Turkey Day with a Twist…

…but no turkey although there were some good times with our little family! We decided to do the non traditional Thanksgiving and go camping.

But I better start off earlier that day…We spent the whole morning cleaning out cars so that we could fit all of our stuff and firewood into the two cars to take, but then our friend Ed lent us his truck (woo-hoo!) so we threw everything in the back of the truck, threw the kids in the car and headed on our way. We were quite hungry (since we left at lunch time) and we had decided that In-N-Out would be our turkey day lunch but as we pulled up it was closed. I almost started to cry—would any place be open? I didn’t want to eat just anywhere; it was Thanksgiving for cryin’ out loud! We passed more and more closed restaurants and I started getting worried but just as we approached the freeway we found an open Del Taco and decided that it would have to do (although I didn’t order off of the dollar menu for once!)

Once we were fed and happy we traveled up the coast for a little over an hour to the site of one my favorite childhood memories-Big Sycamore Canyon Campground in Pt. Mugu State Park just South of Oxnard off PCH. It was a beautiful, clear, warm and sunny day and the drive was pleasant. We got to the campground and it was so packed that we were only able to find one open campground (or so we thought) so we set up camp there (since there wasn’t a ranger anywhere to help us). Just after we got all set up we realized that we were in the group section and that someone was in our spot and we had to move our stuff (giant tent included) to another area and it was starting to get dark.

We literally threw everything back into the truck and headed around to the other loop and set everything up again just in time for the sun to go down. Thad made a fire, I started making dinner by lantern light. We had a traditional Marcroft camping dinner—potatoes and hotdogs—they were delicious. We ate and then sat by the fire for a little while till it was time for bed. We tried putting the kids down by themselves but after about an hour of them running like crazy boys in the tent we decided to go to "sleep” too. It was a crazy night of boys that move around too much in their sleep (Sammy kept wiggling out of his sleeping bag and Nate kept flipping around heads/tails etc), trying to stay warm (the blankets kept getting kicked off) but we survived it.

In the morning Thad got up and made a fire (it was still quite chilly) and had hot chocolate. Then I made bacon and eggs for breakfast and the sun finally decided to come out. We played in the campground for a while before we decided to take a trip down to the beach. It was a nice, short trail, and we got there quickly. We stayed for a while before it was time to go and clean up camp. After cleaning up camp we drove back to the beach, ate a little lunch and played in the sand and water until the boys were cold and ready to pass out.

We really did have a fun time and will definitely be going back to this campground! Enjoy the pictures!

Halloween has come and gone…

…and I finally have time to put some pictures and a little bit of journaling here! Life is definitely crazy with three boys and one who doesn’t have a normal schedule yet (and I crave and need schedules for sanity!) and work and normal Mom stuff!

The week before Halloween our ward had a little party and it was a chance for us to don our outfits and have some fun! I am a horrible mom and I made them wear the same costumes again since they still fit and they still looked cute in them!

Sammy was Buzz Lightyear, Nathan was my little penguin again (I dressed up as Mary Poppins) and Danny was the cutest giraffe there! They had a costume parade and marched around the room and up onto the stage and Nate and his cousin Lucas loved it so much they continued to go up, across, and down most of the night! Thad ran a booth for the Elder’s Quorum and we had a  lot of fun!

We got our pumpkins ready and carved at the last minute on Halloween (I almost forgot to get them out of the trunk!) Sammy  helped me a little bit before he got distracted playing outside. I guess that I should have let him cut more of it! Later on we stopped over at my mom’s and met up with the Fongs to knock on a few traditional houses and then came home to hand out candy and do our traditional half block walk (since that is all the boys –and mom--could handle). I was amazed at the amount of candy that they got going around half of a block at my moms and to five or six homes on our street! Nate would have been happier just sitting down and eating a lollipop instead of being dragged around the block, but fun was had by all. Happy (late) Halloween!

It happens to everyone, right?

I think that there is a story in every family about someone coming up and showing their mom or dad a handful of hair. Today it was Sammy. He came up with a handful of strawberry blonde hair in one hand, a mini electric trimmer in the other and a bunch of bald spots on his head. He said, “Daddy, I cut my hair!” At least his hair grows quickly!

If you look closely you can see five or six spots on the left and one straight up from his ear where he nicked his head a little bit. Luckily his hair is very light and he is a boy! Phew!

Update: The next morning as I was hugging Nate before work I noticed an interesting spot on top of his head. You guessed it, Sammy had also helped Nate with a little bit of a haircut. I asked him, “Did Sammy cut your hair?” to which he replied, “yep!” Oh well. It’s just one chunk!

Birthday Boys

Happy Belated Birthday to my two October birthday boys!

Nathan turned two earlier this month on the 5th and Sammy finally turned four on October 15th. They are still very young and I’m not a fancy person so we did a small family party at the park again and it was a hit! I can’t believe how quickly they are growing and how independent (and stubborn) they are!

I have to say that Sammy was the cutest on his birthday. When he woke up in the morning and I told him that it was his birthday he got the biggest smile on his face and said “I’m four!” He thinks that four is some kind of rite of passage and often said things like, “when I’m four I’ll be able to chew gum” or “I’ll be able to skate” or “ride a bike without training wheels” or anything else he thought he was too small for. He’s still not big enough to do many things but he’ll get there. He’s still growing like a weed (He’s 45” already!) and size wise would fit in nicely in any kindergarten class ;) He loves to tell stories and is constantly talking and making up stories and pretending to be dinosaurs or power rangers and more. Four is quite challenging at times with discipline but I hope that we figure him out quickly!

Nathan is getting big too! It’s hard to remember Sammy being that small. He is a loud, boisterous chatterbox who loves trains and his brothers. He loves to play outside whenever he can and if you turn your back on him for 30 seconds he’ll have ridden his bike further than you can see. His new thing to yell out this week is “why?” but I think his favorite things to yell are “Outside” and “MOM!” which he’ll yell over and over and over again until I respond or help him. He’s getting quite independent but is still a little boy! He’s also growing and already is 37 1/2” tall and is quite sturdy (as well as heavy)!

We were glad to be able to celebrate a bit at the park. It was lots of fun with the family and friends that could make it. We love our boys!!! Enjoy the pictures.

Daniel’s Blessing Day

A little update on our big boy Daniel (he’s almost two months old already!) He is growing and filling out and as happy as can be. He loves to smile and recognizes each of us. He is a good little guy and is adored by his big brothers.

This past weekend we had family in town and Daniel was blessed at church. It was nice to have everyone there and to hear a special blessing just for him. Here are a few pictures from the special day. Enjoy! :)

Legoland, CA

We went to visit my sister Carolyn and her family and she got us some free tickets to Legoland and the aquarium for the day. The big kids were in school but Carrie and Ashley, and friends Laura and Ashton, joined us at the park.

We'd never been there before and we were excited to go. It was a really hot day but the kids had a lot of fun. Sammy got to go on the most rides because he was the tallest/oldest but all of the kids had fun. They have a water park inside of the park and an aquarium next door so there were a variety of things to do.

Too bad this park isn't closer or we could go more often. Here are a few pictures of our adventures there!

To see the rest of our pictures from our adventure check out Smugmug! :)

Brothers…a few fun pictures!

I am having lots of fun taking pictures of the boys together. They adore their new brother Daniel and barely let him sleep or do anything without one of them hugging or kissing him, holding his hand or doing any number of things to him. Either way, here are a few fun pictures of the boys by themselves and together that were too fun or cute not to share. :)

This one is also from Zimmerman Park…woo hoooooo!

Not wanting to be left out…this guy is also going to eat us out of house and home! He is already 5 weeks old and starting to fill in!

And my favorite photo…