Our Christmas Miracle

Richards car was found tonight- not even 24 hours, isn't that amazing!  Thank you all for your prayers- I know I felt them today!  Adam gave some of the best prayers today-he prayed that the police would find the car- then all day he just kept saying things like- well when they find Daddys car- such faith!  When we got the call that the car was found Adam prayed again and thanked Heavenly Father so sweetly for helping the police find the car! I feel so blest and so grateful for prayer!

Urgent

Sorry some of you are going to see this 3 times, but I want to get the word out to everyone I know.
Richards car was stolen from our driveway last night!  When you are driving around Chico if you see a burgundy Ford Fusion license plate 6JWW825 with a Chico State Alumni license plate frame and a blood source ribbion on the back please call the Chico PD!  I figure the more eyes the better!  Thanks-

The Debut of "Kenzie" by Alisa

So I love making holiday dresses for Kenzie- this year I was having a really hard time finding a pattern that I liked.  They were either not dressy enough or way too dressy like flowergirl type dresses- So I asked my friend Alisa who designs clothes to design Kenzie a Christmas Dress.  So here is the sketch she gave me of Kenzies dress. 


And here is the finished dress-I had a really hard time finiding material- because I had apicture in my head of what I wanted and I just couldn't find the material I thought would work.  I finally found this plaid-(which I am totally in love with plaid right now!) I think it turned out so cute, and I love how her boots look with it~ there is a few things I would have altered if I had the time, but I didn't so here it is!

I made the boys matching vest, but haven't gotten their pic yet, but I need to-they looked so cute!!

Getting Goosed

I was playing duck, duck, goose with Adam and he says "I will only duck Andrew, I wont goose him."

Got Milk?

Cheeeeeese

I wanted a new "park" family photo- I have one in my bedroom that we took when Adam was a few weeks old so it is definatly time for an update.  We went to the park after church on Sunday and got these 4 cute pics in about 15 mins-when does that ever happen?  Which one should I get framed for my wall?

Kenzie and her class at Turtle Bay

Thursday Kenzies class took a field trip to the museum at Turtle Bay-and we only saw 1 turtle!  It is a really cool museum along the Sacramento River.  They have an small aqaurium type area that shows what kind of fish are in the Sacramento River, and there are some huge fish in there!  Her class was there to hear a presentation on the Wintu Indians, it was intersting, but a very long hour of sitting for 1/2 graders!  There are two galleries there that are always changing.  While we were there there was a lego sculpture exhibt, which sounds silly, but it was totally cool!  The other one was called "The Scoop on Poop" which also sounds pretty weird, but was quit interesting, and that is right up 1/2 graders alley!  We ran out of time for them to walk across Sundial bridge which I think is totally cool.  I would like to take the rest of the family there to check it out!  They have some native animals there to check out to including a porcupine.  It was really fun, but a really really long day, even for me!

Entering Turtle Bay, the rock looking things behind the grass are turtle status-the kids of course though they were stepping stones!  They have a tank that is about 6ft high and you can see all the different kinds of fish.

There whole class got to sit in this bark house, that is a replica of how Wintu Indians lived-I didn't think they would all fit, it is a good thing they are little! Kenzie on the right with her friends Gracie and Chancee, yes all the "eees" (Grac-ie, Chanc-ee and Kenz-ie) rode in my car-quite an adventure, but they did really good for being the car for an hour and a half there, and an hour and a half back!

This was one of my favorite parts, all of the things in this room are made out of legos, it was really neat. There were quite a few that were portraits I thought those were actually the coolest because they weren't 3-D, like you would expect Legos to be.  Most of them were really big and a few of them were kinda illusion like, they just looked like one thing until you looked closer.

Like this one just looks like a bunch of people walking, but I though that has to be something because of the way the color was done on the people, so I kept moving around and finally I bent down and when I got at a certain height then the "eye" just popped out.  It is funny how after you know it is there, I can totally see it in the picture on the left and I tool that picture before I thought there must me more to the piece!

All in all it was really fun, I just wish we had had more time-definatly a place to visit again!

Halloween 2009

Okay-so I have finally sat down for two minutes so here is Halloween finally!

We started our day with visiting some of the cute old people that love our kids and had special "Halloween treats" for them-then we hit the DownTown Trick or Treat-which of course is really crowded and it reminds me that every year I say we are not gonna do this-and then I forget until we are there-  anyway it was also a little difficult for the kids to manuver around in there costumes with so many people, and it was HOT-well maybe not 100* hot, but for October it was warm- I had made the kids long sleeved black costumes! 

Anyway their costumes turned out way cute!  They were race car drivers, and more specifically they wanted to look like Heather Bartlett, who is a local girl that races at the Silver Dollar Speedway- she met us downtown so we could get some pics with her! It was really fun!

After downtown we headed to Grandmas to show off the costumes and then to Richards parents for "pumpkin pizza"!  Which reminded me we forgot to go to Papa Murphys to get the kids pizza-don't tell Kenzie we forgot, she still hasn't remembered and she will be so upset if she realized we forgot-that to her is almost as good as the candy!  By the time we made it Trunk or Treat at the church Kenzie just wanted to hand out the candy.  Adam went to 3 cars and then wanted to go hand out candy with Kenzie.  So they sat in the back of Richards parents car and handed out candy, Andrew was asleep in the car, so I got to go walk around and visit and take pictures-it was pretty fun!

Hehehe

So I was blog surfing and stole this from a friend of a friends blog-she said it was from a newspaper in San Fran-  I think it is as funny as when my dad had a local produce area in his store, and people would come in, in March asking if we had any fresh corn yet? ummm the ground is to wet to even plant it yet?!? 

Thats what I get-

So I learned my lesson about trying to keep up with Diane! So yesterday I took pics of Adam fingerpainting and put them on my blog-and forgot to put the memory card to my camera back in my camera- um kinda a necessary piece of the picture taking puzzle. I realized it when I was walking down the hall of Kenzies School getting ready for their costume parade- I saw Diane with her video camera-and camera and it hit me- my memory card was at home! UGH! So I told Diane to gimmie her camera, and I would take pics while she filmed-because her last post was all about trying to do both at her sons football game, and then her older sons cross country meet and pretty much missing everything- I told her it was her fault, since I was blogging more, and so I was gonna take pictures of my kids with her camera! I took pics of her boys too!! They are not the greatest in the world- right when our kids where coming this lady stood right in front of me- I said I am trying to take a picture, and she moved over a little, and after our kids went by she went down the hall--oh well- So here is Kenzie in the parade! Thanks Diane for e-mailing me the pics and letting me use your camera- I owe ya some picture taking!!

Fingerpainting and a Sneak Peak-

So here is a sneak peak of Adams Halloween Costume-Do you know what he is?! (Can you tell that whatever he is, he loves it!) Hopefully it will be finished by Halloween!! So these pictures are in reverse order and I don't feel like fixing them right now, so here is the finished project of Adams fingerpainting adventure- I have never done fingerpainting with the kids before because I always felt like there is always so much mess to clean up, why create more on purpose! But I saw this cute idea, and figured what the heck! Adam was awesome, only painting on his paper and mostly with his fingers, there was some hand/palm action toward the end, but oh well- So for all of you out there like me-just do it, it will be fun and they will love it!!

Adams pumpkin-I tried to get him to put a face on it, but he just liked tearing the tissue paper and putting huge puddles of glue on the paper

Yes-I put newspaper on my table, although I think the paint would have washed off no prob- I was going to get one of Richards old shirts to put on Adam, but didn't, and he didn't need it afterall.

Orange fingers!

Keeping up with Diane

So do you think if I stay on the top of Dianes blogroll, she will give me a prize everyday! JK-I was trying to figure out why I really don't post much and I realized it was because of my camera-my laptop doesn't have a slot for my memory card, so I always have to dig out the cord connect it to the computer blah blah, you know the drill, but then today I remembered-Richard bought a USB plug to stick our card into without having to do all of the other "camera Stuff" are you so excited now I can post pictures of crazy things my kids do like this!Andrew loves to play outside, so when the weather is nice I leave the back door open and he just goes outside and plays-usually he just pushes his little tractor around-but today I caught him doing this-climbing into the stroller all by himself-
He also decided that it would be fun to take the roll of tp and drag it out of the bathroom and down the hallway-I thought it was hillarious and started taking pictures, Richard on the other hand did not think it was so funny!!

I want Dianes Prize

I am only posting this so Diane will give me a prize! Although Diane is great and watches my boys every week so I can work in Kenzies class, and I love that she always updates her blog because i love reading it, and my kids love dancing to her music, so really Diane you should get a prize, although I already owe her a prize from my silly post in the spring about making people stuff (which I will still do by the way-you will just get them the week before my year is up!) So I guess that Diane should get two prizes, what I wanna know is how you get your pics loaded so fast- I take pictures, but then have to find the cord, etc, etc- and by then Andrew has usually grabbed at the computer and hit the power button-Anyway If I get the prize I would just like some of your tips on how you update you blog so faithfully, but I'd settle for a Reese cup!! PS- Have you heard the new Hooker Oak gossip?!? Call or FB me when you get home, cuz I wanna know what you have heard!!

PS-Eventhough I want your prize I think Becky should get it for staying up all night just so you would have a post when you got up this morning :)

Mobile and Movin'

So Andrew has found his walking feet and is already moving so fast! He loves picking things up and carrying them around with him! He is such a happy boy, and always gives us so many reasons to smile! So check out his fancy footwork, just ignore my crazy laughing!

Parental Advice

I am just curious if any of you parents of school aged kids have your kids or know people that have their kids in a charter school. Kenzies school is thinking about becoming a charter school. I have mixed feeling about it because it is coming from a group of parents, which I am sure is how most charters start. They are saying that it is to keep the integrity of the school and the Open Structure Program, but I felt there was also some heat toward the new princple. We had a meeting the other night to learn info of how charters work. For a school with about 420 students only about 30 parents where there. They had a panel there to answer questions. A former principle of a charter school, a lawyer, and a couple of reps from the District. I felt like the former principle really stressed how it took the parents really working together to make it work. So if only 30 parents were there at the meeting, does it really sound like there is much support for the idea? At the end I really just felt like it meant I would have to do a lot more to help the school run- don't get me wrong I love being involved- I work in Kenzies class, I am on the Parent Advisory Board- and support all school functions that are in my ability to do- I just don't know how much more I can do. And will it turn into one of those things that everyone will say ya it sounds like a good idea, but when push comes to shove it will be the same 15-20 people doing everything?! Any thoughts and experiences would be great to her, they have to have signature from "prospective" students parents by Oct. 7th-so I need to decide soon, and who knows if it will really even happen, but I really just want to be as informed as possible!

Welcome Home Elder Chittock

Elder Chittock getting off the plane! He saw all of us and the sign and balloons and just shook his head- he is not much for "making a scene"

Kyle and my Mom, she has actually gotten better each time- with me she was halfway down the walkway to the plane- my brother Nic was after 9-11 so we couldn't go to the gate, but he still barley made it out of security before she grabbed him. Kyle she actually let get off the escalator and walk toward us before she ran!

"THE Sign"

Kenzie and Braeden have been so excited for Uncle Kyle to come home, they kept watching out the window for his plane!


The whole gang! The lady that we asked to take the picture said, let me guess it must be a reunion! It was funny!

So my youngest brother returned home from his mission this past Wednesday. I told Richard that is makes me feel really old! Anyway we were on our way to the airport and we got a call from my mom that his flight was coming in early. I was so upset because even planning to be there almost an hour early- we pulled up 10 minutes before his plane was supposed to land- but of course it all worked out, and Kenzie, Adam, and thier cousins Chloe and Braeden got to hold up the "Welcome Home" sign that was way bigger than they were! We spent the last few days hanging out in Rough & Ready with family!! Fun times! It has been so cool to have Kyle on his mission as an example to my kids, they talked about it all the time- Kenzie even started telling her teacher at school when he was coming home, where he had been, and what he was doing! IT was pretty cute. After he got off the plane and we all gave him our hugs and welcome homes, Adam looks at me and says, "Mom is uncle kyle a missionary?" I said yes remember he was a missionary in Florida- then he walks over to my brother and says- Uncle Kyle I didn't know they had missionaries in Florida! I thought that was funny, but then thought in his 3 year old mind-missionaries are the guys that come to our house for dinner, and that is the only place that he has seen them! It was fun to hear some of his stories about Florida rain- and to see the great skills he picked up while he was gone! It is fun to have him home, but I am so grateful for him and his decision to serve a mission!

Our Weekend

We had the most AWESOME Labor Day weekend except for- I forgot to charge the battery for the camera so we have NO pictures! Just memories! We went to Pleasanton to the Highland (Scottish) Games. Richards family has been going ever year since he can remember, and now we go. It is two days of bagpipes, highland dancers, sheep dogs, bagpipes, concerts, english food, did I mention the bagpipes?!? My kids, especially Adam, loves bagpipes- we walked in the front gate, and he heard bagpipes and just walked toward them-it was so funny.
We camp the whole weekend. This year was so fun, because most of Richards family was also camping with us- so the cousins got to spend lots of time togther and we just got to visit, and eat and eat and eat because Richard is a mad camping chef!! Richards sister Lisa took pics, so I asked her to mail me a few, so hopefully I will have some! But even without pictures to remember it by-it was a great weekend!

My Cool Husband and Kiddos!

Richards brother Dave- "uncle dave" came out from Georgia for 10 days and since that only happens about once a year- we usually have a "jones" family reunion of sorts! So this year we had a couple of family dinners and also went to the Kirshner Wildlife Foundation in Durham. I have always wanted to go there and it is so cool- I will post pics of the cool animals they have there later- they even have a Liger (it's like my favorite animal).

They also have some really cool reptiles- one of which is this Boa named Shimmer which my kids loves and all held! Notice who there is not a picture of- their "not so found of snakes" mother. I petted her, but had no desire to give her a shoulder ride!

The first day of school pics!

Miss Second-Grade!! Kenzie was so excited to start school and be in second grade! She seemed to have everthing planned out- she had layed out school clothes about 2 weeks ago, made sure that her alarm was set, and that her bike was ready so she could ride on the first day! Adam of course wanted to go too! He still asks almost every half an hour if we can go pick up Kenzie!

Adams Wisdom part II

So today Richard, my friend Sabrina and I were having a conversation about some Gospel topics as we were driving around Chico- we had a pause in the conversation and from the back seat we hear- "ya and people with saws make trees fall down" Again perfectly logical sentence, but made no sense whatsoever to what we were talking about! I guess he figures he has to get his two cents in somehow!

Adam the Amazing

So Adam said something so funny Sunday and I said I need to write that down- but I didn't and now I forgot what it was! The other day though we were going to some friends house and he fell asleep and we woke him up and he shared this bit of wisdom with us-
"Dad if you didn't wake me up, I would still be sleeping" It sounds quite locigal, but coming from a 3 year old, seconds after he woke up was hillarious!
On the 4th of July I showed up at Richards parents to see Adam doing this- all by himself- when I am there I always "request" (ok demand) that there is a spotter in the water to help him to the side. So when I saw him climb on the diving board and Richard was at the bbq- I was like hey wait Adam - and Richard says oh he has been doing that by himself for the last hour- Dads!

An update

Okay- so I should have written this 2 weeks ago when it happened-but that is the way I seem to be going lately- A day late and a dollar short- but anyways- This is an update to the Irked post, so for those of you who have no desire to read it skip today and tune in for tomorrow- when I want to write a post about the funny things Adam has been saying lately!

So first off I wanted to clarify a few things that may have been left out from my "Irked" post as it was written in haste- I hope that no one got the idea that I was speaking ill about the Bishop I was referring to (which isn't my current Bishop either) anyway I loved that Bishop and love the Bishop I have now! I know that they are both men that have a desire to serve the Lord, and most importantly serve the people that they have been given sterwardship over- they are truly wonderful men and I in no means meant to question or doubt the Bishop by any means- I was just confused by the situation.
So thank you all for your comments- and you all mostly said I should go speak to the Bishop- so I was all set to do so, but then during church a couple of sundays ago I sat thinking about it and had this feeling that I didn't need to talk to him because I did nothing wrong- I hope I am not sounding proud or self righteous, but if I offended someone it wasn't my intent at all and that person chose to be offened, but not tell me- therefore I cannot fix it. It of course makes me sad, because like I said I had no intent of offending somone and would love to apopogize and make the situation better, but with the information I have been given I really can't do anything more- so with that said I have totally felt that situation has been lifted from my back and I haven't thought about it again! It was such a peaceful feeling that followed that thought that it brought a smile to my face! It is amazing how the spirit works and helps us to feel peace in a time of what to me was frustration and despair. Thanks to all of you for listening and being my friends! Love you all!!

4th of July

So I didn't get any pictures of our 4th of July festivities- but my friend Diane did- so if you want to see really cute and super fun pictures of her kids and mine swimming check out her blog- it is under my blogging buddies, hers is titles Lifes a Pitch- you will have to scroll down a little past her post bragging about her daughter Melanee- although she has a lot to brag about she plays soccer for Souther Virginia University and is super awesome!
So we went to Richards parents and went swimming and ate BBQ- gotta love the Traeger! Then we went to the races, they have fireworks afterward and that is the only place you can see them is Chico- Kenzie absoutly loved them- her reaction was somewhere between laughing and screaming! It was so fun to watch, and so cool to watch from so close up!
It was a super fun and busy day- Kenzie had a hard time getting going this morning!!

Fun Family Pics

On Memorial Day we went to Burney Falls. I remember going there as a kid, but I don't remember it looking so spectacular- this picture doesn't really show the falls, but I think it is a sweet picture of the fam. We took the "scenic route" home by way of susanville- it was a long loop around, but then we stopped and checked out Deer Creek falls on our way down Hwy 32. Again not a spectacular picture of the falls, in fact you can barely see them behind us, but another cute family pic!