges him or inspires him, just as long as she's NICE! He's done his time with a strict teacher, so we're all happy for this change of pace.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

2010-08-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful last weekend of summer vacation with Clay's parents. We enjoyed nice walks on the beach and down the peir, and playing in the sand. It was actually a bit too cold to play in the water so we were content just getting our feet wet. However, when Cole and I were walking down the jetty, we stopped and sat down on the rocks for a bit and Cole was in just the right spot to get soaked by an unexpected and gigantic wave. Sorry Cole!

Cole walked with Grandma all the way down the peir singing songs to her,

and still wasn't done singing when we got to the end.

And then there's our cutie Lukey.

Thanks for a great weekend!

Beautiful Savior

2010-08-23T07:42:00.001-07:00

This post could also be called "fingerprints on the tv screen", so please excuse those. For some reason we always use this spot as our "stage" at home. Anyway, Cole was asked to sing in sacrament meeting yesterday and he sang this solo. We were so proud of him! I love this little boy!

Untitled from Amy Larson on Vimeo.

We were so glad these wonderful people could come to church with us!

Cole loved getting to spend a little time with cousin Spencer!

Do you speak Parseltongue?

2010-08-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for this time for so long. Ever since Cole was born I have been dreaming of the day......when I could read Harry Potter to him!!!!!!! I know my sister-in-laws have read them to their kids and I was always so anxious for when I could read them to Cole and he would be able to appreciate them. We started the first book last week and we have been loving it! I love the world of Harry Potter. As many of you know, the beginning of the first book talks about a trip to the reptile house where Harry unintentionally causes the protective glass to disappear from a snake exhibit. This is where he first discovers that he is able to communicate with snakes, meaning he speaks parseltongue.

Perhaps if I could talk to snakes, it would come in handy while we "babysit" this baby corn snake. Maybe then I could tell him to catch his own mouse outside instead of having to store some in the freezer! Yikes! He feeds on Thursday's and today being Thursday I had to thaw and serve a tiny pinkie mouse to this guy.

He'll only be here for a couple of weeks while some friends are out of town. But seriously, aside from the mice, we love this snake. It is like therapy holding it and watching it move and slither over your hand. We're thinking we'll get one maybe for Cole for Christmas. Maybe we could find one that's a vegetarian.

Off the Waiting List

2010-08-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

At the library here, kids sign up for a turn to display a collection in the display case in the children's room. We have enjoyed seeing the different collections displayed each month and finally, after two years on the waiting list, we got an email saying it was Cole's turn. He was so excited to diplay his Cars toys at the library!

A little Shakespeare

2010-08-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

There's a lady in our ward, Courtney, who is soooo sweet and knows about any and all children's activities in the area. She told us about a free activity at a nearby park called "Shakespeare for Young People". Cole had a great time. The guys in charge were so nice and started with doing all kinds of voice warm-ups that actors do before going on stage. Then they divided up into groups and each group had to put together a skit using only three words. It was so fun to watch!

This is Cole's group rehearsing.

Luke was a pretty good sport.

The zoo actually used to be here so the kids had fun afterwards exploring what used to be bear caves.

There was also a gigantic playground that we couldn't pass by.

Us

2010-08-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

We visited my parents this weekend and my dad wanted to do an impromptu family photo. I sure love my little family!

A Few Things About Cole

2010-08-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

Clay's mom used to read him this book when he was a kid. Several months ago, his mom was looking to pass it along to someone so we were fortunate enough to become the new owners of this book. I knew Clay enjoyed these stories long ago, but we both had no idea how they would take hold of Cole's imagination. He loves this book! He loves to read the stories over and over. He loves to teach the stories to anyone who will listen. He loves explaining how all the various titans and gods and heroes all interconnect; who's married to who, who their children are, and who turned into what, and what powers they have. When he's not reading these stories, he likes to just daydream about them. He's borderline obsessed with greek mythology.

So when we heard about the book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, we knew it would be the perfect read after learning all the greek myths. We loved reading this book with Cole and Cole loved it too! The movie was alright, pretty different from the book, but still fun. We highly recommend the first book, The Lightening Thief.
At the beginning of summer, Clay ordered some John Thompson beginning piano books for Cole so I could start teaching him. It's been so fun going through the little songs with him. At first he was a little indifferent about the whole idea but went along with it. That was back in June. Here we are just a couple months later and he's saying, "I'm addicted to the piano". It's nice that he has another activity that he can do by himself when Luke has my attention. (Oh and a little side note: that's not dirt in his fingernails. It's berry juice:)

And his latest news is that he just lost his very first tooth. Hooray for gaps!

Clay

2010-08-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to compose a post about him in my head for a few weeks, it being our anniversary recently and all. But I just can't seem to fit all my thoughts together in a nice flowing way. So maybe I'll let Clay speak for himself, or let his actions speak for themselves by giving a sort of "day in the life" type of thing.

Clay is an early bird. Many mornings he wakes up at 4:00 to exercise on the eliptical. Crazy to wake up that early, but he doesn't want exercising to interfere with his family time after work. Luke's been waking up super early lately, so Clay takes care of him until 6:00, gets him breakfast, and then catches the train to work.

Clay loves work. He always has. I have NEVER heard him complain that he doesn't want to go to work. Instead when I ask him about his workday he says things like, "Yeah, I got a new project today that's pretty interesting"...or "I went to this really cool meeting today where they talked about..." or "yeah, this new assignment should be fun." He calls me at lunch time to check up on me. About every couple of weeks during his lunch break, he'll walk over to the public library(which has a much larger selection of children's books than the one here) and walk back to work with a backpack stuffed to capacity with books for Cole and Luke. And if there is ever any treat of any kind at work, he saves his share and brings it home to me.

On his way home from work, he listens to general conference on his MP3 player. Once he's home, we all quickly have dinner and then move on to the evening routine. Clay takes Luke, because he is more challenging, and lets me work with Cole, which is a breeze. From 6:30 to 8:00 he switches stimulating activities with Luke every 5 minutes or so. They study a little, play, study, sing, study, play again, etc.

Then the boys are in bed and he packs his lunch and sets out his clothes for the next day (which, by the way, he has a very sophisticated system of knowing which combination of dress shirt, pants and tie to wear each day of the week).

On his days off, the kids wake up bright and early and he gets up and says to me, "What time do you want me to wake you up, Love?" I'll sleep for another hour or so, but if I told him to wake me up at noon, he would totally go along with it. I do try to keep things fair though, so when he has some free time to himself to do whatever he wants, he works on learning projects for the kids. He loves to make charts for them, print off pictures, find cool web sites for them, compile learning materials, etc. His project this Saturday was making Spanish labels for the kids to put on different things in the house.

Every weekend since school has ended, he comes up with some fun, new outing to do as a family. He's just...crazy about us! We are his hobby, his interest, his fun. That pretty much sums it all up.

I love him more than anything! He is my absolute best friend in the world!

Seven Years

2010-08-07T19:15:00.001-07:00

Mine and Clay's anniversary was on the 25th of July. We have been married for seven years. Here is where our journey started, on our wedding day, in California. I was 19 and Clay was 25.

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and leave for New Orleans. Clay would be attending Tulane to work on a Masters/PhD in anthropology.

We arrived in New Orleans. There was lots to see.

Our first apartment was uptown. It was student housing but a bit of a walk to get to campus.

At the end of the semester, we moved into the basement apartment of this beautiful uptown house. We spent a lot of time upstairs with our awesome landlords!

Downstairs was nice too.

When summer break came, we flew to Queltzaltenango, Guatemala, more often called Xela. This is the view from the roof of the school we lived in.

Inside the school, eating with the spanish students.

Mid-way through summer, we moved further up into the mountains to the small village of Santa Catarina Ixtuahacan.

At the end of summer, we had a flight to go back to New Orleans, but had to cancel it because of the hurricane. We were lucky to get to live with Clay's parents for this semester. This is the only picture I have of all of us at their house, and it's in the back yard. Clay was lucky to get to finish his course work at SDSU.

The following semester, we went back to New Orleans, but we couldn't move back into our awesome basement apartment that we loved so much. It was flooded pretty good.

Instead, we moved into a great apartment off of St. Charles in the garden district of New Orleans.

At the end of the semester, Clay found out that he would get to study K'iche at the University of Chicago for the summer. Here's Clay and Cole by Lake Michigan.

We loved living in this small, IKEA furnished apartment. It had a great view of downtown Chicago.

For the fall semester, we drove back down to New Orleans, and stayed in our friends apartment while they were on a medical rotation. (Here Cole is pretending to be the lion king.)

It had a nice little back yard.

Halfway through the semester, we moved into this "creole cottage". It was soooo fun. We were right next to the french quarter.

And the mississippi.

Then we moved into my parent's house for a semester while we prepared for what was supposed to be a year in Guatemala.

At the beginning of summer we flew back to Guatemala. We only stayed for a month...instead of a year...but that's another story...

Not knowing what to do with ourselves, now that Clay's career as an anthropologist was on hold indefinitely, we stayed with Clay's parents for a couple months while we figured out a new life plan.

We decided to move to this apartment in Vista, while Clay worked as a long-term substitute teacher. (As you can see, Thomas and Friends was our one constant through a lot of change.) This is also where we lived when Luke joined our family.

During this time, he chose Public Administration as his new passion and USC as his new school.

Now we live on this beautiful street in the cutest little city, with two adorable boys and a job that Clay loves. We've lived here for two years, which is 1 1/2 years longer than we've ever lived anywhere. The nomadic lifestyle has definitely slowed down, but I have a feeling we're still not home yet.

Clay has given us such a great life! He is the most amazing husband. He is all about making me and the boys happy and completely spoils us. Thanks for the journey so far, Clay! Happy anniversary! I love you!

Aren't cousins the best?

2010-07-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

Cole and Luke had so much fun at their cousin Sage's 5th birthday party. This girl has lived soooo far away for way too long, and will now be living a lot closer. Hooray! Her party was at Grandma's house which is a superb location with ocean views and a swimming pool. When we first got there, Cole got to pick out a kite and Luke got to pick out some bubbles. It wasn't super windy outside, but the kites did great and Cole loved it (he's been asking to fly kites for forever).

Opening presents in the cool rec room after a delicious lunch.

Picture with Grandma.

After some swimming, it was time for birthday cake.

Luke keeping his eye on the cake.

After cake the kids had fun playing together with Grandma's toys.

Cole, Blake, and Sage

Fun with cousins

2010-07-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Cole attended "Camp Grammy 2010: Fun in the Sun". My mom had wanted to do something special with the older grandkids while everyone was on summer break, so this is what she came up with. She decided to invite Molly, Annie, Olivia, Ben and Cole to spend a few days at her house with no parents. Cole loved "camping out" at Grammy's. My mom was so sweet to take care of these 5 children and provide them with non-stop entertainment. Of course she did have the help of her assistant camp director, my brother Mikey (what a sport he was!!!). Together, they took the kids to parks, splash pads, on picnics, swimming (night swimming too), museums, out to restaurants and more. My mom always says she isn't crafty, but she even had a craft for them to do.

While Cole was enjoying camp, Luke and I stayed with my sister, Amanda. We had so much fun spending time with her and her little boy Connor. Luke and Connor are such good little buddies.

Amanda got them some matching clothes.

It was fun taking them on little errands.

It was a constant cycle of play, get messy, take a bath. I think they ended up taking at least 3 baths a day!

And one day, when Amanda was out, I couldn't resist staightening Connor's hair. I LOVE his curls, but I was just too curious...

It was super tough because the heat of the straightener was making Connor's head sweaty, which made his hair start curling again. He was so sweet to let his silly aunt mess with his hair.

Thanks for playing with us Connor!

A low-key 4th of July

2010-07-07T21:25:00.001-07:00

This 4th of July was the first in a long time that I didn't feel worn out by the end of the day. It being Sunday, we didn't do a whole lot. Our community had a little celebration at a nearby park, so after church we decided to go for a nice stroll down to the park. We just sat on the grass and watched the high school band perform their songs and enjoyed each other's company.

This Silly Boy

2010-07-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

This boy who likes to go into the fridge, pull out a carrot, and start munching and chomping

also likes to say, "Cheers" anytime he has the same thing as someone else (be it meatballs, or like today, two plastic cows)

and can't resist going into his aunt Katie's jewelry box and modeling its contents

and likes to make hot dog-applesauce surprise

and likes to dress up as half one thing, half another, (in this case, half prince/half baseball player)

and likes to diaper his chimpanzee and take it to the park for the other kids to be amazed by

and INSISTED on wearing these various wrist bands to bed...well this boy's name is Luke.

The Mormon Battalion

2010-07-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Cole's last day of kindergarten came and went and now it's onto summer break!!!! It is such a relief! After we picked him up on his last day of school we headed straight to my parents' house to see their new place. It was so nice relaxing with them and they were so nice to take us to see the newly revamped Mormon Battalion Visitor Center. I highly recommend visiting! The tour is totally geared for little kids and much more "disneyland-esque" (lots of special effects!)

Cole and Luke (with lots of other kids on the tour).

It was great to have my parents there to help keep Luke from wandering all over.

A very heavy musket.

Panning for gold.

You get to keep your two best peices.

The view at the top.

Thanks for the fun outing, Mom and Dad!

Sweet

2010-06-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

I've been telling Clay lately that I really need a treat on Sunday nights, a sort of reward for being a good girl all week. And especially since it's such a relief once primary's over (don't get me wrong, I LOVE my calling!) I just need to indulge on Sunday nights. So today Clay brought home 5 almond Symphony bars, my favorite candy bar. They're not just king size, they're, ya know, that gigantic size. To make sure they last 5 Sundays, I've told Clay he'd better hide them!

Trains

2010-06-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

We went to a train museum this weekend. The boys were mildly impressed. I thought it was a nice way to spend a couple hours. We tried to convince Cole that sometimes it's nice to go see a place, just for the sake of seeing it and being able to say, "Yeah, I've been to that place." Then the whole car ride home, Cole ranked all the places he's been out of 5 stars. Disneyland got 5 stars, and so did his grandma's houses. The train museum got 3 stars.

Luke, waiting for his train ride. (His curls have been buzzed off since this picture.)

On the ride. Notice the watch Luke is wearing. It's Cole's Cars watch, but Luke wore it constantly for about 3 days.

Luke on Clay's shoulders and patting the sides of his face,

still patting Clay's face,

patting too hard (I love the face Clay is making.)

Our last stop, a trolly.

A Spongebob Party

2010-05-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

Spongebob Squarepants! For Cole's 6th birthday we had a Spongebob party. My sister and brother-in-law were so kind to let us have the party in their spacious backyard!

Some of the decor: a banner (that I tried to make in Spongebob font, sort of worked) and Squidward looking thrilled to be at the party,

The pineapple house and Spongebob's pet snail, Gary,

Patrick Star,

Mr. Krabs and the Krusty Krab,

My favorite part of the decorations: the Bikini Bottom Art Gallery with contributions from all of the kiddos.

Once it was party time, Cole had fun greeting all of his guests. Here he is hugging his Great Grandma Lyla.

Clay was the master griller and did a great job grilling up some crabby patties (hamburgers) and chum (hot dogs) for us.

Cole provided some entertainment by performing a few of his favorite Spongebob scenes. Here he's performing "Bubble Stand", saying, "Now it's time to bring it around town..."

Here he's singing the song "To Love a Patty". I love the words: "Oh baby, they may call me a fool..."

Any true Spongebob fan knows that one of Spongebob's favorite things to do is JELLYFISHING!!! (These balloons were supposed to be jellyfish but the streamer legs didn't want to stay on--it was a windy day).

We weren't truly authentic and didn't use nets. I just made a simple fishing pole and found some pretty good prizes to attach to it at Party City for $0.50 each. Here's Lukey fishing for a prize (you'll notice his latest scrape above his lip from a fall on the playground.)

All the kids lined up for the pinata.

Cole taking his turn.

I had to include a picture of this. I asked my sister's husband if he had some rope we could use for the pinata and before I knew it, he was drilling a hole in his roof and attaching pulleys. It was the most sophisticated pinata set up I had ever seen. Thanks Todd!

Getting some candy.

Clay made a Spongebob cake for Cole.

Cole's favorite part: opening his presents. Clay and I got him a new bike (well, new to us) that fits him so much better! My mom had taken Cole earlier that day to make this monkey at build-a-bear. He loves it!

His sweet cousin Molly! She bought him this ball with her tooth fairy money!

It was such a fun day. Thank you all so much for all the wonderful gifts and birthday wishes.

Six-Year-Old

2010-05-31T22:14:00.001-07:00

The morning of Cole's birthday, we woke him up really early so we all could have a little donut party before Clay had to leave for work.

Here's a couple groggy little boys.

Cotton Candy

2010-05-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

Cole's school had it's annual Fun Fair a couple weeks ago. The boys went on a few rides but I think what they were most excited about was the cotton candy.

M.ission P.hinally A.ccomplished

2010-05-16T22:15:00.000-07:00

Clay's graduation was on Friday!!!! He received his second master's and is now officially a Master of Public Administration (MPA). One word keeps going through my mind...

Hallelujah!!!!! I am so happy that he is done with school and that this chapter of our lives can come to a blessed end.

There's the obvious reason for exclaiming "hallelujah" at a time like this: for the first time in almost seven years of marriage, he doesn't have to study.

Then there's the other reason, the main reason: I was beyond devastated, beyond depressed, at the death of Clay's career as an anthropologist. I felt broken when it happened, and I saw no way of ever feeling happy again. Our's was such a sad story. I went on this way, for about 6 months.

It was then that Clay decided city government was his new career goal. He applied to SC and soon had a scholarship in his hands. It was like Heavenly Father had just put a huge band-aid on our family. The pain in my heart lessened more and more every day. And now that Clay has graduated, I'm not broken anymore. Heavenly Father has saved me from despair. Hallelujah to Him, for making everything "all better".

Here's Clay getting his diploma from the dean.

I loved the hoods that the graduates wore. I told Clay I had to get a picture of his hood.

Me and Clay after the ceremony.

Clay with his good buddy Brian.

On Thursday, Clay was invited to an awards ceremony. Here he is receiving the Dr. Tang award. This is what his pretty plaque says,
"In the spirit of commitment, enthusiasm and achievement as personified by Dr. Shui Yan Tang, this recognition is awarded annually to a Master of Public Administration student that best exemplifies and promotes academic excellence, service to SPPD beyond the classroom, involvement in the Public Administration profession, excellence in public employment, and the advancement of professional development."

We were so happy to have Clay's parents come visit for a couple days to be part of the ceremonies. Suzanne even ironed Clay's robes for him. And Cole was thrilled about having a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa.

Congratulations, Clay!

Terms of Endearment

2010-05-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

Three important facts for this post:

1. Our computer isn't letting me add pictures. If I could add pictures, I would have used a picture of my mom and a picture of the sunrise.

2. My mom loves to use one great word repeatedly (which we laugh not at her, but with her about.) For example, for a few months she loved the word, genre and it was used as often as possible however malappropriately. There have been other words/phrases that have cycled through her vernacular as well (i.e. bringing sexy back, sketch).

3. My dad served his mission in Italy and dazzles us all by speaking Italian from time to time.

One morning, my mom heard him use the phrase, "Bella giornatta" which means "beautiful day". This was her first time hearing this phrase after almost 30 years of marriage and once she heard it, it seemingly spoke to her soul. Bella giornatta, she thought. Yes, that's it! This moment was an epiphany of sorts and she decided then and there that Bella giornatta would be her new idiom, and new nickname indeed for all those in her life whom she loved. To my mother, we were now all bella giornatta, even my dad and my brother (despite the obvious feminine adjective and noun). And of course, we can't resist calling her bella giornatta in return.

One may argue that this new term of endearment doesn't make a lot of sense. We don't usually greet family members with "Oh hello, Beautiful day, how are you?". Yet somehow, in regards to my mother, it fits.

Being with her is refreshing and renewing. And when I go visit home after a few weeks of being away, I can't help feeling, when she's giving me the first of many hugs, like the sun has just come out, like my mother is very much a sun, and that this moment is like a new, glorious day.

Her face radiates joy, light, warmth, and love. And unquestionably, any day spent with her, is a beautiful day.

So here's to my beautiful mother, mine and everyone's bella giornatta.

Happy Mother's Day!

New Camera

2010-05-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

Clay bought this for me. I don't deserve it, but I will love it and care for it. To me, memories are what it's all about. I love snapping pictures of EVERYTHING, especially our little boys who are always growing and changing.

It came with so many manuals and DVD's that I still need to study. I don't even know photoshop or anything about editing pictures. I figure I'll have time to really learn everything post graduation. So far, I've just been using the easy auto settings. Even with just the auto setting, I love how the pictures turn out, and the sound the camera makes is thrilling.

Some downtown fun

2010-05-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

We got to babysit cousin Connor last Saturday which was so fun! I'm all about free activities so I thought we'd go explore downtown.
We started off at campus, touring the fountains. This was a little gamble, as I wasn't sure if Luke and Connor were old enough to actually obey my "don't get too wet" advice.

They were doing so good staying dry. I was very impressed with them.

This fountain, however, was a little more tempting...

and Connor just couldn't resist! (Aren't I terrible to hold off comforting him so I can take his picture?) It should be noted that it was a very hot day, and I wouldn't have minded being soaked myself.

Then we walked down to one of the science museums (FREE!) which has great "discovery rooms" which aren't the most scientific in nature, but fun for little ones.

Doing some gardening.

Riding on a camel at an Egypt inspired exhibit.

For this you have one kid on each end that they talk to each other through.

Another discovery room.

I love keyboards and mouses that are adapted for kids--so cute.

Luke getting ready to launch.

Totally worn out.

Two

2010-04-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the cousins, Connor and Luke, on their official birthday.

A wonderful Easter weekend

2010-04-06T21:10:00.001-07:00

We started our weekend with a visit to Clay's parents' home. The boys really enjoyed walks on the beach with their grandparents, and just looking out the window watching the water and boats and bikers and trains.

Luke loved the cake that Grandma made for him (and for Clay).

Opening some presents.

The next morning was Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny hid Cole and Luke's baskets, but they found them pretty quickly.

Nothing like a chocolate bunny for breakfast.

Later, some more family came to visit for an Easter feast. Here's Cole with his little cuz.

Then it was on to a triple birthday party/Easter celebration at my sister's house. The party was for Luke and his twin cousin, Connor, who were both turning two, and for cousin Ben, who will be turning 3 in a few days.

Cole and Luke helped me paint lots of eggs to hang on the walls. If you look closely, you can see Cole's "CTR" egg.

Ben really wanted a Cars cake so my sister made one. Luke was really excited about it too. He had been talking about his "ca cake" that "Em a me" (Emily) was going to make for days. Great job, Em!

Each of the kids were given bunny ears to wear. Some liked modeling them and others (the little guys) were not in a bunny ear sort of mood :)

These blue cynch bags were from Joann's craft store. I traced some easter designs on them and had the kids color them with fabric markers.

Then the kids used their bags for the easter egg hunt which took place at the nearby tot lot.

They had such a great time! Luke liked to stop and eat the contents of one egg before moving on to hunt for the next one.

Then we went back inside to open presents.

This year we got Luke a soccer play set thing. He likes to talk about kicking balls so hopefully this will be fun for him.

Clay had a birthday

2010-04-06T20:51:00.001-07:00

Clay recently had a birthday and turned 33! I wish we could have made his actual birthday more fun. Like last year, he had to go to work and then straight to his night class. The boys and I visited him at work to drop by a balloon and some treats to share with his co-workers.

We gave him this card to put on his desk, which seemed very appropriate, seeing as he worked through his birthday.

He picked out this gift for himself. He's been wanting an eliptical for a while now so he's very happy about it.

Super Hero Day

2010-03-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

Today was super hero day for the kindergarteners. Each student had to come to school dressed up as a super hero from their imaginations!

Cole was Ocean Boy. His powers: can talk to fish, can swim super fast, and can hold his breath for a week.

Luke joined in on the fun too.

Green Beans

2010-03-22T09:11:00.001-07:00

Luke has been known to eat an entire can of green beans in one setting. He really loves them. But I guess on this night, he just wasn't feeling it.

A New Look

2010-03-17T10:34:00.001-07:00

I need to find a good before picture that really shows what his wild hair looked like. But for now, here's the "afters"

The letter every parent dreams of getting sent home from school

2010-03-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

When we got this letter, I was one of the ones who felt relief. Cole however, ran to his room and cried. I assured him that we'll make our own homework.

Practice makes...

2010-03-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday was opening day of T-ball. We love it!!! Cole really enjoyed his first game and so did the rest of us. I love how light and fun it is; no pressure, no keeping score, juice box and banana at the end. Cole was so proud of his 2 runs! When grandma Suzanne asked him if he liked t-ball, she was surprised to hear him answer "no". When she asked him why, he said, "I don't like it, I lOVE it!". Then he said, "I like to make that joke." Which is true, he uses it a lot.

After his first practice last Thursday, I asked him to remind me what it was that he says about practice. We've all heard, "Practice makes perfect" and I've also heard a version I really like that goes, "practice makes permanent, perfect practice makes perfect." So Cole's rather unique version is, "Practice makes progress, progress makes perfect, perfect makes permanent." I'll let everyone ponder that for a while.

Cole and Megan (she's in his primary class and the only girl on the team.)

The Rays!

First time up to bat.

Running to first.

Hanging out on first.

Clay asked Cole after the game what he thought of it. Cole shouted, "I lOVE IT!" and then wrestled Clay to the ground.

"I Hate It!"

2010-03-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

There's this great indoor playground near my parents' house that we visited a few weeks ago. My sister, Amanda, was so nice to make the outing her treat. Her little boy, Connor, LOVE's this place. Cole also had a great time. And I must say, the slides are nothing short of thrilling, seriously!

Luke, on the other hand, didn't enjoy it so much. He was terrified of climbing through the large play structure even with me holding him. He finally loosened up a little in the ball pit, but even then he wouldn't leave my lap.

After this trip, my mom said, "Luke, did you like the play place?" His response without hesitation was, "I hate it!". We all chimed in with things like, "Oh Luke, you didn't really hate it, it was fun." He then said even more passionately, while banging his fist on the floor each time, "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!" It's funny that before this, Amanda and I were planning on having Luke and Connor's 2nd birthday party at this place. Guess that plan's off.

50th

2010-03-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

My parents both turn 50 within a couple weeks of each other so we had a combined 50th birthday celebration for them last Saturday, followed by a celebration of my Grandma Lyla's 75th birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandma!
My sister, Amanda, had the idea of how exactly we should celebrate our parents turning 50. Her idea was simple but brilliant. We would be spending the day in a way none of us had since the oldest, Emily, got married, which was 8 years ago. The idea: all of the kids (me and my siblings) would just hang out with our parents all day just like in the old days before we became grown-ups (without spouses or kids--eventhough I hate to leave my babies and my Clay behind, but we all agreed that it would be fun to kind of pretend it was just the 8 of us again.) We had such a great time together! We started the day with breakfast at Mimi's.

Then we went bowling. My dad was definitely the strongest player, with Mikey and Amanda not too far behind. I did so poorly that for the second game, I tried switching hands to see if that would help. It didn't.

After bowling, we went back to my parents house to play our favorite card game, spoons, plus some others. There were moments of laughing so hard that I cried (e.g. when soda came out of Amanda's nose, when my mom was caught hiding some cards under the table). We also did some singing round the piano. It was fantastic.
Next, we went to Mikey's basketball game. Here are all the girls (in order I might add) Emily, Amy, Amanda, Stephanie, and Katie (with my mom in back). The game was neck and neck and Mikey made some great shots. In the end, they lost in overtime. (Despite how the picture looks, we weren't the only ones in attendence;) After the game it was time to head over to my Grandma's for her party. It was such a wonderful day!

Me and Emily

Mikey, Steph, Katie

Talent Show

2010-02-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

Cole recently participated in his school's talent show. He sang "I Just Can't Wait to be King". He used a parrot that attaches to his wrist (from a pirate costume) to be Zazu so that he could sing both Simba's part and Zazu's. I was constantly reminding him of the same 3 things to remember when he performs:
1. Sing LOUD!
2. Look HAPPY and
3. Don't FIDDLE with your clothes.
When it was show time, he remebered all 3 things and did a great job! We video-taped it and hopefully I can upload it at some point.

Feeling good after the performance.

I was so impressed with the older kids in the show. They really took the little ones under their wings and made them feel like stars. After the show, they were all asking for pictures with Cole. Cole and I were both just soaking it up.

100th day

2010-02-22T21:38:00.001-08:00

For Cole's 100th day of kindergarten everyone had to bring in a display of 100 things. Cole and I decided to make a parking lot with 100 Hot Wheels.

I got to help in Cole's class that day which was so fun. They did all kinds of 100 day activities and made "derdnuh" (hundred backwards)which was a funny version of trail mix with 10 pieces of 10 different ingredients. The kids also got a visit from Zero the Hero. It was a great day!

A Wedding

2010-02-22T21:11:00.000-08:00

On February 12, Clay's youngest bother, Mark, was married to our new sister-in-law, Corrine. We had a wonderful time being at the temple and getting to see how happy they both were.

Cole hugging the bride.

Cole was so excited to see his cousin, Sage, who flew many miles to see the wedding.

A Call I Hear

2010-02-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

Back at the beginning of the year I was called to be the primary chorister. I have loved having this calling, in fact, I have never loved a calling so much. I really can't even put into words how much joy it brings to my soul. It just...inspires me! I love the songs in the children's songbook and I love singing them with the kids. I hope they keep me around for a long time. I get so excited for Sundays and I just get so giddy every time I think about singing time. I love, love, love it!

For my own benefit, in case I get this calling again in the future, I've started another blog to keep track of ideas and teaching plans for each week. So if you ever find yourself bored, there's a link to it on the sidebar (Sing Me a Song).

Hide and Seek

2010-02-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

I found them! Here are the boys hiding from me (they like to pretend I'm a witch trying to bake them) inside a tent inside Luke's pack n play.

Homework

2010-02-02T22:17:00.000-08:00

For the last few weeks, whenever Cole is working on homework, Luke insists on working on homework too. So we bring him a paper, preferably one that looks very authentic and official, and a pencil. Then he scribbles away and loves for us to praise his work.

I love how he holds the pencil just right.

The Fairy Princess Party

2010-02-02T21:57:00.000-08:00

Our neice Malia just turned 1 and had a fabulous fairy princess birthday party. We were very happy to be guests at this wonderful event. The decorations and food were amazing, but I'll let Breanne share photos of those. Cole really enjoyed the dessert table.

Luke loved playing with his cousins toys and trying to cuddle and kiss Malia.

Cole is enamored with Malia too.

What a pretty princess!

Change of Scenery

2010-01-18T22:08:00.000-08:00

We spent another fun weekend with family. It was my niece's 6th birthday so while we were in the area we stopped by to see Clay's parents' new Condo. It's gorgeous with a great view.

We took a short walk to the beach with Cole using his new scooter. (He really likes this scooter now and love's to tell people how good he is at riding it.)

The boys had fun throwing rocks in the water.

Grandpa and Luke.

YMCA

2010-01-18T21:32:00.001-08:00

Back at the beginning of the school year, we wanted Cole to get involved in sports, but realized that we had totally missed the registration dates for soccer, and t-ball wasn't going to start until Spring. So, we decided to sign-up at the YMCA for some of their classes that would be fun for Cole until T-ball begins. They offer a YouthFit class that Cole really loves. He calls it his fitness class and it's just a lot of running around for about 45 min. plus some games.

He also goes to the kids' Yoga class. The room is very dark and very quiet. The teacher insists on this and she even has them meditate at the beginning of class. Needless to say, Luke and I usually go for a walk during this time. Cole enjoys it though.

New Year's Day

2010-01-14T22:03:00.001-08:00

Clay was able to get some discounted park tickets through his work so we celebrated New Year's Day at Magic Mountain. It was all the boys' first time there and they had a lot of fun! Also, by coincidence, my dad was there with all the youth in his ward (it was a reward for those who had read the Book of Mormon last year). It was so fun to get to see him and my mom and Katie and Mikey.

We spent most of the day in Bugs Bunny land where we rode on this ride Tweety Bird style. The grown-ups all looked so silly in the cages (or maybe Clay and I were the only grown-ups riding.)

Part of the reason we had such a great time was because we never had to wait in line. We could just walk right onto any ride we wanted.

Luke went on tons of rides too. He usually had a very serious look on his face.

Cole and Luke as Elmer Fudd.

Thomas Town actually just has 2 rides. Cole got to ride on Percy over and over. Every time the ride would end, all the kids would say, "One more time, one more time!". And away they would go.

The other ride is Thomas, complete with coaches Annie and Clarabel. It's a nice slow train ride where you get to see Tidmouth sheds and the animal farm and Brendham Docks and such.

There were fun family rides that we all went on together and some that were really pretty thrilling. Cole went on this ride, Ninja, 5 times! I was shocked that he wasn't terrified by it. When I rode with him, I was the one screaming and he was just smiling and laughing.

Good Advice

2010-01-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

I got to help out in primary today. During sharing time, the teacher took out a mirror that had the words "I am a child of God " taped to it. She had one of the young boys look into the mirror and asked him, "What does the mirror tell you?" He responded, "That I'm a child of God and I look good."

I love this answer! I think we all should say it everytime we look in the mirror. Say it with utter conviction. I am a child of God and I look good!

Christmas Morning

2009-12-29T21:43:00.001-08:00

Cole keeps asking me, "So what was my MAIN present this year?" I keep telling him it was this Powerwing scooter, but I guess it must not have made such a big impression on him. I think he'll see how cool it is though once we take it to the park. I knew we had to get Luke a car. There are two cars like this in nursery, and Luke constantly gets into fights over them. He has practically been living in this car since he opened it.
We seemed to have a theme this year among the gifts: Spongebob! My mom and dad got them a McDonald's drive thru. They love it and one night discovered that they could really get the full drive thru experience by using Luke's car. It was so fun to watch.

Jimmy's Christmas Eve

2009-12-29T21:10:00.001-08:00

Well, this is at my parent's house as we're heading out to the car to drive to Jimmy's Christmas Eve party. Luke, along with the rest of the grandchildren, cannot pass by these jolly, dancing, singing snow men without stopping to dance a bit with them.

Luke goes right up to them and stomps his foot so they'll start moving.

Once we made it to the car, we drove to my uncle Jimmy's house. Every year my mom's side of the family has a big Christmas Eve party. For the last several years, it has been hosted by my mom's brother, Jimmy. His house was so beautifully decorated.

The food was so delicious. I love Jimmy's tradition of setting out a two pound box of Sees nuts and chews.

My favorite part of Christmas Eve is the music. Cole and Luke started the singing off with "Little Drummer Boy" (Cole did the singing, Luke did the drumming). My brother sang, some of the cousins sang, we all sang Christmas songs from the hymn book together, Jimmy sang "O Holy Night" which is always amazing, and my grandma and grandpa sang Silent Night, which is also a tradition. The singing was so fun and beautiful and I love how EVERYONE gets choked up mid-song and struggles to get out the words. That is what Christmas is all about.

One of the things I love

2009-12-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love about Kindergarten is all of the arts and crafts that Cole brings home that become a colorful collage on the fridge.

His class made some beautiful things for the holidays including this votive made out of a baby food jar, stickers and salt.

When Cole was younger, I used to have to beg him to do crafts with me. I would say things like, "Please Cole, if you finish coloring this I'll give you a...". But the last couple years things have really turned around. He loves making things out of pipe cleaners and pom poms and glue and felt and...toilet paper rolls. He made our tree topper last year. He wanted to re-create his small stuffed polar bear that wears a purple scarf and hat. Now I ask you, how many people can say that they have a toilet paper roll on top of their tree?

Another toilet paper roll craft designed by Cole. It's a penguin that he decided would make a good pencil holder.

Here's a funny bird, and baby bird. I love the bird's string tail.

And a penguin ornament.

Raisins

2009-12-15T20:34:00.000-08:00

Ever since Cole was little, every time a Sun-Maid Raisins commercial came on, he would say, "Mommy, that's you!", implying that I look like the girl, not the raisins. I definitely don't agree, and don't expect anyone else to, I just don't look anything like her. I guess to kids, just having the same hair color makes people look alike.
Anyway, now Luke joins in with Cole when this commercial comes on and so I get to hear my two little boys say each time, "That's you" and "dat you". It makes me laugh.

Vet

2009-12-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

Cole's class had a vet come speak to them about her job. They each got to take home a plastic bag containing a pair of gloves, a mask, a tongue depressor, a bandage, and one of those head cover things. So tonight Cole wanted to have his own pet clinic. Thanks to his vast knowledge of animal care and animal medicine, he was able to help Mr. Turtle, Lickin' Lollipops, and CTR bear reach a full recovery.

His care included listening to heart beats, lung sounds, and grumbly tumblies with his stethoscope,

bandaging up cuts,

taking temperatures,

and administering breathing treatments via aerochamber.

It's not easy "seeing" green

2009-12-10T12:50:00.001-08:00

Cole's class earned a small party by filling up the class bucket with good behavior drops. For the celebration, they had a Kindergarten Zoo where each child was to dress up as an animal. The kids all laughed and laughed when the teacher revealed her penguin costume.

Cole decided to be a frog which was wonderful for him because his favorite color is green. This brings up an interesting point though. Colors are all mixed up in his head due to some mild color blindness. Sometimes he gets them right, but he always has to ask which crayon is the right color when he does his homework. So after I had put the green make-up on Cole's face I showed him in the mirror and he asked, "Why didn't you make my whole face green?" All he could see were the two or three darker green dots. Though later he said he was starting to see the lighter green in the background.

Gumball machine

2009-12-07T23:10:00.000-08:00

My mom bought Cole this funny little gumball machine. I just think this picture is so silly. You can't see the tupperware filled with Grandpa's loose change sitting next to him, but it just makes me think of the simple pleasures in life: a miniature gumball machine and a bunch of coins. Yes, this is bliss to a 5 year old.

My B-day

2009-12-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

My sister Emily was so kind to watch the boys while me and Clay had some birthday fun. Clay was so sweet to take me to see this.

My review: LOVED IT!!! I had heard both good and bad about this movie but I knew I would love it and I did! Oh I loved all the characters; the wolf pack, the Volturi, Alice, and Jessica was even pretty funny. Go see New Moon!

Aside from the movie, that morning I finished up part 1 of a project I'm working on. I'm trying to make a sort-of scrapbook kind of thing about my grandpa (my mom's dad.) I want it to have pictures of him, but it will mostly be his stories. So on my birthday, I was able to finish interviewing him and video recording him telling his history, advice for posterity, testimony, etc. He is amazing and the stories he shared with me are golden. I'm thrilled about it.

Later on, Clay and I also enjoyed shopping, trying on fancy formal dresses (well, just me) and going out to dinner. Oh my goodness, I ate way too much at dinner. I felt so stuffed and it was so freezing outside that we put off doing more shopping to just sit in the car with the heater on for a while. I only mention this because it was so wonderful--laying in the reclined passenger seat, heat on, just talking to Clay, having his undivided attention. It was lovely. I had a great birthday.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-07T22:25:00.001-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Clay's parents. Suzanne prepared a beautiful feast for everyone and we helped a little with side dishes. It was all so delicious!

And here is the lovely couple, Mark and Corrine. It was nice to see them and get to know Corrine better. She is wonderful and obviously head-over-heals in-love. Mark and Corrine will be getting married in Feb. We are very excited to have her as a sister soon!

Luke had his own private feast a couple hours later after he woke up from his nap.

So Inspiring

2009-11-23T22:16:00.000-08:00

Our ward had a musical fireside last night. I brought Cole with me and while he fell asleep almost immediately, I really enjoyed it. The absolute best part was the last solo number "Bring Him Home" sung by our Bishop. It was amazing! The song is from Les Miserables. The Bishop said that he was dedicating it to the missionaries who were serving from our ward. Hearing the song from that perspective makes it so powerful. His voice was phenomenal and sounded just like Jon Valjean. Just to refresh your memory, here are the words to "Bring Him Home".

(Valjean is standing over Marius at the barricade)

VALJEAN
God on high
Hear my prayer
In my need
You have always been there

He is young
He's afraid
Let him rest
Heaven blessed.
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home.

He's like the son I might have known
If God had granted me a son.
The summers die
One by one
How soon they fly
On and on
And I am old
And will be gone.

Bring him peace
Bring him joy
He is young
He is only a boy

You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home.

Just Another Day in Paradise

2009-11-23T22:05:00.001-08:00

We went on another beach trip with Jaime and her boys today. We stayed for hours and had a great time.

A sad little pilgrim

2009-11-23T21:34:00.001-08:00

Cole's class did a Thanksgiving program last Friday. They sang four cute songs: Five Fat Turkeys Are We, This Land Is Your Land, Albequerque Turkey, and A Turkey Ran Away. I love Kindergarten!

Cole got throught the first 3 songs just fine, but by the time I took this picture, sadness had hit. He later explained that he was sad because at the end of the third song, he didn't hear me laugh. I did infact laugh, the song had a cute punchline at the end, but of course, he couldn't hear me because of the large, noisy crowd. He was expecting to hear his mommy's laugh clear as a bell. I assured him that I laughed and that helped him a bit.

After the song, the kinders walked to their feast. The picnic table looked very festive.

Oh no, sadness again! This time he is nervous about the food. His teacher encouraged the kids to try a taste of everything so he thought he really had to and was cringing at everything he saw being placed on his plate. His teacher quickly came along and removed the offending foods from his sight. He finally was able to eat some mashed potatoes.

It's just so hard to be a pilgrim.

Why exercise is bad for you

2009-11-23T21:04:00.001-08:00

My poor, sweet Clay. Last week, while he was at work, he decided to do some light exercise during his lunchbreak. So he walked down to the train station, where there is a large flight of stairs, and went walking up and down the stairs for a little workout. Afterwards, as he was walking back to the office, he started to feel a little dizzy, lightheaded, etc. So he stopped, leaned against a pole for support, and then passed out. A lady who was walking by called an ambulance.

When Clay came to, he told the lady that he was fine and he needed to get back to work. She insisted that he just lay still. He didn't realize that his head was bleeding and dripping quite a bit of blood all over his nice dress shirt.

At the hospital he had to get staples for the cut on the back of his head. Also, he had to stay overnight so the doctor could run some cardiac tests on him (Clay's heart rate has always been low so they thought his heart might have contributed to the fainting). The tests were inconclusive, but Clay had had enough of the hospital and came home instead of staying another night. He did however have some nice conversations with the 600 lb man who shared a room with him. The other two men in the room were older; one of them liked to take off his gown and put it over his head, and the other never spoke.

Classic: eating McDonald's instead of the terrible hospital food.

Okay, totally corny picture of me and Clay holding hands. But I just loved that I got to go cuddle with him that night (thanks Jaime for watching the boys!) and I loved holding his hand, and it was such a role reversal to have him be the one connected to an IV.

Update: Clay is feeling great and will be following up with more tests with his regular doctor.

On dresses

2009-11-17T00:29:00.001-08:00

I love all the girly stuff that's out there. And if I had a little girl, I would have her wear fluffy, ruffly, sparkly dresses.

This dress is similar to the dresses Cole and I saw at Costco today. I had to laugh at what he said when he saw the rack of dresses like this. He pointed to the dresses and said,
"Oh look Mommy, they're still selling Halloween costumes!"

Our Giant Pumpkin

2009-11-17T00:08:00.000-08:00

Clay's parents grew giant pumpkins in their garden this year. We were more than happy to take one of them home, which we did at the end of September. We didn't think this huge pumkin would last until Halloween, but it did, and well beyond. Clay and the boys finally decided it was time to carve it and see what kind of a mess was inside. This pumpkin, or Jim as Cole calls it, is not without blemish. In fact, it looks like it has some abnormal facial growths, but we still think its great!

It made a wonderful seat,

and a wonderful stool,

and a wonderful companion.

and a wonderful treat. Thanks Jim.

A New Park

2009-11-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

We've lived here for over a year, but we just learned about this beautiful park, just 10 minutes or so from home. We had a lovely afternoon playing there on Veteren's day. Several of Cole's classmates had decided to go there too, coincidently, which made it extra exciting. I love that there's a nice, small bike path that circles the playground so Cole can ride while Luke and I play and he always stays in sight. There's other bike paths that just go on and on that we'll need to explore more.

A popular activity at this park is playing in the bushes! There are little paths and tunnels all through them, like a maze, with many entrances and exits. Cole and his buddies love running through the bushes and feeling like little adventurers.

A birthday card

2009-11-10T22:41:00.000-08:00

It was Clay's mom's birthday last week so the boys gave her this card. This card idea was not my own. But I thought I'd pass the idea along cause it was pretty fun to make. And lets be real, I'm proud of it, I'd like to show it off, no way to sugar coat that.

Say Cheese

2009-11-10T22:38:00.000-08:00

Cole finally got his school pictures back. I love this boy!