We've Moved...Whoo-Hoo!

Big News: We have moved from our lovely California to seek out new adventures in Arizona! We had such a wonderful time living with my parents for the past year. Their generosity gave us the opportunity to save & save some more so we could buy a house of our own! Here we are just a few days before we packed up and moved! 

Alright, let the adventure begin!  Just a few (8-ish) stops along the way. A leaky radiator just makes the trip more exciting :)  Our poor Xterra did make it... finally!  Luckily the kids didn't seem to mind, especially when they got to play in the fun moving truck with each stop.

Home at last! Cue the tears (me) and the running screaming kids! It was just like we'd hoped it would be.  No surprise, the play house out back was an instant favorite.  Five weeks later and the kids still can't get enough of it.

Gordon & Cherryl made the trip out to AZ to help us move into our house.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures the first few days of our move, so I didn't get any with them :(  It was so nice to have their help with the unpacking and kid watching.  We couldn't have done it without them!

Here is another view of the backyard.  Dallin followed us out from California to help us move in as well.  The kids had lots of fun playing with him, especially out back.

There are TONS of parks in our neighborhood within close walking distance.  When my family came out for Thanksgiving, a week after we moved in, we went to one of our favorite parks to play.  This park is only a block away and has a small lake with fish and ducks, in addition to all the usual park toys!

Cali, sliding with uncle Nate. 

I can't get enough of this cute face, you just need to squish it every once in a while!

I should probably mention that I didn't take any of these pictures. I was SO distracted, that I handed off my camera to Brit & Nate. They are responsible for all these beautiful shots, including this cute one of Sade.

Our backyard has two storage sheds in it. This one doubles as the kids hideout.  One of these days I'd like to decorate it and add a light inside it.  Did I mention I have a mile long list of all the fun things I want to do to our house?!  I have 8 years of suppressed decorating desires that just can't be contained any longer, ha ha!

Our Thanksgiving was very informal. We pulled whatever seating we could find, pushed our little kitchen table and card table together and the food was all lovingly prepared by our local Costco...just like the Pilgrims did it way back in ye olden times! Sort of :)

Cali hanging out with Poppy Kevin.  This little girl LOVES her family!

Finally, it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a picture of my sweet husband asleep on the couch!

Nap on Babe you deserve it & thanks for the beautiful house! I love you!

Instant Classic

Can I just say that I LOVE this picture.  This is from Halloween.  The girls didn't go Trick-or-Treating this year but they did get to wear their costumes to dinner at Grammie & Poppie's house.  Cali wanted her costume on too and Grandma Van jumped at the chance to help. I walked into the room (luckily camera in hand) to see an uncertain Cali stepping into the bunny feet, held by Grandma Van. Yes she was a pink bunny & not a bit scary, like the kid in that movie I refuse to watch. Anyway, I think this picture has instant classic written all over it!!!

One Happy Family Will Soon Live Here!

Well we did it, we found a house!  The story is long, so I will cut to the chase...

After seeing nearly 70 homes in Arizona, divided between 2 trips (taken during consecutive weekends) we checked out this house as a last resort.

This was a dream come true, original owners selling one seriously pampered home right in our price range. After seeing countless foreclosures in a wide range of conditions, we knew that this house was special.  Call it love at first sight if you will, but when we walked in to this house we knew it was meant to be our home.   

This house offers us so much more than we ever expected in a first home...5 bedrooms, 2500 sq. ft., within walking distance to the elementary school and our church building, close to Jeremy's office and lots of fun shopping/restaurants, not to mention the huge backyard!  

We put in an offer on the spot and then jumped in the car to head back to California. Two hours into our drive we and got news that our offer was accepted!  We are going through escrow now and we are scheduled to close by November 17th (or sooner)!  Our plan at this point is to move November 20th, which coincidentally would be one year to the day that we moved in with my parents last year! 

Here are some pictures of the house (these are the sellers pictures not ours)...

 Entry and Formal Living & Dinning Room

 Huge Kitchen (I LOVE this space) I already have tons of project in mind here!!!

 Family Room another space I've been dreaming of redoing

 Downstairs Office (YAY!!! I can't wait to spread out here!)

 Kid Bedroom

 Kid Bedroom

 Kid Bedroom, that we will use as a play room for now

 Master Bedroom is larger than it looks (the owners bed is a monster!)

 Backyard as seen from the balcony (the swing set stays!!!)

 Backyard big enough to play soccer in... this has not escaped Jeremy's attention, ha ha

Garage, Jeremy has been dreaming of tools because of this space

Another view of Jeremy's favorite space. This garage has it all, storage, a/c, ceiling fan, and a TV on the wall.

We feel incredibly blessed to have found such a lovely home and we are so very excited to move in. I can't wait to get a paint brush in my hand and start decorating! 

Hello! I'd like to CALL your attention to some new photos courtesy of our new camera! Yay!!! I'm soooo excited.  Recently I had an unfortunate realization... I uploaded all of our Yosemite pictures and they were all blurry :(  A quick examination of our camera reveled that the lens was both smudged and scratched (see this is why I don't usually let kids take pictures with our camera) Oh well, it did give me a reason to finally cave and purchase a nicer camera. Which is something I've wanted to do since Jeremy and I took a photo class together way back in College...can I remember that far back!? 
Ya, it's been a long time. 

 
So new camera in hand, I feel ready to take on the world... or maybe just photograph it!  Naturally Jeremy was subject number one...I don't think he was too pleased with me, but hey marriage is a give and take right?! ha ha... he tolerated me well! I was even able to sneak into a picture or two as well!

Day two with the new camera...
My lens found our sleepy kids perfect and happily, willing subjects!  The lighting was so pretty in their room. It gave way to beautifully wispy pictures of children still dreamy eyed in the early morning hours. 

What Does Annoy Mean?

So last night as we are putting the girls to bed Sade turns to me and asks, "Mom, what does annoy mean?"

I say, "it's this...lalalalala... AHHHHH". I make all sorts of loud noises and poke her a few times for good measure (Jeremy even joins in a bit too). Then I say, "see, to annoy is to bother someone, kind of like that!"

Sade says, "Oh, ok" then she goes to bed and Jeremy and I go to our room.  About five minuets pass and Sade knocks at the door...

Sade: [knock knock]"Mom? Dad?"

Me: [through the door] "Ya? What is it Sade?"

Sade: "Mom I can't go to sleep!  I keep annoying Cali with loud noises and when I stop she just keeps copying me!"

Me: "Sade, that's not very nice. You shouldn't annoy your sister!"

Sade:  [whining] "But you did it to me!"

Me: "Ya, but only because you asked me what it meant!"

Sade:  [nearly crying on the other side of the door now] "But mom, Dad said 'just annoy Cali and she will go to sleep!"

Me: "IGNORE, ignore! Your Dad said to 'ignore Cali and she will go to sleep'! Not annoy!"

I couldn't stop laughing. When I opened the door I found a very confused Sade who looked like she couldn't decide whether she should cry, or laugh too. Once it was all straightened out both Sade and Cali slept beautifully!

We LOVE music and LOVE to dance...

First Grade Awards Ceremony

Nyah was awarded the Citizenship Award in her first grade awards ceremony! We are so happy for her. Jeremy told Nyah she won the "sweet heart award" because she is so kind to everyone!
As you can see in the pictures, Jeremy got to come too (he took of work).
We enjoyed our extra fun Friday together.
Sade played photographer for the day, and I think she did a great job!

Beautiful Nyah

A bit random, I know, but here are two family pictures we have managed to take recently. Normally we go months without a single shot of our little family all together but I guess another great perk to always having family around is having family around to hold the camera and snap a picture here and there :)


This one was taken at Descanso Gardens in early April.
Let me just say, that is the month to visit!
The flowers+the floral breeze = HEAVEN



This one was taken out in front of the San Diego Temple.
Jeremy and I got to attend my cousin Sally's wedding to her sweet husband Eter.
It was a great day!

ApRil FOols DaY

We LOVE ApRil FOols DaY. This year I nearly forgot it, & so all my pranks were very last minute.
I am very proud of this one though...



I love how cute it looks with the bow & all. I actually wrapped this while Nyah was walking around getting ready and with Sade standing right near by.

When I made Nyah's sandwich I wrote "Aprill Fools' on the cheese wrapper and left it on, inside her sandwich. I am told that Cherryl has fooled Jeremy more than once with this one as a teen
(I mean little kid)...classic!

Later in the day I came home to this...



I don't remember having twins, but here is the proof.
Cali has a double :)
Brittany and Nate were very proud of their prank. Nyah & Sade thought this was hilarious! Cali was not sure why someone else had her shoes and so she kept pulling the stuffed doll's feet off.

Sade is already planning her pranks for next year, and reminds us all that she is going to get us good. I can't wait!

This was such a lovely picture. My mom, outside in the garden with all my little girls helping and chatting as they worked together.
I asked my brother if I could borrow his fancy camera so I could snap up some pictures that I knew my little camera couldn't handle :) It was a very sunny day after all.
What a blessing to have these pictures!
Our time here in my parents home may be for just a moment, but the memories we are making will last forever. These are the things that make me feel so blessed.
I love my family & I am so glad that my children have had such wonderful experiences (like working in the garden with my mom) to keep with them always.

Hurray for sunny warm weather!!!

Yesterday the kids and I could not get enough of the sunshine.
We played with chalk, we played "sports".
Nyah and Sade brought out soccer balls, bats and all sorts of athletic equipment,
and we ran all over the yard
(I never did figure out the game of "Sports").

When the game of "Sports" was over Nyah and Sade decided that the big rocks around my parent's yard are just not pretty enough. So to solve this, they broke out some more chalk and decorated the rocks to look like Easter Eggs...
I love having girls!

Cali was not to be excluded, she ran (yes she does that now too) all over the yard laughing, waving, and playing with chalk too.

Chalk hands

Cali loves being outside with her sisters

Nyah coloring rocks

Sade growing up too fast!

Hard at work

Pretty "Easter Rocks"

Dress-Up

It's Been A While....

I know, I know...it's been a while seen we've updated our blog. Sorry about that. Besides dealing with our three wonderful little girls, with me now commuting 100 miles round trip to work everyday (Thousand Oaks) and Kristy's new calling as the Relief Society Secretary, we've found that we just don't have much free time anymore.

A lot has happened since out last blog. I'll some up the major things and spare you the boring details. I've got a few pictures and videos to share as well.

Christmas was great!
We spent Christmas Eve at my parents home, with Adam, Kyle, Kayla, GK, Suzanna, Van, Reggie, Grandma Van, and The Thompsons (for a little while). We had a lot of fun spending time with everyone and walking the neighborhood looking at the Christmas lights. I think we had the most fun watching Santa (Kyle) and his big elf (Adam) hand out presents to the kids. It was fun hearing Santa apologize for using a big black trash bag to carry the presents in, instead of his usual sack. He explained that he had just come from the Palmdale/Lancaster area and had to take extra precautions while he was there.




For those of you that didn't already know, since just before Thanksgiving, we've been leaving with Kristy's parents to help us save for a down payment on a home. We decided it'd make sense to spend Christmas morning with Kristy's family since we were already here and because all of Kristy's brothers and sister were here too. I stayed up late on Christmas Eve and got up early to make my mom's breakfast egg casserole, and I also ended up cooking crepes. It was a nice relaxing morning and it was fun, as always, to see the girls wide eyes when they came down stairs and saw the presents that Santa had left for them. Each of the older girls got a razor scooter and same games from Santa and Cali got a little Glow Worm baby doll, which she absolutely loves.

Plum Canyon Elementary
It was taking a lot of time out of Kristy's day, and a lot of money for gas, to continue driving Nyah from Saugus all the way to Castaic for school. Plus, it didn't help that the Highway Patrol closed Interstate 5 a few times because of snow in the grapevine. They close the freeway in Castaic at the exit where Kristy would need to get off. Kristy and Nyah were stuck in traffic one morning and it took them four hours to go the last 1 1/2 miles of the freeway. Needless to say, Nyah didn't go to school that day. I digress. Because of the commuting issues, we've switched Nyah to the local school; Plum Canyon Elementary. At first it was a little difficult. Nyah's new teacher is not as sweet as her teachers were in Castiac, and the kids at Plum Canyon are not as humble as those in Castaic. But, Nyah is making friends and figuring out the new teachers system. Also, Nyah has made a lot of progress in her reading skills since attending the new school. We're so proud of her. She handled it well, didn't really complain, and it is completely evident that she has been blessed with the skill of making friends. We love Nyah.

Sade's learning to ride a bike...without training wheels.
Sade and Nyah really love riding their new scooters on the pathway that goes around Kristy's parent's backyard. Because the scooters have helped the girls improve their balance, Kristy decided to experiment with Sade and took the training wheels off of her bike. After pushing Sade around on the grass for a little while, Kristy began to give Sade a stronger push and send her off on her own. Now Sade can ride her bike across the grass and driveway, with a little push to help get her started. Now we just need to working on breaking and steering, but she'll get there.

Cali can walk!
In just the last couple of weeks Cali started walking. She's been walking along the couches for a month or two, but recently we started having her walk back and forth between Kristy and I. Now she's doing it on her own and will walk a couple steps from one couch to another, in order to get to me or Kristy. She's still only 10 months. This is the earliest any of our kids have walked, so of course it's been fun to watch.