Handsome Henry Photo Shoot

In preparation for Henry's Baptism I took him downtown to the Capital Building for a photo shoot. He is such a great subject and such a great kid. So fun to see how grown up he has gotten and to enjoy hanging out with him. One of his best friends, Skyler, turned 8 a couple of weeks before Henry and went with us to take his photos at the same time. It was great to get some shots of the two of them together. 

Funny moments

Finn gives me some good laughs these days. 

Taking him shopping is always an adventure, like when he picked up these nice salt and pepper shakers and said, "Oh cool- nocular glasses."

 He also claimed he could see me through them... not that I believed him.

He also loves to do things himself, so he is often putting on other people's shoes since they are easier for him. One day I was telling him to get his shoes on to play outside with his brothers and he said, "I don't need my shoes. I will just wear these punkins."

 My crazy Wyatt has gotten crazier than ever, and comes home from preschool with the silliest antics. He wore his Groundhogs Day hat around for several days, and he doesn't not like me to throw away a single scrap of paper that comes home from school.

 On an overly warm February day I convinced Gavin to climb up on the roof to get the Christmas lights down. Since we don't have a ladder that reaches all the way up, it requires a small boost from the top step of the ladder. Gav has mastered it, but Henry really wanted to get up there. He finally told me he was too scared and didn't want to, so I left, only to find him a few minutes later sitting dejectedly and close to tears. This made me do what any good mom should and force him to get on the roof... and it was one of his happiest moments while he stood on top of the ladder with legs trembling. Now he knows he can do whatever Gavin does though.

A quick ABQ weekend

In January I went to the dentist to get a filling fixed and found out I needed a root canal... not the best news and totally unexpected. After consulting my brother, an Albuquerque dentist, I decided to fly out there a week later and have him fix the tooth for me. So I left Caleb and the boys at home and headed to Albuquerque.

The plus side was getting to spend a day with my parents and brother and sister. 

Started to the day with a run in the snow and rain with Dad. I love the chances that we get to run together a few times a year. 

 I spent the rest of the day in the dental chair and running errands and such with Duane. It was good to hang out and good to see the practice he is buying, and the root canal and crown wasn't actually as horrid as some stories I have heard, so that was good too.

We finished the day off with some very tasty New Mexican food, and I was actually even able to chew food that night. Good times. It is always nice to hang out with my family.

 I don't have the best luck flying places for short weekends... on the way there my flight was cancelled, and I almost thought I wouldn't be going, but then a nice airline employee got me a seat on another airline and I made it even earlier than I would have arrived. On the way home, I got to the airport to find out that my flight was going to be delayed 3-4 hours and my connecting flight was cancelled. Fun times. Somehow I made it home only a few hours later than I would have arrived, but I got my share of flight issues that weekend.

Junior Jazz

Gavin and Henry played Junior basketball this winter and both had a great time. Henry still just has one game a week with no practice, but he did get out and shoot some hoops in the driveway and his skills seemed to improve. He had several baskets during his games and also quite a few rebounds.

 Gavin got to play with his good friend Matthew and improved a lot during the season, especially since he finally learned to use his height a bit on defense... and actually learned a few things about what it means to play defense. Watching his games is getting to be exciting at times.

Finn was not a fan of his brother's playing basketball and spent a lot of time crying at the games and throwing a fit. This was one classic moment where he was trying to get his mouth close enough to bite me. Good times.

Whale Watching off Balboa Island

One of the most memorable days of our trip was the morning that we decided to go on a whale watching cruise. We had looked up all of the stats and there had been a lot of sighting of whales and dolphins the day before, so it seemed like a fun chance. We were all very excited to head out on the boat.

 For the first while things went great. We even road down in the boat for a while to get out of the wind, since it seemed that the weather was changing to become a bit stormy on that day.

 These kids were having a great time and the first thing we saw was a large school on common dolphins. It was beautiful. They way they would just appear and jump out of the dark water. There were all sizes and they seemed to love swimming right along the side of the boat. We had convinced the kids to go up one more level so that there was a higher rail between them and the water since things got pretty bumpy and rough.

 After watching the dolphins for a long time is when things started to take a turn. The boat was headed farther out to sea in search of some whales and it ended up being a lot of searching. A few more people tried to go back below deck, but soon realized that it was too warm and nauseating, so most headed upstairs to endure the wind. Before long with no whales to watch, even those in the wind started to feel a bit sick, and when most of us were above, we suddenly saw Stacy come running up the stairs to garbage can to throw up. Before long out came a very sick Wyatt who had fallen asleep and then woke up long enough to throw up on the table. Caleb cleaned that up and we all decided it was better to stay upstairs for everyone. Luckily, Aubrey had a bottle of peppermint in her bag and we kept passing it around to smell and rub a little on. That may have been the only thing that kept everyone else from throwing up. It was a rough hour or so back with many other passengers also getting sick. 

By the time we took a short walk to the car, most everyone felt better, but some of the sick feelings hung on for a few people all day. And in the end there were no whales to be seen. It was an adventure that none of us will soon forget.

Laguna Beach and Crystal Cove

There are few things that feel as refreshing as sunshine on the beach in January. It was not overly warm, but that never stops the kids from getting into the freezing cold Pacific Ocean. We spent our first beach time on Laguna Beach playing in the sand.

 Those less inclined to get wet and cold built many sandcastles.

 Finn actually had quite the run in with a pack of sea gulls. I have given him a graham cracker and left the bag on the blanket next to him. A couple of feisty gulls hopped right up and took the bag and carried it off. Finn started yelling that the birds had his crackers and we turned around to see them trying to peck and tear up the bag and more swooping in by the minute. He went after them until a few started acting like they were going to take the cracker right out of this hand. I had to get pretty close to finally chase them off and recover the demolished cracker bag. After that he spent a lot of time chasing off any birds that came within 20 yards of us on the beach.

 Just a handsome mountain man on the beach.

 Getting brave enough to get the toes wet.

 We spent our second beach day at Crystal Cove, where it was much warmer and hardly any wind. Spent lots of time burying Gavin, which he loved.

 We also had the awesome luck of finding the home of several hundred hermit crabs of all sizes in some of the tide pools. The kids thought this was fabulous and were quickly finding their favorites and trying to find a way to be allowed to take them home.

 Finn was in full sandcastle and burying mode.

Wyatt was brave, but not enough to get buried up to the neck.

 Claire and her crabby friend.

 These two had a blast collecting shells and exploring the pools.

Laguna Beach for New Years

After Christmas, we took a last minute, road trip with cousins and some new friends to Laguna Beach. Since we have the blessing of Caleb and his brother, Nathan, working together, we get to do a lot of things with co-workers who are also family. It really makes for some fun.

It was the first week of driving my new van and we loaded it up with super fun kids and had a great drive, and a great time cruising around finding fun once we got there.

We rented a large house with a pool in the back yard that had plenty of room for everyone and plenty of room for the kids to run around a be crazy and have fun together. Tyce and Finn loved spending so much time together.

The house also had some strange decor, including many walls that were all mirrors and a very Miami Vice feel to the decor. There was plenty of white and gold everywhere, and only the bedrooms upstairs appeared to have been updated in 20 years or more. For the most part, we had a good laugh and enjoyed the comforts of the house... though there was an issue with ants that started in one bathroom and by the end of the week has moved to most of the upper floor. Fun memories.

The kids also discovered that parked in the backyard on the side of the house was a stretch limo that was unlocked. So yeah, they couldn't help checking it out and chillin' in the back for a few photos.

 We also went to visit the grounds of the Newport Beach Temple. It was a beautiful day.

 All of the kids in our group... just a few.

The biggest reason that we chose to rent the Miami Vice house was because it had a huge heated pool in the backyard. Sadly though, the owner hadn't turned on the heat before we came, so it took a couple of days for the water to get warm enough to have a less than freezing swim. Gavin became the pool boy and spent plenty of time testing the water and using the net to clean.

 When it finally warmed up outside and in the water, there were many hours spent in the pool. Not too bad for January. Great times.

Cozy Christmas Day

We woke up Christmas morning to a white and cold day. If we needed an excuse to hunker down and be lazy, then we found the perfect one.

We had a fun day of presents, food and being lazy.

 Plenty of time for lego building and plenty of legos to build.

Also plenty of other fun toys to spend the day keep us entertained.

 We also had a tasty candle light dinner, both to mark the occasion and because the lights were out in the dining area from the kitchen construction. Such a great day to spend together as a family.