ifly

This is David flying. He's FLYING!!! My Peter Pan...

Covergirls

I just had four amazing days with one of my best friends ever. We have know each other since 6th grade when my family moved to Rifle CO. Her wonderful husband surprised her with a ticket out here and didn't tell her where she was going until she was going through the security check at the airport! She was completely surprised. It was the best present to BOTH of us! We realized that with her coming here, we have hit most of the major cities in the US together including New York, Honolulu, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Denver, and now San Francisco.

We, thanks to my wonderful husband who let me ditch him and the kids, crammed in as much as we possibly could into those 4 days. We went to the SF ballet Nutcracker which was utterly amazing, Point Reyes lighthouse, the Golden Gate Bridge, along with several other "must see" San Francisco sights, shopping, yummy restaurants, and of course, IFLY! I made David come with us to fly. It was so awesome!! I can not get over the fact that I can fly! It was so fun.

There's just something so wonderful about hanging with old friends. Kelly just charges my battery. She makes me laugh so hard and reminds me who I am by reminding me who I was before kids and a husband and college degrees and responsiblities! We used to wear parachute pants together and lust after Kevin Bacon. My whole family was just in heaven having her around. She gave my girls some great book recommendations, taught them to make amazing snowflakes, patiently admired ALL of Karsten's toys that he showed her one by one...

The joke of her trip was that our heater broke and it was right when we hit a cold spell. The first night she was here we woke up to our house being 52 degrees!!! I was horrified. No one could come and fix it until the following week. We were freezing the whole time we were in the house, constantly wearing our jackets, hats, etc.

Yes indeed, thank you Jim!!!

Here's to Covergirls Forever!!

Eve

We're ready for Santa!

Believe

Yes, I opened the already sealed letter. Is this not the cutest letter? Santa really is one of the best people on earth.

Raider Nation

My first Raiders Game! It's quite significant because the Raiders have always been my team - even when I lived in Colorado and got a lot of flack for not being a Bronco fan... What can I say, the Raiders have the best uniforms! (I guess that probably just gave away how truly dedicated I am to the game...) Anyway, David got free tickets and so I couldn't resist. Rain or shine I was going to the game! I shouldn't have said that because it was rain. Lots of rain. In fact it rained the whole time. Watching the game live was so exciting until 1. I looked at the score and we were losing bad - 41 to 14. 2. For no apparant reason, they'd stop playing the game and just stand around and wait (I guess that's when there's TV commercials). And 3. I think when you watch the game on TV, there are lots and lots of words that many many people are yelling that get edited out. I like those edits. And then for the "spectacular" half-time show they had this guy and his dogs doing tricks, only the dog missed almost all of the frisbees! I made it through one quarter when I decided it was time to go home.

I don't have any pictures which is good because David and I were sporting quite the outfits. David had actual rain pants on! I was so embarrassed. But then he'd look at me and start laughing because with my four layers of clothing, I didn't look too hot either. We fell asleep on the BART ride home and I bet we looked like a homeless couple trying to get out of the rain.

In spite of all this (or maybe because) David and I had a wonderful afternoon together. Between our outfits, the rain, the dogs, and the crazy Raider fans, we couldn't stop laughing.

I'm glad I live in Raider Nation!

Super K

Karsten is 4! Which means (according to things he's been telling us he'll do when he's 4) that he'll no longer cry, he'll clear his dishes after eating, and he'll buckle himself in his car seat. He's so funny and it's so fun seeing this little boy he's turning into!

So my super guy had a Superman birthday party on Saturday. He invited all his super hero friends to the park and we had so much fun! The kids all went through "super hero training" and after they passed they earned their capes. We had an obstacle course where they had to crawl through a tunnel, run through a kyrponite maze, do a fancy jump (off a ladder) and throw balls at the "bad guys." And what did we serve for lunch? Hot dogs of course. Cause that's what super heros eat according to Karsten. It was so cute seeing them run around in their capes. Karsten had a special cape made by Aunt JaNece. It's so cute!

Sunday was Karsten's actual birthday. He was so excited to open all his presents. He'd start opening one and say, "What is it? What is it?" before the paper was even off. For dinner he just wanted to eat cake and ice cream (which really means frosting and ice cream since he won't eat the cake - just the frosting) so we had to convince him to go eat somewhere. (Not the best weekend to lose electricity in our kitchen...)

This was him four years ago! He was the cutest little baby. And so adored by his sisters.

We're so thankful for Karsten in our family! For introducing us into the world of trains and cars, dirt and grime, and melting all of our hearts with his smile and funny phrases.

Who's the Man??

You know those super cool Dads who take their kids to school and are able to take them to birthday parties - even if they're in the middle of the week? Well, today David was "that" Dad. It was so awesome! After a grueling week, (actually month, actually several months...) where he has been working super late, and looooong hours (including one overnigher!), he took the day off and just hung out with me and did Daddy duty. We were able to go to Karsten's preschool for his special birthday celebration day, he took Karsten to a fire station birthday party this morning, and dropped Skyla off at school. And wow - life is so much easier when there are two functioning parents! Picking up the girls from school was so easy since there's no parking - EVER - he was able to pull in a driveway while I jumped out and got the girls. I was able to be home and take care of our electrical problems (our stove AND microwave haven't been working since Saturday) while he took Karsten to a birthday party. Taking the kid's friends home after a playdate? No problem - I didn't have to load up all the kids in the car. They stayed home and ate dinner with DAD while I drove the other kids home. How would I have done that without him? After such a wonderful day like today I wonder how I mange without him??? It was especially wonderful to have time alone with him after a non-stop weekend. Between Karsten's birthday, his Superman birthday party, taking the girls to a dance concert, Sierra's first orchestra violin performance, the Jack London electric yacht parade, our kitchen electrical problems, taking dinner to someone, and a primary activity all rolled into 3 days, I've been teetering on exhaustion. And then today happened... Thanks for the jump start honey!

And guess what else - he dressed up as Moses to help out the primary on Sunday. I love this guy!!!
David with some other cool "prophet" dads...

Last year after hearing a father play the guitar while his two daughters played the violin at the ward Christmas party, I was a changed person. It was so beautiful and touching it suddenly dawned on me that my girls needed to play the violin! I immediately got them going on violin lessons. Skyla decided it was a bit too much practising since she already had to do piano (piano lessons are free so they're not optional), but Sierra fell in love. She's been doing it for less than a year and yet last Sunday she was able to perform in sacrament meeting. It was so beautiful. She played with her teacher, another incredible violinist in the ward, one of her friends, and one of the daughters that originally inspired me. I videotaped it (in church, I know! Is that bad??) and one day when I learn to edit my videotapes, I'll post it. Hopefully you can hear it from all my sniffling. Yes, I was crying. I'm so proud of her! This Sunday she performed with the Villa Sinefora Orchestra in San Francisco. She memorized 8 songs in 3 weeks to be able to do this. I love this about Sierra - once she puts her mind on something there is nothing to stop her. She is an amazing little girl!

Now I just have to work on the next part of my dream to work - David playing the guitar...

Reality Check

I wish I had the know-how of Super Nanny, the patience of Mary Poppins, and the ability to laugh off everything. Instead, this is what my kids have gotten lately...
Why is it that the people in our lives that mean the absolute most often times get the short end of the stick??? Time for change. And I don't need to go see a wizard to know what I need. :)

Star

No Christmas tree is complete without the perfect star to go on top...

Don't Ask

Just get a good laugh for the day...

Fancy Food and Friends

With this being our pie selection, you can only imagine how good the rest of dinner was! This was our third year of being able to celebrate with the Dullums and as always it was just like being with family. We had so much yummy food and laughter. We had a bit of a panic moment when the turkey finished cooking a whole two hours early thanks to Marianna's fancy convection oven. I had to hurry to get my part of dinner ready as soon as possible. We arrived at their house at the time we originally planned on meeting even though I was trying to get there early (which Nathan informed me means I was late.) But it all worked out and couldn't have tasted better.

After dinner we started gearing up for Christmas by watching "Elf" - one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. The girls made friendship bracelets and jewelry together while the boys found the loudest trucks possible to drive around the house. It's occasions like this that I wonder what we do without our dear friends. Thanks Nathan, Marianna, Adri, Kyla, and Owen!

Part-Time Job

So when I figure in all my Twilight hours this week, it's like I have had a part-time job! Watching the movie (twice) including waiting time (turns out we didn't need to be there early but it was so dang fun!) took 7 hours. Reading Midnight Sun (the online version of Edward's story) took another 3 hours. Another 3 hours for the after party where we could continue to talk and analyze after the movie as well as the phone calls to my sister and best friend from high school add in another couple of hours. Let's round (down) and add in one more hour from reading stuff on Stephenie Meyer's website, looking at those very hot Vanity Fair pictures, and other online searches and that brings my total to 16 hours in 4 days! This is ridiculous! No wonder everything else in my life is lacking from attention...

My fellow co-workers

I'm sorry family! I'll make it up to you! I'm quitting this part-time job - it doesn't pay very well. (At least I'll try really really hard to...) And I'll clean the house as soon as I finish reading this one last thing on Stephenie's website (all while I am listening to the Twilight playlist - also on her website...)

Dang it - add another 30 minutes that I just wasted looking for pictures to put on this post. It's so easy to get distracted!!! I'm going to go do the dishes NOW!!

Fully Loaded

I am driving by myself with my three darling children to Utah today. I've done it before, however this time is going to be different because I am fully loaded. Here is what I have for this trip that I did not have for my last...

A cell phone (Yeah!!!!)

A GPS (David puts it very nicely when he says I'm "directionally challenged." I now have the tool to correct my disability.)

A working DVD player (ours broke the last trip. So I upgraded to a dual screen. The girls can sit in the back and watch while Karsten can sit by himself in the middle. Splitting them up guarantees less fighting...)

A working DVD player WITH enough headphones for all kids (amazing concept)

A working stereo (ours hasn't worked since Karsten decided to play the "slots" with the CD player and put quarters in it.)

Ipod (which I can hook up with our new stereo and play my music or podcasts... Awesome!)

As quoted from one of my favorite movies, Napolean Dynamite:

"I love technology. Yes I love technology, not as much as you you see, but still I love technology, Always and forever, Always and forever."

Now if I can just not get a ticket...

Historic

I am so proud of my country.

Hike canceled

The weather has been gorgeous for two months - literally. So of course the one and only weekend that me and my girlfriends could do a big hike I've by dying to do, it pours rain. So our 34 miler was cancelled, but that didn't stop us from having an adventuous girlfriend weekend! Instead of hiking,

THIS was our adventure...

A Calistoga mud bath! Yes, it was scary and stinky but it felt oh so good. Add to that some shopping at the Napa Outlets, some yummy food, hot tubbing, a midnight munchy run, and lots and lots of talking and laughing and we had a perfect girls weekend! Thanks to four wonderful hubbies who know our sanity relies heavily on these rare getaways.

Happy Halloween!

The Cowgirl and her cow dog Aspen

The Dead dog (missing in this picture is her best friend Adri - a Dead explorer. Get it - an explorer and her dog?)

Superman!

It was a weird Halloween. David and my costume did not arrive in time for our party, we didn't make it to a pumpkin patch (and barely found a pumpkin from Safeway!), I had a hard time reconciling the fact that my daughter wanted to be a dead dog (but I have to give her credit for making the entire costume from head to toe!) but I must say that today was a successful Halloween! The 2nd graders didn't throw up at my severed finger treat, we had our traditional Halloween pancakes for breakfast (in the shape of a bat, pumpkin, and witch) even though the kids had to be at school at 8:30, I made my dinner in a pumpkin, and the kids got so much candy they could hardly carry it home. Karsten's candy was literally falling out of his bucket it was so full. Success! We had fun trick or treating with the Dullum's and thoroughly enjoyed Marianna's homemade carmel apples after our hard work of walking around with the kids.

And yet at the end of the day am I left wondering, where are all the Almond Joys? Is that not a popular candy anymore?

Happy Halloween!

Bridge School Benefit Concert

David called it the best concert ever and I agree. Seven hours, 8 bands (including Jack Johnson, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco, and of course Neil Young who organizes this event), tons of yummy food while hanging out on a blanket in the grass at the Shoreline Amphitheater with great friends - you can't beat it! David and I went for the first time last year and

loved it so much. All the proceeds from this concert go to this school that has a program for the communicative and education development of children with severe speech and physical impairments. The scary moment of the night came when we're piled into the car with our four friends (it was just like back in the high school days when everyone piled in the car to go somewhere - luckily with less making out this time...), cruising down the highway when I realized I forgot the tickets!!! I thought David would be happy that I remembered then rather than when we got there, an hour away. He didn't quite see it that way but he did forgive me AND he was able to hear the opening song by Neil Young himself. All in all, a truly great night!