Monster Trucks!!!

GRAVEDIGGER

This monster truck is HUGE! We have checked out a lot of books from the Library about Monster trucks lately. We know about Big Foot and Superman and Toro Loco. They burn a gallon of fuel/second. These Trucks are awesome. Josh got off work early one Friday and we took off to find a Monster Truck we we not disappointed.
We told the kids that our trip in the van was to a secret spot. We had one surprised little boy.
The first thing we did was check out the Gigantic Wheels.
The Grave Digger Driver was there and autographed Ty's picture. He said there are actually 8 Grave Diggers and they would all be driving the same night in different stadiums around the US and Canada.
Ty got to sit in the seat of the"lil digger" The stick shift is a green skull. . . Cool. Maybe we will make it to a Monster Jam sometime in the future.
After that we headed over to Chuck E Cheese for a good time with games and pizza. We had plenty of soda and rode some cool rides. I loved Skee Ball, Josh loved the Football game, Livvy LOVED the miniature merry go round, Riss loved the moving school bus and Ty loved the Roller coaster Ride. All in all a good fun family night.

WILD ANIMAL PARK

round 2

We went back to the Wild Animal Park and saw the bald eagle.
This is the Gorilla Habitat seriously we missed the gorilla's in the picture they were moving and are hiding behind the man in the gray sweatshirt.

Here is Rissy giving Livvy some Love on Condor Ridge. Liv was a tad grouchy but that didn't phase Marissa.
And Again the Lovely Rhino Shot This picture is shadowy but the alternative picture had a very unattractive angle.
Here's Josh and I taking it easy on a weekend off. It was nice to just sit in the sunshine. (Ty took the picture)
This is a picture of the Condor spreading it's wings. Pretty cool.
And here are the beautiful elephants there were 13 elephants in all 4 babies born in 2010 the littlest was born Dec. 26th. They were cute and smelly.

BONSAI. . . .

Each of the trees in this garden were unique. I think I would like to grow a Bonsai tree it would be cool to see what little miniature world would come to life. Here are a few of my favorites. And that stop ended our adventure in the wildlife animal park Until next time.

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas

We traveled to Arizona for Christmas and spent Christmas Eve with the Adams Family in Show Low. I was a great night of tradition and fun. Here we all are in our Christmas PJ's from my Mom and Dad. This year for Christmas we (the children) played the 12 Days on my parents with Christmas Letters. It was really cool to write about our memories and to thank them for all the time and love they have given to us. My Dad wrote each family a special Christmas Letter in return. Overall a Very Sweet Christmas to remember.

The Adams Family

The Boone Family on Christmas Eve by the magical Tree.

Our family has a tradition of Lining up in the hall way before we get to see what Santa brought. When I grew up my Dad always made us wait until he had showered and was dressed. There really was no point waking up a 4:00am because we couldn't go in until 8 or 9. All 7 of us kids would crawl in one bed together and talk and giggle until my dad called us. Then we would line up in age order youngest to oldest in the hall way. The anticipation was awesome!!!

So Here we are Waiting in the Hall. I love the kids faces!

Here are the girls in their Christmas Pj's they loved the Snow bunny on the front Liv liked to pet it over and over.

Ty was excited to get CARS!!!! Lots of cars.

Rissy Loved her boots and dolls.

And the Beautiful dress from the Garcia's, she twirled and twirled and wore it for the next 4 Sundays in a row. The Princess book is now a favorite for bed time stories. I have to admit I like reading about the new adventures of the princesses too.

Livvy got a baby doll and stroller she was just excited to run around it was hard to keep her in one place.

She was focused on ripping paper see her tongue. I'm not sure where her pants went.

We traveled over to Snowflake Christmas day and enjoyed family there for the rest of the day. Laura gave Josh an autographed football from Lavell Edwards and decked the family out in BYU t-shirt attire. :) We met Caleb's girl friend Jenni and played a lot of Bananagrams with Joseph and Jessica.

It wasn't a "White Christmas" but 3 days later a blizzard blew in and dumped a good 1 1/2 feet of snow with high drifts from the wind. Marissa didn't like the cold wind and only took a few steps in the snow before retreating inside. Ty on the other hand braved the snow drifts and ran like crazy. He loved it and Josh was a good sport to go right along with him. It was VERY COLD outside. Grandma Boone was working at the hospital when the blizzard came and stayed with us in Show Low one night because the roads were too slick to travel on to Snowflake. It was fun to have her for the night. It was -11 at night and 4 degrees when we left town to travel home. The roads were ice packed but began to break up as the day warmed up.

We enjoyed the vacation and especially the Family Time. Here is a picture of the Road headed toward Salt River Canyon. We saw cars flipped upside down and some abandoned in snow drifts. We made it home safely and are glad to be back.

Merry December 21st only 4 Days till Christmas. . .

For FHE we read the Christmas story of Jesus's Birth and set up our nativity that was handcrafted by Grandma Boone.

Ty's School Program they sang Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. He is wearing the festive CARS sweatshirt. With nice glowing eyes :)

I just overheard a conversation at our house, I'm sitting in the front room and the kids are in the hall.

Ty (in a whisper): "Ok Rissy lets go. . . "

Rissy: "OK"

Tip-toe noises and rustling of bags

Mom: "Ty what are you guys doing?"

Ty: "Just looking at something"

Mom: " In my closet? You know if you see any presents before Christmas you might not get them."

More shuffling rushed tip toe noises back down the hall

Ty (in a whisper to Rissy): "Lets not do that again Ok"

Me smiling to myself thinking. . . good decision Ty, I wonder how long that resolve will last? Christmas is almost here and the anticipation is high. This time of year has it's benefits when I can use Santa as a motivator/threat to get rooms cleaned and jobs done. :)

Grandma Grandpa Granna and Spooky Ooky Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Ty: Jaguar

Rissy: Princess

Livvy: Ladybug

Josh/Kara: 70's Couple

Visitors from AZ: Grandma, Grandpa, and GRANNA!

We enjoyed Ty's kindergarten Halloween Parade, when he finally spotted our special visitors he couldn't stop smiling, my mom said that smile was worth the trip. :)

Josh got off work in time to see a little parade action then we headed up to the San Diego Temple for a session. My parents and Granna had never been inside before the time together was priceless and beautiful.

The Doctor Josh works with recommended Jake's at Del Mar for my mom's Birthday Dinner. The restaurant had full glass windows facing the ocean. We arrived as the sun was setting it was gorgeous, the tables were arranged in tiers so every person had a breathtaking view. The birthday cake was outrageously delicious as was the dinner. Thanks for treating us Mom and Dad. It was perfect.
I remember my Dad reading Nursery Rhymes to me when I was little. I would fall asleep to the sound of "Jack and Jill. . . " Listening to him read to my kids put me in a "happy place" I love you Dad.
My Dad is the master Grandpa of enjoying his grandkids and having a good time. He is buried under all those pillows and spent endless time wrestling; the kids laughed and giggled and SCREAMED! I hope I am that cool when I have grandkids.
A few special smiles and squeals. Livvy thought she needed to be right in the middle.

Marissa loves to wrestle. But right now she is into stinky feet. As soon as our company arrived she asked grandma and grandpa and granna if they wanted to "smell my stinky feet?" "I'll smell yours and then you can smell mine." She said with a grin. EWWWWW Rissy!

Josh and Livvy blue eyed buddies!

We went and checked out Cabrillo National Monument and toured the lighthouse out on Point Loma. As you can see from the picture Granna got some alternative transportation because she kept feeling like she was going to blackout. Which is not like her. She is usually full blast fun and no quit. She had a Doctor's exam after returning home and she now has a pacemaker :) We are so thankful she is OK we love her so much! Luckily we will be able to visit her over the holidays.

We got a great family picture on Point Loma. Ty is wearing his skeleton shirt that he has been saving in his closet just for Halloween. Cool Ty! Marissa and Olivia liked being held by their grandma and great grandma. We love having family come visit us.

Here is our little Livvy LadyBug. The ward Halloween / Trunk or Treat was great. Josh is on the ward activities commitee so he was in charge of grilling hot dogs. I participated by submitting a picture of me from Halloweens long past. Each table had a few pictures of mystery ward members in Halloween attire there were awards for who got all the people right and who guessed the number of pumpkins in the glass jar. We had carnival games for the kids and a trunk or treat. It was really a fun activity.

Ty asked,"Grandpa are there hair doctors?" Every time I cut Ty's hair he says, "not as short and Grandpa's mom." For some reason he just can't figure out Grandpa's hair problem so he found him a solution. What do you think?

Our Happy Halloween Family.

FUN FUN FUN

It was great playing Ticket to ride just like old times. Oh how I miss playing games. My Dad won which doesn't happen very often :) Josh tied with my Mom which makes for a definite rematch over Christmas it was a close game. Granna I am so happy you came we miss being your neighbor and working and playing together.

My mom got all the kids snow hats with gloves (Brenda Helped) They loved the gifts. They wear them all the time and it's not even cold yet. These will be perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Granna also spoiled each kid with a shirt and individual bag of gummy treats. They loved every minute and everything! Thanks for the special visit, I know it made us feel very loved and richly blessed. See you all soon.

First day of Kindergarten

It is official Ty has started school!

His Teacher has a calm and friendly demeanor and I think she will be a good fit for his personality.

Notice the throw up . . . . Ty is like his Dad. . . . they get nervous and food just doesn't stay where it should. Ty scarfed down his blueberry oatmeal and then instantly turned and told me his tummy didn't feel good (code for I'm gonna PUKE!) so instantly all breakfast was back up.

The picture would be worse but most of it went back in his bowl thank goodness!

After a good throwup he was ready to run down the block to school I was literally running to catch up with him. He was so excited and nervous and worried if he would make any new friends. It was all shy smiles and excitement. He is a mighty Mustang.

Nice Lightning McQueen Backpack

The school is only about a 3 minute walk from our house.

Here are all the cute backpacks lined up on their hooks.

He has 24 kids in his class.

Ty went right in and found a book to read he has never really had separation anxiety so I said, "See ya after school" and we walked home. No I didn't cry. . . that's sissy stuff. But I did smile the whole way home thinking of what I could get done while he was at school.

I'm writing this post after the second week of school and we have already had a lesson on honesty. Ty told his teacher he didn't have a lunch so he could get a chocolate milk at the cafeteria. Then he showed me some things (in his pocket) he found in his class room on the floor behind the toy box. 2 broken crayons, 3 colorful fuzzys, and 2 odd plastic pieces.

I was thinking GREAT lying AND stealing. I had to explain when you find stuff you give it to your teacher and if you want a chocolate milk you ask; and your teacher will explain you need 2 quarters from your mom. WE Don't just TAKE STUFF we want.

He had to return the "stolen goods" and say sorry and apologize for lying to his teacher. He was squirmy and uncomfortable but he did it and now he is an "honest boy again" and Feels Good Inside.

ZooWee MaMa