More Photos

Bath time. Like alot of babies, Luke loves the warm water at bath time. He is so content to sit in his tub and feel the water. Really, who doesn't love a good bath? A friend gave Luke this adorable sock monkey hat. He wears it all the time when/if we go out in the cold. Can you read Luke's mind here? I can. He is thinking that he's pretty lucky to have such great siblings. This picture is just too sweet not to include.

These are for you, Grandma and Grandpa. Looking at the photos, I realize how much he has already changed in these first short weeks. His bum, legs and cheeks are so much more squeezy, he his strong and now able to stand with help. He is alert, melting the heart of anyone who catches his gaze and earns a smile. Luke equals pure joy in our home. We are all in love and can't imagine our family without him.

It's a BOY!!

Introducing Luke Kingsley Rowen

Born 28 October at 2:24 am

21 inches, 7 lbs, 12 oz

Our Favorite Boy Turns Four...

...and it's time for a party! A PIRATE party, that is. Matthew was joined by Pirate Captain Daddy-O and a few of his matties for a backyard pirate adventure. They played "captain says", found hidden treasure, played on our "pirate ship" and said, "argh!!!" more often than most would think necessary. Very fun day!!

Matthew couldn't wait to get his "hook" into this treasure cake.

Walking the plank in search of treasure.

Matthew and the rest of the pirate crew. Yo Ho!!

Baptism Day

We shared such a nice day with Emma last weekend. Her baptism was last Saturday. I loved to see how excited she was to be baptized, and how well she understood the whole experience. The service was very nice. She was baptized with three other girls from the stake and all of our families were able to participate in the program. Aunts Monica and Debbie said prayers, cousin Rebecca led the music and uncles Don and Allen, and Mark and Steve (cousin in laws) stood in during the confimation along with our home teacher, Randy Lang, our Bishop Brian Rhodes and a few friends. Emma was eager to get baptized and felt lucky to be first. When I took her to the font to meet Mark she was so happy. After her baptism she beamed and said that she wished she could be baptized over and over again. She felt the Holy Ghost tell her that her choice was correct and that made her very happy. All evening she smiled. After the meeting was over our family who attended the baptism came over for a BBQ. Emma felt so much support--imagine being surrounded by thirty family members on such an important day! It was great to be able to relax and enjoy the family after such a busy day. After everyone left, Emma wanted to get down to business and record her feelings in her journal. It was a sweet experience to hear all that she remembered and felt. What a wonderful day!

It's Now Officially OVER

Whew... our summer sure went by fast around here. I had to laugh that my last post was on the first day of summer, because sadly (for Emma at least, Abbie has two more weeks) summer has come to an end. We have teacher assignments for the new year and everything. Monday morning marks the beginning of school, soccer, violin, piano, tennis, art, activity days, mutual, etc., etc. . Not to mention a new baby being thrown into the mix. But, I digress. Let's talk summer one last time.

Mostly our summer days were spent here at home. We went to the beach alot, we swam alot, saw some movies, Abbie went to Girl's Camp, we all went to Cousin's Camp, continued with some lessons and had swim team practice, and also went to the fair, etc., -- all without my camera. So, needless to say our summer won't be well documented. I did, however, take pictures of the girls birthday's and a trip to the strawberry fields. So here goes...

Here's the handsome man that I married 13 years ago in July. In this picture he is in the backyard setting up for Abbie's 12th B-day party. Our anniversary was on the 16th. We went to Coronado and had a great dinner, spent the night, window shopped, etc. It was the best 24 hours of my summer.

Abbie had a great birthday party this year. They had a BBQ, played fun games and watched a movie on this giant screen once it got dark.



Nothing says happy birthday like our traditional ice cream cake--I mean nothing.

The party girls.

The girls played "Bigger or Better" after dinner. Each team started off with a plastic fork, and at game's end one team was carrying a dog crate back to our house and another team had a hamster!


Birthday squeeze for the birthday girl. Don't mind the paint swatches all over the walls. Mark is painting this very minute!

The kids are always really excited for breakfast in bed. Abbie choose home made hashbrowns, blueberry muffins, sausage, and strawberries and whipped cream.

Emma turned eight!

At her party we decided to tie dye t-shirts for one of the activities. The girls did a great job and made some really cute shirts.

Pass the parcel...

A little excited about opening her presents this morning.

Fresh squeeze OJ from our trees toppped off Emma's breakfst of sticky buns, hashbrowns, sausage, and fruit.

The kids like to pick their own strawberries every year. This time we were a little late in the season and the berries weren't at their peak. But you can't deny that anything off of the vine is better than the store. We still loved them.

They paid the price for these fresh berries with some very muddy feet.

It's Officially Summer

It's Monday morning and I haven't seen or heard from my kids for over an hour. My guess is that they are running up and down our street, playing with other kids who are as excited as they are that summer has officially started. I can say with certainty that two of my kids are dressed for the day **thank goodness**. I can say with just as much certainty that my youngest is running amuck in his green Santa Claus PJ's. But I guess I am OK with that too. After all, I am still in my PJ's as well. I get it. And though I am not running amuck in the neighborhood (yet) I am wandering around our home from mess to mess, eating a piece of toast, and wondering if I should even bother getting dressed for the day. After all, swimming lessons are in just a couple of hours and then we will be at the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Really, why bother, right??

I think I am going to enjoy this summer.

Grandma's Send-off Party

Grandma Sedgwick is a missionary!!! These pictures are now a couple weeks over due, and my mom has been to the MTC and is now enroute to Texas. We are so excited for her and have already enjoyed hearing about her adventures.
We had a fun send off party for her before she left for the MTC. Texas BBQ for dinner, western wear, big hair, photo opts., cherry spitting seed contests and a little send off program to remind mom how much we love and admire her. It was a perfect night. Look at all of these grandkids who will be praying for Grandma!

Women's cherry pit spitting contest.

Matthew and Stella preparing for the burping contest. What does that have to do with Texas, you ask?

The guys putting their cherry pit spitting skills to the test.

Cowboy boots were a MUST last night.

My two handsome boys.

Don looking good in his hat.

Mom with her kids, just missing Sarah.

I was going for big hair, though I don't think you can tell.

Our host. "Hi, y'alls!

Easter Traditions and Surprises

Easter is one of the best times of year in our house. Over the past few years we have done several things during the week before Easter to honor the life of Jesus Christ and to make His atonement and resurrection more meaningful for our kids. Some of our traditions include reading the New Testiment and having an "Old Jerusalem" style feast where we eat from a low table using no utensils. This year the menu included Challah bread, rotisserie chicken, lentil soup (not a big hit), nuts, dried fruit, melon and cucumbers. Of course, it's all done by candle light. This year I tried using oil lamps from Jerusalem to light our meal. It looked pretty cool until one of the lamps caught on fire. On Easter morning among the usual surprises waiting for the kids was this nest and little sign sitting on our kitchen table...

"Time to make a little more room in the nest. We'll soon have a new chick hatching in our family. We're having a baby!"

I have never seen two girls become so excited, and we have had nothing but baby talk since Sunday morning. The girls have rearranged everyone's sleeping arrangements and have just about chosen a name for their future sibling. Now, if they could only convince Mark that we need to find out the sex of the baby--these girls have plans to make. Matthew has finally gotten into it as well and has now offered to teach the baby his ninja moves. He has also insisted on feeding the baby oreos (via mom, of course). Thoughtful lad.

This was definitely an Easter to remember. Only time will tell whether the tradition or the surprise was the most memorable. Probably the surprise.

Spring Break

I've been blogging long enough to know that I have to post my photos before my text, but I forgot this time. Therefore, you can see the pictures and THEN read about what we did... Oh, dear. Abbie cooling off a the falls.

Soaking our feet at Palm Canyon. We loved it here.

Poolside with the kids.

Daddy and kiddos enjoying the fountain and waiting for the candy shop to open.

The rotating arial tram was NEAT!

Snow in April...in Palm Springs??

Someone is excited!!

It's Thursday afternoon (does 5:54 still count as afternoon?) and the forth official day of spring break. I am sitting at the computer sifting through pictures from our recent Palm Springs get-away as my three kids are in the backyard filling up water bombs and exploding them all over the yard and each other, while the winds blow and temperature continues to drop. It's been cold here. Since we've been home, we've had rain both days and it's really too cold to do anything other than go to the movies (Diary of a Whimpy Kid II).

Ahh, but that's alright. It's just nice to have a break from the normal school routine, and if we have to leave town to enjoy a little bit of sun, so be it. We are heading to Tucson in a couple of days to stay at our favorite place, and we'll get more than enough sunshine there to last us until the sun finally decides to shine in sunny San Diego...

The kiddos are still outside, and I haven't heard any tears yet, so I've got time to post a few pictures of Palm Springs. First off, I've never been there before. Weird. It's only a two hour drive from where we live, and the same distance from where I grew up, but I guess it took wanting to get away with a husband and three kids to get me there. I liked it. The temperature was really nice, we liked our hotel and pool, and found a lot of great outdoor activities. One of the highlights for all of us was hiking thru Indian Canyon. Who would have expected a gushing waterfall, a small river (or rushing stream) and a forest of palm trees all with in a short walk. The next day we took a 2.5 mile revolving tram ride up to the top of the San Jacinto Mts. and discovered SNOW at the top and beauitful views of the dessert.

All in all, we loved the time together and enjoyed being in a new town and environment.

OK, I just heard someone yell, "shakin' bacon!!!" and turned to see the kids IN THE HOUSE with the water balloons exploding on the wood floors. Busted. No more blogging for today...