March 8th, 2010

We went hiking again last week. Dad goes to Taco Bell with his friends for lunch on Thursdays, so we always do something fun that day since we aren’t having lunch with him (which is our fun the rest of the time). This time we got to take Trevor with us, and it was lots of fun. They loved checking out all the cool rocks and cacti.

The next picture is just to show how high they climbed. It was pretty hard work, I was proud of them. But they were all tired and ready to go by the end. If you look close you can see Ridgecrest in the background waaaay down behind them.

Then we went to McDonald’s for lunch, came home and watched Monster v. Aliens and played tag and “cookie-monster” and golfed in the front yard. Thanks for playing with us Trev!

March 8th, 2010

We did finally get a new car! Omar sold the truck a few weeks ago, and we used the money from that to buy this new van. It was basically a straight across trade! It’s a 2005 Chevy Venture with 47,000 miles. That’s the newest care we’ve ever owned, and we can’t believe how nice it is! It’s basically our same van, just newer with a few new toys. I love it!

Omar’s driving the old van for now, maybe I’ll have a new car post again soon, knowing him… Although he really loves the van, so it might be a while.

March 8th, 2010

Some friends of ours had tickets to the zoo that were going to expire before they could go, so they kindly shared them with us! Omar left a little early on Thursday from work, and we headed for the South Land.

We decided to break the trip up a little by stopping at the Bass Pro Shop again. Our boys just can’t get enough (including the big one). This time mom remembered quarters so they could practice shooting things, too. And the best part (from my point of view) was there was a huge sale on Columbia clothing and I got some really cute stuff really cheap. There was some famous NASCAR driver there that night, with news crews and long lines and stuff, but we didn’t care enough to remember his name. It just made it more exciting, though. Omar liked checking out his car in the parking lot, and the boys got balloons. It was a nice fun break in the long drive.

Then we went and spent the night at Fernando’s house. The little guys love hanging out there, and for some reason think sleeping on air matresses is the best thing in the world. Then the next morning we got up and drove to San Diego. I haven’t been there since I was 2, but it was super cool. Well, the part where the zoo is located is super cool, we found some scary parts when we were leaving.

We decided to leave our monstrous stroller at home and rent one at the zoo. The guys thought it was the coolest thing. Anything mechanical or transportation related is, I guess, the coolest thing.

Helaman and Isaiah thought the animals were so cool. Helaman’s favorites were the ant-eater and the otters. Isaiah loved the gorillas. There was a little baby gorilla that was playing with the kids through the glass. It was so cute. I couldn’t get over how human-like they were. I could have stayed and watched them all day. Those this super cute scene was my favorite:

We had a great day. The San Diego Zoo is so huge, I don’t think we saw everything, but it was still really fun. And really exhausting. We were all completed dying by the end of the day.

The next day, Saturday, was entirely spent in fruitless car shopping. We though we wanted an Explorer, but nothing seemed right. At the end of the looooong boring day we took the kids to the Lego Store in Downtown Disney. They thought that was pretty cool, and I think it made up for some of the terrible day.

March 8th, 2010

When we first moved into our house there were many things that needed to be changed. We got to work on the inside right away, painting and repairing crazy problems. The outside got no help for a long time. This picture was taken right when we moved in. One of my least favorite things about the outside of the house were these scraggly bushes. For some reason everyone in our neighborhood wants a barrier to their front door (most people have WALLS). We had these ugly unhealthy bushes. Omar took the rose bush, that grabbed you as you walked by, out as one of the first things we did, but then the bushes remained. Until…. Thanksgiving!

When Omar’s family was here they were an amazing help. We got lots of things done that had been waiting forever, including BUSH REMOVAL! I was so happy to get rid of those ugly things. Then we walked around in the desert across the street from our house and made a cute little rock garden. We found some really cool rocks! I told Omar I’m going to be sad to leave that behind when we move, but I am pretty sure, unless we have movers again, we won’t be packing up my cool rocks.

And then a few months later, when it got warm enough, my boys helped me plant some flowers in our rock garden. Here is the far away shot of the front of our house now. It was taken in the shade, so it’s not the best, but you get the idea. We also replaced the little chintzy lights that were on our house, and that made a big difference, too.

And here are some close up shots of my flowers!

March 8th, 2010

Grandma and Greta came for Valentine’s Day. My boys were so excited, they could hardly take it! We didn’t go home for Christmas this year, and it had been a long time since we’d gotten to see them. We were so glad they were willing to drive down here and play with us! We played games, and were silly, and ate Doritos (yum! Thanks for stealing them, Greta!) and went to a Greek Restaurant (thank Mom, it was great!) and just generally enjoyed each other for the first day they were here.

Grandma also brought presents of course! She brought the boys some cool new games, these awesome sweaters they love from Michael & Tara and LEGOS from Chris. I had some very hyper, happy boys on my hands. They really do love these sweaters, Helaman loves soft stripes and Isaiah loves being exactly like Helaman, and is super thrilled. He calls it his favorite jacket.

The legos were a huge hit, too. After everyone left, Helaman did nothing but play with these legos for a few days straight. It’s still one of his favorite things to do. He can’t believe how many cool legos he has, and keeps making us super cool inventions. I appreciate that Isaiah can play with them, too. With the sets I am always so paranoid about him losing a piece, it’s been nice to just let them play!

The next morning we slept in and then headed out to the L.A. Temple apartments. We checked in and dropped off our stuff, took a bunch of picutres, then headed to the beach.

We were going to go to the Santa Monica Pier with Michael and Tara, but we were all running sooo late we just headed for the beach instead.

We hadn’t planned on going to the beach, so no one was dressed appropriately. But that didn’t stop the boys and Ava from wanting to play in the cold cold water. Okay, I wanted to play, too. Only my mom and Tara stayed high and dry. Which was smart, because we all froze! But it was still lots of fun.

Michael was cracking me up feeding the little birds. They would make seagull noises and he would drop food into their mouth. He’s always such a fun uncle with his kid brain!

Isaiah missed his nap and was so tired he almost fell asleep face first in the sand while the rest of us watched the beautiful sunset. Then Omar and I went to the temple while Grandma stayed at the apartment with sleeping Isaiah and Michael and Tara took Helaman and Greta and the girls on an adventure. (Thanks guys!) We were supposed to stay at the apartments that night and go see Billy in the morning while his ship was docked in L.A., but Isaiah got sick, and I went home with my boys. Everyone else stayed there, then came to our house to play the next day. We took the kids on four-wheeler rides, and Michael and Omar went on a long ride in the desert. Then we had BBQ and just laughed at our crazy kids. Everyone left the next day.

We had a great time with everyone! Thanks for coming to see us, we sure love our family!

January 18th, 2010

Omar and Helaman came up with a plan to plant seeds in 2-liter bottles. So of course Isaiah wanted to do it too! We went to home Depot and they picked out their seeds while dad was at work. Helaman really wanted to plant a tree, or red roses. Since neither of those grow well from seeds he settled on big sunflower seeds. Isaiah is super excited to grow peas. He says he loves peas? I have never seen him love peas, including that night for dinner, but he thinks he does!

After dinner Omar brought in a tray of potting soil and they had a blast filling their bottles and planting the seeds. Nothing has germinated yet, but it’s only been 12 days, so we’ll have to keep hoping… Omar is the cutest of all about the whole thing. He comes home every day after work and checks on the seeds. I sure love that guy!

I took the boys hiking during Omar’s Taco Bell Thursday lunch a week ago. I was feeling stir crazy, and the weather was beautiful! They were really excited to go and loved finding cacti, mines, and crazy crumbling abandoned buildings. Helaman loves to call upside down triangles with rounded corners “u-tovers”, and there were lots of trail markings with those. He was thrilled every time we saw one. And for every u-tover we passed we had to find one cactus or we couldn’t turn around.

We hiked a lot further than we should have, they didn’t want to turn around, but I knew they were going to be too tired! I ended up carrying Isaiah a lot of the way back to the car. The trail we were on wound around the mountain, but they had run out of patience by the end and we cross-countried it as the crow would walk if carrying a baby and being patient with a straggling preschooler. We still had lots of fun, and even found a non-fenced mine that freaked me right out with my two crazies!

We made it with no mishaps all the way to the almost end, when Helaman biffed it, back on the wide nice trail, when he lost his balance turning around. Sounds like something I would do! I was really glad to have a first-aid kit in the back of my car. Not that he was very hurt. It was just really comforting to him (and me) that I had everything under control and the tools ready to comfort and heal. As soon as we broke out the band-aids the world was right again. And they still remember it as a fun activity they are dying to do again. Well, that and the Subway helped. Helaman loves Subway, Omar does not. So they were excited to go because we never do.

I love hanging out with my boys and that we can go hiking in the desert in the winter. (And only in the winter! I’m scared to death of rattlesnakes.)

And finally, this is what happens to the cute little train set when mom leaves and the boys play. Look close, those are machine guns. And yes, they shot them! Scary right?

January 18th, 2010

It finally really rained today. The boys had a lot of fun playing in the rain and mud in the back yard. Finally when they were soaked to the bone they came in to get dry by our first ever fire (using spare wood from the shed). It was a cozy lazy day. When the fire burnt down we roasted marshmallows for an afternoon snack using a hanger daddy had “engineered” for that purpose! It’s supposed to rain all week, it might not be fun for that long, but it was a great day today.

Tonight Isaiah was lesson for family night, and we all took turns saying something we were thankful for from this week. Helaman was thankful for playing the rain. Isaiah was thankful for nursery and spent a long time telling us all the things he did there. The funny part is, he still says he did it all with Sister Moran, even though she isn’t there any more. We just spent so long trying to get him to go play with her that’s what nursery is called in his head. Funny kid. I was thankful to get to do music in primary yesterday. I had a lot of fun, I really enjoyed the kids and learning the song. It was a crazy busy day, but it really flew by! Omar was thankful for getting to stay home today with us, and for roasting marshmallows in the fireplace.

It was a simple lesson, but we really are so blessed!

January 15th, 2010

A few days after Christmas we started getting a little stir crazy, and decided it was time for an adventure. We drove 2 hours south to check out Rancho Cucamunga. We’d heard the Bass Pro Shop was tons of fun for kids, and I wanted to check out the mall. So off we went. The Bass Pro Shop is on of my boys new favorite things. The love checking out all the trophy fish, and tacking the glass elevator under water. In fact they cried when we said it was time to leave. I think they would have stayed there all day.

Helaman now says that is where we need to move now. Before that it was always L.A., but I think we just haven’t been there in a while. Could the giant fish be better than the beach? I am excited to save up and take them to a real aquarium now. (Just not this month when I have to pay my gigantic ticket! )

We also ate some delicious fudge, and very briefly checked out the rest of the store. They really wanted to try shooting the guns in the big hunting game, but we didn’t have any quarters. Next time.

The mall was HUGE and overwhelming, and all we really did there was walk around for a little bit and use the bathrooms. I think that I was with the wrong crowd for that to be a fun part of the trip. After that we hit up Costco and had some great sample and bought some delicious uncooked flour tortillas that we just can’t get enough of. Then we took the kids out to dinner at Chili’s, which they didn’t love, but we always do!

Chili’s was right next door to a Krispy Kreme, and the hot light was on when we came out, so we took the boys to another one of their favorite activities, watching the donuts be made. They sat there through the whole big long cycle watching this little baby donut get stuck and then make it’s way through. The guy at Krispy Kreme though they were so cute he gave it to them, plus some free mini-donuts (they got to pick any kind the wanted!) Needless to say, they though that was great!

For New Years Eve we splurged and took the boys to a Japanese restaurant here in town where they cook the food on your table and do tricks. They were excited to get shrimp and rice for dinner, but were not very impressed with the cooking. In fact they were a little terrified of the firey parts (Isaiah was in tears at one point). Helaman likes to tell me now that he loves eating rice with chopsticks. Who doesn’t like shoveling the food straight into their mouth?

Then we watched the ball drop at 9, and put the kids to bed. Omar and I end up staying up until midnight almost every night anyway, so we did our usual and then kissed at 12. Then the crazy illegal fireworks started going off all over Ridgecrest, including right down our block. So we enjoyed the show in the freezing cold for a while and then ran for our warm bed. It was a fun night.

The next day Omar didn’t feel very good so the only exciting thing we did was go to McDonald’s that night. Helaman was very proud of himself because he went and ordered his own kid’s cone after he was done with his dinner. He is much braver about “people” things than I am. I still get nervous ordering sometimes. I don’t think we are going to have to worry about him being shy! I love this picture of Helaman, too. Such a handsome little guy!

The ONLY thing Helaman wanted to do to celebrate New Years was go to Fossil Falls. So, we took them next day when Omar was feeling a little better. We ran errands all morning, at lunch at Taco Bell and then headed up the mountains with some friends. The boys LOVED it. In fact, Omar gave a Family Home Evening lesson on goals that Monday, and Helaman’s goal for the year was to go to fossil falls a lot. We couldn’t talk him into anything else!

Omar had never been to Fossil Falls with us before, and he thought it was really cool, too. Helaman always cries when it’s time to go. They are both little mountain goats out there, crawling around. Omar had heard it was scary with little kids, but we always have lots of fun. I don’t think I would do it by myself, though. It’s nice to have extra hands.

After we left we drove up to the Little Lake overlook and learned about all the volcanos in the area. In fact, for those of you who have gone with us, that weird red mountain where you turn to Fossil Falls that looks like a mining pile is actually the most recently active volcano in that area. I still miss lots of green and I really miss the water, but the desert is definitely cool in it’s own unique ways.

I am so grateful for my family and all the fun we have together!

January 14th, 2010

We decided to stay home for Christmas this year. It was a combination of a lot of factors. We were sad not to be with our families, but we did enjoy the slow place and getting to spend lots of time doing nothing at all together. In fact, it was so chillax and fun, I forgot to take any pictures on Christmas!

We had a Family Home Evening lesson about giving at the beginning of December and took yummy corn flake wreathes to a few friends for activity. The boys thought they were really cool, but I am the only one who appreciated the hot dot holly berries. We had lots of fun, and the boys loved wearing their Santa hats and delivering presents. Then we talked about how they felt happy when they were giving stuff away. I think if I do this every year maybe by the time they are like, 20, they might appreciate the joy of giving over receiving.

We did Christmas tree crafts with glitter glue and scissors and everything! They were so proud of their creations, they kept them out all December and played with them almost everyday. They even left them on the fireplace of Santa on Christmas Eve. (He left them a sweet note telling them that he like them.) I love this picture. It is just so….them.

This is the closest thing we have to a picture of Christmas. We traditionally give them new pajamas that they get to open on Christmas Eve, and that is what we were trying to take a picture of here, but they were not cooperating. Helaman got pajamas with a matching bathroom that he loves, and Isaiah got pajamas with “hot dog” (Mickey Mouse) on them, and he was super excited. He wants to wear theme very night, actually. Helaman had been dying ever since he brought his present for me home from preschool. When we told them they got to open one present that night, he thought that meant he got to pick, and wanted it to be that one. He was tearfully disappointed that that isn’t what was happening, so I got to open a very special present that night, too. What a sweet guy!

On Christmas morning the boys woke up to a tent with tunnel, glo-doodle for Helaman and helicopters for Isaiah that Santa left. They were so excited to play with those things, we didn’t get to opening any other presents for a long time. I forgot to take pictures because we were just having so much fun playing with them. They were so cute and excited, we loved spending that special time with them. Then we just played all day, stayed in our pajamas, and enjoyed each other.

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Fernando came Christmas night to enjoy some dinner with us. I must be getting old, because I can’t remember what went wrong (so anyone who has hear the story and remembers, please remind me) but somehow Christmas dinner ended up not getting done until around 9:00. But at least it turned out to be delicious! I made ham and scalloped potatoes and homemade rolls and suated green beans with red peppers. It was beautiful and tasted great!

Also on my list of good things I have made lately were the next day after Christmas delicious cinnamon roles. I forgot to pinch the edges closed, so they spread as they cooked, and they were already huge, but they tasted great. I even got Fernando to eat a lot of carbs this trip.

The rest of the weekend was spent just playing around.

And laying around. Can’t beat that.

January 13th, 2010

After Cari and Josh were here we all spent the next week throwing up and really sick. Luckily, everyone got better just in time for Billy, Spencer, and Chris to come visit. I wish I had taken more pictures while they were here. We had a great time, with them as well. We got to go enjoy a mariachi at a Mexican restaurant in Inyokern, take Spencer to ogle at planes and weapons at the base open house, go to Corona and visit cousins, and really enjoy lots of laughs together. I really love my family and how much fun we have together. I’m so glad they were willing to drive down here and have a blast with us! Isaiah cried several times after they left because he wanted his “uncles” back. Cute lovingly little guy.

When we were at the base open house Survivability let us crawl inside real planes and helicopters and a friend sent me a couple of pictures of that.