Sports days of Spring

Well, we are onto the next stage of parenting. After the baby days of no adult/person contact and staying home all the time we've hit warp-speed to the "we're never home on the weekends!" Spring has sprung with all the activities it has. McKenna is playing soccer with Dee as her coach. She's loving it so far and is much better this year than in the past. Dee loves it too, although he occasionally comes home with a hoarse voice.

Tyler is playing coach-pitch baseball and loves that too. His favorite position is catcher, but I think it's because he likes wearing the extra gear. The weather has been cooperating nicely and we're all getting a bit of a tan (except me who likes to turn red instead!) Both kids are also doing piano lessons and McKenna is in a children's chorus group, which I think is her favorite.

Ellie is un-official cheerleader for all of them and her favorite activity while at the games is playing in the dirt from gopher-hills. Dirty is her sport, I think. So far we're enjoying the chaos that comes from driving from place to place, cheering and playing but I think when
Summer gets here we'll be looking forward to doing...nothing!

Easter and family

Happy Easter! We had a great weekend with the kids starting Spring Break last Friday and incredible weather all weekend. The Easter Bunny came Saturday morning (we try to keep Easter Sunday "Christ centered") and three little kids anxiously waiting by our bed going "Mama! Papa! The Easter Bunny came! Why are you still asleep?!" and they were off. After the blur of the morning our Ward put on a breakfast and a egg hunt for the kids so we headed over there for more fun. So now we have loads more candy than any of us need but what a fun day it was! After baseball practice and naps Dee and the kids went fishing at the river. They didn't catch anything except a piece of driftwood that Dee claimed was a petrified fish, but it was nice to be out playing. (As you can see by the picture, the belly is getting big!)

Easter Sunday was wonderful. Church had lots of music, which is my favorite part. We just spent a nice family day together and were thankful for blessings abounding. I did have a bout of missing extended family, holidays seem to do that, but focused again on our little family and the blessings we have living here.

Last weekend Dee was called into the bishopbric. He is in shock but is excited about the new level of service he'll be able to provide. We are so blessed to have family that is so supportive, his parents drove out and his sister flew in from Salt Lake last minute to be here for him. Gordon, Kristi and the boys came up from Sac and Suzanne, Waf and the boys came up (again!) from the Bay area. It was so great to have them all here and I know he was blown away by the support they all showed.

This week is Spring Break for the kids which hopefully means we'll be able to do lots of playing, but I am to report for Jury Duty tomorrow which could put a big damper on the week. We'll have to see!

And the results are...

IT'S A BOY! We're going to even up the teams. The ultrasound was good and relieved some stress, you know, the heart looks good so far, the brain looks good, etc. I don't think I'll be worry free until he is here and healthy, but it was awesome to see the baby - totally active I might add. We're taking name suggestions if you'd like to log your opinion! So far Ty wants Han Solo, Ellie wants Princess-boy and Waf suggested Tuafu!

Tyler is SOOOOOO happy it isn't another girl. This weekend he was trying to help our 2 year old nephew Leki climb a tree (by pushing him from the backside) and when he was told to stop he said, "I'm just practicing for my little brother!" It might be a surprise how little the baby is when he finally gets here.

Suzanne and Waf came up this weekend and I was so happy to see them. They're the first company we've had since being sick and it was so great to just kick back with people we love and be with them. I have to brag a little about my other nephew Enos. He's four months old and 19 pounds. He's the sweetest baby who looks like a sumo wrestler that smiles a lot. I only got video or I'd post pictures of them. (Duh! Zan, will you send me yours?!)

Here are some pictures of my kids - just for fun.

Fun in February

First off I want to let you all know I'm finally past the sick part of the pregnancy. HOORAY! It was a wicked four months and I don't know how I can forget something as traumatic as that enough to have four kids but thank heavens we are past the worse part. Now I'm getting a belly and we have the ultra sound on the 28th which we are looking forward to.

The weather here in unbelieveable. Today it got up to 67 so to celebrate we decided to go hiking to Whiskeytown Lake. It's only about 20 minutes away so we were surprised to find the waterfall trail closed because of snow. We went a little further down hill and found an easy 1 1/2 mile hike that wound around the river. The kids did great. No complaining, except from Ellie who has legs shorter than your average sheep, and she made it most of the way back to the car before a piggyback. We traipsed through mud and snow and it was beautiful. I'm hoping to get out as much as possible before the heat and the belly put a stop to that. Even then I plan on doing a lot of floating around pools and the lake. Watch for the floating hippopotomous!

Three of the pictures are from our hike today, and the other is Ellie on her noble steed (did I mention how patient and wonderful that dog is?!) The one with McKenna and Dee is our surprise at seeing snow. Who knew?! So, for all those of you who are tired of snow an looking for a place to visit come on over!

Tooth fairy?

I just have a small post, Tyler lost his first tooth! It fell out and he was so excited. The next morning I woke up to him tearing his bed apart looking for that precious lost tooth dollar. Did the tooth fairy forget? (YIPE!) I told him let's eat breakfast then look together, ran back into Dee and explained what lousy parents we can be (who knew so much guilt could be associated with a friggin tooth?) and made breakfast. When we went back to look, lo and behold there were four shiny quarters under his stuffed tiger. Phew. We make a good team. Sometimes slow, but we can pull it off. The point of the story is Tyler is SOOOO excited about his first lost tooth and we love to see him happy.

Husband Tag...

Amber tagged me a while ago, I'm just getting caught up. I'm also trying to scan the picture of Dee and I but it'll have to be in the future post... blankety blankety scanner...

What's his name? Dee

How long have you been married? 11 wonderful years

How long did you date? About a year

How old is he? 36

Who eats more? Currently him. Give me three more weeks and I'll be making up for lost time. As Amber said, I can really pack it away!

Who said "I love you" first? Me, on accident. I had fallen asleep during a movie - I talk in my sleep, he woke me up and said I had told him I loved him. After denying it, then putting some thought into it, I realized I did and dumped the other guy.s.

Who is taller? Dee

Who sings better? Probably Dee although the acoustics in the shower might argue. I can really belt it out in there.

Who is smarter? Tough one. We both have our strong points - Dee is well rounded on a variety of subjects (some random some applicable) but I'm a pretty good debater and can make my point seem valid even if it is made up.

Whose temper is worse? Dee's. Mine. We both kick the dog.

Who does the laundry? Mostly me. Usually I wash and dry and we both end up folding. I don't iron, however.

Who does the dishes? Mostly me.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Dee

Who pays the bills? I do.

Who mows the lawn? We both do. Year round I might add...

Who cooks dinner? Until I was pregnant mostly me. Dee has been master chef since nights are pukey.

Who drives when you are together? Dee

Who is more stubborn? Me, no question.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Again, wonderful Dee. I think it's that stubborn thing, I come around it just takes a while.

Who proposed? I did. I got tired of waiting.

Who has more friends? About equal, we do a lot of couple things.

Who has more siblings? We're tied, I have two sisters and one brother, he has one sister and two brothers.

Who wears the pants in the family? That is a tough one again. He is the spontaneous decision maker and I am the the "what if" lots of thought decision maker. We meet some where in the middle.

Snow and Christmas!

Well, Christmas came and went with an awesome trip home to see family. The kids and Dee had an awesome time in the snow. Being California kids it was a huge treat for them. Dad was suckered into pulling them around in the sled and he even made a ramp off the back patio which they played on until they couldn't feel their toes and had to come in for hot chocolate and cinnamon bread.

We didn't do our usual running around to see everybody because I felt pretty awful most of the time but was blessed enough with a reprive over Christmas Eve and day that I got to celebrate and eat. What a treat that was! Most of the time I just laid around and was boring, though. It was fun to be with family, play with our nephews (and Tressie!) and take it easy and Christmas was fantastic. The kids are at the age where it is all so magical - I hope they never grow out of it!