Some Words From Cali

Trying to tame Cali's bed head this morning she says to me...
Cali: "Daddy says I need to get a short cut."
Kristy: "Where does your short cut go?"
Cali: "Far, far away"
Kristy: "Hum, that is some short cut! What do you need a short cut for?"
Cali: "Daddy says I need a short cut for my crazy hair!"

Cali being silly...

Cali: [calling out] "Babies, where are my two babies?!"

Upon seeing her two sisters sitting on the floor...

Cali: "My two babies!  There you are!  [holding her doll basket out to them] Get into your basket right now!

Nyah & Sade: [laughing hysterically]

Cali: [sound effects] "Pkew pkew".  There, now I put you in my basket and uh oh, now you don't have any noses!

[Lots more hysterical laughing]

It is so fun being the mom to these amazing, and very funny kids!

We spend the majority of the day laughing and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

There are over a million reasons why I love Jeremy.  

I could spend a year listing them all and still not cover half of why.  

Today is just another example of why I love him.  After a long night of me not sleeping well, Jeremy didn't wake me up when the kids got up.  He did the whole morning routine, breakfast, homework check, even the girls hair... you might think this is my reason for writing.Actually he has done this a lot while I've been pregnancy-sick, not just this morning, and it is another reason I love him, but the thing I love about today is this.  

Just as the kids were heading out the door, to walk to school, it started to pour rain.  Being AZ, it's not too cold out so the kids wanted to walk to school still. The problem was, their friends weren't walking in the rain so they didn't have anyone to go with.  

Jeremy didn't miss a beat, he grabs the kids umbrellas and tells them to wait there.  Jeremy runs upstairs, gets himself and Cali dressed, grabs the stroller and two more umbrellas and walks his girls to school in the rain storm.
That is the man I married and I love him.

Quotable Cali

Cali is at that stage where she wakes up and goes to bed talking.  If she isn't asking you questions, then she is telling you a story (this kid has one crazy imagination...but that's for another post).  So Friday Cali was talking to me, asking me where Nyah & Sades' friends are during the day.  To this I told her that Nyah & Sades' friends are at school just like her sisters are.  Then this conversation followed...

Kristy:  "When you are a big girl, you will get to go to school too."

Cali:  "and when I'm a mommy, I don't go to school."

Kristy:  "Right, when you are a mommy you get to have babies."

Cali:  "Yes, and when I'm a daddy I get to watch TV!"

Obviously she is a little confused about what she gets to be when she is older, but I could not stop laughing at her supposed purpose to fatherhood.  The funny thing is that Jeremy doesn't really watch that much TV, I just watch at lot less so I guess she thinks it's a Daddy thing.

Baby Poll

I just wanted to point out that we added a poll to the right sidebar of our blog.  

We want to know what you think,
is our baby a boy or a girl?!

  

Thanks for voting :)

Halloween 2011

This Halloween was our first here in AZ.  We had heard since we moved in last year in November, that our street has an amazing Halloween Party.  From what the kids and Jeremy told me, the party lived up to expectations.  The neighbors gathered at the end of our street and bar-b-que and played.  Then the adults passed out candy together and the kids went out in groups Trick-or-Treating.  

Jeremy was a one man show this time around.

(I curled up in bed around 5 celebrating Halloween by feeling like death)

I was sad to miss out on all the fun but I feel SO blessed to have such an amazing husband.  Jeremy was so happy to do it all and it was so nice to hear that everyone had such a great time!

Apparently Jeremy took the kids around to a few streets and then the girls wanted to return to the party.  Sade had a blast passing out candy while everyone else visited.  They didn't hit too many houses but still managed to come home with more than enough candy!

Sade's Sixth Birthday

Sade turned 6 this past September!  

Sade had lots of fun birthday presents including a La La Loopsy doll, earrings, and a camera.

She was pretty excited!

Sade also got some great gifts from the Grandparents that made her day (thanks!)

This year Sade had her first "real party."  According to Sade, real parties include invitations...

in case you didn't know.
Our girls have LOVED all the kids here in AZ.  The girls have made wonderful friends here and are never without a someone to play with.  Sade's party was no exception, she had such a great time with her friends! 

Oh, did I mention Sade's birthday camera works underwater?!  Sade and her friends took the cutest pictures.  The camera was passed all around so we got loads of pictures.  These underwater pictures are a crack up to look through.  These girls mermaids had a great time!

We sure love our Sade so much! 

How Many Guys Does it Take?

I found this video on our old camera today, along with many pictures taken by the kids at Yosemite this year.  I totally forgot that I let the kids bring the camera.  I'll have to do a post just on kid photos, they are pretty funny.   

This video is pretty fun to, of course now I'm missing all the family.  

Hopefully we can get ALL the family out to Yosemite soon, we missed Jason, Sarah and the kids this year.  

Maybe next year...camping with a one-month-old could be fun right?!

I should note that eventually the fire was started, but I can't remember how.  

Anyone remember who finally got it and using what?!

And That Makes Four!

Today: 7 weeks & 3 days

A Blog for California Craft

As you may already know, I have an online Etsy store called CaliforniaCraft.  My store is the other child in our family.  I love to see her grow (she's a girl store) and this month she's grown a lot.

I've created a Facebook fan page that you can see here https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaCraft

and a blog/creative outlet for my shop here http://californiacraft.blogspot.com/

I'm so excited to have a designated place (with the new blog) to post photos and talk about the projects I'm working on.  I'm not giving up on this blog in any way. I'm still fully committed here!  I've just taken a small break while I try to sort out & set up the new blog & fan page. 

Did I mention I really have know clue what I'm doing?  I live by the motto of "I'll just dive in and hopefully learn how to swim along the way!"

Mini BYU Fans

{The girls wearing Grandma Nancee's BYU shrit}

The Cougar Song
Brigham Young University
By Clyde D. Sandgren, 1932

Rise all loyal Cougars and hurl your challenge to the foe.
We will fight, day or night, rain or snow.
Loyal, strong, and true
Wear the white and blue.
While we sing, get set to spring.
Come on Cougars it's up to you. Oh!

Chorus:
Rise and shout, the Cougars are out
along the trail to fame and glory.
Rise and shout, our cheers will ring out
As you unfold your victr'y story.

On you go to vanquish the foe for Alma Mater's sons and daughters.
As we join in song, in praise of you, our faith is strong.
We'll raise our colors high in the blue
And cheer our Cougars of BYU.

Family Picture

Jeremy & I have been married for 9 years and in all that time we have never had a real family picture taken.  Like the kind with an actual photographer that truly knows what he or she is doing.  Anyway, that day still has not come :(
So I'm settling on having this picture printed on a canvas and calling it a day!

Photo taken by Kevin Large (good job Dad!) after eating lunch to celebrate Nyah's Baptism. {April 2011}

We love each other and it's time our walls prove it, ha ha.  So yes, our hair is a little unkempt, and our outfits are not coordinated in anyway, but this is us, imperfect but gloriously happy!

I can't wait to see how our family picture looks on canvas!

Today was a mom payday, you know, one of those days that makes all the countless hours we put in as moms totally worth it!  I walked in the family room to Cali singing a song she made up that repeated over and over, "my mom is my best friend" *sigh*  Then later in the day this little cutie of mine came up to me, squeezed my legs in one of her full body hugs and said, "mommy I just love you so much."  *double sigh*  Oh Cali I just love YOU so much too!

Crazy Hair Day

We picked the wrong day to sleep in.  About 20 minutes before the kids needed to head out the door, Sade reminds us that it is "Crazy Hair Day" at school that day.  Luckily Sade & Nyah knew just what they wanted and we were able to whip out some fantastic hair styles just in time!  

(I think they look pretty cute myself)

Nyah's Colorful "Modern Mohawk"

Sade's "Bird's Nest"

Off to school with their fabulous new look!

Cali Says...

 July 2011

Talking about a show she watched...

Cali: "The mean pirates is not nice!  The little pirate is nice."

Walking into her room and finding a Barbie Fairy on her table...

Cali: "Barbie you came back! You didn't run away any more!"

then hugging the found doll...

"I love you Barbie"

August 2011

Tucking Cali in tonight I switched her from her undies to a diaper for night time.  To this Cali (in her best robot voice) says: "I am Cali-bot and I don't like diapers!"

Out of nowhere Cali checks out her outfit a exclaims... 

"Oh mom! I have polka-dots on my pants! I love polka-dots"

me: "Oh ya?!"

Cali: "Ya I do! Hey Mom, we should get a shirt with polka-dots!"

I have a confession, I am in awe of our three amazing girls.  I thank my Father in Heaven daily for our daughters.  

Every day with them is a blessing.  I wake up with a smile on my face when I hear Cali calling out, "Mommy I'm awake now!  Mommy I had a good sleep!" Cali is like the sunshine, bright and happy.  She has the ability to make gloomy days cheerful, starting when she rises!

I smile to myself when I hear Nyah singing in the morning.  Did you know that girl was born singing?! Well technically screaming, but we think she was really just trying to sing.   Nyah literally wakes up every morning and sings and I love it.  Jeremy and I joke that her future husband is in for it, he will never need an alarm clock because Nyah can not help herself she, just has to sing!

Sade is my one girly that still lets me wake her up on occasion.  I get to snuggle her and kiss her and wake up those beautiful sleepy eyes of hers.  I get a smile, hugs and an "I love you mommy"  from her each morning.  I look forward to those moments.

I love being a mother.

Singing Around the Table

First Day of School 2011

Back to school fool

(Sorry,I couldn't resist!)

This year, the first day back to school was a little unorganized.  The morning of school I was getting over a bug so Jeremy took over, getting the kids up and ready for school.

Jeremy had scheduled to go to work late so we were so happy to spend the morning all together!

For an extra treat, we were invited to a neighborhood pancake breakfast (that was awesome!) and  

after breakfast nearly the whole neighborhood walked to school together in one big group.  

The camera came out for the mass walk to school and to capture our beautiful girls on the school grounds.

Nyah has started 3rd grade.  She already LOVES her teacher and has many friends in her class. Nyah is most excited to learn more about science, her favorite subject! Jeremy and I are in awe of the mature, funny, sweet girl Nyah is becoming!

Sade has now made the jump into First grade!  She is so excited to be on the "big kid's playground" and to have many of her kindergarten friends with her in her new class.  Sade's teacher is very nice so we think this will be another great year.  Jeremy and I love watching Sade grow, she is our smiley, fun, beautiful girl who loves to take care of others.

We wish our girls another great school year!!!

Back Too School Hair Cuts

Yesterday the kids and I had a "girls day" at the salon and out to lunch.  We went to a fun kids salon in our area where Nyah & Sade had there hair washed, cut and styled.  Nyah had a very specific haircut  in mind.  I called ahead to make sure Nyah could see a stylist who could do what Nyah wanted.  Even though I was assured the stylist could do the cut, Nyah ended up with hair an inch shorter than she wanted and honestly, a whole other cut entirely.  Still, I think she is as cute as ever botched hair cut and all.

Jeremy had no idea that we were getting hair cuts.  When he walked in the door the girls had a great time exposing their big surprise.  

 Why I love Jeremy Reason #1057

When his girls surprised him with their new looks, Jeremy made all the appropriate remarks.  

Oooing, aahing and telling each of them that they look beautiful. 

The girls go back to school this upcoming Monday. They can't wait to see all the friends they have missed and to start a new school year.  Third and First grade here we come!

Chatting

Yosemite 2011 part dos

Grab a seat folks the second half of our Yosemite pictures are in!

The second half of our Yosemite Pictures are here:

http://goo.gl/UmmWL

And because our vacations was in fact "more fun than a barrel of mokeys" here are some pictures to prove it:


Pirate Hunting...oh look Sade found one!

The time Kayla & I almost  got crushed to death. 
Thanks Rodger for coming to our rescue. Man that rock was heavy!

The Contortionist

The Hand of Unusual Size 

You know what they say, Two waterfalls in your hand is worth more than...hummm how does that go again?!

One last cheesy parting shot :)
Thanks for the memories

Yosemite 2011

Yosemite has to be one of our families all time favorite vacation spots.  We love the amazing scenery, spending quality time with family, the many many place to hike, and this year was even cooler because we brought our bikes and oh-my-gosh that part was awesome!  

Nyah & Sade did so well on our many bike adventures and Cali had a blast (as well as many naps) from her bike trailer seat.  Once or twice Jeremy and I had the chance to take off on our bikes, just the two of us. We explored parts of the Yosemite Valley that I'd never seen before.  

This year we had such a fun mix of family, extended family, and extended families family...hummm does that make sense?! Anyway we were surrounded by people we love and there were so many kids for our girls to play with that there was NEVER a dull moment.  Our girls were so sad to leave all the cousins behind.  If anyone is looking for a break from CA or UT we have some great homes in our area, hint HINT :)  

At the close of our trip we originally planed to travel from Yosemite to our parents in CA, stay a day or two then make the drive home to AZ.  After we reached our parents homes though, we realized the thought of unpacking and repacking our car was too much (also our beds were calling to us) so after some short visits, we loaded back in the car and drove all the rest way home.  We pulled into our driveway between 2 and 3 am Friday morning feeling happily exhausted and like we could sleep for a week! 

*I did a scary thing this trip*

(well scary for me anyway) I flipped my digital SLR to full manual mode, meaning I was responsible for setting everything: aperture, ISO, lens speed...everything. These terms still feel foreign to me but with the help of my book: Digital SLR's for Dummies & some good old trial and error I am forcing myself (& Jeremy) to figure this thing out!

Here is the link to view just some of the MANY pictures Jeremy and I took :  http://goo.gl/UmmWL

We have more pictures to add so some of these pictures may be removed after a while to make room for more (I'm limited to how much memory I can use).

*Another Note*

I thought this web album would allow the pictures to be uploaded and shared easily but as it turns out, Picasa greatly reduced each image's file size.  If you know of a better way to share pictures pleas feel free to let me know!

Or if you want a particular pictures emailed to you just let me know :)

Goodbye Yosemite, miss you already!

4th of July in CA

We had a whirlwind 2 week vacation that had a very bumpy start.  I'll let Jeremy tell THAT story but I will say that it does involve a packed car, 117 degree weather, and some radiator fluid to the face!  

So flash forward to our arrival in CA.  We had a week at my parents house during which we had a nice lazy 4th or July planned.  Think swimming, ice cream and of course neigborhood fireworks.  

Also another story worth sharing (again I'll make Jeremy tell it as he was there and I wasn't) involving hot ash to Sade's eye...I know what you are thinking, "where can I sign up for such an exciting trip!"...sorry to say, you just can't plan our kind of fun!

So for the 4th we hung out at my parents, hit the H&M sale at the Northridge Mall, and watched our own personal firework show.  I pulled out the tripod and thought I'd play a little with our camera.  Here are some images featuring our main entertainment... the one of Jeremy is my very favorite!

We loved every minute of our trip and only wish we could have crammed in a few more visits.  To those who we missed, we will be sure to come out again soon! 

Our Home Decor... So Far

Long overdue are pictures of our home.  I have been asked a lot recently what our house looks like so I thought I'd share some of our progress so far.

Firstly I should say that our house was in immaculate condition when we purchased it.  The former owners didn't leave a speck of dust in the house (truly, even behind the toilet and inside all the drawers were cleaned...I checked).  


The  problem: 
a house that didn't feel like us 
and drab paint colors = a cave like feel 


Even the ceiling of the living room as well as the spindles on the staircase were painted the same color of the wall (seriously don't know what they were thinking there)  Anyway to make a long story short, the yucky brown colors had to go!  Slowly but surely we have been making the home ours, one paint stroke at a time.  We've got a LONG way to go but we are so happy with the progress we've mad so far!

Just in case you were wondering what we started with, here are the before pictures. These were taken from the previous owners house lisiting :

Today our walls are repainted a pretty grey color. Other than the new paint and a few pieces of art, our walls are still pretty bare (because I want to either paint, draw, or photograph most of what were are displaying).  This makes more work for me but the personal touches are so worth it!


*side note* if the walls are still bare in a few months I may alter this opinion.

Now for the best part!!! These are the after pictures... at least up to this point:  


{Entry and Living Room}

{Living Room & Freshly Painted Spindles}

{Family Room}

As you can tell I've made good friends with Mr. Paint Roller as well as all of the very helpful people that work at Home Depot.

Things that Make Me Say "YUM"

Lately I realized that I was seriously slacking in the cooking department... 

I think I had a month where the only thing I made was cereal! Yikes! 

Jeremy had put on the chef hat while I lagged. Knowing that this was not entirely fair to him, I set out to redeem my self this month.  

I don't normaly photograph my food, but the wraps and cupcakes turned out so pretty I had to snap up some pictures, the rest of our meals have not been photographed 

(the last image was borrowed from the recipe's website) 

Here are some of the things I've made...

 Chicken Cordon Bleu Wraps

and these...

Lemon-filled cupcakes

and most recently this!

Garlic Chicken Farfalle 

I've tried a lot of new recipes recently and so far everything has turned out fabulous.  Thank goodness for all the wonderful cooking blogs out there in blog-land with easy to follow instructions!!!

These are a few of my favorites recipes from this month. Follow the link if you would like to try these too.

Hear My "Song"

Click the link to hear my song...

ok "song" is used here loosely, but this interactive Google guitar is so fun to play with, that I had to record something!

http://goo.gl/doodle/CZm9z

If you liked Google's Les Paul tribute, you might also enjoy this working Pac-Man tribute...I know I do!

http://www.google.com/pacman/