We Love San Francisco

On Monday we spent the day in SF. It had been a really long time since we had been so everything we did seemed fresh and new to the kids- especially Emma who was wide eyed and amazed at all of the tall buildings and interesting sights. We began our day by watching the sea lions play at Pier 39, watched street performers around Fisherman's Wharf, and then drove to Union Square to have lunch/dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on top of the Macy's building. After that we took a Cable Car down to Ghiradelli's Square to have famous hot fudge sundaes.

Can you see Mark and Abbie in this picture??

This year Easter snuck up on me and with everything else going on I never took the time to find cute coordinating outfits for my kids to wear to church. It has never been a big priority for me anyway to have my kids dressed alike, although I think it's cute, but if I happen to find something I think it's great. This year it wasn't until the last minute that I gave it any thought so I totally lucked out Sunday morning when I pulled out these outfits for the girls from last year and, of course, not being pink, they worked out great with the baby's blue.

History Repeats Itself...AGAIN

One of my earliest childhood memories came to mind on the morning of St. Patty's Day when I was WRONGFULLY pinched by my green-clad kiddos. It was St. Patrick's Day at Children's Choice Preschool in San Juan Capistrano and I was four years old. All of the kids were wearing green but me. Because of that, I was the one and only target for pinchers and I had had ENOUGH. I really did have green on--only no one could see it. Underneath my outfit I was wearing underwear covered with little pink roses--WITH GREEN STEMS. I confronted my teacher, Mrs. Young and told her about my problem that no one believed that I was wearing green. The wise woman cut out a piece of green construction paper and pinned it on my shirt. Problem solved.

But why did I remember this experience thirty one years later? Because after I had been the target of my girls pinching all morning and they had gone off to school, I realized that I was in fact wearing green, this time on my feet. My running shoes have bold green swooshes. Figures.

A Bugs Life...

This Thursday night our skin was crawling as the third grade classes at Abbie's elementary school performed their sixth annual performance of Going Buggy, a musical presentatation depicting the daily struggles and aspirations of bugs. Abbie was selected to be one of the six singing ladybugs and she inspired us with her show stopping performance. I know that I will think twice before I trap a lady bug in a jar again!

The third great did a great job. Their costumes and sets were adorable--we loved how the black lights made them glow in the dark, their singing was wonderful (great job Abs) and the dancing was fantastic. The play is a great Rock Creek tradition and we are so glad that the school and teachers are willing to devote so much time and effort to make it a sucess!

If you wish that you could have been a fly on the wall but had to miss it, check out this short video clip!

The Bed Fairy...

This might just look like a made bed to you, but to me, it is much more. On Saturday morning Emma tracked me down in the house and had a BIG SMILE on her face. She had not only made her bed, but also made our bed too!! No small task for a 4 1/2 year old. She's a sweetie. Thanks Emma!!!!

What a Guy!!

This little guy's face says it all. Matthew is just a doll and I couldn't resist posting this recent photo of him. At five months, he is rolling, smiling, laughing and winning our hearts all over again every day.

Dripping with Love

Nothing says "I love you" to my kids more than unlimited chocolate fondue, I discovered. On the night of February 14th we geared up for the sugar rush of the century and loaded our plates up with more treats than my kids have ever seen on one plate at one time. We had two types of chocolate fondue and dippers such as cream puffs, cheese cake, marshmallows, pretzels, bananas, strawberries, raspberries and donuts.

The feast started out normally enough, but it didn't take long for the sugar to kick in. It was a riot to see the chocolate stream down our girls faces and watch their eyes roll to the backs of their heads as they laughed and laughed and laughed. Definitely and new Valentines traditions.

I was reading my sister Debbie's blog this afternoon and came across a journal entry sent to her by our brother-in-law Allen. It was from Reed and Kathy Fischer from San Diego.

I thought that it was just wonderful on many levels. First, seeing a Presidential candidate hard at work when no one was watching, but out there helping just because he is a good person. Second, I just love the faith and zeal of LDS missionaries . And lastly, it was a great story on how the Lord rewards our efforts as we try to help one another.

Go to my sister's blog to get the whole story. http://web.mac.com/debstapley

We discovered a fantastic game last night. It's called Quelf. The game begins like any other game as you try to move your game pieces around a board. As the game develops, you roll the die, then choose a card depending on where you landed on the game board. The questions, or actions, or poems, etc get kind of crazy and have a little bit of a "Curses" feel (so they say). You may be asked to answer a simple question, but you are more likely to be asked to video tape an opponent as he answers a question with an invisible video camera while doing a play by play, or standing in the form of an "X" until your next turn. You might be told to say, "I command you to be silent" any time someone laughs, or play leapfrog with an opponent. Last night Mark and I had to mumble the words to our favorite Christmas carol in a sad way as we stared at our game piece with out laughing. If we failed (which we didn't) we would have had to go back two spaces. But that wouldn't have been too bad because our friend Tyler would have had to pretend to be a bubbling, flushing toilet as we did it. As the game came to an end, it became totally random and hilarious. There were land mines blowing up, original poems being read, and rap songs (I think that's what he was going for) being sung all at the same time until the game finally ended when the "Biscuit Farmer" (that was our game piece) finally made it to the end.

We'd definitely recommend this game. It was so fun and great for families, parties or what ever. If you'd like to take a peak at the action, watch this short video clip.

Movie coming... In the mean time here are some photos.

Farwell 2007! This year we stumbled upon a new tradition--tree burning and crab feasting. To celebrate the end of another wonderful year, the family got together at Doheny State Beach. We brought king crab legs and lots of other yummy food to share. Before the sun went down we steamed our crabs over open flame and spread out everything else for a feast that couldn't be matched in any other setting.

And what about the tree burning??? Well, let's just say that Cathy and Allen don't need to track down the Boy Scouts or the Fire Department to haul their Christmas tree away this year--again!!

To watch the beach light up check out the video on my sister's website.

http://jakeandsarah.blogspot.com/

The girls went to bed on Christmas Eve after having written Santa two very compementary notes. Neither one reminded Santa of what she wanted, but only expressed to him their admiration and "belief" in him. Both were rewarded the next morning with exactly what they had hoped for. Good job Santa!

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Merry Christmas!!
We had a wonderful time visiting Grandma Sedgwick and the rest of the family over the Christmas break. Christmas Eve was a highlight. All 35 of us gathered at Grandma's house to put Higene kits and school bags together for people in need. It's easy to recognize just how very blessed we are when we assembled the very basic necessities for others.
Here is grandma with 16 of her 24 grandkids. Another was born 4 days later! In case you can't tell which one grandma is, she's the silver haired fox in the center. Though we did the humanitarian project rather than buying gifts for each other, grandma still had something spcial for everyone. Thanks grandma!!
After we had finished up at Grandma's house, we went down the hill to Debbie's where we enjoyed and awesome Mexican fesat of tamales, enchiladas, beans, rice, fresh fruit and yummy desserts. A "cousin's concert" followed dinner. We were entertained with everything from piano performance and singing to telling jokes and displaying art. GO COUSINS!!
Matthew's contribution was to be good and look adorable.

We love where we love, and at Christmas time we love it even more! Every year in December Santa Clause rides down our street on the top of a fire truck to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. He usually comes just about the time we have the kids settled down for the night. All is quiet and then we hear the fire truck siren and "Santa Clause is coming to town" blaring over the loud speaker. That is our warning and within seconds we frantically get them out of bed (actually one year Abbie was in the bathtub and had shampoo in her hair), throw shoes and coats on them and wait for Santa and his elfs. As we wait it's fun to watch neighbors pour out their front doors with their kids thrown over their shoulders too. Tonight Abbie and Emma were reading in bed and I was down stairs with the baby when the infamous siren sounded . They came running down the stairs as I was calling out, "He's here! He's here! Find shoes, get a jacket, He's here!!!!" We got outside just in time to wave hello to Santa and get a few candy canes from his elfs. What a rush!!

Every year we invite our neighbors over to decorate gingerbread houses at Christmastime. The past few years I cheated by using graham crackers to construct the houses instead of making gingerbread. But this year, that all changed, and I actually made all of the houses from scratch. We had a great time decorating, eating and visiting.

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Our little Matthew is so much fun. At 2 1/2 months old, he smiles at us and shys away all of the time. He still sleeps alot during the day, but not as much now. He has grown out of his size one diapers as well as his 0-3 month old clothing. Time flies, before we know it he'll be running all over the place. But for now, we are just happy to have him small and cuddly as ever.

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The family was so excited to ride the Polar Express! We were ready and in the cars with time to spare. We arrived at Vivian Park Depot to catch the train only to find out that we were given the wrong instructions. The train departed from the Heber depot--in 15 minutes!!! We were so worried that we would miss our train!! We sped up Provo Canyon as fast as we could, not knowing exactly where to go, but with a few prayers sent upward and Mark's pedal to the metal we made the train--barely!!

Emma had a great time riding the polar express, but being the observant 4 year old that she is, she was perplexed over the fact that there was NO SNOW at the North Pole. When we arrived at the "North Pole" which was represented by christmas lights fashioned to look like they were covering a toymaking village, she noticed the abundance of tumble weeds and clear lack of snow. You can't pull the wool over her eyes!

Watching the Polar Express movie is one thing, but actually living it is another. One evening while in Utah we got on board the Heber Valley Railroad which was decked out as the Polar Express. The train station and train were very festive. On board the train we were served hot cocoa and cookies, sang christmas songs, read the Polar Express book, got a look at the toy workshop at the northpole and had a visit from santa himself!

After just one day at gradma Rowen's house the kids woke up (abbie and cousin's Maddy and Ethan) with red, swollen shut eyes ,clear blisters and red splotches all over their faces. Our first thought was,"oh no, poison oak!!" but then we learned that they had found milk weed and were rubbing the milky liquid from inside of it all over their skin as a lotion. Emma, not pictured, was the only one wise enough not to rub it all over her face. Silly kiddos!!

Our little boy is growing up!