Linnae Spoils my Kids...

and they love it!

Linnae gave Collin the entire set of Happy Meal toys - very rare - which I love because I never get happy meals...

It's great having aunts spoil my kids - they do things for my kids that I never would (like Chucky Cheese :) They are better people because they have a large extended family in the area - we love you all!

Aunt Betsy

Having fun with Aunt Betsy!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a nice, quiet, kickback, Thanksgiving this year...
Chad was excited to finally use his mothers Denby dishes he inherited...

Hawaii

Trevor took Chad & a couple of Lisa's family around the island...

Chad said he missed me but I know he had a lot of fun! I'm glad he was able to spend some time with "Uncle Trevor" ... we miss him.

Trevor's Wedding

Trevor & Lisa
This last weekend Chad went to Maui for his brother, Trevor's wedding. He had a great time and took lots of pictures..

Wait! I'm wrong

Rainey was amazed when I said that I had never been in deep water in the ocean though I've lived in California most of my life...

So I thought back a bit and I remembered that I did go snorkeling with Chad once when we were on Santa Cruz Island (the day I found out I was pregnant with Kelsey).

I pretty much just floated face down with the snorkel out of the water (I guess if a dead man can do it, so can I) but technically I was in water about 20 feet deep but there were no waves to traumatise me so I didn't think about it earlier. So I stand corrected...

Thanksgiving Plans

Since the Stevenson's don't our own blog I'll volunteer mine...
I've heard rumor that Marj is coming. And that maybe Sharon too... Rainey, will your boys be here? Can we use the house - as always? We can make room for cousins at our house too, if we need to...
Please leave your destination plans on the comments then we can figure out what we can all contribute...

Magic Toes

I am always amazed at the things that end up in Kelsey's crib... Finally I caught her in the act.

I did move the toy basket across the room but that hasn't stopped things appearing in her crib...

Kelsey the Contortionist

I know we just voted to allow animals cages where they can at least stand and turn around but it never said anything about children...
Kelsey decided that when she got tired she would just sleep in here baby's crib. I don't know it you can tell from these pictures but the crib is only about 18" X 10" I'm surprised K fit at all...

Chad Surfing

This is one of many beautiful waves Chad caught while at Escondida. Because of the lava flow there was just one place in the bay that had the perfect wave...

Bueno!

We are having a great time in Costa Rica

We traveled to the Pacific side so Chad could surf...

The first day in Jaco we went to Playa Hermosa with its black sand and beautiful sunset. I think the best part was when some tourist from Virginia stopped Chad as he was getting out of the water and asked if he would pose for a picture with the wife :)
The second day we took a boat out to Escondida, a private beach around the point from Jaco. The only problem was that there's no jetty for the boat so we have to swim in... which would be fine, if I could swim... Chad told me to get on the surf board like a boogy-board but I told him I could touch the sand. Chad yelled for me to "Jump!" I looked behind me in time to see a head high wave right behind me so I jumped (see, I listen to my husband's advice) and got knocked aside the head by the wave but I didn't fall over or swallow water so it's all good (that's the deepest I've ever been in the ocean before!)So, how many wives do you know that would stand on the rocky shore for over an hour, barely moving, in order to get some good pictures of her husband surfing??? Luckily I'm as obsessed about getting the perfect picture as Chad is about getting the perfect wave.

We had a great time and I only got strawberry-sunburned rather than lobster-sunburned :)

I do wish I got a picture of me getting on and off the boat though. On the way back Enrique earned a big tip by driving right up to the beach. The other surfers held the boat so it wouldn't beach and I just swung up my leg then rolled onto the boat - not graceful but I was fast. Then when we got back to Jaco he actually drove up to the river mouth that flowed into the ocean and dropped me off right onto the riverbank. Very Nice!
Amazingly, it barely rained at all the entire time. Tonight it absolutely poured down. I just figured Costa Rica was crying many tears that we were leaving...

Pura Vida!

We made it to Costa Rica to surprise Mom for her birthday - and she was happily surprised.

We spent the day up at Sarchi where they make ox carts, wood turning and wood carvings by hand or with the use of water-wheel powered machines - it is truely incredible. Chad loved this cocoabola I probably spelled that wrong) cart - wood alone was probably worth about $5000! It's beautiful.

Chad is pro at seeing all the wildlife - large and small. While we were eating he found these leaf-cutter ants. It's amazing watching them try to lift these huge pieces of leaf. No matter how many times it falls over they pick it up again, sometimes with the help of a passing ant, and keep going again and again...

Collin Dancing

It's not all about dinosaurs at our house... I tried to video this little impromptu song and dance, "I"m dancing in my underwear!" but he suddenly got shy - yes, it does happen occasionally :) At least I got some good pics.

Reading in Bed

Collin has started his schools read-a-thon. I did warn his sponsers to contribute a flat rate rather than by book or hours read...

Last night I went to check on Collin and I saw a weird glowing blanket...

The neighbor gave him a "headlight" for his birthday that he snuck into bed with a book...

What he looks like once the flash is on...
I guess I should be glad he likes reading - I just hate trying to wake him up in the morning :)

New Skateboard

Isn't Chad amazing?! He made the kids a new skateboard. Now, do you really think the kids can wait for Christmas to receive this???

Judges Choice

You may have remembered this video of Collin's. We entered it into the Reflection Art competition at his school and he won for his category and is moving up to the city competition - You're awesome!

I think instead of being a paleontologist Collin should make movies. He makes movies all the time - he even does news reports on dragon sighting! He is so clever so I had to share his latest that he did yesterday. It's about 7 minutes long but very informative :)

I didn't edit at all, just added some music - oh, yeah - I held the scenery... everything else was all Collin.

Prop 8 Won!

Wow! Although I kept track of the race on the Internet - even when Collin woke me in the middle of the night I took a quick peek - when I was driving to school this morning and heard that it was official I got very emotional - as I'm sure the no voters did too :( It is always so much worse to have something taken away than not granted. The judges never should have overturned to 2000 ruling - now 18,000 couple who married will be devastated by this vote - my heart goes out to them.
I heard a lot of negative talk today as I've walked around - like "Why isn't it ok for gays to marry but an teenager can have an abortion without parental consent??" I agree, unfortunately the ones that believe in the individuals "rights" rather than what's right who voted no on 8 were the same voting no on 4...
We hear a lot of talk about this being a historic election... I'd say not just about the presidential election. It amazes me what the *uneducated Christians were able to achieve against complete media opposition. Even as I was looking for results last night there was a big banner on the local newspaper's website for No on 8. And the article this morning said this: *"Parents, churchgoers and voters who never attended college said they voted for the gay marriage ban, while college-educated and nonreligious voters opposed it." They name a list of organizations for No on 8 and only list Christians as Yes on 8...
It's nice to know that Christianity is still strong in the country. Most people see California as Hollywood and San Francisco. Many forget, or don't know, the large number of "heartland" citizens through the central valley that still have original values.
It was interesting for me to see the county breakdown of who voted for what (see the previous post for the link) but then I'm a math person
I would like to think this is the last we'll hear about it - the people have spoken (again) but I'm sure already there are lawyers trying to declare 5,163,908 Californians mentally unsound and therefore their vote is null...
Stand True

Prop 8 Results

Here it is so far...

Proposition - 8-Same Sex Marriage Ban - Ballot Issue
Precincts 6345/25429
Yes 2,034,187 53%
No 1,787,777 47%

for a county breakdown and up to date info go here

No Fear!

Last night we got an e-mail from the Stake President via the Bishop that said that there might be visitors in church today from the No on 8 that may try to cause problems. We were told to treat them with courtesy and friendship and if they refuse to respect our meetings then to call the police... feeling the love. We were also counselled to not make the meeting all about Prop 8 but to share pure testimonies... I was pretty nervous about what might happen at church (I'd seen some crazy things on my mission and my imagination was going off...)

Then I read the second letter from the Stake Presidency:

... In March of 1842 the Prophet Joseph Smith was requested by a newspaper editor (John Wentworth) to summarize some of the beliefs of the Church. We received many precious things from this document. The Articles of Faith are one example. Towards the end of the letter, the Prophet Joseph wrote the following:

"The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

We are living in the times prophesied by the Prophet Joseph. This is our time to defend the Standard of Truth. May the Lord bless you for your efforts.

I had forgotten that basic truth. How many times in the scriptures do we read about faith overcoming fear. I need to have faith that what I do, what we are all doing, will have positive results. Instead of dreading what might happen I started thinking about my own testimony and what I would want to share with people who may disagree.

Anyway, back to church this morning: We got there early and soon we did spot an obviously non-member family - woman in slacks, man in polo shirt... Lets just say that everyone was on their best behavior! We had 2 baby blessings then testimonies. I remember as a missionary we were always nervous during testimony meeting because you never knew what craziness would come out of peoples' mouths when they got in front of a microphone... But today was a missionaries' dream! Everyone that got up shared a short, heart-felt testimony. They stuck to the basics. There were children, teenagers, young & older adults. I don't think I've been to such a spiritual testimony meeting since youth conference...

When the meeting ended without any incidences I secretly laughed as Jeremy, the father of one of the blessed babies, went to the suspect family and gave them a hug and thanked them for coming to the blessing :) So all the stress was for nothing but I think everyone felt a great unity and strength of spirit as we wanted to show this (imaginary) opposition what we were all about. I did go up to Jeremy later and told him 'good job' for providing the "plant" to keep us all on our toes. At first he looked confused then he broke out laughing when he realized that many of us misjudged the situation.

So look for us tomorrow as we 'go forth boldly, nobly, and independent' waving signs. I may even go for broke and break down and make some phone calls (If I can do it without shaking and sounding like about to start crying ... sheesh, what a wimp!)

Don't Forget to Vote!!!

Kelsey's Favorites...

As I'm struggling to get Collin to go into his class Kelsey sneaks off and likes to play with this house. She gets all the blocks and tries to fit them through the windows and doors...

Happy Halloween

Yesterday was a crazy busy day. We had Collin's school party, doctors appointment, pumpkin carving, G'pa over for dinner, and then Trick - or - Treating... Collin's best day ever (again)

Collin's snake pumpkin
Kelsey went with an old classic
I know they look like a super hero and Tinkerbell but they are both Power Rangers - the red & green one :) Collin loves Power Rangers - and Kelsey loves Collin...
I tried to take a picture of Kelsey without a "Lilypop" in her mouth but she was to fast to start another one... oh well, it's only once a year, eh.
I took them out with our friends (maybe I'll post some more pictures) for a couple of streets then traded with Chad. He took Collin & I took Kelsey (she needed more lilypops) Our neighborhood is pretty good - lots of houses close together... I think about trick-or-treating as a kid on our little street with the loooong driveways... and we only went on our street (I was jealous of my friends that went down to the suburbs and filled their pillowcases) On the plus side though, since there weren't many kids around some people gave out huge candy bars - so there was some compensation... I hope our kids have fun memories of the holidays...

Sam Maloof

You may not have ever heard of Sam Maloof but he is an amazing furniture designer/builder. He has chairs in the White House - and any other super-rich households that can afford his art.
Chad went again with a bunch of other wood shop teachers to tour his old house and see his workshop - where he still works nearly everyday, even now that he's in his 90's.
Lonnie was able to go down with him this time - I'm jealous.
Since Chad & his group were teachers they let them take all kinds of pictures of the home and furniture - where even the door handles are works of art... but we didn't feel that it would be cool then to post them all on our blog - so if you want to see more of Sam Maloof's work you can go to his website:
http://www.malooffoundation.org/