October...

The end of October flew and here we are jumping full bore into holiday season so I figure I'd better post before I take a zillion more pictures.

I was able to go on a field-trip to the High School petting zoo/farm.  (Told you it was a small town.)  It was so much fun to spend the morning with Carter and his little buddies.  Plus I got to hold a two week old piglet which totally made my day.  (Told you I am now a small town girl.)  

 This was us on the hay ride.  If it looks like he doesn't want to be on my lap taking a picture it's because he doesn't.  However, sometimes you have to love your mom in front of your buddies.  Just wait until you're a teen-ager and I'm STILL loving you in front of your buddies!  Probably won't be able to sit you on my lap and hold you there, though. 

And of course, Halloween.  Spiderman (with the glasses, that made me laugh), a football player and a turtle - with make-up.  Don't know why, that was big sister's doing.  They made out with some pretty decent candy even with rain and most importantly they had a good time.  

Family, Fun and Fall

It's been a while.  In order to not feel behind I'm going to start with today and go backwards.  We'll see how far I get.

I guess I can't start with today because today has a bit of a back story (ha ha don't I always?)  We usually visit Utah twice a year to see family.  This year we took our Southern Utah trip and Disneyland because of Ellie's baptism when lots of family came out here.  This worked all fine in my mind but there are so many people I haven't seen in our family for almost a year.  Even those that were able to come out I haven't seen in 6 months.  I am homesick.  I don't remember being this homesick since the year Carter was born and everyone felt so far away.

This has been building for a while (pretty much every year when it gets SO HOT here is when it starts) but seems to be compounded with time.  Little things would set me off like seeing a changing leaf, smelling the heater turn on for the first time, knowing I wouldn't see my new nephews until they were 6 months old, being at a soccer game with my kids and knowing our families would LOVE to be there.  Ya.  It seems silly I know.

Long story short (with heartfelt prayers answered, btw) my sister Suzanne and two of her boys came for a visit since her husband would "be in the neighborhood" (meaning only 4 hours away instead of 12).  AWESOME!!!

Suzanne and baby Zev.  He is SOOOO happy and sweet.  I was happy as can be just playing with him.  It was great having one on one time with Suzanne.  Miss them!!

 Enos and Carter.  They are only 9 months apart and play well together.  However, they do NOT sit and take pictures together well.  The first couple I tried the "1,2,3 click" and they both jumped up at 3.  The last picture I said, "1, 2 CLICK!"  Ha.  I'll show them.

This is Zev and Tyler.  As soon as Ty saw him he grabbed the iPad and took a picture with him.  Funny boy.  

They couldn't stay long but their visit was such a lift and blessing I can't even truly describe.  I can make it until Christmas now!

Fall is also in the air (FINALLY!) This was our pumpkin harvest - all volunteer pumpkins I might add.  We painted a number of them while we listened to Conference.

And these are our doors.  Super cute, I know.  Thanks Pinterest.  I cut Ellie off in this collage and don't know how to fix it.  Just pretend there is a super cute little girl who helped me create the monsters.  

We love the coast...

I'm going to try again to post about when we went to the coast last month.  My computer has decided to only work when it feels like it so wish me luck.  Part of my problem is I love pictures.  This means I have 108 pictures from our coast trip to shuffle through to summarize.  Wish me luck!

The first day we hit the beach as soon as possible.  We had sun (always a pleasant surprise in this part of the world) and just had fun playing.  I was so proud of myself for bringing swimsuits and a change of clothes for all the kids.  We usually think, "It's too cold, they won't get wet."  Ha.  The top collage is the girls and the bottom is the boys.  The girls are generally always in the water and the boys play in the water for a while then migrate to the sand.  

This was the first time Carter remembered going to the ocean, which is always a treat.  He was pretty tiny last time we went.  He loved it.  Loved it.  He and Ty made a lovely sand castle.  We traced shadow people.  Dee set up a soccer field with their flip flops at the goals.  

The next day Dee had to work so the kids and I explored the town.  We hit the zoo/park first.  If you get a chance to go to the Eureka Zoo, it's super fun with kids.  Tiny little zoo with a great petting farm. Just over the fence from it is an amazing park with HUGE sequoias with a slide built right in the middle.

Next we learned of a children's exploring museum we checked out.  We were the only ones there so we took it upon ourselves to discover everything!

 As soon as Dee was off work we went for a hike.  It was colder that day (again, side note that when we left our house the forecast said it was going to be 105.  At the coast the high was maybe 68.  So the cold was really cold.)  so we didn't want to play in the water.  We hiked up by Trinidad (my favorite place!!!)  We hoped to see a whale, but no luck this time.  

These last set are actually at Trinidad beach.  On our hike there we found a banana slug and lots of other treasures.  

And finally just a few of my favorite pictures.

 I'm not sure if you can see the feet print.  Love this one.

 I realized I didn't have a picture of me at the beach.  I gave my phone to Ty (who was the only one near me, everyone else was at the water) and asked him to take a picture.  Unfortunately, his hands were covered in sand and he was holding the phone with his palms and trying to use his nose to push the button.  As you can tell, the picture didn't turn out well, but it makes me laugh every time I see it.

 And of course, this one.  The mustache and hat were actually the happy meal toys. Love his expression!

School Started

School starting is a mix of overjoyed and extreme sadness in our home.  I LOVE having my kids home.  I LOVE them being here.  I DO NOT love the bickering.  I DO NOT love the constant mess.  When school starts we are both happy to get moving on a routine again, but sad to lose our flexibility.  Ahhh life. 

These are the first day of school pictures.  

*Disclaimer here* apparently Tyler was having a bad picture day.  I didn't realize until later they ALL turned out weird.  He saw them just now as I'm posting this and did a belly laugh at how they look.  He is still chuckling through his toothbrush.  Anyway, he started 6th grade this year.  He's excited about his teacher, whom he also had in 4th grade.  He had quite a few friends move schools this summer so we are hoping a great set of GOOD friends turn up.  He starts Flag Football next week and is super excited about it.  He is also 5'1, I should mention.  As you can imagine he spent a lot of this summer eating to reach that incredible height.  He's going to be a tall kid!

Little Ellie started 3rd grade which is the biggest in the school.  She's VERY excited about that.  I think it comes from being tiny her whole life.  Being the oldest AND the loudest is pretty important.  She has a great class and loves her teacher.  She started soccer again and loves it.  What can I say, it's Ellie.  She loves life!

McKenna, too, is the eldest in her school.  However, her next stop is High School. WHAT THE HECK?!  She's in 8th grade this year and loves the social-ness of school.  She is adjusting to a different year with most of her friends in the other class but I'm sure it will balance.  Not that I worry about stuff... 

She tried out for the school soccer team this last week and will find out Monday.  I know she'll make it.  She rocks. :)  Also in fairness to her massively competitive side I should note that she is 5'2.  Thus far she has been able to stay ahead of Tyler, but I think next summer that might all change!

*Side note here, while taking her school shopping I realized I had seen all the clothes before.  IN THE 80'S!  Weird, right?  Don't mind the neon, sick of the skinny jeans and the tight flowered pants just made me laugh out loud.  And the vests.  Ahhhh, good times.

This little man started preschool.  He actually went half a year last year to a fabulous private preschool but this year he is in preschool at the big-kid school.  There were driving issues, but that is for a whole other post. As you might be able to tell he was SUPER excited to go.  Like, so excited he forgot to cry for his mom.  Like, so excited he forgot to wave to her.  Like, so excited he didn't see me watching him through the window with tears on my face.  I'm not much of a crier but there is something about that last kid growing up so fast it hurts.  Sometimes I just want time to slow down but instead it seems to speed up.  

I digress.  He loves preschool.  He loves his new buddies whom he doesn't know their name but he calls them things like, "The blue shirt who played Power Rangers with me."  He loves his new lunch box and his backpack.  And, my favorite part, he loves when I come pick him up.

He started soccer too now that he is "finally four".  I'm so excited to watch his games.  I love U-6 because they are downright funny!

Off to a new year.  Off to a great year.  Best kids, best lessons!

The rest of July FLEW!

Suddenly it's August.  For a quick recap of the rest of July:

Dee and I had our 16th anniversary.  SIXTEEN!  The best part?  We still like each other!  He had to go to the coast for work and we arranged our kids to be in other places and I went with him.  It rocked.  We saw a movie,  I shopped while he worked, we hiked around, we ate at a fancy restaurant, non-kid-oriented stuff. (I also have to throw in, during that time it was 107 at our house and the coast was a high of 68.  NICE!)

The next weekend we headed to Mt. Lassen to hike.  No reason, just needed to get away to someplace cooler.  It was in the 80's which is lovely and fun with the fam which is also lovely.

There is more but it's taking forever to upload so it'll have to wait.  Mostly I can't believe July is over!!

And heeeeerrrreeeee's July!!!

July starts out with a birthday.  Carter made it to his 4th birthday!!  He is so excited to be 4 since now he gets to chew gum.  Woo!  For his cake he wanted chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, sprinkles and fruit snacks.  I talked him down from fruit snacks to M&M's.  Ew.  He is his mother's son with all that chocolate, though!  

We also went camping.  It always falls on Carter's birthday since it involves a national holiday and all.  We love our now annual camping trips.  They involve fishing, crazy bridge climbing, washing dishes (or in C's case playing in the water), reading and being lazy.  We have no electronics - just down and dirty family fun!

The only downside is the kids taste good! Especially Carter.  Last year after camping I was asked if he had Chicken Pox.  Nope.  Just tasty.  This was after about 15 minutes, before we were able to unpack the bug spray.

Some of my favorite things are:  Ty and Dee playing guitar around the campfire.  Sitting by the river and doing nothing.  The BEAUTIFUL river by our campsite.  And of course the food.  Ty is eating banana rolo deliciousness in the bottom picture.

On the actual 4th of July we went up to a lake to play.  The funniest part was when Dee went out to snorkel our poor dog thought he was in danger or leaving him or something bizarre because he followed him all around the lake whining and barking at him.  When Dee would go all the way under Pete would swim in circles until he surfaced.  It's been a long time since I laughed that hard.  After the lake we joined the entire community of Mt. Shasta and headed to the golf course to watch the fireworks.  It is an awesome small town experience where everybody just plays for hours.  There are footballs and Frisbees.  Everybody is barefoot and just enjoys themselves.  Then you can see the fireworks over the lake to end the evening.

This year we made our own fireworks at camp.  I got the idea off Pinterest (be honest, isn't that where all great ideas come from?!) You just cut the end off glow sticks then shake it around in jars.  It only lasts one night but it was SO bright and the kids thought it was SO cool.  McKenna and Tyler read by the light of their jar.  

Love this family! Love this land and our freedoms!  Happy (belated) Independence Day!

The rest of the trip

Tuesday Marybeth and the kids and I went to the Gymnastics place for open gym.  The kids had a great time, but their favorite was the parachute.  Afterwards, Marybeth and Enos drove home.  I'll be willing to bet he slept for her after playing so hard!

The next day Dee had to go back to work and Dad spoiled us by taking us to Shasta Caverns.  It's a beautiful cave where you get to go on a boat, bus and hike all in one trip.  We were the first tour of the day and were lucky enough to be just us in our group. 

It is an amazing place and I learned a lot.  It was a terrific time and am always sad when family has to go.  Sure am thankful they were able to come and I had a great time!

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