Family Picture

So, now that the grandparents have their gift copies, I will officially unveil this year's family photo.

There are seasons in California

It turns out that there are at least two seasons here, summer and fall. I vaguely recall some season from when we arrived in March, but it could have just been still fall and, coming from Illinois, we thought it was spring. Today we went to park day and Joshua loved playing in the leaves with the girls (I brought the only boys, mine). Since our trees just drop spiky balls, there hasn't been much jumping into leaf piles around here. Joshua loved it and the girls didn't mind him throwing leaves on them. Nathan, on the other hand, just wanted to go home and take his nap. And a few weeks later, Daniel.

Boy Scout Trip to Yosemite

So way back in September the Boys of troop 501 initiated their new scout master with a 12 hour, 20 mile hike to the top of half dome in Yosemite. After a night of tin foil dinners and sleeping on the ground because "tents take too long to take down", we were up at 5:30 AM to start the hike (I love that extra 30 minutes of sleep I get on Saturdays). Aside from being quite pleased that I actually survived and surprised that I didn't even have to show any weakness I am happy to report that I enjoyed the hike as well. Absolutely beautiful trail but treacherous enough that you spend most of the time looking at your feet. Falls from the bottomFalls from the top
We didn't actually make it all the way to the very top because the boy I was buddied with started having severe stomach cramps once we got about 30 feet up the cables (shown behind me in the picture). I am still not sure if it was something he ate, the change in altitude or climbing the cables but he was in pretty bad shape for about half an hour and a couple of trips to the latrine. We managed to get down about 2 minutes before the sun set. Lots of fun, and I could even walk the next day (although it was about 2 days before I could climb stairs two at a time).

Happy Anniversary

Dewain and I were able to celebrate our 10th anniversary in Monterey. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa George (Joshua can't say Jorgensen) for providing 3 days of childcare, allowing us to go off unsupervised. We wandered the town and went on a whale watching trip, which was lots of fun. I think we should try it again, but not wait quite so long next time.

Out and About

We have been busy having a lot of fun. Soccer ended, Nathan is a full fledged walker, but mostly it's just been a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Click on the collage to enlarge.

Halloween

For Halloween the boys went with a whole new round of costumes. Not really new of course, all from that same 10 cent sale we chanced upon one after-Halloween. Daniel didn't like the kids hitting his police car, so he changed to "Zoram" (our child is just as culturally unaware as we are) and Joshua went with a costume perfect for an Illinois Halloween, but a sauna for California. Nathan had no clue, but enjoyed ripping apart the yarn ball on his costume.

For dinner, we had mummies and witches mouths.

Pumpkin Carving

On Saturday we chose pumpkins. Daniel rejected many in his quest for a perfect pumpkin. We got a new set of carving knives for the boys that came with a scraper, which was awesome. It cleared the gunk away really quickly and effectively. Daniel and Joshua each designed their own pumpkin faces, and Nathan's is supposed to look like Jack-Jack (from the Incredibles). Daniel did a lot of the work on his pumpkin himself this year. To avoid the gagging problems of years past (see movie below), Dewain cleaned out Joshua's pumpkin before we woke him up from his nap. Joshua didn't mind a bit and made sure he designed a scary face for his pumpkin. Nathan loved playing with his pumpkin, while waiting for it to be worked on. It didn't take us very long to finish and we had lots of fun. The boys' favorite part, of course, is seeing them all lit up (the more candles the better) and glowing in the dark.

What season is it?

Teething time!

Ogden (Eccles) Dinosaur Park

The boys looked forward to "fun day" all week and were excited when it finally arrived. We went with Aunt Elaine, Josh and Julie, and Grandma and Grandpa to visit the dinosaurs in Ogden's Eccles Dinosaur Park. We had a lot of fun exploring the park and seeing the dino sculptures. Daniel especially enjoyed feeding the fish & ducks, I think because he got to put in a quarter and turn the dial to get out food. Joshua was pleasantly surprised to find (cement) dinosaur eggs at the spot where he sat down to dig. Naturally, I kept the boys safe during our visit.

Wedding Slideshow

I spent a lot of my time the last few weeks working on this slideshow for Jon-David & Becky's wedding reception, so I'm going to get a little more mileage out of it by posting it here. Hope you enjoy it. It's about 8 minutes long. More from the wedding and trip later.

First Haircut!

Today, Nathan had his first haircut. It's been a tradition in our family to wait until the boys' first birthdays to have their first haircut. Nathan didn't quite make it, since we wanted him to shed the shaggy look for Uncle Jon-David's wedding next week. Still, the difference was rather startling. In honor of this first haircut, I'll put up the the other two's before and after photos. Joshua still gives that dumb face whenever I try to get a picture of him. Getting his hair to lie down is still impossible.I just noticed we lived in a different place each time: California, Winfield (IL), and Orchard Downs (IL). Today, Daniel laughed and laughed at Nathan saying "He looks like Joshua now. You gave him Joshua's haircut. Ha. Ha. He looks like Joshua." Then, after a pause and in an accusing tone, he said "Did you give me Joshua's haircut?" I'll admit that they're very similar, but he did get his same old Daniel haircut today. From tall to small, I cut a lot of boys hair today.

Visitor from the Past

Daniel was very excited that Oliver Cowdery made a visit to sharing time. Apparently M has been well trained, because she saw the camera and immediately came to get in the picture with him.

Who re-seeds mid-season?

The City of Tracy re-seeds mid-season! Consequently, the soccer game was a bit muddy today, and while Daniel came out of it pretty clean (note Rodrigo, to his right, did not), Nathan needed a bath when we got home. Daniel's team won 3-0 and had fun doing it. Daniel was pretty excited because Andrew, one of the boys in our primary class, was on the Sharks team.

Cute to distraction

I usually miss out on the fun Nathan has in Sunday School while I'm in primary. This week Sister Johnson (there's one in every ward right? not ours, we have three!) was so distracted by these two having fun together that she filled me in with these photos. Nathan's hair looks especially good because I had to give it a quick scrub in the mother's room after I fed him. He had shoes on when we went to church.

Dr. Suess anyone?

Today I was lazy (or should I say frugal) and didn't want to open two packages of string cheese. Nathan was enjoying his cheese bits when Joshua suddenly noticed the diminutive size of his cheese stick. He accused me of treachery, but I reassured him, in a motherly way, that it was actually a special "midget cheese." He took a tentative bite (suspicious and picky as always) and declared "I do like it! I would eat it in a boat, and I would eat it with a... wooga!" Too true, because his piece had been divided between the two of them.

Note: Wooga is what we call Nathan, because he made some pretty funny Wookie sounds just a few short months ago. He doesn't make them often any more, but the nickname stuck.

National Gymnastics Day

We had a lot of fun on Saturday (the 10th) at Classic Gymnastics, the gym where Joshua has his gymnastics lessons. Nathan napped while I watched him and the action. We also enjoyed our taste of the birthday cake, this is third anniversary of the gyms opening.

Joshua showed Dewain a lot of tricks, he isn't often the expert and enjoyed showing off. Evidently he was a pretty good teacher, because Dewain seemed to be a natural at the rings.

Daniel loved going down the trampoline and went over and over again. He was a little miffed at the end that he didn't get to try everything in the hour we were there.

This is Nathan, just playing around with the huge dinosaur toy that's hard to store, but lots of fun.

Epiphany

Nathan has been proficiently drinking out of a sippy cup for about two weeks, but only a specific kind. I was wondering why he has been so slow and so particular. Finally, I realized why Nathan hasn't been as quick to pick up using a sippy cup as the other two. Daniel and Joshua had juice starting around 7 months, and Nathan got his first (diluted) juice today at only a week shy of 11 months. Nathan is also better with a regular cup than the other two, but I think the major factor is the juice.

Somebody's getting Married

Congratulations to Uncle Jon-David (Jorgensen), who is officially engaged and will be marrying Becky on Oct. 11th. I think it's awesome they'll be (Jon-) David & Becky just like my parents. We're excited to be able to go home to meet Becky and celebrate with them. We're thinking about what gift(s) to get them, so reply to this post with your favorite wedding gift (given or received) to give us some ideas.

Soccer Time

Daniel had his first soccer game Saturday. He had a lot of fun and spent most of his time playing goalie. He got scored on once, but his team won 3-2. Thank goodness for a great defender (yeah Alex!) and some surprisingly good team work for a bunch of 6 year-olds. Thanks to the binoculars from Aunt Holly and Uncle Drew, we had a prime view of the (clumpy) action. We were glad his game was at 10:00, because it was 90F when we left and only getting warmer. He was surprised by the number of snacks after the game, and felt that it was only appropriate he share with Joshua, which he generously did.

Tasty Treat

Nathan loves to play in the bathroom and he loves to snack. Today he combined these two loves:

He'll try anything once, even fresh off the roll toilet paper. Notice the lid is down, for obvious reasons we are grateful Daniel and Joshua have learned to do this pretty consistently.

Clorox Family Fun Day

Joshua came into our room Saturday morning at 6:30, asking "is today Six Flags Day?" Yes, it was and in only three more hours we could leave to get there right when the park opened (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo CA). So, to say the least the boys were excited. It was a lot of fun to be appreciated by the company. Not only did they give us free tickets, but also a parking pass, lunch, and midway games complete with prizes. Having a real job is awesome. During the lunch we got to play midway games. Daniel and Joshua both got blow up swords, even though neither of them rang the bell. They both got stuffed whales at the fishing pond, but only Daniel won a football in a tossing game. I felt bad for Joshua and decided to try my skill. I was able to get two throws in the net, so Joshua chose a football too. We didn't let Nathan win anything and avoided the games with huge stuffed things to win. The whole family (minus Nathan) came away with Clorox t-shirts, what a haul. The boys had a really good time riding rides, and we pretty much just enjoyed watching them. Sure, Thomas the Tank Engine is exciting, but somehow it just isn't the same as a roller coaster. Nathan is big enough (if not old enough) to ride a few rides, which he thought were tolerable, but he really liked getting out and playing in Bugs Bunny's play yard. I personally enjoyed seeing a couple shows. We saw the Pinnipeds of the Carribean (Sea Lions) and the Shouka Celebration. The later was a showing for Clorox employees only, but it wasn't their best version of the show. The one we saw in June was much better. We made a special effort to see the Walruses, Sting Rays, Penguins, Sharks, and Butterflies. As Daniel and I were riding our last ride, Nathan took a nose dive while trying to escape the stroller I had failed to latch. He was pretty roughed up. All in all a pretty good day, but boy were we all tired when we got home. No, we didn't stay for park closing.