The Grover Family

New Year, New Post

2012-01-03T11:54:00.000-08:00

Boring title, I know. But the Ball in Time Square wasn't the only thing dropped in the end of 2011. This blog is missing some entries. I feel bad for all people who have been visiting my blog to find nothing new or exciting here. I could play catch up and swarm the page with new material. I think instead I will simplify and share a few things that have made me happy as of late.
First, this picture of my sweet kids. We tried to get the beach of for our christmas shoot, but time and weather would not allow. Next year perhaps. But how could I not love how this turned out, even if my photographer, Melissa, had to switch a few heads in photoshop. No, they do not cooperate quite that well simultaneously. However, I love the illusion that they do. :)

Second, I got to help make a brooch bouquet for a bride who got married in December. My friend Cindy and I were given a picture of what the bride wanted and a gazillion pretty brooches to work with. I thought it was a great idea. What a neat keepsake.

Congrats Whitney, you looked gorgeous!!!

So now we roll into a new year with new goals and such. I bet you can't guess what one of mine is.

I Tried It

2011-12-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking printing on fabric would be a pretty cool thing and there are a lot of tutorials out there. Truth be told, I was a little nervous because I also worried that it could jam the printer or ruin the printer heads or something awful that would have my poor husband exclaiming, "What the heck!" next time he tried to print something.
Well I braved on and tried it anyway and get to report that all is safe and well with my Epson RX580! My instructions came from Under the Table and Dreaming. I modified the process a bit. Starting with photo paper, I put a healthy layer of mod-podge glue on the glossy side than layed the fabric over the top. Using an iron, I flattened the fabric. The heat dryed the glue quickly. Then I just fed the paper through the printer and waa laaa.

I admit to a bit of shrieking and jumping up and down from sheer excitement at the this point, but no one was watching. The image came out perfectly and the fabric peeled right off of the paper.

I got my images from The Graphics Fairy as usual, and added text in photoshop. I stitched my printed fabric onto throw pilllows I had striped the cover off of. Yes, naked pillows!!! It works with the shabby chic thing. Trust me on this. This craft was made with things I already had at home. I feel so clever and resourceful when that happens. :)

One more side note. The gorgeous blue ruffle pillow is not, I repeat, is not made by me. It was purchased with Kohl's cash I earned by standing in for hours in the middle of the night playing Santa on black friday. This was my reward to myself for making it through that night.

Homemade Pinterest Christmas

2011-11-29T09:27:00.000-08:00

I am so loving the new shabby vintage trend. I am dying over designs by Dear Lillie and Miss Mustard Seed. My Christmas has spun from the similar themes, and I have been crafting up a storm, thanks to ideas on Pinterest. This rolled book paper tree if from this website is here. The table runner is just a strip on linen with a gold ruffle ribbon hot glued to the back sides.

Going with the rolled paper idea, I made this music sheet wreath for a super saturday project, also found on pinterest, it came from this blog.

These vintage paper ornaments were made with images from the Graphics Fairy. I love the happy face of Santa. I'm not sure what the bird has to do with Tulip Soap?

For my big tree, I spent a crazy lot of time making the famous ruffle skirt from, you guessed it, pinterest. But it was worth it and it can be used for years to come.

I did some of these darlings found here but forgot to take pictures of my own. Boo.

My star on top is made from cut up paper towel rolls, hot glued, and spraypainted. How easy is that and it didn't cost a thing. Boo-ya!!

I wish I new how to take better indoor pictures, but all in all I love my house right now. It's fun to finally decorate for Christmas after thinking about for a few months. Before you get to proud of me for actually doing the projects I've pinned, realize I have been in a crafting lull since June, and I really don't plan on doing a lot for a while. Few. I thankful there are so many crafty creative people in the world that I can copy ideas from. :)

Turning Wheels

2011-10-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

So who of you are on pinterest? Leave me a comment if you are. I like to find people I know. You can click here for my profile.I love Pinterest. Such amazing inspirations can be found there. It gets my wheels turning looking through the post of everyones favorites of everything. I have a constructed an idea of a family christmas beach shoot all based on things I have seen on Pinterest. I am thinking pastels and sea shells and a mini tree. I am not a photographer, but I like to help stage shoots. Maybe this can become a reality. I am hoping. And if it does, I will share the results here. That I promise.

I also wish I could redo my wedding. So many more ideas and resources out there than were, well more years ago than I would like to admit when I got married. sigh! Anyone have a upcoming wedding they will let me style? I will work for free, or maybe for cake. Let's talk.

Little Things

2011-10-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

My house backs up to walking trails through oak trees. All I have to do is step outside and walk down the hill, and I am there. But I don't ever do it. Life is busy, I am easily distracted. I decided I need to take more time to enjoy the little simple things. We all need to slow down and relax sometimes.

I took a walk on Sunday morning. There was no school and no church due to our General Conference in Salt Lake City. I spent my morning taking pictures of the sun peeking through the trees.

Later in the day, Grant took the two older, more reverent of our kids to watch the GC broadcast at our ward building. I tuned in via internet while the little two munchkins and I drew train tracks on a sheet taped to the floor. Yeah, it's kinda cool being a mom sometimes. So how are you enjoying the little things today?

Monterey Bay

2011-09-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip on Saturday. Day trips are my favorite, the fun of a vacation, with out the commitment of a vacation. We are about 2 hours south of Monterey and it's fabulous aquarium. The decision was to go and get a year membership because by the time you pay for a family as big as ours to get in once, you might as well have payed for the year. It was a good thing too, because in the two hours we were there, we couldn't even cover it all. There is still so much more to see and do!!!

Now, ocean life is fascinating, especially deep ocean life, because 98% of us ( totally came up with this number on my own) will never get to see it up close in it's environment. I don't know about you, but my family isn't planning a deep sea diving trip any time soon or ever. But at the aquarium we saw jelly fish swimming and seahorses dancing, and that little guy in the top right corner of the photo above that looks like a floating plant. Yeah, thats a Leafy Sea Dragon. I didn't even know there was such thing as a Leafy Sea Dragon. These things are cool. There was also a lot of hands on stuff for the kiddos. Lots of touch pools, lots in interactive displays. The kids were lovin it. This photo is Aidan in a tide tunnel, watching the water break over his head.

I wish I had more pictures , but the dark lighting in the facility made it hard to take good ones. Here's some outside shots, including a few from the coolest public park we have ever found, right near the beach.

You Being You

2011-09-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

I love the Eiffel Tower. Having just received a Eiffel tower trinket necklace I ordered for my birthday, I realize that I have a lot of them around. Two on my bookshelf, one on the wall, one on my dresser that holds my rings, you get the point. I started wondering what my deal is with this building. It reminds me of the wonderful trip I took to france when I was 13, but mostly I think I see it as a symbol of standing out in a good way. Here we have an amazing piece of architecture that almost didn't happen because many people in Paris at the time thought it would be an eyesore on the scape of the city.

/

/

Aren't we blessed that public opinion didn't stop this from construction. There is nothing else like it anywhere and that is what makes it great. Kinda like this little girl who is into the 'I'll dress myself thank you phase.' I have to learn to enjoy it.

2011-09-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

When I say two of my boys share a birthday, people always ask me if they are twins. When I reply no, they give me a surprised confused look. "That'e right," I say, "Same day, two years apart. The good thing about this is that Michael and Aidan have become good at sharing. Neither kid complained about having a double birthday party. I really wanted to have a non-structured, let the just play sort of time. We set up a slip-n-slide and put a slide in a swimming pool, and had water tub and water cannons out. We just let all the kids go crazy. It was perfect.

Everyone had a blast!! Especially this little water bug.

More of Summer

2011-08-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

For a few weeks there, my kids were spending about as much time in the water as out. We have had two weeks of swim lessons, and swimming at friends houses, and a trip to the Ravine Water Park. We had to buy special shampoo to remove all the chlorine and they all look like little Native Americans from the waste down. The good thing is that our confidence in the water has grown incredibly. My boys are swimmers. After learning the freestyle, breast, and the dolphin swimming strokes, Michael invented the Shark, which he primarily swims with. His hands make a fin on his head and he kicks his legs. Elijah likes to see how long he can sit underwater like Percy Jackson. This makes me slightly nervous. Aidan is happy with himself because he will now put his face underwater( in three steps). Cheek 1 goes in, cheek2, then forehead, but not all at once. He is a little cautious. Lily is not!! I put her life jacket on her and she prefers to paddle herself around.

Things were getting a little crazy around here for a while. The kids had too much energy bottled in the house and I was loosing mine trying to keep the house in order with all of them home. Out of exasperation, I came up with a system that allowed them to earn a trip to the Ravine. They earned points for doing chores and for picking up after themselves with out being asked. It was a miracle. Positive enforcement is the biggest motivator.

We all had a blast at the water park too.

And summer would not be complete here with out getting your hinny fried off at the Mid-State Fair, it's always too hot to completely enjoy. You walk in 100 degree heat amongst smokey bbq's pumping out fire underneath them and think 'bleck'!! How anyone can eat all that food in those conditions, I don't know. We gave up on the fair mid-day and came back at night for the rides, and it was probably the best time to enjoy all this.

Morro Bay Now and Then

2011-07-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

When we were first moving to the central coast 3 years ago, we took a jaunt over to Morro Bay one afternoon when we were tired of house hunting. All of us fell in love with the beach and now we like the town too. We went twice last week. On the first trip I took the kids on the wharf for fish and chips and went to the park. The following trip was on a Saturday and Grant took us all to the beach. Taking pictures of the kids playing, I realized how much they had grown up since the three years when we first came to visit. I decided side by side photos would be a fun way of comparing. So here you have it, starting with Lily, who wasn't even born yet.

Gosh, has it really been that long. These pictures speak for themselves. If time flies when you are having fun, than we must be having ourselves a blast. These kiddos are growing in stature and personality. They crack me up, a lot!

Idaho ( part 2 ) Home

2011-07-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

This is the scene from my mom and stepdad's backyard and this is what home looks like to me. Growing up in small town Idaho was an absolutely delightful experience. During winter you were pretty much inside doors sequestered from the cold, and when I say cold, I mean in the negative digits cold. Of course we went sledding from time to time and my whole family hit the ski slopes on the weekend, but I really looked forward to summer. Summers were spent dutch oven cooking, and fishing, and sometimes camping, and going to the beach on Bear Lake, and I loved the 4th of July, almost as much as Easter or Halloween even. Our Fourth started early with a pancake breakfast. Later Michael and Elijah rode on a float in the parade while Aidan and Lily watched and caught candy. Fireworks in the park were that night followed by more fireworks and sparklers back at the house.

So I pretty much was raised in the sticks. Our out of-the-way town was an hour and a half away from a Wal Mart. We had one stop light up the whole time I lived there. 10 minutes out-of-the-way of this out-of-the-way town is Dingle, where I spent the first 7 years of my life. Yes Dingle, named after the sound a cow bell makes when the cow walks. I found that out just now on a google search. I couldn't find, however, the population. It's not a lot. I could live in Dingle again though, it so peaceful. My dad and his wife have built a darling new home on the ranch property I spent a lot of my childhood on, and my old house and runaround grounds are still there. My kids jumped on the horses. Michael was a natural, and Lily wasn't a bit afraid. Aidan prooved his California kid status when he got put on the horse and yelled, "MUSH, MUSH". Hey kiddo, your on a horse, not a dog sled. It was funny.

I had to grab my camera and walk myself down memory lane. Everything brought me right back to 4 and 5 and 6 years old, running around with out a care in the world.

This is the farmhouse we lived in. It has seen better days. No one lives there now, or would want to probably.

The irrigation canal out front that sometimes had water in it and sometimes did not. My brother and I used to catch frogs in here.

This is the treehouse tree that I remember being a long way down the lane from the house. Turns out, it's not that far away.

This is the barn where the baby calves were born in. We bottle fed them every once in a while. And the side roof was a good angle to slide down off of in the winter. We had wild barn cats and caught myself a pet when I was a toddler. Her name was Caesar. Caesar stuck around with us for quite a while.

This visit was non-stop fun. When the kids weren't on horses, they were cooking hotdogs over a fire, or getting rides on the 4 wheeler. They went from swimming in my mom's exercise pool, to the hot tub, to jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkles on, and back to the hot tub. My kids got the full Idaho experience. It was a long drive there and back, and it was hard for me to leave it, but is was all so worth it.

Idaho ( part 1) The Cabin

2011-07-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

We left the end of June for Idaho and got back in the middle of the first week of July. Why am I finally getting around to blogging it all now you wonder? Well,being awesome like we sometimes are, the charger for our macbook got left in our room in the cabin and had to wait two weeks to get it mailed to us. Did you know replacement chargers are $80. Uh yeah, but no thanks. We patiently waited out two weeks with out computer access. It's absence was dearly missed by me mostly. But here I am to catch up on the Grover vacation which started with a two day drive from CA to ID, with an overnight stop in Reno, NV where we visited with family, and was treated to Chunky Cheese in honor of a certain three year old girl's birthday, and enjoyed a swim in the hotel pool. After day two of driving through California cities and orchards and Nevada deserts, our destination was reached.

My family met for a reunion in Island Park which is the Idaho side of Yellowstone and spent a few days in a cabin that sleeps something like 24-25 people. It was a blast. We hiked, tried our hand at fishing, and rafted a fork of the Snake River.

We also finished celebrating that certain little girl's birthday. We were a day late, but she didn't mind. She was surrounded by grandma's and grandpa's and cousins. It was probably the best birthday of her life so far.

Summer Thus Far ( a long post)

2011-06-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Our first week of summer:
Monday: We went to library and signed all the kids up for the summer reading program. We stayed indoors and read a lot, because it was too hot to go outside.

Tuesday: Avila Beach day with friends. I never come back from Avila without feeling so fortunate to live 40 minutes from a spot people fly from every here and there place to vacation to. We go almost every week in the summer. When it's 100 degrees in Paso, it's 75 on the beach.

We brought lunch and sand toys and our boogie board and hung out for hours. The wind kicked up and we got pretty sunburned. I got very sunburned, my lucky kids mostly turned golden bronze. They get that from their dad.

Oh Lily was a mess by the time we got home. Her face has a nice layer of sand and snot and Durrito cheese is this shot.

And of course they was a stop at Avila Valley Barn for ice cream. You can get produce there and feed the farm animals too.

Wednesday: Catch up on laundry and house projects (and let kids play Wii all day) Day. Our friends were having a pool get together, but we had already seen too much sun from the day before. I turned this desk from a yardsale ....

into this. I love it. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the paint is a lovely ice blue. And I love the relics I found downtown to garnish it with. We really needed a craft and art desk . The dining-room table doesn't always cut it. But for $10 and a coat of paint, I think I am in love. The paint is from the My Color line from Pantone. The jar is about $10 from Lowe's, great stuff and great colors. I will be using these again. ( I used the word love three times in one paragraph) You get the point I'm sure.

Thursday: today the Treehouse was host to playgroup. It was two fun hours of toys, cookies and lemonade, and energetic little bodies running running back and force, up and down.

Friday: Tomorrow we will need to find ourselves a pool to be in.

And next week we are off to Idaho, so stay tuned.

What are you doing this summer?

Old Chair, New Look

2011-06-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

If you happened to drive up Union at 11:00 AM on a Friday, and saw a strange lady taking someone's trash, .... ummm, that was actually me. I took a chair from someone's curb trash pile. See, the thing is, I have always wanted to try a upholstery redo, and I like the math with something I didn't pay for.
Free Item + DIY tradegy = zero loss
It's a much worse scenario to mess up something that I paid money for. I figured this was a safe place to start.

uhhh, geee, yeah, as I was saying. This thing is old, like 1950's, from your Grandpa's workshed old. But it has a nice vintage look to it. First, I pulled off the vinyl seat coverings and gave the old boy a good scrub down.

After which, I spraypainted the frame and recovered the seat and backrest with an ivory upholstery fabric from Goodwill ( man I was sincerely determined to not spend money on this). I use a hot glue gun on everything, a little ghetto, but it works.

Now it just needed a little oomph in the form of painted on stencils, braided cord hot glued around the seams, and my fluffy rose pillow.

And the dramatic before and after. This where the thing is for now. I meant it to be a desk chair for the desk that is in the middle of being transformed itself. So much to dream of doing, so little time to actually do it.

By the way, I am linked up here Fingerprints On The Fridge,and here The Shabby Nest.

I love how bloggers have their own lingo. I used to have no idea what that meant, linked up. Basically, a thumbnail picture with a link to my post is on someone else's blog.
So like now, I'm totally linked-up, and you should totally do it too, cause it's so cool.

Dad's Day

2011-06-20T10:43:00.001-07:00

We had a great beach adventure yesterday. We drover north near Hearst's castle and found an really beautiful beach with cliffs and sand dunes. The kids were in heaven. After playing for a while we took a walk and ran into a shack made from driftwood. It looked something like the above picture except for the people that made the one we found took time to decorate it with strings of shells and other ocean relics. It was adorable and we have to go back one day because I didn't have my camera. Bummer!

I wanted to share this little tribute to dads. It's really sweet. To quote my favorite phrase from this video,
"Roll up to the splashpad at ten AM,
my whole entourage, hops out the mini-van.
We splishy-splashy for an hour or two,
than it's back to the house, preppin for the barbeque."

I love the awesome father of my kids. Don't know what I would do with out him.

Is It Summer Yet?

2011-06-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

With the cool temps and late summer release from school, we have to ask that question. The much anticipated and worked for kids and baby fair got postponed due to a late summer rain storm. May I say it never rains more than a drizzle past May in California ever!!!. I was more than a little bummed out. But, the 25th of June, the fair will be held in conjunction with Trading Day. Please come, and bring you friends, and your kids, of course!

Today is the last day of school for the kids. Finally! I am about as excited as they are. Yeah, I'm one of those wierd moms who likes them all home. We can sleep in and have breakfast at 10:00 and go on impromptu trips EVERY single day!!! JOY! Speaking of breakfast, we had chocolate chip pancakes to celebrate out last day of the school year. My kids were bouncing of the walls excited this morning.

Chocolate, butter, and syrup are the perfect blend of yummy. Worst breakfast ever, but best breakfast ever, know what I mean?
Wednesday, while the two older boys were at a play date, I took Lily and Aidan to a backyard pizza party with a giant waterslide.
Both kids took the plunge 3,050 times approximately, and they were flying down that thing. Have you ever seen that show Wipe-Out where you watch people repell from rubber inflatables for an hour and you a cracking up the whole time, It was like that with the slide. Wipe-Out for toddlers. Love Lily's face here!!!

My kids are stinkin cute.

For teachers this year we tied gifts to mini chalkboards. I photoshopped a card, which you are welcome to download and use. Maybe not this year ( I'm a little late), perhaps next year. The graphics are from my favorite graphic designer, Katrina Tan from Pugly PIxel

(double click to bring up image than right click to save on your desktop)

Also if you need a Father's Day Card, here's another freebie.

Zoo Book

2011-06-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Last minute I decided to go with Michael to the zoo for his end of the year 1st grade field trip. He had been asking and asking for me to come, but I was concerned about finding someone to watch Lily, so was opting not to. So finally the morning of, knowing it would mean a lot to him, I called the school office to make sure my background check was up to date and see if it was ok to bring a toddler along, and drove to meet the kiddos at the Charles Paddock Zoo. Michael was so glad to have me there. He kept asking me to take pictures of the animals, and was always making sure I was keeping up with the group, and I had a good time seeing him interact with all his classmates.
I decided to have Michael make a little memory book about his trip (well I helped him make a little book), just a little souvenir to remember it.

- I just noticed Lily's hand zooming in from the right trying to grab a colored pencil. She "helped" too.

This guy is my little buddy. We are so much alike.

Baby Fair

2011-05-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

So I am going to be a mad crafting lady for the next week, I mean more so than I usually am, if it's possible. A week from Saturday is our towns Baby and Craft fair where I am sharing a booth with Melissa and her photography. I am selling vintage hair pieces, so if you are in town that day, come say hi!!

Ughh, I am going to be sooo busy during the next week. Why do I always procrastinate? Why?
Anyways, we will see how his goes. I may try Etsy again, but don't hold your breathe. That's a lot to take on. Wish me luck. :)

Random Thursday, A Day Late

2011-05-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

I finally got the pictures from the orchard photo shoot in Lily's room. I don't know what I was waiting for. Probably a good deal on frames, and oh boy, it came. A friend posted finding $.49 frames at Michaels as her fb status. Figuring I needed some, I decided to go get a bunch for myself. Here's the awesome part, they rang up for a penny each. I was standing at the cash register thinking, 'That can't be right', but there was no way I was about to complain about that. So yesterday I return for markers and notice there are more frames still there. Feeling like I had won the lottery, I scoop those puppies up and head to the cash register, I different one than I had last time, who exclaims, "Oh, these were supposed to be pulled, but since you found them, I have to sell to you at this price." I had a suspicion it was too good to be true, so basically I cashed in on their mistake. Oh well, it went to a good cause.

I also finally put photos on the Spark lamp I made last September, which made a huge difference on the project. I love it so much more!!! I made a little book with the same paper line.

Also I had a netted canopy over her little bed that I found at a garage sale. It was a bit ratty and she kept pulling it down on herself, so, repurposing, I cut it up, tied bunches in little balls and put this together.

Lily loves being in her room, and I love that she loves it!!!

Mother's Day Weekend

2011-05-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

We had a great, some what spontaneous trip over the weekend. My family met up in St.George where my step-dad participated in the Ironman triathalon. A week ago Sunday, my mom called to tell say that they would have room for us in the condo they would be in and would love us to come. I thought, 'what a perfect Mother's Day get-away' and my husband agreed.
Soo come Sat. morning with
- clothing for 4 kids for 4 days
- 4 little pair of sandals,
- 4 little pair of church shoes
- 4 little pair hiking shoes
- 4 little jackets
- 4 swim suits
- 8 pairs of socks
- 6 pair of undies and a pack of diapers

- not to mention movies, snacks, the ipod, games, cameras, computer, toiletries, blanket and sleeping bag.

- and a bag packed for mom
- and a bag packed for dad

we were packed up into the car and on our way early. With this many kids, getting away from it all is quite an involving process. But well worth it.

We made it into town in time to see 'Grandpa' Jack finish a 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. (And I wonder why I have a hard time calling him a grandpa.)

If any of you run into Bob Hermandson from high school, congratulate him. I also saw him finish.

Sunday, we went to church, had a bbq, and walk the temple grounds. The condo was amazing, and had super spectacular views.

I always loved walking around the St.George temple when I was a child, so it was sweet to take my kids there. It was dedicated in 1877 and is the oldest LDS temple still in use.

Monday morning we got up and packed a lunch, and drove to Zion National Park. OK, would you think going to the southern Utah desert in May, you would not need to prepare for rain. Seems we should have. We arrived at the park the same time as the pouring rain that required the purchasing of sweatshirts and ponchos from the gift shop before proceeding. The rain did let up as we started walking, and yet we still needed our water proof covering for this.

I have been on this hike a few times before, but apparently not after a healthy rainy season, because this I rememeber this spot only trickling water. Walking under a full-blown waterfall was a rare experience. To feel and hear the force of it, and look up to see the water rushing over your head. We won't forget it.

This place was beautiful!!! All of it! And we all loved it

Free Flyin

2011-05-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of our 2 week spring break, I began to feel a little bad about not getting out enough with the kids. I felt like I devoted too much of the free time to things like cleaning out the car, catching up with the laundry, and just keeping up the housework with all the kids being home all the time. It seems like a visit from Grandparents was just the antidote for us all.

My dad and his wife came from Reno last week to hang out with us. They bought us wind-up airplanes and one awesome kite. We let go of agendas and chores and spent all day at the park. We were truly 'free flyin'.

California Easter

2011-04-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

We had been wanting to hike the Harmony Headlands trail for quite a while and Easter Day turned out the perfect day to do it. The trail is a mile and a half ( it seemed longer with four kids) down to the coast. We saw lots of birds and wildflowers, and with so many little bunnies on the trail, it was a perfect Easter activity.

After a long while the trail opened up to amazing coastline. We had packed a picnic and it was lovely to eat it near sloping green hills that fell off into churning swells. Will I ever get tired of this scene?

Not likely!!!

We were a tuckered out crew when it was all said and done. Three miles is a long way for kids and not so easy for grown-ups with a little someone perched on their shoulders. She isn't into walking.

The things we do for this little stinker-ette.

Most Egg-cellent

2011-04-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the cheesy title, I really couldn't help myself. I love spring decorating. Half our eggs were boiled and hand decorated by my little artists. We used a chalk kit this year. Loved these eggs!!!

I blew the yolk out of a few eggs so could use them for Easter decorations.

A serious bug has hit me. I have been on a DIY bonanza. Seriously, someone needs to come and take all craft adhesives from my home, because I don't know when this will end. In my most humble dreams, Martha Stewart hires me to work for her magazine, and I get paid to be creative. Since that isn't going to happen anytime soon, I try to be thrifty and pull from what I have around the house.
This pillow is made with a an old throw cushion and the lining of a bedskirt no longer in use.

It's so cute and fluffy. :)

This sign is made from blocks left over from a Super Saturday project and a plank I came up with from the garage.

These little egg toparies come from plastic eggs mod podged with dictionary paper, glued onto twigs from the backyard and put in teacups. I saw this idea on Lemon Tree Creations. Really fun blog for quick, easy projects.

OK, an intervention may be in need here.

Bringing in 9

2011-03-19T20:03:00.001-07:00

Elijah turned 9 years old this week. He is the coolest kid. He is kind to super bright and kind to everyone. He is getting to be the age where he is such a help to me.

We threw him a Camp themed party which included a craft, shooting practice, and a nature hunt , followed by dinner and a movie. It was a blast.

A Tribute to a Friend

2011-03-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

My heart is a little heavy this morning and I feel like rambling a bit that is on my mind. I had this nagging thought in the middle of the night last night of a friend who has been dealing with cancer for the last few years. This morning went to her facebook page to learn her life her on earth had ended Monday and to read many wonderful comments left by friends and family. She was so admired by so many.

The last post she made on her blog is titled "Lovin My Beautiful Kids Right Now" which pretty much sums up what she is and I am sure continues to be all about. I know that her family was sealed in the temple, and she will be a mother to kids FOREVER and will watching over her 6 little ones. We love you Dave and kids and will be remembering you in our prayers.

There is a website to help this family. Help David & Kaci Cox Family

Tea Party

2011-02-24T08:41:00.000-08:00

Back in December, my photographer friend said she would like to do a tea party photo shoot in an orchard when the blossoms are out. I was sold on the idea. I made a banner and went shopping for tea sets at goodwill. This was so fun to set up and shoot. I had a blast. Lily's friend joined us and I got in a few picture with Lily. Now I just have to decide which one are going on the wall. It will be hard to choose!!!

We are singing 'Popcorn Popping' to make them smile in this one.

She has inherited the "nose crinkle". One of my infamous traits.

Thanks Melissa!!! You can find her more of her work at http://www.melissagomezphotography.com/.

Showing Some Love

2011-02-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

This is the kids showing love to their classmates.It's always interesting coming up with valentines for three classes, 66 in all this year. I came up with a little card with a guitar that says 'You Rock'. We attached to lollipops for the older boys. It took a long time for the boys to do them all. For Aidan, who only has six kids in his class, we got more fancy and visited Powell's for Pop Rocks. I love an excuse to visit our adorable candy store.

The kids didn't have school Valentines Day, so I took the liberty to show my love by decorating the house with flowers and hearts and making a yummy valentines day breakfast.

Grant showed some love and brought home two dozens roses from work. They are lovely.

Mother nature is showing it's love by displaying some beautiful springtime blossoms. They are everywhere right now and it's hard not to feel happy when you look at them. We took advantage of this beautiful spot and had a photoshoot for Lily and a friend. I am so excited to see how they turn out.

Another Man's Treasure

2011-02-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

I reveal with some chagrin that lately I have taken up thrift store shopping. I have become a perveyor of fine junk, not even fine junk, just usable junk. It started when I was hunting for cake stands at goodwill, and couldn't help but notice all the usable things people get rid of. I like to buy picture frames to sand and repaint. I look for pillows to recover, and now recently, scarves to make fabric flowers with. I have to say, this also stems from my reading of craft blogs. Who new you could take a candle stick and glue it to a plate to make a cake pedestal? Amazing. When I go to thrift stores, I just try and walk past the dusty sweaters and sweaty shoes (because there are some things I just won't do) straight to home goods. These are some of my finds.

A few weeks ago a thrift store was closing and was running a paper bag special, everything you can fit in a brown paper bag for $5. I came out with a lace tablecloth and teacups for a Lily's tea party, candlesticks to make the afore mentioned cake pedestals, and ahhh ahh ahhh choo[tealturlenecksweater]. Oh bless me.

I have also been addicted to flower making. I have adhered flowers to pillows, headbands, necklaces, and belts. I am trying my hardest not to go overboard. My friend Melissa suggested I share a booth with her in an upcoming baby craft fair. I will now have some where to channel this creative obsession.

Speaking of life's treasures I came on some of Michael's art from school. The assignment was to draw something that takes less than a minute, and something that takes more time. I didn't ask Michael for an interpretation on what he drew, so if I may conjuncture a guess.
I believe getting spit on by a llama and getting really red in the face about it takes less than a minute.

Verses, say, eating lemon jello with a pitch fork, which takes a considerably more amount of time.

So Cute!!!

And to leave with this thought. I have learned after seeing an absolutely amazing rainbow on our families last Sunday walk, that I should always carry my camera. Today we found this wonderful creature on a hiking trial, who was kind enough to let us pick her up and see all her wings upclose.

Life is beautiful.

Big Sur Day Trip

2011-01-20T10:58:00.000-08:00

Monday was a day off for Grant and the kids and I. We loaded the car to spend a few hours on the beach and ended up driving north to Big Sur. Sometimes spontaneity reigns when my husband is manning the vehicle. It turned out to be wonderful 9 hour adventure.

We stopped first in San Simeon to see the sea lions, than headed up to coast and found a new hiking trial. I love hiking along the coast because the greenery is amazing in the coastal mountains. You find a lot more variety of ferns and bushes.

At that point we decided we were close enough to Big Sur to just go. Why not. I had always wanted to check it out. My friend George ( the kareoke DJ) had told me about his favorite beach with large rocks with cave-like hole that waves crashed through. He said take the first little road after the post office. So in this little town in, I saw a post office, and said, "Grant we need to find the next little road to the beach." We found it. Everyone getting out of their cars to hike to this spot have serious camera equipment. We timed our visit perfectly. It was one of those accidental blessings. This time of year, when the sun sets, it sets it's glow in the holes in the rocks. It's a photographers playground. I had a blast.

From her we drove to Salinas, had dinner and hit the 101 home. Sometimes it pays to not make plans. The beach is Pfieffer Beach, it is great for kids. Here are more images, in case you are interested.

Just another Random Thursday!!

2011-01-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

Monday is never manic. I don't get that song( or the eighties in general) Monday is lazy, for me anyway. It takes me a while to get rolling after the weekend. So I guess Thursday is a good day to blog. I decided I need to amp it up to once a week. I want my blog to be about loving and living everyday life, and not just about the big events. It's funner to go back and read all kinds of posts. So welcome random Thursdays. Today Aidan was home sick from school. We snuggled up on the couch and watched Despicable Me. "Dr. Nafario, I need a dozen robots shaped like cookies."
I dyed my hair back to a more brunette color. I'm not crazy in love with the shade, but it will suffice for now. The highlights will be back, as always, in time for summer.

This little Mistress of Mischief is lucky she has many adorable redeeming qualities. I have many of those moments when I suddenly notice the house is too quiet and my stomach drops. This is her getting into my purse for the upteenth time.

And this is the mess of salt of she left on the counter. Notice the shaker is empty. Yeah!

Oh, and she unrolled a roll of TP onto the bathroom floor today.She is too cute to be frustrated with, but needless to say, year two is not my favorite.
Speaking of favorites, my new favorite sandwich. Portabellas, carmelized onions, and goat cheese. AMAZING!!! I never knew goat cheese was good. It's very soft and mild. You must try this.

Drooling yet?
We have been luck enough to be visited by some little birds. They come in groups of ten to fifteen and hang out on our branches. I watched them while I was doing dishes yesterday. They are soooo cute, and fluffy. Unfortunatley, I believe they are here for a short time and will be moving along with the change in season. Which I am ready for. Bring on the warm!!! I am ready, aren't you?

Christmas in the Tree House Part 2

2010-12-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

We really had a great Christmas. We just relaxed all day and enjoyed each other's company. The day before Christmas was all about keeping excited kids busy. Thank heavens the rain finally broke and the kids could go get their energy out in the back yard. They set up this little configuration of material and named it, 'The Gate'. !??! Something you sit in if you are a king. I didn't understand the concept just because I have a mommy mind, but the idea was congruent in their minds, and that's what matters when they are playing together. It makes a mom happy.

(Michael has been pulling out funny moves for the camera lately.)

We also decorated gingerbread men. Really, really big gingerbread men.

The kids actually went to sleep at a good time on Christmas Eve, and didn't wake me up until 6:30 am. I call that successful. Michael got a super Bakugan dragon from Santa, Elijah KNex, Aidan a VTech kidsjamz DJ studio, and Lily, a tea set and a toy cabinet.

This little girl, between dumping ginger in my cookie dough, eggs on the floor, and streaking in the backyard in the days before Christmas, she was lucky Santa came at all for her. But how can one resist a face like this.

She would not open her gifts. She was too busy putting on socks. Yes socks. She loved the socks Grandma Thompson gave her. She put on hers, then her dads.

My gift to Grant was a pair of running shoes and a picture of the Oakland temple. He picked out his shoes, he prefers it that way, And if you look in the picture, there is mud on the shoe because he has already tried them out. sighhhh, this man. I will never surprise him.

He surprised me with perfume and chocolates, and this most soft snuggly blanket in which I curled up and took a nap in when all was said. I don't know why I was so tired (wink wink). Probably for the same reason I was full on milk and cookies.

Exciting Christmas

2010-12-26T22:34:00.000-08:00

We spent the whole day in our pajamas!!! I burnt the quiche!!! And my sister went into labor!!! Well maybe the first two things aren't that exciting but the third one definitely is. My adorable sister Meghan and her sweet husband received this most precious little Christmas gift. He weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. We are so happy for them.

And stay tuned to find out more about Christmas in our the Grover House. We had an awesome day!

Christmas in the Tree House

2010-12-08T23:56:00.000-08:00

May I start by saying, our family does not choose this nomadic existence. It chooses us! Work and school has necessitated us moving often, and the move we made in the beginning of summer was in hope that our family could settle in a place that would accommodate our needs for a long duration, .....but (sigh) that was not meant to be. We just keep playing musical houses. About 2 months after getting to the last house, we find out that the property has gone into foreclosure. Yah, so not cool. Being renters, we kinda have to go with the flow. The bank offered to let us stay to the end of our year lease, or to give a cash incentive to leave early. We went with option number two. The funny thing is, the day an agreement was written up by the bank, the neighbor across the street put a 'For Rent' sign on her lovely home. So, we moved, yes, across the street. Life is funny that way, isn't it. Actually we see it more as a blessing than a coincidence.
Apart from the hassle, it has been a little exciting. Our newest home has a sloping back yard with mature oaks growing up, so that from the bottom floor, you stare out into the treetops. It kinda feels like being in a tree house, so that's why I choose to refer to this home as "the Tree House". We have been able to settle in and start enjoying the season. Saturday we got to have my sister-in-law Stevie here. We all went to the downtown light parade. Not super-spectacular, but something to do.
The last few days, I have been a crazy cookie maker, so the kids and some neighbors and friends have been benefiting from that. We have been listening to MoTab and have a tree up, oh and a few lights outside only because the street we live on has a lot of that going on, and I hate to be the only dark house for a stretch. I am sooo happy it is Christmas time. I hope you all a wonderful season.

Mod Blog

2010-11-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

So I may be having a pre-midlife crisis of some sort with turning thirty. I really have been feeling like taking on something independent and to my creative nature. I came up with an idea for a blog background site and went to work. So two months later, some self taught photoshop, self-learned html, and help from someone who actually knows how to do it all, I am opening my site to the public.
click here to visit site
Please let me know if you use any designs. I will continue to add new ones. Let me know also of you are interested in a custom design. Just to start, I will do it for free as long as I can leave my link on the design.

Avila Barn 2010

2010-10-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

We went to Avila Valley Barn on our day off school this week. We love AVB. The barn is nestled in the most beautiful little location. There were so many rich fall colors spilling all over the place, with the leaves, gourds, flowers, and pumpkins galore. We went through the hay maze, fed the animals, road a hayride to the pumpkin patch, and had ice cream. If you go, get the frosted cupcake ice cream. I got it for Lily and ended up wishing that I would have ordered it for myself. It was soooo yummy. It was the most perfect fall afternoon!!!

Spark Weekend

2010-09-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

The Spark event in Utah was fabulous. Finally I am getting around to documenting it. The decorations were so simple but had such a nice effect. These photos are from the Dear Lizzie blog. I wish I could photograph and edit like this. These photos gets the picture across better than I could.

These are a few of the projects we took classes for. The chandelier was made from a lamp shade, and the canvas behind was a mod-podge. I really was curious what we were going to do with the lampshade but I love it. It is so fun and pretty, mine is going above Lily's bed, when I get it done.

Oh, and the food, it went on for miles. This was the "snack bar". This is where we would get sacks of candy to take to our classes. This is also where I think I may have gained a few pounds over the weekend. Notice the lady with the diet pepsi in the background. There was lots of that, because, you know, It was Utah.

Oh no you didn't!!!

This is Wendy ( aka blue Lily) teaching us some of her photo magic. She explained things so well. Such a sweet person too. She has a calmness and happiness about her. I think this really comes out in her photography. Look up her work if you haven't seen it. it is amazing. Here is the link. http://www.bluelilyphotography.com/index2.php.
She had a few things set up for us practice shooting. Those are the images on the right.

I was so gald to get to go. It was really great to spend three days with my Mom, Grandma, and little sister, who is expecting her first baby (a boy) in December. Soo exciting. Us girls laughed and talked non-stop. We think we are hilarious when we get together. (BTY Meg, nobody here fully appreciates the gnome story). It's a funny story people!!!

Sighh, I might have to back next year for the event. Anyone wanna come?

A New Fave

2010-09-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

I got turned onto a lot of fun stuff an the Spark event I went to in Utah over the weekend, and I will get to it all, I will. Foremost of all, I learned how to use a camera in manual mode. Life changing, in the photography area anyway, I just overemphasize to get across how excited I am to do some things I always wished I could do with pictures. But I am already getting off track. I just wanted to share this video of Mindy Glendhill ( the one nie nie and cjane rave about). She performed at Spark and they kept playing this song during to two days we were there and the more I hear it, the more I love it, and now also I think I need to wear lace tights with converse sneakers (you'll see what I mean.) I just wanted to share the beautiful music to those who haven't heard her before.

Zoo'in It

2010-09-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

We went back to Santa Barbara to hit the zoo this Labor day.
My highlights were the beautiful colored birds and the lions. They stun me. Lily enjoyed watching the monkeys. She loves monkeys. Probably because she can relate so well to them. Aidan loved the train. Elijah and Michael liked the reptile house. Soooo whatever!!! Grant just liked having a day off with our fun little group.

Forever Family Pictures

2010-09-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

I love the outcome of this shoot. It really reflects the happiness of the day. Stevie ( Logan's wife) is awesome!! There are so many great shots that I have a hard time deciding which ones to post. There are so many favorites. This one, I think is makes the top of the list for me.

Let me tell you why.

Lily is trying to escape the grip I have on her to play in the water fountain.
The smirk my face says something like, " Of course my little girl is more rowdy than most boys!"
Grant is smiling at me like he is thinking the wrestling match amusing.
The three boys are thinking, whatever, take the pictures so we can go back to playing.

This is so indicative of our family life. This is SO US.
But here are some more fun ones.

margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 419px; height: 549px;" src="http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w75/josie826/DSC_2252.jpg" border="0" alt="" />

So this is the way it's gonna be. Forever. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Back to School

2010-08-31T08:51:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share a few pictures of my little studs on their first day back to school.

Good News

2010-08-29T03:06:00.000-07:00

OK, I guess I have left you all hanging for long enough. Nooo, I am not pregnant. I know those thoughts were out there. Actually, what I have to share has to do with this beautiful building.
On Saturday August 21, 2010 Grant and I took our four beautiful children inside and became there a forever family. I can't begin to say what a wonderful thing it is to have this occur!!! We are so happy!!! We will have pictures to show soon. My brothers wife Stevie took some wonderful ones.
Now I'm sure you all can sleep better not wondering what I am keeping from you. :) I'm kidding. I really am excited to share it.

4th of July

2010-08-04T15:08:00.001-07:00

We had a really fun fourth this year. We barbequed and had shortcake with whipped cream and berries. Than we took applejuice, pails of popcorn and blankets to the beach and watched fireworks go off in Cayucos. I just love my little family so much. These kids are so fun to be with, and they have a pretty awesome dad too. We do have some good news coming in the near future. I don't want to give it away yet, but we will keep you posted. Peace out til then.

Lily's Second Birthday

2010-08-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happ.... nevermind.

" You lit my cake on fiYure. Oh the horror, how can you sing at a time like this."

She was just really excited about her cake. It was the best part about turning two.

I know she had her birthday a little over a month ago, but better late than never. She got a Dora tent and movie, some books, and a pretty dress from Grandma.

My Sidekick

2010-05-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

Recently I decided I needed some relaxing me time while the boys were in school and went downtown to this little shop to get fabric for pillow covers. But thanks to this little stink, it was more stress than it was worth.

Don't this picture fool you!! She looks sweet and innocent sure, but she ran up and down these stairs, and shut office doors, and pulled bolts of fabric off the shelves. I was a little embarrassed. It dawned on me that she may benefit from some Lily playtime. We went yesterday to the Children's Museum and she loved it she. She got to go crazy with out her mama reprimanding her right and left. The highlight was foremost the ball area that is netted off and has vacuum tubes all over so the kids can send the balls over and down the walls. They can pull levers that will send them in different courses, down stairs and around circles. There is even a high pressure ball cannon. Super Cool!! I felt bad I had never brought the boys here.

Her next favorite thing was the paint wall. Yes I know, she is actually painting the paper on the floor. She preferred it to the wall. Oh well!!

On the way home we stopped at the bakery for a little treat. I love this little girl sooo much!!

Happy Birthday Elijah

2010-03-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Elijah turned eight in the 15th. He is such an awesome kid. He is so ready to be baptized this coming Saturday. He is sweet to everyone and always wants to do what's right. He is super bright. He his quick memory and intense curiosity will carry him far. I am pretty sure. The other day he asked me if I thought he was more curious or more careful. I said that he was more curious, and answered me, "Why ?" I found that funny that his answer was pretty indicative.
Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

Much Needed Change

2010-03-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah!! The boys have new bunk beds, which means two things. They have a lot more space in their room to play, and they can't wait to go to bed at night. It's totally awesome. (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa) I got new bedding a la Target, and my friend Debbie (much thanks to her also) helped me with the chalkboard that I have been meaning to get to for months. I now know how to use an electric drill. Major accomplishment in my life. I really needed to get over my fear of power tools.

I am waiting to paint to see if we stay in the house we are in for another year. We are throwing around finding a place with one more bedroom. But, for now, I think it turned out nice.

Santa Barbara Day Trip

2010-02-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

We had a nice relaxing week last week. On Monday we took the kids to Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Zoo and on Thursday, Grant and I celebrated our ten year anniversary which I do also plan to post about, but first things first.
Santa Barbara is two hours south of us and totally beautiful!!! and totally completely affluent! The first stoplight in town we rolled up to had Sacs Fifth Avenue and one side of the street and Betsy Johnson on the other. Nice!!!
The zoo was a fun one, we ended up getting a membership so we can go back a few times during the year. Michael liked the snakes, Lily liked the birds. And really I took a bunch of pictures of animals but I'll not put them up because I think we all know what a giraffe and some elephants looks like. But here is our family having fun. We can't wait to go back!

Oh, the Views

2010-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

We decided a couple Saturdays ago, with a week of rain soon upon us we had better get the family out for some fresh air and exercise. We found a great trail get south of Atascadero at the head of which we found this foreboding sign.

So as we go up the trail, we keep an eye out for abandoned mines and speculate what they would be like inside, not that we would go in, but this is exciting stuff to think about. I find my kid's ideas of mines have been largely constructed from watching Scooby Doo. They decided that a mine would have carts to jump into a rackety track to fly down. Fun stuff! We didn't see any signs on mines, but we found ourselves overlooking spectacular views.

And I discovered this, ummm, flower? Which gave me the feeling that if I put my ear close enough, I may hear a little voice ask, "Hi, do you know where Horton is?"

It was a beautiful afternoon that produced many smiles.

December Potluck

2009-12-29T16:44:00.000-08:00

First, we did not have a white Christmas!!! Not at all. It was probably in the seventies and we spent part of the day...on the beach. It was the first Christmas in California where I have not been homesick for Idaho. I did miss being with family though.

My spring bulbs are starting to peek through the soil. I see tulips and daffodils and narcissus in my near future. YEAH!!!

And last but not least, this little stinker-ette is celebrating her half way to 3 day today. Yes, she is 18 months old!! Time is flying. I was going to choose a picture of her in her pigtails, but it is sooo funny to see her post pigtail hair!!!

Halloween (a little late)

2009-11-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

Forget a box of chocolates, try a little group of kids at Halloween. We had this year a sweet little lamb ( who kinda looked like a bunny).

We had the same pirate costume resurrected for the third year in a row. Now all my kids have worn it!! As a side not, a few years ago I payed a little too much for a Buzz Lightyear costume at the Disneystore for Michael thinking I would have at least one more child wearing it, but no such luck. Aidan will have nothing to do with Buzz. Oh well, he made a darling pirate if I do say so myself.

We had a child who went from wanting to be a vampire to wanting to be skeleton, which was the one and only time I can think of where it paid of for me to be a procrastinator.

And last but not least, the stealth Ninja. A little intimidating, dontcha think?

But there you have it. We have all been so busy with work and school and soccer and dance classes, I haven't had a chance to update much lately. Also we have a dinosaur computer that has been having major issues. It stopped working for a while, but we discovered later that the charger we were using was the problem. But none the less, we will be purchasing a new computer soon, I will be able to be a better blogger again.

Our Perfect Afternoon

2009-10-22T13:42:00.001-07:00

This is what you get with the lucky combination of clear skies and a low tide. It's a rare and exsquisite combination. We had a blast scooping out starfish and wading in the water. It was so warm and beautiful.
We feel fortunate to have this perfect little spot on the beach that always seems to be free of other people (other than ourselves) and full of ocean life. Of course anyone who wants to come along with us is always free.

River K

2009-10-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

Went to a local pumkin patch with some frends of ours. I love fall and it was a perfect overcast day. It was our families first experience with a corn maze. After about 10 minutes of wakling in cirles, Michael exclaims, " We are gonna die in the corn maze!!!" He is a little on the dramatic side lately.

We made it through just fine (in case any of you were wondering wether or not we walked for hours with out food or water) after which we picked out our pumpkins.

On, a side note, we have acheived pigtails!!! See above.

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

2009-09-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

"When you were two years old, you got a baby brother for your birthday." These are the words that finally made it click for Michael, who was asking lots of questions.
Why do I have to share a birthday?!
Why are we not the same years old?
The day before their birthday, I was finally I was able to phrase it succsessfully!!!
So Michael waking up on Sep.1 said, "I'm six, I'm six" and running to Aidan, "You're four, your'e four." Good job, Michael!
I made for the boy's classrooms at school, Brownie Burger Sliders. They are brownie patties with a cupcake cut in half for the bun, and topped with sesame seeds. I used green and red frosting for lettuce and ketchup. They looked pretty real. So cute, but so much work to be eaten so quickly. Those kids wolfed 'em.
Well my kids had a great Birthday!! I am so proud of them both.

Birthday Galaxtic Fun!

2009-09-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today we had a far-out outerspace themed birthday party for the two boys. It was awesome. This is how it was all planned out.
1. Make our our planets ( and hang them to dry)
2. Land our aircraft (water landing)
3. Place our planets in the solar system (glue them on placemats)
4. Destroy the galastic star (pinata)
5. Eat cupcakes and open presents
6. Hand out favors.
Everything went according to plan. The kids are on a major sugar high, and I am partied out!!

sCHOOLin

2009-08-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

My awesome kids started their school year off this week. They never take a photo shoot seriously. I tell ya what. These kids!! I got some pretty silly shots of them. Michael was in rare form as I snapped 'first day of Kindergarten' shots. He is super funny!

And poor Aidan on the first day of school had a case of the "ME-Too's". At 8:10 we took Elijah to school. Micheal has afternoon Kindergarten that started later, but before we dropped him off, we stopped at the store for a few supplies. Michael put on his backpack to go and Aidan put on his backpack. I asked Michael to pick out a box of tissues and Aidan wanted a box of tissues. OK, whatever! Then Michael picked out a lunchable, and (you guessed it) Aidan wanted one too. Of course! Well we walked into the K classroom and found the desk with Michael's name on it. As Michael sat at his seat, Aidan sat in the seat next to him and didn't want to leave. It took a lot to coax him out of the classroom and he had a little tissy fit on the sidewalk in front of the school. And uuhhh, yes I took pictures. I love his pouty face. All was well in the end. We went home and the bus to preschool came for Aidan. He was excited to go and had an awesome first day back. And I had an awesome afternoon in a quiet house with my Lee Lee.

Lipschtick or The Master Bathroom Massacre

2009-08-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

I sat down yesterday and kind of zoned out on the show my kids were watching. I think it was only five or ten minutes later when I went to check on Lily and saw she had created all kinds of trouble with a tube a lipstick. My first concern was wether or not she had ingested any amount to be concerned over, but her teeth were still white (about the only thing on her face that was not ruby red), so I figured I need not panic yet! But I kid you not. It was all over the place!!!

Oh, the horror!! This will go down in history as one of the worst messes I have ever had to clean. You don't even know!

a SLO day

2009-08-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

We were feeling a little tired of being indoors yesterday, actually to tell the truth, we were down-right stir crazy. We needed an outing. I really like the downtown districts of most cities and towns I have been in, but I especially like dowtown SLO( San Luis Obispo). There are classic mall stores like to Pottery Barn and Gap to window shop, but there are unique little treasures such as Paper Sky (sells pretty paper) and House of Bread ( sells yummy bread). We just got some jamba juice and walked about the bustling city blocks. I think I enjoyed my time more than the kids, but I think I needed a relaxing day out a little more than the kids too.

Of course, I couldn't drive home with out stopping into the new Forever 21 store that went in. It was my favorite place to shop when I needed something back in Sac, and I was a little heartbroken to move to a place where there was not one to be found. Ok, I feel a tad silly that I find this important enough to share on the family blog but,
aaaaaaahhhhhhh ( excuse while I scream like a tween at a Jonas brothers concert)!!!!
This one is five times the size of the one I used to shop at. It's... it's.... Forever twenty-onederful!

A Walk in the Clouds

2009-08-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hi, how is everyone? It's been a while. I've been in a minor slump, just the kind where you feel like staying home and doing housework instead of going out and having fun, and nothing exciting about that to put on the old family blog. So not much has happened since the last post. I got a job teaching dance this fall and have started taking classes to regain lost skills. Grant has started working at a facility close to our home rather than an hour and half away. It has been great having him home during some of his lunch breaks and early in the evening. This week we took off for a climb up a mountain soon after he got home. It was very refreshing for us all. The climb took us so high that we were literally walking through the low lying clouds that come in from the ocean.

It was very beautiful!!! Walking as a family has been something we have always enjoyed doing together. There is nothing like some fresh air dirt and sticks to put smiles on these boys faces.

The Exam Has Been Passed

2009-07-21T07:40:00.001-07:00

I am a gushing proud wife as I write this post. My husband had accomplished the near to impossible feat of passing the second LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Work) state exam. The California test is harder than any other state's examination and once a person passes it, their license is good anywhere in the USA. According to Grant's coworkers, the test administrators purposefully make it excruciatingly difficult to pass to keep the profession a specialty and the number of practicing professionals low. We have been working towards this since we moved to this state about eight years ago. First he had to get a masters degree, then work hundreds of supervised hours, and study his heart out to do this. He had to know DSM iv diagnosis flow charts up and down, those things dizzy me just to read through.
Grant initially took the second test six months ago and missed a passing score by one point. For the time since than, he has been married to the books. I am so relieved to have him finished. We are planning on having alot of fun with our time for a while. Transition ourselves into normal family life.
On Saturday we went to our ward's Pioneer Day potluck. It was a blast. There was much good old fashion fun to be had. A rope bridge, tug-of-war, potato sack races, and a water fight. It was a great opportunity to kick back and relax. Congrats to my Grant, I love you so much!

The Boys (and one Girl) of Summer

2009-07-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

Heavens sakes, I am so thankful for the summer calendar that a few girls in my ward put together. On days like yesterday, when the mercury was pushing 100 degrees and there would be no chance of taking four kids out and about in heat like that, I was sooo glad it was pool day! Otherwise we we would have been at the mercy of our air conditioned house to keep ourselves entertained for the day, and I (for sure) would be at the end of my wits trying the keep the bickering and energy levels to a minimum. {You know how it is, moms?} The summer play schedule has saved us from a long boring summer.
The run down:
Mon.- library
Tues. - swimming pool
Wed.- hit the beach
Thurs.- home hosted playday

Quintessential summer livin!

Demolition Ballerina

2009-07-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

The tutu I ordered for Lily's pictures a while ago, I decided would also be her birthday tutu. It has a stretchy waist to allow her to wear it for many years. It's just something she can look forward to wearing and feeling special. Here she is looking absolootin-tootly stinkin adorable in her layers of tule.

Of course first birthdays also entail the giving of the cake to the birthday child, and letting them do what they may with said cake. None of my children have been big on making much of this tradition. Taking timid little finger-fulls was all it ever amounted to, thankfully, so I was curious to see what Lily would do. It started out fine.

(ahhh, sheesh!!! I hope you enjoyed yourself Lily!) As I spend the better part of the evening bathing a child and scrubbing the floor, a couple of questions came to mind.
1. Who ever invented this horrible tradition?
2. Why did I use soooooo much frosting?

{Official Statement: No tutus were harmed in the making of this blog post. Tutus were removed prior to the attacking of any cake.}

Happy Birthday Lily

2009-06-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

As I was laying in bed last night with a tired little girl who refused to go to sleep, I thought how about exactly this time a year ago, I was pacing our front lawn in the cool of a summer night, counting the time between contractions. It was three hours later that I first got to hold Lily, robusk and wailing her little lungs out. In those first few days, when it seems all those little babies want to do is sleep, you find yourself holding them and wondering what kind of child they will be. A year later, I want to make a list a of 12 things about Lily (one for each month). The picture is coming tegether.

1. She goes by MANY nicknames. (Lils, Lily-pie, Lee Lee, Yidy)
2. She has bleach-blonde hair, and very blue eyes.
3. She just started walking.
4. She has about 5 words in her repetoire.
5. Her favorite food hands down is mac and cheese.
6. She is a fish! Baths, pools, you name it, she's in it.
7. She loves being sung to.
8. She plays peek-a-boo.
9. She likes to put rocks in her mouth. (idk why) 'Yuck Lils', my boys say.
10. She is a flirt, she had a gift of displaying her cuteness for all to see.
11. She is a daddy's girl, she loves him so much! And she has got him wrapped around her little finger.
12. She has so three adoring brothers and a doting mother who is very very grateful for her little girl.

Wednesday Concerts

2009-06-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

People who live among the vineyards here know how to live life. Every Wednesday night there are free concerts in the park. It's about the time when the sun starts to get lower in the sky that the throngs gather on the grassy area with fold-out chairs and baskets full of crackers, cheese and wine to enjoy a relaxing evening with music in the backdrop. I brought the kids this week with our turkey sandwiches and juice boxes and spread out a blanket. The boys start dancing unabashedly which is always fun to watch.

This night they danced to the sounds of a little polka band. They did the classic polka songs like the Chicken Dance, but half way through the program, they switched it up and did polka versions of some awesome classics like Pink Floyd's The Wall, Van Halen Jump, Ramstein Du Hast Nicht ( bahaha, this one was funny), and of course a polka I'm Too Sexy from Right Said Fred. It was awesome!

Disneyland Part 1

2009-06-15T20:42:00.001-07:00

As I am about to put together this post, I realize there are alot of pictures, but I'm gonna post them all. I can't leave out any of the fun. My mom, my sisters Meghan (the photogenic one in the right mouse ear) and Hannah, and brother Tanner arrived earlier in the week. We hit some of my family's favorite spots (downtown and the beach)on Thursday, and drove to our hotel in Anaheim on Friday. All day Saturday was dedicated to Disneyland. We hit a few of the kids rides first, King Arthurs carousel, and Small World. Dad took Michael on the Mattahorn.

Do you see Lily's sweet face here? She was absolutely enthralled on Small World.
After all this, Aidan and Michael and dad hit some rides while I took Lily and poor Elijah, who wasn't feeling very well for part of the day, and shopped and took pictures.

Is it weird that I prefered taking pictures over experiencing some famous attractions? It's not like I haven't not done them all before. I just like pretty things and places.

Disneyland Part 2 California Adventure

2009-06-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

After spending half a day at Disneyland, we headed across to California Adventure which I was super impressed with. It did not disappoint, especially the "Soarin over California" ride that simulates hang gliding. It was spectacular. If you ever go there, do it!
They have near the entrance of the park a little Hollywood walk. It's where you go to spot the A-listers. We saw this guy here.

He is a lot better looking in person and a lot taller. We couldn't get a picture with him. He was pretty surrounded. So we turned the corner and ran into someone else walking down the street.

.
Goofy is showing off his shirt because I was just commenting on how he and Elijah matched. I love it. I also loved the Pixar parade because I love all things Pixar. Here are some of my favorite characters.

All in all it was an awesome weekend. I asked my kids Sunday morning what their favorite thing was about the trip. Elijah's was Star Tours, Michael said it was the Grizzly Run water ride with uncle Tanner, Aidan was just excited about it all, and even though Lily can't talk yet, I thing it is safe to say that she loved the Small World ride.

What I Learned in a First Grade Classroom

2009-06-01T01:27:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to recieve a tour of a first grade classroom by my favorite first grader ever. It was open house night at school, the night when kids get to show off their hard work. I learned a lot!! I learned that worms have 5 pairs of hearts. Also that my son's favorits school lunch is chicken nuggets and he likes art. But where I came away with the greatest lesson was at the 'favorite places wall'. Each child had a story and drawing about their favorite place. One child's favorite place was Virginia. Some had a park or beach, Disneyland was up there. Elijah said his favorite place was home. He wrote that he had there 'pretty parents and a fine pool'. (nice use of adjectives don't you think?)

I thought about that. Our fine pool is a rite aid special, 5 ft in diameter. We have a pretty average house. One that I am obsessed with keeping clean and decorating. Over shooting the mark of what makes a house a home. Elijah loves his home because he finds peace and contentment there, not because it is the Ritz-Carleton. He could have chosen anywhere as his favorite place and he choose home. So I learned in first grade this year that home is made not by what is in it, but who and how they treat each other. I quess we are doing OK!!

Little Grad

2009-06-01T00:57:00.000-07:00

Michael had his preschool graduation this last Friday. His class sang some adorable songs complete with hand actions . Each kid got a certificate and picture with the teacher. Than we had a lunch of croissant sancwiches, fuit, and cake(mmmm):)! The theme was a Hawaiin luau. You can see Michael kindly gave me his flower necklace. He is so sweet.
It is sort of bitter sweet seeing him move on from preschool. It is good that my boys are getting more independant buuuuutt, I will miss these days. I will miss him coming coming into the kitchen and telling me the bug in his hand would like some cheese. I will miss sweet questions like, 'Is Jesus for real?' and 'Can we go to China tomorrow?'. I will miss him wearing his favorite basketball jersey which he calls the 'muscle shirt' and flexing his muscles at random. These are things he will quickly outgrow.
He is also sad to have preschool over. He LoVED it!! On the way home from the ceremony it sunk in that this had been his last day. "Oh," he said, "I will miss it".I know you will buddy.

( If I look a little different here it's because I got highlighted for summer)

Memorial Day in Morro Bay

2009-05-26T00:07:00.000-07:00

It started with a conversion I had with some folks on Friday night. They were asking me if a certain restuarant's fish'n'chips were as good as the ones in Morro Bay, to the which I replied that I had never had the fish'n'chips in Morro Bay. What I got in return were some incredulous looks from these indivuals. You would have thought I had told them I had never riden in a car before. That is what had me decided that Morro Bay would be the place to go on our day off of work and school.
We went, walked around town, sat by the docks and watched the jelly fish, and of course had fish'n'chips. Fresh from the ocean, battered and fried, "fish" and chips, which I would give no comparison to ones that are frozen, defrosted, and fried. They are two seperate things altogether.

In Morro Bay, there is a park my kids love to play at. It has a massive concrete ship with tall wooden masts, anchor chains, and a wheel at the sturn. It takes just a few minutes once we arrive for my boys to be engaged in pirate battles with the other children that happen to be there. I love to watch because it is always so imaginative what goes on. I can't ever imagine what I would be feeling inside if they ever had to go to battle for real though. Today I thought of the moms of those who have gone to war. What heavy burdens they have born? Also, I do feel I would be ungrateful not to mention that I am in awe that there are so many people who have been and are willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for our way of life, and I am thankful for them. If any of my kids ever decide it is for them to stand for our county, it would be hard, but I would be proud. Thank you veterans !!!!

Sweet Home California

2009-05-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is a photo taken from the road I run on in the evenings. The other night I was running and thinking, (come to think of it, I always think while I run), but what I was thinking that I wanted to share is how much I hated the color of the grass in California when we first moved here. How I thought grass should be green in the summer, not green after the winter and brown all summer and into fall. Now I have gotten used to it and in the light of the evening when the sun is getting lower in the sky, the hue is more golden than brown.
I will always be an Idahoan at heart, but I am content to live in California. But I wonder about my kids who are growning up here.
On a number of occasions Grant and have discussed that this may be a less than ideal place to take the kids on up through high school in. I have talked with those who grew up here being one of a few members of the church at school, and they talked of how hard it was for them not to be bitter toward the church and what felt to them the restictions it placed on them, restrictions their peers were free of. We would like our kids someday to feel like they can have lots of friends whose parents give them the same quidlines that they themselves are given. But if we move, will they miss their home.
The sunny days.
The ocean.
The rainy winters.
and the
tall golden
grass.

Little Growing Grovers

2009-05-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

I think all parents come to the realization at some point in time that most of a child's development happens naturally despite anything they try to do to help it along. I recently have noticed things my kids have started doing on their own, and sit back and watch in awe of it. Each of my children have had different fortitudes and Aidan's is the alphabet, whose intense interest is beyond my understanding. He knows the name and sound of each letter, and watches his letter factory movies over and over. A couple nights ago he finds a little flyer sent home his school, gets a pen, sits at the table and starts to write over the small typed text.

I just sat back and watched him so meticulously at work. He took it so seriously. He went on for about twenty minutes or so before I find him like this. He was all tuckered out from the concentration I guess.

And little Lily, maybe I am overly sentimental, but is it not amazing how much babies do in a year's time? Less than a year ago, she was a tiny, sleepy infant and now she crawls around quite well and spends a lot of time standing at the window wishing to be able to keep up with her big brothers. It won't be long before she can.

I'm really not too sad about her not yet running with the pack, for selfish reasons. It means I get her more to myself.

Our Imaginative Children

2009-05-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

We have kids with active imaginations. I love it. Elijah always loves a story. He loves to read stories, he loves to write stories. Earlier in the year he won a classroom award in reading, and here he is last Friday being recognized as a school site winner in the county writing competition in the category of imaginative writing. You can tell by the cute little smile that he is really proud to be up there holding that certificate ( but too cool to fully show it).

And I wish I had a explanation for this here , but I got nothing. I just happened onto it. I'll leave it up to your active imaginations to figure out how a super hero found himself with a frozen foot.

A Magical Morning

2009-04-25T10:28:00.001-07:00

You know how some memories from your life stand out while most fade into the general resevoir of how your life has been. One such memory that stands out for me is laying in my great grandparent's yard in St. George Utah, and suddenly seeing the sky filling with hot air balloons. They have held me fascinated since. How can flight get more primitive? There's no engine, navigation system, or landing gear. It's a basket, a balloon, and a couple of flame throwers.
I woke up at 5:30 to be in time for the morning lauch of the hot air balloon festival in town this weekend. I let Grant, Aidan, and Lily sleep and gently woke Michael and Elijah at 6:00 to see if they were up for it. Initially, they both wanted to go back to sleep. A few moments later a hear a little cry from the bedroom and a sad voice saying, "But I wanted to go." Lucky for the two of them, I hadn't left yet.
It was cold that early, I was awe of it all to notice too much. We watched all the balloons set up and go. It goes pretty quickly, it's not half as complicated as I had imaged it to be. They hook up the burners to the gas tanks in the baskets, lay out the balloon, tie it to the basket and use a large fan to inflate it.

From this picture you can see that someone standing up front pulls the top out with a rope so that air fills the balloon completely. Once it does fill up, they pretty much hop in and go.

These balloon pilots are a bit of performers. They skimmed the water with the baskets, bummed into other balloons, and created every perfect photo opportunity they could scheme for the viewers on ground. They followed the river bank through town which gave us the opportunity to watch them as we traveled the roads back home to our house where all was peaceful and still ( the rest of the family was still asleep). I woke Aidan up to take him to the window in perfect time to see a few of the giant colorful aircraft float serenly above our house. And for a moment I saw in his eyes the the awe of a moment unlike one I remember.

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

"

I wouldn't have been able to know it was Earth Day had I not come home from a Relief Society meeting to find Elijah with an empty yogurt cup in hand saying,
"You know, this is a plastic. We need to put it in our recycle trash because it is part of the recycle team. So is paper, aluminum, and glass. Or we could re-use this container. We could wash it and use it again.
Just as I was about to get annoyed at the thought of having to figure out how to reuse yogurt cups, I remember seeing Earth Day on the calendar this week. On further questioning, I find the first graders watched a movie, learned a song, and made booklets to celebrate. I am supposing a bunch of California greenies on the state school board decided Earth Day should be up there with Thanksgiving or Christmas. Yes people, living green is more or less a religion in these parts. Whatever, I have never seen a 7 year old so enthusiastic over taking care of our planet, which is cute.

Here's the Dish

2009-04-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

When I was at my mom's house a few weeks ago, she showed me this amazing design website. It has adorable, delicious blog headers, and I was disappointed that I had just finished revamping my page. "Oh well," I thought, "I use the stuff next time I feel I need a change. I'll give it a few months." But, you see, I know myself better than that. All it took was a few moments spare time to pop into this website {houseof3.com ]and I was a girl with a plan. Why am I such a slave to pretty things.
Sorry if anyone has whiplash from my quick turnaround. And do go see what you may find for yourself.

Made in China

2009-04-15T20:17:00.001-07:00

Aidan is now in school during the afternoons and I have had some one on one time with Michael. Can I just say I love the mind of a five year old, creating schemes of the large world with what little knowledge they have acquired. I have to put a conversation I had today with my little man into memoir.

It went something like this.
MB=Michael Bunshkin
M= myself

MB: Is it far to China?
M: Very far.
MB: Would it take like a week to drive there?
M: No, you can't drive because there is an ocean between here and there.
MB: You can take a fast boat or a jet.
M: You could.
MB: Can we go to China?
M: Probably not.
MB: Why, I really want to go.

..Now I have always wanted to walk the Great Wall, but I have no idea why a five year old would want to go. I am baffled.
M: We don't have a reason to go, I don't know though, maybe someday we will.
MB: Yay, we are going to China on Sunday!!!
M: No, not sunday, sommmeday.

...and here comes his reasoning.
MB: Oh, I really want to go to China, they make toys there.
M:(trying not to laugh) yes, but you can buy them at Wal-Mart.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

We had a good one at our house, I hope you did as well. Here are some highlights.

This was Lily's first Easter. She loved the box filling.
The Easter boxes are new for this year. Our Easter bunny was unleashing her inner Martha Stewart.

The boys were adorable, up at the first sign of light to see what the Easter Bunny left for them. Right now in their life, it is all about Pokemon cards.

Silly Kid and Hoover-ette

2009-04-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

Move over Jim Carry, here comes Michael Bunshkin. Don't ask me where he got the name, I don't know. He has suddenly decided to go by Michael Bunshkin and thinks himself the funniest kid ever. We are dealing with has a serious case of the sillies lately. Here he is with his friend Mr. Banana, yes you got that, MR. Banana. See the face.

I think he is funniest when he doesn't mean to be. For example, we were discussing what happens during baptism, going under the water,and coming back up. He tells me that he will only get baptised if he can wear goggles. I wonder if I can find a white pair.

hmmmmmmm

And Lily is full on crawling now. I remember when my little bro was this age, roaming the floor and sucking up anything that fit in his mouth, we called him Hoover (like the vacuum cleaner).
Well now introducing the new, more feminine model.

( The Hoover-ette .09)

It is really efficient at finding the stuff a regular vacuum misses. Like the paper under the sofa, or 10 week old chip crumbles in the corner. But, I have to constantly remove debri from the head, because I hear the canister is easily clogged.

A Walk About Town

2009-03-27T23:18:00.001-07:00

We really like our town. I think it is classy, but still a small town feel. It has culture but is not snobby. There are lots of community events. Lots of things to do out and about. We went to the park downtown this week and I brought my camera.

This little place here above is always the highlight of our day. (It's the candy store.) :)

Putting My Foot Down

2009-03-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Question: Don't little boys jump at the chance to play in sand and water? So what planet are mine from?
We have had some gorgeous days this week on the central coast. Yesterday when the breeze came in, it was feeling stuffy to me indoors and I desperately wanted to be in the sunshine, so I was all,
"Come on boys, lets go to the beach!"
and they were like,
"NO, we want to stay home and play with our pokemon cards."
????????
But I am the mother, I get the final say!
"We are getting the kite and a bag of Doritos, and we are going to go to the beach, so get your shoes on, NOW!!!"
Seriously, I am such a meanie, the things I ask of them. We went and it was a perfect beach day. So many people were out enjoying the weather.

The kids had a great time. I quess I gave birth to earthlings after all.

Elijah's Birthday

2009-03-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

Elijah turned 7 on Sunday and on Monday we had a pirate themed birthday party with a hunt for buried treasure, pizza
a sword fight, and some rolling down hills.

Elijah had a great time, despite the unintentional dip in the pond. Happy Birthday to my sweet, clever, outgoing child.

Lily Loo

2009-03-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who does photography, so a few week ago she came over, I moved furniture around and we turned my dining area into a mini studio. These are the results,which I am thrlled with.

I have to inteject with a little narrative. Lily love involves her trying to eat your face. If you are to close, your chin will get her little toothers in it. I was giving Elijah a warning one day when she was being particularly 'affectionate' not to let her bite him. I said, 'She is being an attack baby, Lily the Ferocious!'
He busted a gut. And looking at this picture,I can see why.

Anyway, I am so much in babylove with my little girl. She is a constant source of smiles.

A Small Regret

2009-03-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

I thought sewing was being to become an art lost to us. I hadn't known anyone who sews their own clothes because it's about as cheap and much more convient to buy them these days. There were the dutiful grandmothers who made us wonderful quilts for all the new babies, and the occasional supermoms I admire, who sewed Halloween costumes for all thier kids every year (yes, you Kaci). Then there was the occasional sweatshirt with the kitten applique, dreadful!!
But along comes AMY BUTLER to revive us all!!
bum ba baah (sounding trumpets)
I love her color schemes, they mesmorize me. I could look at them all day. (Images from amybutlerdesigns.com)

Now I really wish I had not donated my sewing machine to good will. Albeit I probably wouldnt remember how to use the thing seeings how the last major project I undertook was the parachute pants I made in 4H whenI was like 9 years old. BAhaha, parachute pants. We all had a pair of those. Right!!........ Right?

A Healthy Obsession

2009-03-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

This boy loves trains to the maximum power. Between him and Michael, our geotracks railroad toys has gotten A LOT of mileage. This is how bad it is. Every night we put the toys away,and I have gotten up early in the morning to find someone has layed down an elaborate set of tracks during the night. He practically lives in the playroom. I love this picture of him, he is so concentrated at the task at hand. You can see how seriously he takes it. He was irritated with the interruption I causes trying to get a good action shot of him about the business of pulling frieght cars. When I left, he shut the door behind me. haha, made me laugh!

I realize I haven't blogged about Aidan in a while. He is kind of happy go lucky (most of the time). I am so proud of the little dude right now because he is doing an amazing job at potty training. HAAALLelujah!
Anyone need pullups?

A 'Spring' In My Step

2009-03-04T21:36:00.001-08:00

These picture are me taking the time to enjoy my favorite season.
Spring definately looks good on California. The winter rains have cleared the air and greened the grass. Everything looks about three shades more brilliant. I love the blossoms on the trees and new flowers making their way out the ground. I LOVE pastel easter colors in aisles of the stores,and I LOVE LOVE easter candy.
Sorry if this makes those who have yet see the snow melt jelous. I couldn't help but share.

Amgen Fever

2009-02-20T21:56:00.001-08:00

What accounts for businesses closing their doors and school being let out early on a Thursday afternoon in February? It is the same reason international flags were hung on the lampposts and new flowers were put in on the roadways. Our town has been going Amgen crazy being chosen as a stop off point of the Amgen Tour of California. Lance Armstrong does this tour as well as a gamut of other world class riders. I got a flyer on my door about a month ago warning of road closures that would be expected around our neighborhood the day the race was coming through. So online I went to see the course layout and saw it went right up the street we live off of. It was only a two or three minute walk to where we could see Lance Armstrong in action. I was definatley going to try and get good pictures of him for you all to see. Unfortunately, that was not anywhere near as easy as I thought it would be.
This is kind of how it played out on race day.
I invited a friend of mine to bring her kids and walk with us from my house. So we find a spot with our 6 little boys and try to keep the caos to a minimum while we wait for about an hour. Longest hour ever. "Get down from the hill!" , "Don't throw rocks!!!" "Keep your hands to yourself", "I'll give you more snacks if you sit down" and so on.
Finally official cars with loud speakers come through announcing the arrival of the racers. Helicopters are circling, the crowd is growing excited, police vehicle after people vehicle goes by, and finally the riders were there, and thaannnnn, they were gone.
The cycling pack was tight and fast moving. I didn't even have time to adust my zoom, nor did I plan on the sun messing with the shot. So I am sure I got Lance Armstrong somewhere in there, I can't tell you which one he is though, so sorry.
You can click here for local news videos. I was impressed to read that Lance visited cancer patients after the race. He is a true hero.

Celebrating Nine Years

2009-02-20T21:41:00.001-08:00

A dozen lovely red long stem roses and seafood on the bay was a perfect way to begin our tenth year as Mr. and Mrs. Grover. I can honestly say for all the good and bad (mostly good) we've encountered while together, we are both better people for it. I love this man for his patience, hard work, and sacrifice for me and his children. We had so much fun having a night out sans kidlets, but were excited to see them at the end of the night.

uhh...We'll Call it Tender Affections

2009-02-16T19:35:00.001-08:00

So Elijah has always been prematurely concerned about the idea of having love in his life. At age five, he would ask me how he would ever find a wife once he grew up. At six, he has, in his mind, found her. The girl next door spends a few afternoons a week at our house playing with the boys. She is adorable and I am thrilled with idea of my kids having a playmate. I turn them outside to play and watch the activity from my sliding glass doors. This was the case yesterday and after she left Elijah pipes up proudly with a declaration of love for his friend.
"She says she loves me too, because we have so much in common."
I ask, "Like what?"
"We both are six. We have blonde hair and blue eyes. And we are missing the same teeth."
Yeah, excellent criteria for choosing a future companion. Well the conversation continues as follows.
ME: "Elijah, you aren't really in love, just friends, like you supposed to be when you are young."
ELIJAH: "No, we are in love, and we are going to get married when we grow up"
ME: " I doubt it, we may move away one day, you'll change, meet other people."
ELIJAH: " But my love for her will never die."

What!!!!???? ok, this kid is blowing my mind at this point. I have no idea how to respond to this. I just give my wonderful husband an exasperated look that said, 'Your the man of the house, please say something fatherly.' To which he says with a slight smile of his face, "That's enough Elijah."
I think I'll have to keep them in my line of vision, but also in ear shot for a while. Really I can't blame the girl, he is too cute for his own good.

My Full Hands

2009-02-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

I never thought having four kids was extravagant. I think I have things under control, but I quess, despite feeling like I have it mostly together, my "hands are full" . Apparently so since it seems that every other person I encouter when I have my kid in tow wants to point that out. Whether I have two, three or four kids with me, whether or not there are being little angels or little hooligans, never fail, someone has to point it out!! If I sound a little irritated, I am. Not only is it getting redundant, but I feel sometimes, not always, but at times, people are passing jugdement. I have been told I look too young to have all these kids. I have been asked whether they all have the same dad. Uhhhh, look at them, it's the same face at four different heights, and differnt hair.
But ohhh ( breath in and out). I have to stop and think. My hands are full, yes, of a warm baby in the mornings, as I look at a face full of a smile, and feel the softness of a little face against mine. My day is full of the funny stories and funny sayings that seems to find thier way out of little mouths. My arms get filled with hugs and I am full of pride as I watch them all grow and progress. My hands are full, I will admit, but so is my heart.
That sums up the mantra I have tried to adopt since the comments have started coming in. Full hands, full heart. Full hands, full heart, Full hands, full heart.
I think I've got it. For now I'll continue to respond wih my usual smile and nod.

Asthetic Perfectionism

2009-01-28T19:59:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to update with the revisions I made to lasts weeks project. This picture is much more postable. You see, I sometimes remove posts when they are not asthetically congruent to the look of my blog as a whole. That was the fate of the original photo of my memo board, which to me, just looked sad. Do I not sound annoyingly perfectionistic right now? You should see me around the house. I'm growing used to being such a detail freak though. I find myself quite easy to live with. My husband is getting used to it as well, because, frankly, he has no choice.
Okay, I'm shutting up now! Sorry for anyone who was hoping to read a more interesting blog entry. This is all I've got tonight.

Look What I Can Do

2009-01-13T09:37:00.001-08:00

Sitting upright brings a whole new way of experiencing the world. Lily is so pleased with herself. She even takes it in pretty good stride when she topples over. The best part is going to the grocery store and having her being able to sit in the cart. She so entertained just watching what's happening from up there. Other really cool skills she has acquired include blowing raspberries, and touching her chin with the tip of her toungue. She is such a happy little love right now. We are definately a lucky family to have her in belong to us.

Incredibly Amazing

2009-01-01T00:29:00.001-08:00

I had to take pictures of an event that took place in our home tonight lest anyone who knows my Michael doesn't believe it happened. In case you don't know right off what this is, let me tell you. This here is the world's pickiest kid eating seafood. Devouring it, and asking for more. I am serious. A long time back, when Grant and I were college students without a budget for fancy restaurants, we decided to steam lobster at home on New Years Eve. It became a tradition. So earlier this evening, as I am putting crab legs and lobster over the hot water, Michael comes to tell me that he was going to crack it and eat it. I never imagined he would, but he did (well Grant cracked it, and he ate it) and I am astounded.

New Year, New Design

2009-01-01T00:23:00.000-08:00

Out with the old, in with the new. It's not that I get bored of what I have on my blog so much as I just get the itching to spoil my creative indulgences once in a while. Hope you like it and I also hope noone stopped in while it was in messy transition mode.

Our Christmas Vacation In 200 Words Or Less

2008-12-27T22:23:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the last leg of a much enjoyed trip to Idaho to be with my family for Christmas. It has been a very full last few days. Here is a recap.
Tuesday afternoon began our journey, driving to Mesquite, NV with a stop in Vegas to eat at the Circus Circus buffet.
Wednesday we left Mesquite to drive nearly 7 straight hours to my mom's house in Bear Lake, ID, encountering some pretty slippery, snowy conditions towards the end of the days driving. We made it for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, and of course were up very late waiting for kids to settle down for the night.
Thursday, Christmas day was great, the kids made a killing! We ate dinner at my dad's house and visited some grandparents. Driving on the dirt road from town to my mom's house that night, we again encoutered winter conditions. There was almost too much snow on the road to drive over and hardly any visibilty. I have spent the last three years dreaming of a white christmas, but this was a tad excessive. I guess I asked for it.

Friday, we left mid-day into Winnemuca, NV and settle down for the night.
Saturday, today, took us two hours into Reno. We always stop at the Sierra Trading Post in Reno. Greatest shoe bargains ever. I found new Anne Klein pumps for $8. We ate and spent the time with my other dad in Reno, where we were lucky enough to get a little guitar performance.

Tomorrow, the last 6 hours to home. UGGG, dont wanna get in that van. It is stuffed to capacity, kinda like Santas sleigh, with four kids, three extra suitcases and a diaper bag.
OK, dont know if I made it in two hundred words but there you have it. I also have to say here that I feel so blessed to mave such great family. I love the people my siblings have chosen to marry, they are great additions. It was an amazing time and I hope you all had a great Christmas also.

How Cool Is This?

2008-12-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you, and no, it is not raining ornaments. This is a display on Vine st. in downtown Paso. All the victorian homes on the street are decked out to the nines every year at Christmas. This house has at least a hundred ornanments suspended in the air on fishwire. How awesome are these people who obviously put in many tedious hours of work to create something we all can enjoy.
The kids loved the house with the "floating balls"!

The Humbug

2008-12-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

I have come to believe that the humbug is a common virus that attacks specifically at this time of year. It starts as a common cold and as it progresses, turns into a general lack of holiday enthusiasum. One finds holiday shopping, baking, and planning, a chore rather than recreation during the peak of the infection. Other symptoms are as follows:
- a lack of energy
- crankiness
- neglecting house hold chores
- letting the children have way too much tv and computer time
My mom had the bug last week as we spoke on the phone, I think Ive caught it now. It is especially concerning, being as the big day is just over a week away and I still have so much to do. I know I will feel much happier when I make some more progress in my preparation. For today, I self medicated by drinking hot chocolate and doing some online shopping. My visiting teachers came over today also, and shared a message about the role a relationship with the Savior plays in creating a joyful existance ( how very appropriate). At this point I was even cheerful enough to take pictures of a few of my favorite holiday decorations to share with you all.

I wish you all very Happy Holidays! Try not to catch the bug!!

The Sybolism of Narnia

2008-12-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

I was so excited when Prince Caspain came out on DVD yesterday. I have become a big fan of the Chronicles of Narnia since The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe movie. I am bit more enthusiastic about Narnia than I even am about Harry Potter or, dare I say it, Twilight. I picked up the second Narnia book at the library a few weeks ago and read through it prior to seeing the movie, and was so glad I did because it had given me a lot of insight into the parallels to Christianity C.S. Lewis's throws into his stories of Narnia. I can even see a portrayal of Joseph Smith in Prince Caspian, bear with me, I know this sounds radical but I will explain. C.S. Lewis may not of been LDS but, he probably was divinely inspired. I also say this having read the book and knowing that Prince Caspian was not as much the rebellious spirit in the book as he was in the movie. Parts were added to the movie, as usual, for the sake of dramatic effect. Prince Caspian was written as being much more stalwart and fervent to the true Narnian beliefs.
OK, so here I go with my humble interpretation, starting with the first book.
Now the Pevensie kids are referred to as the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve, and are a symbol of the human race, who step through not a wardrobe, but a veil into a different world where time passes much more slowly. The witch stands for Satan, who steals peoples souls. I believe the turning of individuals to stone represents a spiritual sleep or containment. Now just as the fight over the adversary needs to involve us, the four kids were key in the battle over evil in Narnia, and though we may feel inadequate or like children over the powers of good and evil that are in constant battle, good could not win if it were not for our participation in the cause of righteousness. We have help in Christ and spiritual gifts. Aslan was the representation of Christ and the gifts given from Santa to the kids are the gifts given to us by prophets (scriptures, prayer, etc). In the book, one brother Edmund is taken by the white witch and Aslan trades his life for Edmund's release and is sacrificed by the witch on a stone table. He does return to life in time to save a battle that has ensued and return those who have turned to stone to a state of living. It is the death and resurrection of Christ that has overcome Satan and released individuals from spiritual captivity. I also have to say it is interesting that Lucy and Susan were present and crying at the death of Aslan, and Lucy was the first to see the resurrected Aslan. I believe the relationship between Aslan and Lucy has roots in the one between Christ and the very believing Mary Magdalene.

Now before Aslan leaves, he gives the castle Cair Paravel and the kingdom of Narnia to the children to reign over. Cair Paravel is meant to stand for the church on earth which was left to the apostles at the time when Christ left the earth. But the apostles eventually died, as the kids eventually found themselves going back through the wardrobe to the home they knew before their adventure.
This is where the second book begins, upon a return to Narnia, the four siblings find that Cair Paravel has been destroyed and the truths of Narnia have been rejected and forced into darkness by unrighteous rulers. Well if we follow the lines of what happened to Christianity after the death of the apostles, we know the church fell and truths were corrupted.
And so now we have the set up for a "Restoration" to take place in Narnia. And we have a hero in Prince Caspian who has believed in the stories of the old Narnia and as a boy, is chosen as a leader to defeat those who unrighteously rule with wrong ideas. In the forest, he comes to see the embodiment of the creatures that all the people of the time have come to disbelieve in. See where I am going with this. I know this is a long post but stay with me, I am almost there with where this is going.
Joseph Smith believed in the Bible, went to the forest to see God and the Father in the way that current religion didnt believe they existed, and was there told he would renew Christ's church on earth as it had been formerly corrupted. Also in the movie, Aslan appears to those who believe, as only those who are willing to believe in Jesus Christ feel his spirit. And once the Telmarines (the corrupted rulers of Narnia) are defeated, Peter gives Caspian his sword to rule with, which it seems to me, the sword of Peter can be the priesthood as it was given to Joseph by the apsotle Peter. Isn't this crazy. I think there are to many parellels to be coincidental. But tell me what you think, and if you read this entire post, bless you. My thoughts have been swimming with all of this and I have tried to organize it all the best that I can. So watch and movie if you have not, and read the book, and leave me comments. Please.

A Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a happy thanksgiving, we did at our house. I believe I have eaten my weight in collectively turkey, mashed potatoes, and apple pie a la mode. Thats usely a good sign of a good Thanksgiving. We were so lucky to have my brother and his family over from Utah. We took off to the ocean the day after dinner day to explore and see the seals, and is was so fun to see all the kids enjoying themselves. I love it when my kidlets are enjoying the company of extended family. Being far away it's a luxury for us, but the associations are so good for them. Jim and Aleisha, you guys can come anytime, honestly!

The Nina

2008-11-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

The answer on what to do to when the kids had a day off of school last week came from a blurp on the news announcing that "The Nina" replica ship was going to be in Morro Bay for a few weeks. It is the most historically accurate rendition of the Columbus ship ever to be made. So we took a short day trip to tour the ship, play at the park, and watch the crabs that hang out on the rocks under the docks. Elijah had learned about Columbus at school, so he thought it was neat to be on a boat just like real one. I knew Michael hadn't a clue to who Columbus was so I just told him we were going to see a pirate ship, and before I knew it he had a sword in his belt and wanted a scarf tied on his head. Aidan had to be dragged into the ship and spent the whole time trying to escape, don't ask me why, but he was so afraid of being on it. Even with a terrified toddler, it was a fun time. The weather was so clear and sunny, usually the bay has a bit of a marine layer, not on this day though. Soooo cool!

Remaining Rational

2008-11-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

Remaining rational has been so hard to do as I read through the news reports of the sacred temples of the LDS church being the site of an onslaught of hate and aggression. Words on posters reading Mormon scum and Morons, and other such defamitory statements against our religion, makes me cringe. Were this attack being aimed toward any other group or religion, the media and general population would not look at it so nonchalantly. Does it not occur to the individuals in the protest that mormons make up only about 5% of the vote, and even with all the campaiging put into Proposition 8, it would never have passed if the majority of voters (no matter how slim the majority) did not agree with what we believe on the matter. I have had to stop reading the online news articles and subsequent comments to keep from fueling the frustration I feel. Mostly so because we are being labeled with the "hate" term, when so many of us had a hard time coming to terms with the decision to vote for a proposition that would negatively effect our gay and lesbian friends, all be it not take away their rights as couples.
My good friend Kaci from Sacramento posted a link on her blog that has helped me put it in perspective. This is the article. There are a few points I have taken to consider to avoid being caught up in the heat of the conflicts.
1. Compassion: this is a point that individuals have been emotionally invovled in. It has been a proposition opposed with a heavy emphasis being placed on individual rights and consquently individuals feel personally wounded by the outcome.
2. Forgiveness: Our Savior said, "Forgive them for they know not what they do." How can all the people who have never set foot on temple grounds, know the sacredness it holds for us members. I dont pretend they must in some way know that what is occuring is wrong, but not to what extent.
3. Thankfulness: I have been blessed to live in a time when I have not witnessed alot of backlash against the LDS church. This does shake me a little, but I have never been run down by a mob, or chased from my home. Never in my life have I been threatened against my life for my beliefs as did happen so often in the scriptures. This I can definately endure well.

A Halloween Tale

2008-11-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

There once was a lovely fairy princess. She was so adorable that she was named cutest of all in attendance of the Halloween feast. The little fairy was on a quest to trunk or treat all the cars there were to be found in the land this night, but with the scary creatures that were roaming about, she needed quardians. Three brave protectors stepped forward.
The first was a incredibe hero. What he lacked in good looks, he made up for in kindness and strength. He was a brave and gentle giant.

The next was a galant pirate. With his mighty sword, he was feared by all the savage beast who crossed his path, with the exception of one tiny mouse who happened to be completely smitten.

The last was a humble warrior. He was given the chance to take the title of the galaxy defender, Buzz Lightyear, but decided instead to create a mysterious identity for himself.
With so much protection and also much determination, so much candy was aquired that it would last for many a day. It was all to no avail for out little fairy princess, for she had no teeth with which to eat the confections. However she was still very happy, for she had the three best brothers a little girl could ever wish for.
The End.