Our walk turned into another beach episode...

The kids were digging for sand crabs. I remember doing that on this same beach with my grandparents.
I should have gotten an "after" picture of them soaking wet!

Albert was over at Dong's house watching BYU football with the boys, Jacen had just returned from a camping trip and was completely ZONKED out asleep (he woke up that evening and asked, "What day is it?" <: ) so Gavin and Linnea and I were hanging out in the house until we had run out of things to do and needed to get out and get some fresh air. So we decided to go for a nice, little walk. Linnea, in her foresight (what would I do without her?) packed a lunch for us of almonds, water bottles, and apples and we set off. We walked over toward the coastline and somehow ended up at the beach. "Okay kids... we will walk along the sand but let's not get into the water, okay?" So we did. Then... "Okay kids, let's just put our feet in the water. Oh, that feels nice and cool." The kids loved looking for jelly fish and watching the dogs retrieve and watching the surfers catching waves. Then... "Okay, you can go in up to your knees, but that is it!" Pretty soon Gavin was in completely wet in his clothes and soon after Linnea was completely wet too, hair and all. I sat and watched them play for quite a while, actually until the sun started to set. It was so nice to watch them play together--they really play well together. Thank goodness for brothers and sisters! Finally I made them come out of the water and they ate some of Linnea's snack food, shivering all the while. I decided to call Albert (who was home by then) to come and pick us up so that the kids wouldn't have to shiver walking home. We had fun but is it just me that is the mother of all push-overs? We never seem to be able to just walk along the beach. The water is way too inviting. I love it though.

Tea, anyone?

Linnea and her friend that lives across the street had such a sweet tea party--I had to take a picture. All their dolls and animals were lined up around the blanket and tasted real tea with cream and sugar and everything. It's so much fun to be a little girl. Linnea has the American Girl, Felicity, from the time period of about 1774, right before the Revolutionary War. Linnea has read all of the books and has learned so much about that time. A couple of times in class, her teachers have been quite impressed with her knowledge of loyalists and patriots and knowing about the Boston Tea Party. I remember also loving the American Girl books. I feel like I am re-living my childhood through her and the American Girl books and dolls. It's so much fun.

Look what Gavin can do.....

Gavin is a two-wheelin' biker boy! He is having a blast too!! We bought him his new, cool Thomas the Train bike and put it together. We didn't want to put on the training wheels because we thought it would only take a couple of days for him to learn two wheels. I gave him one push and he was OFF! He is now riding with us every morning to take Linnea to school and back again to ride and pick her up. We are going on one to two hour bike rides every day and he is doing great! And if you are familiar with PG, we do have some hills. We have some nice pretty flat streets that we ride and when we ride the hills, he does great at that and is building his little muscles up nicely. We are so excited for Gavin.




These pictures are from yesterday. We rode bikes down to the grocery market and hardware store and passed this cute little wishing well on the way by city hall and stopped to make a wish and take a few pictures.

Farewell 'Till Next Time...

We had so much fun this weekend with a last minute visit from Grama and Grampa Sirman and Jennifer and her three children and spending time with Tera and Jared and their family as well. We walked and rode bikes along the beach, played on the beach, boogie boarded, played at the park, had a great bonfire--cooking hot dogs and smores, and just had a blast. We love our family and love to get together. It's so fun to see the cousins have so much fun together. All the little things mean so much. Albert melts every time Haley comes up to give him a big hug. Linnea was so happy that Sydney taught her a new song on the piano. Jacen enjoys being idolized by the younger children. Linnea likes playing the "big sister" role with sydney and helping Will with something he is doing. We are so grateful for our family.

Fashion Girls

Linnea's cousin, Sydney, spent a couple of nights with us visiting from southern California. We had so much fun with Sydney--she's such a special girl. The girls had a blast playing fashion show while I clicked away with the camera. Unfortunately most of my pictures are blurry. I think my camera is about to the end of its rope, sadly. But two pictures turned out and captured the excitement of the evening. I'm so glad that my kids can have cousins to play with and have so much fun with!

We love our new house!!

We are settling nicely and I'm not quite so exhausted. We absolutely love our new house. Gavin keeps telling me, "Mom, I like my new house..... I love our new house... I like our new house..." All of the children like it and I'm so glad that they appreciate something like that. It is such a cute house with beautiful hardwood floors and lots of windows and a laundry room!! (Yay! Only a mother gets so excited about something like an indoor laundry room...now if we can just get a washer and dryer to put in it... <: ) We love quaint and quiet Pacific Grove and are walking distance to everything here (grocery store, beach, schools, etc). We were welcomed by our neighbors who have a little girl that Linnea has had several play dates with. We are just so excited.

Our Moving Adventure

This is our ninth move in the nine years we have been married! Hopefully we can stay put now for a while. Moving is so horrible. These pictures are at our old house preparing to move. We are now in our new house with boxes everywhere, trying to get unpacked. Those pics are to come!

First Day of School (twice???)

Jacen and Linnea (with Gavin peeking in) on their first day of school! August 13, 2008 Two first days of school you ask?? Yes. We are up to it once again! Moving again.... Many have teased us that we have stock in U Haul or maybe just simply love the thrill of moving? No and no again. I despise moving. It just seems to happen to us. However, this move is just local (thank goodness!) and we are very excited about it. We will move into a bigger house with indoor laundry!!! and back into Pacific Grove (where we love). The kids needed to switch back to their schools there which start a week and a half later than here. So they went to the first day of school here .... which also became their last day of school here ... then a little over a week later they started again. They are very happy about the move though. Happy about own rooms, more space, a second bathroom, old friends and PG. Speaking of which, I am busy packing away this whole week and better get back to my packing! Fun, fun! (One of these times I am going to hire a moving/packing company! But until then, we are so grateful for such a great ward!)

Gavin on his first day back to Preschool. Yay!!
Jacen and Linnea on their first day of school!! August 4, 2008

Linnea's Baptism Day

We were so happy to share in Linnea's special baptism day. It was such a nice day and nice baptism and we had so many wonderful family and friends to enjoy it with. Linnea loved it that so many people could be there to support her. She is such a good and sweet girl and always desiring to do right. We're so proud of her decision to be baptized and "stand as a witness of God" as a member of His church. Our membership in His church is so precious and important to us. It was a wonderful day.



Linnea and her cousins at her baptism.
Linnea and her father before the baptism.

Linnea wore the baptism dress that I was baptized in 21 years ago, that my grandmother had made for me. It made the day even more special. Afterward we had pictures taken of our family and our whole extended family that was here. We really needed both! (I will post them when I get them on my computer!) Then we watched the video tape of my baptism. Back then, we could videotape these things. It was so fun to watch and remember my day so long ago and Linnea loved seeing me as an 8 year old. All the cousins and spouses of my brothers and sister LOVED seeing all of us 21 years younger. It was pretty funny at times and cute. I hope that Linnea will have great memories of her baptism day to share with her daughter someday. Maybe the dress will even make it through another generation or two! I love you, Linnea!!

Sword Fun

My brother is a collector and a connoisseur of real swords. The kids think it is so cool--especially Jacen. Jacen saved up his money and bought a hand made high quality ranger cloak to wear as well. Thanks, Chris, for sharing!