thinking

Hey, sometimes you do what you gotta do to think more clearly. . . to really keep the focus.

The award goes to . . .

Some days your kids are just over-the-top cute. Sometimes on those days, other people's kids are really cute too. It just so happened that day was today. Double whammy, two birds with one stone. . . that sort of thing.

Cute display #1 :

We'll call him Mr. "L" (which may or may not stand for Mr. La La La La Love)

He was my photoshoot today, what a cutie, right!

Cute display # 2:
"Mr. La La La La Love" puttin' the moves on Morgan.

(cute only until Morgan knows the word 'boy')

Cute display # 3:

Poutiest lips that you ever did see.

Seriously insane lips plumpness going on here.

Cute display #4:

the "Low Squat"

There is only ONE "Low Squat" and she's doing it. Don't try this at home. You may injure yourself. Believe me. Her little diaper is about 2 millimeters from the tile. Connie says she squats like a Russian. (Quite frankly, I'm not sure I want to see any Russians squatting.)

Cute Display # 5:

This is what Paige was holding when she came off of the bus today. . . ummm, "can Mom borrow that for a little few pictures?" I'm such a nerd. Check out the little nest. It's made out of garbage, probably from the school grounds. The bird is a cotton ball with feathers glued on it. She played with "her" all afternoon. I think we've found the perfect family pet. 100% recycled and we wouldn't have to bury it at the end of the summer.

I also wish that I could have had a video camera today when Morgan learned how to nod 'yes'. All I said was, Mo, do you want a cracker and her head started bobbing up and down. Of course I had to put it to the test to see if she really knew what it meant. Sure enough!

At dinner:

"Mo, do you want a cookie?" ------ head bob yes

"Mo, do you want a punch to the face?" ----- pause. . . . scowly eyes. . . punching her own face. . . all of us cracking up

"Mo, do you want some juice?" ------ head bob yes

I would have also liked to have a video of Paige singing Mo a little lullaby in the car on the way to dinner. . . so sweet.

Like I said. . .some days you want to string them up by their toenails, and other days it's just one "cute" display after another. I love these kids. I love watching them grow and learn. They're oh-so-sweet and sometimes sour, but always always always my babies, no matter how big they get.

Time Out for Women

I had the chance to go to Time Out for Women in Pleasanton this last weekend with Barb, Summer and Sarah. We missed Amy and Diana. What a great weekend! We flew in on Thursday night. We shopped 'till we dropped in San Francisco on Friday. I'm talking all 3 floors of Forever 21, Old Navy, and both floors of H&M and Anthropologie, and that's not even counting the gigantic mall and the yummiest lunch in between. I've walked all of San Fransisco in years past. We've seen Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. We've eaten at Bubba Gumps and stuffed ourselves with goodies at Ghiradelli Square. But never have I shopped for 9 hours straight on Market Street.

We learned that:

1. San Fran is a whole different city after dark
2. You are only allowed to bring 6 articles of clothing into the Forever 21 dressing room at a time. That makes for a long stay in the dressing room.
3. 1 pound of chocolate should not cost more than the clothes on your back
4. the food court at the mall CAN be a pleasant dining experience
5. They DO NOT have shopping carts at Old Navy in SanFrancisco. . . I repeat they DO NOT have shopping carts at Old Navy in SanFrancisco
6. If you sit down after 8pm in Old Navy, you may not want to get up again. . . right, Sarah?
7. Last, but not least. . . TCBY is the only way to cure aching feet and tired eyes.

(Yeah, that's right Summ, I stole this from your blog. . . who did you steal it from?)

Saturday was a day spent at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds at the conference. We laughed, and laughed, and ate truffles and laughed some more. The speakers were so great, and the music by Hillary Weeks was amazing. Kris Belcher was by far my favorite speaker. Come to find out, Diana is good friends with her. See what happens when some of the family is missing? We could have introduced ourselves with Diana by our side. Lunch was in downtown Pleasanton with some of the Pleasanton crowd. After the conference we headed to Elephant Bar for dinner with the same crew. Then, we headed home, changed into our comfy sweats and dozed all the way through Bride Wars.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Sunday we went to church with Sarah and Josh, and then Sarah whipped up a fantastic dinner for us all. Smothered chicken, artichokes, mashed potatoes and banana cream pie. Yummy! Summer and I headed to the airport straight after dinner.


Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . . . Shane packed up the kiddos for funfilled night at the ward campout. As the temperature dropped, the girls began to whine. I can just hear it now. Shane gave me a little taste of the conversation. It went something like this:

Paige: I'm really cold Dad
Shane: O.k. come get in the bed with me
Mo: WAAAAAAA! (translates to: What the heck are we doing here!)
Paige: It's really really cold here, like colder than freezing!
Shane: Just try to go to sleep
Paige: Why is it so cold here?
Shane: it's 3:00 in the morning, could you just try to go to sleep?
Mo: WAAAAAAA! (translates to: NO, REALLY! WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING HERE!)

Shane said he packed up first thing in the morning to come straight home. Shortly after that, the rain and hail storm started. goody

They spent the rest of the weekend at home trying to sleep off their hangovers.

Paige is still recovering.



Hopefully last night was the last of the meltdowns for a while.

Shane has openly admitted that parenting is definitely a 2 parent job, and that it can be lonely sometimes without the help of your significant other.

I did find two cute little pictures that Paige drew. I'm glad she was able to forget the not-so-great parts of the trip.

Apparantly there was a "ded moose" or elk up there somewhere. I'm SO sorry that I missed seeing that one. Shucks. Maybe next time. At least she's not poking it with a stick in the picture.

Weekend Hike

Saturday we hit a high of 80 degrees. . . incredible for around here, and just right for hiking. We headed out to Usery Mountain to hike the Wind Cave Trail.

4 powerades
46 lizards spotted while hiking
1 fuzzy red spider
2 REALLY red cheeks (belonging to Paige)
5 pairs of tennis shoes instead of flip flops (feels weird I tell ya)
1 squirrel lovingly named JO
1 chipmunk also named JO
1 small swarm of bees
1 VERY impressive Wind Cave (As viewed from the eyes of a 5-year-old who hasn't ever been in a cave.)
at least 300 repetitions of the word CAREFUL!

ALL in the name of reaching Wind cave. . . well, 3 of us anyway. Shane was carrying Mo and stopped about 1/2 way up because he just didn't feel safe carrying her all the way to the top.

Tyler and Paige are pretty sure that they are expert hikers now that they've scaled MOUNT WIND CAVE. I can see a lot more hiking in our future . . although we do need to invest in a sturdy baby backpack.

UP

Last night we grabbed a bite to eat at Costa Vida and then headed to The Pictureshow to see UP. What a great little movie! I love it when we can take the whole family to the theater. The kids LOVED it, and even Mo watched the 1st half, completely fixated on the screen. . . well, the screen and the popcorn. She really liked all of the "puppies" on the movie, and she was panting the whole time she was awake. Truthfully, she would have been panting if the movie was about horses. I'm pretty sure she thinks that all four-legged animals pant. Then, she fell asleep, or maybe she hyperventilated from all of the panting. One way or another, she sweated soundly through the second half of the movie on my lap.

Paige was cracking up through the whole movie. The theater is of the only places that I can think of off the top of my head where her volume issue is not an issue. Thank goodness.

Ty loved it too, and he gets a lot of the inside jokes now. It's fun to watch him laughing when none of the little kids are. I think that it really makes him feel grown up.

Before the movie started we saw a friend outside of the mall. She snapped this picture of all of us with my little point and shoot. I'm so proud of Shane for not making a face. (Note to self: please stop trying to pull of that hairdo. . . it does absolutely nothing for your receding hairline.)

Here's a little drawing by Paige:

Friends help friends pull teeth

Shane picked Paige up from the bus yesterday. He said she sounded funny. "Let me see your teeth" he said. The front one. . . gone. That's three teeth in 1 week. THREE. Our neighbor friend was in the car, excitedly telling how Paige's "friend" had pulled out the tooth. Paige was acting so funny about the whole thing, like it was some big secret.

Me: Did Shawn help you pull out your tooth?

Paige: (looking at the floor) yes

Me: Why are you so nervous to tell me? Did Shawn tell you he was going to help you pull out your tooth?

Paige: No, he didn't say anything. I just said, will you help me pull out my tooth 'cause I want some more money. Then, he helped me.

Wow, true friend there. That boy really must be smitten.

Tyler says she looks like this:

Nah, she's much cuter.

She says that the kids with the best-looking pictures on the wall at school are missing lots of teeth. Umm . . . o.k.