Saturday, December 11, 2010



I came across these old pictures of Kennewick. Kind of fun. Any guesses as to specific locations? Ever heard of Emigh's Fruit Farm?

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

decking





Maybe we should ask Santa for a new camera this year.

week of Thanksgiving

The kids had the whole week of Thanksgiving off from school, so we tried to keep busy.

On Monday we drove out to the Grove to see the "snow" (bubble machine) and the giant Rockefeller Center-esque tree. Kind of fun but probably not worth the drive. Also, I was reminded how out of place I feel at upscale malls. The farmer's market nearby was more my style.


On Tuesday we visited the Reagan Library for the first time. I don't know what took us so long. We all really liked it.
Wednesday we went to a park. I don't have any pictures, but it was a nice park.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, complete with the annual cousins hockey game. Other highlights: baton twirling and sugarless pumpkin pie.


We spent Friday tearing down wallpaper, and that night Ryan and I went to see Weezer. Couldn't miss them performing the Blue Album. Wish I could have gone Saturday night too for Pinkerton.

Saturday the boys (minus Wesley) went ice skating at L.A Live. It was Charlie's first time unaided. Uncle Sam told him to just hold out his arms if he didn't want to fall, and from then on he didn't feel the need to hang onto anyone.

It was a good week.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Goodbye Sox

We said goodbye to Sox last week. His teeth were getting pretty bad and he was losing weight because he couldn't really eat anymore. I guess that's what happens to a lot of horses when they get old. We went to see him one last time with the kids before the vet came to put him down. Here's what Ryan wrote on facebook:

Had to say goodbye to Sox this week. Born 29 years ago, almost to the day in my Grandpa's barn in Tujunga. Helped build dozens of trails in Tujunga and southern Utah. Tough as nails, Grandpa Haslam always claimed he was half billy goat on those trails. He could handle just about anything you could put in front of him. Sweet enough to let my 2-year old ride him. He'll be tough to replace. No doubt, Grandpa already has put him to work, building trails in paradise!









Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween 2010

Ever since last Halloween Alex and Ben knew they wanted to be "zombie brothers" this year.






Charlie wanted to be Yoda again- no complaints there from me since we just had to use last year's costume. We even painted his face green before one Halloween party but he didn't like it when he looked in the mirror so we took it off. He did NOT want me to take his picture, either. I put Wesley in a Frankenstein shirt and drew some stitches and a unibrow on his face. He looked pretty good for the first Halloween party (and of course I didn't get any pictures), but we tried again the next week for another party and it just didn't work, as you can see here. Oh well.


Ryan and I went as Bob Ross and a painting. I don't think any wig will ever be as good as that real fro of his, but it was fun to try. Not the most practical costume for me- I couldn't hear anything since my ears were behind the canvas, and I couldn't eat with it on or move through a crowded room very well. I guess that's the price I have to pay.

Friday, October 22, 2010

our house


Welcome to our new house! Come on in.


First we have the entryway. Notice the abundance of flowery wallpaper, floor to ceiling.

(The black blob on the stairs is what is left of my Martha Stewart inspired Halloween mice decorations.)

Go through the french doors and to the left is our family room.

To the right is the kitchen.

Pass through the kitchen to the dining room and living room.


Again, more floor to ceiling wallpaper and lovely pink carpet! The fort made from moving boxes is an architectural highlight.

Here are the patio and backyard, and view of the house from the back. We have lots of trees that needed to be trimmed, and now we have lots of branches lying around that need to be disposed of.




The bedrooms aren't really exciting enough to post pictures, although the master bedroom also has pink carpet.
We love having space. The deep storage closets are perfect for hiding in and playing if you are a three-year-old.

The house is about the same age as the house I grew up in, so some of the original fixtures are familiar to me. That linoleum in the closet and these doorknobs, for example.

We are trying to decide what our first project will be. Replace windows? Remove wallpaper? Paint over wallpaper? Flooring? There are so many options. We are open to any decorating suggestions so if you have any ideas please send them our way. Also, come visit! We finally have somewhere for you to sleep other than on the couch!

Wesley's birthday

A couple days after we moved we had a little family get together for Wesley's birthday. We never do a big celebration for a first birthday, and this one was even more scaled down than usual, but we still wanted to at least acknowledge the occasion.

The boy:


The cousins playing:

The cake:


The boy who was entirely uninterested in presents:
(He never got to play with that ball- the other kids took it outside and found a way to put a hole in it in a matter of minutes.)


The boy who was a little more interested in cake:




Charlie learned how to do this the day before we moved. Unfortunately, we couldn't bring the swing set with us. It wouldn't have survived the move. Fortunately, we live close to a park where he can practice his new skill.



Friday, September 24, 2010

I'm one.

I'm one.


Some of my favorite things are: Eating bananas, saying "nana" for banana and any other type of food, "Whoa!", "Dada", "uh-oh", "moo", walking (just in the last week or two), taking baths and dunking my face in the water, lifting up toilet seats and trying to play in the water, clapping, energetically waving goodbye, biting mom on the shoulder, playing outside, dancing, playing the piano, and crawling around naked.

I'm not too fond of sleeping more than 3 hours at a time, lying down to have my diaper changed, babysitters, bottles, pacifiers, or wearing shoes. I'm pretty tolerant of the attention I get from my brothers, especially Charlie who has an obsession with touching my head.

I like to coordinate when I have my picture taken. For example, I can make my eye colors match my outfit:

Sometimes, I just want my teeth to match the ones on my shirt:


Pretty talented, eh?

Monday, September 20, 2010

boogie

So I'm a little bit of a So You Think You Can Dance nerd. The season ended a while ago, but this was my favorite dance. It's still on the DVR because I keep going back to watch it.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

I'm trying to cram in a bunch of posts since we might be without internet for a while and since I was already pretty behind.
Here are a couple of other tidbits:

Alex earned his Wolf and was awarded a bunch of other belt loops and pins from Twilight Camp.


Charlie went spelunking in the bathroom. (I just found these pictures on the camera and couldn't remember why I took them.)