Merry Christmas!

We've been having fun with Trent home all day for this past week. We love vacations!
Teagan made a sandwich sugar cookie for santa along with 6 others on the plate. (yikes) He wrote her a nice note thanking her for all the cookies she decorated and mentioned that he ate one then took the rest back to his workshop for his elves.

Tommy was a little overwhelmed by Teagan and Talmage yelling, "Santa came! He left presents!" We started opening presents around 6:15 a.m. (Thanks to Tommy.)

We went to the zoo on Christmas eve. It was free and it rained the whole time we were there. So, there weren't a lot of people and for some reason the animals were really active. You know sometimes you go to the zoo and the animals just lay ther? Well, they were walking around making lots of noise and coming right up to the glass enclosures, it was so cool!

The kids trying to sit still for a Christmas tree picture. I finally gave up. 2 out of 3 looking is good enough, besides we were almost late for church.

Talmage was really excited to sit on Santa's lap, it just doesn't show in this picture. He talked about it all the way home from the ward Christmas party.

To the Redwood Forest.. this land was made for you and me

When my family went on road trips my dad played this song by Woody Guthrie. "This land is your land,This land is my land,From California To the New York Island, From the redwood forest, To the Gulf stream waters, This land was made for you and me. He played it over and over all the way to Idaho"and back. Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to visit the Redwood Forest. So on our way up to Seattle for Thanksgiving we made a little side trip. The Redwoods were fabulous. Certain parts of our trip were not. (A fuse blew due to Talmage shoving a dime into the cd player, hence our portable dvd player couldn't work. We promptly got that fixed in Eureka. Our hotel room turned out to be a double wide trailor straight from the 70s. Yuck. I left the lights on in the van the night before we headed up for Seattle, we were all packed with the kids in the van, ready to go at 7am and the car wouldn't start. We found someone to jump our van, but our alarm system was very confusing and it took us about an hour to figure out how to start the van without the alarm going off. On the way up to Seattle our check engine light went on and stayed on, it turned out to be our catalytic converter, nice. $1, 200 later we were good to go.) Other than those 'minor' incidents we had a great time and I was sure glad to get to Seattle.

Teagan playing at the beach.

The trees were so big and tall, it was incredible.

The picture is dark but Trent is standing in front of a Redwood tree that has fallen over, the root diameter must have been at least 12 feet.

The whole family could fit into a burnt out Redwood tree trunk.

We drove through a tree. Cool.

viruses and other happenings

We got a virus on our computer from going onto Utube. It was pretty scary. Within 24 hours our computer was toast. We did get it fixed but it cost time and money which was annoying and it makes me wonder, what kind of loser comes up with these viruses to ruin other people computers, really, get a life.

Other happenings: My baby is crawling! Thomas enjoys getting into Teagan's toys, much to the despair of me and Teagan. (For me because of the choking hazards, Teagan doesn't like him to ruin her 'set up')

A rare photo of me and Trent together without the kids.

Teagan with a cute do and bright lipstick ready for preschool.

Hooray! The election is over! I took a picture of our beloved sign that we had in our front yard. Prop 8 was a huge deal here in California. I support traditional marriage. For those of you that don't share my same view that's fine. Please don't write mean things to me or about me. I have been yelled at, screamed at, honked at, flipped off and called a 'lousy mother' because of my beliefs, I read a quote the other day that I found comforting to me,"It mattereth not whether the principle is popular or unpopular, I will always maintain a true principle, even if I stand alone in it."

Talmage being a scary ghost monster.

Thomas having fun buzzing around at the ward Halloween trunk or treat.

Talmage as a ghost, Teagan as Princess Lolli from Candyland.

Talmage with his favorite toy scram.

We have been busy, busy, busy. I got a new calling as Laurel advisor. It takes a lot to plan lessons every week. I try to make them interesting and memorable. I can remember some of the lessons that Lori Lybert gave when I was in her class, she is my inspiration. There are so many fun things planned these next couple weeks. I can't wait for Thanksgiving vacation.

Happy Birthday to Talmage!

Make a wish! We had a really simple birthday. Trent is in Conneticut, so I invited some friends over for cake and ice cream this evening. Talmage opened his gifts as soon as we were all up this morning, so he just wanted to play with his new toys all day. Fine with me!

Talmage couldn't decide what shape of cake he wanted, first it was truck, then car, then ghost. I made his stick with ghost, it was the easiest one. Thank goodness.

The Birthday boy is 3! Teagan wanted to be in all the action. She helped him open his presents and cards, and kept asking where her witch cake was. Sorry Teagan, not till April.

Pumpkin Patch

On the way home we stopped at a road side stand and bought freshly picked strawberries. Did I mention it was 83 degrees that day?

Talmage founds his perfect pumpkin.

Guess how many times I had to take this shot to get everyone just to look at me at the same time. 13

Talmage petting a horse, actually rubbing his tummy.

I took all three kids to a pumpkin patch on Thursday by myself. Teagan and Talmage went nuts, they were so excited about this 'farm' they they kept running in opposite directions, while I tried to keep up with Thomas on my back. I finally had to take Teagan to the van so she could calm down. Then I lost Talmage when I told him that he could go play on a haystack and he went to the one on the opposite side of the barn. I started kicking myself for taking them without Trent. As we were driving away after a full morning of fun, Teagan enthusiastically exclaimed, "Thanks Mom! That was the funnest day ever!" Ok. it was worth it.

Camping at Mt. Diablo

Talmage with facial hair? No, with whipcream!

We went camping with friend's from Madison, the Wooléy's. This is Teagan with Aspen in a wind cave.

Trent and Thomas. We camped on the side of a mountain so the campground was quite sloped. The kids kept tripping but everyone survived.

Teagan and Aspen, great friends.

Fort Bragg

We went camping at Fort Bragg in September for my 29th birthday. It was so nice to be right on the coast. It almost felt like home. (Seattle) The kids love to camp and I love it because the kids have so much fun.
The kids had a lot of fun searching for shells and hiking around the beach.

29 forever

I thought he was dead

No, he is just sleeping on the kitchen floor

And time passes

Talmage is obviously not getting enough sleep. Bedtime has been a constant battle, so we finally made the rule that he can stay in his room to play, but cannot come out after 8:00 p.m. So he stays up until 10 our 11 playing with his trains, then the next day he crashes around 4 p.m. It's become a vicious cycle. We've got to find a better routine.

Teagan started preschool on the 3rd and loves it! Talmage wants to go too and keeps asking where Teagan is during preschool days. I have really enjoyed spending one on one time with Talmage while Teagan is away and Tommy naps. He is a different child when it's just the two of us.
Tommy is the "cutest little woobyhead that ever was." Don't ask me. Teagan came up with it.

Summer, summer, summer fun

Jill, Me and Colleen at our Highschool Reunion. Lot's of fun!
Talmage having fun in the sun!
Grandma Thomas with Matthew and Tommy

Playing in Rock creek with cousins

Teagan, Talmage, Grandma Stanger and Tommy

The most important page in the newspaper

Talmage loves kittens

We went to Twin Falls for the temple open house. It was a lot of fun, the kids enjoyed playing outside at Grandma's house. They spent most of thier days torturing the kittens and riding in grandpa's lawn tractor. We love Idaho in the summer.

Earlier this month I felt like I was suffocating with all the hazy smoke from the wildfires. Friday afternoon we packed up and headed to the coast to go camping. Since it was so last minute we stayed at a KOA. The tent behind Talmage is our neighbor. When we drove into the campsite Trent and I both started cracking up. The sites are packed to close together you could reach out and touch your neighbor's tent. (not my ideal of camping)
We went swimming at the pool. loved it!
Trent just wanted to go to bed, but it took awhile for the kids to settle down.
Tommy ready to go a nature hike.
The kids running from the waves, eventually the were both knocked over by sneaky waves. I felt like I was back home in Seattle. 68 degrees was such a relief from our scorching upper 90s.