Sac Sac Sacramento

We're heading to our state's capitol: Sacramento!

The fourth grade studies state history, so we get to go and see it . . .

We start by leaving the school at 4:00a.m. Saturday morning

and flying on good ol' Southwest Airlines where they generously announced that the back of the plane would be reserved for all the kids and invited only those passengers brave enough to find a seat amongst them-otherwise sit in the front!

The 4th Grade group at the Sacramento airport.

The State Capitol building - one of the prettiest in the nation and looks a lot like the one in DC.

Inside the Senate chambers.

At Sutter's Fort right before that canon went off (loud!).

Lunch at Round Table Pizza. We were well fed throughout the whole trip.

The train museum. Very Cool.

They had an hour lesson at the one-room school house taught by the school marm. They had to write on their slates, stand and curtsey before speaking and read from the Primer.

In Old Sac on the river.

The American River - we had a huge bbq lunch there.

Panning for gold in the American River

Did you know that members of the Mormon Battalion made their way up to San Francisco and helped develop the area, then built "Sutter's Mill" and this little cabin (which is right next to the mill) and were the first to discover gold there? Very interesting. They helped everyone in that area, then before they could really strike it rich, they returned to the East to find their families who were on their way to Salt Lake.

At the Gold Bug Mine listening to the audio tour.

Lori Weber, Mrs. Van Ommeren, Mrs. Briggs, me, Debbie Hagge, Wren Schwind

Me along with three cute little girls on the banks of the American River.

Allie, Brooke, and Hannah (who I chaperoned).

It was a super fun trip, jam-packed full of great educational activities and we returned home totally exhausted. I'm glad I had this chance to go with Brooke and equally grateful for her to have this experience.

A Party for 500 Kids Makes a Busy Week and Other Happenings

Shopping, shopping, and more shopping!

Planning an event for 500 kids takes some prep work, especially if you are the one who gets put in charge of the Snack Shack. Ashlyn was a good sport and rode around Costco like a queen.

On our walk with Cole, we found little snakey in the field.

I'm not a big fan but it's a fun discovery for the kids. Ash named him Twinkle.

The sunset was spectacular from our balcony. Christian noticed it when I was putting the kids to bed. Gorgeous!

Running back and forth from track practice to baseball practice and baseball games makes for a busy after-school week. Homework, piano lessons, dinner? Ashlyn's birthday? John out of town all week? What else?

Christian is too cute in his little uniform.

And the kids like exploring during the games. Today they found this little guy and named it Thumbelina .

Poor Cole!

He has a "hot spot" which is a common occurrence in Goldens, we are finding, and it's disgusting. His neck is skinned bare and looks so gross.

He spent the day at the Vet to be cleaned, disinfected, tranquilized, shot with cortisone and antibiotics, and any other thing to rack up a bill. Then they told me to watch him and not let him scratch.

HUH?

Um, not let him scratch? Am I supposed to hold him all day? Am I supposed to stand watch all night? You've got to be kidding me. So they sent me home with a cone, which when it's on him, he doesn't move.

At all.

He stayed in the same position all night.

All day.

He does not like the cone.

It's Track Meet time!

Brooke is in lane 7 and came in 1st place for the 200m dash! Go Brooke!

This is our 3rd track meet of the season, but our first at home. A home meet means that we are very busy since we 'host' and in John's case means that he runs the whole show.

Basically a party for 500 kids and their parents. That's a lot of organizing to do!

Christian's first year running and he is loving it!

Now we are ever so grateful for Conference Sunday to relax, be refreshed, rejuvenated and spiritually fed, and physically fed (yum!). These are the only 2 days out of the whole year when John is home. We can have even have breakfast so we look forward to Conference for more than its original intent!

Cinnamon rolls with vanilla cream cheese frosting, breakfast pizza, fresh fruit. It was breakfast, brunch, and lunch. PERFECT!

Happy Birthday Five-Year-Old Girl!

Happy Birthday Ashlyn!

You are five years old today and we are in denial! How can my baby be five?

Homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast - your request!

To have fun on your birthday, we invited some of your friends to the park for a playdate which turned out to be a great way to spend the day.

Ella, Caroline, Ashlyn

Brent Johnson came, too.

It was a scorching-hot day so we enjoyed Tutti Frutti. The kids LOVED it and it made for an awesome party that wasn't a party.

The other kids went home and Caroline stayed so they played with Ashlyn's new Barbie toy and then ran in the sprinklers again and again.

They had a blast!

After Christian's baseball game, John made it back in town just in time to have birthday dinner . . . at The Habit - Ashlyn's request.

Then home for presents!

Her school was the next day so she brought treats to her class; fresh-picked strawberries and homemade cookies. They were all a hit!

Happy Birthday to our big girl!!

What I Find on My Phone

If I forget what has happened during the week, I suppose I could refer to the pictures stored on my phone. My kids, or even their friends, are commonly known to play with my phone and I am often finding random shots that I never knew existed.

Here's what I've found from the past couple of days.

Christian running the bleachers during track practice. Baseball practice was cancelled due to the soaked fields.

Christian running by. Love that hair action.

Day-after-violent-storm clouds. Beautiful.

Always reminds me of the song that says,

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain,

And ponder on the beauty of the earth made clean again.

Looking out out on the field as a team stretches.

Me, bundled up and freezing. Come on! It's almost April. We were teased with warm weather last week and now there's snow on the mountains again. I'm not complaining though.

I think it must be all that global warming.

Caroline and Ashlyn at the park (Church Park as we call it).

More park, with the Hipstamatic App. Love it.

On a side note . . .

All this beauty is needed after the shocking news of the plane crash last week. I don't normally follow the news closely, especially the local news, because it's depressing, full of drama and theatrics and now mostly just plain Hollywood. But when you hear about an airplane crash, and know personally the pilot, it becomes all too real and devastating. I've known Kenny for many, many years and my heart goes out to his wife, his darling baby girl, and the rest of the Cruz family. Randy says at least he died doing what he absolutely loved.

Called to Serve in the Beautiful Island of . . .

. . .

Boise, Idaho!

Land of the potatoes.

Hence, this uber-creative baked potato CAKE

How cute and lifelike is that? Tommie's friend Tami expertly made this wonder.

We had the wonderful opportunity of attending CJ's farewell. He reports to the MTC next week. After the awesome farewell talk given by Elder CJ Norris (who also received his Eagle Award the night before), we all congregated at his home for good food, good company, and good music.

How many people can cram in one family room? I should also mention, good movie (Finding Nemo). And this was only a fraction of the bunch at the house.

Elder Norris, ready to harvest that field.

Even with all the people over vying for his attention, CJ still finds time to spend with Christian (who idolizes him).

Farewell CJ! We will miss you!