eyre blog

Thank you Santa

2012-02-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

I think my next favorite gift this year that Santa brought the kids is a trampoline.They are on it all of the time. They use it for jumping.

Exploring.

Pretending.

Sight seeing.

Eating popsicles with friends.

Leaf crafting.

Bonding. Getting static crazy hair!

Picnic-ing.

And camping.

They easily convinced Noah to camp out there one night and have been begging to to do it again ever since.

Thank you Santa. May the list keep growing. We love the trampoline!

NY reunion

2012-02-08T05:46:00.000-08:00

Over MLK day weekend we got together with some good friends we knew in NY. As much as we LOVE California, there are a lot of things we miss about living in NY. The thing we miss most is/are (could use a few english lessons) all the outstanding people we knew there. It was so fun to catch up and see these guys again. What a great group! Thank you Sines for putting this together.

My Mom

2012-02-05T01:12:00.000-08:00

I am so grateful for my mom. For so many reasons but today because she has jumped on a plane so many times to come help us lately. She was here for 2 weeks when Bennett was born, which saved me, and now she is coming back 2 short months later to take care of our kids (with her sister, my awesome aunt Laurie) for a week. They are going to have a blast together! But she just got done taking care of my brother's kids, spent a night in the ER with a kidney stone attack one of those nights, that happened right after she got home from a trip to see my Dad in Dubai and is going to my sister's a couple week after she gets home to help her with her new baby. Wonder. Woman! I really don't know what we would do with out her. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, she is playing her part for sure!

Power of Moms Retreat

2012-02-03T03:47:00.000-08:00

I have recently been taking better advantage of the Power of Moms. What took me so long? I have no idea but my amazing sister-in-law Saren along with the amazing April Perry started Power of Moms a while ago. Check the link button on the side bar of the blog. I can remember Saren talking about the idea when McKay was a baby and having a few retreats to kick it off back then but man she has turned it into an incredible resource for moms to be better moms. So why not jump on? I could use all the help I can get. They have had 11 retreats now. The retreats are similar to business trips for professionals to sharpen their skills and awareness so this is for moms to sharpen their mothering skills and become better "deliberate mothers." I got to go to their last retreat in LA last weekend and man do I ever feel like a new woman! It was just me and baby Bennett last weekend with 65 other outstanding moms.

This picture shows only about half of the group. We took it after it was over and a lot of them had already left.

As part of Saren's introduction she said that there were 65 mothers and about 400 children represented. That is HUGE! It ranged from moms with 1 child to a mom with a whoppin' 11 kids. I couldn't help but think about those ~400 children and think that they are so blessed to have moms who care so much about their role as mothers. It was an honor to be with them.

Here is Saren doing her thing. I was so proud of her.

And again. I didn't get the other presenters but they were all FANTASTIC! I actually didn't get many pictures at all because I was holding Bennett most of the time. Again, it was amazing!

But I did snap this picture while my friend Andrea got some smiles out of my little guy. Oh I love him!

Oh boy I've got Joy!

2012-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

I've been teaching this adorable Joy School class! They are a riot. Poor little boy is out numbered but he can hold his own (and it's nice for Lyla to have some girls around!).

Bringing in the New Year

2012-01-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

We started the day right with a game of bowling to celebrate uncle Jared's birthday. How would it be to have your birthday on New Years Eve?

While we all bowled, Cubby was watering the floor. We eventually had to take all the water away after cleaning up spill after spill. They had to bring us several towels multiple times.

The kids paired up and bowled in teams. I think they all did better than most of the adults but we had fun!

Back at the house we started to get ready to bring in the new year. Charity had us write down our top 10 memories/blessings from 2011 and write down 10 goals we want to do in 2012. We each spent some time on this then we sat down and shared them with each other.

McKay took it very seriously. We let him stay up with us and I am so glad that he did. He was the first one to share his list. Notice that he taped two pages together in order to fit everything on there.

He had quite the list. He had us all rolling in our seats on a few of them. They were hilarious!

This is how he sits a lot of the time with his legs crossed. I think it is so cute!

The count down...and confetti! I foresee this to be a great year. Maybe the best one yet!

This is actually before the younger kids went to bed. I came downstairs and saw Linda in the play closet with the kids. We love that Grammie!

Then the next morning we were heading out. But before we did the kids went on a Grandfather date out to breakfast while we helped Linda get ready for the Carvers to come over. No picture but we got to see them and spend a little time with them before we hit the road. What a blast!

Christmas

2012-01-13T03:43:00.002-08:00

This early morning face shows some of the excitement that we felt over here this season. This Christmas was the first one in a while where I felt completely prepared in advance. Maybe it's because I (together with Santa of course) did all (well 90%) of our shopping online this year. I mean are you kidding me? Online? I still can't even believe that is possible. Well believe it Kristi because that is exactly what you did. And it worked like a charm. Amazon prime. Delivered right to our front door step. You can have a baby, soak him in, enjoy the family, and get your Christmas shopping done all in the comfort of your own home! Anyway, here are some of the things we did on Christmas Eve. And Day. And a little afterward too!

McKay wrote a letter to Santa to put with the cookies.
It's so cute how he asked if Rudolf was real. He is sure Santa is but maybe not the reindeer!

We also acted out the Nativity. We were a little short on shepherds and angels so we were lucky the neighbors were willing to come over and fill in. We have the best neighbors! Their 3 darling girls jumped right in and played the parts beautifully. Our kids did a great job too. They were a little distracted but it worked just fine! Although I must say that our baby Jesus couldn't have been more angelic! Holding him in my arms this Christmas has added another dimension to celebrating our Savior's birth this year. What a tender mercy!

Soon after, the kids got into the pjs my parents sent them and we had a sibling gift exchange. I think I was nursing the baby and didn't take pictures. But it was fun to watch the kids give each other gifts. We had them pick them out at the dollar store because McKay and Lyla paid for theirs with money they've earned. Cubby got a toy snake, Lyla a bouncy ball with glitter and a fish inside and McKay one of those hit-the-ball-that's-attached-by-a-string-with-the-paddle things. Dollar store or not they loved those gifts.

I didn't notice until now that Lyla snuck one of Santa's cookies. Smart girl! But why do these pictures look so grainy?
Bennett's first Christmas!
Noah and I peeked in on the kids before we let Santa bring the gifts.

The next morning Santa left their stockings in their rooms to buy time for the parents to sleep a little longer. He has done that for a few years now but it doesn't seem to help yet. We even put a clock in the room and told McKay not to come out until the clock said 7:00. But 6:10 rolled around and we had kids in our room asking for us to open stuff from their stockings. To be honest though we didn't mind. We were actually awake spying on them trying to hear what they were talking about. Santa also put a sheet up in front of the stairs so that they had to wait for us to go down and open presents. Our plan was for them to wake us up by singing carols by the stairs (a tradition Noah had growing up) but they aren't quite ready for that either. But to their credit Lyla had them singing Taylor Swift's "Romeo Tay" as Lyla calls it.

Was I nursing again here too because we don't have many pictures of opening presents either!?

Couldn't resist!

Then we had the traditional eggs Benedict for breakfast but cut out the asparagus in exchange for strawberry banana candy canes I saw on Pintrest! Mmmm!

After breakfast and clean up we headed to church with our bags packed in the car. We drove for 11 hours to the snow right after church. The kids changed into their pjs in the bathrooms at the church (at 1pm) and we were off! On the way we google + ed with Noah's family. Another amazing thing that I can't believe is possible. We were driving in the car while not only talking with but watching through video with all 9 of Noah's siblings and his parents. Some were in NY, some Arizona, some Utah, California...and the sound and video was so clear. WOW! I wish I had pictures of that. I'm sure someone got some. Did you guys? Anyone?

When we got to Noah's parents place they were actually in NY with Talmadge and Anita who just had their first baby but we got to hang out with Charity! She was in town and is a party to be with!

So we used our time to see a lot of great people. We started with this group plus the Millers but they had already left.
I couldn't leave out a picture with Brandon in Aja's snow suit.

Did some sledding in the record low snowfall. This is Park City and they barley had enough!
Then we spent a couple of nights at East High School for an alumni tournament. Noah's year won the whole thing! Nice trophy and all! Awesome team.
McKay got so into it. He was sitting on the bench with all the players during the game asking questions and cheering them on.

We also got to see some other friends from Noah's high school. Great, great people!

And we got to do some temple work with Noah's mission president's family and the Millers. Incredible experience.
We had lunch after and had Baby Bennett meet half of his namesake. This is the Bennett family. Exceptional people.
And last but certainly not least we got to hang out with Saren and her great family. More with them coming up! But I'm getting too tired to keep going tonight. Good night!

Word

2012-01-12T08:37:00.004-08:00

It's amazing how much can be done by 8am when your kids wake you up at 6! What are they thinking? It is still dark outside until about 7. And do they realize we have a new baby that wakes me up throughout the night? And how could they know that their, anxious to get things done while the kids are sleeping, mom goes to bed waaaay too late the night before. We just dropped McKay off at school and the baby is sleeping, Lyla and Cubby are playing cars and legos in the playroom and I... just spotted little Cubby with a pen in his hand...Got to go save the walls!

Here's to a great day!

Word.

My Favorite

2012-01-11T05:01:00.002-08:00

This is my very favorite gift any of us got this year. We are all smitten! Noah is out of town so I am getting some blogging in! Trying to get caught up to date so there are going to be some random posts! We'll see if I can get it done.

These guys...

2012-01-08T21:01:00.004-08:00

Have been keeping us busy. I feel like a circus most of the time but I am in circus heaven (surrounded by havoc)!

Baby Bennett is here

2011-12-04T19:34:00.017-08:00

Ok so here we are just before heading into the hospital. That belly was projectile.

Kristi had had several labor pains about a week before and had been dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced for a couple weeks - so based on the previous births we kept thinking she was going into labor but that kept not being the case! The little dude liked it in there. And the little dude was getting big... Cubby was 9lb 6oz and was born about 2 weeks early so when it got within a week and a half of the due date we decided to go in and have the dr. break the water. Here is the sweetness getting ready.

The Dr. checked and Kristi was 3-4 cm dilated and 85% effaced and some light contractions were happening so we went for it and she broke the water. After walking around for 30-45 min those contractions started coming strong and true with some nice solid pain. After a totally amazing natural birth with Cubby, Kristi opted for the epidural for this second 9 plus pounder! An extremely wise decision in my opinion! The timing was perfect and the contractions kept on strong without any pain. Wahoo! We even took a nap. It was so nice to just hang out and anticipate the arrival together. Just the two of us with nothing to worry about except what this baby will look like and what his name will be (thanks Susan! My mother in law was with the rest of the kids bless her heart). After a couple hours the doc checked progress and she was a at a 7! It seemed unreal that pretty soon that baby would be out and in our arms. Another 20 minutes and that baby's head was ready to come out!

Before we knew it with a simple push the head was out, charging into the world with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck once and one arm raised up just like Superman flies. It looked like this.

Add an arm to the head of a 9lb 8oz baby and getting him out was quite a feat! I am telling you - I am married to the most amazing woman alive!! That baby came out as purple as you can imagine. His shaky cry was slow to come but I don't think there is a sweeter sound in the world once it did finally come. The emotion of the moment was overwhelming. A beautiful baby boy, entering the world at that peak moment, almost in slow motion, a moment filled with spiritual depth, physical exhaustion, joy, unity, purpose, and wonder all together. I can hear that emotion come through in my own shaky voice as I try to speak to him. Wonderstruck.

9lb 8oz! This is one blocky kid.

Kristi's mom is here to save the day. Actually days. I don't know what we would do without her she has been a HUGE help. She was with our other kids and the morning after the birth, I went to pick up the kids and Grandma to bring them in to meet Bennett. We pulled McKay out of school and headed over and they were crazy excited. The look of wonder on their faces was priceless. They wildly excited about their little bro and Cubby has only whacked Bennett a good one on the head once so far.

Definitely out numbered at this point.

Bennett Richard is his name

Happy Birthday

2011-11-02T19:43:00.002-07:00

Noah is the greatest. He really is. Really. I am so grateful our kids get to learn from him.

Holding strong to his birthday tradition we went bowling to celebrate.

And the kids and I had fun making this for him too. We do love dad!

Halloween

2011-10-31T20:30:00.003-07:00

The family self timer shot. Love Noah's face! I didn't even think of a promiscuous Pippy but you wouldn't believe how many people asked if the belly was part of my costume.

McKay wanted to be a bat so badly. Some construction paper, eye liner, mom's turtleneck, cloth, some safety pins and voila! Crooked wings.

Lyla wanted to be Rapunzel at first but couldn't pass up any princess. She was a different princess everyday. It was Cinderella's turn on the 31st!Cubby didn't have an opinion what to be so I put him in what fit him from the goodwill costume section! Cutest giraffe I've ever seen!

Then there was the trunk-or-treat night. I got batman from the goodwill hoping it could work for the bat costume but I was waaayyy off on the size. Spiderman came from there too. I was way off on the size with that one as well. Oops!
There were some great trunks.
Pretty impressive, eh?
Cubby has never been the same since this night. He turned into an i-must-have-candy-for-every-meal boy. We are working on it!
Little snug but he didn't care. Why would he when he is holding all that candy?!

Happy Halloween!

First tooth

2011-10-25T20:55:00.001-07:00

Wow! I got quite a few pictures of this milestone. It was an eventful one though let me tell you! He did not want to pull that tooth. He waited until it practically fell out. It was killin' me. When I had a loose tooth I would push and tug and wiggle and yank until I got it out. Not McKay. He is much more patient than I ever was.

Can you see the sweet tear on his cheek. That was the first of many that night.

Before. It was barely hanging by a thread.
As we were brushing teeth he said, (with a lot of coxing from us before) "ok I'm going to pull it out right after we say amen after family prayer." So we got pjs on, brushed teeth, read scriptures, knelt down for prayer and sure enough. Right after the amens he pushed on it and his tooth looked like this.

And this. You can hardly tell in this picture but he was hysterical. I could not calm him down. He kept repeating over and over while sobbing, "I just can't believe this. (pause) These are just happy tears mom."

So I took a rag and lifted the tooth right out of it's place. You can sort of see that his eyes are a little more red in this picture from all the "happy tears."

And then the next morning. His toothless grin!
We kept the tooth for a while because Noah was out of town and McKay wanted to show dad before he put it under his pillow. So we got some pictures.

Pumpkins

2011-10-23T11:07:00.003-07:00

McKay's class went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch so I thought I'd bring the other 2 that same week. Charity came in town for a "wedding" (or so I thought. More on that next post) so she and I enjoyed the morning at a pumpkin patch with the kids.

Then a day or so later we carved the pumpkins.

Koplins

2011-10-15T15:28:00.002-07:00

Could there be any better family than the Koplins? I think not. They were in town for a few days staying at a condo on Solana Beach so we took any chance we could to crash their family party. We have been spoiled to get to see them both for the mission reunion in Sept. and now in Oct. I wonder if we could get them to come for Thanksgiving?!

This is Noah and Brandon on their way down to the beach with the kids to try and surf in the freezing cold water with no wet suits! We better learn how to surf if we are going to live over here. We didn't get to see them because we stayed in the condo with sleeping babies but they said they had a fun time catching the waves.

The kids get along so well together.

I didn't want to leave little Cubby out so here he is trying to play catch with other people's dogs!

We had a date night without the kids and have some great pictures of that but I need to get them off of Noah's phone. If I remember I'll come back and add them. We love these guys!

General Conference

2011-10-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

This is what our house looked like Saturday during General Conference. Noah was out of town the first day so I watched in the other room while the kids entertained themselves by building forts, sledding down the stairs, and sharing stories. It was one of those days that I was so grateful they were having fun together and letting me listen to conference that I didn't care how many beds and couches they took apart to play with.

I've got to admit that when I saw them doing this I wanted to jump on with them!

Oh and of course we made cinnamon rolls.

It was a great day!

Butterfields

2011-10-10T00:04:00.001-07:00

Our great friends from way back at BYU-H the Butterfields came in town for a visit. We love love their family are were thrilled to get to see them.

There was a tornado of sea gulls after our food so the kids had fun chasing them around. I couldn't capture it very well but they chased those birds and the waves and the sun until it set. It was a beauty of a night.

Then in the morning we enjoyed the day at Sea World. The kids wore costumes part of the time because there was trick or treating at the park that day. By this time we only had the mermaid left to show. Very appropriate costume if I may say so.
I loved their expressions as Shamu swam by.

This face Cubby gives just kills me.

Jen took the kids on a tea cup like ride and seemed to enjoy it as much as the kids!

Cubby and I watched from the gate.

Just as we were starting to wind down...

The dad's took the 2 older kids on the roller coaster and couldn't have captured a better shot.

We love those Butterfields and only wish we could see them more often.

Lyla's Babies

2011-09-30T20:30:00.002-07:00

Lyla has at least 2 babies in her care at any given moment. Sometimes 10. She seems to have more at the most inconvenient times! I am constantly shoveling all kinds of "babies" out of the car when we pull into the garage. She's got alligator babies, dinosaur babies, puppet babies, block babies, you name it. But as inconvenient as it is at times I love her nurturing nature. I can't wait for her new brother to meet her. He is in for a treat!

Uncle Sean

2011-09-27T20:09:00.002-07:00

We got a surprise visit from Uncle Sean! He is a pilot and had a trip over here so we were delighted to get to spend some time with him. He was also modded by the kids. They couldn't get enough of him. What can I say? Our kids are mobbers! If you have any personal space issues be warned if you ever come over! Although little Cubby doesn't look to happy!

They all played soccer in the back for a while. Sean taught McKay a victory dance where he pulls his shirt over his head and runs around cheering "GOAL!" Here is a nice blurry picture to show how it's done!

Daddy date

2011-09-25T19:50:00.003-07:00

Noah took McKay to a Padres game for a back to school night with the Padres. McKay had a ball (pun intended!) and came home singing a Padres version of take me out to the ball game. They sent us some videos during the evening complete with a firework show at the end of the game. Those Padres know how to do it!

Grandfather visit

2011-09-21T19:29:00.004-07:00

Noah's dad had some speaking engagements in the area so we got to spend a couple of days with him! The kids can't get enough of him. He was mobbed!

Mission reunion

2011-09-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

I think this was our 6th annual mission reunion. I need to get more of the pictures but here are a few. We love love this group of people and treasure our time together.

Sequim

2011-09-16T23:23:00.002-07:00

I don't even know what to say about this trip because how can you sum up Jonah and Aja into words? We got to catch these guys right before they moved to Maui. You better believe we will be visiting them over there too. Not because it's Maui (although that's nice) but because Jo and Aja are totally worth a visit where ever they are.

Lyla has had a slight obsession with bald eagles for that past year. She wouldn't go to bed with out telling us at least twice every single night that she saw a bald eagle flying. That lasted for about 9 months, no lie. It eventually evolved into "I saw a pink bald eagle flying" some nights and got more and more colorful. Jonah and Aja would see them in reality where they lived in Washington and call to tell her they saw a real bald eagle flying. So this was a brilliant move by Jonah to take her to see a real (stuffed) bald eagle. She was in awe. A sort of rath like awe in the picture!

But the fun didn't stop there. We did everything from visiting (and actually living with) farm animals. Our alarm clock was the 5am (or so it felt like) roster crow along with the cows mooing next door. The kids gathered eggs when we needed them. The cat had just given birth about 2 weeks prior so we got to see her baby kittens. We went on fun walks.
We rode everywhere in a car that runs on grease.

We picked wild blackberries.

Aja gave us all a ride in the "thing."

Our kids had a blast with their cousins.

Noah and Jonah cleansed their ears.

Jonah took us crabbing!

And to visit a sweet light house.

We feasted on fresh crab. We had plain crab, pizza crab, crab salad, crab for breakfast...yummm!
And we had some fun at a gorgeous lake!

This was only part of it. They are a total blast!

First Day of school

2011-08-25T23:09:00.003-07:00

Again! This is McKay's 3rd kindergarten to attend and I love his enthusiastic attitude about it. NY was full day and he was young. We moved to California mid year and finished the school year there at a half day kindergarten. So this year he was so excited to have a full year of full day kindergarten at a new school and stay at the same school the full time! Man I love him!

Mommy Date

2011-08-19T23:00:00.002-07:00

Lyla and I had a very pinkalicious mommy date. It was so much fun being with her one-on-one.

I tried to get her to take some pictures with the cast but she got a little scared so i sneaked one in as she was devouring her cupcake.

I love this little girl so much. We've got some amazing years ahead of us!

Kirkham's visit

2011-08-16T22:44:00.002-07:00

I love my sister! I love getting together with her. She got to come visit for a short trip with some of her kids and I can't get enough of her and her kids. Wish we lived closer.

Monson reunion

2011-07-24T22:22:00.002-07:00

I love my family! The Monsons are total hoots! We had a reunion at Estes Park this year. Beauty!

The picture above was taken at about midnight one night. It looks like my Grandma is falling alseep (maybe she was) but she kept up with the rest of us at 97 years young. There is always a lot of singing.

And game playing.

Intense bingo.

Great moments.

Isn't she the best!

Some how my parents got suckered into eating with the kids each meal while we sat at the next table and enjoyed the view. Also, McKay still talks about the chocolate milk at Colorado. Do I deprive my kids!?

Fun activities.
And the best company! Too bad we didn't get a shot of the whole Monson group. Each of my aunts/uncles and cousins are a total blast to be around. My grandparents started a very good thing. Yes I am pregnant. That looks a little strange!

Bear Lake

2011-07-19T23:12:00.002-07:00

These are pictures of the Eyre reunion and the after math at Bear Lake. Looking through them though makes me realize how dominant and one dimensional they are! I was banking on getting copies of everyone's pictures but I haven't and so you get a dominant one dimensional view! I will be better prepared next year for copies or just take all the ones I want and have them in my camera! We love our time up at the lake.

Lyla turned 3!

2011-07-02T21:47:00.002-07:00

Lyla's birthday falls right when we leave for Bear Lake for the summer so for all 3 birthdays we have had multiple celebrations. This year she was one lucky girl because she got to spend her birthday with both sets of grandparents, some cousins and her auntie Sherry! Wow, do we ever love this girl! She adds a lot of pizazz of this family!

When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted without hesitation she said she wanted one with strawberries and blueberries on top. That was her only request.

Father's Day

2011-06-20T21:40:00.003-07:00

Noah is the best thing that ever happened to me! Our kids are so lucky to have him and they absolutely adore their dad. I wish we would have taken a picture with all the kids but it was one of those Sundays when you don't want to postpone a nap any longer.

Aunt Charity

2011-06-19T09:17:00.001-07:00

We were lucky enough to get a visit from aunt Charity on her birthday! She had a friend's wedding to go to in LA so we reaped the benefits of having her around and threw in a birthday celebration. She is not eating sugar and hasn't been for a while now but holidays are an exception so we went candy crazy! From my experience I've noticed that most pinatas are stingy with candy capacity but not this one. We almost got an entire costco size bag of candy into that sweet yummy cupcake. We gave the kids a jab at it before Charity tore it apart.

Then to top it off we put more candy on her real cupcakes and ate sweets until the sun went down. She is a blast! We are so lucky to have her. Funny side note though is she told us the next day that she threw up on the way home from the airport. Yikes!

BBQ

2011-06-17T08:00:00.001-07:00

We moved to San Diego and this is what we have to show for it! I was feeling sorry for myself and thought I was too nauseous to pick up the camera and am kicking myself for it now. But I love that we have these two pictures. Noah has been wanting a BBQ grill since we got married almost 8 years ago. He toyed around with getting one to put on our fire escape in NY but held on until we got here. In the previous neighborhood we lived in in OC they had BBQ picnic areas like this all over but we don't think anyone of them had ever been used. Noah insisted we break one in before we left.

Then shortly after we moved to our place in San Diego we broke down and finally got this beauty! Noah is pleased as punch!

Cubby turned 1

2011-04-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

My goodness where does the time go? I can't believe how absolutely in love I am with this one year old.

Easter

2011-04-29T00:35:00.003-07:00

We had way too much fun for Easter this year (aside from the fact that I broke one of the lenses on my camera. So I don't have many pictures. I'm waiting to get some from Ben and Ashley). Noah and Ben were on a trip so Ashley and their kids came down for the week! It was crazy with 6 kids all 6 and under but we had so much fun! The dad's returned on Friday and we got to spend Easter weekend with everyone! More on the week later.

Here is what I've got.

Some highlights-
-Dying eggs. very fun! no pictures...
-Easter baskets. very fun! no pictures...
-the Easter bunny left foot prints! very fun!
-Easter craft from the kids. very fun! no pictures...
-Egg Hunts! Our first egg hunt was a street egg hunt for those who could make it. We had another hunt inside the house with 12 eggs. In each one was a symbol of the Easter story with a scripture. The last hunt was in our yard. Some filled with treats, some coins (we ran out of candy!), and one lucky one with a dollar bill! The last 2 were with just our kids and Ben's and Ashley's kids. All very fun! One picture!

This is maybe half of the kids on our street. I'm not even kidding.
Just our little cul-de-sac of 16 homes has 40 kids on it. 40! And only 5 or 6 of those are over 12.
My kids LOVE it. How can we move?!

-making ties. I couldn't find any ties anywhere for little boys so I found a pattern a friend made and took matters into my own hands. Ashley made one too. That's what we did at night after the kids went down. Talked and made ties. Surprisingly, they turned out pretty cute. very fun! a picture of 2 of the finished products below.

-And most importantly, taking time to reflect on our Saviors mission here. I am so grateful for His atonement and resurrection. We are so incredibly blessed!

Dentist

2011-04-17T21:22:00.009-07:00

Is this embarrassing (if it is oh well) that this was Mckay's first visit to the dentist? And that the only reason we went is because he needs to turn in a form to his school saying he went? Maybe. But it was a whole lot of work to get there and keep 3 kids under control for some x-rays and a 15 minute cleaning. And do they have to take x-rays at his age? Am I too paranoid about that?I know, I know I could have just gotten a babysitter but I too often seem to think it will be easier to take everyone than to get a sitter. Hmmmm.

McKay was great! He was a great patient. Ready for the whole bit. He asked great questions and was very obedient. He even got to put his picture on the - I have no cavities - wall. The only bummer for him was that he wanted so badly for them to tell him that he had a loose tooth. He is certain that he has a loose tooth just waiting to come out. They didn't. He doesn't. But he wiggles it enough that he may cause it to get loose!

In between trying to hold Jacobson (octopus arms trying to grab anything he can), Lyla's stuffed dog, my purse, her purse, her entire tea party set and the plastic cupcakes she took from the front office, some paper work they thought would be helpful, McKay's goodie bag, and the 3 balloons they gave to us in a panic to help, I snapped a few pictures. You should have seen me searching for the keys with all that stuff. We were quite the scene. Balloons were flying to the ceiling. McKay broke down thinking he lost his balloon. Lyla was trying to fill her purse full with the rest of the office toys to bring home. Loosing things left and right because the purse was too full. As soon as I would put one thing back she would grab a few more in desperation. Cubby kept slipping from my arms and grabbing toys himself. It was just one of those times when nothing I did was working quite right. People were confused about how to help or something because they sat starring in shock. Not being rude just now sure how to intervene. We left them all with the grand finally of Lyla throwing her signature tantrum kicking and screaming across the floor. I had to make 3 trips to the car. Luckily I parked really close!

Before the madness.

Still hanging in there!

After all is said and done, I'm glad we went. It was a fun memory and McKay is more determined than ever to brush out the sugar bugs!

Disney, Beach and fun family

2011-04-14T04:30:00.007-07:00

My sister and her family came for a quick visit the week of conference. The only problem about them coming is that I never want them to go. Thurs-Sun morning. Three and a half days is never enough time to spend with them but we'll take what we can get. They've got 4 kids. We've got 3. So, on Thursday morning Noah was at work so Jeff, Stacy and I loaded the cars full of 7 children, one stroller (my double had a hole in a tire), some carrots, and a few PBJs, some empty sunscreen bottles, our running shoes on and headed to Disneyland! Us grown-ups were so excited. We had a kick in our step and were revved to go! The kids were too but not until a little later in the day. It started out kind of rough for them. We kept them up way too late the night before and the sun was brutal. They were cranky and sweltering. Rough combo. We waited in line for at least 45 min and finally got to front to get on when Lyla decided to throw her first fit. I had Cubby strapped on to me in the eurgo and had to hold Lyla like a football kicking and screaming. They had to hold the ride to get us off. Notice Lyla's binki in the next 2 pitcures. That was her sedater. Worked like a charm. (but we took it away for good last night. more on the binki farewell later.) This is after the first ride. The kids ran for the oasis. Good thing Jeff was coming over with the water because I'm pretty sure drinking the fountain was the next step.

After the second ride. We're thinking, Oh no. It's going to be a loooong day. Us revved and giddy grown-ups were also behind the camera giggling.

This picture was really over exposed so I tried to save it by making it black and white but I loved it because it adds to the madness. Here the 2 older boys were dominating the stroller. Stacy's got Spencer in the back reading the map, Shayla on his lap needing some assistance and McKay on a joy ride watching his cousin and sister walk sluggishly on the side.

Oh wait we did have one more stroller. How could I forget! These things are a huge pain and a much needed lifesaver to bring to places like Disneyland. Especially during nap time.

Too bad we didn't have the strollers when these 2 fell asleep. Well, too bad for Stacy and Noah! Noah joined us towards the end of the day. Yeah! He was immediately put on Lyla duty. But it's hard to feel bad about it when he LOVES Lyla duty! I love it too but...you know!

Jeff just tried to sneak in a nap when we could. He has a lot on his plate right now. He is a Bishop, took a new position at work to help with the continental/united merger, is getting ready to move his family, travels a ton right now and that's only the half of it. If only we had a stroller for him too! Shucks.

After nap time the day picked up quite a bit. And what's better than seeing Mickey himself?!

No one dared to go on the tea cups but Stacy. She wanted in! I She convinced the other 3 to go with her.

I just can't get over Noah's incredible sense of style. I don't have much room to talk but check this out. To his credit, he forgot his shoes but this is so Noah. And forgetting somethings like your shoes or wallet is not too unfamiliar either. But man is he ever good with all the kids.

We snuck in this group photo right before Noah and I fled with the younger 5 kids. They were excited for baths and pjs.

Now this is a good combo! Not just good. A great one! They stayed for a few more hours and came home with the same kick in their step that they started with. All 4 of them!We picked the hottest day to go to the theme parks and the coolest day to hit the beach. It was freezing. But that did not stop the kids or the dads at all. They were being chased by the waves.

And the daring ones got taken down by those waves.

These suits were last years Easter present from my mom. Glad she got them a little big so we can use them again this year. These boys had fun together.

And the group. What a group!

A night out on our spring break

2011-04-11T20:09:00.021-07:00

Last week Noah went to Chile for a few days and then flew back to San Diego to spend the rest of the week down there for a conference. We were anxious to see him and he was anxious to see us. So we drove down to San Diego to go with him to an event at one of the schools he works with and stayed for a night with him in his hotel room. It was a lot of fun but it was a looo-oh-oong night. This is how our night/day went.

3:30pm- Get off the phone with Noah requesting for us to meet him in South County San Diego by 6pm.

4:30-Wrestle the kids into their car seats with our things thrown in a bag (after going back-and-forth a few dozen times) and pull out of the drive way.

6:00pm- Arrive (right on time) at the school "Garden Party." We thought it was similar to a school's carnival so we dressed very casually and brought all 3 kids. I was in flip flops and the kids were in dirty clothes with lunch still smeared on their faces and Cubby reeked of spit up (which resembles throw up more and more these days). Luckily I forgot to bring Noah a t-shirt and he had his work clothes on or we may not have gone in. The Garden Party was a dinner/fundraiser for the first garden at a school in all of Chula Vista. Everyone was in slacks and dresses! I was a little relieved to see a few kids there but they of course were older and in their Sunday best. The Superintendent was there along with the mayor and many more supporters for the school. There were at least 100 people there. I was mortified!

7:00pm- Bedtime for the kids. Still at the party. I tried to camouflage the kids and myself in the back but no can do. Noah insisted on introducing us to everyone he knew and of course we stayed until the bitter end. I started cleaning up with the clean up crew.

8:00ish pm- Brinking on the bitter end. Try to convince our kids to put down the hordes of cupcakes they were diving into and head out to the car to get to the hotel.

8:30pm- Pull up to the hotel in 2 cars. Valet style but of course we don't want to pay for the valet. So the kids and I sit and wait while we block traffic and wait for Noah to check in.

9:02pm- Noah comes out and says he's been trying to convince them to lower the self parking price. $22 per car!! per day! What?! We got a steal of a deal on the room but definitely not one on parking! That's just awful!

9:07pm- We self park into the valet parking lot. get stopped and corrected. we turn around.

9:17pm- Safely make it into a parking space and juggle our belongings and our kids into the room. On their sugar high.

9:45ish pm- PJs are on. Baby is on a bed we made for him on the closet floor hoping he wouldn't slide the doors open all night and crawl out. Other two kids finished bouncing on the bed and are trying to fall asleep.

9:46pm- Lights out. Noah and I are tiptoeing in the dark trying to find our own PJs, brush our teeth, etc. without revving up the kids again. Baby tapping on the closet door.

9:59pm- Our date night was sitting in the bathroom whisper-talking about what's been happening since he's been gone.

11:08pm- Head to bed. My mind is racing. I can't get it to turn off or even slow down for another couple of hours. The baby still occasionally tapping on the closet doors.

12:51am- Last time I checked the clock. Must have faded shortly after.

2:04am- Baby whimpering and tapping. I lay awake hoping he'll fade back to sleep, needing to go to the bathroom but don't dare because I don't want to stir the baby or wake anyone else up.

2:16am- Noah hears the baby and wakes up. He gets right up and heads straight for the bathroom. I panic!

2:16am- He turns on the bathroom light! What!?!

2:17am- Flush! Ahhhh!

My heart is pounding.

2:18am- Noah is back asleep and miraculously none of the kids are awake. Phew!!

My heart still pounding.

2:32am- I'm finally fast asleep.

3:58am- Fire alarm goes off!!!!! Flashing lights and everything!! I burst the covers off in a panic! Run to the door and see that all the alarms are going off! Noah's is up pacing! McKay is up and scared! Cubby is crying! and Lyla is in a deep deep sleep!

4:00am- Hotel false alarm announcement. Alarms still going off. Another announcement. Alarms. Announcement. Alarms. Lyla still sleeping!

4:07am- Alarms and announcements cease. McKay is back asleep. Baby is calm and falling asleep. Lyla is still asleep.

4:08am- Noah and I look at each other and start laughing our heads off as quietly as we can. Man it's hard to keep quiet when your laughing like that!

4:11am- I nudge Noah and ask if he thinks Lyla could fall out of the bed. He says no. She'll be fine.

I dosed off sometime after that.

5:03am- Lyla falls out of the bed! She is crying. Noah and I jump up and Noah puts her back in bed.

6:30am- Sunrise. Kids are jumping on our bed ready to welcome the day!

This is us at a breakfast place that morning...We just went in our PJs!

Happy Sabbath

2011-04-10T00:18:00.004-07:00

Family and Friends

2011-04-07T23:43:00.011-07:00

While I am on the topic of visitors...I've got a few more to put up here. Our great friends the Koplins came a little while back. They are repeats on this blog. I've said it once and I'll say it again, they are a total blast! Every single one of them!

You may notice the ever so impressive all star, Charity in this picture! We not only got to see her too but we got to spend a couple of days with her trying to soak in her pizazz! She was considering a job opportunity in Orange County and oh man how fun would that be to have her close to us. But for now San Fransisco is the place for her.

We got to have a tiny overlap with Jonah and Aja's family too. We are so lucky that Aja's mom lives pretty close so with her and us living here we've been able to catch them a few times lately! We are always left inspired.

I snuck this one in of Aja.

More Visitors

2011-03-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

We have been so lucky to have such fun travelers come by. A little while ago my amazing cousin Marianne and her darling family came to visit the beach and go to Sea World and to see us too! We loved it! Our mom's are sisters and we grew up visiting their family all the time. Marianne has been and continues to be a huge inspiration to me in so many ways. And one thing's for sure, if I need someone to "kick my boot" I'd call her. She ran a kick my boot camp and really knows how to kick boot! We had a blast reminiscing and spending time with her and her family. Can't say it enough, they are great!

The beach day was overcast and chilly but it was nice because we had the entire beach to ourselves! The closest trash can stood as our tripod. Can jumping pictures be over done?

No way! Not when you get shots like this one!

Clint was going to get in the water but got stopped because of the bacteria levels. Yikes! Maybe that's why we were riding solo at the beach. Or maybe that explains some of the illnesses we've been hearing about. Tis' the season to be ill so watch out for signs like these while at the beach!

Their little girls are precious.

And they told us while they were here that they are expecting #3! What a lucky little peanut to come to such a wonderful family.

Us.

I'm pretty lame-o with the Sea World pictures. I didn't get any with my cousin's family nor any sea life. I did however capture the construction in the background and Lyla navigating us through the park. It was hilarious to watch. She knew exactly where she was going. She kept adjusting her sunglasses back and forth from her face to the top of her head as if it would help clarify the directions. McKay, our 5 year old mind you, was tired and happy to be wheeled aroung in the stroller. I wonder if he was cold. It looks like his arms are missing! Too bad we can't see Cubby sleeping on Noah's back.

My Dad

2011-03-30T13:00:00.004-07:00

Today is my Dad's 60-somethin-th birthday. Let's see he was born in 49 so that calculates to...yep 60 somethin! What a guy. Sigh. What. A. Guy. I love my dad. I love him dearly and i love him deeply. I have so many things I am grateful to him for. So many that I can't count. And if I tried to count I couldn't keep up because the number continues to rise. Some that are obvious. Some I have searched for. Some that make me laugh uncontrollably. Some make me teary eyed. Some that I'm sure he doesn't know about. Some that I don't yet know about. But all of them, ALL the reasons I love and am grateful for my dad are very personal and extremely tender to my heart. I'm not sure if he'll read this or not but just in case, Happy Birthday Dad!

Visitors

2011-03-29T11:16:00.003-07:00

We've been pretty lucky to have some visitors come through lately! We got to spend the day with Jonah and Camden today. I have quite a few pictures partly because it was an exciting reunion for Mario and Luigi (cam and mckay), partly because I'm trying to learn new things on my camera, and partly because we can't help the fact that we love these guys and are so happy to see them. Jonah and Camden are on a boys trip together to pick up a car from Las Vegas so that Jonah can drive it back and convert yet another car to run on vegetable oil. That's right. He makes greasels. Brilliant. So we spend part of the night last night talking about how and when we could follow Jonah's lead and become the next Eyrealmers to jump on the green guzzling grease machine. We want in. There is no question. But do he have what it takes to be grease buddies with these all-stars?

They are definite all-stars. Jonah and his family are so fun to be around, fascinating to talk to, and full of adventure. If you are ever in need of a conversation starter just ask us about Jonah and Aja. We would have a great time talking about and admiring them.

Here is Mario and Luigi. They had a blast exploring their imaginations together. Granted they were mostly in yoshiland but they couldn't get enough of each other. It is so cute listening in on their conversations. I wish I could record them all. Notice McKay is swimming with his shoes on. I just thought he was keeping them on for fun. But he did this, I figured out on my own, because the last time we were at the pool he rubbed his toes raw from trying to grip the pool floor. We had a band-aide for each individual toe. On both feet!

These two were a hit to watch. They are warming up on the concrete after their swim. (the picture got a little distorted and I don't know how to fix it)

I wish so badly that I could hear their thoughts.

And then there is little Lyla who adores Jonah. She wouldn't leave his side. It was sweet. The past few weeks she has been catching our attention to tell us that she's seen a bald eagle flying. She will say often, and out of nowhere, "Hey (so and so) I saw a bald eagle flying!" I think she told that to Jonah about a dozen times today! It's hysterical.

She tripped on my foot at the pool and knocked her teeth into her lip. She cried for a minute until the bleeding stopped and then she went right back into the water. For some reason she got comfused and thought the blood was chocolate. Through her tears she was saying, mom I have so much chocolate coming out of my face. I've got lots of chocolate!" This is her showing off her "scratch."

I should have taken a picture of this guy playing with all the ants. They were harmless black ants and crawling all over him. He was thoroughly entertained. I tried to keep him clear by dipping him the water and moving him to different scenes but he kept finding his was back to the mob.

This is just a cute picture of them imitating Lyla with her lip. It is so cute how she puckers them up! She hasn't complained since the tears stopped but likes to show off her scratch.

Caught Noah picking! and those socks...i love it!

This was only part of Jonah's cheer section while he worked on the car. The street is fascinated right along with us.

I mowed the lawn this afternoon and while I was distracted they climbed up this wall, and over to the top of the steps in the background and watched and talked. Oh to be young again!

And that's a wrap.

Inspired

2011-03-27T23:45:00.010-07:00

I have been completely inspired and blown away by so many people lately that I don't quite know how to act. Or what to say about it. Or how to say about it. I know that doesn't make sense but that is the beauty of what is going on in my head. And that's part of what's inspiring me. I want to know so badly how to put my thoughts into words. And not just words. Words that can express what I want them to. I am terrible at that! Terrible. But I've convinced myself that I am as terrible as I let myself be. I worry too much about how to word things or if blogging is the best way for me to keep a record for our family. Or maybe the problem lies with being indecisive and scatter brained! What ever the case, I do want to keep this record going and I'm just going to write whatever comes to mind. If it makes sense or it's nonsense, typos and all, let it rip!

Now, to my faithful few who actually read this thing, I am going to be going back in time occasionally to fill in some of the gaps we've left. There are many. Oh so many. So if it seems as though we have taken another blogging hiatus, we may have! But I also may just be back in 2009 or 2010 posting about a birthday or a day in the park. So if you have google reader you most likely can travel in time with us but if not I'll still try and keep this somewhat current as well! For today I am in the present and anxious to be inspired even further with General Conference and my sister and her family coming this weekend. Can't get much better than that!

I couldn't leave this picture-less so here is one thing that is inspiring and blowing me away lately. My kids are growing up WAY too fast.
Cliche.
Maybe a little.
But oh so true.
How does this happen?

India-Part 1-Rising Star

2011-03-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

Oh man. India shook me. The people, the places, the smells, the colors, everything together just blew me away. There is an organization called Rising Star Outreach that focuses on the leprosy affected in India. It has done some incredible things to help the beautiful people over in Southern India. We had the incredible privileged of bringing Imagine Learning English into a school that was started for the children of the leprosy affected. It was surreal to play a small part in a big change that is happening over there. Noah is going to want to add his thoughts on this so we will revisit this post (really) and add to it but I have had this in my draft pile for too long now. I'll at least put up some pictures. We got to go over there with Eli and Julie who helped make the trip very memorable. Here we are at the airport in Dubai waiting for the next flight.

We got pretty slap happy running on little sleep. Eli found out that you could call other seats with your own seat phone so we kept calling each other talking about how excited we were.

I've got to put more pictures of our fist impression of India but this is our first drive in daylight. It was so fascinating. All my scenes were were going crazy.

We were on our way to a colony where the leprosy affected live. They are considered untouchables so they are placed in different colonies made specifically for them. Our first stop. This woman was the happiest and most friendly lady. She is no bigger than a minute but was so full of personality. When she spoke she had everyone's attention!

She wasn't shy. She wanted pictures with everyone. I love this one because she even makes Julie took big. I thought that was impossible!

Then we got to the school and met the kids. Wow! What beautiful kids. So full of light. We brought a letter from her sponsor who just so happens to be Charity, Noah's sister. She volunteered there last summer and told us who to look for. They were ecstatic to hear from her.

When Talmadge and Anita were there they helped set us up with an angel to sponsor. Her name is Vanamalar. It was exciting to meet her. She is a sweetheart.

We got to eat lunch with them.

We got to follow up on the brilliant star store Talmadge and Anita started when they were there.

And this is the incredible computer lab Noah and Eli installed Imagine Learning into. Julie and I got to be there to help as well and see the excitement on the teachers and students faces.

Training.

This is a dance some of the kids were working on for a big event they had coming up. I love the enthusiasm on some of their faces. It is so neat to see because each of these kids has a story to tell.

One day we went into the village near by and met some of the people. The girls on the back of the bike are 2 of the 5 kids of a family that lives there at the school and directs the comings and goings. They are an amazing family!

This is inside the house of one of the employees of the school, Myra. Her kitchen is the dirt pile on the left, her husband's room is the bed on the right, the cow's room is next to his and she sleeps on the floor in a different room next to the kids. She was so proud to show us her "super" house! It was "super!"

Back at the school the kids were practicing for a parents day activity.

We got to go into the colonies with the medical team and clean the wounds of the leprosy affected. Wow! It brought a whole new meaning to people living with leprosy.

This is one of the house mothers. They each take care of 20 girls or boys. They were giving us a tour of their rooms. 20 girls sleep in 3 rooms!

And there are their shoes that they hardly wear. And they just pick a pair and hope it fits!
We saw these two walking to school one morning. They are brothers who don't live on campus.

I love this picture. So tender. Notice their shoes!

Padmini is the cook. For everyone. Students, house moms, volunteers, everyone. She is amazing. Each night she made us volunteers dinner and we ate it on the roof on a banana leaf. Yumm it was good.
Checking for lice!

Nightly prayer meeting.

Oh, we have about a thousand more pictures to put up. It is impossible to capture it all. I am so grateful to Imagine Learning for donating the program and to RSO for letting us come, and to Charity for watching our kids while we were gone, and to Eyrealm for helping us get there, and to every volunteer who helps with causes like these. There is much to do in the world!

Leprechauns

2011-03-17T18:02:00.004-07:00

Oh I can tell the holidays are going to start to get really exciting around our house! McKay could not wait to see if the leprechauns would stop at our house this year. For the past few weeks he has been saving his quarters for a plane ride to Ireland. He showed me his homemade water bottle piggy bank and asked if it was full enough to get tickets yet! We have taken an extra few minutes to get home from school everyday because he has to stop and search for a 4 leafed clover in the grassy hill at the school. His bed time stories (inspired by his Grandfather's mirror land stories) have revolved around Gookin's (a.k.a McKay's friend in the mirror) adventures meeting the leprechauns. Anyway, the list goes on and on. So this morning he was ecstatic to wake up to the downstairs in total disarray. But that was only the beginning. The leprechauns not only came to our house but to his classroom at school too. They left some lucky charms and green tic-tacs at home but at school they left footprints and a bag of gold filled with chocolate. And the music teacher dressed up as a leprechaun. Now that's cool! McKay had to stop everyone we saw today and give a play by play of what had happened up to that point. And this is only St. Patrick's Day. I can't wait for Easter!
I think Lyla and Jacobson had a great day wearing green. Lyla liked the tic-tacs too. Just wait until all 3 kids are saving for Ireland. We are going to have fun with these holidays!

Flat tire

2011-03-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

It started out to be a normal day as I was on my way out to pick up McKay from school. I had Lyla and Cubby strapped into their car seats (Bribing Lyla to keep her shoes on). Then when I went to get in the car myself I happened to look down at the front wheel and it was flat as a pancake. We had somehow run over a big screw and it finally caught up to us. So that evening when Noah got home he and McKay put on the "fake tire" so that we could go get it fixed.

Side story: McKay asked if we were going to get on the freeway while we were out the other day. I said, "Yep we need to get on the freeway." Then he said, "On the freeway you don't need gas." Then I explained that unfortunately we do need gas for the freeway. Then he got a confused look on his face and asked, "Then why is it free?" Oh man I wish it was free!

Oh the Sun!

2011-03-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I really miss NY and then I think oh wait it's March. Here are the kids in March. March! I still miss NY but not so much NY in March!

Ballet

2011-03-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a gift certificate for Lyla to take Ballet lessons. She loves it! I love it! Of no real relevance just something I thought was cute... I took her to the bathroom in the middle of it once and she said "McKay is at his school." Me: "Yes he is." Lyla: "Oh, this is my classroom. Is this my school mom?" Well, for now it sure is.

Bed time

2011-03-09T06:30:00.006-08:00

I'm just missing Noah tonight. He is on a business trip and I found this while flipping through some pictures. These kids absolutely adore their dad. I adore their dad too.

This is how we roll...

2011-03-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

when things are calm and I can actually get them to stay in the cart.

Tape

2011-03-03T23:48:00.003-08:00

There is nothing like a little tape on the face to keep the kids engaged while I finish making dinner. I'm not sure how little Cubby liked it but the rest of us sure got a kick out of it!

Diligence

2011-03-02T23:32:00.017-08:00

I am sitting here trying to make sense of the fact that it is March. MARCH! Wow so much is on my mind. I went to Costco and Target today and could not figure out for a minute why they were selling Easter eggs! Of course they are selling Easter eggs. It's March! I am still wanting to take a picture of my kids in the pilgrim hats I made while everyone else is buying egg dye!! That just about sums up my life right now. Actually, let me be honest. That just about sums up my life. Period. Just a few steps behind. But, by golly, I'm trekking through! And I'm loving the journey. I'm trying to put on some running shoes to gain some ground and maybe, just maybe, I'll pick up the pace. To help out with that, Noah and I have been working on being more diligent. More diligent in everything. So far, I'm trying to focus on being diligent with a few things. So right now I want to be more diligent about keeping a record of what is going on in our family. And like most of my posts I'm just going to slap some pictures up and hope to catch up on the rest. I will get India and Hawaii up soon though. Here's to diligence!

This kid is such a good boy! Biased? Absolutely.
We took this at his school after picking him up one day.

This little girl is my firecracker! I can't get enough of her.
And of course she always wants to bring her baby everywhere she goes.

And it's hard to beat this little cuddler. Those are his first 2 teeth but right now
he has 4 top teeth coming in at the SAME TIME! Ouch!

So I thought

2011-02-03T21:28:00.006-08:00

So I only thought I was back to blogging and then I forgot that I am still learning how to manage my time! No excuses here but just when I thought I was getting the hang of it in NY (only took me 5+ years) we packed up and moved. The move itself wasn't a huge deal. Big. But not huge. It was more of a fun adventure to move and drive across the country. But although we arrived in November we have yet to unpack all of our boxes! Partly because we don't know if we are going to be in this house for longer than 6 months, partly because we have been nomads to some degree and partly because I am learning how to manage my time!

Some highlights.
In 3 months we...

pulled out our shorts.

got McKay enrolled in school. Again.

started to read.

have had several great visitors.

filled A LOT of diapers.

can now wash our clothes at our house.

celebrated loads of birthdays. Including McKay's!

grew a few inches.

got passes to Disneyland.

introduced Lyla to dress ups.

threw a few tantrums.

grew two first teeth.

cleaned up 1,000 piles of pit up.

stained the carpet.

learned to drive a car again.

spent Thanksgiving up north.

broke a drawer.

killed thousands of ants.

spent Christmas in TX.

fell in love with our neighborhood.

took a job in San Diego.

decided to move again. (don't know when yet)

had some laughs.

shed some tears.

taped up some boxes.

had a girls trip with MFME.

lost a cell phone.

got really frustrated.

went to India.

got "Delhi Belly."

And we leave for Hawaii in the morning!

So if I can get on the ball when we return I may be back to blogging!

2011-01-15T22:48:00.003-08:00

Ok back to blogging...

House Car

2010-12-01T23:57:00.025-08:00

I had in my mind a perfect family picture planned of us in front of the RV sitting in the middle of Time Square. This is as good as we could get. Yellow faced and all! They absolutely would not let a motor home into the city with out a ($500 min) fine! It was better that way. I couldn't draw out the goodbye any longer. More on goodbyes later. Here is the cliff notes version of our trek. Side note: McKay and Lyla were thrilled about living in a "house car". McKay thought we were moving in for good. Especially since it was arguably larger than our NYC apartment. He was devastated when he realized that we had to turn it in and move in to a real house. Sad day.

Our first stop was DC. We got there late and pulled into the church parking lot. Eli cleared it with his Bishop so that we could camp there that night. The following morning was NOAH'S BIRTHDAY! We were awakened by the carbon monoxide detector at 5am. We thought maybe the battery was dying so we just reset it but it kept persisting so we evacuated in our pjs into the freezing cold and called the fire department! It all cleared out and all was ok.

Weird!

Anyway, it was an alarming start to Noah's big day. I asked Noah what he wanted to do for his birthday. He smiled and said "drive across the country in an RV!" He booked that beast to overlap his birthday and LOVED driving it! I was behind the wheel for maybe a total of 1 min while Noah went to get rid of a weird spider. He drove and drove and drove. It was amazing. He is amazing. Everyone needs a little Noah in their lives. Really. I am a lucky girl.

So for his birthday...We locked up the gate of the parking lot and headed to Eli and Julie's for some homemade Jackson Souffle (also known as German Pancakes) with a nice candle on top. We love these guys so much. Hanging out with them made it a special birthday for Noah.

We decided to take the southern route for a few reasons. One, to see some of our favorite people along the way. Two, to chase the heat. Three, by chasing the heat we got to keep the water on (they winterize them in the north during winter to avoid frozen pipes). So heading south, our next stop was to visit Sam and Lindsay Eyre in North Carolina. My big regret on the trip was not getting a picture with them and their family. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I just got nervous or something! It was so fun to visit with them for a while.

Then we made it to Atlanta, Georgia to see some great friends Seth, Katy and their 3 kids. They are a total blast. Seth was a missionary companion of Noah's. Great guy. Great family.

Back on the road. Life on a "house car" was not a bad deal. Stopped on the highway in traffic for a couple of hours. Oh no worries. I'll just whip us some mac and cheese for the kids and put Lyla down for her nap. Oh McKay needs to use the little boys room. Great! don't forget to flush. Getting a little antsy. OK lets go wrestle in the back or get some crafts out. Heck we can even slap on a movie and take a nap lying down. Feeling dirty. Great. Go take a warm shower! Noah kept driving and driving. We would stop, have dinner, and then put the kids to bed around 7:30 and then start driving again. Then I'd go sit up with Noah and talk until we got too tired. Then we would look for the next Walmart and go park next to some fellow campers and snooze away until sunrise. This is where little guy slept.

This was Noah's and my bed.

McKay and Lyla got the master bedroom!

This is where Noah logged in over 3000 miles.

Fourth stop was New Orleans. Neither of us had been there so it was a neat stop. We drove that sucker right into the center of the city and ate dinner at a famous oyster bar. It was neat to drive right through and think about all that has happened there.

Fresh from the sea onto the plate.

The kids were getting a little tired so we brought the party inside.

The next morning we made it to Houston to see my family. It doesn't get much better than family. The house car was a hit for them as well.

These kids sure have a blast with their cousins.

I think my mom was nervous about her sprinkler heads! I was too!

There he is, driving away. I love that man. Lyla put a band-aid on his "ouchie." He had a little pimple. Driving across Texas was the longest leg. Recon we hit the most Walmart parkin' lots 'cross Texas.

Then to New Mexico. The Carlsbad Caverns were AMAZING. I had been there many years ago when I was young and just couldn't pass up showing the family. It was one of my most memorable vacations as a kid. McKay has been imaginary "spee-lunking" with his uncle Tal in our NYC apartment several times and thought it was to neatest thing known to man. So imagine his excitement when he actually got to see real stalactites and stalagmites. He was going crazy!

We were working on becoming Jr Park Rangers and Lyla's pencil slipped into some water. YIKES!

Needless to say, McKay was the only one inaugurated.

We pushed it a little too much sometimes with our sweet 2 year old. She definitely needs her sleep!

More of life on the road.

I LOVE these kids!

We got a great deal in Phoenix. 4 for 1! 1 and 2) We got to spend time with Noah's sister Shawni, Dave and family, Noah's brother Josh. It was so fun to get caught up with them and chat over some of Shawni's signature cookies.

These kids sure love their cousins.

3) Then we got to see some of my amazing cousins. What an incredible group.

4) And finally we got to see our great friends the Koplins. Brandon is another mission companion of Noah's. Joan had her baby boy 1 week later! They are a total blast too (in-case you couldn't tell by the picture)!

Then we hit California! We'd never seen wind energy quite like this before. It was a site to behold.

These two are saying, "Mom hurry and take the picture with the fake dinosaur. We are freezing out here!"

And finally, packing up our belongings.

So far... I think we are going to like it here! Have I already said that? :)

Road trip

2010-11-16T21:59:00.004-08:00

My computer has been unpacked an on my lap for the first time in a couple weeks! So, I finally uploaded the pictures we've taken the past few weeks. This is a sneak peek of our cross country road trip. Our Goodbye NY-Welcome to CA will come next. Until then, I am so thankful for Thanksgiving. So thankful for my family. So thankful we made it here safely. So thankful for a bit more space. So thankful that our kids can run and scream with out worrying they are going to wake the entire apartment complex. So thankful for motor home rentals. So thankful for more than 1 bathroom. So thankful for our time in NY. So thankful for our time here in CA.

We made it

2010-11-11T19:00:00.002-08:00

We did. We made it to our new home over here in the west! I'm anxious to get back on this thing to record what's been going on. Our internet will be up and running tomorrow so we'll be back in business. For now, Mom and Dad, we think we are going to like it here. Come visit any time!

Packing up

2010-10-25T17:32:00.004-07:00

We are packing up over here and trying to pack in some last minute things while we are at it. We packed in some pumpkin carving and packed this little guy in one of the pumpkins a few days ago. With Halloween just around the corner I am really feeling how few "our days are numbered" here in good ole NY. Anyway, I sure am glad this little boy is coming with us!

Apple Picking

2010-10-20T19:01:00.002-07:00

We went apple picking a while ago to kick off the fall season. The second we opened the car door we were lured in by the smell of apple cider doughnuts. I love the fall. I love cider doughnuts. I love picking apples. I love eating apples we pick. I love that there is an app for apples. I love that there is an app for everything. I love that my kids love apples. They went crazy in these orchards.

But, I can't get over the fact that we left this little boy out of the pictures. What was I thinking? He was pretty sad about it too! Look at that lower lip. Linda pointed out to me that day that it forms a W when he cries. I love these kids!

Neveah

2010-10-18T19:22:00.002-07:00

Today I asked McKay who he sat next to at lunch. He said he couldn't remember so I asked who his best friend in his class was. Without hesitation he said while gazing at the ceiling, "Neveah. I'm going to marry her some day." I remembered her from the first day of school but couldn't remember exactly who she was so he helped me out. The way he described her was really sweet.

He said, "She has curly hair that points down like this with little things all in it."

Me: "Like cool little beads?"

"No, no. Not like beads. I mean like butterflies and stuff. Oh and it's not like really curly it's like wavy like back and forth."

"Oh man! I still can't quite remember which one she is."

So we opened up the pictures I took from the first day of school. "There she is. That's Neveah!"

"Oh of course I remember her. I remember that she was really really sweet."

"Ya, she is. She really likes me and I really like her. We're going to live with each other forever someday."

"Oh yeah. How do you know she like you?"

"Well, because she always looks at me and talks to me. (pause) Except she doesn't sometimes."

Very cute! She is the sweetheart in the front row with the purple shirt. Their backpack hooks are right next to each other too!

Camping and Amish Country

2010-10-17T20:33:00.003-07:00

Unfortunately we weren't camping with the Amish. I have some friends that did that and it sounded like fun. We went camping for 3 nights over in Pennsylvania. It was beautiful.

This was Talmadge and Anita's tent!

The kids were having a blast with the bugs. There were daddy long-legs ALL over the place. We found an inchworm that was mesmerizing to watch. They are pretty interesting little worms. McKay was pretty excited to let it crawl on his finger.

How can you pass up sharing this picture of Tal and Lyla. His hair is hilarious!

We had tin foil dinners. I hadn't had those in so long! They are so fun and mmm they were good. Noah introduced us to tin foil chocolate bananas! We sliced the bananas long ways down the peal, stuffed them with chocolate chunks, and wrapped them in foil. Then we threw them in the fire for a while and ate them with a spoon. Now those were gooood! I have a picture but it makes them look nasty. They're not. Try them.

We attempted a jumping picture here but our timing was a little off! I thought this one was funny with Noah in the air with those long legs, the baby along for the ride, and McKay with his bagels!

One day we spent visiting the Amish. We rode in one of these buggies and saw how they live. What incredible people!

These are our tour guides and new friends Annie, her husband Joseph, and daughter Sadie. It was neat to talk with them and get a feel for their beliefs and why they live the way they do. I admire their desire and commitment.

Creative

2010-10-11T19:20:00.006-07:00

A while ago I heard that a British artist dotted New York City with pianos. They were decorated by artists and placed all around the city for people to sit and play. By the time I got the word the event had ended. I was bummed. Then on a drive to Hershey and Amish country I was thrilled to see these in Lancaster.

Lyla and I sat and played for a bit. These are the only ones we captured. There were several more. I assume it was the same artist. When I looked it up this is what I found. "The concept, devised by British artist Luke Jerram, has put more than 130 pianos in parks, squares and bus stations since 2008 in cities including London, Sydney and Sao Paulo and now New York City.

The pianos were donated for the cause and have been painted and decorated by artists.

They delivered to 27 locations in Manhattan, 10 in Brooklyn, five in Queens and four each in Staten Island and the Bronx.

Jerram got the idea at his local coin-operated laundry. He saw the same people there every weekend, but none of them talked to each other. He thought a piano might help bring people together in places like that."

I am such a sucker for things like this! I love that he did this! How brilliantly bazaar! Thank you Luke Jerram for your passion and creativity!

Sailing

2010-10-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

We are really trying to soak in everything we can so we couldn't pass up sailing with this group. We loved the sail but mainly loved spending time with these great friends.

NY Bucket list

2010-10-05T18:16:00.005-07:00

We are chipping away at our NY/East coast/NYC bucket list. Not our "we are never coming back" bucket list. Just a bucket list to do before we move. MOVE. Ahh. It hasn't hit me quite yet. It will hit really strong come Nov. 1 though. Problem is, the more we do on the list the longer it gets! Guess that means we'll just have to come back.

Noah and Talmadge have been working together the last couple of months getting everything transferred over so we've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Tal and Anita lately. They needed to tie things up in Buffalo/Rochester areas so the kids and I tagged along for a last trip to Niagara Falls and Palmyra. It was a 6-8 Hour drive up in the car with the kids and Tal still likes us! He is amazing. Anita couldn't make it this round but has certainly had her fair share with our kids. It was a fun trip.

Here they are finishing up the day coming out of an appointment. They are so great. Lyla greeted them with my deodorant.

Then we picked up some southern Indian food that Tal introduced us to for a picnic overlooking Niagara Falls. The falls are incredible. It was delicious and unique food but I didn't get a picture because just as we got there Lyla got stung by a ferocious bee. Her first bee sting. Poor girl. She didn't say anything for a while then we noticed her holding her thumb with tears streaming down her cheeks. It wasn't until after we noticed that the whaling came. It swelled up pretty badly and she held her thumb for the rest of the day. Now any time she gets hurt she says,"the bee da get me." Breath taking view. Blasted bee. Sad little girl.

Another first is that McKay caught his first fish! We stayed with Adrian and Natalie and they took us to this beautiful fishing pond. or was it a lake. or a reservoir. Hmm? Whatever it was it was beauty. They caught the fish with stale cheese.

A definite highlight of the trip and a main reason for going was to see some church history sites. We are really going to miss being so close to Palmyra. We have gone up a few times and have had a unique and powerful experience every time. I am so grateful for the restoration and for living prophets.

"Loser"

2010-09-29T18:03:00.004-07:00

McKay usually conducts Family Home Evening every week and gets more creative at it as he goes. He assigned the song and prayer on Monday by using eenee-meenee-my-nee-moe and as we were singing he would orchestrate who was to come in and out of the song. He informed us before it started that he was in charge of the activity and that he was going to teach us how to become invisible. He was very animated about it all. Then the lesson came. Last week he told me that someone at school called him "a loser." It broke my heart. So Noah shaped the lesson around how to act in tough situations. He asked "McKay, what did your friend call you in class the other day?"

He slouched a little and squirmed in his spiderman chair and said, "Oh, she called me a loser."

I began to tear up.

Then Noah continued, "What did you say back to her?"

"Well, I said no I'm funny and then she said 'no you're a loser' then I said no I'm funny and she said 'no you're a loser' and i said no I'm funny and it went like that over and over and over again."

"Ok then what did you do?"

"Well, I just forgave her."

"That's very good McKay. Sometimes people say mean things because they need a friend. So you should be especially nice to those people."

" Yeah, I think she called me that because she thinks I lose things a lot!"

Noah wisely chose not to explain what she might have meant. McKay is an optimistic little boy and man we love that about him!

Yummm!

2010-09-28T17:39:00.005-07:00

I am so in love with this little boy. The other day, I had wheeled the stroller into the apartment and left him in there so that I could heed to the demands of his 2 hungry siblings and left him to watch. I almost forgot about him there in the hallway until I needed to grab something out of my diaper bag that was attached to the stroller. As I came toward him this is how he greeted me. So I pulled my phone out to take a picture but was nervous he wouldn't give me the same grin because that is what usually happens right. Well, he did.

While I was out the other day, Noah sent me a video of him holding his own bottle while he ate. I couldn't believe it. He is barely 5 months. So today I tested it out. Sure enough. Check him out! He held onto his bottle from start to finish. When the last drop was gone he rolled right over, let out a sweet whimper and then did what looked like a double take to be sure the bottle was empty. I guess he really likes his food!

I liked this picture too because it goes along nicely with this. Look at him eye that chicken.

There he grows again

2010-09-23T20:49:00.003-07:00

This is my dad! Yep that's him while we was in Iraq a few years ago "trying to blend in!" I never got to actually see him like this but the picture is priceless. He worked over there in the green zones of Baghdad and Basra for about 3 years trying to revamp their oil systems. I guess he couldn't get enough of it so last week he passed all his physicals and hopped on a plain through Frankfurt right back to Basra. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to grow out the beard again. In all seriousness though, I talked to him yesterday at the airport and trying to keep it light I asked if it felt a little like he was going back home. He said NO WAY! It's never fun to leave family or in my case see family go so far away. And it's not like he is leaving for the tropics or even Europe. He took an indefinite position in an unstable war zone of Iraq. AGAIN. What a deal. I guess it's a little better than it used to be, but still! He has such a great attitude about it. As good as you can have I guess. He used to have long layovers in Kuwait traveling to and from home so he would call us and say that he is just Ku-waiting for his flight. Now we are ku-waiting to hear how he is holding up. Oh man I love this man. Beard and all.

These people are the ones who are going to miss him the most. Including the 2 babies that weren't here for this photo. These are just the most recent pictures we have with everyone in the family together. But of course we will see him as he travels back and forth. We love this Dad and Grandpa. And we will call and write often! And get an updated family picture while he is home one of these times!

Girls trip NYC

2010-09-21T19:37:00.010-07:00

Last weekend I had a blast with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousins. They all flew in for a girls get away and man did we ever have fun together. It's hard to pack NYC into a few short days but we managed to see quite a bit. I absolutely loved going around enjoying the city with my family and introducing some of it to them. They are a fun fun fun group of girls. Here are some highlights.

By the end we had had a blast and were EXHAUSTED! Thanks goes to all of the husbands for taking care of the kids and making the effort to let this happen. (ps after pictures most everyone changed shirts from I love NY back to normal clothes. I love that Laurie and I are still representing in this picture. I wore that baby ALL day long!)

Mini mission reunion

2010-09-09T20:38:00.015-07:00

I was trying to remember what year we started getting together for these mini mission reunions and I think it's been 5 years. I can't remember if I was pregnant with McKay for the first one or if he was a baby but I think I remember being pregnant so there you have it. For the past 5 years we have absolutely loved getting together with some of Noah's companions and their amazing wives/girlfriend and his incredible mission president and mission mom and family. Noah's parents have been way too generous to let us take over Bear Lake every year and their home in Park City this year so that we can all lodge together. And man, we are sooo grateful to them because we have soooo much fun together. Everyone of these people is a tremendous inspiration to me. This is us on our date night with the adults and baby J.

We had a lot of fun on the alpine slides.

Todd's parents were kind enough to let us have spend a day at their place in Midway.

One morning all the boys went golfing so in return they took all the kids out for a few hours so that us girls could have an outing.

More alpine slide. It was too cluttered up there with the other one.

We mostly loved to sit and talk and talk and talk.

First Day of School

2010-09-08T18:16:00.006-07:00

You've got to love this shot. The great first day of school picture by the front door with the backpack on and lunch box. Here he is starting his first day of Kindergarten in NYC (followed by 2 days off for Rosh Hashanah). He was a little worried that his lunch box was the same color as his backpack. He thought it would be "hard to find it in there because it is camouflaged."

This was part of the send off crew. We had Grammie and Grandfather here too but they are behind the camera. Why didn't we get them in there?

Ahh. There is one with Noah's dad giving McKay some last words of advice.

We made a brief stop on the way because I didn't have an apple to put into his lunch last night. Man I'm going to miss those food stands that dot the city. It's sooo nice to grab a banana (or apple) for the kids where ever we are. And good thing we took this because this is one of the only ones we got of Noah's mom!

It was so nice because the school let the parents follow their kids in and go to the classroom to get settled. We got to stay and observe for about an hour. I absolutely loved every minute of it. Thanks to Noah's parents for taking Lyla and the baby so that we could watch uninterrupted!

The size of the backpacks on these little kids is so cute. It nearly covers his whole body.

This kid raised his hand every time the teacher asked a question. Whether or not he knew the answer he had his hand in the air waiting to respond! He had some really sweet responses too. What a day. What a kid.

MFME 2010

2010-09-04T19:40:00.005-07:00

MFME stands for Mothers and Future Mothers of Eyrealm. I have to admit that when I first married Noah I thought his family was a little over the top. They were the "cheesiest" family I had ever met. They have a "thing" for everything. Like MFME. And Eyrealm. And don't even get me started. I didn't quite know how to take it at first but man, I am so grateful for all the cheese. It's real cheese. It's imperfect cheese. But it's like a cheese that tries very hard in every way to do good and ends up GREAT for for each effort. Every year we get together in a different place and have a blast while we have ongoing discussions about everything. From books to goals to food to hardships to triumphs onto art and mothering and the gospel and anything we can think of. I have an absolute blast with them and have grown to really love each one of these amazing women individually. They add so much to my life. Here we are this year in Park City. We rode the alpine slides, walked along main street into some amazing galleries, ate yummy food, went on a hike, made it to Tony Burgers with the Carvers and uplifted each other. Thanks goes to Linda for planning and making it happen every year!

Eyre Reunion and Bear Lake

2010-09-03T11:00:00.009-07:00

I have got so many pictures from Bear Lake this summer.If I want to get caught up to date, so that I can post one of those really cute pictures of the first day of school with the backpack and lunch box, then I need to post what I have here and come back to finish. We love Bear Lake and we especially love all the people we see when we are there. It's quite a group!

Saydi and Jeff were in charge of planning this year and did a fabulous job. This is the schedule Charity posted so we would know what was coming next and where we were supposed to be. If i was organized and had more time I'd post the pictures in order of the schedule. For now I just slapped some pictures up and may come back to add some rhyme and reason.

The chore chart was for the kids to earn a sleep over under the stars on the tennis court. McKay was in group 4. They did pretty well considering they were the youngest group but group 3 beat them out. I must say this was a great idea and was very effective.

Lyla absolutely loved the big mama (or the GT3 or big daddy. It has many names). She is defiantly our dare devil so far.

This was where the kids ate and did their crafts.

McKay couldn't get enough of his cousins this year. Actually he went by Luigi and this is Mario (Camden). Any family resemblance here? Hmm!
This is most of group 4- minus cute Charlie. They are a great group.

We had some creative races that kept us laughing so hard. I have got to post of one of Noah and his brothers. Their expressions are to die for.

This was the dress up in baggy clothes-spin yourself dizzy relay.

On their way up for an afternoon nap.

Just a cute picture of Grandfather about to dive into the best burger ever. Jonah's burgers will make your mouth water.

Aunt Julie on some down time with the kids.

She still eats (and drinks!) everything. Hope it tastes good!

Linda and Rick brought back a bunch of dress ups for the girls from India.

Love these guys.

Eli had a birthday while we were there. Check out those candles.

These are from Jacobson's blessing day.

Grandfather caught a rattle snake that was about 5 feet from Tal and Anita. He dissected it with the grandkids and used it to educate them. Gross! The kids didn't seem to think so but gross!

There was a lot of cookie making going on over there. I mean a lot!

Grace was quite the artist this year.

And I just love this picture. Charity and Josh are sooo good with the kids. How is it that kids can go on and on and on and on and on?

2 years

2010-09-01T19:24:00.007-07:00

It amazes me what can happen in just one short year. Day one.

Year one.

Year two.

Lyla turned 2! We were with Noah's parents and were lucky enough to have my sister and her family join us for a celebration and some cupcakes.

I love this little girl so much. Her personality is coming out more and more everyday. How can you capture it and bottle up everything she does so I that I can always remember? I feel very blessed to have this angel.

Part II

2010-08-31T19:30:00.008-07:00

Yes this is my adorably stylish husband. I had to share this picture to show one of the things I absolutely love about Noah. We are in the gardens at the Palace of Versailles right next to one of the fashion capitals of the world and this is what he is waring. Yep. That's my man.

Too bad I didn't get a picture with this ensemble while he was wearing the purple floral hooter hider around his neck trying to shade the baby. Which he did several times!
Versailles was incredible. I could spend hours and hours in those gardens.

And on to Roland Garros.

We not only got into to the (sold out) French Open without tickets but we somehow found ourselves in the player's lounge with the players and their family and friends. After asking hundreds of people for extra tickets (lowest price we could find being 200 euros), Talmadge got in through the VIP entrance by making a friend in there. Later Noah walked right in with the baby strapped on through that same entrance packed with guards and no one gave them a second look. Anita and I just stood there, outside the gates, with our mouths and eyes wide open. There was no way we were going to follow them in there. A. because we of course would get stopped. and B. because we are too chicken. Tal told us to "talk to my friend Sedrick" over in VIP land and he would let us in. We just laughed at that. Good luck getting through door number 1 with 6 guards before we can even think about looking for "your friend Sedrick." So instead while they were in there they managed to get 2 unused tickets for Anita and me given to them (one being the family and friends pass). I seriously don't know how they do it. But fun was had by all.

Paris part 1

2010-08-18T18:45:00.018-07:00

Back to the vacation bliss. This trip was a little while ago but I still need to document. We tried to make it work to meet up with Tal and Anita in India but with a baby on the way we didn't want to mess with vaccines and such. They mentioned they wanted to make it to the French Open and a light bulb went on in our heads. We decided that would be a perfect place to meet up with them. We booked our tickets almost immediately and sent them the itinerary. (Side note- Now that we know we are leaving the city we are trying hard to chip away at our never ending bucket list. A final Europe trip from NY was one of them so we packed in a super quick 4 day trip to Paris. With 3 week old baby in tow!) It was an exhausting blissful blast. Traveling with those two is an experience! If you haven't traveled with them you should.

We strolled along through an open market and picked up some food for a picnic on the lawn by the Eiffel Tower.

Hiked up to Sacre Coeur and saw a beautiful view of the city. Then grabbed some amazing crepes nearby.

Notre Dame. Stunning!

The Louvre. WOW!

Mona.

The crowd snapping a shot of Mona.

Aphrodite. Absolutely beautful.

This little angel was a champ.