Tahoe...

Having the boys on a year round schedule has been a blessing. We have always looked forward to our times "off" and it has been nice to be able to vacation all throughout the year during off peak times to avoid the crowds. Now with Erik starting middle school next year and the announcement that the elementary school is going to a traditional schedule, we celebrated the boys last off track time with a trip to Tahoe, one of our favorite spots! We rent a house there and as always we had a great, relaxing time. I will miss our times "off-track" But I feel grateful that my boys will all be on the same schedule next year.

Here's what we did:

Played in the snow and boy was there A LOT of it!




Hot tub
Brett and the boys got in...it was just a little too cold for my taste, so I watched them from inside the warm house, sitting by the fire.



Commons Beach playground by the Lake




Picnic
If it looks like we're in the car, it's because we are. We packed a picnic and headed off to the beach, but it was soooo cold and windy that after we sat down at the picnic table to eat, Brett and I looked at each other and burst out laughing, because it was FREEZING! So we headed back to the car to finish our "picnic" somewhere warm




Shopping

Object lesson

I just had to document this little experience so that I wouldn't forget and so that someday when Austin says "Mom, tell me a story about when I was little" (as he so often does) I can share this cute story with him.

Brett had the opportunity on Sunday to present a sharing time to the primary children. His sharing time was based on the 6th article of faith:

We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

He used this object lesson that he used to use on his mission to help the children understand that our church is organized the same way that Christ organized his church when he was on the earth.

Later that night Austin grabbed a handful of cups and said "Mom, I want to tell you a story." He then proceeded to stack the cups just the way Brett did explaining to me how the church is set up. First he layed out 12 cups (and this was my favorite part.) I asked him why there were 12 cups. He said they were for the 12 "opossums" (apostles). How cute is that?! Then he stacked more cups "building" the church. Then he told me that the church fell down (as he knocked it over). I asked him why the church fell down and he said "because they killed Jesus and the opossums (apostles) died". He then proceeded the build small little structures telling me that different churches were organized and that "Sister Smith" (He meant Joseph Smith, but his primary teacher is Sister Smith. I got a little chuckle out of that) didn't know which church to join, so he prayed and God told him that he shouldn't join any of them. Then He proceeded to lay out the cups again to build the church just like he had in the beginning telling me that Heavenly Father helped Joseph Smith restore the church to the earth just as it had been when Christ was on the earth. This was such a sweet moment for me as a mother because you often wonder if your children are listening or paying attention to what is being taught and to see that this lesson made such an impression on him makes me realize that they are listening and picking up on so much more than we even realize. I shared this story with Brett and we both got a little chuckle out of it. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the influence that it has on my children.

I did it!!!

Not once but twice! I ran a full 5k (3.1 miles) on my treadmill in 32 minutes! I ran my first full 5k on April 22 and I was so proud of myself. Now I know that 3 miles isn't like a marathon or anything, but it kind of felt that way to me. So I decided today to try it again and I ran the full 3.1 miles in 32 minutes! I ran/walked my first 5k in Nov. 2010 with my family in Utah in 0 degree weather (this CA girl is not used to the cold or the altitude anymore). So of course the fun part of the race was running it with my siblings and their spouses, however at the time I had been training for several weeks and I had gotten to the point where I could run 2.5 miles before needing to take a little walk break. And then prior to the race I hurt my knee...bad, so I had to stop running the couple of weeks leading up to the race. Found out that I may have had runners knee and that I wasn't running with the proper shoes. Anyway, my knee was killing me before the race even began, but off we went and at about the 2 mile mark, my knee got worse, but I just kept going, pushing through the pain walking and running at a very slow jog and finally there was the finish line with my family cheering me on! I finished the race and I was so proud of myself for doing it, but at the same time I was a little frustrated that I couldn't run it as well as I had wanted to. Fast forward, now I have the appropriate shoes and I have been running once a week along with exercising 4 times a week for 45 minutes and I am amazed at how much stronger I am. The fact that I ran that 5k the other day just shows me how far I've come and it feels good! Now I need to sign up for another 5k and this time around, I think that it will be a little better experience for me. Now who wants to join me?!!!

Turkey Trot 2010

Happy Easter

Tonight Austin, Ethan and I were sitting at the dinner table chatting. Our conversation went something like this.

Mom: Ethan did you learn about Jesus today in nursery?
Ethan: (shaking head yes) mmm...hmmm
Austin: I learned about Jesus today too.
Mom: You did? What did you learn?
Austin: When Jesus died there was an earthquake.
Mom: That's right. Why do we celebrate Easter?
Austin: So we can be happy.
Mom: Yep, and we celebrate Easter because Jesus was resurrected, do you know what that means?
Austin: Yep, it means that he came back to life.
Mom: That's right, his body and spirit were reunited and someday after we die we will be resurrected too.
Austin: Is Jesus alive?
Mom: Yes, Jesus is alive. He lives in heaven with Heavenly Father and someday he will come to the earth again
Austin: Will I see him?
Mom: Yes, that is why we have to try hard to do right things and do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do.
Austin: When I see him, I will give him an Austin hug! (that's what we call Big, Bear Hugs from Austin)
Mom: He will love that Austin!

How tender, sweet, innocent and loving children are. No wonder our savior says "suffer the little children to come unto me" Their faith is pure and their love is unconditional. When I experience these sweet moments with my children like this, it helps me to better understand this scripture:

And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
3 Nephi 11:38

Happy Easter

Just like Sam....

My boys LOVE the movie Tron. Now when I say boys, I mean all the boys 4 little ones and the big man of the house too. They all went to see the movie in 3-D on Christmas eve with Jed and Kathy while I stayed home and sewed, cooked Christmas dinner and chased Ethan around. So needless to say the boys were anxiously awaiting it's release on DVD. Brett got an early birthday present this past weekend...yep you guessed it The 2 Tron movies on DVD. We watched Tron Legacy for family movie night on Friday, and I have to admit that I kind of liked it too! So, the boys were in serious need of haircuts and today while watching Tron again, Cameron said "Mom, I want my hair cut like Sam's." Boys asking for haircuts?!!! I jumped all over that and all 4 boys got the Sam Flynn style. I think Brett needs the Sam Flynn cut too...what do you think? And perhaps I should get the Cora cut!

Where's Ethan?...Busy trying to ignore the woman behind the camera.


and here he is mad at the woman behind the camera for taking his picture, Don't you just love the rug burn that he gave himself by dragging his head across the floor in nursery on Sunday?! *sigh* Gotta love him!

Funny stuff...

Cam and Austin were having a conversation the other day that I happened to overhear. It went something like this.

Austin: "Cameron the ghost is clear"
Cameron: "Austin it's the coast is clear, not the ghost is clear."
Austin: "nuh uh Cameron it's the ghost is clear, because ghosts are clear!"

I love it!

My little monkeys...

When we decided to move to this house a year ago, one thing that we really wanted for the boys was a place where they could have the freedom to run and play and just be boys! Little did we know back then just how perfect this house and this location would be for us. The boys have made new friends that live on our same street and they have spent a lot of their free time outside and even more lately as the boys have discovered this amazing oak tree across the street. The past few days they have spent many hours there climbing and playing and just hanging out. It is their own little private world. I went down to take pictures of them playing today, and I couldn't help but feel thankful that a loving Heavenly Father knew what we needed and he knew that this was the perfect place for us to be. Life has changed for the better for all of us! Here are some pics of my little monkeys:

Erik and his friend