Thursday, June 28, 2012

Nateism : A question for each breath (almost)

TheBoys_June2012_ 242Nathan had to go to the bathroom tonight (and EVERY night before actually falling asleep) but tonight he was especially full of questions. Here are a few that I remember:

1) (Yes, this was first), “Why do we have toilets?”
2) “Why do we have underwear? “
3) “What kind of underwear do I have on?” and then “ Do I have Bible underwear on?” (Mom replied no, and he said), “Well, why not?” (It sounds like a good thing to market!)
4) And then again, “I still don’t understand why we need underwear. If it is for protection, then why do the bad guys get protected and the good guys too?”
5) How do they make guitars?
6) How do they make the strings make music?

AHHHH! :) Still, I love my Nathan and his 10,000 random questions at bedtime.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Date Night with Mommy: The Wizard Of Oz

IMG_8438I’m hoping to start a tradition to do something special with each of the boys every (I’m not sure how often yet ;) ), and I hope that Thad will be able to as well, to take them out for a special night just with Mom or Dad so that they get some time to bond with us.
Last night Sammy and I went to see Biola Youth Theatre perform, The Wizard of Oz, and I dare say that it was as well done and produced as the shows I’ve seen at the Pantages and other places and better than some! The actors and actresses were professional (even though they were all 18 or younger), had beautiful voices, the costumes were gorgeous and well made and it was a fun night! I would definitely like to see more shows there! Sammy loved it and it was fun since he’s seen the Veggie Tales version, The Wizard of Has because he knew the story line even if in VT they were following the Big Yellow Toad! :)
IMG_8439We went to this specific night because one of my students, Stephanie, was playing Glinda! She did a wonderful job! What a fun night! Thanks for doubling with us Grandma and Grandpa Driggs!
<----Sammy was too shy to stand by us!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Recipe: Fumi Salad

FumiSalad 003_croppedIt is definitely summer salad time...Thad and I have been eating this one a lot and I added some good old avocado to it and I think that it made it even better! Hooray for summer and cheap(er) avocados! YUM!

Anyway, I thought I'd share in case you haven't tried Fumi Salad yet.

Fumi Salad

Salad + Topping:

1 head cabbage – shredded
8 TBs. slivered almonds
8 TBS. sesame seeds, toasted
4 green onions – slivered and chopped
2 pkg. Top Ramen noodles – broken apart (I like to put them on the floor and carefully step on them with my shoes on--I used to break them apart with my fingers (ouch)--others use a meat tenderizer but I don't have one!)

Dressing:

4 TBS. sugar
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
6 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 c. vegetable or canola oil

Mix cabbage and onions. JUST BEFORE SERVING add almonds, sesame seeds, and top ramen noodles.

Mix together sugar, pepper, salt, rice vinegar and oil to make dressing. JUST BEFORE SERVING pour dressing over salad and mix well.

*Optional add in: 1 or 2 ripe avocados diced; stir in carefully before serving. I think that they take Fumi salad to a new level! YUM-O!

*Sometimes I divide both the cabbage mix AND the dressing into halves or fourths and mix only a small amount at one time since the noodles wilt if they sit in the dressing very long.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

What’s in a name?

To honor our fathers and those who are important to us we have chosen very special names for our boys.

Here are the stories behind each of them and how we chose their names:

Sammy_2005Samuel Clifford – Sam was born late into the night Friday (or early morning Saturday) but he didn’t have a name I think until Sunday. I really liked the name Samuel but really liked the name Samantha too and thought I couldn’t have both so I kept trying out names but that one seemed to fit him, along with Clifford. We also liked that Samuel was a TheBoys_June2012_ 004biblical and a Book of Mormon name. We wanted him to have a family name as well so we chose Clifford which is Daddy’s middle name and Great Grandpa Marcroft’s name. He had an grumpy old man face that reminded everyone of “grumpa” Clifford. So it fit and he became Samuel Clifford. And it just so happened that as he grew he also grew some strawberry blonde hair just like Grandpa Clifford’s. :)

Nathan_2007Nathanael James – Nathan was born on a Friday night as well but he came a little faster and was here by 9 pm or so. After having him lots of people had ideas for names but my sister Cathy was going through a few. One she said was Nathanael James and right away I had the feeling that that was supposed to be his name. I didn’t say anything right away because I wanted to decide with Thaddeus later when everyone else had gone. Later ended up being Disneyland_May2012_ 017the morning and when we began to talk about names that is the only one that came up since Thad had had the same feeling about the name as well. Nathanael is a friend and disciple of Jesus in the New Testament, some even say he was an Apostle. And James is Grandpa Marcroft’s middle name so it was perfect! Now, at age 5 he is quite stubborn and tells me that his name is  “just Nathan” when I call Nathanael James. Oh well. I know that it is supposed to be his name—hopefully he’ll understand one day why.


Danny_2009Daniel Driggs
– Daniel broke traditions a bit by being born a) in the summer instead of October and b) not on Friday, but kept with the tradition of being born on a day that was a multiple of five but I digress. His name is special because his big brothers loved TheBoys_June2012_ 036the stories about Daniel in the Bible. We needed a family name for his middle name but my own father had made me promise not to use his names for any of my sons. We still wanted to honor him so we chose Driggs—we almost chose David, my paternal grandfather’s name, but wanted to save that for another boy first name. I think that it sounds nice and is a nice way to honor him! :)

Ben_2011Benjamin Joseph – So many people were amazed each time I was pregnant that I never knew the names of the boys before they were born. All of the older boys’ names were chosen after they were born, but I had an experience before Ben was born that really made me think that Benjamin would be his name but I still wanted to hold him and see if it fit before I told anyone so I only related the story to my husband. I was at a stake baptism (as part of my stake calling) and a family from our ward sang “How Can I Be?” and I was really touched by the lyrics. When they sang about King Benjamin the wise I felt a great love for him and felt that I wanted my boys to grow up to be like these men in the scriptures I was naming them after. When he was born we thought about Baseball_May2012_ 076it again and played around with one other name but came back to Benjamin who was also important in the Bible. Then for a middle name—again, we thought of David, but wanted to keep it for a first name, and then we thought of Joseph. There are a few Josephs in the family--Joseph (his brother that goes by his second name Chris), Joseph (great grandma Marcroft’s brother who died in the war), and Joseph on my side of the family too—it was perfect!

So there you have it. All of their names, why they fit and how they came to be!

Happy Father’s Day to all of the men who have inspired me and continue to inspire me and my family. And lots of love too! :)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Disneyland <3

We had been going to Disneyland (or California Adventure) after school weekly before our black out days started and here are a few fun pictures. The boys really do love going and it hasn’t been too crowded on the little guy rides. I am grateful that Disneyland has black out days because they tell us what days we don’t want to go because it will be busier!

Here are some pictures from the day that we finally waited in line for Toy Story Mania! Nathan’s been asking to go on this since March but the line was either too long or it was time to go home each time!

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And just for fun…one of the last time we had passes in 2009! ;)

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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Here comes the sun…

It’s been a little crazy around here (the school year is ending) so these pictures are a little late for our Memorial Day adventures or early pictures of the fun we will be able to have! :)

We went to the annual Cerritos First Ward Memorial Day breakfast at CPE which is always fun and delicious before heading home for naps. Our new friends from church, The Woolleys, called to see if we wanted to go to the park or to the beach. We said sure and we all jumped in the van when the boys got up from naps. We headed to Sunset Beach and had a blast!

We played in the sun, in the water, and ate yummy hot dogs, fruit, corn and more! Here are some of my favorite shots:

Daddy and Benny Boy (6 months)

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…and a little bit later when it got colder!

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Telma and Ethan Woolley (one of their three boys)

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Nathan loved Boogie Boarding!

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Danny got knocked over by a wave early on when he let go of my hand but it ended up being a great thing…he didn’t wander off any more!TheBoys_May2012_ 016

Sammy had fun boogie boarding and finding sand crabs. He barely came out of the water!

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Here are some more pictures! Enjoy!

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