October 2013

As I uploaded all these photos I realized how much fun stuff our family does, but also how lopsided a representation it is of a life to show only the photos of the highlights. If I would have taken pictures of the dish-washing and homework-trudging and tantrum-calming and patience-losing, it would be a more homely picture but a more accurate one. Let alone if I could have taken pictures of my mental landscape - my brain would not have been saying "cheese." But here is what I took photos of during October. There have been challenges, but there have also been many many happy moments! It's lovely for me to take a moment to gather and post them.

Back to School night: a sample of Sophie's work. She wrote about playing with her cousins in Utah.

Lucy cutting onions. She loves to cook and loves to be goofy (and I love her to do both of those).

Lindsay with Baby Cousin at his 1st birthday party at the pumpkin patch, and Great-grandpa (Opa).

Cousins driving tractors at the pumpkin patch

More cousin time

I remember Lindsay at this pumpkin patch when she was just a tiny little toddler

Best buddies Sophie and Stone, choreographing a song and dance in the garage!

The Kellers drove down(!!!!!) to stay with us and go to Disneyland. We were so happy. Every moment with them was so joyful, I still feel a glow when I think of it. We are so excited to be reunited with these guys.

Stone got chosen to do the Jedi Training Academy!!!!

Lucy begged for months to start playing the trumpet. It seems a little harder than she thought it would be, but that girl is persistent!!

Family party welcoming Jessica and Edgar from Holland - Aunt Maryorie made this awesome Rice Krispy Treat skull

Lucy always accepts her daddy's rock-climbing challenges in the pool

Cousins on the tramp

Cousins in the hot tub

Cousins at the Halloween party - wow, we had a lot of cousin time in October! Awesome!

Visiting Northern California for a long weekend - on the first day we went to our favorite Children's Museum in the world - the San Jose Discovery Museum. The kids and I were sad when we saw the sign that prohibited kids older than 4 from entering one of their favorite parts that they used to go to when they were little. I can't believe I don't have anyone young enough to go!

What do I love about this? Everything. English, Spanish and Vietnamese directions. Garbage, Recyclables and Compost recepticles. We love you, Bay Area!!

Our Ward Halloween Party dance

Olé!!

One of my favorite moments: showing up to the Smiths to pick up Lucy and Sophie, and Stone seeing 12-year-old Will mowing the lawn and saying "I want to help you!" And Will says "Ok, come on Stone!" This is the village I want to raise my kids with daily at school and play dates and weekly at church. It is home to us.

Look closely, because you'll never see Erik wearing anything like that ever again. :) The National Western Rodeo was in San Francisco, so our friends organized a big group of families the weekend we happened to be in town!! Everyone dressed up and whooped and hollered for the buckin' broncos and American-flag-unitard-clad acrobats (Sophie says she now knows what she wants to be when she grows up).

Does anyone else feel like once a year is way too often to scrape the guts our of pumpkins? We did this out of pure love for our children. I hate those stringy wet gobs of glop. But they love the tradition so much. Sweet kids. 

Fun Monday Family Night, music playing in the garage as we scraped and carved

The kids had a couple of days of school off, so we took them to San Diego for a family Staycation. Stone had been begging to go to Legoland since we moved down here, so this was the day!! 

Next day: San Diego Zoo Safari park!

Amazing.

And tiring.

Last activity: the Cheetah run!!

The beach on Coronado Island

Playing on the sand "dunes" - look at that joy.

Family mini-golf. The kids' ages is SO FUN - my parents call this "the sweet spot" in a family where they're old enough to be independent and do fun stuff together; young enough to not be fighting their parents yet. This spot is sweet indeed.

A visit to the Mormon Battalion

What an amazing presentation! Probably the best exhibit of its kind I've ever seen, anywhere.

Our ancestors traveled across the plains in wagons like this. I wonder if Sophie and Stone look like any of them.

The Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. Sophie LOVES dinosaurs

And Lindsay does not!!

My run this morning. I usually don't bring my phone with me, but I'm so glad I did this morning so I could capture this glorious sunrise over the hills. 

These hills have brought me peace and solace during our year here. I have missed the ferns and redwoods - they speak to my soul, but I'm also fond of these desert hills.

Next.... selling the house and finding somewhere to live in Los Altos! The kids are still excited....