artists in the family...

Here is Seth's masterpiece... "Rivals":  The Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers.  He entered this in a contest at school - isn't it great?

Whitney worked for hours on hers - this was also for a contest at school.  Can you believe the details??  My kids certainly didn't get any of their artist abilities from their mother.  My stick figures look abnormal....!  

...I love my kids :)

I sure am enjoying this fun stage in life with my kids.  They just make me smile and laugh everyday...I love it.   Here's a few keeper quotes/experiences:

Seth is in a little play at school and has been casted as the Prince.  You can tell he is half excited/half embarrassed about the whole thing.  He was reciting some of the lines the other day and we were chuckling at the lines he had to say to the Princess such as,  "Did I tell you how wonderful you are??"  I asked what he thought about the girl he was acting with.  He said, "Well, she's ok.  She isn't THAT annoying!"  (I suppose this could be considered a compliment coming from a 10 year old boy!!) 

I guess Clara (dressed as a princess) wasn't in the mood to pray one day when I asked her to. She said..."Princesses don't know how to pray...cuz they don't know about the church."  Nice try, Clara.  

Then a few days later she said, "Mom, Scooby-Doo knows about the church!"  I wanted a further explanation on this one.  She said, "He knows about the church because there are cemeteries in Scooby-Doo movies...!"  Um...so I guess that ONLY members of the church die and have a need for cemeteries.  :)  

For Halloween Jacob was a Oregon Ducks football player.  He was so darn cute with those big shoulder/knee pads (which would be Brad's socks)...looking broad and bulky with those skinny little legs.  I was helping at school at his Halloween party and he comes over to me with a panicked look on his face.  He looked down to show me that his 'shoulder padding' had fallen down....and now was repositioned in the general groin area.  I tried not to laugh...but was absolutely dying!  Poor guy ended up with more than he had bargained for :)  

Yesterday was the Primary Program at church.   It was a memorable one for sure.   We knew that Clara loved to sing...but her performance was a bit of a surprise to us!  Let's just say it was Clara...with the rest of the Primary children as her back-up :)  She sang absolutely SO loud...I wasn't sure if I should smile, cringe, cry or laugh.  She sang her heart out...no inhibitions whatsoever.  The good thing about it is that she knew every single word to every song.  The downside is that you could hardly hear if anyone ELSE knew the words as well!  We chuckled the whole way through...and so did the rest of the congregation.   I wish I had a recording to share....

Seth looking oh, so cool...

Padding positioned correctly.  Check.  

"...and here I am world!"

Cute randomness from Clara

So yesterday Clara and I took a walk around the block to go visiting teaching.  She was set up with her babies in her doll stroller that she was insistent on pushing.   I was amazed at the many different subjects we (she) touched on in the few minutes we walked together!   This wasn't anything out of the ordinary for her....she is always coming up with all sorts of things that make me laugh.  Sometimes it is just how she says things that make them so funny!  Here's how our (her) conversation went:  

"Mom, there is a lot of noise around here!  Do you see that digger (that would be a backhoe)  across the street? That is so weird."  

"Girls (talking to her babies), this is going to be a veerrrry rocky ride so you better hold on!"  

"Mom, this stroller is lousy!"  (I have no idea where she heard the word lousy...)

"Mom, when we were at the restaurant with Grandpa there were little things of whip creme and people put that in their coffee.  That is so weird.  I don't like coffee.  We don't drink coffee...and the Bishop doesn't like it either."  

"My babies are getting soooooo tired on this ride."

"Ummm, mom?  Ya know my lipstick that I love?  Well, it is kind of messed up now.  Cuz I ate some of it.  Actually, I ate a lot of it.  Is that ok?

We then get to our visiting teaching appointment and she makes herself right at home.  The lady was very nice and accommodating and  let Clara put her babies in their perspective "beds" to take their naps, etc.  When we were getting ready to leave, Clara is holding a stuffed animal that she found at the lady's house.  She confidently says, "When I was in Oregon we went visiting teaching to another lady and I really liked a stuffed animal that she had...and she gave it to me."   She just stands there waiting for a response from this poor lady.  I was cringing with embarrassment.  The lady handled it very nicely and explained to her that she better keep this stuffed animal for when her grandkids come to visit :)  It smoothed over fine....but was just a tad awkward (especially since this is the first time I have visited her)!   Where did this child come from?  She has more boldness around strangers than all my kids put together!  

Later on I was getting in the car to take Clara to a friend's house for a play date.  It is just down the street so I said she didn't need to get buckled.  She calls me on it and says, "Mom?  Is that ok with the police if I don't get buckled??!"  Oops.  Bad mom.  

This is a very long post...but just had to share what a typical day with Clara is like :)  

Family pics...

We had a great time with Bruce and Ginny visiting this last weekend.  We were able to fit in a lot of fun activities...one of which being family pictures!  Bruce does a great job with his photography and we were so lucky to have him be patient enough to take them :)  Family pictures at our house is not a favorite past time.  In fact, I would say it could be described as 'torture' to my boys :)  I was pleasantly surprised with how well they did...only a few breakdowns towards the end.  Yay!!

HOWEVER... we cannot get them to post on here!  I think they are such big files that they won't upload.  Bruce has quite the photography set up...with a lens that is practically as big as Clara :)   I'm disappointed I can't post them...but will keep trying to figure out how to do it.  I did post some on my facebook, so if you have access to that you can check them out.  

Pumpkin walk

We had a great time at the local Pumpkin Walk.  There were all kinds of scenes made from pumpkins...the kids loved the soccer scene.  Very cool!  

Snow White herself...

Seth the beautiful mermaid....

And my favorite...big-eyed Yoda.

Yes, I am really making a new post :)

Yes...it really is us!    After a very LONG time, I am getting around to posting once again.  Hopefully this round will go a bit better than last :)  The very funny thing is that after I posted these SL photos, I realized while looking at Max's blog...that we posted the exact same ones!  So, you get to see them again.  And I was so proud of my efforts too ! 

We are enjoying Utah and getting used to things here.  Hyde Park is a country town....with lots  of members of the church.  The people have been kind and friendly and everyone who lives here seems to love it (and have lived here for years and years)!   Our kids are trying to get used to everyone (basically) being members....no real separation with church/school, etc.  There are definitely some things that have taken some adjusting to.  Just a few examples:  Enrichment meeting signs displayed on street corners; goats, horses, sheep and chickens across the street from us (in a residential neighborhood);  kids on  Seth's soccer team announcing they won't be at the game because they will be attending a baptism (Seth thought it was crazy that it was talked about so openly...he just isn't used to it!);  waking up to horse clip-clops on Saturday mornings as someone is out for a morning horseback ride down our street!    It is all just a little different to get used to!  

On the flip side, there are some things I love about it here:  The fall colors and beautiful weather;  I don't have to drive on a freeway to get to shopping...everything is so close here! ; I can go running in the mornings and feel very safe;  the Stake Center is 2 minutes away!   

More later...later as in not 3 months from now :)

Enjoying Salt Lake...

One of our all-time favorite places...

At the tabernacle -

Happy kids with their dad...

Seth enjoying the 'solo' photo

We had a fun night in Salt Lake staying at The Kimball across from the Conference Center.  I was able to have a night out with my good friend, Michelle Estrada, for her birthday and the family came along to enjoy the night-life of SL :)    We had a good time going to church the next day and enjoying temple square.  We have so many wonderful memories of time spent here several years ago and hope to enjoy many more while being back in Utah.  

teeth

One thing that Jacob does not enjoy doing is brushing his teeth. It seems to be a constant stuggle. I admit, I use the guilt tactic in telling him that if he doesn't brush, he will get cavities and need to have a shot to get them filled, etc. We are past that now...and Jacob says he doesn't care if he has to get a shot. OK...option B. I tell him that if he doesn't brush, his teeth will fall out and he won't have any teeth left. That didn't seem to bother him either. Jacob's solution: I'll get false teeth!! Great option, Jacob.

laughing matters...

So Clara is constantly coming up with comments that keep us laughing. I had to share.

The other day we were making gatorade and having a casual conversation in the kitchen. A few minutes later Clara asked for some alligator in her glass. I was completely confused...until I put together the 'gator' part of her request :)

We were hanging out at Lounsbury's last week and all sitting around the island in the kitchen. Clara turns to Seth, totally out of the blue, and says, "You're just a great guy, Seth!!" Well said, Clara.

We were getting ready to say prayers one night and Clara said, "I don't want to kneel, mom. When I kneel on the carpet, my knees get all funky!!"

Clara and I were driving somewhere the other day and it was just her and I in the car. She said, "Mom, I think we are having a girls day out. Cuz you and I are the only girls here. Mom, are we having fun on our girls day out??" I guess it must not have been TOO fun if she had to ask me if we were having fun :)

We were discussing Brad being at work one day. Clara proceeded to tell me: "I want to go to work sometime. I've never been to work. I don't know what's inside work." (Clara's definition of work: a big building that says Intel).

Clara's new approach to telling me when something is wrong is, "Mom, I have a BIG problem here, " or "Mom, I have some really bad news." Thanks for the heads-up, Clara.

We're in the loop!

So we are finally doing this...only a few years behind the rest of the world :)  We are excited to keep in better touch and hopefully keep you updated with what is happening with our family and our adventures in the next few months!  More to come...