PCH Trip Day 1

Last week Brian and I got to enjoy some time together on a trip to California.

Day One:

We flew from Phoenix into San Francisco. The flight went fast. The weather was instantly cooler! I put my jacket on right away. We got our rental car and made the drive to our hotel—the Fairmont.


Most of the people got convertibles, but we opted to take the different in cash and just got a Nissan Altima instead. It was nice though! We discovered that driving in San Fran was a bear. Almost as tricky as New York. The streets are so steep it’s hard to see if someone was in a crosswalk. We couldn’t imagine driving a stick shift there! Before our hotel we went to Lombard Street. There is only one way in and they have someone there directing traffic. I didn’t think you’d be able to drive on it. But I guess they let tourists drive on it. It sure was windy! It was fun though and very pretty. Imagine living on that street!







We got to our hotel and got settled, then we headed out. We were going to take a cable car, but decided we’d save the $5 each fare and walk down, then pay it to come back up. We walked down to Pier 39 and had lunch at Boudin’s.


I had a chicken salad sandwich on sourdough and Brian had a turkey sandwich. It was delicious. We walked to the end of the pier, stopping in a few shops here and there. There was a candy store at the end and we stocked up on salt water taffy. They had TONS of flavors.

We made our way over to Ghirardelli Square. They had the cutest couple of stores there. One was Gigi + Rose. SO cute. I found the cutest board book for Ruby called My Friends by Taro Gomi. It's by a Japanese author/illustrator. It has the darling-ist pictures. There was this other store that was like a tea party type store….called Crown and Crumpet I think. Our girls would definitely have a ball there at lunch one day. From there we walked back. By the time we figured out where we could get a cable car up to our hotel, we figured it wasn’t worth the fare, so we ended up walked UP to our hotel. It was quite the workout. That night we had a welcome dinner with Jones. It was on the top floor of our hotel, so there were amazing views of the city.

Dinner was good, too. We started eating and this older couple came and sat down by us—it was Jim McKenzie and his wife. Jim’s dad is like a huge Jones guy—like Tom Jones’ good friend and Tom was who founded Edward Jones. In fact, the training center in Tempe is named after Jim's dad. So that was kind of fun.

Random San Fran pictures:

Anyone want a crab? Ewww.

I really like watching the interesting people in any city we visit. We've seen some weirdos in Scotland and New York and now in San Fran. I could sit there and watch them for a while.

Pre-migraine day. Maybe the glow around my head should be a sign. Ha ha.

Libby's Seven!

Libby is another year older! Brian and I got home from our trip on her birthday, so she was excited to see what we had gotten her. After we got home she opened her gifts from us which were two shirts, some "high" shoes/flip flops, and a couple pairs of earrings.




That night she got to pick a "fast food" place for dinner. I guess Paradise Bakery is fast food to her! On Sunday my parents came over for dinner and she got to have her cake--chocolate fudge with chocolate icing. Yum! (my little camera was being very wonky, so we get very ethereal pictures!)



On Monday, I took treats into her classroom--Gogurts and a small Crunch bar. She seemed pleased to pass them out to her classmates. They all sang to her and enjoyed their treat.



Libby is a great girl with a tender heart. She loves Ruby to death and has so much fun with her. Right now some of Libby's favorite things are:
--Paradise Pasta salad
--cookies or brownies (but not too sweet)
--playing games (which works out great because her teacher sends home an educational board game every night for them to play for homework)
--structure and routines. She loves to have lists to check off, etc.
--cleaning--She always does her chores really well even though she does complain about it..I know if I ask her to clean something, it'll be done well.
--books. She enjoys reading.
--coloring. She loves to draw and color.
--sense of humor. She can be quite funny.
--She is very thoughtful in her decisions. When she has to choose something--like what shirt to get or whatnot, she puts a lot of thought into it.


She has weaknesses of course (bedtime and being loud!) but we LOVE having her in our family.

Happy 7th birthday, Libby!

First Week

For some reason I didn't post this when I wrote it a couple weeks ago...

The first (and second) day has gone well for Eliza and Libby. They both really like their teachers. I am so glad! Libby's teacher seems so organized and on the ball--like teaching is just second nature to her. That will be great for Libby! When she tells me about her day, it makes me want to be in second grade all over again.

Today my mom came over this morning and we made rolls all day. She was making them for her Relief Society meeting tonight and had to make 3 batches, so we each made two batches (I got to keep the extra one I made). It took all the way up until I picked Eliza and Libby up from school. We had fun though and they turned out delicious!

Ruby! She is such a doll. She is almost a year old. Time flew by that's for sure! Right now she is crawling all around and will walk with a cute little stroller things my parents got her for an early birthday present. I'm in no hurry for her to walk! She loves to give kisses and is just so sweet and happy all the time.

Not to Be Left Out

As Eliza and Libby were getting their backpacks on this morning, Ellie and Hattie got theirs out and filled them with toys. They wore them into the school to drop off Eliza and Libby. They wanted to be part of the fun!

And we can't leave Ruby out!

First Day of School

We officially have a third grader and a second grader. They were both up and at 'em this morning to get ready for their first day. They had picked their outifts out a few weeks ago and they finally got to wear them today! I surprised them with a healthy breakfast of their favorite--pop tarts for Libby and toaster strudels for Eliza. Ha ha. It was the love and thought that counted! Drop off went well. We took them to their rooms and got them all settled. And we had to walk by again before we left to check on them. I can't wait to pick them up and hear all about their day!

Insert Uber-Interesting Title Here

I couldn't think of a suscint title to sum up the rest of our summer that I am so behind on writing about. So here is the Cliff's Notes version and a hope that I can keep up better.

--one of our most faithful babysitters got married a couple weeks ago. Brian and I got to attend her sealing in the temple. It was one of the best ones I've been to--I learned more than I think I ever had. I got to photograph her reception, so that was fun.

--had another braces appointment...learned I get to have them on even longer...hopefully in December I'll get them off.
--we've done our weekly chicken duty--love getting the fresh eggs, even though it's hotter than heck doing their coops each week.
--went to a bridal shower of a friend. I had a lot of fun making her gift...I love the printer's tray by 7Gypsies. Here is the finished product:

--went to the wedding and reception of that friend. Terri and I got to photograph for her, too. She had the most fun car to bring her and transport them throughout the night. It should make for some fun pictures.
--Libby had her teeth cleaned. Seems mundane, but it's worth mentioning because she actually let him (her grandpa) clean her teeth--x-rays and all! She had quite a few cavities and he even filled those. Little by little I always say with her, so this is a big deal for her.
--We had the stake opening social that we were in charge of for all the youth in our stake. We had it at grassy area at the end of a cul-de-sac of a family in our stake. It was so much fun. We did a BBQ and had sno-cones. That is what I did all night--make sno-cones! Then there were lots of water activities--HUGE slip 'n slide made from gigantic tarps, squirt gun fights, tug o' war, and a humongous water balloon fight at the end set to the theme from Narnia. It was cool to watch. The firetruck came at the end and drenched all the kids all over again.
--I had one of the girls from our ward who is in beauty school come over and give us all pedicures before school started.

--We had meet the teacher for Eliza and Libby on Friday. Both of their teachers seem like they'll be great. They are pretty excited to start a new year. I always get so nervous for them for the first day...my stomach is always in knots till I pick them up from school.
--Libby's teacher gave her some "Back to School" confetti at meet the teacher. She is to put it by her pillow the night before the first day of school. She was so excited to do it tonight!

--I think someone is really going to miss Libby when she goes back to school...

Summer

I've slacked big time posting about our summer. But here is what we've been up to:

--played LOTS of house and Loving Family and Barbies.
--put the above said toys in a garbage bag a few times for a "time out" because of too much arguing.
--getting my braces tightened; having to wear rubber bands on both sides. I feel like a teenager again.
--knowing that I get said braces off in probably three months.
--Eliza got glasses for reading. Looks dang cute.
--lots of swimming--at the resort, at friends, at in-laws...We even got to go to Wet N Wild twice with my dad's summer program. It was SO fun. It's so much better since it changed from Waterworld.
--being hot. It's even hot at 5:30 AM!
--hiking and running at crazy aforementioned hour.
--making daily chore charts for the kids.
--nagging them to get the chores completed.
--having later than usual bedtimes.
--not reading as much as I would have hoped (the kids, not me). I did start a great series....The City of Ember. It's a young adult fiction, but I really enjoyed it! I'm on the third one right now.
--regularly have nightly visitors in our bed. Sometimes Brian will ditch and sleep in one of their beds so he can have more room. How do I get them to stay in their own beds?!

--Hattie got the camera one day. Here is what she documented:







That about sums up our summer!

photo blog

I set up a photography blog.

"Camping"

This past weekend we decided to go camping with my brother and his family. It was just going to be Brian, Eliza, Ellie and Hattie. Then a couple days before Libby said she would be comfortable with a bathroom camping, so we all decided to go. The day of, it started raining up north. We decided to go anyway, but instead of set up camp in the rain, we opted to get a hotel in Flagstaff. My brother Brian and his family had already been camping for a night, but they still packed up and got a hotel in Williams for the night. So that is why we called it a "campout." The room had a "kitchette" (they called it that, but it was a microwave and fridge), so we heated up the dinner we were going to have camping (hot dogs and soup), Brian took them swimming in the "heated" hotel pool, then we had microwave s'mores.


The next morning we met up with Brian and family and went to Bearizona in Williams. It's a drive-thru wildlife park. We saw quite a few animals up close as we drove through. At then end we could get out and see two bear cubs and three wolf pups. The kids had fun there.







From there we drove down the 89A to Sedona. We first stopped to get wet in the creek. We found a little pull off with a place to swim. The problem was that the water was FREEZING. It was probably 30 degrees! I put my toe in and that was enough for me! Brian and most of the kids got in and had fun even though they said it didn't get any warmer the longer you swam. I enjoyed watching them though!




We drove further into town and had lunch, then headed home from there. Even though it wasn't what we planned, we still had a great time. Eliza was not happy that we weren't camping (she was the one who wanted to go camping originally), but I think she saw it at a blessing. She ended up with a migraine that night and was very glad to be close to a real bathroom (me, too!). It was a good lesson to learn that Heavenly Father knows what He is doing and knows what we need long before we do!