Thanksgiving and Friends

This is a song my parents used to sing while growing up.

Sometimes

Sometimes not often enough,
We reflect upon the good things,
And our thoughts always center around those we love,
And I think about those people,
Who mean so much to me,
And for so many years have made me,
So very happy,
And I count the times I have forgotten to say,
Thank you,
An just how much I love them.

We had such a great time in Utah visiting with friends and family. Tom was able to attend the BYU vs Utah game as a BYU fan in the Utah student section. (That is a whole other story that is not appropriate for this website) Anyway we had such a great time renewing old friendships and I was reminded of God placing each one of these people in my life and Tom's life as a witness to how much HE loves us. Thanks everyone for your friendship, example, and love. My only regret is that I didn't take pictures with you all.

Ben and Stacy Baker. Tom's best friend from BYU came to visit with their 3 kiddos.
Gavin going in for the kill. He found a baby that he just has to hug and pat on the head.
Thanksgiving dinner. We had Uncle Steve, Aunt Karen, and Mom plus Russ, Rich, and Me.
Aunt Claudia came over later and brought the uke to sing everybody's song.

Utah Visit and Tom Graduates!!!

Lunch at Sizzler with Judi, Jason, Tom, Tina and Shane to celebrate Shane's birthday. We took over the private conference room and let the kids go wild!
Logan playing badminton in the front yard with Grandma. We were the only grandchildren staying with Grandma and Grandpa so Logan got a lot of attention and loved every minute of it. My favorite was after he raked leaves and did yard work, Grandma paid him a $1.00 and now all he wants to do is yard work to earn money. No more Legoland only yard work. The ironic thing is we have landscapers and our yard is about 10 feet.:)
When Tom accepted his job at Ensign Group 4 years ago he still had 1 year of MBA school left. The company said they could wait 4 months so Tom decided to fit one years worth of classes in one semester so he could finish. He ended up 2 classes shy. (That was while he was working full time at HP and commuting to the U of U.) So recently he finished his last two courses at USD to graduate. He has never walked at graduation so my parents dressed him up in the official gear and let him walk down the hallway. His mom also was able to attend. It was pretty fun! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU and GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK!

Gavin just turned two so we bought the extra seat so he could sit on Logan's lap and watch T.V. as you can see Logan loves it! He is the best big brother.

Gavin's Birthday Party

We had a little family party with the Baxters, Strangs, and Rowens at La Costa Canyon Park. Gavin is OBSESSED with babies. Now that he is 2, he finds someone smaller and wants to giggle and play all day with them. It is such a sweet thing to watch.
Opening presents. At first he wasn't quite getting it but by the smile on his face you can tell he caught on quick.
We have a major tradition of having a pinata at our boys parties this is the pick-up phase.
Gavin found a sucker from the pinata and had no interest in eating his cupcakes. I forgot to put up a picture of the kids and their red faces and hands. Let's just say I was glad we had the party at the park cuz we were all covered in red dye!
After everyone left we went to the scenic view point of the park and there was a dog club in session. They let the boys grab balls and sticks to play fetch as we watched the sunset over the Lagoon and Ocean. It was a great end to a great day!

Gavin's Birthday

We had a great morning at Legoland to celebrate Gavin's b-day. We bribed Logan with a treat and he went on a "scary ride". We were proud parents. The other day Logan said, "UGGHH, Mom I don't want to go to Legoland, I want to stay home and do my homework, and clean the yard! This is so unfair!" Talk about a good laugh.

Gavin climbing up the rope tunnel for the first time.

Gavin riding the airplanes all by himself.

Chillin on a Lego camel

Shooting targets in the new adventure land ride. Are those two twins or what.

Molly's Birthday

It was a cowboy themed party and I have to say I think we found the cutest cowboy! His favorite was bobbing for apples and he ended up eating it all including the seeds & core.

I finally scored a picture of our favorite San Diego slide. This park has tons of modern art looking playground equipment. The slide has no sides to it. You just hold on for dear life.

Sam teaching the little ones how to lasso a rocking horse.

Eating the yummy cupcakes. Lisa threw quite a party. It was so much fun!

Halloween 2008

Grandma Moore was in town and came with us to the Trunk or Treat.

We went trick or treating a week later on Halloween with Avery, Zoom and Brave. Monica made yummy chili and we ate at our place before heading out.

Earlier in the day we went over to the Esplin's to decorate Halloween cookies and play.

This picture has to be my favorite by far. Is he not his mother's son? Upon arriving home, Logan went up to his room. After about 20 minutes I became a little worried that he was just inhaling all the candy in one shot. Tom went up and found Logan sorting his candy into piles and just enjoying the opportunity to organize.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to Bates Nut Farm on Saturday and Logan climbed his first Rock Wall. If there was a word to describe Logan it would be "climber". He always is always trying to achieve the next thing and since he could walk he has been climbing. He is always trying to push it to the next level. We had fun choosing big pumpkins and to be truthful... endured a lot of whining which inspired Tom and I to have a great Saturday afternoon 2 hour parenting conversation.

San Felipe

The three moms...Emily, Alicia, & Amy. We stayed up so late talking and I am still recovering. Good friends are the best!

Playing in a huge tide pool. The little and big kids loved having their dad's pull them on boogie board and Gavin loved that there were no waves.

Tom bringing in the Kayak. The kids loved riding in the kayak and the waves were calm which makes it more fun and less work.:)

Making yummy Smores over the fire pit. The first night we had a tarantula walk right by the fire pit as we were chillin outside. Later we had a scorpion and mouse run through the house. You have never seen so many adults jump on the furniture in under 1 second. Tom was brave enough to kill the scorpion with his shoe.

Kennedy and Gavin. She fed him goldfish and he worked it like he always does with the ladies.

The kids on the day we left. They got along great!

Oct 8th Walk To School Day

Gavin after returning home from "Walk to School Day"

So I got the email from the PTO about "Walk to School Day" and thought... What a great thing to participate in. We do waste gas and I used to walk to school when I was young, plus they were going to have snacks and drinks. We got the jog stroller and scooter and took off around 11:20 for afternoon kindergarten.
I decided to leave about 35 minutes early to give us plenty of time and time to visit with all the other families that walked to school. So as we are walking I notice we are the only family on the trail. HUM? It also doesn't go directly to the school but all the way around it and up a final big hill. So I am sweating and thinking we have been walking a long time down some very steep hills, I will actually have to go back up those hills. We entered the school, classes were starting and I sent Logan running. This is when reality set in that it took quite a long time to get to school, and I started to ask myself a couple of questions.

#1 How hot is it out here? and #2 How many miles is it to school?
By the time I had made it half way home pushing Gavin and barely breathing, my only motivation was to get to the computer and figure out what is with the temperature and Mapquest to find out how many miles it is to our school.

The answer to question #1

Today	Tomorrow	Fri	Sat	Sun	6-10 Day
Sunny	Sunny	Mostly Sunny	Sunny
High: 91° Low: 59°	High: 80° Low: 56°	High: 76° Low: 53°	High: 70° Low: 48°

The answer to question #2 is 3.2 miles So I just walked 6.4 miles in 91 degree weather up the longest hill of my life.

I love the environment so I think I'll call some more neighbors and figure out how we can maximize our air conditioned car pooling.:)

Disneyland

With Logan starting school this year, I realized that our Seaworld, Legoland, and Disneyland days are over.  Luckily we start school after Labor Day, so I thought we would take advantage and do one last lightening round while we had the theme parks to ourselves.  We spent our last week before school truly living it up.  I remember when we moved here almost 4 years ago and we could barely afford food.  But I bought a Legoland pass and somehow it made it all better. I feel very lucky to have two healthy boys that have taught me how to have fun and enjoy life.  

We met up with Monica for a few rides and had lollipops in the Tiki Room. Gavin was dancing up a storm.

Gavin got 600 points on Buzz Lightyear!!

This is what my car looked like at the end of the week. We were practically living in it.

Family Reunion

Rich's birthday

Chillin with dad

Olympic Games

Logan participated in the Talent show this year for the first time. It was so fun to watch our little guy perform, since Primary Programs and Pre-school Programs have left him terrified.

Lego Time...Thank you Mary!

Dancing Time with Grandma and Grandpa

We had a great time getting together as a family in Utah last month. We all stayed in a house in Park City for 3 days and we were also able to go to the temple as siblings and spouses with Mom and Dad. The guys went golfing and the girls went shopping. There were so many fun activities for the kids. Hours would go by when I had no clue where Logan was at but I always knew he was in good hands with his cousins. He was in Heaven. My favorite part was just catching up with my siblings and hearing about their lives IN PERSON. I-chat, emails, blogs, are great but nothing can compare to being together. It was amazing to me how much I love them and how much love I have for their children. It is instant and such a beautiful thing. I am so grateful for my family.