Yosemite May 2011

We took Josh's last vacation week and traveled to Northern California. Our first stop was in Sacramento to find a home to rent for next year as Josh finishes his Podiatry Residency. We found a great home that will fit our need complete with a swing set in the backyard and a "pink" and "green" kids room Ty and the girls. Finding a place makes moving more manageable in my mind. My Mom and Dad flew up to Sac to help us out they watched the kids while we searched for a house. I think we all had a good time except the weather was rainy. But that didn't stop from venturing out to the pool at the hotel. We also drove to Napa valley and saw mile after mile of grape vines. It was very pretty. Thanks Mom and Dad we loved spending that time with you. The Golden Corral was a tasty stop and the Bass Pro shop was fun to check out especially since we found a tent heater for Yosemite.

After saying goodbye to our parents we headed for Yosemite valley. Our van was packed so tight when we stopped to pick up some oak fire wood we literally held it on our laps. But it was a valuable commodity.

Driving in the snow was coming down and I was debating turning around. We and our friends the Stanleys made reservations 6 months ago. (That's how popular it is to camp in Yosemite) but we didn't turn around and made it into the valley were the temperature was warmer and that night our heater was worth it's weight in gold. I think it got down to the 30's.

The next morning we saw Bridal Veil Falls and did a little hike up, we got soaked!!!

ALL of the waterfalls were GORGEOUS and running high, truly breath taking. I remember driving through here as a kid with my family on one of our many summer camping excursions. The granite cliffs are still just as magnificent. The only thing missing was the caset tape my mom got at the gift shop with great songs like "G.O.R.P." (Good Ole Raisins and Peanuts) those songs are burned into my memory. I went ahead and sang them for Josh. :)

Ty was an hearty hiker he never slowed down and went to the top of everything he could find.

Next we hiked up to lower Yosemite Falls. We could see both upper and lower Yosemite Falls.

I lost all of our little girl rubber bands at our hotel in Sacramento. Megan managed to give Marissa some cute French braids (I am a failure at french braiding sad but true) Olivia sported some nice metal clippies also provided by Megan. She bailed me out, four days of camping can really produce some nice rat nests.

Family Picture at Yosemite Falls.

It was Cold Next to all that newly melted snow pack rushing over the falls.

Here is our only group Picture Nice and Blurry but proof of the whole group. I have to say next time I'll try to pick someone with better fine motor skills.

Josh and Riss switching hat wear I think Josh got the better deal with those snugly ear flags.

Olivia liked camping she hiked more that Marissa and slept like a baby all night EVERY night.

One more beautiful Fall!

Megan Stanley and me. She is amazing we have had a great year in San Diego she inspired me to start running and helped me so much I will miss her.

There were Bear Boxes at our sight but the real food scavengers were the squirrels and blue jays. The kids would yell at them and chase them around the camp. They cleaned up any stray food that trickled out of chubby little fingers.

These kids are great friends they played and played this is the "warm sun train" In order from front to back is Ben, Ty, Katie, Jared, Olivia and Marissa.

Josh had plenty of shoulder rides and piggy backs for tired feet.

We stumbled across this deer having a little breakfast next to our camp.

And the last Fall we hiked to was Vernal Falls. It was a steep trail I was happy to move at the speed of a slow turtle aka Marissa.

Ty and Ben climbing another Huge boulder they had the time of their lives.

Riding High on Dad!

Our departing view as we left Yosemite valley. You can see El Capitan and Bridal Veil Falls. We did stop at the Mariposa grove on the way home the sequoia's were so cool. It was a memorable family vacation. We all loved it. I think camping is a fit for us.

Mother's Day

So I love this flower bouquet! It makes me smile because it is so simply beautiful. Gerber Daisy's are such a happy flower maybe that is why I chose them for my wedding too.

Mother's day was very nice. Josh made me a delicious apple cobbler (he really can make a killer cobbler). Which I finished off cold straight out of the fridge 2 days later only to receive a phone call from Josh that evening while I was out, asking if I had eaten ALL of the leftovers. YES YES YES I did. I could call in the pregnancy card but that would be a lie. I just really have a love of baked goodies and can consume large amounts without any pangs of guilt. Sorry Love. . . Father's day is just around the corner.

He also got me a plush camping mat for our trip to Yosemite it is called "Dream time". I must report that it was very comfortable I slept great on our camping adventure 3 nights in a row!

Here are my beautiful flowers and this maternity dress was a gift from Mom Boone. Thanks.

Here is my handsome husband. :)

I wanted pictures with each of our kids I think I will do this every year.

Ty is growing very tall and he is excited to have 3 little sisters.

Olivia is a crack up right now she has to be in the center of EVERYTHING.

Marissa is starting to show a silly little sense of humor that makes me laugh. For example Josh held up a picture of Lehi and his family on the ship headed for the promised land, and asked "who does that look like?" Marissa said, "Santa Clause, he he he. . . . . . just kidding dad it's not Santa!" It's Lehi. She is a goof ball.

All in all I feel blessed to be the mother of these beautiful children. I am very happy being a mother and wife it is hard work and satisfying.

Three Peas in a Pod!

Comfy place

See this nice set up. . . this is a regular occurrence at our house. The kids love to have a comfy place to watch movies or just hang out. It always involves some silliness and yes things go smoother when Ty is in the middle. Liv has become quit the spit fire and spends more time in "time out" then the other two. She actually likes to put herself in "time out" and will smack someone in the the face just so she can sit there and put on her "pouty face." Ty takes his beatings pretty well from Livvy, but Marissa just can't handle her fiestiness they can really get into some impressive screaming matches. ( Caught in the Act)

Computer Bonding Time

Starfall.com is one of my kids favorite websites they LOVE it. I was chuckling at how sweet they all looked sitting there together playing the game. Marissa does have the best view but I think her little patootie may suffer. Ty loves to be in charge and run the mouse. Olivia is Miss Bossy but thinks she is running the show with all her Ooos and awes! I love these kids. The really do make me smile every day. Notice the stair steps in size just precious

They are so funny to watch.

Olivia was actually throwing a tantrum, paused for the picture and then continued.

This picture was taken because Marissa said, "Mom I am so cute take my picture." It was St. Patrick's day and she had picked out her own outfit. Green was everywhere. She even got green milk at preschool with her lucky charms. Which detail is connected to a nice story I will share with you. You may read it if you need something to do. . . here goes.

On St Patrick's day I went to my OB for my first maternity check up. Yes we are indeed expecting another baby in October! My wonderful friend C. was watching Livvy for me and picked up Rissy from preschool.

After the appt. I went to pick up my girls and they were both sleepy so I thought I would drive home the long way and get some gas at Costco about 15mins away from my house. It was a great idea until Rissy announces she drank too much green milk and needs to go to the bathroom now. I'm thinking OK we will just go into Costco use the bathrooms quick and get back in the van and still get naps. I pull in to the parking lot and get a great spot up front Whoo HOO! Next to me are two crotch-rocket motorcycles on Livvy's side of the van. I'm thinking all I need is my Costco card and Keys. As I'm unbuckling Rissy and Livvy. The two motorcycle guys show up and turn on their bikes but they don't leave they are comparing exhaust pipes or something who knows. . . I'm standing right next to them and Rissy starts freaking out because she doesn't like the loud noise. So I take her hand, lift her out of the van, pick up Livvy, lock the door manually and start walking toward the store.

Then I stop. . . my heart sinks I just LOCKED my KEYS in the CAR with my CELL PHONE and PURSE. I had dropped my keys when I had lifted up Marissa.

I start thinking great. . . Ty gets out of school in 1 hour, Josh is at a hospital on the Mexican border, C. has a house full of kids and I don't know her cell number. . . come to think of it I don't know anyone's cell but Josh's. We have only lived in San Diego about 2 years and everyone I know basically has only cell phones.

I strategically watch for a "nice" person and ask to use their cell phone. I found a lady and she was like sure what ever you need honey. So I call Josh, no answer, of course. I leave him a message like this, "umm i need you but I'll talk to you later." Josh later tells me my message had him thinking there was something wrong with our unborn baby or we were having twins or something. I never called him back.

The nice lady is like do you have Triple A? I have no idea and if I do I have no information it's all in the van. Finally the cart retriever for Costco says, "why don't we talk to the ladies inside and by the way don't feel bad I've locked my keys in my car at least 3 times!"

Well the Customer service really did help me they said do any of your friends have costco memberships? Yes C. does! They give me her number and I call her. Bless her heart she loads up 6 kids ranging from 5 months to 8 years old. Drives to my house finds the spare key, gets in the house finds my spare van key, drives over the mountain down the congested road and delivers the key into my hand. She is an angel from heaven. I can't tell you what relief I felt when I saw her pull up. That is true friendship. We didn't even talk she had to get back and I had to get to Ty's school. All I can say is I was so blessed that day.

As I'm pulling out I notice the lady parked across from me has a Lock smith breaking into her car. Holey Moley that could have been me. . . maybe we could have gotten a 2 for 1 deal :) I'm very Lucky to have some amazing friends it's better than a pot of gold.

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. :)