Quarterly update. :)

I am not a very good blogger. There. I said it. So, I'll give you an update and maybe I'll return in a few months with more.

I am doing great. Working with all the kids in primary is so fun - they are all so earnest and honest. I love staying home with my kids and so appreciate Ed for letting me do that, especially in this economy. Ed is having fun working with the Young Men. He really loves pressuring them to get their goals achieved. Kind of reminds me of a Scout leader he had as a youth, my dad ;). Kira is very excited to start school. She is also very curious and wants to know about everything. She asked me the other day what the girls do in Young Womens. I asked her what she thought they did. She said they learned how to be princesses. I thought that was a pretty good answer. Jared is Mister Imagination. He is always coming up with a story for everything, especially if it involves Spider-Man or any other super hero. Carli is walking all over and loves wearing shoes. I have no idea where this trait came from. She is a girl that knows what she wants and is getting really good at communicating that.

Life here is pretty good. We just finished taking out all the grass in the backyard to put in a sand box and vegetable garden. I love CA because of this!! We are going to take out grass in the front yard for flowers! Oh, we also cut back our front yard tree. It was an all day project. Now the tree is just the stump going up. Looks pretty strange. Hopefully it grows back.

Hmm... I guess that's us in a nutshell. If anything exciting happens maybe I'll blog about it. :)

Picture time

It's been my experience that kids are good for one picture and then they've had enough! Every time we go for professional pictures or even "organized" pictures at home, the only picture where everyone is happy and at least facing the camera is the very first picture. I don't know why I even try to get other pictures. I just keep abusing myself trying to get the "perfect" picture. Oh well. Hopefully I've learned my lesson for the next pictures.

First picture


Last Picture

See what I mean?!?

It's party time!

It seems to me that when October hits, the party begins. We go from my birthday, to my mom's birthday, Halloween, Ed's mom's birthday, Thanksgiving, all my sister's birthdays, Ed's birthday, Christmas, and then Jared's birthday! Whoo, it's a whirlwind. I try not to get too overwhelmed by it all and try to enjoy the moment. Here's a few pics of what we've been up to.

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!

My birthday!

My little Picasso's

Carli is REALLY trying to crawl!


We have a huge tree in our front yard that is shedding leaves like crazy. The Santa Ana winds are definitely giving the "fall" look a boost. Kira and Jared are having fun raking the leaves and then jumping in them or throwing them at each other. Productivity is at an all time low at our house.

New House color!!

Oh I forgot! We painted the outside of our house last weekend. Here's a picture of the work in progress. I love it and I think our neighbors love it even more. Anything is better than the school bus yellow (or worse) our house was.

Okay, so I just noticed that in every single picture of Jared he is wearing his Lightning McQueen shirt. He loves this shirt. Ed tells the kids stories at bedtime about Chuck the Race Car. Don't worry if you don't recognize the name. He is made up. Kira and Jared love Chuck the Race Car and all of his adventures. They think Lightning McQueen is Chuck the Race Car. We haven't seen "Cars" too many times obviously. I'll try to take pictures of Jared in a different shirt. :)

Here's Kira at the apple farm. We had lots of fun picking apples and running around like hooligans. Kira especially loves being goofy for the camera.

Here's Jared holding an apple he picked. He loves eating apples!

This is at the "end of summer" Elder's quorum party! Kira and Jared love the pool!!

Happy Carli!

Everybody in the crib. I have silly kids.

I love this picture. Jared is so sweet and also loves to be a boy!! We stopped in Kingman, AZ to see some Route 66 memorabilia on our way home from New Mexico. Ed's family had a reunion in White Rock (just outside of Santa Fe). Anyway, in Kingman, there was a real train the kids could climb on. It had three cars - the engine, a regular car, and the caboose. Jared was absolutely thrilled.

Okay, okay. Certain unnamed individuals have been harassing me to update my blog, so here goes.
Hmm... this past month has really flown by. We've been apple picking, ward birthday partying, and awful yellow covering painting. My favorite part has been being with my family, seeing my kids growing up so fast.