Merry Christmas!

Some good, some naughty and some just cute

Heather came out for a working visit. She spoiled us all rotten and worked her tail off with the "Thrive" food company she works for. We LOVED having her here and wish she lived a LOT closer.

I had my 35th (when did that happen?!) birthday last week. It was a super fun-filled week of Diantha, and I loved every minute of it. My sweet husband spoiled me over and over and ended the week with a surprise get-together with a bunch of friends. The picture isn't great but the food was fantastic, the company was SOOOO fun and after we stuffed ourselves silly Debbie pulled out a HUGE cake and ice cream. That's the next picture.

See the fork for size reference?!

And now for the the naughty. Caught him licking the beaters... while attached.

There are ashes out back from the fence fire. He knows better. But they're still apparently fun to play in.

We have a hole in the tramp. He and Ellie were playing ball and he's trying to reach it. You may notice he's also wearing no pants. He's figured out how to take them off after they're all wet from playing in the dog water...

Caught him licking the jello in the fridge.

Before you call CPS, he actually doesn't get soda. The lid is on but he sure tried.
At the beginning of this walk he was on the trike and McKenna was pulling him. I guess she went too slow for him.

This picture is in a car wash. Apparently they terrify him. He's not crying, he's hiding. I ended up holding him through it because he freaked out a little. Now I know.

Now for the cute pictures...

Marybeth sent a box of cookies for my birthday. As you can tell by his face he was VERY excited.

The first really cold (meaning below 50) day we had I found this written on the window. I thought it was pretty funny.

And for the last one. I love this picture.

They could be TWINS! They were sharing a blanket one cool morning. Can you believe they're 4 years apart?!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! Our Saturday was filled with craziness. Ellie had her last soccer game then team party. From there we ran home to change and went to the school festival. Super fun crazy kids, costumes and candy! From there we went straight to the church for a Stake trunk-or-treat and family dance. We've never done it on a Stake level before and it was PACKED! So much fun to see so many happy kids and the decorations were awesome! Here are the costumes for our kids.

Ellie has wanted to be a ghost all year. D-O-N-E! I like that one!

Ty's costume was a bit more complicated but it turned out pretty darn cool. He was a "boy abducted by an alien". He saw it in the Family Fun magazine last year and has talked about it all year. It turned out pretty darn sweet.

I was a soccer player (boring I know - next year I'll do better...)

Dee is a stud. That's all I can say. He can rock a mullet and his letterman's jacket and STILL look good!

McKenna also looked awesome. I bought her the wig and she did the rest.

And is that the cutest garden gnome you've ever seen?! He had a BLAST once he figured out when he said, "Trick or treat" people would put candy in his bag. Does life get better?! I submit that it does not!

I love the other's too...

I thought I should update you on the other kids, too. Here is a quick run-down of the happenings around here.

First Ellie. She is running cross country with her school. When I first heard of the idea of Elementary School kids doing cross country I balked at it. They're too small to start that. However, she absolutely loves it. It's not a competition factor for her, more of a ribbon and a popcicle at the end. Not only that but she is fast. I love watching her race because she loves it. She is also doing soccer and has struggled with the whole "positions" idea. She is use to running around and scoring goals but now she is supposed to be in a spot which is a big change. I am hoping next season clicks with her but until then there is only one more game - so we'll manage. :)

Tyler just made honor roll for the first time. We're so proud of him because he has been struggling this year with some school issues and are happy to see him turning things around. Tyler is doing piano but that is it for him right now. He loves baseball and where we are it is only in Spring which I am okay with! He does do Cub Scouts and this week advances to Wolf. He's a fun (and funny) boy. He had a few backpacking trips this summer with Dee and the picture below was their latest one over Labor Day. As you can tell they all had a great time. His most exciting (?) thing is he is ready for his first run with braces. He's looking forward to glow in the dark rubberbands, and I know it will be soon enough they loose their luster. Ahhh, the joys of braces. McKenna is miss busybody as usual. She is in a performing arts group in school and truly loves it. In fact she loves everything about it. The singing, dancing, costumes, friends all of it. She is also doing soccer and this year is doing goalie. Last year I would pretty much have a heart-attack anytime she volunteered for goalie. I don't know what happened but this year she is G-O-O-D! I love watching her games and watching her footwork, ball control and stopping the balls that come her way. She has hit "pre-teen" with the hard lessons and joys that come with it. She's fun to be with and I love watching her become.

Is there anything cuter than a Scottish Highlander?

He's got the authentic kilt from Scotland. He's got the hair. He's got the Clayborne sword. He's got the "berserk" down. Watch out world. Carter's on the loose.

Change

I love Fall. I love the cool weather (I'm sure ANY day it will come here.) I love the leaves. I love the decorations. I love wearing jeans and sweaters. I love the fact that change is in the air.

Some change is fun. I haven't chopped my hair this short since who knows when. I realized it was ALWAYS in a ponytail and I was ready for something different.

Some change is hard. Our Walnut tree in the back caught a fungus this last year and died. It was our climbing tree. It was our only shade in the back. It shaded our house. It will only take 20 years to replace...

Some change sneaks up on you. One morning McKenna came out and while giving her a hug (now remember this is a daily occurrence) she didn't fit under my chin anymore. WHAT?

I think I must be shrinking.

A few picts to show what we've been doing...

There has been lots of activities happening with the beginning of school. Both girls have started soccer again, piano lessons for the older two and all the extras that comes with school. However, we have had some time to squeeze in some fun.

I met Heather in Sacramento for "Time Out for Women" which is an awesome conference if you ever get the chance to go. Heather was actually working, but I got to spend some time with her. It was a great conference and I left feeling spiritually uplifted and rejuvenated. I did forget to bring my clothes and luckily Kristi (who was on a cruise at the time) let me borrow some of hers. Thanks (and surprise!) Kristi!

We got a new van after our last one became more work than we had time for. I. Love. My. New. Van. In fact I haven't loved a car this much since my little Honda I had before we were married. I know I shouldn't love material things this much and I try not to, but I reaaaaalllyyyy enjoy this van. No name yet, still waiting for the plates but I'm thinking Calypso.

Yes, ouch. Go ahead, say it again. O-U-C-H! He fell head first onto the tile while dangling off the end of the couch. He didn't break his fall with his hands because he was trying to hang on. Luckily no lasting damage but one sad boy. Looks like something off of a cartoon, doesn't it? That's why I had to take a picture. You understand.

And the most exciting news (only because it is SOOOOO exciting to her) is Ellie can now do the monkey bars! She fell a couple of times while trying to show me then stomped her foot and said, "I am NOT going to give up!" and BAM! She did it! So proud of her!

First Day of School

School started again. Summer flew by! Here are the first day of school pictures.

My big 6th grader. When did that happen?! She and Ellie picked out matching outfits by choice. They love to dress the same even now.

Ellie is in 1st grade this year. We got the teachers we wanted too. It's going to be a good year.

Poor Tyler started the first day of 4th grade with the flu. This picture is actually the second day because he had to stay home. Not happy, I'll tell you. However, it was a quick bug and he went the next day.

One last hurrah! Santa Cruz Camping

To send off our super fun summer we did one last camping trip. We had planned on going to Crater Lake Oregon, but realized we wouldn't be able to actually play in the water so we went to Santa Cruz instead. Big Basin Redwood National Park is there and is a beautiful place to camp if you ever get the chance.

The first collage is some of the Redwoods. INCREDIBLE! They have an easy hike at the beginning of the park that gives you a little information on the redwoods. The picture we are stretched around the tree is called the "Mother of the Forest" and is 13 feet around.

The next set of pictures is the downers of the trip. It wasn't all fun and games unfortunately. The mosquitoes LOVED Carter no matter how much bug spray we put on that poor kid. (See shot of forehead.) He also fell A LOT, which makes for my favorite picture (mean, I know, but seriously funny.) We had car problems that ended up costing us our Boardwalk fun money and then some, Tyler puked on the way there two times and our campsite was at the top of a huge hill (pict of Diantha and Carter) which the kids named "Hater's Hill".
BUT there were more goods that out-weighed the bads. Food was awesome (isn't camping food always awesome?); weather was perfect (70's in the day, 60's at night); LOVED the unplugged family time and of course the beach. We were going to play on the Boardwalk but after the car fiasco just played in the sand instead. We still had a great time and loved our one last vacation before school started.

And the last thing is my crazy husband pulling a "Calvin and Hobbes moment" while riding our wagon down Hater's Hill. No wreck on this video, but it did happen. Nothing broken, though. Farewell Summer!

York Reunion

Over the 4th of July we went to Mt. Baker Washington for a "York Reunion". It was a much anticipated event since it has been four years since the last one, which was way too long to see some of my favorite people.

• Participants included (by picture):
  Top: Marybeth, Tyler, McKenna and Ellie (climbing up tree)
  Right Top: John, Rose (mom), Denise, Uncle Paul
• Right Bottom: Mykal, Sara, McKenna
  
• Top Left: Jason, Larry (dad), Dee, Breaker (dog), Pete (dog)
• Bottom Left: Breaker (dog) and Aunt Funi (or Diana I found out in my 30's!)
• Right: Tyler, Diantha, Dee, McKenna, Carter, Ellie & Pete (dog)

It was beautiful in Mt. Baker. Nice and cool! The houses we stayed in were awesome and the area was fantastic. We hiked, napped, ate, napped, hot tubbed, ate some more, played games, and just enjoyed being together. It wasn't long enough but it was great to spend time with family and enjoy vacation.

Carter also had his 2nd birthday - which I am going to blog about later.

On our LONG drive home we jaunted over to Astoria for some beach play. The sun was actually out and it was beautiful there, too.

Coming home was, as usual, bitter-sweet. Watching the thermometer go from 62 to 103 was physically painful as was the laundry that appears after vacation.

It was such a great time, but not nearly long enough. The goal is to make it all happen again, sooner than four years and have those missing join us.