Allie, Allie, Allie

Jacob found Allie like this, trying to get applesauce out of the cupboard!

A Fish Story

I am not up to date on my posting, so this happened last week sometime, but I had to share it. Emma and Gracie both won a couple of goldfish at a Relief Society mother/daughter activity back in May. Gracies' died months ago. One of Emmas' died about a month ago. One morning when the girls were getting ready for school, Michael called everyone to come and look at her fish, and this is what we saw:

Yes, that is her fish on the left side of the picture, and its bowl on the right! I put a ruler in between to see how far away the fish was. Nothing was moved by us. That is how Michael found it.

After we looked at it and wondered for 10 minutes or so what had happened and how the fish got so far away from the bowl, we decided it was time for disposal. The fish was dry, there wasn't any water on the counter from possible flopping and under the fish was dry as well. It had to have been there for a long time. Emma got a napkin, scooped up the fish and dropped it in the toilet. They were watching it before the flush and noticed that it was moving!

They came back to tell me and I told them that it will die for sure now because of the bleach tablet in the water tank. Michael grabbed a spoon and scooped the fish out of the toilet and rushed it back to its bowl, where it starts to swim around!

The fish was still alive and swimming around 7 hours later when the girls got back from school. He looked so much better it was amazing! The water was really dirty so Emma decided to change it. The fish died within 20 minutes of having clean water! Floating on its side totally dead!

So, landing on the counter after an 18 inch jump from the bowl won't kill a fish. Laying on the counter for who knows how many hours without water won't kill a fish. Swimming in a toilet with bleach water won't kill a fish, but cleaning its bowl is deadly!!!

Did You Know!

Gracie has a small white line on her nose. You can see it in the picture. I have asked several people - including two doctors - what it is. No one knew - including the two doctors. They both told me not to worry about it. I had to take her to the doctor for a possible ear infection. This is a new doctor that we hadn't seen before. I don't have the best luck with doctors at Kaiser, so I was dreading this appointment. He checked her over and told me that yes, she did in fact have an ear infection and it was probably due to her allergies, which is what was also causing the white line on her nose! It is called an allergic salute. Apparently it has to do with the way she always rubs her nose. I was very impressed with this doctor, he answered questions about my other kids even though they weren't there for an appointment, and he even asked me questions about them! Hopefully he continues to be a good doctor, but if nothing else he solved one mystery for us!

Smoky Sunsets

The smoke is obnoxious, but it sure makes for some cool sunsets!

Jacob's First Crush

3 going on 16!

Jacob had to use the bathroom during sacrament metting and when he got back a young woman was speaking. He looked at her and said "Wow, she is beautiful!" He asked Michael if he could go talk to her. Michael told him he could talk to her after the meeting (he tried to go up while she was still talking). She got up off the stand and left during the postlude hymn and Jacob started freaking out. "Dad, she's leaving! I want to talk to her!" We were on the front row and I'm sure tons of people heard him. Michael calmed him down and said that they would go find her before nursery. They found her in the primary room and at first Jacob wouldn't talk to her, he was being shy. Then he asked Michael, "Dad, will you go over there so I can talk to her by myself for a minute?" Michael did as he was asked and left Jacob with this very nice, very beautiful, very much older, married woman. A minute or so later Jacob came out of the primary room where we were waiting for him and said that she was his girlfriend and they went on a date last night!

I was very curious so after church I asked her what Jacob had said to her. She told me that Jacob asked her if she would be his girlfriend. She tried to explain to him that she was married, but he was clueless. He asked her if she would come to his house and play with him. I tried to explain to him that she is married and she couldn't be his girlfriend for many reasons, but he was undeterred. Finally he said okay, she couldn't be his girlfriend, but could she still come and play with him.

Someday, he is going to laugh about this, maybe when he understands better. Maybe I should get a picture of her so that he will always remember the first girl he ever asked out!

Just Don't Wash Your Car

Yesterday I decided it was time to wash my van. It has been months since it was washed and was seriously dirty. So I spent three hours yesterday cleaning the inside and out. Jacob and Allie were my helpers, which is why it took so long! It looked fantastic and shiny and the carpets were vacuumed. I always crack the windows a little in the summer to try to reduce the oven effect. I went outside today to a very orange sky. My nice shiny van is covered in ASHES! And since I had the windows cracked, it needs to be vacuumed again! Even if you think it won't rain, something will come along the day after you wash your car and destroy your hard work!!! Okay, so the good news is that it was not my house that burned to create the ashes on my car, there is an upside to everything, right!?!






Apparantly there are several fires currently buring in Southern California, and thanks to the always consistent wind here, today the smoke and ash have come for a visit. Hopefully they don't stay long, however, they have already worn out their welcome (okay, so they were never welcome but you get what I mean)

Ventura Beach

Jacob fell asleep on the drive to the beach, wearing his sunglasses in a very unusual way! How funny is that!?!



One of the best things about this beach trip were the dolpins! There must have been a dozen or so, just beyond the waves! It was so cool to watch them jump out of the water!



We discovered that our snow sleds DON'T make good boogie boards! It would probably be a good idea to invest in one or two real boogie boards!



My beautiful girls!



The waves at this beach were perfect, not to close, not too strong!



Emma loves being a big sister, (most of the time) and Allie sure loves her!

Where are Allie's legs??????



Gracie is such a cute girl!



We had a lot of fun at this beach, there were a ton of gorgeous rocks that came in with the waves. We collected a large bucket full of them. The only thing that could have made it better was if the Petersen's were with us again! Maybe next year!?!

31 Is Still Young!

Thank you to my family for a great birthday! My good friend Stephanie watched the kids so that Michael and I could go out alone, it was very nice! Then we had cake and ice cream! It was late so we did presents a different day, which was also nice because they made me brownies and I got to celebrate twice!



Allie trying on my new Ipod armband

Jello Success

I have attempted many times to make this layered jello dessert without any success. I kept getting something wrong, either the pan size, or the box of jello size. Anyway, it never fit in the pan! Well, I have finally done it! 10 layers of jello! Top it with cool whip and enjoy! It looked very pretty and tasted soooooo yummy!

Santa Monica Beach

We went to the beach on July 24th with our friends the Petersens. It was Allie's first beach trip, it may have also been Jacob's first time too, but we're still trying to figure that out! We had so much fun! We miss the Petersen's VERY much, but we're glad we live close enough to still see them!



What is in your mouth!?! GROSS!!!


Gracie and Allie, cute smiles!



Anna and Emma, sweet girls!

Kiley and Kristi, the beach moms!


I love this picture of Robert, he is looking at me over the top of his glasses!(I think he was a bit irritated)


The blue shirt boys!
Jacob, Robert, William




Attacking Michael with the noodles!


Allie loves the sand!






Alahna is beautiful!(all of the girls are, but I especially love this picture)


All the girls buried!



Allie really liked being buried!



Emma and Anna the karate girls!



What a cutie!



Jacob on the boogie board!


What!?! Another picture!

Water Fun

We bought a slip-n-slide for the kids for summer. They had a blast with it, it was well worth the $9 we paid for it! Here are a few pictures of Jacob and Allie who used it the most. Allie couldn't run and then slide so I would pull her down to the end. Jacob decided he wanted to pull her and it only took him about a minute to get her to the end. Jacob decided he wanted to be pulled down, so Allie pulled him! It took her about five minutes to get him to the end because they were laughing so hard and she kept falling over!

Master Shifu

We were eating spaghetti for dinner one night when Jacob put a noodle in his mouth and said, "Look, I'm Master Shifu!" It was so funny! It's amazing the things they come up with.


For those of you who don't know, Master Shifu is on the movie Kung Fu Panda

School Time Again!

We survived our first week back at school! Emma and Gracie both seem to like their teachers (maybe not as much as last years teachers, but I'm sure it could be worse). We are hoping for another great school year, with lots of learning and fun!

Diapers No More!

We no longer have diapers at our house! Oh yeah, I am happy about that! Little Miss Allie has been successfully potty trained, day and night! She loves big girl panties and using the potty like her big brother and sisters. We are happy to no longer be buying diapers!

Computer Issues

I have had problems with the computers at our house, so my posting has been scarce for the last month. Michael now has a computer up and running for me. I will try to catch up on my posts ASAP!

Happy 4th of July!

I know that I am actually posting this on the 6th, but I am always a little behind. We went swimming at the pool in the afternoon, the water was okay, but the wind made it cold! We had fun anyway. Michael's brother Chris came up from L.A. to have dinner with us and do fireworks. We had BBQ chicken, steamed carrots, baked potatoes, stir fried zucchini and squash, and corn on the cob! For dessert I made a layered jello treat with cool-whip, sounds good huh!?! Well, it was! When it got dark we did fireworks in the street in front of our house. The kids took turns lighting them (with Michael's help of course) and thought that was really cool. Uncle Chris even lit a couple. Allie liked the light and sparkles, but when they made a loud noise she got a little scared. Jacob liked to pick old fireworks up and put them in the water bucket. We had our grand finale firework that was supposed to be awesome, but we decided it wasn't worth the money we paid for it. Next year we will know NOT to get that one! We are so glad that Chris could come and be with us, the kids love it when he visits, and so do Michael and I. We are grateful for our freedoms and everything this holiday represents! I hope your 4th of July was as fun as ours!

Jacob's FIRST Haircut!

When I took the girls to get their hair cut, Jacob decided he wanted his cut too. I haven't wanted to cut his hair yet because I don't want him to look older yet. I want him to still look like my LITTLE boy. So this was hard for me!


This is Jacob's crazy, curly, ADORABLE hair before the chop

Jacob looks a little nervous, don't you think?

They had a really cool car booster seat for him to sit in

His curls in the back are all gone! So sad!

But look how handsome he looks! He still has some curl on the top, so we can gel it and make it spikey, he says it's cool! But he definitely looks older, more mature, doesn't he!?! I love it, I think it is adorable, so it's all good!