Summer in Oregon

The kids and I spent several weeks this summer with my family in Oregon, while John finished up his dissertation. Here's a quick view of the things we did there:

Isaac's seventh birthday

Isaac and Jeremiah spinning Grandpa for pin the tail on the dragon. :)

Cuddling on grandpa's chair
Kids playing bubble tag in the back yard

Leora on Independence Day.

Isaac waiting (patiently?) for fireworks to begin.

Kids waiting for their swim lessons to begin.

Leora was THRILLED to be in swim lessons this year!

She is a super-duper floater.

Isaac is a great under-water swimmer...and therefore we didn't get a lot of pictures of him.

Jeremiah is a cute top-of-the-water swimmer.

And, he has a couple "grown-up teeth!"

Disneyland 2010

I thought if I included "2010," maybe we'd go back sometime...

We had a ton of fun going to Disneyland together! We went 2 1/2 years ago, right around Christmastime, and honestly, Isaac had a blast! Jeremiah was terrified of ALL rides he went on (Dumbo, the carousel...that's about it) and Leora was barely a year old and didn't really care.

So, this time, we went on one of the last summer days that the ark closed at 8. It was a great choice. Hardly any lines, and we could do everything we wanted to! Yippee!

Mostly the next few posts will just have pictures. Because my favorite father mentioned that wehaven't posted here recently. And I don't really have the time/current desire to write a ton. Since we're moving currently. We'll be in Wisconsin in 6 days! Which means moving out of our apartment and having everything packed and shipped and cleaned within the next 4 days...

The boys on the teacups.

Leora and John on the teacups.

Isaac hanging out in jail in ToonTown.

Alison, Jeremiah and Leora sitting on a bench on the carousel.

Leora consulting the Disneyland map. :)

Our family! At Disneyland!

Jeremiah and Isaac with Disney souvenirs!

Leora with HER souvenir. We went into the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and I fgured we'd get her a beautiful princess tiara or purse and gloves...but no. We found the best swords and shields ever!

Good-bye Disneyland!

General Conference

This morning, I woke up early, which is to be expected when I go to bed at 8 with the kids. And I started making our traditional Conference breakfast: sour cream coffee cake (yes, I see the irony there, and we've had word of wisdom discussions with our kids because of it), sausages, and strawberries. Mmmm. Jeremiah woke up just a tad after me, and liked helping me stir all the batter for the coffee cake. He's a great helper. I had my recipe up on the laptop, and after mixing for a few minutes, Jeremiah was finished... and wanting to play a game on my open computer. But, he told me, he knew that we needed the recipe open, so could he "do the plus" to open a new tab? So cute. I love that kiddo.

I had the bright idea last night that if I took the kids swimming between sessions today, they'd be worn out and therefore at least quiet, if not actually paying attention, for the afternoon session. It worked. I think. I'm not sure because I only made it through the first half of the afternoon session. Oh well.

I'm just so glad that survived the last, oh, 5 years. I love my kids. They're great. It's taken a lot of work to get to this point. I'm so glad that I did it. I know I'll have more challenges and frustrations as these ones get older, but, it's just so satisfying to see how far we've come.

Books I've Read Recently

Not in any particular order, and I'll likely mention if I really didn't like it. If you're looking for great books to read, here are my most recent selections.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, juvenile series.

Three Cups of Tea, non-fiction. There's a sequel I haven't yet read called Stones into Schools. Very powerful non-fiction.

The Actor and the Housewife, fiction.

The Color of Water, non-fiction.

The Blind Side, non-fiction. The first 2 chapters are straight football, and I almost didn't make it through, but it was an amazing book. We just saw the movie last night, and it was also very good--and followed the book pretty precisely. It was fun to see what was straight from the book, and what was changed and embellished in the film.

Evermore, juvenile series.

The Guinea Pig Diaries, non-fiction. Not appropriate for a Relief Society book group, but hilarious. And highly recommended, with a grain of salt. :)

Parenting with Love and Logic, non-fiction. (It's a parenting book.)

And a couple books I have on hold at our library and am anticipating picking up are The Happiness Project, non-fiction, and The Help, fiction.

Happy reading!

I always accept suggestions.

Princess Danielle

Danielle opened 3 chests of princess dress-ups for Christmas. She is a very very happy princess these days.

Christmas 2009

The most Christmas-y of pictures of 2009. :)

Danielle's 3rd Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Danielle! Three things I love about Danielle:

1. She's girly. I absolutely love that she wants her hair up, me to paint her toenails, and that we pick out "make-up" together.

2. She gives amazing 3-year-old hugs.

3. She's silly! This girl makes me crack up every day. She's hilarious. And delightful.

Jeremiah's Photo Shoot

While we were in Florida, Jeremiah, my camera, and I went on a walk/photo-shoot. And, after manipulating some of the cutest pictures on my computer and some learning curve involvement, here's what we (Jeremiah, my camera, my computer, and I) came up with.