Happy Birthday R!

Yesterday we celebrated R's Birthday! Too bad he woke up with a headache and overall not feeling well. Sucks, doesn't it?

We had church in the morning and after our Sunday Quiet Time, we drove over to my mom's for a birthday dinner. My mom made us baked salmon and veggies, and I brought the cake. R kept telling me that he didn't need 33 candles on his cake.....but where's the fun without the fire hazard? Once he blew the candles out we were worried the smoke alarm would go off....but we were able to clear out the smoke. =) R was able to open up a few gifts from the kids and me, play a game of bocce ball against my mom (R won) and relax while my mom & I took the kids to the neighborhood park. Well, really R stayed at my mom's to fix my mom's computer/TV problems for her since my dad is in Saudi again.

It was a fun evening and were glad to celebrate R's birthday. We love you, R!

California Trip Part 4 -- Family Day

Our last day in California we spent with my entire family. We did family pictures in the morning at one park, then went to another park with more room for lunch and games. After the park, we all ended up at Steph's house for a light dinner and more games. It was a LONG but FUN day. Here's a picture of S waiting around while others were having their pictures taken.

S

S took this picture of me. Not bad for a 3 year-old, right?

I liked this one of R, my dad, and Brett.

 

MK really like Brett and would snuggle up to him. She was having a hard time while in CA--always needed to be held by me. No one else would do. My arms were quite sore by this point of our vacation. As long as she couldn't see me or hear me, she would calm down and enjoy the person she was with. Here's a picture of her with her cousins. She loved to look around her....I just had to be careful to not be in her line of sight or she'd lock her sights in on me and reach for me.

 

After lunch, Leslie goaded S on until he tackled Brett. It was hilarious to watch! Brett and S wrestled for a while....and S took Brett by surprise with his moves. S likes to practice at home with R and C. S was very determined.

 

And here is Brett admitting defeat.

 

We all gathered around to watch and play bocce ball....a Haws Family Tradition. Here I'm playing against Gerald. Leslie and I schooled Brett and Gerald. Whassup!

 

C is trying his hand a bocce ball. He'd try so hard to throw that ball....and it'd go maybe 5 feet. It was pretty funny.

 

And here is R sitting with MK watching the game.

 

R couldn't get time off of work to come to CA with the kids and I. He did, however, fly out to CA late Friday night and spent all of Saturday with us there. Then, lucky guy, he was there to enjoy the drive back to Utah on Sunday.

When we arrived in SLC, it was about 8:30 pm and S asked me, "Can we go to T's house for dinner?" Um, no. Sorry. "Then can we go to Lady C's?" Sorry, no. Not turning around and driving another 10-12 hours to do that. They miss their cousins.

It was such a great trip--being able to see my family, support my brother, enjoy some new adventures. It had been a year and half since the last time I was able to go out to CA. I'll have to see what I can do to make it happen more often.

California Trip Part 3 -- Graduation and Park

The main reason we trekked out to California was to be there for my brother's graduation. He received his doctorate degree in Math from UC Davis. WOW! I know. It was great to go to his ceremony and cheer for him when his name was called and he walked across the stage to be hooded and receive his diploma. He is currently driving cross country with his wife to his new job at University of Kentucky. Here is a picture with the kids waiting for the program to start. S fell asleep on the drive to the campus. He woke up a bit while we visited with Dave and Tami at an Ice Cream Social (I mean, who doesn't wake up for ice cream?) but is now just bored.

My brother Dave and his bride, Tami. Next year, it'll be Tami receiving her doctorate.

Luckily, David walked the stage pretty early on in the program because the kids were restless. I had quite a few "looks" from people sitting by us. One lady even told me I was brave to come with 3 small children, but what else am I to do if I want to support my brother? Well, once he walked the stage and we cheered, Leslie and I gathered up the kids and went outside to let them run wild while everyone else got their chance to walk. I let C, S, and Lady C use my camera to keep them entertained. They found a group of trees that they called their "jungle house" and played.

I thought this picture was pretty funny. It's Lady C pushing S in the stroller through their "jungle house." (photographed by C, copyright)

After the program, we took pictures and then went to dinner together to a great steakhouse. It was amazing how the noise level dropped considerably once we left. It was a fun day. The kids and I went back to Stephanie's house. The next day, Steph, J, & T took us to a nearby park that had a 3 story play sturcture and a water fountain play area. It was a bit chilly, but my boys were determined to play in water. (At Steph's they kept putting their hands in her pool saying it wasn't too chilly and can't we please swim. Yeah, right after this lightening storm passes.)

I can never get S to hold still for a picture...this is the best I got of him that day. Every other picture he is in motion....there was just so much for him to do and see, he didn't want to stop for a silly picture! If you can tell, he is rocking back and forth on his feet and saying "cheese." This is him posing for a picture....this is a common picture, just change backdrop and we have a million of these. Love the kid.

And here is C being silly....as usual. Like his fangs?

We packed up when it started to sprinkle and headed back to Stephanies.

California Trip Part 2 -- Jelly Belly Factory & Leslie's House

While visiting family in California, I took the kids to the Jelly Belly Factory. My sister, Steph, came along with her son T as well as my dad. It was a first for my dad. He said that mom always took us, and he had to work. The kids LOVED having Boppi (aka grandpa) along for the "field trip." We were able to get right in on a tour where we saw how jelly bellys are made from start to finish. They've changed the tour over the years....it used to be that the tour was along the factory floor. Now, we walk above the factory and view the goings on from the 2nd floor. Here is a picture before all the candy. Notice, they are standing still. Rare, I know. They just haven't had any candy yet.

 

Here is my dad at his inaugrual tour.

 

Everyone on the tour is required to wear a hat. Here's MK in her's. She wouldn't leave it alone.

Here is C already opening up and eating his free samples.

 

And this is S and his cousin T after the tour looking around the jelly belly store.

 

After we loaded up on Jelly Bellys, we had lunch at Wendy's. Then, we parted ways. The kids and I went down to Leslie's house while Steph, T, and dad went back up to Steph's house. C and S were excited to go see the "gingerbread" aunt. Last Christmas, Leslie made every grandchild their own gingerbread house that they got to decorate themselves. C thought that since we were going to Leslie's house that that meant he was going to do another gingerbread house. Um, no. He was slightly disappointed when I told him that there would be no gingerbread houses. They cheered up once we were there and they had more cousins to play with.

Here is Leslie's C holding MK.

 

I didn't get many more photos while playing with Leslie. It was just so nice to be there hanging out with my sister. We bbq hamburgers, got our eyebrows done, let the kids run wild, and sat around and talked. The kids had a sleepover in the living room. Leslie put out a queen sized air mattress for C, C and S. When I checked on them in the middle of the night after MK woke me up, Leslie's C was the only one still on the mattress! S had moved to the couch, and C was on the floor. Whatever.

Califonia Trip Part 1--Concrete Slides & Bike Rides

We had so much fun visiting family in California! We've been home 2 days now, but we are all still pretty exhausted from all we did. I wanted to post some fun pictures from our adventures last week.

First, the kids and I went to a park with my sister Steph and her son T. There is a park nearby that has concrete slides. We brought some cardboard along and let the boys go. Here's one of C.

 

I love the look on S's face on this one, even if you can't see him so well.

 

Later, once the others came home from school (they still had a few days left of school when we showed up), they all wanted to go on a bike/scooter ride. I forgot that CA has helmet laws and didn't bring the boys helmets, so they had to borrow some from their cousins. C's fit okay. But S's helmet barely stayed put. It was pretty hilarious. I thought that the helmet would be the reason for any falls he might have. But, S did great. They all went around the block a few times. Here's the group picture.

 

C posing for the camera, showing off his borrowed helmet.

 

Here's S coming in the home stretch. The helmet kept falling in his face. I love how he's trying to peek up to see. It reminds me of how he wears his hats. He likes to wear his hats down low over his eyes....maybe that's why this helmet didn't bother him at all.

 

The boys keep asking for their cousins. It was a fun trip. More pictures later.

A Recipe Coup!

I have been after my Grandmother's wheat bread recipe for years! I love my sister Leslie who has Grandma's old recipe box, but it has been hard to get it from her because, well, she has a life! Well, while I was in California visiting, I managed to "borrow" the box of recipes and took it to my other sister Stephanie's. Steph and I spent a couple of hours scanning the entire box of recipes. We now have over a hundred scans we need to type out of all of Grandma's recipes for all her favorite things! She had recipes for everything. I'm so excited! I was able to return the box to Leslie as promised, and now I have the wheat bread recipe. Score! Leslie, Stephanie, and I have all sorts of grand ideas about what to do with the recipes, but we'll see what comes of it. I would like to get them all typed up and put together for all the family. We all have some favorite recipe and fond memories of sitting in grandma's kitchen. I remember Grandma making mini loaves for David and I when we came to visit, so we had our very own loaf of bread. Looking back, she probably did that so that we didn't eat all the bread. So without any further ado, (drum roll please) here is grandma's recipe as written down.

Bread 50-50

10 Cups White Flour 3/4 Cup Sugar
12 Cups Whole Wheat Flour 1 Can Milk
2 Tlbsn Dry Yeast
6 Tsp Salt
3/4 Cup Shortening
2 Quarts Liquid (Water, Milk, or both)

Combine all ingredients and mix with hands until all flour is mixed in and will form a ball.

Visiting California

I've been lucky to be able to come to California for the week to visit with my family. My little brother just received his PhD in Math! That was fun to yell and shout for him when he walked across the stage to be hooded and receive his diploma. I've been playing with my sisters and nephews and nieces and parents. I'll post pictures later when I get home. I have to pick R up from the airport in a few hours....he couldn't get time off of work and will just join us for the weekend and the LONG drive back to Utah.

Our Funny Kids

I have some random pictures of our random kids.

First up is MK. Earlier this week during bath time, MK finished her bath, and I left her to play in the living room in just a diaper since it was still pretty warm. MK and S were playing in the living room while I went to help C finish up his bath. I left the bottle of lotion on the couch after using it on S thinking that MK couldn't reach it. I was wrong. I came out to the living room to find this.

 

Lotion everywhere on this little girl! She had managed to pump lotion all over her head. I asked S if he did this, which he denied. I'm not sure what to think because S will almost always tell us the truth even knowing he's going to have a time-out. But she got lotion all over her head! It was quite funny. I couldn't stop laughing. I quickly took this picture then grabbed a towel to clean her up. At least she's moisturizing, right?

Next up is C. C has be asking for goggles forever! I just never got around to getting him any last summer, and now that it's warm again he has been asking for goggles again and again. Two days ago while we were running errands getting ready for our trip to CA, we stopped at Costco. Before I even parked the car, C reminded me that Costco has goggles and won't I please buy him goggles. I did indeed buy him googles, and he wouldn't let go of the box the rest of the time in the car. As soon as we got home, he asked me to open the packaging. I opened it up and then went about unloading the car. Next thing I know, I see C watching TV like this.

 

Yesterday, we while we were out and about we made our first stop at the post office. I turned around to help S out of his car seat and had a surprise. His big brother had helped S wear his goggles.

 

I thought they were going to wear them inside, but C insisted they needed to take the goggles off so they didn't lose them. But yes, they wore the goggles in the car between every stop.

Batter-up!

 C at bat

C had his first T-ball game today. The whole fam went to watch him play. C did a great job and nailed a few out of the infield :). We still need to work on the running part after the hitting part, but he's getting there.

R has been trying out his new fancy camera and took a few pictures at the game. Here's one with A and MK that we really like. They were supposed to be watching C play T-ball, but MK can't focus when the camera is out.

Me and MK