Los Valles

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.

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!

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 pictures, 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!

Helaman had his first Valentine’s Day party at preschool this year. We made our own Valentine’s because he loves to do crafts, and they are just cooler anyway. His favorite candy is tootsie rolls, so we had to find a way to incorporate that into our theme, of course. I was really proud of him for working so hard to make all of these. Although, he got really tired of writing his looooooong name on the back of them, so I took pity and just let him write the H and I wrote the rest. I thought they were pretty cute! He loved handing them out to all of his friends, and family, and teachers. It was really cute.

Oh, and hey, I like the way you roll!

It never rains in Ridgecrest, let alone snow. That is until this year. Rain and rain and rain, and the weekend I was supposed to go to Wicked in San Francisco, snow. It was cool, and cold, and beautiful. The problem was, if it kept up, we may end up trapped in this valley. All the roads out of our little valley close in a good snow, last Christmas it was for 3 days! The boys thought the snow was awesome, though. Omar couldn’t get enough of it, he stood outside taking pictures and enjoying it for a couple of hours. My babies liked catching it on their tongues, and making patterns in it once it started sticking. (We did eventually put coats and hats and gloves on them, when it wasn’t stopping!) They enjoyed it for about a half hour, and then decided they didn’t like the cold and wet all that much after all. Little desert rats!

The snow really stuck more than this, but by the end Omar had switched to taking pictures on his phone, and I don’t have those. I think there was probably a good stuck inch on the ground by the end of it. We were supposed to be leaving for Wicked the next morning, but watching the weather decided our best chance of getting through was going to be at 5 that night. One friend, Christina, was supposed to be flying into Inyokern from Utah (through L.A.) that night, but all those flights were canceled due to weather, so she changed her flight to meet us in SF the next morning. According to the weather on my phone, we made it through Tehachapi (up in the mountains) right before it started snowing hard there. We spend the night at my friend Carol’s sister’s house in Fresno, and woke up to a delicious breakfast the next morning. Then we left to go play in SF while we waited for Christina’s flight to come in.

Well, good thing we left so early! It tooks us hours to get to SF because of traffic on the freeway due to an accident. We ended up creating our own detour and made it just in time to get Christina, whose flight had thankfully been delayed! By the time we got her, it was time to check into our hotel and get some dinner, since none of us had eaten in all the madness.

We stayed at the Hilton in downtown SF. It was beautiful and elegant, super fun! We found out from the concierge that all the restaurants around there were closed, but a few were having happy hour with appetizers. We ended up going to an Italian Restaurant in downtown that was great. Rebecca even had wild boar! Then we walked back to the hotel to get ready for the show. You can tell we were all mom’s because we got ready way too fast and then didn’t know what to do with ourselves, but we had a great time just sitting around talking.

And then to Wicked! It was fantastic! I’ve really missed theater since there is no more Music Circus for me down here in Ridgecrest. The show was great, the set was great, I loved it! The story was WAY different from the book, but they changed it in ways that made it a much happier story, and great for kids, even. I really enjoyed it! Then we caught a bus back to downtown and went and had a midnight dinner (for Carol, whose always wanted to do that!) at a downtown diner. I’ve never really been in that part of San Francisco before. It’s pretty crazy to be surrounded by tall close together buildings. I had a hard time getting a sense of direction. But, I really liked it, too. I still think it would be fun to live in the city.

We were going to go to the Oakland Temple on Saturday. Carol and I were both sealed in that temple, and I was really excited to go back. I love that temple! But, it was closed for maintenance that weekend, so we decided to drive back to Fresno and go to the temple there instead. We got to meet 2 of Carol’s sisters there and then go out to eat with them afterward, which was fun. I was really grateful for the chance to get to go to the temple. It’s hard when you are 3 hours away and have two little guys to deal with to be able to go. It’s so peaceful inside the temple, it’s exactly the calm I need.

No trip out of town would be complete without a trip to Costco (at least for those of us who live in Ridgecrest). So after lunch we made a stop and filled up the van with groceries.

And then home. It was so good to see my boys, but I think Omar was the only who missed me. He kept the boys busy having so much fun, they keep asking when I’m going to leave again. I think they went out to eat every meal (including a trip out of town to Chukee Cheese). And he learned why I don’t give them baths very often, and never together! I’m so grateful for my sweet husband who let me go and was such a good sport about it. I had a great time. I never realized how much I need girl friends, but it was awesome! Thanks for coming with me girls!

So a couple of months ago I got a speeding ticket on the way to the park, with my boys in the car. It was my first one, ever, and pathetically I cried after the officer walked away. Apparently this was very memorable to my little guys, and they talk about it all the time since then.

Last week Isaiah starting saying he was going to shoot the policeman because he made his mommy cry. We’ve been telling him that policemen are good, and mom just got in trouble because she broke the rules. He doesn’t care why I got in trouble, he’s upset that I cried.

Today at breakfast he started telling the story again, but this time, he was mad at dad because he wasn’t there. Because, “Dad would have said ‘Hey! Don’t say hey to my mommy!’” Cute, right? Of course, after a pause it turned into and then daddy would shoot him and he would die into a million dollar pieces…. silly Isaiah!

Isaiah singing Omar to sleep:

(To the tune of Brahm’s Lullaby, more or less.)
“Lulla-bite and goodnight
And dad is my baby
To share and love each other
Goodnight”

So that’s what the bite song is…

In the Wal-Mart parking lot last weekend

Helaman: Dad, are adults allowed to talk to strangers?

Dad: Yes, buddy, adults can talk to strangers if they need to.

Helaman: Good, then you can tell that guy over there to stop smoking!

(And then it’s Omar’s fun job to explain why some people already know it’s bad but choose to do it anyway, so you don’t need to tell them again… )

At Disneyland on the Star Wars Ride in October

Operator: And there is no smoking.

Helaman (loudly): My dad never smokes!

Someone in the crowd: Yeah, no smoking!

(Everyone on the ride breaks out into cheers and applause.)

What a funny little guy!

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?

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!