Only in So Cal

Only in So Cal can you go to a track meet on a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning and spy snow capping the mountains in the distance,

then visit said mountains, while it's actually snowing.

We really lucked out when we decided to take the kids to the snow. They've been wanting to go all winter.

Wait, it's spring now.

It's actually the middle of April.

Whatever.

They were delighted beyond comprehension when the drizzly rain turned to flurries of flakes.

And even more excited when it got thicker and thicker.

I heard things like, "This is the best day ever!!"

and

"I've never seen real snow in the sky in my whole life!!"

That makes it worth it.

We brought Cole along with us. He had a nice ride in the back of the truck.

This is what he did within the first 5 seconds of being in the snow:

Don't eat yellow snow.

This is what the kids did within 5 seconds of getting out of the car:

It snowed and snowed. It was clean, fresh, powdery (sounds like a deodorant ad) deep, and fun.

And cold.

It was Cole's first time in the snow and you'd think he was born in it. I don't know if I've seen him happier.

A nice couple wanted to take a picture of us. Here we are trying to call Cole to come in the picture. He had no interest in stopping.

Since Madison didn't participate in the track meet (it was a 2-day Invitational that we don't do because it goes on Sunday), she got her workout pulling the sled around.

The kids would walk to the top of the hill with the sleds and Cole would follow, then they'd sled down squealing and laughing. Cole would bound down the hill after them each and every time, making sure they were alright, then follow them back up the hill.

Over and over again.

The truck sure comes in handy.

Back home to unload our snow, build a snowman, and have a snowball fight.

THEN . . . it's off to go surfing. Switch out the sleds for the boards.

Only in So Cal.

Catching Up

Track has begun.

It is super fun.

It takes over our lives.

I'm helping out with both Ashlyn and Christian's teams this year; it is Ashlyn's first year to run. Technically, she is too young, but with us all four participating, and me helping out (and John being the President), she's now a Gremlin Girl.

We practice four days a week (with the younger two only doing two days) and have meets on Saturdays.

There are 275 kids in the Club (which is the max amount) ages kindergarten to eighth grade, we even have a waiting list. That has only happened since John became the president. Once the kids are in 9th grade, they go to the High School team if they want.

Putting on an event like this with over 500 children, plus all the adults, takes a lot of peoplepower. We have wonderful families that volunteer and truly live in an amazing community with great kids and great parents.

My friend's dad said when observing this meet for the first time: "This is Newbury Park's best kept secret! Seeing all of this participation, and these little kids giving 100% is really special."

Christian (white t-shirt) running neck-and-neck with his BFF Harrison.

It was a cold and drizzly day, which made it sort of miserable for many people. We heard lots of cries of "Let's cancel the meet!" And others from out of state say, "What? We always ran in sleet, snow, 110 degrees, whatever!" Californians are such weather wimps.

The kids spend a lot of time on the field waiting for staging, then for their event. The kids are so great, they automatically entertain themselves and Ashlyn is learning the fun of hand-clapping games.

It was her birthday so her coach gave her a sticker and made the team cookies.

Then the sun came out and it was gorgeous. People had to hurry and put on sunscreen.

When we got home, it rained again. Rainy days are perfect for playing the new Wii Just Dance game that Ashlyn got for her birthday.

A rare treat: Kim Thomas and her family came into town for Spring Break. They were spending it with her mom in O.C., but came up to have dinner and family night with her besties. We had a great time reconnecting, playing Do You Love Your Neighbor and seeing the kids all interact. Kim, Marie and I have been BFFs for twenty+ years. It's always wonderful to get together. And Marie ran to get her salmon sweater so she could match for the picture.

A beautiful spring day perfect for walking to school with friends. This is up the little hill at "our field" that has a view of their school. The friends thought that was pretty neat.

Ashlyn was in the Peter Rabbit play at school and had the part of Mother Rabbit. Perfect for her. We were laughing because she kept yawning during it. She must have been warm up on the stage in the costume, and it was the 2nd performance that morning. Mothering must be so exhausting!!

So cute!!!

For Christmas, Brooke received voice lessons, and has been taking them every other week this year. She had her first recital this last week and sang "My Favorite Things", accent and all.

It was very strange not having Easter along with Spring Break. I felt like we had to rush and dye eggs at the last minute.

On Good Friday, we had the day off so took a hike to "our bench" and enjoyed the view.

I love Spring!

Precious

This is baby Easton. He is darling, precious, and perfect.

Today was his blessing day.

I got to hold him all throughout church (his mommy [my sister Andrea] had to teach Nursery) and he was just like this.

Like I said . . .

Perfect.

Newborn babies are so soft. They smell so good. They are delicious.

Photo taken by Madison with my phone during Relief Society

Spring Break '12

It's time for Spring Break! It came early this year, the first time our school district has scheduled it not near Easter. We have no plans, which makes for a nice, relaxing time where we can unwind and play and play and play. In this case, bake and bake and bake.

Brooke has been on a baking spree. She made mock Reese's peanut butter bars (9x13), two cherry cream cheese pies (one for Shaun's birthday - his favorite), and cookie cakes:

Brooke and Monroe wanted to get creative and expressed it using stuff they found in my cake decorating box.

Cute girls.

Madison and I spent a morning at the Bishop's Storehouse filling orders. It was really fun and a great way to get some service hours. Unfortunately, she has several (like 6!) projects that are due the week after break. Ridiculous! So she's been spending a lot of time on those while Brooke works on a video presentation she's doing for school.

Thursday was a totally awesome day. It was sunny, a perfect temperature with clear skies that begged to have the books put away and to be played under.

First up, we went on a bike ride in the morning, found a neighborhood that had a very steep and quiet street and enjoyed flying down it at top speed.

Then John and I had a golf date that was his birthday present (3 months ago). It was for an hour-long lesson for the both of us at Malibu Golf Course by golf pro Rusty Tucker.

It was super fun, especially because we got to ride around in our own golf cart.

This makes us want to play golf for real.

Too bad we don't have the time at this point, but it was fun nonetheless.

While I was away, the kids had made a cooking show, filming how to make lunch which consisted of mac-n-cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, ants on log, and chocolate milk. Brooke has been having fun all week making a movie for her class about the state of Iowa and is now using her newly-acquired filming and editing skills to become the next Rachel Ray.

It was 3:00 in the afternoon and they mentioned how we still hadn't gone to the beach yet during Break. Why not go now? We got to the beach after 4:00 and someone told us the fog just burned off. It was clear, beautiful and pleasant.

Christian drew in the sand. I texted it to John and he said that right there is worth the price of gas to drive to get to the beach. (Gas is crazy $4.35 now. GEESH)

why is this underlining??
They immediately ran all over the place, loving that the tide was way out and nobody was on the beach. It was perfect.
Draw 2 lines in the sand and have a leaping contest. Why not?

Since we are missing track practice, why not have our own sprints?

Christian found a piece of wood, made a see-saw and used it to catapult a broken shovel several yards in the air. Such a boy.

I'm so glad that we decided at the last minute to go to the beach. It was perfect and we stayed until after 6:00. Then drove through Chick Fil A on the way home. I've never been there, but heard it was decent for fast food and always wanted to try it. (This area only recently got this eatery). The only drive through we EVER do is In-n-Out, so we are really branching out here and found that we may now have a 2nd fast food option to add to our short list.

We got home, ate, the kids took showers and John and I went for a walk. It was such a beautiful night with bright clear stars and I wanted to still enjoy the great day, not let it end. We took Cole and walked to our Bishop's house who lives about a mile away and returned some books his daughter needed (Hunger Games). Walking hand in hand, chatting away, walking the dog, looking at the constellations.

It doesn't get much better than that.

However, it would be much better if I could figure out how to get rid of this underlining, and find out why it randomly shows up. Annoying!

Friday is supposed to be snow day, but I think it might be all gone (at least for the hour-long-drive locations). We couldn't go earlier in the week when there was some because Ashlyn was sick with the flu. Poor girl.

I love how Spring Break gives us a taste of summer. Now if we could just get our heads back in the game for 2 1/2 more months, we'll survive, knowing we have this and more (like Hawaii!) in store.

A Great Week - Even With a Teenager

The first week of March was gorgeous and fun and busy. Spring came early and we are now experiencing summer weather. I wonder if that will mean a cool a foggy summer?

One morning I helped with Christian's 2nd grade Art Masters lesson, which means that Ashlyn was able to come along. When the lesson was over, it was time for recess and Christian really wanted us to stay and play.

I showed them some of my mad hula hooping skills and tried to teach Ashlyn.

Some 1st grade girls that she knows from her track team came by and asked what a kindergartner was doing on the big kid playground. Well, when you have a cool 2nd grade brother, you just get all the perks.

Walking to school on another lovely morning. She loves to wear dresses.

We've been avoiding this as long as we could, but unfortunately, the calendar presses on.

Madison turned 13.

We officially have a teenager.

When I picked her up from school the day before, Brooke quickly made up this little surprise after-school snack for her. She couldn't find the birthday candles, so stuck a tea light in the middle of the bread.

Fresh homemade bread and delicious strawberries. Yum.

Birthday breakfast was buttermilk pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, and OJ. It was her request, but it had to be quick since we had to get to school.

After school, homework, track practice, dinner, etc., we finally were able to get to her last present . . . but made her hunt for it by playing "hot" and "cold".

It's a ukulele! Just what she wished.

A quick dessert of lemon bars and it's time for bed. Having a birthday on a school day is a bummer. Except that her locker was decorated by her friends, we stopped by and put helium balloons on her locker, and daddy brought her a favorite lunch to school: Mama Mia pizza from The Natural Cafe.

The next night we went to the movies and had our friend Monroe come along. She was squished in the back with Ashlyn and Christian who were pretending to over-love her. She's a good sport.

The Lorax is a great flick. Good job Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul! Madison is lucky to work with Ken for the stake film festival (which is next week); I bet their film will be great!

Madison wanted to go to the mall with her friend from school, so I took them, and Brooke invited Rebecca Tarbet to come along, too. They had a great time being girly at the mall.

Such fun girls!

We ended the week by donating blood on Saturday at the Stake Emergency Preparedness Expo and taking Madison out on a birthday dinner date to a restaurant of her choosing, which was Saffron - and Indian restaurant that has the best curries and naan. Good choice Maddy!

Finally

I can finally and officially say that it is done.

That is, the bathroom remodel that has taken nearly three whole years.

The seemingly never-ending project met its end late last night with the installation of the medicine cabinets.

Of course when they arrived, the size was *just* off so more sawing and rearranging studs in the wall had to take place, which of course lengthens what should be a simple project.

Frames needed to be built to account for the offness, which then needed to be stained the custom-blend stain that John came up with when he built the mirror frames.

Since he's such a genius and MacGyver, it all worked out and looks fabulous!

And there's not a bazillion bottles on the counter anymore.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The funny thing is when the cabinets arrived, they were two huge boxes on our front porch. The kids were wondering what in the world it could be. When I explained, Christian was confused; he had no idea we were in need of a medicine cabinet. He had grown so accustomed to the Hole in the Wall that he didn't realized it needed to be filled!

Hallelujah! Thanks hunny for another job well done.

Now . . . (cough cough) the stairs? :-)