Gutter Sundae

After our Beehive scavenger hunt the girls made a rain gutter ice cream sundae.  It was like heaven.  The girls we so happy and crazed with sugar.  It was a great idea, Hilary.  I don't think I have seen a yummier sundae. Hey...what happened to the bananas?  I think they got voted off by the Oreos, caramel, and whipped cream. 

Cable Cars in the City

We had Veteran's Day off at school, so Sophie's dad, Mike, and I arranged to take our kids up the city and ride a cable car...well, mostly my kids--Sophie is an only child. Their was a LONG line, but the kids did not mind waiting.

Off we went.

Once we reached the end of the line, we found someplace to eat and window shopped our way to the end of a different cable car line.  

You guessed it!  Olivia got new sun glasses.  Look out Hollywood!  Once again we had to wait about an hour for a seat on the car. 

Olivia and Sophie love just hanging out talking and swinging.  They are good friends.  We had a great (long) day.

10.5 years

Ten and a half years ago Daniel asked me to marry him.  That weekend was Veteran's Day, so we took a train up to the city and just got to know each other.  Our train ride home was memorable ;)... we ran into one of Daniel's high school buddies and THEY talked the whole way home!  

 And here we are 10.5 years later- beautiful roses in an old broken down house with a broken fence (just to name one item), and bank owned home next door! But we really do have a wonderful life full of good health and stability.  Above the roses you can see a cute, happy little bee made by our daughter!   What a life.

Natural Bridges Park, Santa Cruz

Olivia scored both ways on the bus.  On the way to the park she got the very back seat and on the way home she got the first seat.  It was a lot of fun to go with Olivia and her class.  She loved having me with her.  That made me feel good. 

Natural Bridges is a Monarch Butterfly reserve.  There were hundreds of butterflies to see.  We found an injured one by the path.  

After a quick lecture from the park ranger and a quick walk through the reserve we had lunch and spent most of the time playing on the beach.  Mr. Franklin is a fun teacher.  I can see why all the kids love him.  He loves to play WITH them.

i love my calling

I took a picture to give my Beehives.  I wish I had a picture of the girls in my Beehive class when I was a Beehive.

Happy Halloween

Halloween began with a bang at a party with our music class for Lu and Chloë.  We sang songs, and had treats and playtime.  Here is Chloë in her chick costume.  She loved the beak!

Daniel looked super in his Super Golden Boy costume.  Of course, he won a prize at work.

Olivia looked Beautiful at school.  A few days ago I pulled out my old Halloween costumes (thanks mom) and Olivia just loved the poodle skirt!

This was the best picture I could find of Sam.  Bubb has a parade every year with all this kids and their costumes.  We had fun watching all the kids walk by.

That night our ward had their Halloween party.  It was a dinner, trunk o treat and a dance.  Olivia, Chloë and I had fun dancing.  Lu did not want to wear her lamb costume all night, but she did look cute!

Pumpkin Patch or BUST

It was a raining Saturday and we finished all our choirs and football games, so we decided to drive to Half Moon Bay to the pumpkin patch.  The traffic was so backed up!  We decided to go a different way, which was not much faster.  We made it to the pumpkin patch in time for the fun.  Lots of pumpkins to climb...

take a Train Ride....

and Climb the Hay Stacks.....

Bo...did we get muddy shoes!  It was even hard for Daniel and I to walk.  Olivia won the prize for the most mud built-up!  After the pumpkin patch I ran into a local grocery store and picked out some fruit for us to eat for dinner.  It was a fun evening.  The Holidays are almost here!

sneak peak at our christmas card

Hello...Goodbye

Ann came into town for a wonderful visit!  So we decided to take advantage of her and go on an overnight without the kids.  We say "Hello, and then we leave her...Goodbye".  Daniel and I did spend some time visiting with her while she was in town.  The kids love it when our parents come in town.  I wish we could have visitors more often!

Our overnight consisted of a drive to Half Moon Bay, a nap on a bench on the pier and then a drive down to Santa Cruz.  We ate a great Mexican restaurant and then found a hotel.  We woke up early and drove home in time for church. 

Is this normal?

So, I am getting dinner ready and Sam walks up to me and says, "Look mom, I built a machine."
And then he shows me this:

I have no idea how he knows this, nevertheless he does! It reminded me of this funny clip I saw... by the way, my dad is an engineer. So I love them!

Olivia's 7th birthday party

We had a great party for Olivia this year.  I think everyone had a wonderful time.  Her party was inspired by our days at the beach this summer.  This pelican was not on the guest list!

After some playing in the water the kids were ready to warm up by the fire and roast hot dogs.  The parents had a wonderful crab chowder. 

Olivia wanted a few friends from church, a few friends from school and the Miners to come.

Here are her school friends, Ally, Olivia, Sophie, and Morgan

We also brought marshmallows to roast! 

The Gardners are always a treat to have around.  I was so sad to hear that they would be moving to Texas.  Andy and Daniel were made for each other. 

Of course, we had to play a little beach football.

And stuff ourselves with marshmallows!

As usual the Miners were a popular treat!

We swam, we ate, we enjoyed friends and the fire and we opened presents.  This has to be the greatest party yet!  It was so relaxing and just a PERFECT day. 

Update on #3

Race Car number 3 is still held in high regards.  I found this setup in Sam's room this morning.  It seems Sam wants all the other cars to know that #3 is the best car!

Good-Things-to-Come

Good-Things-to-Come

Birthday Parties!

It was time once again to celebrate Barbie's birthday because finally all my sisters were in town.  Andrea and Valerie arranged for us to make our own Straw Sandwiches.  They were great.  Even the kids were choosing the rye bread and sauerkraut.  Above is a picture with Barbie and Mike with the grandsons.

 

 

Here are some of the granddaughters.

Happy Birthday, Mom! These desserts sure were yummy.

 After Mom's final birthday party we celebrated Mimi's 90th birthday.  Mimi had her closest family join her for dinner at her favorite Italian Restaurant, La Fontanella.  Her youngest daughter, Sally, was unable to make it out for the celebration.  Below is my Mom's brother, Walter Reed II, with his son, Walter Reed III...aka, Walter and Reed.

 Next we have Reed with his mom, Chris. 

 Here I am with my mom.  We had a nice dinner.  I was full after the yummy appetizers.

 Then Mimi's niece, Lori, and husband came.  Lori's mom is Mimi's sister, Patty.  Lori and my mom are close in age, look similar, and are good friends.  While growing up, many people thought Mom and Lori were sisters.

 Then Todd and Valerie were sitting together.  By the way, if you think we all look so dashing, it is because we just finished taking our family picture.  There were 27 people in the picture; it was quite the task.

 And here is Mimi's sister, Patty, and her husband, Uncle Dick.  Daniel and I were the last to arrive for dinner.  The only 2 seats left were one next to my mom and one next to Uncle Dick.  I just laughed to myself, gave Daniel a kiss and said, "Have Fun!"  Then after dinner Uncle Walter started harassing Daniel about his dinner partner.  You see, Uncle Dick has had a lot of life experiences he loves to share plus he can't hear very well.  So the conversation one has with Dick it totally one-sided.  You end up hearing about all the wonderful things he has accomplished!  But Daniel is very, VERY kind and respectful.  He just sits, listens, and asks more questions.  Daniel is a saint!

 After dinner Kate and Mike W. made Mimi the HUGEST cake I have ever seen not made at a bakery.  It wasn't just some yellow cake mixes thrown together.  It was very impressive.  Mike said it had something crazy like 3 dozen eggs, 5 pounds of sugar and several bags of lemons.  It was a delicious, dense lemon cake. 

Happy 90th birthday, Mimi!  We love you.

First day of school for Sam and Olivia

 We arrived home from Phoenix and 10 hours later Sam's first day of kindergarten and Olivia's first day of second grade began.  Class starts at 8am.  I really like the early start, we will see how the kids do. 

 

Sam was very excited to go.  His teacher is Mrs. Sherman.  She is in Mrs. Engelhardt's room which is the same room Daniel had for kindergarten.  I am sad Mrs. Engelhardt is not at Bubb anymore.

Olivia was very excited to see her friend Sophie, unfortunately they are not in the same room.  Olivia's teacher is Mr. Franklin.  It is said that he is the best 2nd grade teacher and one of the top 2 teachers at Bubb.  All the kids just love him.