Candid Hansen Family

Silly Boy!

2012-02-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

It's the 100th Day of School

2012-01-30T12:01:00.000-08:00

The kids were so excited to celebrate the 100th day of school. Nathan and I have been practicing counting by 10's to 100. He loves it! He was singing that it's his favorite number. (in truth, I think his fav is 122, because that's the number he's been using for everything)

They counted out 10 of each snack(10) to have 100.
Nathan skipped the jelly beans and gummy bears, he doesn't like those

Counting out their collections they brought to school

It's been a fun year. Nathan has learned a lot so far. He's 5 1/2 now. Weighs 48lbs and stands 47 1/2 inches. He learned to tie his shoes a few months ago. He loves to write, and read. He has a small selection of sight words he knows. And can sound out simple words. He can count to 100 with a little bit of help by 1's and on his own by 10's. He writes his first and last name uppercase and lowercase. It's pretty cute because he sings his last name - his doing. He has a pretty loose tooth right now. I suspect within the next 2 weeks I'll be posting a lost tooth picture. He's getting better at skating and swimming. We just started swim and gym again. He's glad to be back, especially swimming. He swims the width of the pool and has started to learn freestyle with side breathing. It's pretty cute! Nathan loves being outside, exploring or collecting random things. He has a great imagination and still coaxes his sister into a game every now and then. He is a boy who knows what he likes, no question about it. His last birthday he decided what his birthday theme would be for 6 years down the road. I didn't know if he'd remember, but the other day he brought up his Alien cake for his 6th birthday. 6! Can you believe he'll be 6 this summer. Crazy! Anyway, that's a little about Nathan these days.

Fun with Cousins

2012-01-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2011

2012-01-05T15:56:00.000-08:00

Highlights of Christmas

Owen

Cousins in Christmas Jammies

snowballs for dessert

Christmas Morning

Kindlle touch

necklace from Grandma

Graham Cracker Village

2011-12-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

I finally had time this morning for a little blog update. I figured I'd better get it done before more fun stuff needs to be blogged about.

We got together this last weekend for our traditional graham cracker village creation

Teresa and I worked on the Up house together

Nathan wanted a tall roof on his this year

This is Ty's masterpiece - no really, it's a theater. Cool huh?

This is Serina's, she didn't get a chance to finish decorating it, so I helped her out

This is Ryan's

Nathan's

Ian's

Luke's

The whole thing. There weren't as many this year

Our UP house, with snow

Teresa made a Snipe and a hose, so cute!

Then we opened gifts. The girls in their tutu's

The boys with their hobby horses (I had the best time making these)

Let's catch up a lil'

2011-12-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a little Thanksgiving fun. Nathan won tic-tac-toe

One of the many holiday projects

Nathan decorating the tree

Teresa and Jazzi decorating the tree -
yes, she made the cat help

And the finished product.
They did a great job!
The kitty keeps trying to undo it.

A little time with Owen

There have been lots of germs too. One week Teresa had no voice, last week it was me - still recovering. Does this mean we'll be good for Christmas?!

We have a fun week ahead of us.

Teresa's Choir concert

Santa visit

Cookies with Grandma

Company Party(just the mom and dad)

and

Graham Cracker village creation

Native American Day

2011-11-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

Friday was Native American Day at Nathan's school. It was a lot of fun, even though it was cold. There were 5 different centers. Oh wait, first they had to dress in their Native American attire.

We started at the pictograph center. The kids used pictographs to tell a story on there "animal hide".

Then on to the friendship ceremony where each child made a friendship necklace with noodles, then drew a friends name out of a bag and presented their necklace with a compliment. It was cute, and the kids did great. The teachers were worried they might not like giving their necklaces away, but we had no problems.

Then we had to learn to hunt with spears and then spear a turkey. Once the turkey was dead they broke it open and ate the "turkey meat" -popcorn and jerky. I don't have picture of that, mother nature called, but Nathan still got some popcorn.

Next they learned about how important corn was, and they planted a seed and added a prayer stick for rain to it. Then the kids went fishing in the stream and learned about how they would dry their food.

Lastly we were at the drum station - by far the kids favorite station(not the parents) Each child decorated a drum around the "campfire" and listened to music. Then they got up an danced around the fire.

It was a fun and informative day.

Thanksgiving Homework

2011-11-16T14:49:00.000-08:00

Too Cute to not share

I asked him to tell me about it " It's you and me(mom) at our feast. Chicken, toast and beans"

Happy Brithday to my Mom

2011-11-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday was my mom's birthday! But before that Nathan had a friends party at Pump it Up. What a fun day! No pictures from the party, I took the opportunity to rest, since I had made 2 birthday cakes that morning.
I was actually quite a slacker as far as pictures go. My brother, John, and nephew, Aidan, flew in from Utah on Friday and were here the whole weekend. It was really great to see them and hang out.

On to the few pictures I did take.

I made this lemon cake for everyone and decorated it nice.
I don't usually get to decorate a cake for my mom because it has to be sugar free
and up until now I didn't have a good sugar free frosting that would hold up to decorating

But as you can see, this new recipe was wonderful.
Can you believe I used the same violet food coloring on both cakes?
It's a SF spice cake with cream cheese frosting
(3 pcks cream cheese, one tub of cool whip and splenda)

Make a wish!

Sunday was another party for one of Nathan's friends. This one was seriously themed Mario - everything, it was awesome!
Then more hanging out, food and games at my folks. This time minus James and Amanda who were sick with the stomach flu

Monday morning brought us the stomach flu - luckily it's just a 24 hour thing, so Teresa is on about hour 20, Nathan is about 13 hours in. Now let's just hope it ends there.

Here they are watching Brother Bear Tues. Morning

Veteran's Day Parade

2011-11-15T09:53:00.000-08:00

For some reason or another we've never made it to the Veteran's Parade here. The weather is usually too cold for my liking. But this year the weather was nice and we had lots of good reasons to be there.We had a good time.

Can you see Amanda?

Here's a better shot. They happened to stop right in front of us.

Nathan got bored after the 40th entry, we had to wait until 84 for Freedom Middle school and Hannah

There she is!

We saw 5 people we knew in 5 different entries. It was fun!

What's next?

2011-11-03T17:01:00.001-07:00

Let's see,
               Thursday was the school Trunk-or -Treat
               Friday the kids went to my parents church Trunk-or-Treat - came home with lots of loot
               Saturday was the pumpkin patch and dinner
               Sunday? - Ah yes, Sunday was Nathan's last Soccer game. Against Ian's team again. This game was much less exciting than the others had been. Our team just wasn't in to it. I'm thinking soccer ended one week too late for them. Either way, they had fun, and after we went to Rusty's for a little pizza party and trophies. It was nice, good food, a little last time with the team and then we headed home...on to the next event. The kids put their costumes on and we went over to Rollerama West for Montano Orthodotcs Halloween Party. The kids had a great time! (no pics of this, I was beat by then)

I thought this was funny. Ian before the game.

A little practice before the game

This is what the games usually look like

And then, on to Monday - Halloween!
Jonathan and I took the day off, went to breakfast and a movie, it was very nice!
My mom was wonderful enough to get the kids from school.
That night we went Trick-or-Treating.
Here's a picture of the 3 of us, we were Ninja's

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to the Pumpkin Patch with Ty, Michelle, Sean, Serina and kids.

A little fun in the corn maze

A few video clips of us playing around at the pumkin patch(I apologize for the low quality video, I had to lower it way down for it to load on the blog)

After a little fun at the pumpkin patch we all came back here for a spooky meal of Spaghetti,

bone bread sticks and brain jell-o. It was nice!

Trunk-or-Treat

2011-11-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Nathan's school had a really nice trunk-or-treat. I handled the cake walk. Boy was I exhausted after that!
They had a few booths like a carnival and then trunks with candy, and a haunted "house"

The cakes I made for the cake walk

Teresa made this one

Nathan created a Monster!

2011-10-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

At school they are having a cake decorating contest. Tonight is their Trunk-or-Treat, with game booths, including a cake walk, so the cakes from the contest will be used for the cake walk.

Nathan created this super cute monster cake for the contest. I, of course, baked it, stacked it and put white frosting on it. He did the rest. He was very proud, and with good reason, it came out super cute!

An update for you!

2011-10-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

We were invited to go to Ian's Fall Festival last weekend. It was really hot, but a lot of fun!

This is a picture we had taken while there. Aren't they so cute!

Wednesday we went tot the pumpkin patch with a few school friends. They played, ate snacks, did the maze and had a really good time. They're all good kids and got along nicely.

Teresa had opening night for Les Mis last night. It's really difficult to get a picture of her in her costumes because they have a few and they're changing in and out. So here is the pro picture we got of Teresa and Hannah in their gowns for the wedding. The show has a few tech issues, but otherwise a nicely done performance, I can't wait to see it again tomorrow. I'll add another post, if I manage to get some of the show.

Yes, Teresa was in love with her blue dress with the hoop

Today at Nathan's school was ABC day. We went on an ABC scavenger hunt. It was a lot of fun. They hid the letters around the kindergarten area and classrooms. The kids had to find the letter and do the activity that went with it. B for Bubbles, blow bubbles. F for flag, salute the flag, L for Lick a lollipop in the library...they were very creative with their activities and the kids had a really great time.

Will and Nathan Cuddle with Clifford for C

They salute the Flag for F

Bubbles for B

Each child had their own clipboard and check list, it was a big deal

And that pretty much brings you up to date with what's been going on here. Nathan has his last soccer game next weekend - he plays Ian's team again, should be fun! And then of course all the Halloween Hoopla to come...

Soccer Game video

2011-10-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

Nathan and Ian played against each other 2 weeks ago. It was really fun to watch the teams. The played hard, and did a great job. This is just a small clip. Nathan is green number 9, Ian is yellow number 4

Nathan things that make me smile

2011-10-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

I posted this on facebook a few days ago, but I thought I should share here too. First, when Nathan sets the table the napkins have to be folded in a triangle. The other night he had 3 triangles and one diamond napkin. He told me the diamond was sad - of course, I ask why. He says, because it wishes it was a triangle (ah, of course)

About 2 weeks ago Nathan wanted to learn to tie his shoes, so we sat down and he learned to tie them. Just like that, it was awesome. So today after school he tells me he tied two girls shoes and another boy on the playground who he didn't know, but had a shoe untied. I can only imagine what that kid was thinking. I remember Teresa would do the same for her classmates in Kindergarten. So cute!

One more thing, and I hope this video loads. It's Nathan doing the Pledge of allegiance.

Soccer Game

2011-09-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

Nathan played his first soccer game on Sunday. The boys played hard and had fun!

LEGOLAND

2011-09-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning we went to LEGOLAND. We only spent about 5 1/2 hours there, and we feel like we got a good taste of what was there. But you could really spend 2 days there, if you wanted to do every little thing. Plus they have an Aqaurium and a waterpark that are seperate. We skipped 2 Lands, Duplo Land and Dino Land, actually, we skipped the pirate part too, all the rides were potentially wet rides. I'm not sure I would pay full price.Thanks to my Aunt Janine, we got an amazing deal.

Anyway, I'm glad we were able to go. The kids had a good time. Some people say it really isn't for the older kids, but I disagree. Sure, they're not going to want to go there more than once, but they have some really cool things to see. Miniland USA is quite impressive. If we had more time Teresa would have spent another hour looking at all the details.

I have so many picures, I put some on Facebook, and I'll put some here as well. I'll try not to post any duplicates

This was huge

Nathan had to hop over and say Hi to Bob the Builder

The kids with the green Bionicle lego guy

Nathan wanted to ride a coaster with a drop.
You can see he was so excited.

Granny Apple Fries. They are a LEGOLAND specific thing, so we had to try them. They were...interesting. Teresa really liked them.

Panning for Gold, once they found 5 pieces they turned them in for a medalion

A Star Wars scene

San Francisco, taken from Fisherman's Warf

The beach, with a sandcastle

New Orleans

A fountain as we walked through Duplo Land

Nathan had to get his picture with the lego Darth Vader. There was another Vader made out of Lego's, we got a picture with that one too.

The kids got their very own LEGOLAND drivers licenses

A Wedding

2011-09-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

My cousin, Jason got married this last weekend in San Diego. The drive was horrible, but we made it in time and the wedding was nice. Perfect Weather!
It was outside at a winery, I never did get a picture of the two of them together, but here's one of his beautiful bride, Ashley.

Nathan, Gabe and my Uncle John(Gabe's grandpa)
Nathan and Gabe had a great time playing together

Nathan almost danced the nigth away. I don't know where he learns his moves, but they are pretty entertaining to watch. He stopped when they played a few slow songs, he didn't want to dance after that, he was too tired, it had been a long day. I'll try and post of video here, but it will probably have to be on Facebook again.

Sunday we went to LEGOLAND, so stay tuned for pictures

(Update: I was able to post the video on Facebook)

Piano Lesson Anyone?

2011-09-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Nathan is giving them...for free.

I couldn't upload the video here, so I put it on Facebook

How's school?

2011-08-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

It's great!

Nathan has been a little tired when he gets home, but it doesn't take long before he perks up and talks non-stop. The first day, I think it took him a few hours to tell me about school, bits and pieces of information were given at random intervals, it was pretty cute. Second day he was off and running, knew exactly where to go, he's a pro now. He was very excited to have had 5 birthdays in his class this week. Which makes sense, this class is for those kids who would have been held another year, so their birthdays will all be summer and fall. He told me they had to look and listen, and that was hard. He likes to talk, but he said he's trying hard to listen. They have some fun songs they're learning. I can't wait to get in the class to help, then I'll be able to make sense of half the stuff he talks about. He's really loving it!

Nathan also started soccer. I'm not sure which one he was more excited about, school or soccer. Monday he said, "I guess I'm really excited about school AND soccer" He has a lot of energy. They played some fun games to introduce them to soccer. He practices twice a week. They have their first game on Sept. 11th. Should be a fun season. Crazy busy too, which leads us to...

Teresa! She has been rehearsing for Les Mis the last 3 weeks, this week we got the schedule for her practices - Whew Busy! Basically every Sat for several hours and once or twice a week. Both Soccer and the play end at the end of October, then we'll take a breather and get ready for Christmas :)

Teresa is really loving school so far. She got some of the teachers she wanted. Her and Hannah don't have many classes together, but she says, who cares, it doesn't change anything, and she's right. Her Math teacher really seems to have it together, which is awesome! She's taking HS Algebra 1 this year, they have to pass with an 85% or higher to get the recommendation for Geometry next year. Something to reach for. Her Language arts teacher she got to know really well last year because he directed Suessical, so that's fun for her. She's really excited for this year. She loves the sound of the choir with the boys in it. Last year she was in the girls choir. A lot of fun stuff going on, it's eighth grade! I imagine this year will go by fast for her(and us), she was amazed at how fast 7th grade went by.

We're very proud of both of them!

First day of school

2011-08-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Nathan and is very carefully chosen Phineas and Ferb backpack(and that goofy 5 yr old grin)

What do you think, is she excited?

The kids were up and ready to go early this morning. Nathan wanted all these different pictures taken, with backpacks, without backpacks, it was kind of cute.
I just realized Teresa's backpack, and Nathan's shorts are almost identical.

We dropped Nathan off first, and stuck around for a bit, but it was clear Nathan was fine and more than ready to start this new adventure. Then I dropped Teresa off, it was so crazy, it took us 15 minutes to get into the student drop off zone. She's excited about eighth grade. I can't wait to hear how their first days went.

End of Summer 2011

2011-08-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

This being the weekend before school starts, I count summer as officially over. Am I sad? No, not really, we had a fun filled summer, sure it went by quick, but there's nothing wrong with that. The year will probably fly by too. That's okay, as long as we keep progressing.

Here are a few pictures of the end of our summer

Some park time

Spray park (the bucket in the background, dumps water, it's very cool)

A very fun and successful outlet trip to Tulare (just the girls)

Nathan met his teacher yesterday, we are very excited. He is part of a 2 year kindergarten program that was started this year. There is only one class at the moment and in our district. So we lucked out. We were holding Nathan a year since he barely turned 5 in July. I've been around the schools enough to know it's to their advantage to be the older, rather than the younger. Then this came along and was perfect for Nathan. The program will be all over CA next year, what's happening is the entrance date is moving from Dec 2nd, to Sept 1st over the next 3 years. Moving one month a year, so next year the date will be Nov 1st. All I can say is, FINALLY! What's embarrassing is, CA is one of only 4 states who hadn't figured out the date was too late in the year, but now we've come to our senses and are fixing it. We are thrilled to be part of the pilot class. Nathan is so excited!

Playing on the Kindergarten playground

And of course, a new haircut. Nathan got one too, but it's just the same, I asked him if he wanted it different, and he said -"NEVER!"

Teresa didn't get to meet her teacher, but she found out she has Algebra first period with most of her friends, so that's fun. Teresa has also been rehearsing for Les Mis for the last 3 weeks, every night. Tonight they have a little rewards ceremony for Junior theater, she'll perform in that tonight with a group.

And that ends our summer, we are looking forward to a fun year ahead of us.

Camping

2011-08-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

We went camping up the Kern Canyon last week, camped right by the river. It was our first camping adventure as a family. Both the kids have had to deal with motion sickness, Teresa out grew it years ago (we won't count the whale watching trip). We thought Nathan was good, but he didn't do so well on the way back, but that wasn't even bad, we go prepared (small sand bucket with a grocery back in it works wonders). Now that a week has passed, I think I can say we had a good time, and we just might do it again some day. Honestly, I don't see what people like about sleeping in a tent. I'm all for a wienie roast and the marshmallow roast(no, not s'mores - I don't like those), love the hiking and relaxing in the fresh, cool mountain air, the camp fire(minus the stench when you return home), star gazing at night... but the sleeping in a tent - BAH! Give me a cabin!

The view from Alta Sierra

No, they aren't photo shopped in, I used flash

Playing by the river. Teresa made little "fishing" poles

You can see the river behind the tent

Nathan is quite the marshmallow roaster, he does it rotisserie style, resulting in perfection.

Imagination is wonderful

2011-07-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

We like to build tents, but they can be very hard to set up, especially for a 5 year old. That didn't stop Nathan, he found a better way than sheets and chairs - for him anyway.

Out with the old...

2011-07-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

This was our Mazda Tribute. It was a good car, we bought it new in 2001.

But it's time had come. I've been without AC for a few months, it was on a solar charger as to not completely drain the battery because a fuse was defective and the whole box needed to be replaced, and it would randomly stop working - Oh and how could I forget the back window wouldn't latch, so any bump it would pop open. So, before it's value was zero, we decided to trade it in.

Last night we went to see what we could get. They were generous with what they gave us for the Tribute, it decided to have one of those random moments, where it wouldn't start. Go figure!

...IN WITH THE NEW(to us)!

Here is our new, to us, 2007 Mazda 3, a little sport sedan. It drives very nice, and looks amazing. It's previous owner loved their car, and I am very happy about that. We love it! Yes, it will take a little adjusting, going from an SUV to a sedan, and a low one at that. Nathan said it was like being in a race car - I felt like I was driving one, it was fun!

Summer Vacation Trip Part 2

2011-07-25T12:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a huge street fair and a local kids sandcastle event. We walked around and saw some of the creations.

Here is one of the more inventive kids creations. They used a lot of colored sand

Nathan enjoying the water, he just loves the sand and water.
Unfortunately, we never got to chance to really stop and play, it was SO crowded

Here's a good idea as to how many people were there. It was just as crowded on the streets

More of the kids creations

Saturday evening we went back to my aunts house to hang out with the family
There were 16 of us there. Thanks so much for coming guys, it was a nice evening.

Nathan and Gabe(my cousin Kristine's son)
They had a great time playing together

Sunday morning we went back to Imperial Beach to see the pro's at work. It was very impressive. I can't post all the pictures, I'll just post a few. The crowds were insane again, of course, and the tides were coming in fast, so we only saw two completely finished ones But it was worth it, we had a good time. Something to experience once. Here are a few pictures of the sculptures being made. Remember, these are all made of sand.

This was built up higher on the beach, we saw this being sculpted on Saturday

This was the only competition one we saw after the horn blew.
A very impressive one

The drive home was...less exciting. Only took us 5 1/2 hours, not bad considering it looked like this

Summer Vacation Trip Part 1

2011-07-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

Thursday we loaded our stuff and headed to Hollywood for lunch and a little walk around Hollywood and Highland.

Chillin' with her Jamba Juice

Nathan is finding Waldo

I really love this mall

Now on to our destination - San Diego!
A HUGE thank you to my cousin, Jessica, for the tips about Sea World and the amazing discounts. And another HUGE thanks to my Aunt Kathy and Uncle John, for allowing us to crash at their house. We had a really great time!
This trip has been planned for a year, we heard about a huge sandcastle event in Imperial Beach and thought it would be really cool to see this year. Pair that with a trip to Sea World and you have a pretty good vacation.
So Friday was Sea World -

This is Lance the "special" Sea Lion. He is a rescue, here he's doing barrel rolls for us

The Blue Horizon's dolphin show. The story is cheesy, but the dolphins were very cool

The Pet show. This was SO cute, don't miss this if you go.

Mmm! Strawberries.
We ate at the same place we took Teresa 9 years ago, and had strawberries

Teresa feeding and petting a dolphin, her name was Dotty.
Nathan and I did it too, but those pictures are on a different camera.
I might get around to posting more ;)

Watching the killer whales

The Sean Lion and Otter show, another one not to miss.
The pre-show was hilarious too

The long awaited penguins. Nathan was anxious to see the penguins

This is in the Sesame Street Bay at Play area,
Nathan and I climbed in rope hammocks to the top and then played around
while we waited for daddy and sissy, they were doing the sky tower

We had a great day, saw everything we wanted to, and made it back by dark. We still had the weekend ahead of us, so we needed to rest up.

Sunday Afternoon

2011-07-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

After a crazy week and weekend(Fri and Sat) we decided to take a drive up the canyon. This was Nathan's first time. Having been a kid who got car sick, we were waiting until we were pretty sure he'd outgrown it. He did great, they both did. Nathan started feeling bad coming back down, but he did fine. We went prepared with plastic lined buckets, and I'm happy to say, they weren't used :)

ICE CREAM in Kernville. Afterall, it was national Ice cream day

Sleeping Beauty

2011-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

Teresa was part of NOR's Junior Theater performance of Sleeping Beauty this weekend. They did a fantastic job! Teresa even had her own little solo dance. It was a crazy busy week with rehearsals from 5:30-9:30 M-Th and then a perfomance Friday night, and two more Sat - one at 2pm and one at 7pm. She had such a good time and made new friends. In fact, she auditions tonight for Les Miserables - to be performed in October.
Here are a few pictures

Teresa and Hannah found spotlights(at North High) Teresa was a Forest Fairy and Hannah was a storyteller.

Curtain call

Teresa in her costume and full make-up (the wind was blowing, there is another wing back there)

Hannah, Teresa and Madison, opening night
Hannah is wearing a gypsy robe she was awarded. It goes to someone
who is deidicated and has a positive influence on the cast. She will add
something to it from the show, and then opening night of Les Miserables,
it will be handed to someone else.

It's a Penguin Party!

2011-07-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

Nathan decided back in February that he wanted to have a penguin birthday this year. he saw a penguin cake in one of my cake books, and thought they were SO cute. So we did penguins! He was very particluar about the things he wanted. I think it turned out nice and he had a great time.
We made a penguin pinata, penguin invitations, penguin hats, and penguin goody bags. The house and backyard had 40 snowflakes and streamers everywhere, along with blue, black and white balloons.

We had an egg hunt, waddled like peguins, with balloon between our legs, broke the pinata open and pinned the beak on the bird.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Look who's Five!

2011-07-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Nathan had a very full day, that started at 6am. Not by my choosing! He was very excited to turn five. He woke up to the decorations of snowflakes and streamers. The theme for his party was to be penguins this year. He chose it, and almost everything that had to do with it. He was very specific, which can be good, it means I don't have much to decide, but risky if I get something wrong. It all turned out great, and we had a good time. But first, he had a birth day to get through before his party, the following day.

Breakfast of his choice on the birthday plate, with a candle

A gift from Sissy - Marvel Squinkies

And...Don't peek!

A big boy bike!

Then off to Aunt Michelle's surprise party, see, she thought she
was coming to Nathan's party, but we fooled her.

Here is Nathan in the bounce house we got. I knew he would love it!

Corey and Nathan bouncing

After Michelle's party we headed over to Chuck E. Cheese's for some games. We had a good time! I have some pictures, and if I have time later, I'll add those too. They are in a different camera :)

After that we stopped in at my parents house, and then grabbed some dinner. Nathan was exausted by the time we got home. But it was a fun day. I will post pictures of the party in a different post(later)

July Fourth 2011

2011-07-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

The kids spent the night at my parents house Sunday, and hung out there all day Monday. Jonathan and I went exploring up Kern Canyon. It had been a long time since I'd been up there. When you have kids that get car sick, you avoid that canyon.

You can see Lake Isabella in the background

After our adventure, we headed to my folks for a BBQ dinner and fireworks. It was hot, but fun.

And now we're getting ready for a big birthday at the end of the week.

Bowling Birthday Party!

2011-06-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday Teresa and some friends went bowling for her birthday. Not many were able to come, but they had a really good time.

The invitations
I had one we were going to make, but they
gave us these cool pinsSo we just added the ball
with more info on the back, tied with a ribbon

The bowling balls

Teresa bowling. This was only the second time she'd been bowling

Nathan bowled most of the game with a ramp,
But here he is after he rolled it himself.
He was very proud, and bowled the rest like this, granny style

Teresa has this cool bowling pin
that her friends signed for her

The table was all set up for us

Cute little party hats Teresa chose for her and her friends

The gang

I let them go at it with forks

Lots of good laughs. Teresa said she hasn't laughed that hard in awhile

The cake when they were done with it

Guess Who's 13?

2011-06-26T09:20:00.000-07:00

Teresa had her 13th birthday Friday. Boy what a day! We always start the special day with breakfast on the special birthday plate. It's usually pancakes, Teresa wanted hers with strawberry syrup. Yum! Oh, and a candle to make a morning wish.

After breakfast she got her Psych fix. Her and Nathan are watching season one again. I worked on her birthday cake for that night. For lunch we met Jonathan at Sequoia Sandwich Shop, so yummy! And the weather wasn't bad, we enjoyed our lunch outside. There was just enough time for me to finish the cake before we had to get to the movies, we went to the discount theater to see Rango (I wouldn't recommend it, but we had a good time anyway) Then back to the house for dinner of potatoes and hot dogs, something we have once a year, usually on her birthday. I love that she knows what she wants.

We invited the family over for cake and ice cream that evening.

The invitation

The cake

I made a bunch of these tissue paper flowers to hang around the house

Make a wish!

Opening the gift from Nathan, a cell phone kitty charm and a carrying case

Father's Day

2011-06-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

It has become a tradition to make a trip to the beach for Father's day. There's no better way to honor a dad, especially one who loves the ocean, then a relaxing day at the beach, spending time as a family, in the sun, listening to the surf, relaxing. It was wonderful! We've been pretty busy, or sick, so it's been awhile since we had a relaxing weekend. And to make it better, there were hardly any people there. It almost felt like we had the beach to ourselves.

She was hugging the umbrella, I don't know...

No big sand castle this time. But Nathan was very proud of his little one

We stopped in Santa Clarita at Claim Jumper for dinner. It was a very good day!

Sunday we relaxed at home and then went to my parents for dinner. We were in charge of dessert.

I bet you didn't know you could hire super heroes to help in the kitchen.
They do a pretty good job.

Here we are making tarts, lemon and blueberry.
We also made brownie bites and rice crspy treats. Yum!

I hope everyone had a nice Father's Day.

Summer time, Summer time...

2011-06-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

Sum, Sum, Summer time!

A recipe for a great start to summer

Add one slice of Watermelon

20+ green tomatoes from your vegetable garden

A little row of corn

Blow bubbles...

That the kitty can chase

And a little playground fun before play practice

We are 3 weeks in and we've had a good start. We went to the beach this last weekend for Father's Day (another post). We have a very special birthday coming up at the end of the week(look for that post), and then 2 weeks from then we have another special birthday. On July 15th and 16th Teresa will be in Sleeping Beauty. And then, a special family vacation. So there is so much more fun to be had - and that's just the big stuff :)

T-Ball: The Blue Jays

2011-06-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

Baby Shower

2011-06-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Serina's baby shower. You know how sometimes things just fall into place and work out? This was one of those rare times. Thanks to her sister-in-law for doing the games, the shower was really nice. I've been sick, so doing games, decorations and food would have been way to much to handle. Serina got some really great stuff for their baby girl.

I used the Carter Baby Girl Shower as my theme

These are the party favors I made.

I loved these fruit kabobs I found here. Teresa helped out a lot with these

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Measuring her belly for a game. We had lots of fun games, some I'd never played.

Michelle made her a lot of cute hats, bows and a blanket

We couldn't resist giving her a few outfits, they're just so cute!
I loved this reusable bag too. I always say I'm going to gift with these, but never remember.

Friends

2011-06-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

Kenan and Stacey stopped in Bakersfield before they started their honeymoon. It was so good to see them again and have the chance to visit. We had everyone over last Saturday for dinner. Here we are watching some Brian Regan (Stacey hadn't seen him)

Sunday morning Serina treated us to some delicious french toast, and then Kenan and Stacey were off on their honeymoon. Nathan told me a few days ago, out of the blue, that he missed Kenan and Stacey

T-Ball

2011-05-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

Nathan loved t-ball so much last year he asked to do it again this year. So we've been playing t-ball on Saturdays for several weeks. We're on our second session now. He's a pretty good player. This is just tot-t-ball, where mom's and dad's are out there helping too. Next year, if he's interested he'll play without me. Here are some pictures Teresa took from last week.

Seussical the Musical

2011-05-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Teresa was in the school play. They have been rehearsing since March, and it showed. The play was amazing! We loved it. And Teresa had such a good time, she's doing Sleeping Beauty this summer through the Recreation and Parks Junior Theater.(looks like we'll be busy the first half of summer)
I don't have any pictures of the performance, but here are some during rehearsal one day. Teresa and Hannah were Who's from Whoville

The backdrop

Can you see Teresa and Hannah?

Hannah, Nathan and Teresa after the show on Thursday. I helped Nathan make the girls flowers

Friday after the play they had a cast party. I made these two cakes for the party. One if the cat's hat, the other is a title cake with all the kids names on it.

Kenan and Stacey's Wedding

2011-05-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here we are, all dressed up and ready to go

This was a wedding to remember. The theme was " A night in Metropolis" Yes, Superman! Nathan was the ring bearer. He had the best time, we all did! They had so many little details keeping with the theme.

This is the brief case and glasses Nathan used as his disguise. The ring pillow was inside

They had a photo guest book that Teresa helped with. You could dress up if you wanted :)

The cake was so pretty, and super delicious, with just a touch of superman

No explanation needed. One of the coolest grooms rings I've seen

Here is Nathan in action. After the best man took the rings, he handed the
briefcase to Kenan's mom. He then walked back to face the guests,
ripped open his shirt(that had velcro on it) , spread his arms and took
off down the aisle. It was awesome! He did a great job.

Ring bearer, Nathan and Flower girl, Lily walking down the isle.
She wanted to marry him.

The wedding party and family

Nathan and Kenan(the groom)

Lily was so cute

Here they are being so sweet to each other.
If you look close you can see the stone
Kenan had put down, in front of the fountain

The happy Bride and Groom
Yes, he's pulling a hanky out of her dress ;)

Trip to Utah

2011-05-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

The main reason for our trip was a wedding. Our friends, Kenan and Stacey got married on Thursday, but that will have to be a seperate post. Here are some photos of the other things we did while we were there. We stayed with my Aunt Nedra, who is amazing, we had a great time visiting and she took us to lunch at The Pie - no pictures because we were way to busy eating our delicious pizza. The best I've had(there, I said it!) That night we went to John and Emily's gallery, which was really cool. And then to their house for dinner. No pics again, because, well, we were having too much fun ;) Nathan needed a serious scrub that night.

The kids "helping" Nedra make some sinfully delicious mint brownies

Saturday we took the kids to the Gateway Mall, had lunch, played some games at the Tilt and then explored the Planetarium.

There was a scale you could step on and it
would tell you what you might way on different planets

Lots of info about all the planets

Nathan taking a walk on the moon

A stop on Mars, Nathan is pretending to put a flag up

Sat. evening was a little family get together. Here are the cousins

Yes, they're all crazy!

We had a nice time visiting with everyone we could. Time was limited, it seems it always is. We'll catch the rest of you next time around.

Edible Book Fair

2011-05-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

You might remember, earlier this year, Teresa and Hannah made an edible book for an event at the bookstore. This time is was for Open house at the Jr High, a fundraiser. The cakes were silent auctioned(and someone bought Teresa's). There were a lot of great cakes. I have to tell you, she had so little time to do this. The poor girl is so busy. She is in the school play, (which we got to see a sneak peek of, it was AWESOME! If you live close, you should come see it May 26th and 27th - $3 at FMS) and they have play practice everyday until 4:30 or 5pm. On Wednesdays that's a 3 hour rehearsal. That doesn't leave much room for homework AND extra stuff. But she managed and she will continue to manage. We're heading to Utah on Wed. for Kenan's wedding, and I think she will welcome the break from everything :) Teresa and her friend Alex chose to do Green Eggs and Ham. They did a great job. Because of lack of time, I baked the cake, frosted it and lay the top fondant for them. Basically I gave them a canvas and they worked their magic.

What's Up?

2011-05-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you ask an imaginative 4 1/2 year old to put the toilet paper in the bathroom

Teachers, we appreciate you!

2011-05-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

Goodie bags we made for Teresa's teachers

Visiting Owen

2011-05-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

We saw James and Amanda too :)

Here are some pictures

Nathan with the books we gave Owen. We each chose a favorite. Mine was a Sandra Boynton book - "The going to bed book". Teresa chose a golden book, "The Pokey Little Puppy". And Nathan chose "Guess How Much I Love You!"

The cousins

Jonathan took this one of me holding Owen. He is one sleepy boy!

He has some great expressions

Daddy giving him a bottle.

Welcome!

2011-04-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have a new nephew! Owen Tiner Sproul was born April 28th at 1:42 am(or around there). He was 8lbs 6oz and 21 inches long. Amanda was induced Wednesday mid morning. So it was a rough ride, but they are all doing great. And he is super cute! I'm dying to see him again. We were all at the hospital until 10:30 that night, but decided it was getting late and she hadn't progressed very far. A little after we got home I got a text telling me it was really close, so Teresa and I hopped back over to the hospital to wait it out. We got home at 3am, but I'm so glad we could be there. Nathan was very sad he didn't get to see Baby Owen, so I took him over Thursday before gym class. Nathan said he was so cute, we didn't want to leave :)
I haven't had a chance to really get any pictures of him. I'm hoping I'll have the chance tomorrow. But here is a picture of the little family taken about 2:30am. Congratulations!

Easter

2011-04-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

Some of the Easter fun:

Coloring Eggs

These are some of Teresa's

Decorating Cookies

YUM!

Saturday afternoon we went to Tehachapi for lunch and an Easter Egg hunt with cousins.

Sunday morning we had a little Easter here at the house

Sunday evening we went to my parents house for another egg hunt and dinner.

Museums

2011-04-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

This week is Spring Break for Teresa. We're keeping it pretty low key this year, a few little things here and there. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a nephew/cousin, so we didn't want to be gone for too long. Yesterday we took the kids to Exposition Park in LA, that is where the Natural History Museum is and the California Science Center, along with quite a few other things, but these were the two things that interested us. The Science Center was interesting, but not really worth a trip by itself, we spent less than 2 hours there and were pretty satisfied. You could probably spend a lot longer there with older kids. The NHM, however was quite fascinating. There was a lot to see, we spent a little over 4 hours there, we could have spent the whole day. But we wanted to check on the science center before it all closed. The NHM will open up a Dinosaur section this summer, we'll definitely have to go back. They had some dino stuff, but this new section is supposed to be quite a collection.
I took a ton of pictures, but here are a few highlights. I realize this is a lot of pictures, but it really is just a small selection

Nathan really wanted a picture on the frog

Teresa is about to be devoured by a T-Rex

NHM Main Lobby

Old car

There were so many interesting gems and rocks, we spent a lot of time in here

Peek-a-boo

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I loved how they had the animals displayed. There were so many

I loved this one, the beautiful painting in the background, with the fake flowers in the front, there's even a butterfly. Nathan thought that was amazing

A very small selection of the birds they had on display

Nathan in the discovery zone

This is also in the discovery zone, they had a lot of fun things to touch and look at in here

This is just outside the California Science Center (free admission)

infrared kids

Fantastic Spring Weekend!

2011-04-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday we took a picnic lunch to the park and played. That evening we grilled burgers over charcoal - yum! And then roasted marshmallows. The weather was so nice, we just couldn't get enough of it. We hung out in the back playing with the cat and in the sandbox while the burgers cooked.

Jonathan and I had already planned a day trip for Sunday, just the two of us. We were hoping to hit Sequoia, but there was too much snow to go too far into the park. So after much searching we found two little spots in Santa Clarita we could try. The William S Hart Park was so nice, and the weather was perfect. We toured his house and walked about a bit. After lunch we headed to a canyon to do some hiking. There was a little nature center with some live animals and some stuffed ones to show you what you might find in the area. There were several different trails, some easier than others. We chose the trail that followed the creek. With the wind rustling through the trees and the sound of the creek, it was such a fun relaxing day. We didn't do anything too tough(although, I am a little sore today). We ended our wonderful day with a delicious meal at Claim Jumper. It turned out to be a perfect day!

Part of William S Hart's house. He was an actor in silent western films. The house was full of interesting things

This was outside the house on our way back down to the park area. Which was also very nice

This is part of the trail in the canyon

This picture doesn't do it justice, it was so pretty up there

A little part of the creek. I believe if we had hiked more we would have seen water falls. But it was getting late, so we turned back

Thanks to my parents who were so willing to watch the kids all day. We might have to do this more often. Everyone had a good time.

Amanda's Baby shower

2011-03-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a shower for Amanda. It was a lot of fun! She received a lot of great stuff

The cake I made for the special occasion

My aunt Nedra came from Utah, and my Aunt Sharon came from Orange. It was so good to see both of them

Doesn't she look stunning?

So many cute little clothes

More clothes used as decorations. Cute huh!?

My Dad's Birthday

2011-03-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

We took him to a teppanyaki place here in town. It was really fun!

Teresa's plate with shrimp

Nathan really loved the show and the fire. Totally Awesome!

And he liked all the food too.

This is the sushi cake I made for my dad.

(No picture: It was Pajama day at FMS. Nothing much to see, a bunch of kids in pajama pants. Looked like Wal-Mart)

Crazy Hair Day at FMS

2011-03-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

It's spirit week at the junior high. Teresa had 15 little pony tails in her hair today. It was also Shamrock Shake day. Since Teresa was small we've been getting the shamrock shakes from McDonalds on St Patricks day, but last year they were out when we went :( It was so sad. So we made today our shake day :) Mmm!

Dinner at Hogwarts

2011-03-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

Teresa treated us to a little taste of what it might be to have dinner with Harry Potter and his friends. She made a delicious recipe from her Harry Potter cookbook that her grandma gave her. It was chicken with rosemary and garlic(along with other ingredients) it disappeared fast. Then for dessert she made Harry Potter's favorite dessert - Treacle Tart. This was a very interesting recipe, but tasted very good. Basically a tart crust (which is sweet like a sugar cookie) and the filling was fresh bread crumbs, lemon juice, lemon zest and corn syrup. Strange, I know, but quite good. Teresa loves to cook, she's always asking to help or make dinner. She even cleaned up after herself ;) I could get used to that.

Nerd Day at FMS

2011-03-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

I told her to put TP hanging out the back of her pants, but she thought that was going to far ;)

Music Festival

2011-03-10T16:07:00.000-08:00

The junior high attended a music festival this afternoon. Nathan and I went over to hear them. They were fantastic! The recordings aren't great, mind you a little boy was sitting in my lap half the time, and it's just a digitial camera. But if you want to listen, you will see they did very well. Keep in mind these are 12 and 13 year olds. They are fortunate to have a very talented and devoted choir teacher.

I will warn you, this one is long, so listen if you want.

Some of the kids are playing the instruments. And look, they can move and sing in tune. I didn't upload the whole song. I was having trouble getting the video to load, so I shortened it. I didn't get the whole song anyway, due to battery issues.

They look like they're having fun huh?!
There was another song that was very pretty, but the video I have didn't do it justice.

(Update: Teresa found out the choir got a Superior rating at the festival, the best you can get. They deserved it)

My Cats in Hats

2011-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

We went to the Fox Theater last Sunday for a little Dr. Suess reading event. It was fun, they had face painting and some characters there. Then they played a movie.

Random Pictures

2011-02-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

Just some random pictures from the past couple weeks

Jazzi was a sleep on Nathan(she woke up when I pulled the camera out)

We made chocolate valentine suckers

We went and saw Brian Regan at the Fox Theater. SO FUNNY! If you haven't had the chance to see him, or even just hear him, don't miss it!

A little fondant bunny I made for the top of a very delicious carrot cake

Valentine Dance

2011-02-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

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Teresa had a Valentine's dance at school on Friday. Isn't she beautiful?
(those shoes she's wearing are mine, can you believe it? They were a tad big, but not by much)

Swimming lessons

2011-02-04T09:40:00.000-08:00

I know I just posted a video, but I had to post some of his swimming lesson. I'm very proud of the progress he has made. The first lesson last summer, he was screaming bloody murder. He has come a long way and learned a lot. He took over summer, and then we just started up again in Jan.

The kids these days

2011-02-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

A few clips of Nathan in the new gym class,Boys Level 1. They focus on very different things. He's been in it for about 3 months now. He's taking swim now too, he's doing a great job. Jumping off the side and swimming and floating on his back and then swimming to the edge. I plan to try and get some video of that. He's getting a private lesson, it's great! I don't pay that price, it's just that no one else has signed up. Definitely the time to take swimming lessons. We've been busy around the house this last month, but we still squeeze in the fun stuff.

Teresa did well second quarter, it was much harder, so a B in Math, but still great. She had a great compliment from her Language Arts teacher on one of her writing assignments. She has a great couple weeks ahead. She tries out for the school play tomorrow, has a fun field trip to USC and the Natural History museum on Thursday and a week from Friday there is a Valentines dance at school. :) I doubt I'll get any pictures of these, but maybe I'll have her post some pictures if she remembers to take some.

Teresa painted this lovely picture of a Red Panda for me for my birthday (I got a Kindle too :o - I love it!)

She's growing up

2011-01-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is what Teresa's room looked like when we moved in

I worked hard to make it like this shortly after we moved in

It was perfect for a 4 year old. And she loved it for a long time.

Recently I convinced her it was time to change it into something a teenager could love

And this is the result. She LOVES it!

She picked the colors and helped paint. The pink squiggles were done by her.

Nathan wanted to help paint too.

Teresa was taking wallpaper down and the kitten wanted to help

We love the sun

2011-01-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

What can I say we love the beach, it doesn't matter the season. We headed over to Cambria on Sunday. It was so nice there. Not even the usual morning fog at the beach. Perfect! We saw the Elephant seals and their pups, and then we walked the beach and checked out the tide pool. It was a lot of fun. After all of us being sick the last 2 weeks, it was great to get out of town and do something fun

Fighting

Scratching

Flicking sand

Teresa took this one

Fried Calamari

Music to my ears

2011-01-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

I didn't mean to let this slip by without blogging it. Teresa had her choir concert in December and they did a great job. I have a small clip of one of the songs they did, it was very cute!

We're having a really fun week, so check back later :)

Projects from Christmas

2011-01-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

Ornaments

Paper boxes to hold the ornaments

Sock Monkeys

Great Christmas!

2010-12-29T16:29:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas. Just a few photos

Christmas Morning

I got a new flash for my Canon (LOVE IT!)

Christmas at my parents house

The quilt we made for my parents. They loved it! Mom cried

Sweet Kitty

2010-12-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

I was going to post this pictures to show you how cute our kitty is. She loved those moose. She was pretty excited about the Christmas tree too. She would spend a good part of the day behind it, drinking it's water and playing with the branches. She was such a good kitty. I'm so sorry to say she died yesterday. Jonathan found her outside, she'd been hit by a car. We don't know when or how she got out. But that doesn't matter. She's gone and we are so sad.

Graham Cracker Village 2010

2010-12-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. The construction of our Graham Cracker Village. We added a person this year and Luke made one too.

Nathan working very hard on his haunted mansion

Hannah's Jeep and Teresa's Disney Castle

Luke and Ian's

Michelle's lake and fishing boat(is the snowman winking at me?)

Serina's barn

My dream house ;)

Ty's lighthouse

Jonathan's old town building

Christmas at Disneyland

2010-12-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

Last week we took the kids to Disneyland. It was Nathan's first time. We got their early enough Tuesday evening to check out Downtown Disney. The Lego store is by far the coolest place. There were huge lego creations everywhere.

We surprised the kids with breakfast with Mickey and Friends. It was really fun. There weren't very many people there. The kids danced with the characters, play surfed, took pictures and got autographs. The breakfast was good too, they had so many different things. Oh and Santa was right outside the PCH Grill. What a treat that was. He was the best, nicest Santa I've ever seen. Nathan insisted he sign his autograph book. So cute!

They didn't actually ride the teacups - not a ride to take Nathan on. But a cute picture spot

Nathan calls it Little Town, instead of Small World

Tom Sawyer Island

What's Disneyland without Churros?!

We had a really great time. The day went super smooth, we didn't wait in line for too long and we got to ride every ride we set out to ride, two of them twice. We were also in the right place at the right time. For lunch we stopped at the Golden Horseshoe - and got a show too. Then, for the firework show - something we weren't trying to see, since rides were the priority, we walked out of our last rides and down the street a ways to a perfect spot to see the show and get snowed on. If you've never been at Christmas time, it is worth another visit. It's amazing!

Our Tree

2010-12-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

I love that our Christmas tree has history.

This is for Jen, and anyone else who would like to know about the ornaments. The first one is from my aunt Nedra, in 1981. I believe is was one of the first ornaments she gave me. She gave all the kids ornaments for many years. The second is from Cambria , CA - the first time we visited there. The BABY wagon was Teresa's first ornament. The Disneyland was from my mom the year we went to Disneyland as a family in 2003. The little Raggedy Ann is one I made for Teresa in 2000 - it's the year I started giving ornaments to all my neices and nephew, just like my aunt did. But back then there were only 5 kids, now there are almost 22. The Mrs Claus was another one from my aunt. I believe one of my brothers got a Santa - I have a lot of cool ornaments from my aunt, some from foreign places. The last is Nathan's first onrament. I have one from Mexico, and Hawaii. And my mom gives us one, that sums up something about the past year. We have a little gingerbread house one for the year we bought a house. It's just full of memories and history, and I really love it.

And here is our latest addition - we took the family to Disneyland yesterday. More on that in another post. I will just say this. The day was Perfect, absolutely perfect!

Some Pics from a fun Weekend

2010-12-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

Quick summary - train craft at Lowe's(not pictured) Craft at Michael's, Chic-fil-a, x-mas tree, decorating, playing, and a huge leaf pile is from Monday. I raked the leaves Friday and then we had a storm Sunday. Oh and Teresa saw Harry Potter with Grandma and Grandpa Sat evening.

Sproul Family Reunion

2010-12-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

It was our year to host or plan to Sproul family reunion. So the idea was to gather in St. George for Thanksgiving and a fun day of games on Friday. We originally thought a picnic would be nice, but the weather was too cold for food and games. So we had some delicious burgers that James and Michael grilled for us and then headed to a nearby park for some games. The park was all decorated for Christmas with a huge tree(which I didn't get a pic of).

First a little tug-o-war

My brother John against all the kids

From the kids side
John won once and the kids won once

Oh yes, a little tug with girls on one side, boys on the other

Teresa is the only granddaughter, so I was helping,
then my dad helped, but we still lost. But it was fun :)

An egg toss - with plastic eggs full of birdseed

Down to 3 teams - Justin and Dylan ended up winning

We borrowed two really fun outdoor games from Ty and Michelle (thanks!)

A Three-legged race

We needed stronger twine
Rick and Justin

Nathan and Braden held it together and won

Here is the whole gang that was there that day. Michael left the night before.

After the park we piled in the cars and a few of us went to check out a Geo cache.

The sun was going down, it was beautiful .

Here is Justin with the box they found. It was fun!

Nathan got out of the car without his coat, so he got really cold walking to the site.
Jonathan wrapped him in his coat, and by the time we got home, he was out

This isn't from Friday - although we did have a leftover Turkey dinner that night.
This is the spread John made us for Thanksgiving. Yum!

It was a really great weekend. Thanks to all that helped make it so nice! The rest of the Utah Sproul's were up north spending it together, so we weren't all in the same spot, but with family non the less

*Can I just say, I really hate the new format to upload pictures, I'm about ready to ditch blogger - too frustrating*

Thanksgiving in St. George

2010-12-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

We went to St. George, UT for Thanksgiving this year. There have been many a Thanksgivings spent in St. George as a family. This year the family reunion was scheduled to be the next day. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, most of the extended family couldn't make it. My family, my folks and all my brothers, plus my Aunt Nedra and cousin Michael. It was nice, we had a good time.

The kids made turkey napkin holders for the meal, while the cooking was being done.

They all came out very cute!

Some of the kids got really into it.
Theo - the youngest, made the most

Dixie Salad, an old tradition
(I don't know why the pic didn't turn)

Grandma's Rolls. This was one of my assignments. Grandma always made a zillion delicious rolls. I learned a few tricks from my Aunt Nedra to make them more like grandma's used to be.

Green Beans

The stuffing (I just loved all the fun dishes)

Some of the family. We managed to get all 21
people seated at tables in the same room

Teresa loves the turkey skin, so she
grabbed a leg once she was done with her plate

Theo did the same thing

A little Foosball. There was a lot of ping pong happening too

Plenty of pretending and playing together. With 9 boys, it was an adventure downstairs

A little quiet time with Grandpa (Theo)

Stuffed Jalapeno anyone?

2010-12-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

Four Different places, Four different types of stuffed Jalapeno's

The Verdict?

Jack-in-the-box - Very good!

Del Taco - not stuffed, but Very good!

Sonic - Not worth eating

Arby's - Good, but no better than the frozen ones from the store

This was a little adventure we had in St. George over Thanksgiving