Farewell

Uncle A had his missionary farewell today (May 31). He gave a pretty amazing talk. It was a nice relaxing day too. Church didn't start till 12:30 so we didn't have to rush to get ready for church. Sunday School had a pretty hilarious jeopardy game. Too many people cared about winning. All in all, it was too much fun.

After church we came home for the farewell party. Dad made his famous pulled pork. Fefe was in a really good mood and ran around terrorizing everyone. All the kids have been having a great time. Their Mom and Dad never give them as much attention as their aunts and uncles do.

The family members we were able to gather right before eating.

This is the third picture I have in a row of Fefe having her picture taken by her aunts. She did look pretty cute that day.

Evil Spock.

Grandma Wasden and the great grandkids.

Josh trying to look cool.

Loofa giving himself a wet willy the one millionth time after being talked into by the adults.

Poor Loofa had a terrifying experience with a dog today. People that leave their dogs to run around should be fined massively. It was just a barker, but Loofa was already scared enough of dogs. He started running away and tripped on the driveway while screaming in utter terror. If I could have gotten close enough I would have given that dog a swift kick. Actually, the owners are the ones that deserve the kick.

Funniest saying of the day: Uncle J was playing Horse with Ephant and Brother B earlier this afternoon. Partway through, Ephant shouted out "I'm a HOR!".

I Need to Know Who to Blame - aka Day 5

Saturday morning was another early one. We loaded the van up at 6am and headed off to Utah. It was supposed to be a 10 hour drive. J started off driving so I could have a nice nap. Right before Vegas I took over. While driving downhill close to Mesquite I heard this clunk. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw what looked like pieces of paper flying behind me. It didn't take more than a split second to realize our car topper had blown open. I pulled to the side super fast. J and I put our lives at risk to grab what we could. Luckily not much had fallen out and most of it was on the side of the road. The main casualty was our big box fan, easily replaced. The papers were actually family photos I was bringing home after scanning them last year. I think we managed to get most of them, but thank heavens they are scanned in. I'll have to say though, I am pretty dang ticked about this happening. I have been carefully each and every time I load it to lock each side. The dang thing is only two weeks old. We are really blessed that nothing worse happened. The fan could have flown into someone's car and caused a bad accident. Oh, it also dented the top of my van.

Once we rescued everything from the side of the road, we pulled everything out of the car topper and stuffed it in the car. I was able to latch it back together and we headed off to St. George to see J's sister. It was really nice to see their little girl and their house. They seem really happy and L is so adorable. Her hair really reminds of Loofa's when he was a baby. Electrostatic hair.

After getting gas in St. George we started to head to the freeway. Then another car started honking at us. The driver rolled down his window and told us we had a flat. What the heck! So we went to the same place in St. George we went to 2 years ago to get another tire repaired. I swear we have the worst luck with flat tires. At least we hadn't gotten too far so the tire was still repairable. Replacing tires on an Odyssey is not an easy proposition because it is not a common tire. The tire shop was pretty fast and they did it for free. The kids even got a couple helium balloons out of it. Fefe was pretty exhausted, but she survived till we could get going again. The rest of our journey was pretty uneventful and we made it to Sandy not too far behind our planned arrival.

After all the excitement I decided we needed a break. Once we got the kids to bed we headed off to see Terminator. I'm so glad they still used the original music and terminator type noises. It made it so much freakier. I thought it was pretty good. I can't say I was blown away though. I think T2 is still my favorite.

To Beach or Not To Beach

After days of sun, it finally decided to hide for a day. We checked out of the hotel mid morning and headed on over to Chris's apartment in Huntington Beach. The kids were pretty excited to see Chris's place and see Aunt Lucy again. We thought the clouds would burn away in a few hours so we hung out, watched Transformers and ate lunch. Sadly, it was colder when we finally went out than first thing in the morning. We couldn't possibly cancel the beach trip so we donned our swimsuits and headed out into the cold. The kids did have fun playing in the waves, but we probably didn't even last a full hour. Ephant was excited about all the shells, I don't think our beaches in Oregon have the colorful array we found here. Chris buried Brother B in sand in the beginning and a few minutes after coming out of it he decided he wanted to be buried again because it was warmer. Poor Fefe's lips were blue when we left. Luckily Lucy came to the rescue and ferried kids home on her bike.

The oil rigs just off the coast were pretty cool to see. Just a block down the street from Chris is an oil derrick sandwiched in between all the beach houses. It looks pretty dang funny. I guess Huntington Beach grew up around the oil industry at first.

After some very warm showers and a bit of relaxing, Chris and Lucy took us to the city center. We checked out the pier and then ate at a place called Wahoo's. Lucy then treated the kids to some ice cream. Loofa made his usual mess. Next time we'll have to give him vanilla.

The Pioneers Still Had it Worse - aka Day 4

California Adventure is pretty do-able in a day. We missed some rides, but got in enough to keep us happy. We were especially excited to have Uncle Chris join us. We started off the day with Soaring Over California. It is a simulation ride over California. Since the kids loved Star Tours I figured that one would go over pretty well as a beginner. When we were flying over the orange groves they even pumped in some orange scent.

While we waited for J to ride Soaring we went and played at a little wilderness play area. Fefe did not care for the rope bridges. She was pretty excited right until she actually stepped on it.

Our next ride was a raft ride, can't remember the name. I thought Ephant and Brother B wouldn't like it, but upon seeing the drop they decided they were willing to give it a try. We got quite a soaking, but in the hot CA sun it dried off fast. Loofa was pretty disappointed about not being able to ride it and some other rides due to his height challenges. I still can't get over how intrepid he is.

The Orange Stinger was the kid's favorite ride, it is pretty similar to other amusement park swings.

Here we are on the bridge to Paradise Pier:

Chris treated us to a very expensive pizza lunch after the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I was torn on whether that or California Screamin was my favorite. CS is the only true big roller coaster at the park. California Adventure was under a fair amount of construction. If you wait till 2011 I think there will be a few more big attractions open. Hopefully the walkways will be more extensive too. We had to go from one end of the park to the other pretty frequently. I don't remember the last time my feet were this sore.

After running around so much it was nice to take a break in the air conditioned Muppet 3D theatre.

At the very end we went to an irrigation exhibition. It was designed for the kids to run around and get soaking wet. Sadly the sun had started going down at that point so it was not a comfortable walk home. J took off Brother B's shirt to ring it out. It was truly amazing how much water came out of it.

Chris spoiled the kids and let them pick out a souvenir from the gift shop at the end. Brother B picked out a basketball, Loofa a lollypop and a back scratcher, and Ephant found a tinker bell figurine she really liked.

It was a little hotter today and because of the hours we didn't come home for an afternoon rest. Fefe had her nap from about 6:30-8:30 that night. She was not a happy camper the last couple hours.

After I got some wash done we ran over to IHOP for dinner. J keeps telling me how he likes it better than Dennys. I'm still not convinced.

Tomorrow: The Huntington Beach trip...

Day 3 - Survival

When I took Fefe into the doctor last week, the doctor recommended a book called "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland". It turned out to be a pretty good recommendation. I learned tips and tricks that I never would have known otherwise and it made our day go so much more smoothly. It had some schedules to follow, but we needed a combo of the kid and adult one so I piece-mealed it a bit. It still worked out well. We did everything we wanted. It really helped that the crowds were so much smaller than the last time we went.

Our first stop in the morning was Space Mountain to grab some fast passes. Ephant was pretty nervous from the beginning. She's definitely the least intrepid of all the kids. We ran over to Dumbo next since it is such a huge hit with the kids. Ephant was pretty excited to have her own Dumbo.

What's funny, after all the buildup, Loofa still didn't realize we were in Disneyland. It took some heavy duty explaining for him to finally understand we were THERE. Big Thunder Mountain was our next stop.

J thought it would be a good starter roller coaster so the kids could decide if they wanted to do more. Afterwards Ephant said no, Brother B said maybe and Loofa said no. Loofa's no turned out to not mean anything. He proceeded to ride every roller coaster after that, although he never wanted any repeats. He even rode one coaster the other kids didn't want to, the Matterhorn. I think he was so captivated by how it looked on the outside that he couldn't bear to let it pass by.

J took Brother B and Loofa on Space Mountain while I waited with the girls. When it was my time I wanted someone to ride with and later found out Brother B went with me just so I wouldn't be alone. What a sweet boy. He was pretty scared of that ride too.

Sadly the altruism didn't continue with Splash Mountain. I had to ride that one on my own. J got a good shot of me with my big mouth open.


Ephant held to tradition and sobbed halfway through Pirates of the Caribbean. She was also pretty unhappy about The Haunted Mansion. Jungle Ride was an all around favorite, as was Winnie the Pooh, Tea Party and Alice in Wonderland. Their absolute favorite ride was Star Tours. We rode that with them 3 times. I never would have guessed they would all love that one so much. Buzz Lightyear went over really well too, we rode that one twice. At the end they let you email pictures of yourself on the ride. Amazingly it was free. Crazy for Disneyland. Speaking of which, I figured out the best way to not spend money there is to simply not bring your wallet. I did almost have to buy a diaper, but I cornered some women in a bathroom and they gave me one. I couldn't believe I did that, but I was desperate :)

We came back to the hotel in the afternoon around 3pm for a break and nap. It sure was nice to have such a short walk back. The kids were pretty wiped out and on the way to the hotel said they didn't want to come back. After a couple hours they were rested enough and raring to go. We did most of the big rides in the morning and since they didn't all have positive experiences on them it colored their perceptions a bit. The second round we did more rides they loved so they were pretty happy. Fefe did great through the whole thing. I think her favorite ride was "It's a Small World". All the singing and colors really captivated her. We stuck around till the bitter end so the kids could see the fireworks display. Loofa loved it, Fefe didn't. I wouldn't say she absolutely hated it, but it did seem to scare her at the same time as fascinating her. Her favorite position during it was to lay her head on my shoulder with my hand over her other ear. After the fireworks, we ran over to Star Tours for one last ride.

Trying to pull the sword out of the stone:

Lunchtime:

A little father/son time:

Feeling pretty happy still:

Nevermind, the tiredness is setting in:

Now everyone is in bed and ready for a nice rest. Tomorrow: California Adventure...

On the Second Day

There was more driving. First, though, we had a brief dip in the hotel pool. Because of our marathon driving session the day before, we only had 4 hours left to drive. Loofa didn't care for the water all that much. Fefe liked it pretty well. Ephant and Brother B enjoyed it the most. I really need to take them all swimming more often, especially since E & B are so good now. Traffic wasn't too bad once we reached LA, although there was a 4 mile stretch that took us an hour to drive simply because a semi had broken down in the right lane. Our hotel has turned out to be pretty decent. We are right across the street from the main entrance. Now if we forget something it won't kill us to go back for it. The room itself is setup pretty well. When you first enter there is a little parlor area with a fold out couch, and tv. Then you enter into the main room that looks like a regular hotel room. It is nice to have the kids in a separate area so J and I can stay up later. Of course, because there are two tvs, they both had to be on.

Loofa enjoyed eating chips while watching tv in the stroller:

Nothing quite like cuddling with daddy!

J took the kids swimming again that evening while I took Fefe on a walk to hunt for some kind of grocery store. After about a mile and a half, I gave up and stopped at a 7-11. They actually had some pretty good slurpee flavors for once. It is funny to see all the little Disney gift shops scattered about. I really do love Disney. Disney World was so fun when I was younger. It really feels like a magical place.

After getting the 2 younger kids to bed we heard a really loud banging noise and realized the fireworks were going off at the park. Luckily our hotel has a viewing deck so we ran up there with Ephant and Brother B. It was short, but sweet. They had some cool fireworks I haven't seen before.

Off to bed I go, it's an early morning tomorrow to beat the crowds :)

In the Beginning

After weeks of preparation we finally started our long anticipated trip to Disneyland and Utah. We woke at the bright and early hour of 5am. I had forgotten how early the sun comes up, the beauty of room darkening shades. We didn't hear too many protests from the kids. I think thoughts of Disneyland was enough to keep them quiet. Fefe refused to fall back asleep the first hour, so we fell back on the old trustworthy big blanket to shade her from any visual stimuli. This did the trick! The kids decided they wanted to see the redwood trees so we detoured from our usual I-5 route. Hwy 199 and 101 have got to be the windiest roads in America. I'm not usually prone to motion sickness, but those roads were enough to nauseate just about anyone. We stopped in Eureka for lunch and ate at a McDonald's from the dark ages. It sure made me appreciate our McDonald's back home. We successfully filled our tummies at least and continued on down to the redwoods. We stopped at the Shrine Drive-thru tree. I think it is less popular than the Chandelier drive through tree, but it had some other sights to see beyond just driving through. Our car was too tall to drive through with the car topper anyway.

Brother B:

Ephant:

Climbing down from the second floor:

Our visit to the redwoods only lasted about 1/2 an hour and then it was back to the windy roads. I was pretty relieved when we finally met up with I-5. J and I slept pretty well the previous night so we ended up driving about 15 hours that first day. Our various diversions kept the kids happy. I bought 2 new DS games, rented a couple redbox movies and had Ephant and Brother B bring along a couple books. We experienced massive blessings in that Fefe, who was sick all last week, was so happy. She barely cried at all. She slept great and when she was awake she spent half the time laughing for no reason or making some pretty funny babble. I was worried about how she would be feeling so this was a great load off of my shoulders. J and I had our ipods and we also listened to one of O'Reilly's books on tape. Thank heaven for modern conveniences.

So Much

for seeing Elder Ballard and Huntsman at Stake Conference today.  Poor little Fefe has been out of it the past couple days with a fever and no appetite.  It's really pitiful.  She woke up this morning all trembly and took quite a chug of water.  She's just been sitting on my lap and falling asleep on me.  I'm sick too, but not so bad.  She hasn't started oinking yet so I'm guessing it is not pig flu.

Signs of Life

Fefe started answering yea to questions we were asking her last week.  At first we thought it was just coincidence.  Then I thought maybe she had just figured out what questions are and was answering yea to every question.  Yesterday she started responding with no at appropriate times so I finally decided she must have reached the "I'm Aware Enough to Respond to You" milestone.  I know it probably isn't very exciting to the rest of you, but I love it.  Along with the conversational like babble she started a couple weeks ago, it is pretty dang cute.

Laptops and Couches

Some of you may remember the death of our laptop.  The hinge broke and we used it that way for about a year.  It was a pretty big pain trying various ways of propping it up or trying to hold it up with one hand while typing with the other.  On top of that, the power cords were junk.  They fall apart pretty easily, exposed wires and such.  When our second cord bit the dust we decided it wasn't worth it to buy another just for a half dead laptop.  Then Carol came to save the day.  They have a similar laptop with different problems.  She offered us their laptop so we could try to meld parts and come up with one working laptop.  I very easily switched out the lcd and then ordered another power cord.  Said cord arrived today and I'm typing this post up on the resurrected laptop.  I knew I had missed being able to sit on the couch while working on the computer, but had not realized how much.  I'll still do the majority of my work on the desktop because that is where my heavy duty software is, but for general work and vacation emailing, this is absolutely fabulous.  Thanks Carol!

Children Are Wonderful

I love Mother's Day, not because of the pampering, but because of how wonderful it is to have my children constantly telling me how much they love me. They made their school gifts with such sincerity and were so excited for me to open them and read the cards they had made. It makes me feel so happy to know they love me so much even though I know I'm not a perfect mom. J also surprised me with a much better gift than I was expecting. On Tuesday I'll finally have a lens for my camera with a much longer zoom. Right now I have a 17-55mm and a 50mm. The one coming is 28-135mm. Now I can take really good action shots at the kid's games and other activities. We had yummy dinner at Aunt J's, it was mother's day, but she still cooked :) I'm still trying to digest it all and it has been 5 hours since I ate.

Strange Things are Afoot

Pig flu struck our district last weekend, so the kids had a couple days of school off. Luckily the CDC realized (finally) that it wasn't as bad as they thought, so it was back to school on Wednesday. We had taken the previous Friday off for the beach trip so the kids had a pretty extended break. It would have been nicer on Monday and Tuesday if it hadn't been raining cats and dogs.

Loofa came up with this outfit first:


Brother B liked it so much he needed a picture too:


Wednesday night we had an enrichment activity for church. I had arranged teachers for crocheting, knitting, and bracelet making. Plus I had a quilt all setup and ready tie. As a reward for all that work, one person showed up! Turned out a whole bunch of student families from the ward had gone camping that day and a bunch of others people are in the middle of sports season. All the more poppyseed bread for me (and my thighs). I really enjoyed learning how to make bracelets. I made matching ones for Fefe and Ephant to go with their easter dresses, plus, later I made a necklace for Ephant out of the same beads. It is so easy! I'm not a huge fan of wearing jewelry myself, but I don't mind accessorizing my girls. Everyone has to live throught their children, right?


On Friday I mowed the lawn on the shortest setting in preparation for dethatching. I've read about doing that forever, but hadn't taken the steps to actually do it all these years. I figured our lawn is pretty small so it shouldn't be too hard to do it manually. My back keeps telling me how wrong I was. Luckily J rescued me and did half of it when he got home from work. He is much stronger than me... Our grass looks pretty terrible right now from the scalping and dethatching, but supposedly this will really rejuvenate it so I'm looking forward to a beautiful green lawn in a few weeks.

J helped with the youth yardsale on Saturday. The good news is it was a beautiful day, the bad news is that J looks pretty red right now. We all got quite a bit of sun, sadly it is mostly farmer tans so when we go to CA in a couple weeks we'll look very classy :)

Beaches

I'm not a huge fan of playing in sand, it really is quite yucky. It sticks to you and anything you touch for days on end. That being said, I've decided it is about time I started sacrificing for my kids and take them to the beach more often. We met a bunch of other women from church at a place called Oswald State Park on May 1st. The weather was pretty decent for May in Oregon. This beach had an inlet, tidepool and a small cave so we were well set on places to play.

Starfish:

The inlet:

Urchins:

The cave (Brother kept making fun of me for not being very brave about touching the various sea critters attached to the walls):

This picture looks a little funky because I really turned up the fill light, but I wanted the details of the cave to stand out more:

Next time we'll have to remember swimsuits:

Loofa believes in carrying a big stick: