December's Pictures

 Here are a few pictures of some things that happened this month.

We discovered Anna has a small cyst on the underside of her tongue.  By the time we saw a doctor, it had shrunk quite a bit.  We just have to watch and if it gets big again, it'll be removed.

We had a lot of rain over a couple of days and our backyard flooded.

This is often what we see when we visit Grandpa.

The kids were fascinated by the sheepsfoot roller next door to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Christmas Activities

We had a lot of Christmas fun before we left for Washington.  Here are some pictures.

Grandma and Grandpa came over one night and we all decorated gingerbread houses.  We also gave Grandpa a brand-new toy record player to replace the one we broke while staying with them.  He looks so happy.

Anna and Matthew joined some of the kids from church and sang Christmas carols at a local convalescent home.

Steve and I visited San Francisco city hall for Google's Christmas party.  It was a long drive there and back, but we had fun swing dancing and eating fancy macaroni & cheese.  We also tried our very first oysters.

O, Christmas Tree! O, Christmas Tree!

Well, we got our tree.  Because we are going to my mom & dad's for Christmas, we decided to go with a little tree from Home Depot.  There was a big pile of $20 3-ft trees.  Anna looked at one and then looked at another and she loved them both.  When we told her she had to pick one, she broke down crying.  "I just can't decide!  I love them both.  If we choose one, we'll have to leave this one here by itself!"  We consoled her by telling her that some other family would of course pick this tree to take home and love.  She then asked if she could take a picture with it so that she could remember it always.

We got the tree home and decorated it with all of our homemade decorations.  It's actually very cute.  I think we'll have to have a little kid tree from now on.

A Visit from Alli and Matt

We were lucky to have Matt and Allison come visit us for a few days over Labor Day weekend.  Steve dropped Anna and Matthew off at Grandma and Grandpa's early in the morning while I headed over to the airport to pick up Matt and Alli.  We met up back at Steve's parents before we took off on the day's adventures.

The first stop was a must on Matt's list- Apple headquarters.  Apparently, Apple is a second religion for Matt's family and he couldn't be so close without stopping by and getting a picture.

After that, we drove to San Francisco.  This was my first trip as well and Steve hadn't been in more than 15 years.  We went to the Golden Gate Bridge and walked to the middle and back.  We were lucky and had a beautiful day with beautiful weather.  We stopped briefly at the visitor's center to get a stamp in our National Parks book.

Pier 39 was next.  After finding a parking spot (quite a feat in itself), we headed for a little restaurant for lunch.  The highlight of the pier was going on the submarine tour.  It was fascination to see where everyone slept and just how little space there is.  Red October looks positively roomy!  We also headed to the Boudin Bakery and bought some great sourdough bread for us and some for Steve's mom to say thank you for watching the kids all day.  At this point we split up.  Alli and Matt stayed behind to do some more sight-seeing and Steve and I headed home.

On Monday, we all headed to Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We knew that it would be insanely busy because of the holiday, so we got there almost as it opened.  It was great because it was so quiet.  We got the whole deep sea window to ourselves.  Matthew loved being able to see all of the fish so close.



Alli and Matt left us on Monday.  It was really nice to get to know Matt a little before their big day in October.

Random Pictures

Here are a few more random pictures from August.

"Mom!  This would make a great picture!"

Anna found every blanket to make a pile.

Matthew's serious face.

Teaching Anna to play Uno.

Breakfast Outfit

FHE obstacle course activity.

Ride 'em, Cowgirl!

Typical messy breakfast face.

Dentist Visit

I took Anna and Matthew to the dentist.  It was Matthew's second visit and Anna's been several times.  But, they just look so cute and they both did such a good job getting their teeth looked at.  There were no cavities and they (meaning me) are doing a good job flossing and brushing.

Marina State Beach

One Saturday, we decided to take the kids to the beach.  We hadn't been all summer and it seems a shame not to take advantage when it's so close by.  The night before, we packed the diaper bag with essentials and loaded the car trunk with blankets, chairs, and toys.  When we got up the next morning, we were ready.  It was a little cloudy, but we decided to head out anyway.
I'm so glad we did.  It was a perfect day.

The kids and Steve built a great sandcastle.  The biggest part of the project was creating a trench that would fill up with water when the waves washed up.  Steve spent a lot of time and it paid off with a suitably watery moat.  Anna was in charge of decorations and Matthew did whatever he wanted.




The kids went beach combing with Steve and found some nice pebbles and pieces of shell.  We also
think we saw a seal of some sort out in the waves.  It'd come up for a while and then dive down under the water.  Kind of fun to see something besides gulls!

I tried to get everyone's feet wet at least once.  Steve's not big on being in the ocean and the kids ran away as soon as the water got anywhere close to them.  Matthew in particular didn't like getting wet or how the waves and sand felt.

After all this fun, the wind started blowing and the sun came out so we flew our new kite.  We had a cheap one from the dollar store, but it didn't work at all.  So, we splurged on a nicer one.  It went right up in the air without any effort on our part.  The kids loved holding the string and watching it fly.  Anna let all the string out so it went really high.  Winding it up again isn't as fun as letting it all out.



We left just as the beach was starting to get crowded and it was starting to get quite warm.  We noticed that there was quite a traffic jam on the roads coming in but getting out was a breeze.  It was really, a perfect day.

Backyard Fun

Here's an afternoon the kids and I spent out in the backyard in late August.  It was such a fun, relaxing day.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

This and That

I usually have a file of miscellaneous pictures that I take throughout the month.  They usually show what we are like typically, rather than our big celebrations or excursions.  Here are a few pictures that I've taken this August.
 

We caught one of the big spiders that seem to love our house.  We tried to look it up on the internet, but I got a creeped out looking at all the pictures of the spiders.

When we came home from the cabin, I discovered a lizard sitting on the planter box in the living room.  We knew we had a couple of lizards living in the wall of our garage but we didn't realize that they could get from there into the house.  The lizard disappeared into the box, but we reappeared the next evening when we were able to shoo it out the door.

I came in to get Matthew up from his nap and he was so sound asleep that I was able to put his laundry away, stash a bunch of diapers in the basket under the changing table, and take a few pictures.  I don't have many of him sleeping.  He's such a doll.

In the mornings, I get the kids up at 7.  First, I stop at Anna's room and turn off the fan and give her a kiss.  Then I go get Matthew.  By the time I get back to my room with Matthew, Anna has transported herself to my bed.  This is what she usually looks like.  It takes her a bit to come out of her cocoon.  Definitely not a morning person.

As soon as Matthew gets onto my bed, he heads for Anna and starts hugging whatever body part is closest.  He's so sweet saying "Anna, Anna" the whole time he's hugging her.

Murder Mystery Dinner

Early in August, my friend, Mary, and I decided to host a Murder Mystery.  We chose one called A Taste for Wine and Murder about a California vineyard.  The participants were Steve as Ralph Rottingrape (the bad boy and owner of the vineyard) and me as his wife Tiny Bubbles; Mary as Marilyn Merlot (a movie star) and Tom, her husband, as Papa Vito (the vineyard's manager); David, our bishop, as Otto Von Schnapps (a wine merchant) and Laurie, his wife, as Hedy Shablee (owner of neighboring vineyard).

We started out with hors d'oeuvres and a bunch of sparkling juices on the back patio while we read our information packets and our babysitter put the kids down to bed.  After all was quiet in the house, we headed inside for dinner and the game.  Mary made a wonderful chicken dish and I made a pasta herb salad and attempted green beans rolled in prosciutto.  Unfortunately, I burned the beans.

As we ate, we took turns reading our parts.  We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs at the escapades of our fictitious characters.  I ended up being surprised at who the murderer was.  We had a lot of fun and I hope we can do it again.

Summer Cabin Visit

On Thursday evening, Steve looked at me and said, "You want to go to the cabin this weekend?  I don't have to go into the office on Monday or Tuesday."  So, I took Friday to plan, shop, and pack for our trip.  We left Saturday morning right after breakfast.  The kids look forward to these trips because they get to watch movies in the car.  It's our family rule that the TVs only come out when the trip will be longer than an hour duration.  Needless to say, they don't come out very often.  The kids loved watching Max and Ruby for all 3 hours of the trip.

We did make two stops.  One at a farm stand to pick up watermelon, nectarines, pluots, and grapes for the weekend and another at ColdStone Creamery in Oakdale.  We always stop and get some ice cream.

Our stay at the cabin was great.  We relaxed the remainder of the day, Saturday.  Anna and Matthew played with the toys.  Anna's favorite was the doll house.  Matthew really enjoyed the lobster that you pull around and it snaps its claws.  Anna also spent some time painting.

Sunday saw us taking a couple of walks around area, going to church down in Sonora, and taking naps.  Steve and Anna had a rousing game of air hockey at the table.

Monday was our biggest day.  After breakfast, we got in our swimsuits and headed to Pincrest lake.  It was a great day for it.  It had sprinkled a little in the morning, so there weren't very many people out and the weather was warm but not hot.  Steve headed to the marina and rented a kayak to do an hour's worth of exploring on the lake.  Matthew, Anna, and I headed to a bench on the beach.  I was surprised at how willing Matthew was to get into the lake.  He walked right in!  Anna was a little more cautious.  First, she went in up the her calves, then her knees, then thighs, and finally almost up to her waist.

We spent time wading, annoying the Canada geese, and throwing rocks.  Anna built a 'tide pool'.  Basically a hole with a bunch of rocks in it.  She kept saying we just had to wait until the tide came in to fill it.  Little did she know that the water was never going to come up.

That evening we had a Family Home Evening about the priesthood.  Steve gave the lesson and I made homemade mint ice cream for refreshments.  Unfortunately, the ice cream didn't go over very well.  Matthew and I were the only ones that liked it.

Anna was in charge of the activity and she chose to visit the area's playground.  She and Matthew went on the swings and down the slides.  It was a fun evening.

Tuesday morning was spent picking up and cleaning the rooms we had used.  We headed home around 10:30am.  It was so nice to get away for a little while and spend time together.  Yay for the cabin!