Pictures!

My friend took these pictures for us last month. I think they came out pretty well.

Tada!

I did it. I finally joined facebook. I never thought I would. Had joined myspace, and just when I did, people started going to Facebook. I thought, why do I need to join? Well, apparently Whitney didn't want to make his profile for the whole family. He didn't want to get constant updates or friend requests from people he doesn't know, all day long on his phone. I don't know why he wouldn't want to do all the work on the profile and I reap the benefits. I don't get it :)

Movie Review

My friend and I went and saw "The Blindside" last night. It was a really good movie. I recommend it. It's about an african-american boy who bounced from foster home to foster home. He gets in a Christian academy and a white family takes him in. It was a really moving story and it's definately on my to-buy list when it comes out.

The Pearls

So my grandma Carter just 90 years old and we had a big party for her on the 14th. My parents and my sister were here. Did I take pictures? No. My sister did so I didn't bother. How lame is that? But I will tell you about it. The birthday party was Saturday so we spent that day getting stuff ready at the church. Then Sunday was Sunday so we went to church and spent the afternoon and evening at Grandma's house. MOnday the guys went golfing and when they got back us girls (and Dad) went to SanFrancisco while Whitney and Eric had all the kids minus one. I tell you what, it was so nice to have a break from my wonderful, loveable children. We wandered the Pier 39 and walked down the wharf. It was very pleasant and relaxing. Aunalies and I got matching jackets for Christmas. Then we proceeded to clean out this pearl shop of all their black pearls. 7 oysters, 9 black pearls. It was amazing. My friend Lisa wanted to try and get her daughter a black pearl. So they stopped while Aunalies and I lagged behind. By the time we caught up, Lisa had a black pearl and Mom had picked a black pearl. Aunalies was really wanting a black pearl. She collects pearls from different places they visit. So she tries her luck and she gets a black pearl. The sales lady tells her if she buys a setting she will buy her another pearl. So Lisa tells the lady to buy both the pearl and pearl if A buys another setting. The sales lady agrees. A buys a setting for Mom's pearl as a gift and opens another oyster which has twin black pearls inside. Incredible, you say? Our tale is not done. Lisa and Dad decide to take Karly to the car because Karly is finally having a melt down. I am trying very hard not buy anything (pearls are a weakness), when the sales lady feels sorry for me and offers to buy me a pearl. I open the oyster and wham! A black pearl. She finally wears me down to buy a setting when she offers to buy me another pearl if I buy this setting. So of course I resist like a good girl....not. I open oyster #2 and what is inside? Why twin black pearls, of course. I must mention that I picked my own oysters from the large bowl. I did not buy a setting for my twins; I will let Whitney do that for my Christmas present. Whtney thinks it's a scam, them saying black pearls are so rare, especially with how many we got in a row. Regardless, I had fun and so did everyone else. So now Aunalies and I matching sets of pearls. How cool is that? Oh, and Mom decided to buy one more for my sister in-law Willow. I hope she brings at Christmas. It was a fun day. I am so glad I got to spend a few days with my sister and my parents and I look forward to spending Christmas with them. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Happy Halloween! (a little late)

Wow, I think I am getting worse at this. Anyway, here are some pics from Halloween. This was the group we went trick-or-treating with. As you can see, this was just the kids. It was insane but lots of fun!!

This was the ward Trunk or Treat. Wasn't she the cutest Little Red Riding Hood ever?

My kids were very cute this year. Once Sarah figured out she got candy in her basket, she took off and went to everyone she could find, holding up her basket.

My kids

Why is it I do this all the time? I let weeks go by without a new post. Maybe because I feel like nothing exciting has happened, at least not blogworthy to me. But I forget that I can write whatever I want whenever I want. It doesn't have to be any significant thing that happens; just what I feel like writing down.
Sometimes I look at my daughter and can't believe how cute she is. She has th biggest blue eyes, and this white blond hair that is finally starting to grow. She makes the cutest faces and has so much expression. Her scream is quite high pitched and I think she gets it from Jacob. Everyone loves her, even when she is being a pill. She has so much personality packed inside a little body. We are going to have our hands full for the next 18 years.
I love Jacob and I have to remind myself of that often because he gets on my nerves a lot. He screams before using words when he is upset. He whines about everything and is now throwing tantrums. But he can be the sweetest boy. He loves to cuddle and gives kisses. He is great about helping out, especially for Sarah. He is always willing to get her out of her crib or get her a drink. He is a great big brother.
I think I was given Jared to help my sanity. Both Jacob and Sarah are very intense when it comes to their feelings. My Jared is much more mild, typically. He has a very easy going personality and is good about going with the flow. He can hold his own with Jacob and usually makes him cry first. He can be very funny when he cops an attitude because its uncommon.He likes to sing any song he knows and loves to have his turn to say the prayer.
Most days I love being a mom. I love that I have three people who love me no matter how many times I screw up. They are always forgiving to me and toward eachother. They don't make the best shopping companions but I love them anyway. They bring joy to my life and sometimes I forget that. I forget what makes them special. I forget they are children of God and it is my responsibility to teach them the gospel and rear them in love and affection. I pray everyday the Lord will help do this to the best of my ability, because I know there is no way I can do it on my own.

Update

Our life has been pretty quiet lately. Whitney works a lot but I am usually understanding about it. We want to get into a house and in order to do that we need to get out of debt. So he is working hard to make that happen. But this last week we did some family and semi-family things. Jacob had school break so we went to Fairytale Town on Wednesday. Whitney had to sing at a memorial ceremony for an officer who did a couple years ago. So I took the kids to Sacramento. We were there for four hours! But the kids weren't bored. They had lots of fun. I wanted to take pis but the kids did something to the camera and I don't know how to fix it. So, no pictures. Then Thursday Whitney and I took the kids to San Fransisco. We parked on the wharf and walked Pier 39. The kids really liked the sea lions and some guy from CBS was asking us questions about the sea lions. It was pretty cool. We might be on TV? Too bad we don't get SF channels. We had lunch on the pier and took a couple pictures of the kids. We walked to the Rainforest Cafe and looked at the fish and the fake animals on the ceiling and walls. They thought it was pretty neat. We were only there a couple of hours but it was really nice to have that time as a family. The only other thing I want to do in the next month is go to Apple Hill. I've never been with my family and I think it would be really fun. I'll post pictures soon.

What do I do?

I don't know if it is something in the air lately, but I have found that the last month or so, it has been hard for me to be happy. I am not a person prone to depression, and I don't even feel depressed. It's more of a feeling of discontent. Whitney and I have a great marriage. We're not fighting or anything. He is working a lot but that is something we both agreed on. We have financial goals that we are trying to meet, and in order to do that, he has to work a lot of overtime. I love my children and I enjoy being a mom. But I am feeling lately it doesn't seem to be enough. It should be enough. I know that I have been very blessed in my life. This is in no way a pity party. I guess I just don't understand my own feelings. I know I want a bigger place. I know that in order to get that Whit has to work. I know that that means it is me being both parents a lot of the time. I just,...I don't know. I want to enjoy my life. I want to be happy. I am doing the things I should. I have been trying to read my scriptures every night and pray. The kids and I have been reading together and having family prayer. Whitney and I went to the temple on Wednesday together. We are going to church every week. I am fulfilling my calling. I have been working at being more patient and more consistent with discipline. I wish I could put my finger on it. I know everyone goes through moods. Mine just don't usually a month or more. I am not saying I feel like this every day. Some days are better. Maybe it's just the stress of the last year. Maybe I don't know how to let it go. Maybe I want to do something just for me. I don't know. But I do feel better for writing it out.

Flying high!

I know I tend to put out like two or three posts at a time. I am hoping to be better at updating so I don't have to spend three hours on the computer checking everyone's blog and updating our own. So here's to updating more often. Here are our boys flying high. Good thing we have a high ceiling.

Sarah learned how to do "So Big". She was going around the house doing it one day. It was really cute. I need to figure out how to put videos on here. We took video of her being "SO Big" with Whitney.

This morning all the kids wanted to climb on Whitney's back. After, Sarah kept trying to get Whitney to chase her. What silly kids, all four of them.

Happy July!

This was actually taken in June, but it doesn't really matter. Whitney was playing outside with the kids, kicking the balls back and forth. Sarah found her own ball and tried to lay on it.

We got a new van!! I am very excited! We got it the end of June. It's a 2009 Honda Odyssey. I love it! We are going to keep for a very long time.
This is the first time we went as a family to the Jelly Belly Factory. The factory was actually closed for a cleaning so it was an abreviated tour, but the kids still got free samples so they were happy.


Another first. Our first family reuion. It took place in Trinidad, ca. We camped in the Emerald Forest. It was very pretty and quite chilly. It has been a while since I've been camping so I didn't pack extra sweatshirts and blankets. But we survived. The kids had a blast. We went to Agate Beach. It was really pretty.

The kids had fun digging on the pebble beach. Whitney showed the boys how to skip rocks on a small of water on the beach.

Caleb's welcoming committee!! It was us (minus Whit 'cuze he had to work), Jed and Shannon and crew, Mom, Dad and Spencer. It was also almost 11 o'clock in the evening. But it was great to see Caleb. It took the boys a few minutes to warm up since they didn't remember him. Sarah had no trouble going to him though.

Welcome home Caleb!! A little side story. After the airport we went to Mel's in Vacaville and had dessert. Sarah fell asleep on the drive and didn't wake up the whole time we were in the restaurant. On the way home (about 1 am) I see a police car pull behind me. I look down and realize I hadn't turned on my headlight. I quickly flipped them on, he flipped on his lights and pulled me over. I apologized. He asked to see my license, obviously heard Jacob whining about wanting to go home, and let me go. Thank you officer!

Now Jared is potty trained. One day Sarah wanted to be a big girl. So she lifted the lid to the little potty, bent down, swung her leg over, and landed like so. How cute is that!

Diana and her girls came to visit. So we went to Pena adobe and fed the ducks. But there are so many geese that we didn't let the kids out of the car. I remembered Shannon sharing her last experience. So we rolled down the windows (don't you love that on a minivan?) and the kids fed the ducks. By the way, that is our new van.

Here is Katherine and Chloe feeding the ducks out of their cool van too.

Happy Birthday to Jared! Jared got the raw deal this year. I was tired of planning parties so we just did a family dinner for him and Whitney combined. I don't think he noticed the difference. Though, I decided that next year we will start rotating birthday parties and do boys one year and girls another. I heard that idea and thought it was a good one.

This is his haul. He loved all the gifts. Thanks Fam!

Jared got a Thomas cake and Whitney had blueberry cheesecake.

My cute guys!

We went with some friends to the San Francisco Zoo. The kids had a fun time. OK, I did too. Sarah saw the lions and started growling at them. It was pretty cute.

Whitney has four more shifts and then he is off break-in. We are very excited! We hope to go to Clear Lake next month for a little family vacation. Other than the reunion we haven't done anything. The kids had so much fun doing that, that I want to take them camping again. I hope we get the chance. Also, Jacob will be starting preschool on Monday. We are both very excited.

The many faces of Sarah

Sarah came up with these faces by herself. I finally decided to catch up them in pictures. She is seriously the cutest Sarah June ever!

I love this little girl so much. She has been such a blessing in our family. She has all of us wrapped around her little finger.

Book Recommendation

I just finished, "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. It was a very good book. It was very moving. I thoroughly recommend it. When you get to the end, though, I would suggest a tissue. If you know anyone who is dying of cancer, recommend it to them too, or someone who has lost someone to cancer. A very good read!

The glasses

My mom sent me a box of baby stuff and these infant glasses were in there. My family had fun with them.

I strategically did not put them on. I know blackmail when I see it.

SHE WALKS!

About two weeks ago Sarah started talking like eight or nine steps in a row. She walked back and forth between Whitney and I like ten times. Since then, she walks a little more and crawls a little less each day. She has also learned to stand on her own. This makes me sad because I realize she will no longer need to do the stinkbug walk. A shame, that. I love you Sarah!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

This is Sarah's 1 year picture. I took it in the backyard. The background is our brand new fence. Yay!



We did a butterfly theme for her birthday. This is the cake.


The following are Sarah opening her gifts.

In this one, she spotted the biggest Care Bear, which was at the bottom of the bag and heaved it out.

All her presents. And Daddy.

Instead of blowing out her candle, Sarah grabbed the flame. We thought we would have repeat of Jacob's second birthday, but she didn't even flinch. Happy Birthday, my baby girl.

Sarah wasn't too sure about the cake. She picked at it mostly then dumped the piece on the floor. I figured she was done. She had fun getting messy though.

This was Whit after all the clean up and mowing his parents. po wittow boy.

This is Jared waiting for dinner to be ready. Another po wittow boy.