A first

This is a sampling of Jaydon and Joel's first violin recital. Emily's an old hand at this...she's done it several times...but had a few jitters with Grandma and Grandpa S. in the audience. (and cousin Lauren). Enjoy!
(the first one is Joel, second is Jaydon):


(We're working on Emily's...it's a longer video...)

where has December gone???

Here are a few things we've done already this December. Where the time is going, I have no idea!!! But we must be filling the hours with some fun stuff, 'cuz we have a few pictures to show...

We celebrated Ryan's birthday with a few friends. It's all about blowing out candles and eating cake, right? Well, there was plenty of that! A super-chocolaty-death-by-chocolate-made-to-order birthday cake was enjoyed by all.


We then went to our Ward Christmas Party. We ate LOADS of turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and all the fixin's! (not to mention the 20 rolls devoured by my 4 kids alone). Complete with homemade pies and candy-cane ice cream. Oh yum!

The entertainment for the evening was supposed to be Karaoke for the adults...but as you can see, it was sort of taken over by the youngsters in
attendance. Don't get me wrong, there were a few great adult performances, but for the most part I think Emily had a mic. in her hand 80% of the night! That girl loves to belt it out!!







On Saturday, we had a little craft project. The kids made a candy Christmas Tree to take to a sweet, sweet Sister in a local Convelcent home . The kids were a little nervous, though we've been there several times before. But they joined in singing loud and clear and gave Pam her beloved Christmas Tree! (I would post pictures, but it was too dark in her room).


No wonder I don't blog too often...as I write, the kids are seeing how much mud they can get on their feet...in the back yard. Meanwhile, Ezra probably needs some MORE dry underwear... Until next time...we'll keep doing fun stuff and posting when we can!

Birthday Shout Out!!!

To my husband whom I don't deserve:
You are creative
You are talented
You are playful
You are very hard-working
You are motivated
You are thoughtful
You are funny
You are athelitic



You sacrifice for me (every day)



You are ambitious
You are the kind of father other dads want to be
You actually work at making dreams become realities instead of letting them pass you by
You serve
You laugh at my jokes (thanks for making me feel funny)
You are the computer "go-to" guy
You are handy
You can do ANYTHING (literally) you set out to do
You can build
You can cook
You can film
You can photograph
You can snuggle
You can sing lullabies to our kids
You are loyal
You are worthy....

The list is quite never-ending. I am the luckiest woman in the world to have you for MY husband!
Happy Birthday!

As a Mom

Today was the boys' first awards assembly at school. Usually in Kindergarten they don't join the "big kids" for this event. However, these two are in a combo. class so they get to attend. I was so happy to see Jaydon get up and receive his award for "People Respecting Others" (a very important skill for a kindergartener). He was so lit up on that stage to get his certificate. It was great to see him so happy. He sat down next to his brother (who did not get a certificate this time) and put his arm around him and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
My heart sank.
I ducked through the crowd over to where they were sitting to give a couple of hugs.
One as a "congratulations" and "great job".
The other as an "everything is going to be ok." and "don't worry there will be a next time".
My sweet Joel was upset and fighting back the tears. How do you tell a twin that shares just about EVERYTHING, that not ALL things in life will be the same, or equal? I tried to let him know that next time it will probably be his turn. (but inside my heart just broke to see him try to be tough against those tears.) I know this will be a good little lesson for him to learn about life. But it is so much tougher than it seems! (side note: It's been 4 hours since the assembly and he's doing just great :) ).


On a brighter note...Ezzy and I got to spend some time at the park today. I love to go and watch him climb, slide, swing and climb some more. Here, he was letting me know it was time to get going for his nap time! I just love how he snuggles.

Best Beach in the World

I know it's not very typical in December to be posting this kind of stuff, but there are a few places in the world that are just too awesome. This is Leo Carillo state beach. It's probably the last beach considered to be in the "Malibu" area. Every summer growing up my family camped for a week here and we watched many movies and commercials made here. What the photos don't show are miles of open sandy beaches, surfing, and pure awesomeness (a new favorite phrase from Kung Fu Panda). It's a popular place for the perfect sunset, pondering life, and hanging out. I recommend it to all.

A panorama of about 3 photos I put together. Cove 4 looking back at 3. Wish you could see it full size.

I saw this effect once and wanted to try it. Water can create the coolest effects with slow shutter speeds.

When I was 12 I found this cave on the fluke chance of the combination of low tide and sand levels. There already is a big popular cave there but I don't think very many know about this one. Last week I found it again and went in. Whoa! The walls were green and rocks purple. There was a very cool piratey vibe in there. I wanted to bury something and come back in 20 yrs to find it again.

The edge of cove 3 and a slow shutter.

Somebody kill me cause when I die, I'm hanging out on this lifeguard stand forever!

on a bargain

I bought this CD several years ago because it was about $1.00.

Ryan used it once in a home video-edit he did of our family.

My kid's listen to "The Christmas Song" on repeat ALL day.

They say it makes them think about when they were little (because now they must think they are SOO big ).

As obnoxious as it is sometimes to listen to the same song 100 times in a day, I don't think I could ever get sick of this one.