Our Family

Homecoming 2011

2011-10-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

Jacob and Katie attended homecoming in a group of ten couples. They all wanted to be together so we hosted the group of 20 for dinner in our backyard. It was such a fun night. Here are some pictures of the big event.

A good friend who is a wedding planner came over and helped me, and some of the other mothers, create a beautiful place to hold the dinner in the backyard. After we decorated, you could hardly tell it was a basketball court.

Katie, Josh Reynolds, Ben Hodson, Savanah Asay, Ashley Mork and Jacob
Katie and her date, Josh
Katie trying to pin on the boutonniere
By the time the kids arrived after taking pictures, it was dusk. We had put out nearly 100 candles, so there was plenty of lighting. One girl said it was so pretty she was going to cry. Beth and Bekay, Savanah's little sister, helped serve the meal. They also helped with all the clean up afterwards!
The whole group
The boys in their 'tiger' pose
The girls were more demure for pictures
Twins' love
Jacob and his date, Ashley

Summer 2011--Trip to Utah, part 2

2011-08-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July in Utah County is amazing. They just passed a law that you can have aerial fireworks that shoot 150 feet. So we did fireworks in Nancy and David's neighborhood, and then we stood and watched all the amazing fireworks that were taking place all over the valley. It was beautiful!
The kids had fun setting off the fireworks in the front yard.

We were all tired but we took a nap and then everyone was ready to dress up for the evening activities. Beth and Mallory were matching.
Rich with Anna and her painted red hair.We spent the rest of the week having fun together. We went to see a movie one day. Another day we went to the American Fork public pool. The kids had a great time together!
Jacob helping Kate over the lane lines with Hannah and Mallory.Beth and Anna

Morgan catching some sun. It rained off and on all week so she had to take advantage of it when she could!

Rich, Anna and Beth
Jacob taking Anna down the slide.
Cutie Anna Banana
The last day was Adam's 1oth birthday and all week we had been watching for good weather to go to Seven Peaks, which is a local Provo waterpark. We finally went on Friday, despite gathering clouds. The day turned out to be great. Although there were some summer showers, it was warm. Later in the day, the sun came out. We had a great time. Jacob was having so much fun he didn't even slow down to eat! Here are Adam, the birthday boy, and Jeffrey. Jeffrey told Rich and I over and over that this was the best day of his life!Jacob was so fun to have along. (He attended EFY later in the summer, so he just hung out with us all week.) He would take a couple of kids and a tube up to one of the runs and then come down with them. He did this over and over, all day long. His energy never gave out. Even at the end of the day, he was still grabbing a tube and kids to go with him to go down the slides! This time, it was Beth and Mallory.

Here they come!Getting out

The next morning, we picked David and Daniel up at 7 am and headed home. It was a great trip! David and Nancy are so fun to be with. Utah is beautiful! We were glad to get home to Katie, though.

Summer 2011--Trip to Utah for the 4th of July, part 1

2011-08-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

Summer has flown by. I have a bunch of pictures to post from all the fun we have had. The summer started off with a bang for Daniel's 15th birthdayThen we had girls' camp, Cub Scout Camp, and Boys Scout Camp for three weeks of June. The sun never came out much until the second half of June, and we wondered what was happening to our summer! The kids spent time indoors together doing things like making popsicle stick houses.
It finally warmed up in time for EFY. Katie went to Santa Barbara with her best friend, and we took a family trip to Provo for Daniel and his friend David to attend there. David and Nancy let us stay at their house, and we had a great time!! Here is Anna listening to her "new boyfriend, Justin Bieber" in the car on the way. This was our first trip with our new van, which does not have a movie player in it. It went really well! We listened to an audio book on the way, and the kids played their hand held video games, drew in coloring books, did word searches, and played games together. I don't think we will get another movie player.
We arrived in American Fork on Sunday, and the next day was the 4th of July festivities in Provo. The boys had to be at EFY by 11 am, so we got up early to see the hot air balloons and to watch the parade. Darth Vader was a new balloon showcased this year.
The balloons start filling up at 6:30 am, so we mostly just rolled out of bed after going to bed at midnight. Here is Hannah, Beth, Adam, Mallory, Jacob, Anna and Josh, and that is the back of Cohen's head up front.
This is inside one of the balloons, and below that is a picture of the balloon filling up. You can't believe how hot it is!

After the balloons, the dads went to get some breakfast and we went to find a spot on University Avenue for the parade.
David with Jeffrey on top and Jacob with Ryan and Cohen.
Daniel didn't care about the parade. He needed a nap!
Some kind people let our kids crowd in on their blanket. They are on the front row. In the back you can see Beth, Kate and Mallory. Hannah is behind Mallory. To the right of Beth is Anna's curly hair and Cohe, with Adam in the royal blue t-shirt and Ryan on David's lap. It was a fun parade, then it was time to take David and Daniel to EFY.
We dropped the boys off at May Hall after taking them to lunch at Sonic. They had a great time!!

Easter and the debut of warm weather

2011-05-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

This year, we stayed home to celebrate Easter. We had a fun egg hunt and had some friends over for a yummy ham dinner. Here are a few pictures:
Anna was so excited to participate in the egg hunt. She found more eggs than anyone else, especially since Daniel, Jacob and Katie mostly didn't participate this year and were around to give her extra help.
Beth looking for eggs cleverly hidden by older siblings.

They hid eggs up in the trees and in the basketball standard. Josh and Jeffrey trying to grab some eggs up high.
They also hid them up in the fences.
We did hide three eggs each for the 'big kids', including two that held Cadbury Cream eggs and one with a dollar. Jacob, Katie and Daniel consider themselves too old for egg hunts, but not too old for extra treats.

Jeffrey has had terrible allegies this year, but allergy medicine has made it so he can go outside without his eyes swelling up.
Adam had fun finding lots of treats, too.

Josh likes to be counted among the 'big kids' but he is not to old for an egg hunt!
The rule at our house is no water games outside until it's above 70 degrees. It hit 70 degrees the day after Easter. This is what it looked like at our house.
There is no better fun than jumping on the trampoline with a hose!
We didn't get around to coloring eggs until the Monday night after Easter. Silly, but the kids had a great time.

Women's Conference 2011

2011-05-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

Jeanette, and four of her children: Whitney, Janae, Jordan and Julia

Sisters--only Melissa was missing this year.
Rich's sister, Jen and I. We were roommates and had so much fun that we didn't get much sleep!
Whitney--15 weeks pregnant with twins!!
This was the Chico portion of our group, plus Jordan who came to hear Elder Bednar speak. We spent about 20 hours driving with most of these ladies. Bonds are created under those circumstances that my last a lifetime ; )
Jeanette and I--we got a few hours to ourselves on Saturday to have lunch and wander around the BYU bookstore. Heaven.
It snowed on Thursday evening and Friday morning. It was fun to see the snow...then leave it behind and come home to 70s weather!
The Folsom portion of our group--Marie, Jen Marchek, Chrissy Ellison, and I, plus Jen

Fun times!!

Spring!

2011-04-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

Last week, we got to spend lots of time with cousins! First, we went to Table Mountain in Oroville to see the wild flowers. We also spent the night at Jeanette's house. Dad and the big kids had to stay home : (
Some of the beautiful wild flowers we saw on our hike
We hiked down to the bottom of this waterfall.
Anna at the bottom of the waterfall
Anna holding a salamander. There are tons of these to be found. Guess what the boys did the whole time? Yep! Looked for salamanders!
My sister, Jeanette, and her husband, Curt, at the base of the waterfall. We went later in the day so Curt could come along after he got off work. Thank goodness he came because he helped us get Anna up and down the steep climb to the bottom of the falls.
Jeanette and I. My pants are rolled up because I slipped while helping Anna up to the falls and cut a deep gash in my knee. I haven't been able to kneel on it since!
Beth
Cousins climbing back up from the falls. Jeffrey, Josh, Adam then Ryan and Gus (the dog)
Cousins walking along together
More flowers. The mountain was covered with flowers. That is a gift from Heavenly Father. Flowers that grow spontaneously in the spring.
Bloom where you are planted, like this little flower growing in the rocks.
Everyone hiking back. Again, it was nice to have Curt along. Anna's shoes got wet, so she took them off, which made for a painful walk on the rocks in some points. I carried her for a while, then Uncle Curt put her on his shoulders.

A few days later, it was Joshua's 13th birthday. Jeanette, Curt, Melissa and Ryan came for the evening.

Officially a teenager!
Ryan, Adam, Melissa, and Beth
Josh opening his presents
Birthday cake!
The next night, we had a birthday party with 10 13 yr olds. They are so easy to please. We had pizza and soda, they played Capture the Flag at the park, and then we had ice cream sundaes. There was extra time leftover, so they held an impromptu Brawl tournament. Fun stuff!

Young Women Broadcast

2011-03-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

Katie and I went out on a shopping date and then attended the Young Women's General Broadcast. The Stake held a dinner, with mother/daughter pictures and then the broadcast. We had such a fun time! I love this picture. I think Katie is so beautiful. I love spending time with her.

Jeffrey's 6th birthday

2011-03-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Friday was Jeffrey's birthday and it was also the day that he had a Star Wars themed birthday party. I got the idea, the games, even the cake and pinata suggestions, from my friend Afton's blog several years ago. We held the exact same party two birthdays ago for Adam, and it was a hit both times. Here are some pictures from the day:
Josh and Adam led the activities. Mostly the 8 little boys, who had just gotten out of school, wanted to spend a lot of time fighting with their newly acquired light sabers. Noisy but lots of fun!

Jacob jointed in the fun and got everyone attacking him in a group, while we were waiting for Darth Vader to arrive. Darth Vader had accidentally taken a nap on the couch upstairs and wasn't ready to come down when we originally felt a 'disturbance in the force'.
Princess Beth-Leia made an appearance.
Can you believe how in style Darth Vader is these days? He wears Nike shorts and long black Nike socks. I'm just sayin'...

Jeffrey wanted a cake featuring himself fighting Darth Maul. So here is our best effort. He thought it was "awesome"!

Even Padawans need a snack/cake break.
And the Darth Vader pinata. Thanks, Party America!

Overall, Jeffrey's big day was great. In fact, he told me it was "my best birthday in years!" Six years to be exact. : )

Isn't this the cutest birthday card ever?

2011-03-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

Grandmas are the best!

Some things that have made me smile this week

2011-03-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Jeffrey and Anna when he was 4 and she was 2. Jeffrey received it in the mail as a birthday picture from Grandma Jeri and Grandpa Lewis on a mission in Ecuador. I think it is so adorable, and it reminds me how big they are both getting.
The trees are blooming! Popcorn popping...this is the view from the balcony outside our bedroom.
A close up...aren't they gorgeous? I love them. I love the fruitless pears when they bloom in the backyard and the birch tree with its flowing leaves in the front yard. I can just sit and look at them.
Love those blossoms! This means that sunny days are just around the corner...

Okay, this actually made me laugh. This is how one of the children recently put away the peaches after dinner one night. The child 'covered' them this way and then put them in the fridge overnight like this. I found them the next morning. Inventive. Clean up for the creative child who doesn't want to go to the trouble of digging through the tupperware containers to find one the right size!

Another thing that made me smile was a birthday card for Jeffrey from Grandma and Grandpa in Coarsegold. Grandma Pat makes her own cards, and she made this one with Jeffrey with his face in the round window of a rocket ship. It is absolutely adorable. It has been the hit of the family, so much so that I can't find it to take a picture of it to post on here. But it has made me smile all week, every time I run across it. I will try to post a picture of it when I document the Star Wars birthday party taking place on Friday.

Last, this picture of Anna makes me smile. She woke up Monday morning and informed me that I was going to buy her some "clothes" that day. I asked her what clothes she needed. She said she needed shorts, a shirt and a hat. I told her I would try to take her to buy some clothes later just to pacify her, figuring she would forget. It did not make me smile that she bugged me all day long for three days about going to buy her "clothes", especially when I have been trying to plan and shop for stuff for Jeffrey's birthday this week. However, I finally relented and sent Rich and Anna to the girls' section while I got the last of the party stuff. This is what they came up with. I guess the dress won out over the shorts and shirt.

Final fun of President's Week

2011-02-27T22:09:00.000-08:00

We had a great week for our vacation. Besides the snow and painting, we watched Megamind and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the older kids went to several parties, we had too much ice cream, and I personally ate out at least once each day. Wow! Now that's a vacation! We also had the Pinewood Derby for Adam and celebrated my grandma's 99th birthday--the same night. Here are some pictures.The final car that Adam submitted. He came in 5th overall. We thought it looked more like a Hummer than our white van with big wheels. He also received the Most Realistic award. Huh? I have never seen a Hummer painted in rainbow colors. But Adam had fun!
Here is the group that helped my Grandma Beatty celebrate her 99th birthday. We all went out to dinner and stayed visiting for a long time. Left to right, Rich, me, Grandma, Art & Adrienne (half-sister and husband), Dad, Darren and Heather (half-sister and husband), and Joey (half-brother). What a great night!
Rich and I with Grandma. We are so lucky to live near her so that we can see her on fairly often. She still lives alone. Can you believe it?!
Lastly, we went to the temple to do family baptisms on Thursday. That was a wonderful experience. We had half of our children in the temple with us. We are half-way to our goal.

2011-02-23T14:59:00.001-08:00

Here are the pictures from yesterday's snow trip. We had a great time! We went to a snow park called Adventure Mountain just before you go over the summit down into South Lake Tahoe on Hwy 50. We went with two other families with children ages similar to ours.

Here is a view of the mountain. It was gorgeous weather!
Anna and Daddy hanging out, watching the sledders go by
Jeffrey and Jacob Grimsman sledding down together

Katie, Jacob, Ashley Mork and Lexi Grimsman--Watch out, here they come!
Anna loved sledding down the hill!
Rich helped her get started at the top
Jacob landed at the bottom of the hill
Jacob, Ashley, Katie and Lexi
Running down the hill instead of sledding? Lexi in front, Ashley next, then Katie and Jacob with Jacob Grimsman and Jeffrey on sleds in the middle
Lunchtime--Anna, Adam, Jeffrey, Beth and Josh
Jeffrey, cutie
Kris Wells, Tricia Grimsman, and I
Someone gave us a propane heater so Rich lit it up to keep everyone warm. The weather was warm up by the sledding runs but down by the picnic tables, there was a wind that kept it chilly.
Ashley and Anna
Anna loves the snow!
Josh at the end of a run
Beth showing off the icicle she found
Beth and Anna made a snack of icicles hanging off the pine trees

More food!
Adam on the black, fast sled
Here Adam comes
Josh in front, with Daniel and David Mork close behind, racing down the hill
Crashed and laughing at the bottom
Daniel and David, just before the crash. Daniel was actually sick and had a fever when we got home, so he had his fun before lunch. After lunch, he hung out in the warm car.
Snowball fight! Katie and Ashley getting Jacob
Jeffrey and Jacob Grimsman, sledding buddies for the second year in a row
Here comes Jeffrey!
Here comes Beth!
Anna going up, Beth going down...
Almost the whole group of kids--starting from the left, David Mork, Daniel, Adam, Jacob Pettingill, Nicki Grimsman, Annie Wells, Cami Grimsman, Lexi, Josh, Beth, and Jeffrey and Jacob Grimsman in the front. Ashley and Katie, Anna, plus Nick and Lilly Wells were missing from the picture. What a fun group!

2011-02-21T22:41:00.001-08:00

We have lots of fun things planned for this week off. Here is what we did the first day:

Last night we read scriptures, with Katie's good friend Ashley here too, and we chose our scripture reading reward to use some of the 50 points we have earned this month. After a vote, everyone chose 2 dozen donuts for breakfast today. Rich was up early to go to Winco and then scramble eggs to go with the donuts. The children wanted 2 dozen because that means everyone got two donuts. There were supposedly 4 leftover, but those have mysteriously disappeared.

Then we painted the family room together. Everyone got involved. I was very nervous and I did more watching little children anxiously as they waived around paint brushes full of paint than painting at first. But then the little children got bored and went upstairs to play. The 'big kids'--Daniel, Jacob, Katie-- and Rich and I finished the job. I could relax at that point. Funnily enough, Anna stayed painting with us most of the time. After all, how often does she get to paint the walls with real paint? We had covered all the furniture and carpet and there wasn't any paint on the carpet when it was over. I call that a success!

Then, the family had voted to use more scripture points to have pizza and soda for dinner. That was so nice because we had to go through snow gear to get ready for our snow trip tomorrow.
Also, since the Pinewood Derby is on Wednesday night, Rich and Adam had to work on Adam's car. Jacob helped Adam with the design. See any resemblance to our 'new' van? I think it's great! Tomorrow they will add some rainbow colors to liven it up. Maybe we should consider adding rainbow colors too? ; )

More tomorrow, I hope!

Cemetery and Chico Visit

2011-02-06T20:00:00.001-08:00

We have had two fun field trips in the past week. First, we drove up to Camptonville to find family history information at the local cemetery. Camptonville is located about 30 miles off I-80 East--30 very windy, mountainous miles. My great-great-great maternal grandparents, Asaph and James Godfrey, settled there during Gold Rush times, and there is a portion of the local cemetery dedicated to the Godfrey family.

I was trying to get some information to figure out why New Family Search wouldn't let me print a sealing card for one of Asaph and James' sons and his wife, Noah and Mary Ann Godfrey. So we drove up there to see if we could get some more specific birth and death information.

As we drove along, I wondered what it must have been like for my ancestors. We drove in style in our big van with music playing and a heater blowing. My ancestors must have come by wagon, and the 49 freeway wasn't around back then. They had to take the hard way, up and over the mountain. I gained more appreciation for Asaph and her family from that drive.

An older, really, older, man came to see who the newcomers were--there are only 80 residents in Camptonville now. He was named Leland, and he showed us where the grave plots were located and told us about Camptonville history. I was so busy taking pictures of head stones and writing down information that I didn't take many pictures of the children, or of Leland. Here are two of Beth, showing off some of the plots we found.
The kids said the trip was "boring." (To their credit, it was a long, long windy drive.) The most exciting part of the day for them was getting lunch at Jack-in-the-Box on the way home. However, we did find birth and death information for Noah and Mary Ann's son, Bennie, who had died at the age of three, that I didn't know about before.

That night, Rich and I took the family names, including Bennie, to the temple and had them sealed as a family. I loved it! I guess it was a field trip for me, and the kids had to come along because they home school. : )

Our next field trip was to go to Chico to see Jeanette and her family. We attended a science show at Laxon Auditorium at Chico State. I grew up attending events at Laxon Auditorium since my mom worked at Chico State. Each season, they present a variety of performances, and they offer daytime performances for a reduced price for school field trips. Last month, we came to see Chinese Acrobats. This month, it was a show called Toying with Science, which gave lots of fun information about how science works, including how to learn to juggle and how jugglers work with gravity. Everyone loved the science show.

But I think their favorite part of trips like these are that, when we go, we stay at Jeanette's house and play with Ryan and Melissa, and this time, with their two new puppies! This visit, we also went to Caper Acres, which is a local park that I played at when I was little.

Adam, Melissa, and Beth at the park
Beth
Anna and Beth

In Jeanette's backyard, Josh, Ryan and Melissa playing with bubbles and puppies. The yellow lab is their 6 mos. old puppy Annie.Jeffrey with the other puppy, Guster (named after Gus from Psych)
Anna loves Guster!

January Snow Trip and First Scripture Reward

2011-01-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

On the Martin Luther King Jr. school holiday, our ward youth took a snow trip. The day before, during church, one of the leaders asked me to drive our van because they were still short on drivers. So we dug out all the snow gear and got ready to leave at 7:30 the next morning for the nearly two hour drive up to Loon Lake. It was a great day, and I am glad we went. Rich couldn't go because he was working, and Daniel had basketball pictures and practice. The rest of us had a great time!
Isn't the view fantastic? It was worth the long drive!
You can see a group of kids playing in the snow. This wasn't one of those trips where you go to a parking lot with manicured sledding hills. This place is a small resort in the summer, but has tons of snow in the winter. You park in the resort parking lot and then climb up the bank to the open area of snow. We were all sinking down to our hips as we tried to cross the snow.
Jeffrey, Anna and I spent the day together. The snow was too deep for them to walk comfortably, so after we hiked around for a while and then had lunch, we settled in the parking lot to play.
Before lunch, we used shovels to dig out a tunnel and some snow caves.

Beth, our Josh, and Josh Hodson digging out the snow tunnel.
The bigger kids had fun sledding down some of the slopes but they were too steep for the little kids. Here is Josh carrying a sled back.
Beth, Jeffrey and Anna in the snow tunnel. Notice how nobody is wearing jackets. That is because it was so warm that day. There was a heavy fog layer down in Folsom, but once we drove about 15 minutes up the mountain, we rose above the fog and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day. In fact, it was so sunny that we needed sunscreen and sunglasses and the kids complained of being too hot! The other leaders and I kept wondering if we had gone to the snow or the beach. When we drove home, we came back down into the fog. It was like two different worlds.
Anna and her friend Adeline decided it was more fun to walk in the stream created by the melting snow.
I didn't get any pictures of Jacob and Katie because they went off with the older youth, and we didn't even catch a glimpse of them most of the day. Here are some pictures from Katie's friend's facebook page. (I wouldn't have put the word EVIL with an arrow on my picture.)
Savanah, Ashely, Katie and Kendall--3rd Ward Laurels
The teenagers hanging out in the snow. Adam Sevy is not really evil.
Katie, Ashley, and Kamree--more 3rd Ward girls.
Katie and Ashely--neighbors and great friends!
When we got home after the snow trip, we decided to cash in some of our scripture points. The older kids and parents decided to have In-N-Out for dinner, but the little kids didn't like that idea. So we made a compromise. They got personal boxes/bags of sugar cereal. Here are Jeffrey and Beth showing them off. Everyone was happy! On a side note, the scripture reading is going great. Last year, I kept track of the points and then we decided on a meal after we earned enough points. But this year, because we have a list of prizes and keep track of the points together, the children are very motivated to read each night. No complaining or moaning and groaning about reading so far!

Jacob and Katie's big date

2011-01-09T22:07:00.000-08:00

Jacob and Katie went on their first date this weekend. In California, although you can drive at 16, you cannot drive anyone under the age of 25 for one year after you obtain your driver's license. That puts a big damper on dating at the age of 16 since everyone has to arrive separately or be driven by a parent. But Jacob's Priest's Quorum sponsored an ice-skating date this weekend. So Jacob took his good friend Ashley, and Katie was asked by Josh, another boy in the ward. They had a great time. Here are some pictures.
Jacob and his date Ashley
Here are three of the couples, including Katie and her date Josh, on the right. There were some other couples plus the Bishop and his daughter and some other leaders each came with a spouse or child.
good friends
They had a good time. Apparently Jacob and another member of the quorum did an ice skating performance in the middle of the rink for everyone. After the skating, most of the kids went over to the 16th birthday party for a friend in the Stake. I think they all had a good time. They're growing up!

December Activities

2011-01-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

We did some fun things in December.
We attended the Ward Christmas party, which had a live nativity involving Beth and Adam (Adam is the shepherd on the left and Beth is the Lamanite kneeling and shooting the arrow.) Santa Claus was also there; only Beth, Jeffrey and Anna were willing to sit on Santa's lap for a picture.

Adam was willing to sit on Santa's lap at Rich's work party, though.

Beth was baptized on December 11.

Then we went to San Francisco for Daniel's basketball game. After the game, we climbed the Golden Gate Bridge and went to the Oakland Temple to see the Christmas lights.

2010-12-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

Every year, by the end of the year, we are slacking off in our scripture reading. Maybe it's because December is so busy. So every year we are motivated to come up with a new plan for getting back on track.

In 2010, we rewarded every month of 25 days or more of scripture reading with a special dinner. Sometimes we went out and sometimes we made something special at home, complete with a dessert we don't normally have. That worked pretty well (up until the last while.) So we are sticking with a reward theme.

For 2011, we are going to earn points for reading every night. We decided to come up with a list of 'prizes' for the whole family that the points can be used toward. We are going to rig the point system so it works out that we can earn about one prizedfrom the list per month.

Last night, we sat around and thought up a list of prizes as a family. Here is what we came up with:

1. Costco chocolate cake
2. Mom's homemade cinnamon rolls
3. The Wii game Just Dance 1 or 2 (the boys highly protested this one, but it got a nomination and a second)
4. Family Holiday where Dad and all children take a day off school and work
5. 2 dozen doughnuts (so everyone can have 2)
6. Dinner at IHOP
7. Homemade candy bar shakes
8. Pizza and soda for dinner (we have pizza just about every Friday night, but not SODA)
9. Unlimited Root Beer floats
10. Everyone gets to pick their own box of sugar cereal
11. One pound of bulk candy of choice from Winco for each family member
12. Trip to the movies
13. Wristband and snack at snack bar at the public pool this summer (wrist band means you get to go on the extra climbing structures not included in the entrance fee)
14. Each person gets to pick out two things from the Dollar Tree
15. In n Out Dinner
16. Everyone gets a treat from Costco food court

Notice how most things revolved around food? I think that's the influence of teenage boys. Of course, some prizes will be worth more points than others (like the IHOP Dinner which costs about $100 vs. homemade cinnamon rolls which is under $5). We are putting in place a plan to randomly get extra points for reading every month so we can earn some of the bigger prizes if we are lucky and save up our points.

The kids were so excited they were ready to start right away. So we earned our first point for reading last night.

I like it and think we will have a pretty successful scripture experience this year, right up until December.

2010-12-28T18:23:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we asked a friend to take a picture of our family for our family Christmas letter. We lined everyone up. As expected, Anna and Jeffrey had a hard time staying still for the camera. But one other family member had a hard time. Look in the upper right corner to see Jacob's many changing faces.
As our friends' Christmas letters and pictures arrived, I noticed their teenage boys didn't cooperate much for the camera either. Several of them had straight, serious, almost angry-looking faces, and one had his Ipod earbud complete with cord hanging down in the ear that was showing. So I guess I should consider us lucking to have the goofy teenager rather than the sullen one. When I asked Jacob why he made so many weird faces, he pointed out that he smiled in at least a few pictures. Unfortunately, that was when Jeffrey was getting bored or Anna was taking off her sweater.

Here is the picture we chose. Jacob didn't love the goofy look on his face, but I told him it was natural consequences. Maybe he will stay still a little better next year...but probably not!

Why I haven't been blogging...

2010-10-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

This fall we have had three soccer players, one football player, and Josh has been enrolled in a chess/soccer class for home schoolers. I have sat at soccer practice for about an hour and a half Monday through Thursday since the beginning of August. We have also gone to most of Daniel's football games every Thursday night, several of the Varsity football games on Friday night, and three soccer games every Saturday. It's been a busy, sporting fall so far. Fortunately, Katie drives herself to practice and I can just drop Josh off. So I guess that is where all my blogging time has gone.

It has sure been fun, though, to watch everyone compete and cheer them on individually.

Here are some pictures from this week's soccer games. (You can't get a good picture of a football player, and kids playing chess makes a pretty boring shot too.)
Beth's team in a post-game cheer
Beth says she wishes she could play soccer "every day but Sunday."
Beth taking a practice kick at the goal
This is Katie's 6th season playing on the Mad Penguins
Katie's big kick in a big plus for her team
This is Adam's first year. He has played goalie most of the season.
Taking a big jump
Ready to defend the goal

It all comes to an end next month. We only have Daniel signed up for basketball. Hooray! Just in time for the holidays...

Anna's haircut

2010-08-31T11:41:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, Anna cut her own hair. I thought she and Jeffrey were playing on the porch outside, but they were doing haircuts. Apparently, Jeffrey made a couple of cuts to Anna's hair, then she took over. Here is the only picture I could find of what her hair looked like at the beginning of August.
Before...and after...After I cried for a while, and got mad at them both, I called the hairdresser. She was able to see us the next day, and she told me she had seen worse. So here is Anna's first haircut in a real salon. Beth came along for moral support (and to play with the toys, if there were any.)

The finished product...

August fun

2010-08-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

School started too early here...August 9. But we still had enough time for some final summer fun.
The first week of August, we took a camping trip to the Redwoods with my sister and some family friends. We had a great time!

Jeffrey learned to ride his bike on the trip. Now you can't keep him off it!

Cousins on the root of a fallen redwood. That is Anna in the middle.
Jeffrey, Josh, Ryan, Adam and Anna next to the Smith River. Plenty of sun there.
Katie, Jacob and Daniel took the partly deflated boat down the river with no paddle. They learned the meaning of the term 'lazy river.'

Katie and Beth in the redwoods.

The trees are huge and beautiful.

The view looking up a hollow tree

The view looking down at Ryan, Daniel, Anna, Jeffrey and Adam

Cousins in front of the 'big tree'

Daniel, Beth, Katie and Anna

Muscles!At Crescent City Beach--it wasn't exactly warm. Once the kids figured out to build a fire, we were a lot more comfortable!

Josh chopping wood--one of the great things a boy can do only when he is camping...

Keables, Pettingills and some friends

Josh and Adam on the river

Boogie boarding Beth

Anna Banana

Dads get some fun, too. Here is Rich jumping from the big rock on the river.

Jeffrey, Ryan and Adam

Jeffrey loved the ocean water even though it was cold

Boogie boarding Adam

Anna and Jacob in the sand

Beth and Anna in the sand

Ah, settled next to the fire

The two football teams come together after the big game on the beach.

The Keables Family

Whitney and Brandon kiss Anna Banana goodbye

Katie gives her beloved twin a kiss

Daniel, Adam, Jacob and Katie around the fire

Family picture
Then the fun had to come to an end. Here is a picture of Katie, Daniel and Jacob at 6:25 a.m. on the Monday after our trip, the first day of school and seminary.

July (so far)

2010-07-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

July brings the last of the summer birthdays. Adam turned 9 and is no longer in Dad's wolf pack for Cub Scouts. We had to celebrate his birthday the night before because we spent most of the day driving to Rich's family reunion.

Driving to Utah, Jeffrey and Anna were absorped in the travel booklets Grandma Jeri made. It was our easiest long distance drive ever. Life with a nearly three-year old girl is pretty nice!We attended the Pettingill Family Reunion in Heber City, Utah. Rich's dad and Jeri have 11 children between the two of them. 7 of the 11 were able to attend, with their children, which made 49 people including over 30 cousins ages 17 and under! Here is Beth playing with Mallory and Lydia, with their newspaper bag 'water babies.' Jeffrey loved his water baby. This was the big hit of the reunion. Jeri and her girls, before she married Lewis, spent years doing an early morning paper route. The girls play with the plastic bags the papers went in. They would fill them with water, tie them at the top, and call them 'water babies.' I have never seen so many children entertained for so long by something so simple!
Anna loved the baby pool, playing here with her cousins Cohen, Evan and Thomas. Guess what? They all have water babies in the pool!
Grandpa, Calvin, Jacob, Rich Daniel, and Troy playing cards
We had a family talent show. Katie and Beth made up a song to sing together.Rich, Anna and Adam stayed in the audience
The teenagers did a special dance number. There's Jacob, but can you find Katie and Daniel?
Even the moms worked up a little number. We called it 'Fire Burnin' on the dance floor'Little fire burnin' The reunion took place near Deer Creek Reservoir, where Rich asked me to marry him 17 years ago. On our way to stay with family before we left for home, we stopped in to get a picture. We had never been back until now.The reunion ended Sunday, so after attending church in a little ward in Heber City, we stayed one more night with family and went to Temple Square. The big kids went to see the Joseph Smith movie while Jeri and I took the little kids to the Church History Museum across the street. Beth made her own version of a temple.Super Daniel in front of the Conference Center

Cousins at the reflecting pond

End of May/June

2010-07-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted since Easter?! We've been too busy have fun (and celebrating the mass number of birthdays we have in May, June and July). Here is some proof:Jacob and Katie turned 16, had a big party, and each got their driver's license. We now have two drivers--Yes! They are fun and helpful and they are both really growing up, Jacob literally.Daniel graduated from Middle School, turned 14 in June, and is on to Folsom High with Jacob and Katie next year. I would have never thought I would have attended Middle School gradution for one of my children. We're homeschoolers, you know, and if there is ever an age to home school, it's the middle school years. But here we are. Daniel has thrived from the challenge in school and from the chance to play sports. He will play football for FHS next year, and he will try out for basketball. In the spring, he will have to choose between track and volleyball. ; )
We finally got some warm weather, finally, which meant finally wearing swim suits! Anna, Jeffrey and Beth pose for the camera.We discovered 99 cent 32 oz. Icees at our local Chevron gas stations all summer long. Now that's a deal!Katie and I went to Girls' Camp together. This is the first time I have gone since I was 14. We had a great time! I was the counselor and she was one of the YCLs to a great group of 2nd years.
Finally, Jacob spent June, like he spends every month, being a goof. What's he wearing, you wonder? Anna's ski coat! He always makes us laugh.

Easter Sunday

2010-04-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

It was a cold, rainy day. We decided to stay home, rather than go visit my sister in Chico like we usually do. We all snuggled in our pajamas and under blankets in the morning and watched LDS General Conference. I love these pictures of the kids. Everyone loves the Conference booklets or word pages that we pass out. I didn't have any ready for Saturday morning, and there was a revolt, so I had stack of word searches, mazes, word lists, bingo games and pictures to keep everyone happy during Conference sessions on Sunday, including the teenagers! After about an hour, someone found the Easter baskets hidden in the garage. That was the end of hearing any of the talks!It started raining during our Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Despite the warm weather clothing, it was really quite chilly. For the first time, only Josh and below hunted for eggs, while the older teenagers did the hiding. The children quickly found their eggs and got back inside. What kind of an Easter is this?! We are used to sunny, warm, spring weather!

Later we had an Easter dinner with our friends, the Ellison/Bracy family. While we were getting dinner ready, the children had fun with the bubbles that came in the Easter baskets--inside. It was too cold to do bubbles outside!

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

Here's what our menu looked like today, although not necessarily in this order. How many green food items can you count?

Happy St. Patty's Day, lads and lassies!

Car trouble...or should I say child trouble?

2010-03-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

I posted this on my other blog, but I know you don't have that one on your Yahoo account, Pat, so I am posting it on here, too. I hope you get a laugh out of it. We weren't laughing at the time, but we are now. : )

Three times in the past two weeks, someone has left a light on or the door open in our van, draining the battery.

The first time was two Sundays ago. I had a 7:30 am church meeting. Rich always handles getting the children ready on his own better than I do, so when 9:10 rolled around and they still weren't at church, I began to worry. I sneaked away during the Sacrament hymn, leaving behind the huge portion of empty bench I had covered with scriptures, tote bags, and hymn books, to ask our home teacher to call Rich and find out what was up. He discovered that our van battery was dead because someone had left the inside light on Friday night. That meant it had been on Friday night and all day Saturday. That meant the battery wasn't just dead, it was completely drained. After our battery charger didn't work, Rich was able to borrow a more powerful one from the neighbor. They all filed in just as the Sacrament was coming to an end but, thankfully, before anyone else could claim our empty bench! Did I mention Jacob was assigned to bring the Sacrament bread? (I had wondered why Teachers had been coming up the aisle, one at a time, with piles of individual slices of what I now realize was newly-defrosted bread from a loaf in kitchen freezer.)

The second time someone left a light on was last Sunday. It was Daylight Savings, so we had been struggling more than usual to get everyone up and going. It wasn't until we sprinted out to the van and all climbed in that we realized the van was, once again, dead. Another light had been left on the night before. Lovely. Rich popped the hood and headed to get the charger when Jacob reminded us that he had been assigned the Sacrament bread again, in an effort to redeem himself from the previous Sunday. Oh no! By this time, it was 10 minutes 'til. I jumped in Rich's car with Jacob, leaving him with a completely dead battery, an inadequate battery charger, and no jumper cables for the second Sunday in a row while I attempted to get up to the church with the precious bread. Let's just say Rich was not happy about this situation. (I have to insert here that maybe somebody ought to figure out that you better not give the Pettingill family the responsibility of the Sacrament bread unless you are going to pick Jacob up and bring him yourself or unless you don't mind defrosting bread at 5 minutes 'til.) I drove like a mad woman in an unsuccessful attempt to get the bread to the church on time, telling my permitted driver the whole way that he was never allowed to drive like this no matter how late he was. Then I took a spot on the very back row of the chapel, on the metal chairs no less, and waited for my family to show up. This time, at 9:25, I knew Rich was in for it once again. Why don't I bring my cell phone to church?! I sneaked out, this time after the Sacrament, knowing that no one would take my ten saved chairs (nobody wants to sit on the back row), and called Rich's cell on the foyer phone. Dead battery story, take 2. Except this time, it is Daylight Savings Sunday, so the kind neighbors with the extra-powerful battery charger are apparently still asleep. The family finally dragged in to the chapel at 9:50. The teachers once again razzed Jacob for being late and assigned him the bread again! (What, don't we get any credit for a dead battery, for heaven's sake?!) To be sure that we redeem ourselves this time, I think we'll sneak in during the Stake dance this Saturday night and put the loaf of bread on the Sacrament table before we take the kids home. I also think I am going to send an email to the Teacher's Quorum and ban Jacob from ever being assigned the bread again.

Today, Rich informed me that somebody left the van doors open last night. This afternoon I drive the middle school carpool, but at least this doesn't involve the most sacred ordinance of the church. And at least we know way ahead of time. And at least it's not early in the morning, so we can just go over and knock on the neighbor's door with our heads held high, and a promise that we really are going to get this fixed, to borrow the charger.

Do you ever think that your family would run so much smoother if it didn't have all the children in it? (Just kidding.)

Pinewood Derby

2010-03-08T17:06:00.001-08:00

This year marked Rich's tenth Pinewood Derby car. Adam is our only Cub Scout, so Dad and Adam got to spend lots of (last minute) time working out a design and getting all the little details just right. They put on the wheels about two hours before it was time to head over to the church.
The whole family came along to cheer Adam on.
Here is Adam with the final entry. Jacob and Daniel were sure to tell him that they both won their den races when they were Wolves. No pressure, right?

Adam won his first three races in a row, and ended up 3rd place in his Wolf Den. He was happy with his ribbon, but even happier with the Butterfinger candy bar he won! Good job, Adam ! (And good job, Rich! Only 5 more Pinewood Derby cars to go!)

President's Week Tahoe Trip

2010-02-17T18:54:00.001-08:00

Some friends invited us up to their time share in South Lake Tahoe for the first few days of President's Week vacation. You haven't heard of President's Week? It could also be called Budget Cuts Enforced Teacher Furlough Week. Well,we'll take any reason to get a break from 6 a.m. seminary around here! Here are some pictures from the trip.

a family shot before we went sledding

Beth, Anna and Adam

Beth and Anna

Jeffrey ready to head up the hill

Jeffrey amazed us! He hung out with a family friend who was 10 and hiked up and went down the hill over and over all day long. We couldn't believe how great he did.

Even Anna went down a little hill on her own!
Mom and Anna--this was the only time I went down. I was content to take pictures and watch.

This was on the first day at the time share. We were waiting for Dad to check us in with the group, which took too long for excited children. After waiting as long as they could stand, everyone piled out of the van and got in the snow. Most of the children were in shorts because it was in the 60s in Folsom when we left. Beth was even in flip flops, but that didn't last long! We found this little frozen pond, which Josh fell through. You can't see it well in the picture, but he got soaked from the thighs down.

Impromtu snowball fight

This was the view of Lake Tahoe from our balcony

Jacob, Katie, and family friend, Lexi, sledding down the hill

Then Daniel got in on the action. Katie said they didn't even know he was there. He was laying on a sled, which you can't see.

Katie and Lexi

Daniel lounging in the snow

Katie having a snack

Anna--such a cutie!

Katie and Jeffrey

Adam and his snowball

We wore her out! Little Anna shows how we were all feeling at the end of the day! The rooms we stayed in had what they called a "full kitchen" but I felt like I was cooking in a play kitchen, or one from Europe, with miniature appliances. Josh was so sick of unloading a tiny dishwasher that he said, when we got home, "I love our house! I love you, dishwasher!" We had a great time, and we were all glad to come back home.

Valentine's Family Night

2010-02-08T21:50:00.000-08:00

My friend, Becky, told me about a Valentine's Day tradition they have as a family. They pass out paper hearts, and every member of the family writes down something they like about another member of the family on one of the paper hearts. Then they hide the heart someplace where that family member will find it during the week. They each do one paper heart for each family member.

I decided to try it in our family this week. I was a bit skeptical about what the older boys would think, but it turned out to be very fun! One older boy did put up a little fuss at first, but everyone participated except Katie who went to bed early because she is sick. So we saved some hearts for her. I did preface the whole thing with a "reminder" to keep this to real compliments. Anyone who made someone else cry because of their "compliment" would have to do the other person's Saturday cleaning chore for them.

We spent the first part of the evening secretly writing on our paper hearts and then hiding them around the house. Rich and I helped the little ones. Then the little kids especially spent the rest of the evening trying to find all their hearts. We had chocolate chip cookies for a treat. Some of the compliments were: You are so awesome. You are thoughtful. You are a good cook. You are cool. You are so pretty. You are good at drawing. You are kind. I even noticed that big kids, who had homework and pretended not to care, did casually stroll from place to place to see who the different hearts were for. Everyone loves to hear something good about themselves.

The only downside was that the little kids got so excited by this that they had a hard time falling asleep last night!

February 2010--a sad farewell

2010-02-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

Last year, I mourned the loss of my favorite hot drink, Postum. Nestle stopped production based on "lack of sales." I guess the Mormon population of the world can't support the sales on a non-coffee coffee substitute. Now, 2010 brings the demise of another favorite: Necco Sweetheart valentine heart candies. Oh, you may say you see those Sweetheart boxes all over the place right now. Well, we bought one of the bags of mini-hearts a few weeks ago. I was so excited to bring home our favorite winter candy that you can only get from mid-January through Valentine's Day. But we were all shocked by the taste. It looked like the same candy, but it sure didn't taste like the same candy. So I have been hunting at every retail store in the Valentine's section to find my regular Necco Sweethearts. We couldn't find the real ones anywhere--with the Necco name on the front. I even checked the Necco website back in mid-January, which boasted that their candy recipe hadn't changed in 145 years. Huh? So, after all my hunting, I checked on-line one more time this weekend and found that Necco was just a little slow to update their website. Apparently, they not only changed the recipe, they changed the color and the texture! They are now softer and have fruity new flavors. The website says the new candies are "more fun to eat." Well, I immediately had to send off an email, telling them exactly what I thought of their new changes. It's like the New Coke fiasco, I told them. We want our Classic Sweethearts back. I even threatened never to buy their product again if they didn't change it back (and I won't because who wants candy that taste like cough medicine?!)

Well, this morning I got a response. The nice PR lady told me that change is always hard and that they were just responding to the requests they've had over the years for softer, more fruity tasting candy. (I think it's just to save money on ingredients.) They also made the boxes smaller for tiny little hands to open.(Saving money on packaging, I'll bet.) She did ask me to stick with them through this (ha!) and to visit their website for craft and recipe ideas. (Sigh.) The only good thing to come of the email was that she told me where to buy the leftovers that they are unloading at all the discount stores (Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, 99 Cent Only, Freds, Odd Lots, Wakefern, and Sav A Lot.) So I stopped in at the Dollar Tree when I was out this morning. I bought 10 of those packages of 4 boxes each--25 cents each just like when I was a kid. But that is only 4 boxes per person, and then they are gone forever. It's a sad, sad day.

P.S. The picture, by the way, is of the lamo-new box and not the old box. Sigh.

Anna is helping

2010-01-28T07:59:00.000-08:00

Anna "helped" me change the sheets on our bed the other day. That night, just as we were going to bed, the phone rang. I could hear it but couldn't find it. Eventually I located it, beneath the fitted sheet on Rich's side of the bed.

Silly teenagers

2010-01-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

Here is how Katie decided to use Anna's little blue car. This reminds me of Alice in Wonderland when she grew so big that she had her head sticking out of the roof of the rabbit's house and her legs and arms out the windows. Let's just say Katie had a harder time getting out than getting in. Here is one more example why I think teenagers are zany and fun!

Overcoming the Natural Man

2009-12-20T17:30:00.000-08:00

This week I was memorizing Mosiah 3:19 "The natural man is an enemy to God...and will be forever and ever...unless he becometh a saint." We had a painful opportunity this week to overcome the natural man. I went out Christmas shopping and left older children home babysitting. While I was out, the older children fell asleep, and Anna was left to her own devices. She found some blue craft paint and painted her whole body and one wall in the hallway. She also wandered around the house, leaving blue tracks wherever she went. Then she woke up one of the babysitters, saying "Look at me!" Attempts to clean her up left the bathroom blue, as well. Sigh. Aren't we grateful for toddlers, and teenage babysitters, who give us so many chances to "become saints"? This picture was taken, by the way, after the clean-up efforts.

New York Trip

2009-12-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons I was behind on my birthday posts was because we spent the entire month of October preparing for, going on and recovering from our anniversary trip to New York. I decided to post some of those pictures here as a memory for later. Rich's dad and Jeri babysat for us for 9 days while we went off all by ourselves!

The last two birthdays for the year

2009-12-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

I have been terrible about posting lately, but I need to finish up the year of birthdays. Beth turned 7 on Halloween. Beth is our fiesty, independent, sensitive soul. She was so pleased with her simple birthday gifts. Her birthday is on October 31, and Katie made her a special Halloween costume to match Anna. She was Little Bo Peep with her little sheep. Incidentally, Beth played soccer this year and she scored a goal on her birthday! Beth had a great day, and we love her so much!

The last birthday for the year was Rich, who turned 39. Pretty old, huh? (Just getting him back.) What a great husband and father Rich is!! He is the rock of our family, consistent and steady, always taking care of everyone else and the little details that make life go along more smoothly. We love him so much!!!

Two important birthdays

2009-09-27T19:39:00.001-07:00

We have had two big birthdays in the last few months. Adam turned 8 in July. Because my camera was lost for the summer, my pictures were all on Katie's camera, so I am finally just posting about this important date in Adam's life.

Adam was specifically chosen to come to our family when he did, I believe. He is gentle, sweet, quiet and easy to get along with. He finds himself right between two very strong personalities, so he keeps the peace and sets the example by asking quietly for what he wants (almost unheard of around here) and then waiting patiently until he gets it (even more rare!) Unfortunately, he doesn't always get what he asks for as quickly as the louder, more demanding family members, but we are so grateful for his gentle spirit in our home. Adam and Josh are best friends, so much so that Adam was a little lost when Josh went on an overnight campout with Dad and the Scouts with weekend. Adam lost his two front teeth in the past couple of months, and I just think he is the most handsome 8-year-old boy around with those big teeth coming in that he shows off with that great big smile! We sure love Adam!!
Here is a picture from Adam's Jedi Training Academy birthday party that the big kids helped me throw. They had a great time, especially when Darth Vader made his appearance. (Note the light sabers are swim noodles cut in half and then decorated with duct tape at the end--these were an idea from another blogging friend and were a big hit that didn't cause any pain when they accidentally missed their mark)

Adam is now our newest, and only, Cub Scout. Guess who is his Wolf den leader? Dad!!

The next big birthday, after a merciful break to let Mom catch her breath and Dad save a little money, was Anna. Anna turned 2 on September 15. I can't believe our little baby is 2!! She spent the morning of her birthday happily playing with play dough. That very much sums up how Anna spends her days, happily. She plays happily with her brother and sisters, happily tries to change her cloths over and over, happily finds the marker pens to color on some paper (or herself), happily tells you she wants a snack. Although she can really make a mess, she is an absolute delight to the whole family.
It was fun to buy Anna gifts and then watch her open them. First, she only wanted to open one and then play with it. We could have stopped at the stroller and doll. We coaxed her into opening the play cell phone, as well as the dress-up shoes. She has been happily playing with them all ever since!! (We also got her a puzzle, and Jeffrey has been happily playing with that.)
Happy (late) birthday, Adam and Anna! We love you both so much and are so grateful that you are part of our family!

Home schooling pros and cons

2009-09-15T20:58:00.001-07:00

We began school last week. We took full advantage of our freedom as home schoolers to finish our summer before turning back to school work. After such a long break, I had forgotten some things about home schooling that can be troublesome.
One thing is that baby always climbs on the table and plants herself/himself in the middle of the action. That first day, as I sat there watching this unfold, I thought back to eleven years ago when Joshua was the baby and it was our first year of kindergarten with the twins. Joshua would do the same thing, getting himself right in the middle of all the action, ripping papers and spilling school supplies all around. Lots of home school moms have all kinds of organized plans for avoiding this (like putting the baby behind a gate) but I am just not one of those moms. So the baby is often plopped smack in the middle of whatever we are doing, until I can take a moment to put her back on a chair where she belongs. I think it's annoying now, but I bet it will be one of the things we laugh about (and think back fondly on) over the years!

Beth and Josh hard at work.

On the other hand, here is one of the things I love about home schooling. Little people and big people get to spend lots of time together all day long. Here, Josh is doing his math while Jeffrey and Anna sit next to him playing. I love that! So when you pick up a stick, you really do pick up both ends of the stick. I suppose it's worth it to me because, although the little ones bring chaos in their wake, they also bring a lot of love and sweetness too.
Completed bird feeders--everyone was very happy about their efforts, though we haven't seen any more birds around to observe yet.

Public School Learning Curve

2009-09-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

Last week, Daniel took his first ever public school quiz. We had studied together the night before, according to the teacher's instructions, and he knew the information well. The next day, I checked his score on-line. He got only 30%. What?! I emailed the teacher to see what happened. He didn't know either and said he was surprised, as Daniel seems like an attentive student. The next day, they compared the test to his answers and discovered that, instead of filling in the scantron bubbles on the answer sheet, Daniel had circled them. It is actually amazing he got any correct at all! The kind teacher taught him about scantron testing and gave him credit for 8 out of 10 instead of 3 out of 10. : )

Temple Family Night

2009-08-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, I attend a special Relief Society fireside speaker Sister Karen Winkel, our Sacramento Temple matron. Sister Winkel told us about a "treasure hunt" that President Winkel created to help their grandchildren enjoy the temple. They do a hunt for certain items such as symbols around the temple grounds, answering all kinds of questions and getting points for their efforts. I liked this idea so much that we did an impromptu family night at the temple on Monday. We looked for symbols as a family. One thing Sister Winkel mentioned is that there are four mariner's compasses on the temple grounds, three inside the gates and one outside. We found them, but we couldn't figure out which way they pointed. We did find a sun etched into the entry way of the temple which we hadn't noticed before. Sister Winkel also shared a scripture inIsaiah which talks about the temple being like a pillar of fire. If you go at night and look at the reflection of the fountain onto the archway behind it, the shadows look like gentle flames. That was also beautiful to see.

We walked around, looking for more symbols.

A beautiful view at night.

We encouraged reverence, and mostly they complied, mostly.

President Monson has encouraged each child to touch the temple. I asked each of the children who promises to be in the temple with our family someday to touch the temple for a picture.
In the Winkel's hunt, they give points if you see a wild turkey, hawk or deer. We wondered how many points we got for seeing this--a rattlesnake! It was not actually on the temple grounds but instead on the road leading up the hill. It was enjoying the warm pavement as the sun was setting, so we pulled up beside it for everyone to get a good look.

It was a fun, peaceful night that gave me renewed perspective about why we are raising this family, as well as joy as I thought about a future day when we will all be in the temple together someday. Thanks, President and Sister Winkel, for the great idea!

Daniel turns 13

2009-06-23T13:03:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Daniel's 13th birthday while we were on our trip to Utah. Now we have 3 teenagers in the house! Daniel's big accomplishment just before his birthday was to take a lesson on how to cut hair. In the fall, in exchange for giving hair cuts to Jeffrey and Adam every month, he is going to get a cell phone. He is pretty excited! He is going to attend Sutter Middle School for 8th grade in the fall, and he plans to try out for the basketball team. He is also pretty excited about that! Daniel spent his birthday at Aunt Nancy and Uncle David's house. He got the newest Link game for the Wii, which kept all the boys busy that morning. That night, we went to BYU for bowling and ice cream at the creamery. He got a double waffle cone, which is huge!!! It was a fun day. Too bad we didn't bring the camera. Here are some pictures of Daniel from the past few months. What a goof! Daniel, we sure love having you in our family!

Family trip to Utah

2009-06-23T12:52:00.001-07:00

Jacob and Katie attended EFY at BYU Provo the first week of June. We drove them out there as a family and stayed with Rich's sister Nancy for the week. We all had a great time! Here are some pictures of our fun.

These are the boys from Jacob and Katie's EFY company. 9 kids from our ward all attended the same week. There were also lots of kids from the Stake. They had tons of fun, but Jacob brought home the Utah flu that was passed all around EFY that week. Fortunately, he didn't get sick until the week was over. His roommate had the fever right in the middle of the fun.
Some of the girls from the company.

Here is the whole company Seek Ye, with Jacob being a ham up front, as usual.

While in Utah, we spent time with lots of friends we don't get to see very often. We were reminded that we have a lot of fantastic friends with a bunch of great kids. In this picture, we met Randy and Cheryl Cox and their family at the park for lunch in American Fork. We brought along Nancy's gang, too, which made a big group for games.

Beth and Mallory, Nancy's daughter, really hit it off. BFF
In addition to spending time with great friends and family, one highlight of our trip was to take a tour of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan. Beth really didn't want to leave Mallory to go, but we forced her. It was a self-guiding tour, which meant we could take our time and stop to see certain parts. We spent extra time in the baptistry, explaining about the font and baptisms for the dead. We all loved a chance to be in the temple, and Beth told me as we were leaving, "I'm so glad I came, Mom!" That is the spirit of the House of the Lord. Here is the view, which would almost convince me to move to Utah. Not quite, but almost. It is breathtaking for those of us who don't get to see the Wasatch Front every day.

Thanks, David and Nancy, for being so generous and opening your home. I guess we will be back in Provo next year for the Pettingill family reunion--I can't wait!!

The best laid plans

2009-05-28T17:27:00.001-07:00

Looking at the week Monday evening, with school almost over, I made great plans. I was going to spend it getting ready for our trip.

Jacob and Katie are going to EFY at BYU from June 1-6, so we are all going along to play in Utah for the week. We want to leave by 10 am on Saturday morning. Getting our family out the door and into the van takes, frankly, super human effort and patience. When we do finally leave on a trip, it is never on time. So I decided to start ahead. My goal was to get most of the laundry done, shop for some items for the trip, give children a list of things to gather, and finish up packing the van Friday night.

That plan went smoothly, right up until 10 am Tuesday morning when I had a dentist appointment. The filling was pretty bad, and it left me with swollen, bleeding gums and taking 800 mg of Ibuprofen. Then Rich had his dentist appointment Wednesday afternoon. No bleeding gums, but repairing a cracked tooth left him with serious tooth pain, too. Did we mention Anna is cutting eye teeth?

The final straw to my great plans came last night at 3 am when I awoke to throbbing pain on the entire right side of my mouth. It was a far-too-familiar pain telling me that I needed a root canal in my newly filled tooth. So today Rich spent the morning getting me an appointment, and I spent the rest of the day getting a root canal and a prescription to Vicodin. Why do these things happen just when you are trying to go on a vacation?! Well, at least we got it all done before the trip (well, except Anna's teething)!

Happy birthday Jacob, Katie and Mom

2009-05-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

On May 17, Jacob and Katie turned 15. Jacob and Katie are great fun to have in the family. They really compliment one another. Jacob is unbelievably fun with little children and funny to be around. Katie is kind, sweet and gentle. They are both super helpful and responsible. I could not do what I do with such a large family without them. I sometimes wonder why they came as twins. I guess heaven knew we needed a girl and a boy first in the family.
My birthday also falls in May. This year I turned 40! (For my thoughts on this big milestone, read my personal blog here.) Rich made the day special by making a great breakfast and dinner, and by showering me with some pretty great gifts--like a new pair of Birkenstocks and a blue tooth ear piece! I also got to have a lunch with a group of friends at Chili's. Jeanette surprised me by coming to town and joining us for lunch. It was a great day.

Katie's track season comes to an end

2009-05-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Katie competed in the Frosh/Soph League Finals on Monday. Her relay team, shown below, came in 4th overall at the meet. She got 5th place in high jump. She got 3rd in 300m hurdles. In 100m hurdles, her best event (and she says by far her favorite), she came in first place--League Champion--and set a meet record of 17.42 seconds. Rich missed this race because of a work meeting. It was such a great race to watch! She had hit her head on the standard in her first jump in high jump, so she was shaky and had a big bump. It was a hot day, and I was worried that she wouldn't have her best race. However, she came out ahead and stayed there the whole time. What a great finish to a fun season! Here are some pictures from the year. (Katie wants me to point out that the hurdles pictures are from early in the season and that her form is much better now!)

4x100 relay team Katie, Angela, Taylor and Stephanie

Stephanie, Katie and Makenzie--Katie made lots of great friends this season!

Katie and her beloved hurdles

Josh turned 11

2009-04-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Joshua turned 11 last week but I never got to blog about him. His birthday fell in the middle of Spring Break. What a treat! We got to sleep in and then celebrate the birthday when we were all ready to get up. Josh got to take a few friends and his brothers to play laser tag. We had his favorite, pizza, and rasperry jello cake. Notice there are only two candles on the cake. That's all we had, so it stands for 1-1. (It's better than the time we had to use matches because we had no candles at all!) Josh is our tender-hearted boy who loves to help and give and receive lots of love. He has really grown up a lot this year and is even becoming a very good family babysitter. We are so glad to have him in our family!

Easter Reality

2009-04-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday afternoon, Rich and I decided we better stop procrastinating and go buy the Easter treats. We were in charge of the Easter egg hunt at my sister's house, plus I wanted to at least have some small Easter baskets. When Rich arrived at the bulk section of Winco, there was no more Easter candy. Walmart, nothing. Target, gone. So Rich decided to get creative. He said he felt like the dad who shops for the Christmas stocking stuffers on Christmas Eve at 7-11. We searched far and wide for plastic eggs for the egg hunt (along with a pretty good group of other procrastinators!) Then we scrounged together a crazy assortment of baskets we that already had. Here is what the children found on Sunday morning. At least he found some jelly beans. Life is so funny!

Easter's simple message

2009-04-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

I love spring, which you probably noticed, since this is my third post about it. One of the things I love about spring is Easter. I love all the pastel colors and the blooming flowers. I love the sky full of clouds and the off-and-on rain that keeps everything so green. I love buying new dresses and white shoes for the little girls (on the years that we are organized enough to do that). I love coloring Easter eggs (although I do not love it when the dye is spilled all over the table, which happens pretty much every year.) I love Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets and getting together with family for dinner and going to church where we often hear the story of the Resurrection during all three meetings. I love pulling out the plastic egg kit as a family with the symbols and scriptures that tell the Easter story.

I especially love that Easter can be so simple. We don't have to give gifts or make things too complicated. We seem to simplify more and more as the years go by. One year, we forgot to get Easter grass for the baskets, so we shredded green paper. (It worked and was a lot easier to clean up!) Another year, we didn't do baskets at all, just a big egg hunt. Many years, we have to forgo this or that tradition due to lack of time. But we never miss out on the feeling of new life and (mostly) happy children and family and hope that winter is over and everything is alive again. I love Easter's message, and it's feeling comes through for me in all the things we do to celebrate. That message is simple, yet infinitely profound, and even the youngest child can feel it: He lives!

Wow.

2009-03-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

We had a near miss with the van last week. Jeffrey came out and hid under the van as I was rushing to leave somewhere. I heard his voice but couldn't see him. I had one of those times when I knew I better stop and check things out. Sure enough, Jeffrey hopped out from under the van with his big smile. I had to go but took him inside and asked Rich to help him understand why that was so dangerous. Rich used the analogy of what happens when you step on a grape, which is a good one for a 4 year old. Graphic, I know, but I believe it sobered him into listening. When I knelt down to say my prayer that night, the realization of what might have happened really hit me. I felt so grateful for that still, small voice that told me to stop, and also that I listened. So many times I question my feelings. So many times I just plow forward with what I was doing, anyway. I suppose I listened because I knew it had to do with one of my children. That's a whole different thing, isn't it? Or maybe it was stronger this time. I am just so grateful that, in this challenging and fast-paced endeavor of raising this family, we are not on our own.

Count your many blessings

2009-03-31T15:56:00.000-07:00

We were sick in some way or another since before Thanksgiving. Now we are finally well. Being sick that long has made me unusually grateful to feel good again! Here are some other things I am grateful for:

My children are all safe and well (see above post).
Our insurance benefits begin tomorrow! Hooray!
It is Spring Break next week. We are all looking forward to a change of pace, from sprinting to meandering.
We have so many fun things to look forward to. Rich and the older boys are going to General Conference, the rest of us are staying home and watching General Conference, I am going to Women's Conference at BYU with my sister and niece, Jacob and Katie have EFY in June, Whitney (my sister's oldest daughter) is getting married in July, plus many summer activities and camping trips! I haven't even mentioned school getting out and getting rid of the homework monkey always on our backs. Fun, fun, fun!

It could just be that the spring sunshine and flowers and birds chirping are contagious. It seems like, at least in Northern California, the whole world is cheerful and happy to be alive!

Family Night fun

2009-03-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

Here's what happens when boys sing Primary songs with hand movements while sitting next to Dad during family home evening.

Happy birthday, Jeffrey!

2009-03-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey turned 4 this week. He had scones with maple frosting for his birthday breakfast, we went to the park for lunch, and he had "chinchiladas" (Jeffrey's name for chicken enchiladas) for dinner. His birthday cake was, by very specific request, a yellow cake with blue frosting with a purple lightsaber on it (which is Mace Windu's lightsaber color, in case you don't know Star Wars as well as a four year old.) He got ninja turtles and legos for presents. Oh, and I should point out that he had to wear Adam's old basketball jersey that he had just gotten as a hand-me-down. It was a fun day!

Jeffrey is a good example that children are pretty flexible and can overcome some tough things over time. The valves in his lower ureters were too thick when he was born, so he wasn't able to urinate properly, damaging his bladder, ureters and kidneys. At 5 weeks old, he had a surgery to reroute his bladder to empty out of a hole in his abdomen. He had another surgery at 7 months, along with many painful and invasive tests and procedures. After that surgery and round of testing, he really wasn't sure who we were going to pass him off to next or what terrible thing they were going to do. He began to cling to Mom and Dad, terrified of strangers and refusing to go to anyone who wasn't a member of our immediate family. Now, though, just a few years later, he is totally independent and out-going. He doesn't ever want much help from Mom or Dad (which really caused a mess when he was potty training.) He says his "best buddies" are Jacob, Daniel and Josh. He and Adam go back and forth between "hating" each other and being best buddies, depending on how well they are sharing lego pieces. He really thinks he is one of the big boys. Even he and Beth get along great most of the time. He is a fiesty little guy, and we sure love having him in our family! (And, other than some minimal, residual kidney and bladder damage, he is healthy as can be!)

Here he is at birth and, below, Beth holding Jeffrey at 4 months old.

I looked out the window and what did I see?

2009-03-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

Popcorn popping on the fruitless pear trees!

Here's a closer look. These trees are what we see when we look out the back windows of our house. I am so grateful for their cheery blossoms, and for the original owners of our house, who planted them.

Do you know something else I am grateful for? My sister came and planted our front planter, which had been overgrown with out-of-control ivy topiaries. She helped me choose the plants, bought them on sale for us at her nursery, and then went knee deep in freezing mud in January to plant it all. Here are some of the pansies that are absolutely thriving from all of the rain we have had lately. Only a sister would do something like that! Thanks, Jeanette!!

Another San Francisco Trip--Valentine's Day get-away

2009-02-16T17:54:00.001-08:00

It is not a coincidence that Rich and I chose to sneak away for Valentine's Day and go to San Francisco. He wasn't able to come along last week for the cousins' trip (pesky job). We had a great time, just the two of us, all alone in San Francisco from Friday to Saturday afternoon. Here are some pictures:

This is the view from our hotel room. It was pouring rain when we arrived, but it cleared up and only sprinkled a bit here and there until after we left. Our favorite thing about this hotel, which we booked randomly on Hotwire, were the his and hers booklights above each side of the bed. Nice!On Saturday, we took a tour of Alcatraz. Here is our boat. The stormy weather made for a beautiful view as well as a turbulent bay (meaning we were ready to give up the view to get off the ferry and get our landlegs back.)

A view of Alcatraz from the boat

A view of the city from Alcatraz. If you haven't done this tour, we highly recommend it if you are ever in SF. We did the audio tour, and we also did a ranger "sitting tour" in which the ranger gave us all the details behind one of the famous escape attempts when the Marines came in a dropped bombs down the pipes. We came right home and put Escape From Alcatraz on our Netflix queue. We spent over two hours touring, and we could have spent another two, but we ran out of time. Really, even the ferry ride over and back is worth the trip because of the fantastic views!

We came back that evening and had heart-shaped pizzas with chocolate fondue for dessert as a family. Here are Daniel, Katie and Beth enjoying the chocolate. (Katie kept up our tradition of making pink pancakes and waffles for breakfast while we were away.)

Beth, Jeffrey and Adam

Dad gets in on the dessert.

A chocolate dipped marshmallow. Yum!

Anna got her share of the yummies too.

Notice anyone missing? Jacob had come down with a fever of 103 and was not interested in eating any of the Valentine's treats. I was so glad to be home early to take care of him (and the four others that have since come down with it.)

I am going to leave this with a little tribute to my sweetie. Rich is the best husband ever. Let me give a few examples. While we were away, it did sprinkle a bit. We only had one umbrella, so he held it up for me the whole time, giving me his arm to hold on. I am sure his arm got tired, but he never complains. Even better, when our Friday night plans to get lottery Wicked tickets didn't work out, we had dinner and then headed back to the hotel. We got into our pjs and snuggled up to watch a movie in our comfy hotel room (which was even more comfy compared to the freezing weather outside.) At Rich's suggestion, we watched Twilight despite the fact that there were many exciting action selections available. Isn't that a sweet guy? He is always the first one up and the last one to eat. He always goes out to run the errands in the rain, and he always carries the baby in from the car. I could go on and on. Thanks for being so wonderful, sweetheart!!

San Francisco Trip

2009-02-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

The first Wednesday of the month is free day at the Exploratorium, a hands-on science museum in San Francisco. We took everyone out of school and took a day trip to San Francisco with Jeanette's family. Curt had the day off, so he came, too. We completely filled up the 15 passenger van, and off we went. Here are some pictures of all the fun we had:
Here is the van full up with Ipod toting kids. Those not listening to Ipods watched the in-trip movie!
Before going into the museum, we had our picnic lunch on the lawn behind the building. The kids had a great time feeding the ducks leftover sandwiches and cookies.

Here are Jeanette's Melissa, Adam, Beth, Josh and Jeanette's Ryan feeding the ducks.

Anna, Beth and Daniel in one of the sound-proof music rooms at the Exploratorium.

Adam uses a double mirror to make himself look like he has lots of arms and legs. The museum is full of hands-on science activities. The 11 and under crowd ran from one thing to another for as long as the teenagers would tolerate (and actually even longer than that!)

Adam, Anna, Melissa and Beth at another exhibit.

Julia and Katie watch as Beth uses the huge bubble maker. This was by far Beth's favorite thing to do! You can see by their expressions how excited the teenagers were.
After we left the Exploratorium, we went across the street to the beach where you could see huge ships passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as Alcatraz Island. This picture is of all the kids (except Daniel) with the Golden Gate in the background. Jeanette's Janae and Julia, Katie and Jacob, Josh, Ryan, Melissa, Beth, Jeffrey, Adam, and me holding Anna. It was chilly!

After we walked along the beach, we drove up to the base of the Golden Gate so that we could walk up to an observation point part-way across. This picture is of the flower garden just before you reach the base of the bridge.

Here is Jacob on the way up waving to passing commuters.

The view back to the city from the Golden Gate Bridge on the way up.

Katie and Jacob at the observation point.

Katie, Jacob, Julia, Jeanette, Janae, Daniel, Josh, Ryan, Melissa, and Adam from the bridge

Ryan, Josh and Adam looking over the edge of the bridge. Curt and Daniel are in the background. Those are Jacob's feet sticking out. Josh told me that, although he is scared of heights, he was glad he decided to go up the bridge because it wasn't scary at all.

Jeffrey was sufficiently intimidated by how high up we were, so he didn't try to climb up to look over the bridge. He felt safest sitting right on the ground looking through the bridge to the water below. At one point, we thought we saw a shark, so he got a closer look, but still from the safety of the ground.

Anna slept in the stroller through the whole Golden Gate experience, which made me much more relaxed. Beth was scared to even get close to the edge at first.

But she warmed up after a while.

After we came back down, we took this picture of one piece of the cables that support the bridge. If you look back at my pictures, this is one of the big cables that hold it all up. Here are Beth and Jeffrey standing next to it to help you compare the size.

Home Wrecker

2009-02-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

Anna has crossed over from fussy, teething toddler to happy home wrecker. For one thing, she has learned to pull a chair or tub up to the counter and reach whatever she is interested in. Here you see an example of her destruction. She pulled this tub up, pulled out a variety utensils from the drawer, dumped out the cinnamon sugar, and began opening a new cube of butter when I found her.
In the past 24 hour period, she dumped out almost a full pitcher of orange juice all over the counter and floor, and into the drawer and cupboard below, dumped a cup of water all over the counter, painted bowls with the already opened butter, threw graham crackers off the counter one by one, and got into Katie's school supplies while she was sleeping and drew on the couch with a permanent marker.

Here she is trying to make amends by doing the dishes! : )

Kit Hawes January 13, 1947-February 2, 2004

2009-02-02T22:14:00.000-08:00

Today marks five years since our mom passed away from lung cancer. I have been thinking about her a lot the past two days. Here is a picture of her in front of her flower garden. Mom was an amazing gardener. She had a green thumb and had a home full of plants and a porch and yard full of flowers. She was also a golfer. She got a hole in one once (and her name in the paper lots of times)! She and my step-dad, Rich, celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary the year she passed away. She worked for 30 years at CSU Chico in the accounting department and retired a few months before her diagnosis. She was also a fantastic grandma. Two of my children haven't gotten to meet her, yet.
The second picture is from her birthday in January, 2004. She had never ridden in a limousine, so Rich rented one to celebrate her 57th birthday. This picture shows Mom, Rich, Darlin and Papa (Mom's parents) and me. My sister, Jeanette, and her husband, Curt, also came, along with some of Mom's brothers and their wives. The limo took us on a ride around Canyon Oaks, where Mom lived at the time, and then to Mom's favorite Chinese food restaurant. While we were inside eating, the driver took the limo back to pick up my sister's eight children and took them for a ride. Then he came back and took us over to Shubert's Ice Cream to get some of Mom's favorite treat, Lemon Custard ice cream. It was a great night.
We sure miss you, Mom!

Individual Accomplishments

2009-02-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

We've had an exciting few days. First, we had the Pinewood Derby. Here is Josh with this year's entry. He came in 3rd place in his den, which was good enough to win him a candy bar. We only had one Scout competing this year. Rich figured out that this was his 9th year helping to create a Pinewood Derby car. Only 6 more to go--3 with Adam who will be a Cub Scout in July, and 3 more for Jeffrey after that. Whew!

Also, Josh was awarded his Webelos badge. Only three more months and he will join the 11 year old Scouts with our Boy Scout troop.

Here's Josh showing off his muscles!

Saturday, Josh and Adam competed in their first taekwondo tournament. They are low green belts, so they sparred with other boys their same level. They are both having a lot of fun with it. Here is Adam with his sparring group. He got a bye for the first round, lost the second round, and got to compete for 3rd place, which he won.

Here is Josh putting on his sparring gear, next to one of his good friends, Amrit. His sparring group only had four boys, but one of them was about a foot taller than Josh. After winning his first round, Josh and that boy competed in the 1st/2nd place round, and Josh beat him! Rich told me that Josh found the tall boy's weak spot and exploited it. Josh said he focused on using his technique. I just think it's fun for boys to get to fight in a controlled setting--testosterone and all, you know!
Here they are with their ribbons--3rd place for Adam and 1st place for Josh. Everyone who competes gets a ribbon of some kind, and they also got a hot dog, chips and a soda. Not bad!

Finally, also on Saturday, Katie went to the Winter Formal dance at Folsom High with a group of girl friends. This was her first high school dance. They started getting ready in the afternoon, had dinner as a group, and then went to the dance at 7 pm. She had a great time. Doesn't she look lovely?
Jacob stayed home and did homework. I noticed that I didn't hear about a group of freshman boys who got ready all afternoon and then went to the dance together. They were all home playing Guitar Hero, I guess.

Big and little

2009-01-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love about the age span in our family (almost 15 down to almost 18 months) is when big kids play with little ones. Here are some pictures I snapped the last couple of days.

Jacob playing legos with Jeffrey.

And Jacob reading to Anna. So sweet.

An uninvited guest

2009-01-26T11:16:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know how to get rid of a skunk?

We met some skunks this summer on our camping trip. We forgot to get rid of the garbage bag before dark the first night of our trip, and that was all they needed to invite themselves over every evening about 10 pm. You can't miss that smell. We were happy to bid them farewell at the end of our trip.

Last night, when I went out to close the garage side door and turn off the light, I saw a flash of black accompanied by a high pitched screech speed out the door. So that explains the skunk smell we have noticed in there from time to time. I would include a picture but it didn't stop to pose and I didn't either! By the way, Rich closed the door and shut off the light.

We don't want a pet skunk coming around. Any tips?

What I won't miss

2009-01-22T16:49:00.000-08:00

Rich went back to work today. To be honest, I wasn't as lonely as I thought I was going to be (but the dog was sure acting up, and Adam broke into tears last night at just the thought of Dad being gone all day.) I think we did more separately than I realized with him in the office watching the stock market and me trying to homeschool three different grade levels. However, last night as I was pondering life without Rich around all the time, I decided to make a list of the things I am not going to miss about him being home to boost my mood when I do feel a little lonely. I could only come up with five.

Rich did most of the grocery shopping for the last eleven months. I loved that! What I didn't love was sending him to the store with a list that included apples, and having him come home with only 6 or 8 in a partially full bag. We have a family of 10 apple-eaters, so you can see the problem. Well, it is only a problem if you don't want to go the grocery store every day. They do that in France, so they wouldn't mind it there. I must admit he has gotten better. He used to bring home 4 apples at a time. When I did the shopping this week, I got a bag of apples full to the brim. Now we might each get one. Another thing I won't miss is having Rich take the messages when I am out. He tries to remember, but with so much on his mind, he rarely passes them along. When he does relay the message, he doesn't always get it right. For instance, when I showed up for my hair appointment last week and the hair dresser was out of town, I found out later that she had called to cancel. Just as I had been ready to head out the door, I had asked if she had called. He looked puzzled, thought a minute while glancing at the computer and then said confidently, "I am pretty sure she said the appointment is a go." He paused, glanced again at the computer screen and then declared, "Yes, she said you are on." I also won't miss having Rich be my alarm clock because, almost every day, he would look at me and decided I needed more sleep. I will miss the sleep but not the lack of schedule! I also won't miss the daily question of who will take Beth to school. Since my "alarm" didn't go off, I was often in my pjs at 9 am. Since Rich was working at home, so was he! Now it will be my choice to be dressed on time or go in my pjs! Finally, I will not miss the emotional ups and downs of following the fickle market. There are very, very few things that make Rich stressed. Losing money is one of them.

I agree, those are a bit of a stretch. And if we suddenly come into money one of these days and Rich can retire early, I will put up with every one of them again! I won't list the things I am going to miss because that gets too mushy. But I will say that I am very grateful that Rich is coming home tonight and tomorrow night and every night next week. For nine years before he left Yahoo, he traveled every week. I sure won't miss that!!

So if you are reading this, Rich, we love you and hope you are having a a great day! See you tonight!

Anna Banana-what a cutie!

2009-01-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

First, Anna used Katie's lotion to "wash" her hair. Then she pulled out some of Jeffrey's clothes for Rich to put on her. The following pictures document what she looked like when she was done.

A Celebration Dinner

2009-01-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

We went out to dinner as a family on Saturday night to celebrate the new job. I was only joking about the good news/bad news thing. We will all miss being together so much and it has been a great year, but we are so happy and grateful that Rich has a new job!!! So we decided to celebrate!
The waitress took this picture. You might notice that my teenagers don't look all that excited to have our family picture taken in IHOP. They might have refused to be in the picture except we had her take it before we had eaten so they didn't really have much choice.
I snuck in a few more pictures--Katie and Anna eating ice; Dad, Anna and Katie; Daniel looking clever--notice all the little children were gone by this point on a bathroom run! The waitress did comment on how well-behaved our children were, but that was also before we had eaten.

So Rich and I were talking the other night about the many blessings that have come this past year because of or related to Rich's job loss. There have been more than I can list here (and probably more than you want to read!) We thought of three more.

1) We learned about not counseling the Lord. Last summer I spent my time declaring that we needed this job or that and announcing that things had to happen this way or that. I would have been pretty discouraged if I would have known ahead of time it would be almost a year before Rich got a job. And yet things have turned out absolutely better than we could have planned. The Lord knew better than we did what was best, and we are now better at saying "Thy will be done."

2) We reigned in our spending. Our life is simpler, we are happy with less, and we have been more accountable this year than ever about our money.

3) We experienced the impatient child syndrome. The impatient child tugs on the mom's shirt saying, "I want this, I want this, I want this, now!" The mom says, "I'm getting there. Please wait." The child is unhappy and frustrated until he gets distracted by something or decides to wait patiently. Suddenly he is more cheerful and when the mom gets to what he wanted, he is happily playing someplace else. Time passes a lot faster when we are happily, patiently waiting for the Father to answer our prayers. Easy to say, much harder to do, but very much a true principle.

Good news/bad news

2009-01-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

Well, we have some good news and we have some bad news. The good news is that Rich found out today he officially has a new job! The bad news is that Rich officially has a new job! ( If you don't know what I am talking about or want more details, see the below post of FAQs.) How on earth am I supposed to go back to life without Dad home to help?! ; )

FAQs about Rich's employment status

2009-01-13T23:38:00.001-08:00

I have had some people ask about Rich's job (or lack thereof). So here is a list of frequently asked questions:

What job did Rich lose exactly?
Way back when we lived on So. Cal, Rich's company was bought by Yahoo. Suddenly, his job was eliminated, so he took a position in international finance. For about seven years, Rich was either traveling all over the world or commuting weekly to the Bay Area. After we moved, he promised me that, at the beginning of 2007 when his stock options became worth less money, he would leave Yahoo and get a job in Sacramento. This proved harder to do than it sounded. First, how do you look for a job in one city when you are rarely there? Also, why leave a great job that pays well?

When did Rich lose his job?
Last February, Rich was laid off. My first reaction was "Yes!" Rich was a little less enthusiastic but we both felt like Heavenly Father was mercifully forcing Rich's hand and allowing him some time to look for a job while he still had a salary. In July, he was hired to a contract position with the DMV, right up until that project was eliminated at the last minute. So he technically lost his job twice in one year. In retrospect, I am sure glad the State of California is not in charge of our paycheck!

Why did Rich lose his job?
A new boss came in that didn't like Rich. So he took advantage of a lay-off to "eliminate his position". Rich likes to think the department has never recovered from the loss. I keep thinking I should send a thank you note.

What has Rich been doing since then?
He has been trading full-time in the stock market, with interviews whenever something interesting comes his way. In addition, he has been acting as part-time Mommy's helper, doing the seminary driving, changing diapers, making lunches, and generally being available whenever I need it. (It's been a great year!)

Hasn't this been stressful?
I would have thought that too, and it has been stressful sometimes. However, our savings, the Yahoo stock options, and stock market earnings have made it so that we miraculously did not have to worry about money. Of course the uncertainty is stressful in and of itself. In February, the first thing we did was read everything we could think of about faith. Those teachings carried us through the most stressful times. Family and friends have fasted and prayed with us, and I know that our faith combined with theirs is why we have been so blessed during this time. Plus, who can really complain when you have Dad home all the time? Sometimes I have worried about when the real trial was going to begin.

Why not just keep day trading?
Well, let's just say that the fall was more lucrative than December and January. We think it is another heavenly push in the direction of getting a full-time job. Rich says maybe he isn't quite as smart as he likes to think!

So what is the new job?
It is for a company called Resources Global (which sounds like more travel, I know, but I have been assured you only travel if you want to. He better not want to!) It is finance related project work for different clients in the Sacramento area. It comes with good benefits and the promise of mild hours. We'll see!

Triumph on Goal #4

2009-01-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

Well, we did it! We got to church early enough to get our favorite spot. We even got new shoes for Adam so he didn't have to wear a pair of tennis shoes 1/2 size too big! (Thanks for the reminder emails, Tami!) Just thought I would record our success. One week down, 51 to go!

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-07T13:17:00.001-08:00

On Monday night, we asked the children what they thought we should set as family goals for 2009. Here is what they suggested, on their own:

1. Have another baby (Beth says a girl)
2. Dad get a job
3. Stop fighting so much
4. Get to church earlier on Sunday so we get a soft bench instead of hard chairs

I would like to comment on each of these goals just a bit.

1. Have another baby I am not making any announcements (or promises to the family) here. It just warmed my heart that they would be willing to go through another "mom is sick and all she does is lay around and we do a lot more work" time in order to have another baby. I told them I am enjoying my second month of feeling good and having some energy since weaning Anna and am not ready to give that up. So Jacob said it would be okay if we wait until the beginning of 2010 to have another baby since we don't have any January or February birthdays anyway. Beth said she only wants another baby if it's a girl because boys annoy her.

2. Dad get a job I don't care about the job so much as getting some insurance. Then we can stop paying cash for things such as the $60 it cost to have the doctor re-check the baby's ear infection.

3. Stop fighting so much They set the goal to stop fighting and promptly began a fight. This is like setting a goal to eat less sugar and then pulling out the box of See's Candy!!

4. Get to church earlier Our ward is very crowded. Lately, we arrive for church right on time or a couple of minutes early. Since you can't squeeze 10 people in just anywhere, we end up on the very back row of the breeze-way on the hard chairs. If we could just shave 5 or 10 minutes off our leaving time, we could get there early enough to find a better spot. The big kids each agreed to find a specific little child's shoes on Saturday night, something that will certainly save us at least that much time. I like a goal that we can actually accomplish! So if anyone is reading this, will you please email me on Saturday sometime to remind me to remind the big kids to put out the shoes they were assigned? Then I think it will be a go!

Beth gets Mom and Dad all to herself

2009-01-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

After several days of undiagnosed pain, we discovered on New Year's Eve that Beth had an abscessed tooth. She woke up looking like a chipmunk storing up nuts for the winter on one side. This picture is after the swelling had come down quite a bit. Katie and I had to wait for an hour and a half at Walmart to get the right prescription. When we finally made it home, Beth began screaming. She did not want to take any medicine. She meant it, too. We determined pretty quickly that you can't force a six year old to swallow. So we changed strategies, and thus began the long hours of persuasion that have had to take place three times a day to get her to take the medicine. One time yesterday, she finally took the medicine after 48 minutes of coaxing (including two prayers, many snuggles and bribes, and one cup of chocolate milk.) I took all the ornaments off the Christmas tree in the time it took Rich and Katie to convince Beth to take the medicine. Did I mention that each dose of medicine is only one teaspoon? Today has been better. She is taking it in under 3 minutes now. We think the chocolate milk has been the key. Thank goodness for chocolate milk!!

If I am being reflective, times like these are kind of nice in family life. (Rich is wondering what on earth I am talking about at this point?! This has not been nice. This has been painful and tiring for all. But nice? Wait, just hear me out...) It has been nice because we have been able to spend some time giving Beth our undivided attention. Everyone has been more patient and kind to her, and they have left us alone to just give her some special time (possibly because they were worrying we might make them take medicine?) I know for sure she knows that we love her and that she matters to us and that we are here for her when she is having a hard time. Plus, I will tell you what, we have all sure learned a little more patience.

So the lessons in the school of life just keep on coming, even on New Year's Eve. Happy 2009 to all!

Anna Banana strikes again!

2009-01-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

There's someone new taking over as family mess-maker. Anna found the Christmas markers that Santa left for some of the children.

Where do all the Good Samaritans live?

2008-12-30T23:11:00.000-08:00

The saga of the dying van battery continues...Yesterday, when Rich went to check the battery for warranty info, before driving over to buy a new one, he yanked out the hood release. Oops! Then, today when we went to Rancho Cordova to buy Sees Candy, he forgot the lights were on because of the fog. So we ended up with a dead battery again (but fortunately no annoying and unstoppable alarm! Of course, now we also have no power locks, but that's a story for another post.) So there we sat with no way to open the hood and a dead battery. Thankfully, the hood had popped just slightly and we could get it up. Within about 30 seconds, a nice man driving something like an '85 Corolla offered to give us a jump. We were out of there in about 5 minutes. Rancho is on the "bad side" of the tracks around here. Yet the comparison was pretty significant to me. In Folsom, Rich and I sat there for at least 45 minutes last week before we could find someone to give us a jump (and we were loudly, obviously in need of some help, let me tell you!) Despite this, no one noticed and offered. We had to ask around. Yet in Rancho, just about the first guy walking by offered to help. Maybe it's because that guy knew about having a dead battery? In Folsom, everyone drives new cars! Anyway, it's food for thought.

I'm lovin' this!

2008-12-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

Who said that? Do you recognize the movie quote that I used as my title? I will put the answer at the bottom of this post. What I am loving is vacation! Christmas is over and now we get to have some fun without so much work!!

Last night, Rich and I went on a double date to the temple with some friends. After doing an endowment, we did a few sealings (we got to finish up the name we hadn't been able to do the last time, completing the work for my great-grandmother's family.) When we stopped in the office to pick up the names, the temple president's office door was open. He and his wife attend our ward when they are in town. He knows our friends pretty well, so he invited us in to visit. We got to spend 45 minutes in his office.

After we laughed over some fun family memories, he asked us if there was anything we wanted to know about the temple. What would you ask? I thought of some great questions...as I was laying in bed at about 1:30 am! At the time, I just listened as he shared memories of his time as a General Authority. Did you know that President Packer starts all his meetings 15 to 30 minutes early?! We stayed and visited until they were locking the temple doors.

After that, we went back to our friends' house for snacks and visiting. At about 12:20 am, Katie texted Rich. "Did you forget you have children? Eight of them?" Rich texted back, "Who is this?" We finally made our way home at 1 am. That was a 7 hour date--and the babysitting was free!! I won't mention what the house looked like when we got home, but at least some children were asleep.

There are no basketball practices or games. No Tae Kwon Do. No service projects or cleaning the building. We don't have any talks in Primary tomorrow. This morning, we slept in until almost 9 am. We lazed around, finally getting a few chores done after noon. I am only going to do the absolute essential laundry necessary for church.

I like this time off!! I am sure it will be nice to get back to a routine (and some order) after next week, but this vacationing thing isn't so bad if you ignore the mess and just do what you want (like everyone else in the family.)

The quote is Cronk from the Emperor's New Groove.

Merry Christmas memories

2008-12-25T20:20:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas Day is behind us. Here a picture of the living room after most of the wrapping paper was cleaned up. I think this was our best Christmas ever. That's what Beth said, anyway. No one complained or cried or said we got the wrong thing! Jacob, Katie and Daniel each sacrificed some of their own funds (including precious EFY savings) to buy some special things for Rich and I, including a homemade apron for me and pillow case for Rich, soft mint balls and money for a box of Sees Candy. There were dinner leftovers from Christmas Eve. I got new slippers and my own box of Andes mints. What could be better than that?! I just wanted to jot down some Christmas 2008 memories that really make me laugh. If you don't feel like reading them all, at least read #4. It is the funniest and just about our most embarrassing moment ever.

1) I don't know what happened but we really struggled with our Christmas lights this year. I am sure that the neighbors wondered what happened, too. Whenever it would rain, something would short out and half of the lights would turn off. It has been raining a lot, so I think half of our lights were off 75% of the time. When we would go outside and fix the problem by resetting the blown fuse, usually in the middle of the next day, the timer would still be set for the night before. So the rest of the time, those half lights would be on during the day. The other problem is that the wind kept blowing out bits of lights, so that even when it wasn't raining and they were all on, little portions were out here and there, as is visible in the picture below. In addition, we had this rogue strand on the Christmas tree, just along the bottom, that was blinking without a blinker. We could only get it to stop by unplugging the lights (which Anna did over and over anyway just for fun.) I think this is symbolic of our life.
2) Children are very good at guessing gifts at our house. One year, Jacob guessed every single one of his presents. I like surprises, so after that we started a tradition of putting the names of different candy bars rather than children on the presents so they don't know which gifts are for which person. Then, on Christmas morning, the children find out which presents are theirs by which candy bar is in their stocking. This year, Daniel had the candy bars matched up to people by the first day, but we kept telling little Christmas "white lies" to keep him guessing. We really had him curious. One time, we found him laying next to our bed in the dark as we were talking in bed. He said he was waiting to sneak out and look at the presents after we were asleep, but I think it also served as a chance to gather information. We also found a present partly unwrapped. Daniel says he didn't do it. Another time, we found him trying to peek in the wrapping of a new present. You know, typical 12 year old boy stuff. So on Christmas Eve, as we were just ready to head to bed after getting things all set, we hear a noise and find Daniel hiding at the top of the stairs, waiting to take a look at everything after we go to bed. At that point, I laughingly sent him back downstairs, declaring that he better not come back up until morning. But I didn't want to chance it. So we set up a barricade to block the two entrances to the living room. I have recreated them and am including a picture below. They were gone when we got up, but I am not sure if he removed them at night or in the morning. It helped me to sleep a little better, anyway!
3) iPods have been a big item in our home lately and each of the three big kids got iPod accessory items for Christmas. Thanks to this, we opened presents while listening to David Archuleta.

4) Our dishwasher broke just a couple of days before Christmas. Christmas Eve, when we had large group for dinner, we used paper plates but also had quite an assembly line. We washed all of the big dishes in about 15 minutes. I have been threatening not to replace the dishwasher in order to provide more work for our children. They don't like that idea. Here is a picture of Katie washing dishes and Daniel rinsing. You can only Katie's hands and Daniel's head because none of the older children wanted to be caught on camera in their pajamas. We get a new dishwasher on Monday!
4) On December 23, we were out running errands in the Christmas shopping mayhem. We had taken the 15 passenger van with Anna's carseat so that we could bring her along, hoping she would fall asleep. Sure enough, she drifted off within about 15 minutes. At the next stop, Rich waited out in the van, listening to music, while I ran in to the store. What should have been 2 or 3 minutes became 10 or 15 minutes because of the holiday rush. When I came back out, the van battery was dead. The car battery charger in the back was also dead. I didn't have my purse, and Anna had taken Rich's AAA card out of his wallet and lost it. We did not have the AC cord for the plug on the battery charger, so we couldn't take advantage of the outside outlet right near us. Rich's cell phone was dead, but I had mine. So I waited in the warm van and called home for the AAA number as Rich began to look for a shopping Good Samaritan with jumper cables. As I opened the door to give him the number, the van alarm, supposedly disconnected long ago, went off. This alarm sounds like a siren and a video arcade combined. Every time I opened the door, it went off. It must have been triggered 10 times before a kind McDonald's employee came out to give us a jump. Unfortunately, once the battery was recharged, the alarm got new life and began going off over and over. It scared the poor McDonald's employee to death. Rich couldn't find any way to turn it off, and the fuses are extremely hard to reach without tools, so we were forced to drive all the way across town to our car place with the alarm going non-stop. This took about 15 minutes in the holiday traffic. I am sure people wondered what the emergency was. We both kept saying we just needed some lights on top and people would pull over for us. When we arrived at the car shop, the manager greeted us with, "Rich, are you trying to steal that van?" Rich replied, "Just make it stop!" Fortunately, our kind repair man was able to completely disconnect the unit, promising it would never go off again. Anna slept through the whole thing!

Natural Consequences

2008-12-16T22:32:00.000-08:00

I love it when natural consequences do my job for me (see my other blog for a confession about my inability to follow through with consequences.) Tonight, we had one such situation. Jacob was about to take a shower when Beth came to the bathroom to ask for her toothbrush. Beth is very feisty, so the boys pay her back by teasing her relentlessly, which really isn't fair since who do you think made her so feisty? But anyway, Jacob had the bathroom door locked and refused, REFUSED, to let her in before he showered. I was in my bedtime exhausted stupor (also see other blog), wanting to shout "Please just let her in! Please just protect my sanity and let her in!" Too tired to even do that, I just sat there and listened as the water turned on for the shower. I sighed. Did I mention that Beth is feisty? Beth didn't sigh. Beth went to find a tool to wiggle the screw just enough to unlock the door! She let herself in three times before she had everything she needed, with Jacob protesting loudly all the while. I love it! That is the epitome of natural consequences, and I didn't have to say one thing. And I bet the next time, Jacob will let Beth in before he gets in the shower!

Christmas Tree Hunting

2008-12-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

Here is a short clip of our family looking for a Christmas tree. I like it because it shows things the way they really are--CRAZY! But, you know, I am so grateful that I get to spend my life taking care of this boisterous, fun crew!!

Boys and the nativity

2008-12-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

We went to get our Christmas tree this week. I love Christmas trees! We also set up Christmas decorations around the house. Here are some pictures getting the tree. Adam was cold, but we really did have a good time, despite how grumpy some people look.
Here is a picture of the finished living room. Notice two important things. First, there are very few ornaments remaining on the bottom third of the tree. That is because we have a toddler. She takes off anything within her reach, and we put it back up above her head. She also spends a lot of time going behind the tree to plug and unplug the lights.Second, here is a picture of how I found our little children's nativity when I walked in the room the other day. The rocking horse was pulled up to the mantle. Notice the saber-toothed tiger standing over the top of baby Jesus. I assumed Jeffrey had been using Mary, Joseph, the shepherd and the angel as action figures, which he had done before. However, upon investigation, Jacob admitted that he was the guilty party! Of course! Only a testosterone-filled 14 year old boy thinks like this!

'Tis the season

2008-12-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

We finally got our Christmas lights up! We were supposed to go get a Christmas tree, but with the Christmas lights still only part-way done and several other projects going (broken two-paned window, new bark for the backyard in the driveway, family coming to plant the front this week, compost needing to be mixed in, etc, etc, etc) we just couldn't begin another project that we couldn't finish. So instead of going out, we stayed in to finish the lights. Katie and Rich were a team in getting this done. I love Christmas lights!

>After getting the lights done, and cleaning up the Christmas-decoration rummaging done by the little children, we ate a quick dinner and proceeded to attempt a family home evening. We decided to read a couple of Christmas stories from this month's Ensign. Unfortunately, after all the "shhhh"ing, Rich and Daniel had to leave for basketball practice in the middle of the first story. (Rich is Daniel's basketball coach this season.) I attempted to read with the rest of the family. These are wonderful real-life accounts about people serving other people during the holidays. The first one is at the end of the December First Presidency Message by President Monson called A Gift of Christmas (you can read it here). You can read the second one, How Could I Help?, here. Anyway, I was thinking we could figure out some way to serve others too. I tried to discuss it as a family. "Can anyone think of something we could do for another family or someone in need?" Silence. One child was busy looking at his brand-new Ipod. "Could we maybe give some gifts to a family in need?" "I'm not giving away any of my gifts!" was the response of one child. Well, I guess we'll work on that.

On Saturday night, we attended the Ward Christmas Party. Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance. We had a yummy ham dinner, and the kids made reindeer crafts with clothespins. Here are some pictures.

Jeffrey wants Star Wars legos from Santa. He helped as we decorated for the party earlier in the day and was especially excited to set up Santa's chair and tree. He was pretty enthusiastic about sitting on Santa's lap this year. Anna, on the other hand, was not so sure.
Josh and Adam are both Santa pros now. In fact, Josh told me he was going to skip the whole talking to Santa thing, but I noticed he made his way up there anyway. Maybe he didn't want to miss out on the candy canes?

This is Katie singing with the Young Women. We had three musical numbers. In addition, Katie had signed Jacob up to perform "Angels We Have Heard on High" with her as a piano/violin duet. When he heard about it, Jacob made it clear that he would not, absolutely, under any circumstances perform at the Ward Party. So that number got cancelled. Maybe next year.

Here is Beth with Santa and preparing to sing in the musical number with the Primary children.

Here are the boys "cleaning up." And Jacob got especially into the reindeer craft.
Finally, here's Anna hiding under the table. Why was she hiding? Maybe she was scared of Jacob's reindeer craft!

I want to go to tithing

2008-12-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

This morning, Jeffrey came running in to see me just as I was getting ready to take a shower. He was naked from the waist down. He usually takes off most of his clothes when he goes to the bathroom. So he ran in, obviously coming just from the potty, and shouted, "I want to go to tithing!"

Jeffrey learned about tithing yesterday. I paid the boys to rake up the leaves in the backyard. Jeffrey earned 50 cents. He wanted lots of coins, so he ended up with three dimes, three nickels, and five pennies. Then we explained about tithing and told him he could give his tithing to the Bishop when we go to tithing settlement in a few days. He was not excited to give some of his hard-earned money to the Bishop. This morning, though, Jeffrey had changed his tune. His money had increased to 90 cents, probably by gathering loose change around the house. He was okay with sharing a little money with the Bishop, especially since it was only one dime. Adam pointed out that he only has to pay nine cents, but it's a lot easier to give up one dime instead of a nickel and four pennies when you are three. Now he can't wait to go to "tithing" and see the Bishop. I think we will have him put some clothes on first.

As for the picture, here he is in the clothes he chose to put on while I was showering. These are his swim trunks. Today is a foggy December day. I'll tell you, three is cute!!