Gummy

Ethan lost his first two teeth! They were the first two that came in when he was a baby too. The first one popped out last night when he was eating pizza at his school's Fall Family Fun Night. He got $1 from the toothfairy. The other one fell out today when he was eating an apple.

Pretty exciting times around here!

Procrastination

I'm not sure why I've been putting off an update. Everyday I think to myself that I'd better get back on the blog-wagon and post the goings on in our family. Yet everyday I miss the wagon by being busy-busy-busy, then having to go to bed.
Adam is due to graduate from the school that he is going to one week from today, so I am super excited about that. He starts his new job right after that, and is very ready to get going. I'm very proud of him, his evaluations have been nothing but positive and even the training staff say he's an ideal choice for this position, which is great because they don't hand out compliments very freely.
I'm staying busy with the boys. I'm Ethan's Kindergarten classroom mom. I've been going to the gym at least three days a week, trying to reach a certain goal by Christmas.
Ethan is doing fantastic in Kindergarten, his best friend is Andrew, they have a great time together. He's managed to stay on 'green' (good behavior) every day except for one when he got on 'yellow' for meowing when he'd been asked not to. He's got his first loose teeth. One of them is ready any second now and the other is still working on it. He is an excellent reader and writer. He turned six last month (I failed to post anything about that, not my best performance). He loves to ride his two wheel bike, build legos, play Wii, and anything that has to do with Star Wars. He is funny, kind, smart, handsome, friendly, obedient, loving, eager to learn, good to be around.
Mason is as busy as ever. He loves playing with grandma and grandpa's dog Sis. He loves going to the gym to play with kids. He talks up a storm (those of you who know Ethan probably aren't terribly surprised since my kids have the chatter gene). I can understand 89% of what he says. He's desperately trying to give up mid-day naps, and I am desperately trying to see that he doesn't win this particular battle. He is a rascal, he is funny, he is energetic, he is loving, he is enthusiastic, he is determined, he is adorable.
As for our living situation, it is surprisingly fine. I was hugely worried about it, and while it's not perfect, it is working out very well. We have a financial goal and living here is helping us reach that goal much more quickly than if we were on our own. It has also been very beneficial while Adam has been so busy with school to have extra support and hands assisting me with my kids.
I don't love our new ward yet, but I'm working on it. I am currently serving as a Sunday School teacher for the 14&15 years olds and Adam is a Sunbeam teacher. We frequent Disneyland, since my in-laws were so generous and bought us season passes. We have been there about 10 times since we moved here.
I miss Arizona. Every time I see the desert landscape on TV I feel homesick. I do miss the desert, it really grew on me, and I even found it quite lovely. The heat, well, I could do without it, (you can't beat Orange County weather) but I miss Arizona. I miss my house, I miss my friends, I miss Gourmet Group, I miss being close to family, I miss my ward, I miss my neighbors, I miss the Mormon-ness, I miss the familiarity. I was happy there. I am now a member of the clube of the millions of people who love living in Arizona.
California will be good too.

Makings of a good wife according to Ethan

She has to be good at putting the baby to bed.

She has to be good at giving the baby it's pacifier when the baby is being a 'fussy bucket'.

She has to be a good milker.

First Day of School September 3, 2009

I'm a little late on the uptake here, but Ethan had his first day of Kindergarten! He was very excited to make friends and go to school. He was especially excited about reccess.

Here are some pics of my big boy:

Mason wanted a backpack too. Mason was the only one who cried when Ethan had to leave, I think they love eachother...

Suggestions

I'm teaching a class for Home Family and Personal Enrichment night in a few weeks. My subject is how to tighten our purse strings. I've got several ideas brewing, but could use the expertise from several of your frugal people out there. Any tips on how to save money on things from groceries to clothing to well.. just about anything. Also if you have any inexpensive meal ideas, that would be great too!

For Jodi

Part of this post is for Jodi, who made me sware on my life that my kids would be beach goers. I had not followed up on this promise until last Saturday. It's a shame really, we are rediculously close and I have been a slacker. I'm not sure who follows surfing news, but the weekend that we chose to go, the waves were enormous! The pictures do not do it justice. The beach patrol kept driving past telling us we were putting our lives at risk if we went in to the water more than knee deep, they'd had over 200 (I think thats right, if not totally accurate, very close thereto) rescues the day before. Mason had no problem following their advice, he isn't much for water. Adam on the other hand couldn't keep himself out. Ethan was okay to not be too deep in the water, but if conditions had been more agreeable he would have been boogie boarding.

Ethan is riding a bike with no training wheels! Hooray for Ethan! I know it's a little later than average, but he figured it out in about 3 minutes, so I'm sure he was ready a while ago and I just never got on top of it. We owe thanks to uncle Matthew for being the motivator.

Ethan can't wait to ride bikes with his cousins.

Carson City

The boys and I went up to my dad's house in Carson City for about 10 days, to see him, my sister Emily and brother Brent. My sister-in-law Erica came in from Texas with my nephew Dallin, and neice Bailey, and my grandma went up from the Bay Area, my brother Brian came up for the weekend (married to Erica). My aunt, Maryjo, rents a cabin at Lake Tahoe every summer, so we went to the beach for the 4th of July. The boys had an amazing time playing with their cousin and basking in being loved by my dad and grandma. We went to Virginia City and rode the train, visited my good friends Tammie and Becky, walked the Lake Tahoe Nature Trail, played at the park, ate 7 lbs of chocolate cake and 6.5 lbs. of apple pie over the course of 5 days between 5 people, went to dollar scoop Tuesdays at Baskin Robbins, chased Steve the cate, enjoyed fireworks, visited our old ward from when we lived there, Ethan went to the movies with dad and grandma. The boys spent every evening playing outside until bedtime (most of the time clothing was optional for Mason and Dallin) and eating popsicles, chasing the dog, squirting her with a squirt guns (hooray for the $1 store!), playing water-balloon toss, running through sprinklers. It was everything summer is supposed to be for little boys. It was so nice to be with my sister and sister-in-law, we laughed and laughed and ate lots of 'sensible' pieces of pie, I taught them the joy of pazookie and So-You-Think-You-Can-Dance. It was a perfect vacation, much needed. My dad's health is not great anymore, he's had to go on dialysis, so it is important to to me be sure my boys have as many good memories with him as possible, and I think I accomplished that with this trip. Here are lots and lots of pictures.

These two pics are to show how being outside playing with boys for long periods of time gently morph one into The Lord of the Flies, the one below show a small sprig of grass adorning the crown.

Ahh, summer perfection.

Ethan's Funny

In the car during the move from Arizona:
Ethan: There are lots of snakes in the jungle, so if you go to the jungle you need a sword. Or a mongoose. Mom, don't you wish that a sword had a scope?
Me: I don't know that I've ever thought about it.
Ethan: Why not?
Me: I don't know, it's just not something that I'd ever really wish for. It's a perfectly good wish, but just not something I'd wish for.
Ethan: If a sword had a scope you could see right where you were going to cut, and then Ching! (his noise for swordplay).

At Last

Mostly a journaling post, probably won't be too exciting, just for my personal remembrances.

Our family is back together again! The boys and I made our move to Orange County 2 Saturdays ago. I owe a huge thank you to my friends the Whitmores and the Thorsons for letting me load all of our stuff up in their trucks and for driving all the way out here with me, I have champion friends! Also a huge thank you to Steve Faller, he brought about 15 Scouts over to my house to help load up the trucks. They had everything out of the house in about an hour and a half. From the ward were also the Andersons, Brothers Hale, Lund, Wallace, Poulsen, Kartchner, and Barnes and from the Stake Brother Higginbotham.
It is such a relief to be back with my sweetie, and have the boysback with their hero. Even though he is still hugely busy with training, it makes the days so much smoother to have him around when he is home.
We are still living out of boxes, which makes for a lot of personal frustration, just because I don't know where all of my stuff is, which is one of my pet peeves. I have misplaced a box that has all of our credit card statements, medical information, bank info and our rental lease contract, so I'm stressing about that, I'm going to have to fast tomorrow for help finding it, because I just can't relax about it.
Our renters are in and I'm praying that they turn out to be good tenants, they seem pretty on the ball about things, so here's the proverbial knock on wood.
The weather has been so wonderful that my boys are able to go outside and play for several hours at a time. We've made one trip to Disneyland, our in-laws bought us season passes, so we're able to go almost any time we want. Ethan loves it, Mason isn't terribly sure yet.
Our ward seems pretty good, a nice mix of families at different stages. So hopefully we'll find our niche.
I do miss Arizona, despite the heat I was very happy there. I loved the layout of my house and have such amazing friends that it was very sad to leave.
Upward and Onward.