Hello to warm sand, blue skies, and tall palms

Hello to our new house

Here's a few pics of the new house and yard. It's in a circle behind the park and schools. Jons office is only a 5 minute drive (his favorite part). The house is a 5, 3, with formal living and dining. The girls enjoy the backyard, and cemented side of the house, where they ride bikes and play tether-ball. I enjoy my bathroom!

Hello to daily walks to the park

This is what the kids call "our park." We live across the street and spend a lot of time here. The water is the main attraction along with creatively discovering many ways to go down a slide.
The girls were so excited to have Gabe and Ellie to play with. It seemed to make the "have to make new friends now" not seem so overwhelming. Family always makes it better.

Hello to lazy summer days...

Kennedy and Reagan enjoying a warm afternoon in the backyard. It has been so fun to watch them become closer this summer. Maybe it's been the move, maybe they are just growing up. Either way, we'll take it.

We spent Stephs last day here at the park making jeweled handprints out of cement. They looked great, didn't cost much, and occupied a couple of hours. Unfortunately, they didn't last very long.


Little Livy cooling down with a cold nectarine.

Jon found "a great deal" on fireworks at Big Lots. After a good half an hour of trying to light them, he realized he just got a good deal on pull string confetti. Good thing firework stands stay open late!

Sleepovers and creative baking - that's what summer is all about.
Kennedy and her new friend Maddie.

Reagan and her new friend Hannah.

“Everything grows in CA”

One thing we have heard several times is, "everything grows in CA." We are amused by the variety of veggies and fruits that are grown locally. We have spent several Saturday mornings at our local farmers market, sampling things like fresh olive oil, flavored pecans, and strange fruit hybrids.

We had an escapee after the bath. We found her enjoying the fruits of someone elses labor...

We are fortunate to have several different kinds of fruit in our backyard: 3 different grapes, persimmon, pear, lemon, and fig. All, I must add, are much better tasting when first picked.

For Mom and Dad.

Hello to San Francisco

A drive down Lombard Street, in San Francisco, is considered the steepest street in the US. We had to switchback down the hill in order to avoid a roll over. We visited a few other local sites with Grandma and Papa before the airport drop off. Mostly, we enjoyed the break in hot weather - Modesto 95, San Fran 65. Alcatraz can be seen off to the left.

Olivias 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Olivia's 2nd Birthday with Grandma and Papa. We surprised her by filling the living room with pink and white helium baloons tied down with suckers. She was so excited she didn't know what to do. She yelled and batted at them with her hands, she tried to kick and bite them. She hugged them and kissed them, and jumped up and down yelling "boons, boons!" Then, she went for the suckers. I think she carried some in her hands all day.




What Livy loves...
hot dogs (no bun), fries and chicken, waffles (morning, afternoon, and night), grapes, strawberry shortcake (bewwy owtcake) everything, Yo Gabba Gabba, pet shops, playing outside, keeping up with her sisters.
What we love about Livy...
her morning snuggles (we race to get her), her love of "scawy" things, how she yells "NO" whenever another toddler looks at her, how she protects her "turf" (a future career in secret service is likely), her instant repeat button (yes, Jon has to watch what he says), her crazy hair - finally long enough for pig tails!

Livy took her time opening her gifts. She wasn't quite sure what to do, especially with eager hands waiting for the right moment to jump in. She got her own pet shops and carrying case, some bathtub toys, and new clothes. She looked over each gift one at a time before moving on to the next.




This year I made candy cupcakes in place of a cake. Livy loves sugary candy and isn't a big cake eater, so I opted for a new take on the birthday cake. Reagan and Abby helped me stack sticks full of gummy candy and place them on top of pink cupcakes. I think they enjoyed "helping" a bit too much.






I wonder what she wished for...

Kennedy's first day of school

Kennedy started middle school this year. The grades are from 6th to 8th. She is in what is called a segragated year. Basically, the 6th graders operate on their own schedule, away from the 7th and 8th grade students. This gives them the opportunity to experience juggling classes (only 2 rotating teachers) and classrooms, larger class size, electives (sports and music), as well as an open cafeteria. Their start and end time is different than 7th and 8th, as well as their "break" times (not cool to call it recess mom).
So far, she is loving it! She has several girls from the ward in her class, and she is involved in volleyball, soccer, and has started playing the flute.

Reagans first day of 4th Grade

It's official, she's our oldest in Elementary. We tell her She's the big cheese, the top tomato, the big gun, and she is all about it! In order to fulfill her "oldest duties" she picks up Abby after school and brings her to our meeting place, and makes certain everyone is nice to Abby.

Reagan has adjusted very well. We held our breath, remembering the set backs in St. Louis, but she defied us and has taken off. She is very social and very well liked. She started playing the violin and shows off her talents over the phone (if any of you are interested). She is still trying to "grow my hair as long as it can make it" and she hopes all her teeth come in before Christmas.
Reagan is quite a jokester and keeps us on our feet. She has mastered imitations of "crusty the clown and spongebob," and is presently working on Squidword.

Reagans teacher, Ms. Hamilton, is a member of the church and is in our stake. She instantly bonded with her and loves that she has such a "special teacher-friend." Rags quotes her often by saying, "we are in the fourth grade now, jump on the bullet train and get your work done!"

Rags smashed her finger in the garage door - we had to open it to get it out. She is very proud of her battle wound and asked me to put it on my "blogging thing."

Abigails first day of School

The official First Day pose - before we left.
Abby started Kindergarten this year at Freedom Elementary. Her teacher is Ms. Scoggins and she attends the afternoon class. My brave little Abby (against my will) was happy to say good-bye and start her day. She was very excited and felt "bery much smart" that she could write her name when many other children could not.


Drop off is different than St. Louis, we actually have to get out of our cars and walk the kids to the kindergarten building (no hallways in CA schools). The kids sign in, exchange their reading books, and then they can play until the whistle is blown. Then they line up and head into to class while singing "Good morning kindergarten day..."
At first I was sad the Abby didn't even shed a tear (unlike her mom) but after seeing and hearing the cries of other kids, I was happy she was so brave.

Olivia kept herself busy by playing "doggy" the entire time we dropped of Abby. She crawled around, barked, and tugged at peoples legs.

Abby and Dad.