Skiing with my boys!

Scott's parent's offered {THANK You!!} to take our little boys for the day

so we could take our big boys skiing!

It was sooo fun! 

{The little ones did great...if you don't expect a 4.5 month old to eat!  He was fine unless Grandma tried to feed him ~ mom's milk from a bottle ~ he would have nothing of it!  At least he was not mad the rest of the time!}

Here we are on the lift!

First time down the hill...my boys looks like dogs in Alaska! 

After the first ti,e down, Ryan seemed like he was getting it!  Had control of his skiis!

Sean was a little less in control...but spent the whole day pleading with Scott to let him go down by himself, to go to the top of the mountain, to go really fast...etc!  He was quite funny.  Scott let go of the leash on the last part of the run each time, and finally on our last run Sean got to do it by himself!

{His class pet, Spot came home with us this weekend!  Sean was thrilled to take Spot everywhere and send in the Spot Journal with our awesome Ski Adventure!}

Here is Ryan jammin down the hill!

And here is Sean.

I wish I could have had a video camera attatched to their helmets, because the look on their faces was awesome.  The seemed very focused, a little nervous, and excited all at the same time!

Performances, Grandma visit, Anniversary, and Memorial Day!

We've had a busy week! It's been great! Such fun things to do! I love it when our lives are filled with fun stuff!

In one day we got to go to both Sean's Preschool graduation and Ryan's First Grade Performance. How cute!

It was funny to see the differences in our boys stage presence. While Ryan is reserved and looks a bit nervous Sean has the loudest voice (as usual so it comes in handy for performing) and is a ham!

"Sean is our Senor del Espanol. He is enthusiastic about Spanish and remembers the vocabulary exceptionally well. His reading and writing are exceptional as well. He is definitely ready for Kindergarten. He is one of our continual smilers and loves to tell a story, which always begins with "You know what?..." We love to listen to his expressive relating of what happened and when. You know what, Sean? Miss Judy and Miss Shannon love you!"

Here is Sean performing our favorite of his preschool songs. It's a song about a house with some spanish words. Pretty cute and funny!

And Sean by his life size painting. And Kyle with a ring pop that was supposed to bribe a tired two year old to sit quietly during the ceremonies. Didn't work so good with the play structure and tricycles around the corner. He did however end up finishing it...this is what happens when you give a pacifier loving boy a ring pop!

Sean with his family that got to enjoy the show!

* Kyle was still off playing.

Ryan during their last song about Forever Friends. He is the white shirt on the left ~ first row. The first grade studied different Habitats all year. They sang related songs and each class chanted their own acapela habitat song. Ryan's class did, "The wonderful thing about Tundras."

Then we took Grandma on a hike to Hidden Falls. Scott discovered this regional park on Mormon Helping Hands Day as he was responsible for coordinating and training (they cleared brush in an area that was known for having poison oak ~ luckily they got an area that wasn't badly infested)the 20 volunteers for our ward (There were two stakes involved in this particular park project...our stake provided 242 volunteers who collectively worked 955 hours!). It was a nice 3.1 mile round trip hike with a cute waterfall at the end.

My mom and I have always loved California Poppies. There were lots. Aren't they so happy?

Then Ryan had his last baseball game of the season and we enjoyed a Brain Freeze Yogurt before Grandma had to leave! It was a quick visit which Sean made sure we all knew! Sad but we had fun and we're going to be in Virginia in less than two weeks! Yipee!


Kyle was in particular heaven as he got to have his very own frozen yogurt for the first time. This is him saying, "Mmmmm."

And later that evening, we all went to walk around the Temple for our 11th Anniversary!

Memorial Day included planting our new fruit trees(Peach, lemon and mandarin) and enjoying the evening with a bit of kids in the pool and a BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

We had a great week loving life!

This video is of Sean singing, "Never Give Up" at his Preschool Graduation.

EIGHT!

On the way to church someone said one or two and Kyle started saying numbers! I think he said three, five and six...so we started promting. What a crack up! The kid will say most of the numbers from one to ten if you say the number preceeding it. Eight is his favorite. He even points to fingers. We were so amused! Hope you enjoy! *The first one you is longer so I couldn't upload directly onto blogger ~ but I think it's better.

From 2010_03_07

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM

is Kyle's favorite part of "The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry and the big hungry bear." This video picks up right after Boom, boom, boom.

This book has a partially hidden cat on each page - so you will see Sean and Kyle reading and finding the cat here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w2HRcIZewA

Kyle's tricks

Here are some of Kyle's tricks for our family far away! He's really fun. We love him so!

A few words I can think of that the moment ... which I didn't caption are: fish, no (used frequently), more, ball, touchdown, num-num (eating), food (phooe) and candy (da-dum - remarkably ~ this is exactly how Ryan used to say candy when he was learning to talk!). He nods his head for yes.

When he's said Eeee...he is looking/pointing at a porcelin Jesus figure with children...a spot that he thinks is his very own chair...with a mirror for him to admire himself in...all of the glass shelves and breakable treasures have been removed...thank goodness! It's his favorite spot. Luckily he doesn't try to move Jesus away...he just sits right next to him.

Enjoy:) I may add more later too...

Surpise dinner guests!

Elder Ryan and Elder Sean surprised us at the door this evening just before dinner(with a little help from Grandpa Motley). I had no idea what they were up to so when I answered the doorbell , I was so surprised and overcome with the cuteness of my boys!

They said they wanted have dinner and give us a message...which they totally did! I got it on real video...20 minutes worth of their role-play as missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

First of all, they were hilarious in their pretend roles which they carried on for so long...even though dinner! Elder Sean was from San Francisco and Elder Ryan was from China. Elder Sean said he loved to eat Shrimp at home (he loved some shrimp when we went to Bubba Gumps on Pier 39 last spring). Elder Ryan said he loved to eat Dumplings. Ryan told us about the Primary Program at church today and a little boy who talked about fasting for special help from Heavenly Father (speaking of none other than himself). But then also proceeded to tell us about the Book of Mormon and prophets and opened up the Scriptures to share a message with us. One of the best ideas ever. It was spiritual, adorable and hilarious all at the same time! At the end they shared their testimonies, right after giving us a coupon for a free frozen yogurt.


Thanks for the experience Grandpa Motley! It was a priceless evening!

Oompa Loompa

Bits and pieces of our life...I love it!

New homework boy. He's not had regular homework before so I'm pretty excited...though that excitement might wear off before long:)

Sean didn't want to be bored while big brother was busy doing his homework so he asked me to give him some homework too.

Ryan loves his handy hand sanitizer for his lunchbox.

I love these brownies. Kinda candybarish. Karen made them for Sunday and I've been addicted and now they are gone!

Bottom layer - brownie

Middle layer - frosting with real peanuts sprinkled

Top layer - rice crispy concoction with peanut butter and chocolate

Ohhh...the flavors and the crunch!

yum!

This is why I don't always bake...because I love to eat yummies!

*recipe from Karen Motley

You make a brownie mix just regular in a 9x13 pan and wait for it to cool completely. Then you spread vanilla creamy frosting over it, sprinkle 1 cup of coarsely chopped peanuts and refrigerate it while you do the rest. Then you melt 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 cup creamy peanut butter. When it is melted you stir in 3 cups of rice crispies. Then you pour that over the brownies and wait for it to cool. Store them covered.

Angel curls in the back of this angel head.

Lots of oompa loompa singing...sometimes there's a repetetive phrase stuck in of

"I got a golden ticket." over and over. Don't think it got on either of these clips..but his voice is hilarious... also funny if not funnier...is when he sings, "Chewing and chewing all day long...the way that a cow does." I'll have to keep trying. SO FUNNY!

standing and walking!

Saturday afternoon Kyle decided he wanted to stand up and walk. Despit the fact that he fell a bunch, he wasn't discouraged. It didn't make him mad or stop trying. I was laughing so hard because of his many biffs and this method was so different from both of my other boys when they learned to walk, I'd never seen anything like it! Up til now, Kyle will walk between people up to about 12 steps. He's decided to walk away from a table, leg or couch sometimes, but not frequently. He's still pretty wobbly and reverts to crawling a lot. Slowly gaining confidence and loves to use his walker. On the other hand, Ryan and Sean learned to walk pretty quickly after they learned to pull up to a couch or something. They'd always pull up on something and start from there...practice that enough until they were good at walking and standing up came naturally after they were stable on their feet. So when Kyle was doing this, I was surprised and super amused.

So here are videos from Saturday's standing/walking episode in succession. He still does it, with about the same results. Oh he's fun:)

Grandma and Grandpa time!

We were so lucky to get to spend some time with my parents these last few weeks! They both came for a long weekend before my dad had a conference in San Francisco...then we said goodbye to my dad for a few days while he worked in San Fran...and then we got to play with him again for another long weekend before he had to go home, but then my mom got to stay another week! Like always, we had great fun together!

The first night we packed a picnic and headed to the park to play some T-ball and let off some balloon rockets. It was a gorgeous evening! I get so nervous when hitting a pitched ball, so hitting of the T was relaxing and fun! We all took lots of turns!

Also, I'd spent one dollar on some rocket balloons to play with when Grandpa got here and it was the best dollar ever spent. You blow up a long balloon and release. So it goes up into the sky as it lets out its air, eventually coming down...who knew my kids would chase that balloon as it flew around and try to catch it! What a crack up! It was hilarious! Great entertainment, let me tell you! Even Kyle loved watching the commotion.

Then on Saturday after Ryan's ball game, we headed to Auburn for a little river hike and play.

It was so hot! (high 90s, seriously!)

I brought no water bottles!

What was I thinking?
It was spring...that's what I was thinking:)

So we ended up under the bridge in the shade by the freezing water.

And Kyle was fascinated.

Afterwards we headed to McDonalds for ice cream to cool us off ~ the promise when we were super hot and I had no water to offer!

Grandpa generously offered Kyle his cone leaving him a small mound and the cone. Hilarious! Why didn't I have my camera??? After his first few sucks and initial cold reaction, he realized how awesome it was and made the biggest squeal and smile! Then he was all business. So then the camera phones were brought out...but since he was serious about eating now, he wasn't showing off the smiles, just eating before anyone could take it away! Someone did take it to get the wrapper paper off, and Kyle didn't understand why...he was almost unconsolable. Until he got the cone back moments later and was still deeply offended.

It was so funny...initially when there was a small mound above the cone, he was literally nursing the ice cream cone. His face and nose got so red and cold!

Several days later...Picking up Grandpa in San Francisco!

We got to see Sea Lions and eat at Bubba Gump's.

Can you believe I went to SF and ate something not sourdough or clam chowder? I did and it was all super yummy. Sean ate and loved some seriously spicy shrimp. We did actually order some clam chowder to share...not their specialty. It was so funny, I asked if they had sourdough with the chowder...the waiter responded that they weren't civilized enough in that restaurant.

Launching the famous rocket balloons! Best dollar ever spent, I tell you!

After that we sadly had to say goodbye to Grandpa! My dad is so much fun, we were so bummed he had to leave! As the boys said goodbye to Grandpa, they called out from the van, "Have fun storming the castle!" (favorite quote of the trip - from The Princess Bride which they haven't seen but Grandpa taught them in a funny voice.) The next morning, Sean asked all of us (more than once) if we missed Grandpa too!

But, my mom got to stay and play with us! It was so nice having a built in helper around too! Kyle didn't have to be woken up from his naps when Ryan had to be to school. I got to Visit Teach without kids in tow twice! We watched Ryan's games, went shopping, went on walks, and ran some errands (twice as fast if someone can stay in the car with kids!). It was so nice!

The next weekend we headed to Discovery Kingdom in the rain! As we left our home and it was pouring (California style pouring isn't that bad, but quite wet nonetheless.)...we stopped at Wal-mart for some kid umbrellas and wondered what we were doing...but we had the best day with barely even a sprinkle! We got to do so much because there were no lines! Scott and I even rode a roller coaster together! The shows were super amazing. Both the dolphin and orca whale shows were more spectacular this visit. Shouka, our orca whale flipped and hit a high suspended ball with her tail! It was amazing! It was so tall! You just wouldn't have believed it!

Kyle loved the music and clapping.

This lion was beautiful! The dark, Scar like mane was so striking! Plus, I don't think I've ever seen a male lion so close before! The lions are always sleeping and hiding far away...especially at the National Zoo, which I love, but the big cats were always so hard to see. This guy even made a tiny grumble for us to hear...i'm sure it wasn't provoked by Ryan trying to roar at him!

The walrus. The funniest animal on the planet. Bizarre really.



It is enormous. It's head is tiny compared to it's body... and the head can be in so many different positions. Wierd I tell you! And we didn't even get to see it eat this time! That is a whole other story...legendary in our family (from three years ago).

A great white shark jaw...must have been a baby Great white.















Tropical Butterflies! This particular butterfly was my favorite, but in real life, the wings never stopped fluttering! I have several pictures of blurred wings because it never rested. I got lucky on this shot. I loved the yellow abdomen and red thorax with green irridescent scales on one side, yellow and black on the other. Neat.

Riding Clarabell.

Then we got to go out to dinner with one of Scott's old mission companions! He was in town from Oregon, so we got to meet up and it was so nice to visit and meet some of his family!

Thanks mom and dad for coming to visit us! We all had so much fun and loved our visit! I am so lucky to have such great parents. Love you! Can't wait to come to your house next!