October Birthdays

Oct 5th was Beka’s second birthday. We celebrated with a family party. Because it was a Sunday we were able to invite Tamara and the missionaries for dinner and birthday cupcakes. Beka was quite happy with her doggy faced cupcakes. She made quite the mess. Beka received a dolly stroller from her family, a brown and pink sweat outfit from Grandma and a lap top alphabet toy from Tamara. She was a happy girl. Just after her birthday, we had a funny incident happen, which I am sure is very rare for any child. Tamara and I were exercising one morning, and Beka walked in with some toast. She promptly dropped some pieces next to Tamara. I asked her to pick them up and place them in the trash. Of course I heard a defiant NO. So I asked the dumbest question in the book. “Beka do you need a time out?” To our astonishment she said yes and promptly marched and sat down in the spot where she has seen her brothers go. I quickly set the timer and after her “time” she picked up her toast. Of course now staying in time out for two minutes in almost impossible, especially since two seconds in she starts saying “sorry”.

Jaden’s birthday was Friday, Oct. 24. He was able to take fruit snacks to share with his class and because it was Friday had early release which left us some time to do fun stuff. I talked him out of a party and into inviting one friend and going to Golfland. We picked up Truman around 3 pm and all three of us played golf. I think that was the fastest I have ever played. The boys moved very fast and if a ball wouldn’t go in the trap door they would just drop it in and the scoot the ball into the hole. I think Jaden make one hole in one and I actually can claim two or three. We went into the arcade afterwards and played three games – a dollars worth and then headed to 7 Eleven for slurpies before taking Truman home. We went out to dinner as a family, minus Jaelyn who was cheerleading , to Red Lobster. I had asked Jaden if he wanted me to fix his favorite dinner or go out to eat somewhere, when Nathan comes in and says Jaden remember Red Lobster and the cheese bread? We came home for cake and presents. Jaden wasn’t too happy with the cake, he asked for chocolate/ chocolate frosting and of course changed his mind after it was made. He received a build a light saber, money from Grandma’s, and glow in the dark moon and stars, plus art set from Tamara.

Is it Fall yet?

Here we are at the end of September already. Leaves are starting to turn, but the only thing cooler is the nights. Days are still warm with an intense sun in the afternoon. This has been good for Dale's tomatoes - the last of them are turning red. Problem is we have an unknown night time tomato eater. We have yet to figure out what kind of critter is coming in the back yard. The possibilities are: possum, raccoon, rat, or squirrel. It must not be to big because it has not gotten one from the front planter boxes that are higher of the ground.

We have finished all back to school nights. Dale and I have to split and each take a child and attend their classes. I am always amazed at the really great teachers we have at the high school. It isn't easy to live on a teacher salary here. I attended Jaelyn's classes and feel the majority of her teachers are a good match for her and will help her succeed. The only class I got to attend for Nathan is his AVID class, which he has had all four years. Nathan also has Mr. Wong for AP Gov./Econ class. I am so glad he has AVID. They will help us with college application process and financial aid process. I am thankful not to have to figure this out alone with everything else there is.

Jaden has a good teacher and is settling in to the routine. One more week and they start all day kindergarten. So one more lunch to pack. But my day should also be less chopped up. I won't have to rush through the grocery store so we can hurry to pick up Jaden on time. No matter how hard I try to keep grocery shopping to once a week, (not including Costco) they always eat through all the fruit before the week is over, so I usually have to make a Saturday fruit run.

On a tennis note, I don't have the trophy because I haven't been able to play with an injured muscle in my right forearm. :( At least it is not tennis elbow - that would take forever to heal.

On a moral note, Did I write about Dale and I walking a precinct door to door in favor of the Defence of Marriage Proposition on our ballot coming up? I was scared having never done anything like this before. I was glad no one was rude to me. Dale finished up with phone calls after spending most of a Saturday walking. He will be doing more calling this week with a new area. The First Presidency has asked every California member to help with this cause because the consequences are far reaching. The concerned is not only with morality, but the probable collision of church and state; with the state trying to enforce the law even in churches, if this doesn't pass. Needless to say in this area the proposition is not popular as it is seen as an equality, or civil right of everyone. Could get interesting when yard signs go up. Every one's prayers are needed as we watch the last days unfold.

Start of School

The crazy schedule of school has begun. ( A few weeks of ago) I am finally getting it recorded now that I have adjusted to the new semi routine; I died the first couple of weeks. Nathan and Jaelyn head for seminary every morning at 6: 15 am. We are blessed that Nathan's friend Ryan comes and picks them up and brings them home. If Nathan had a license he would be able to drive himself - oh well maybe later in the year. I do try to be up by 6 am so Jae can have some breakfast the mornings she goes straight to school. Jae doesn't have a second period class, so on Tues and Thursdays she has almost three hours off in the middle of the morning, so she comes home. Our high school has a Monday schedule with all classes, then an A or B schedule the rest of the week, with Wed. and Fri. being late days. So I have a revolving door. Nathan only has 5 classes being a senior, so everyday is a late start for him, not having a first period. This is actually helpful, because I can leave the little ones home with him everyday but Monday, while Jaden and I ride bikes to school together.
Jaden's school starts at 8:15 am and gets out at 11:35 am until full day starts in Oct. This gets interesting as Justin's preschool gets out a 11:30 am on Tues and Thurs. Luckily, there is one other girl from our ward that is at Ellis in Kindergarten. Her mom picks up Jaden and watches them on the play ground 5 to 10 min. until I can get there. I am also working in Jaden's class every other week, for an hour on Thursdays and Jaelyn is home to watch Beka.
We purchased a bike trailer to carry Justin and Beka back and forth to school. Parking is almost impossible at the school and kindergarten parents are expected to stay with their children until the bell rings and to pick them up from the teacher afterwards. They don't have any yard duty for them, so it necessitates parking and getting two toddlers out to the door. I decided it would be easier to ride bikes every morning and for pick ups on non preschool days. When Jaden goes to full days pick up will be just as bad as morning, so I will have to bike. Walking would take to long and we would be late. We will see how it goes in the winter. Jaden's school is growing to the point they are building a new wing for the third grades, because they ended up with 8 kindergarten classes this year.
Justin loves preschool and asks to go everyday. I think he is much happier, he has school time plus some time without Jaden to pester him. So I am starting to see more playing together and a little less teasing. I hope it continues to get better.
Here is also a picture of Beka roping "Noma" into reading to her. She reads a ton everyday plus improving her singing and exploring skills!

The story of the 3 yr old biker and misc. Miles activities

Since this format is now our family journal, I am trying to record our events of each week, plus recent things I have missed recording. Justin is the highlight of today story. He is my only 3 yr old to ride a two wheel bike with no training wheels. Justin received his big boy bike earlier this year when I found a good sale. He was very excited to ride everywhere. This lasted a short while until the training wheels moved some making him less stable; then he would tell me it was too scary to ride. After a little more time, I noticed one wheel was missing - just a stub still attached to the wheel. (courtesy of Jaden) At this point Jaden would ride the bike to tease Justin at the same time trying his best to keep the stub from scraping the ground. Justin would attempt riding now and again but the stub was frustrating. In June, Dale took matters into hand and removed both training wheels. He told Justin he can ride a two wheeler because he balances so well on his big kid scooter. Dale took him out a few times before vacation where Justin got the basics. Since coming home he is an old pro and is learning to go down hills very fast and still be able to stop.

The two little boys are at a perfect age for outings with Dad. Two Saturdays ago, Dale took them to Rancho San Antonio - a nature preserve with hiking and biking trails and a small farm. This was Justin's first big hill on a bike. Dale thought for sure they were headed for the ER because he didn't know how to brake. Justin just thought it was great fun. I think everyone on the trail held their breath watching him. ( I am glad I wasn't there - heart attack) Friday night, Dale took them camping to Camp Lehi for a ward service project. They took their bikes and had a great time. The little boys did not want to come home. All I hear about it camping!

This week was also our last week of summer. Justin and Jaden had three last swimming lessons. Jaden is swimming with rainbow arms across the pool. I think the one on one lessons paid off for them both. Lots of progress in a short time.

Now to the trophy. Tamara and I have been playing tennis on Saturday mornings for the past 6 to 8 months. She has talked about getting a trophy for the winner to display each week for a long time. Well, here it is. I have had it displayed since it came for two weeks. But alas, it was lost yesterday morning. Till next week.

Shenanigans of an almost two year old

Hi all, I have some great pictures of some of the messes Beka has gotten into recently. She being the fifth child, one just has to laugh as opposed to crying or being angry. Her first big one was somehow getting ahold of the jar of triple paste ointment - you know the one for diaper rash, and smearing it all over her body and head. It took 10 shampooings just to get to the acceptable level and fifteen to finally be rid of it over the process of a few days. The second day her head was plastered with crinkly hair. Everyone at park day asked what happened.

We had a similar incident a few weeks later in route to Aunt Lori's house in Utah. We had stayed over night in Las Vegas - having smores for dessert. See where this is going? I thought that the marshmallows were sufficiently hidden, but Jaden was able to locate them and gave one to Beka. She was so quiet for a long time, I thought she was entertaining herself with books, her favorite. Jaden finally called for us to look at Beka. She had marshmallow on her arms, legs and in her hair. What can you do? Just keep going, because it isn't coming out until you reach a hot bath!

Beka has now learned to open the fridge. I discovered this one day as I walked into the family room and discovered a carton of eggs on the carpet with a few smashed eggs. Good thing it is ancient carpet! Oh well, at least she no longer plays in the toilet, just the bathroom sink, so my bathroom gets a regular moping courtesy of the cute one. I often sound like a broken record -"Close the bathroom door or Beka will get in".

We don't want to end on a messy note, so I will say this. I am so thankful to have a little girl at the end. She is so delightful and different than the boys. She loves to read books, to the point if you are sitting you are fair game to read her a book. She talks an incredible amount for not even two. Plus she sings. We recognize the tunes and more and more words as time goes by. None of my children have sung so young. Girl and all, she can hold her own with her brothers and even has Nathan wrapped around her finger. Of course, Daddy is a big sucker for her loving ways. She is very, very affectionate; she loves to give and get hugs and kisses and feel your hair. We went to Stake Conference last week and towards the end, when Jaelyn brought her back in, she reached for the brother in back of us. She snuggled up on his lap, felt his fuzzy head and felt his whiskers with some hugs and kisses. I was marveling at this for a minute, when I realized this brother works in the nursery and he told me this was there routine every Sunday. Of course, his two year old was jealous of her daddy snuggling up someone else. Beka is a source of lots of joy and ours forever!

Summer 2008

What an exciting summer. We are now in let down mode after all the time spent with family. June began with Rebeka's adoption - finally. June 4 was the official day with Aunt Lori and Uncle Tom driving up for the special occasion. We celebrated with dinner at Armadillo Willy's, one of our favorite places.

Right after school got out, Nathan went to Zion's camp and had a good time. They kept them busy from dawn to dusk. Jaelyn left for Girl's camp the following week, barely surviving her two day back packing trip.

We left for family vacation on July 3, making an overnight pit stop in Las Vegas - welcome to the heat. We did enjoy a family swim and were amazed at being dry by the time we were back to our room. We drove through southern Utah to visit Dale's sister Lori. The most beautiful country is in south central Utah; we had no idea. It is truly worth the visit to see the canyons, mountains and high desert. We spent 5 days with Lori and Shawn. They took us on a cook out next to a beautiful creek which the kids loved. We were excited to be there for Destiny's baptism and to see a small town parade - lots of candy. We drove to Capital Reef National Park one day and where able to see the amazing canyons in various colors, pick apricots in Fruita, and see Indian hieroglyphs. We also spent a day driving around and playing in the water at Fish Lake and other creeks. Dale was able to do lots of hiking, many right from town.

Our next stop was with Sherry in Snowflake. We spent one night with them and enjoyed lots of games and Dale's grilling. The park was also fun for the little ones.

We drove down to the Valley of the Sun in time to get a day of rest before the big day. Saturday, July 12 Rebeka was sealed to us in the Arizona Temple. It was an extra special day because my niece was sealed Tim and JoyAnn right after our sealing. Don't ask how our was, because it was chaos with three preschoolers tired out from traveling. Rebeka did look beautiful in her white dress and now she is ours forever. We had lunch with the Miles family at Sandy's house that morning, it was great to see everyone and visit for a short time. After the sealing we joined the Harms and JoyAnn's family at a banquet room (Mexican food) for dinner and cake. We were much better behaved here.

Sunday we got caught in the biggest down pour I have seen in years- it was fabulous. I got soaked to the bone helping my mom to the car after church. We miss the monsoon storms! Tuesday, July 15 was another big day. This was the anniversary of my Grandmother Jaunita's death and we spent most of the day doing temple work. Jaelyn was baptised for her, by her Uncle Mark. Samantha was also able to do some baptisms for her family names. Shannon and I went back in the afternoon to do the preparatory work before our 7 pm session. She had a dozen or so close family names. Many of my family were together for the session with a sealing session afterwards. It was a beautiful day. Thanks Lori for taking good care of the children, even with a cold.

At last we spent a couple of days in Buckeye with Dale's parents. We had a great time playing games. The Buckeye pool was fun for everyone on family night. The little ones also enjoyed the slip and slide at Grandma's. She also treats us lots of yummy food and snacks! We headed for home on Friday night. I had one day to get some food in before Chuck and Shannon and family arrived on Sunday night. We had a great week playing lots and lots of games, visiting the beach, which was freezing and going to Vacaville to pick up my Mom and get ice cream at Fenton's. Chuck was also a very kind brother and did some home projects for me. Plus, with family up at our house, we blessed Rebeka on July 27. So now we are without family and missing everyone. We are thankful for the time together.