Lights, Camera, Mouse

This week we went on a very special tour of the Disney Studios in Glendale California.  We were given a tour by a friend of our that works there.  It was very fun.  We saw the buildings where the different divisions were house.  We didn't realize just how big Disney is!  There were several different divisions.  The building just to house all of the lawyers was huge!  Our friends was fantastic.  He pointed out several areas of interest, Disney Lore, and history lessons about the rise of Disney.  We learned a lot and really enjoyed our tour.

Reunited

My family is together once again!  Maddie and Jayd came home from Utah today to spend the Christmas Holiday with us.  The house was full, and boisterous as we quickly caught up on all the news.  Gabe was thrilled that Jayd was able to bring home 3D print of a companion cube.  It was made at Jayd's school library.  We didn't think that it would be done until January.  Maddie and Patrick were given the tour of the wedding preparations, and briefed on what still needs to be done.  We had a great time at family home evening.  We couldn't seem to stay on topic for more than 2 minutes.  It was just like old times.  We are excited to have them home for the next two weeks.

Radioactive

Once again, Gabe played volleyball at the Rec Center this year.  It was a little strange to go there without Jayd, but many of his friends were still there, so we felt right at home.  Gabe's team was named Radioactive to go along with their neon green t-shirts.  Gabe was quite the player this year.  His serving has become much more consistent, and he even hit a few of his jump serves over the net.  In addition to passing and setting, he is becoming a force at the net, jumping and tipping the ball back to the other side before it even came over.  Prior to this year, that wasn't allowed, but a local rule adaptation allowed him to have a few plays where he tipped it back over the net multiple times.  He was tickled to be on the same team as one of his best friends, Cayden.  They had a great time goofing off at the practices, but eventually noticed that they were never placed next to each other during a game.....I wonder why.....

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we were bold and daring and did something that we have never done for this holiday since we were married.  We left the state that we were living in and actually traveled for this holiday.  The only other time we left the state, we broke down an eighth of the way into the trip and spent Thanksgiving on a bus trying to get home.  So for 20+ years, we have stayed within 60 miles of where we were living for thanksgiving.  However, with two of our children in Utah this year, and a whole week out of school, we headed up to Utah to spend the holiday with our children and Jeff's parents.  We had a great dinner, and a memorable holiday with our family. 

Its a Mystery...

Jeff, Gabe and I went to the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz.  It is a mountain where gravity does not behave normally.  We had a fabulous time exploring this cabin that was mysteriously pulled to the center of the anomally.  There we were able to experience the full force of this mysterious enigma.  We stood like supermen on tables.  Balls rolled uphill, and we hung at angles from the wall.  We could walk up ladders.  We could definitely feel the effects of the gravity anomaly as it gave us quite a headache!  Throughout the entire place, Gabe kept saying, "This just isn't the right physics!".....or is it?  We had a great time at the mystery spot.

Walking into the sunset and rising with the dawn

As we hit another anniversary, it feels a little like we are walking into the sunset.  Our family that lives at home has been cut in half, our daughter is getting married, and a son is preparing for a mission.  But as this picture show us walking into the sunset of the "raising children" chapter of our lives (we still have many more years of minor children ahead, but we are 3/4 of the way done), it also feels like we are preparing to embark on a new chapter of life.  One that is full of promise and possibilities, like the rising of dawn.  I am grateful to have spent many years with my husband and look forward to spending many more years with
him in a new walk of life.

Way Down South

Yesterday, Gabe, Jeff and I went to the Civil War Reenactment.  As it turns out, the biggest, and bestest civil war reenactment west of the Mississippi happens with 100 miles of where I live and I have never been there.  I have dragged my family to Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Manassas (Bull Run) and other civil war sights, but haven't seen the best reenactment west of the Mississippi.  So last Saturday, I decided to drag my family (or what was available) to see the battles.  I thought that my husband and son would enjoy the show, but they were more hesitant than I thought they would be.  Eventually we compromised on half a day with 2 battles.  Since Maddie had a Civil War type costume, I dressed as a Southern Belle, while Jeff tried his best to look like someone from that time period.  Gabe flat out refused to wear anything but a t-shirt and shorts but it turned out he fit in with the crowd a little better than we did, but didn't have nearly as much fun.
The event was fun.  We arrived just in time to see a cannon demonstration and catch the last dance of the afternoon.  Jeff agreed to dance with me and we had a great time whirling around the floor.  I have to admit, it is much more fun to dance a Victorian dance in a hoop skirt!  After the dancing, we saw our first battle.  It was interesting.  The troops maneuvered around the field, always staying about 150 feet away from each other and then shot at the other side.  Someone would fall "dead" (although not many people "died".  My guess is that many more died in the war and it was probably a lot noisier because the real wounded ones probably were screaming).  They were shooting real guns with blanks in them, so it was very noisy.  The cannons were being fired on each side, and they even had a calvary battle with brandished swords in the background.  It was fascinating.
After the battle, we wandered around the campsites.  They looked very real, I think that several people were really staying the night and "living" in the time period, cell phones excepted.  We saw photography demonstrations, newspapers, dressmaking, and other things.  Then they had another battle at twilight.  The fighting wasn't very exciting, they were simulating a real battle where the North just marched across a field to engage the South and were completely slaughtered along the way.  So the troops didn't manuever, but since it was dark, the rifle and cannon fire lit up the night and was very fun to watch!  We had a great time spending half the day 150 years ago in a land far away.

Halloween

With all the sewing I have been doing for other projects over the summer, I just wasn't that into halloween this year.  Gabe wanted to do a theme from a video game with one of his friends, and Allie was going to wear her costume from last year. I made my costume for the volleyball tournament, and I thought that I was done for the year.  But then I discovered something about myself.  I really like dressing up!  I always said it was for the kids, but no, I couldn't do it, I could not go to the ward halloween party as myself.  So with 24 hours left to go, I decided to make costume for Jeff and I.  I just went simple, Sugar and Spice.  Allie thought it was so cute, she wanted to join us, so I quickly added Everything Nice to our theme.  We were very cute (when together), and had a good time at the ward halloween party.
Halloween night the kids went trick or treating with their friends.  Again, I felt like I was missing an important part of the holiday!  Since we don't get trick or treaters, I couldn't face the concept of just sitting at home and missing the holiday celebration.  So for a mini-date, Jeff and I went around to see some of the creatively decorated houses in the city.  There was a really scary one, complete with skelton projections on the window that really looked like skeletons trapped inside the house.  Another was completely decked out like pirates of the carribean.  It was a really fun, simple and satisfying way to celebrate the holiday without trick or treaters.

V.B.B.C (Volleyball Best Birthday in Costume)

This Saturday, I had a bit of a conflict.  Allie's marching band had a large competition and they needed all hands on deck to help out as volunteers.  It was also the day of the doubles beach volleyball tournament.  It was originally scheduled for September, but was postponed October.  The preference for the volleyball tournament was obvious, but I was feeling a little guilty about the band.  After a quick thought, I came to the conclusion that for my birthday, I wanted Jeff to work in the snack shack while I played at the tournament!  What a perfect solution.  It was a costume tournament, so I went as Pebbles Flintstone.  It was a round robin doubles tournament, so we played with a different partner each match.  Then we added our individual points from each game to get a score.  I had a great time playing in the pool play, and was surprised that I just barely squeaked into the playoffs!  I was out in the first round, but very happy that I made it at all.  The beach was lovely, a perfect day, not too hot, not too cold, with a gentle breeze wafting across the sand.  It was a perfect birthday.  It turned out that the volunteer assignment only slightly overlapped with the tournament, so he was able to come and watch me play for a while and still get back in time.

Frightful Days

Yesterday Gabe and I went to Universal Studios.  We have season passes this year.  I just wanted to see all of the halloween decorations for the season, so I had to go before the end of the month.  We didn't have much time, but that is the beauty of the season pass.  You can go for just a few hours and not feel too bad!  We went for about 2 hours, saw all of the decorations, and a few small halloween shows, a monster stomp and a vampire haunt.  Then we watched the Waterworld show so we could sit in the splash zone and cool off.  Then we were done for the day!  It was a great little side trip.

Scouting

This week Gabe's scout troop had a court of honor.  It has been a little while since the last court of honor for our ward, so it seemed like all of the boys were receiving multiple awards.  Gabe earned 11 merit badges, including 8 eagle merit badges.  In addition to the merit badges, he moved up three ranks, having completed his 2nd class, his 1st class and star ranks.  We put the pin on him for his 1st class during the ward presentation, then the star award was given later.  He was a little bummed, the pin for first class was much larger than the pin for star, and he only got to wear it for 10 minutes!  We are proud of our little scouter.

Marching to the Beat of the Drum

Allie and Gabe marched in our local parade the other day.  As a member of the marching band, Allie was required to be there.  Despite the fact that he doesn't even go to high school, Gabe was marching along with her as part of the marching band.  The band director requested 5 siblings to carry the signs at the front of the band.  Allie was very eager to sign Gabe up for the task.  Gabe was okay with it until it dawned on him that he was going to have to walk the entire length of the parade!  But he was faithful and went anyways.  As a bonus for him, he happened to know the other boys that came to hold the signs and they had a pretty good time hanging out despite the long arduous 3/4 of a mile walk.  They looked great marching together to the constant beat of the drum.

Two birds with one song

Last night, we attended the BYU-UCLA football game.  Since the BYU football team doesn't make an appearance in Southern California very often (twice in 20 years), we try to attend the games when they do come.  We had been planning to go to the game for a few months when Allie's marching band instructor interrupted our plans.  The marching band was going to be performing that night...at the BYU/UCLA game in the Rose Bowl!!  We couldn't believe our luck!.  The one football game that we were planning to attend, Allie would be playing at half time.  It was like killing two birds with one song.

Gabe, Jeff and I had a great time at the game.  We ran into several members of our ward there, and sat with them during the game.  The support for the BYU team was evident with many, many fans throughout the stadium.  For half time, 20 of the area's best marching band (including ours) marched out onto the field with the UCLA marching band and performed a few songs together.  It was really fun to see Allie down on the field.  She even happened to be on the big screen!  We nearly won the game, we led the entire game until the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter when it was the other team's turn to pull off a miraculous win.

My like is opening up....

With the subtraction of two teenagers from my home, my life is starting to open up a little.  There are less children to care for, which leaves more time for me.  There are new possibilities staring me in the face.  There is time to explore new avenues, new routes and directions to go in life.  With the future an open book for me, for the moment I decided to opt more tangible new avenues, routes and directions instead of the metaphoric ones.  After 5 years of waiting and anticipating the door, of door jamb framing being walled up, it has finally happened.  I put a new door into the house.  Now my house is directly connected to my garage.  No more cold toes as I run from the front door to the garage!  No more wondering if I will be caught going to the garage in my jammies!  No more walking around the entire house from my bedroom to get the tape measure.  I can see the future, and it is a shorter distance to my car!  I will worry about all that other stuff later.

August Changes

Yes, it is that time of year, the weather gets colder, the leaves start falling off the trees, and the kids head back to school.....Wait! I live in California, it is hotter than blazes, and the leaves, trees and grass are dying due to drought, but, the kids did head back to school this week.

 Gabe headed off to middle school.  As a returning student, he was ready for the upcoming changes.  The other two boys in his carpool were new to the school.  He is doing a great job of being the go-to guy for them.  He was surprised on the first day of school to be put into concert band.  He had requested a science elective for the year, but was not placed in that class.  Even though concert band was his second choice, he is excited to be playing a new instrument, the bass clarinet.  It looks like a cross between a clarinet and a saxophone and is very large!  He loves playing it.
Allie has started highschool.  Due to band camp, she went to school with confidence that she would have friends and know her way around.  She has six classes.  It should be a challenging year for her, but I think that she is up to the task.  She started seminary on Tuesday.  We haven't made it on time yet, but are still hopeful that we will perfect that task soon.
Yeah, life will return to a normal schedule and routine....Wait!  I still have two college students that are not in any sort of routine for 2 more weeks......Maybe my routine is just chaos.

Allie's Birthday

Allie turned 14 this week.  Her birthday was on Tuesday.  She was very excited for her birthday this year.  Typically, Allie's birthday is during the summer vacation and often we are out of town for her birthday.  She has longed for a real celebration for her birthday for years.  This year was the best so far.  She wasn't in school, but she was attending band camp every day during the week.  So she spent her birthday with friends from school.  She brought cookies to share with everyone, then invited some of the girls over to our house after camp was over for a birthday party.  They played games, ate food, opened presents, and watched a movie.  Allie had a great day and finally was able to celebrate with friends ON her birthday.

Allie Personally

Allie has completed quite a milestone in her life.  Last week she was awarded her Personal Progress Award in the Young Women's Program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  To attain this award, she needed to do 7 projects of at least 10 hours each, read, ponder and apply many scriptures to her life, often for a period of several weeks, and read the Book of Mormon for herself.  It is a lot of work, and takes constant effort to accomplish.  Not only was she able to do it, but she did it in less than two years.  She set the goal to complete it before she was 14.  There were some times filled with anxiety when she wasn't sure that she would be able to accomplish her goal, but she worked very hard and was able to finish.  We are so proud of her!  Since she still has 4 years as a young woman, she is going to work on it again, this time she is mentoring another girl who just entered the program.  We hope that this journey will help to strengthen her testimony and lay a foundation for a successful life.

Cast Off

It has been a little while since I wrote in the blog, but it has been an extremely busy month!  I could go into great detail of our family activities, but I will start with the greatest family activity inhibitor.  Just this week, it was removed and will no longer overcast our summer!  So here it is.....drumroll.....Gabe broke his wrist.  Yes, about a month ago he was trying out skateboarding, fell and broke his wrist.  He had a cast put on that completely immobilized his thumb and extended to his elbow on the day we left for vacation!  I have had three casts put on my children, and two of them were put on the day I was leaving the state.  My children don't have the best timing.  He chose a black cast to prevent aunts, uncles and cousins from writing on it.  We recently returned home from vacation, and soon after, went to the doctor to have the cast removed.  He says that his wrist feels fine, although a little stiff from being still for so long.

Scout Camp

For the past week, Gabe has been at scout camp up in the mountains.  He had a great time.  He worked on the swimming merit badge.  Even though we had practiced swimming for two weeks prior to going to camp, he still found completing the swimming merit badge was quite a challenge in the high altitude.  But he managed to complete all of the requirements.  He also earned the environmental science merit badge.  It is required, but Gabe's only comment was that the classes were really boring.  He made up for the boredom of environmental science with an exciting rifle shooting merit badge.  Upon coming home, he informed me that he is now fully qualified to shoot guns with Uncle Nate this summer.  He also did the wood working merit badge.
In addition to the scheduled activites, Gabe participated in several other activities to earn extra patches.  He did the polar bear swim every morning.  Since there wasn't any ice, they had the boys wake up really early in the morning and be splashed in the cold, then stay out of the water for a few minutes acting like polar bears.  It was really cute and silly.  He also went climbing on the rock wall.  He was able to secure an opportunity to go on a horseback overnight camp.  He said that was fun.  All in all, it was a week of learning some great life skills and playing with the boys.

For the First Time in Forever

For the first time, this week we attended the temple as an entire family.  Seven years ago, Maddie received her limited use recommend for the temple.  Jayd quickly followed.  Over the years, we have made it a point to take them to the temple as often as possible.  Most of the time, Jeff would take them since he was a priesthood holder and could participate in the ordinances as well.  It was a special time for the older two to spend with Jeff.  It was also a special time for me to spend with the younger two children.  While on vacation, we would often choose a few temples to do baptisms.  There were many occasions while traveling where we sat on the temple grounds, talking about the temple, and the work that was performed inside while we waited.  Allie and Gabe eagerly anticipated the day when they would be old enough to go inside the temple instead of waiting outside with me.
That day has finally come.  We attended the temple this week as a complete family.  It was a very sweet experience.  We were able to do some family file names.  We baptized a dad and his four children, two sons and two daughters.  It just felt symbolic to begin the process of reuniting that family while bringing our own family closer to heaven.  It was a great day at the temple, and a
fulfillment of one of my lifelong dreams, to be with all of my children in the temple.

Jayd's graduation

 We aren't done with graduations this year.  Jayd also graduated from highschool.  It is so hard to believe that four years have just flown by.  Then I look up at him, and while straining my neck, it doesn't seem quite so hard to believe.  Jayd has done so well through school.  He has done well in his classes,and taken some different and interesting classes through the years.  He has made some great friends that will last him for many more years.  I was quite proud of my graduate.  Now he is on to better and greater things.

Allie's graduation

 This week, Allie graduated from Middle School.  I remember all the anxiety and fear of starting middle school just two years ago.  I thought they would be very long years.  But as things turned out, they have been much better than I ever anticipated.  Allie has done very well in middle school.  She made many new friends, successfully negotiated dealing with multiple teachers and classrooms, and embraced a new skill as she learned to play the flute.  She earned the presidential award as well as several excellence awards at the graduation.  We are very proud of her and looking forward to beginning her high school years.

A little tooshie love

After way too many years, yes, years of saying that we were going to get a new couch, and sitting on boards in between the cushions.  We all had our "positions" where we could lay just right so that all of the squishy parts of your body went over the boards.  Another long loved solution was the correct amount and positions of the pillows to prop up the deficient areas.  It was a great family joke for way too long.  But at long last, it is over.  We have purchased a brand spanking new couch for our family room.  It is a chocolate brown color, and is a very soft material.  It is a little bigger than our old couch.  We are able to comfortably seat 3 watching the small TV, and 5 watching the monstriTV.  It is quite an improvement.  We are still adjusting to the size, pillow arrangement, etc, but our tooshies are grateful to be rid of the awful boards!

A little RCC

Jayd and I played in the 3rd annual RCC (Ramon Calderon Cup) sand volleyball tournament.  For this tournament, you sign up as an individual, and then they put together the teams.  Luckily for me, Jayd and I were placed on the same team along with my good friend, Vicki and another player that we didn't know previous to the tournament.  Despite a rainstorm on Thursday, and a cloudy, overcast day at home, the weather at the beach was picture perfect.  It was sunny and eighty degrees.  Our team worked together well.  With the boys doing most of the hitting and blocking, Vicki and I split the setting and digging in the backcourt duties.  Our team did well, we only lost 1 game during pool play by one point, then lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament play by just 2 points.  It was a very fun and relaxing day.

Primary no More

This week Gabe turned 12. So this week was my first week without a child in primary in 16 years.  It was a very sad for me.  I am still in primary (15 years and counting!), but my children are not, they have moved on to better things!
We had a grand celebration.  On his birthday, Allie invited two of his friends over to ambush him when he came home from scouts.  I think she had more fun planning the ambush than Gabe did being ambushed, but it was all done with love.  He certainly enjoyed having his friends over for the afternoon.
Since 12 is a super birthday, we also had a grand party for Gabe on Friday afternoon.  Twenty boys came to the park to play Capture the Flag with Gabe.  It was quite the party.  They had a great time running all over the park, attacking and retreating, and imprisoning each other.  It was very fun.

Mormon Prom

Last night was the Mormon Prom.  Each year, our stake sponsors a prom event for the youth.  It is for the youth that are 16-18 years old.  They provide a dinner and dancing for the evening at a very reasonable cost.  They do require that the youth come as couples.  Jayd was able to escort a very lovely young lady to the prom last night.  He went with a bunch of his friends in an enormous van.  I was told that he and his date raced to the van to get the back seats, then climbed out the back upon arrival.  Sounds just like Jayd!  They had a nice evening and topped it off with a trip to McDonald's.  All of the couples looked so nice and fancy.

Maddie is home!

Our darling daughter Maddie came home this week.  It has been exciting and interesting to have her home this week.  We all are going through a little transition, good and bad, but definitely more good than bad.  Allie was so excited to have her sister back home, but had to spend several days cleaning her room, and now needs to keep it cleaner.  We spent a few days with suitcases strewn all over the floor, but have settled in.  Maddie stuck to her college schedule and started a movie at 10 pm.  That kept mom up until 1:00 am on a school night and made for a slightly grumpy mom the next day.  But then Maddie made it up by taking Allie to her high school open house that night while Mom went to the volleyball game.  Jayd has enjoyed having someone his age around the house.  They have spent many hours hiding in his room talking and having fun.  In addition, he is taking advantage of having a personal tutor around.  Gabe has just flown under the radar, but is taking advantage of that strategy to get extra video game time....that will come to an end this week!  Jeff is enjoying having a fellow night owl around the house.  In a nutshell, it is nice to feel a little more complete as a family.  We are looking forward to spending the summer together all in the same house!

Campboree

Last weekend, Jeff and Gabe went to Campboree.  It is a huge event for the scouts in our area.  They all camp on a Friday night, then there are activities all through the day on Saturday.  Jeff was astounded at the magnitude of this event.  He said that there were probably over 1,000 scouts there.  Gabe had a good time doing the scheduled events, but his favorite part was the free time after the schedule had been completed.  With his best friend, Nathan, he headed straight to the mountain bike course where they rode bikes around for a long time.  It was a great campout, and some good bonding time for Jeff and Gabe.

Allie

Since Allie doesn't generally participate in many organized activities, it seems like she is overshadowed by her brother's active lives.  So I thought I would just take a moment to talk about my sweet Allie.  She brings so much life and joy into this family.  She is always working on a project.  Sometimes they are very secretive, she wants to unveil the finished product.  So we just shake our head and try not to ask why so many supplies are shifting around the house.  She is a very lighthearted and happy girl.  She giggles so easily.  It is hard not to enjoy being with her because she laughs so much.  She often can lighten the mood and disperse an air of grumpiness that seems to often surround her younger brother.  I am grateful that Allie is a part of our family. 

Easter Egg Hunt with a Twist

Over the years, the Easter Bunny has had a few helpers around our house.  As the older two became more familiar with the Easter Bunny, they were sometimes recruited to be helpers for the younger two.  Now, the younger two are old enough to be helpers, but there aren't any younger children to delight with the treats left by the elusive bunny.  Allie and Gabe felt cheated out of their opportunity to be a helper, so they decided to complete the circle of life.  They hid the eggs for Jeff and I.  They felt that after years and years of not hunting eggs and taking pictures instead, it was finally our turn to scurry around the yard in search of delicious treats while Allie followed us with the camera.  It was a fun twist on Easter.  Of course, at the end of the hunt, everything needed to be divided evenly!

Breaking into Spring

This year we have started Spring Break the right way.  We headed to the beach, which was a great start, but it became even better when our friends came with us.  Since their plans were cancelled, the Buscos joined us at the beach.  It was a gorgeous day, the weather was sunny, and calm.  We spent the day playing volleyball, and riding the waves.  The waves were huge and powerful.  We didn't dare go out to where they were breaking, but they were coming in with enough force to catch them on a boogie board and go hurtling toward the shore long after they had crashed.  After playing and swimming all day, it was nice to just sit on the shore, watch the waves crash, listen to the rythmic sound of the ocean and just relax.  It was a fun day.

Engaged

This week, Maddie and Patrick Hodge became officially engaged.  We knew there were some discussions about this subject between them, but weren't sure of the timing of things.  Now it is official!  They are talking about having the wedding in early 2016 in Los Angeles.  The reaction here at home has been wide.  We are excited to be gaining a son/brother-in-law, but sad to be losing a daughter/sister (in a sense).  Allie is especially sad that her sister is not going to return home to live again.  Her only comfort is that after August, she will only have one brother to contend with instead of two!  I would post a picture, but I really don't have anything to post yet, as they are in Utah!

Pi Day

As some of you may know, our family has been celebrating Pi Day (3-14), the day of the first 3 digits of Pi,  for many years now.  A few years ago, we looked up "Super" Pi Day where the next two digits of Pi would be included in the date.  We were delighted to discover that it would be soon, in just a couple of years.  So the plans began many years ago, and finally came to a culmination yesterday.  To celebrate Super Pi Day, we made nine dessert pies, and two meal pies.  We had egg and sausage breakfast pies for breakfast.  We even pulled off the road to celebrate "Super-de-Dooper Pi Second", 9:26:53, which added the next 5 digits of pi.   We ate some apple pie and took a picture to celebrate the moment.  We had apple and blueberry pie for lunch (along with a subway sandwich).  We were supposed to have deep dish pizza pie for dinner, but due to an excessively long volleyball tournament day, we postponed the pizza pie until Sunday and just ate dessert pie for dinner.  We had sour cream apple, strawberry, cheesecake and raspberry cheesecake, mint oreo ice cream, and banana cream pie for dinner.  We finally rolled into bed around 11:00 with full and happy tummies.  We determined that the mint oreo ice cream was easily a favorite, and the raspberry cheesecake a surprise favorite.  Really, they were all excellent pies and we felt that "Super" Pi Day had been celebrated properly.