October/November

 Linnea has been busily working on her personal progress. Here she had me teach her to make lasagna. Then we invited Grama and Grampa over to eat it with us. I have such a testimony of personal progress! It's such a great program, helping girls to become the young women God intends them to be. I am working alongside Linnea and I love it.

Micah was a ninja for Halloween. Yay--he gets to wear Gavin's old costumes! My Mom threw a cute Halloween party for lots of the grandchildren.

Below is Micah's jack-o-lantern that he carved all by himself. Seriously, I was inside the house the whole time making dinner. I think he did a great job!

For Veteran's Day, Fresno had a huge, great parade. The band is always my favorite part.

I guess the flags make it festive but really, how much talent does it require to twirl a flag compared with playing a musical instrument?

My birthday came rolling along in November. I went to the temple with my Dad and Micah hung out with my Mom doing birthday party preparations. He said that I needed a new doormat. He picked out this one. Cute, huh.

I also got pine nuts. I love pine nuts, really. Albert got me some cute new dishes from my favorite store, Anthropologie. Tera gave me a beautiful vase from the same store.

My Dad's birthday is right after mine. Tera came over and brought this yummy cake from Layers that was seriously so good. We had a party at my house. Chris and his family was there and Erica, my niece and her girls.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at Albert's parents house. I don't have any pictures, unfortunately. The next day we decorated gingerbread houses. I have such great memories of doing this as a child with my best friend. I used to make all the gingerbread from scratch and it would take me all day when Jacen and Linnea were little but now I just buy the kits. My favorite is the one from Trader Joes from Germany (Micah's). I love how each of the kids decorated according to their personality. If I hadn't seen them decorating and then had to guess who's was who's, I totally would have known. I am missing a picture of Linnea's.  It totally looks like what she was do...very neat and orderly and color coordinating with patterns all over. (:

Gavin was spending the day with my mom (its nice living near them!) and he called me up and asked if he could bring home a leopard gecko. He'd been asking me for a while to let him have one. (I wanted a bearded dragon.) I somewhat reluctantly agreed. He is pretty cool. I haven't held him yet. I think the bearded dragons are less scary looking. Anyway, I like him. His name is Spiker. He is still alive. Oh, and I didn't realize I would have to also keep crickets alive. I HATE crickets. I have not been as successful at keeping them alive, although I have tried. I let Gavin deal with the feeding. The fun things about having boys! (:

Remember that time when....

Remember that time when we drove for a long time and then set up camp in the dark?

Remember that time when the dog paced the tent so much and kept us up most of the night?

Remember that time when the dog chewed up Linnea's only pair of shoes she took camping?

Remember that time when the dog peed on Linnea's sleeping bag while she was sleeping in it?

Remember that time when we drove more hours then we were actually awake?

Remember that time when it was time to go and we couldn't find our nine year old and four year old?

Remember that time when we ran up and down the beach and all the trails for an hour looking for them?

Remember that time when we called the police because we couldn't find them?

Remember that time when they were just in a bunch of trees nearby?

Remember that time when Albert drove like a madman to get home to get Gavin to his soccer game on time?

....Not the best camping trip ever.

But the campground was actually nice for the little daylight that I saw it (mostly running around imaging my kids being kidnapped and taken to Mexico though). Maybe I'll go back to Pismo campground again someday but only if we can stay long enough to warrant the long-ish drive. We went in hopes to get to know my new sister-in-law better. I think I was able to say one or two sentences to her. ): Note to self: find a dog-sitter and don't plan any trip during soccer season.

Soccer and Volleyball

 This picture was taken at Gavin's last soccer game. He has played three so far and has seven goals. Soccer here is a bit more competitive than PG but its great for Gavin. I'm excited to watch his whole season! It's fun being the mom of the soccer star. (: He is awesome because of his abilities but his sportsmanship and attitude is just as awesome. Often the other team realize he is one to be reckoned with and start pushing him around and playing rough. He holds his own but doesn't give them attitude back. I'm proud of him.

Last night we went to watch BYU Hawaii and Fresno Pacific University play volleyball. The Saulala family was there--some old friends of ours from Monterey. I remember their daughter, Fa, as a seven year old and now she's playing volleyball for Hawaii. It was so much fun to see them and cheer on BYU with the other Polynesians. Polynesians know how to have fun! BYU won and it was a great game.

Youth Pioneer Trek

I'm so glad that Jacen and Linnea had the opportunity to go on a Youth Pioneer Trek! This stake is the best as far as youth activities goes! Linnea and my mom made a cute Pioneer skirt and bonnet that she wore (I wish I had a picture!) and each youth did the trek in honor of a family member ancestor that was a pioneer in some way. Linnea did it in honor of my great-grandma Wagner. Jacen did it in honor of Butch Cassidy.... I know...

 Here is cute Linnea riding in the handcart. When I saw this picture I asked her why she was riding instead of walking?? Poor Pierce is having to carry them all! She said it was just at the very end when it was over. They did walk the trek!

 Jacen is so hard to get pictures of. Here is in the back of this one, not looking, but oh well. You can see that he's there. (:

Happy Birthday Albert!

Albert had a birthday recently. I think Micah was more excited about it than he was. Micah helped me all day get ready to have a little party for him. We only could have a small family party because on his birthday he went straight from work to coach Gavin's soccer team and didn't get home until after 7 p.m. My Dad was teaching that night out of town so we will have a bigger party with the extended family nearby this weekend. But, Micah helped me make cupcakes and decorate the house. He helped me wrap presents. Then when Albert finally came home, we hid and jumped out and surprised him. My Mom and niece came in right when we were expecting Albert and first we accidentally jumped out and surprised them! Micah thought it was SO funny! He is still laughing about it. We surprised Albert though and had a nice little party for him. His presents were a gift card for a steakhouse, a Duck Dynasty hat, tickets to watch the Fresno State-Boise football game tonight, gum (from Micah--opened and sampled) and some new soccer pants. We love Albert so much and are so thankful for him!

Sorry about the dark pictures. That's what happens when you let your kids use your camera.

First Day of School

 I'm getting these pictures up late but these are from the first day of school. Linnea went into 8th grade, Gavin into 4th, Micah into Preschool (but we'll see how long he lasts. /: He was excited his first day and now he won't even go unless I take him kicking. I don't know whether to push it or not. Jacen never went and he did fine but he has a more independent personality. Linnea (who's personality is most like Micah's) went to preschool and loved it. Gavin went to preschool and cried sometimes when I dropped him off but he didn't give me too much trouble and he liked it overall. I don't know what to do with Micah. Preschool is so expensive and then half the time I can't get him to go. I like having a few hours to shop or plan a lesson while he's gone too. I don't think he needs it academically but I worry that the adjustment to kindergarten will be hard.  And he gets bored home with me all the time. I seriously don't know how mom's actually like homeschooling. I love my kids but I so rarely get a break from them. I need the break while they are at school. I'm okay with Micah being home another year though. I like spending time with him. Any suggestions or advice?

Anyhow, that went off on a tangent. Jacen is a Senior this year but wouldn't let me take a picture.

The kids have all done well with adjusting to new schools. I worried most about Linnea. She had really great friends in PG and was the one who most didn't want to move. She has done fabulous at adjusting here! I think she loves that their are so many LDS kids here. They all hang out together at school and she feels very comfortable with them. I'm so glad that she is such a good friend and makes such good friends. We all knew Gavin would adjust well. He is my only extrovert child. He is so out-going and makes friends everywhere he goes. It was so funny recently when he made a really good friend at school and kept begging me to have a playdate with him. I told him that I needed to meet the boy's mother and really put it off. It's awkward. Finally, the other mother called me and we talked on the phone. We ended up talking about cub scouts and where our boys go for cub scouts and I found out that they are also LDS in another ward. Her husband was the Bishop of their ward. Gavin was so excited. Several wards feed into his school but he didn't realize it and didn't know other kids could be members. I'm glad that he can have member friends here. For Jacen, transferring as a Senior was a little harder then he thought it would be. The high school here is SO much bigger than PG high and he had grown up with the kids there and didn't know anyone here. He is doing well though. His seminary class is HUGE. I think he feels like he is biding his time until he leaves on his mission next summer. He's pretty much done with high school. He is a good student though and taking the ACT this Saturday and will be applying for colleges and scholarships in the next couple of months.

We really like living in Clovis. We like the people and schools and our ward. We like living near family here although we miss living by Tera. I want her to move here. I like that the weather is cooling down now. Of course their are things I miss but overall I am very happy. It has actually been an easier adjustment then I thought it would be. Being able to buy our own home helps make it worth it. I love our house. It's nothing fancy but it's ours. That reminds me that I haven't put up the pictures of our house yet. I will soon. (:

Summer Catch-Up!

 In July my brother, Leif's, two younger children came to stay with me while he and his wife and oldest child were at a church girls camp. We had SO much fun with them. I'm so glad they came. We took them up to Bass Lake (one of my favorite places in the whole wild world to go). I love that the water is warm and I have so many happy memories of going there as a child with my family. I'm so glad my Grampa Sirman built the cabin there and wanted to keep it always in our family.

 (below) For some reason Jacen never likes his picture taken. I don't know why...he's so handsome.

 My other brother, Chris', daughter below--Morgan.

 Of course we play board games there. Here we were playing Clue. We played while Chris went to pick up some pizzas.

 Canoeing is always fun.

 

 Now we are at the zoo in Fresno. It was a hot day but we still had a lot of fun and the shade was nice.

 Micah loved the elephants.

 Micah and Will loved posing for pictures.

 This guy is my favorite at the zoo. He is from Fiji. I wish Jacen could have found his cousin and smuggled him home when he was there. (: I love him because he just looks so wise when I look into his eyes. I know it sounds weird but its true!

 Then we went swimming. I LOVE swimming. I want my own pool so bad. I would never wear clothes all summer--I'd live in my swim suit and swim every day all day.

 My neice, Erica, moved here from Florida around the same time as we did. This is her little girl and she now has a brand new baby too. So this is my great-niece. I sound like I'm getting old!

 Here is Erica the day her baby was blessed.

 My sister and her kids came for the blessing. (:

 Albert and I went to the temple one night and Linnea babysat. These pictures were then found on the camera. (:

 No one was hurt.

 Micah took this picture of me before going to the temple. He wanted to be sure I included it. He is a budding photographer! (: