Vain

Someone likes her new pigtails.

Green

green sugar toast
fun afternoon at the river ranch
corned beef, cabbage, soda bread

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Blurry Backgrounds

are nice.

Especially when she is standing in front of this:

Birthdays

Mario mushroom cupcakes for preschool (3/11)

SALLY'S BIRTHDAY

We had planned a party for her at Oakland Fairyland 2 hours away. We had been driving 1 1/2 hours when I called to see if it was doable in the rain and they were CLOSED cause of the rain! Ah! So Plan B ended up being the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. It was an awesome museum. The kids all loved it. Our guests were nice about the change of plans. But I was disappointed...maybe Fairyland was more for me (it's patterned after fairy tales, not fairies)?

She loved this Wells Fargo carriage and kept going back to it.



We did cupcakes quick outside before the rain started again.

They're supposed to be daisies.
And I don't know what her hair is doing...I always feel the need to explain its craziness.

They traded party favors.


Owen was feeling left out not having a birthday this week so we pretended for him.


DREW'S BIRTHDAY

We got a babysitter so Justin and I could take Drew out alone. Owen was supposed to be at a birthday party but was too shy not knowing anyone other than the birthday boy. So he just came with us. Drew probably had more fun that way anyway.

As much fun as a kid in a candy store.


We did black light mini golfing as a family. Loved it.




It's convenient that his name has any many letters as his new age.




Happy birthday to Drew and Sally (and Owen for pretend)!

Now excuse me while I go into hibernation.

Staff Sergeant

That would be Justin's new title.

He got promoted March 1 by our friend Aaron.


Which was so cool...we know him through church but since he's a Marine who is higher ranked than Justin he was able to do the promotion.

That night we had a Taco Bell party to celebrate his graduation and promotion.

Cause when someone graduates from Arabic, it makes sense to eat Mexican food.

Or really because it's his very favorite.

He likes Taco Bell even more than authentic Mexican places (i.e., Tia Rosa's) in AZ!

I made his shirt that says "Yo quiero Taco Bell" in Arabic.

We like when our guests fit in sombreros.

The Rest of the Weekend

2/27 - Oakland Temple balcony. I like that Justin's dad took even more pictures than me.

Friday was gross weather. We did go to Lover's Point for tide-pooling before the rain started but it was super cold and windy and Justin's dad got drenched with a huge wave. That afternoon we drove to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park to hike through redwoods. Right when we got there it started raining. The guys all went hiking anyway and I hung out in the van w/the kids.

Saturday was nice again. We went to the Oakland Temple. Christian recently went through in AZ for the first time to get ready for his mission. He's going to Vera Cruz, Mexico in April...the exact same mission Brett just came home from! So it was cool we could go through the Temple here with him since we couldn't be in AZ.

Last picture with Uncle Christian for awhile...

Thanks to Brett, Justin and I got to go in together for the first time since living here.

All these pictures were taken from the balcony at the top of the Temple. Anyone can go up there and see the awesome views of the San Francisco Bay.

Then we went to Mountain View (near San Jose) to visit Justin's uncle Wayne and his X-BOX.

And to eat more Chinese food.

The honey pecan chicken here beat out our honey walnut version.

SO good.

Kind of like our weekend.

It's Official

Justin has graduated from DLI in Arabic!

His graduation day was February 25.

Justin's dad, Christian, and Brett (brothers) came up for the occasion. Yay!


It was the nicest day start to finish.

Kids got to wake up to their visiting family.

Sally got serenaded by Brett...a special song he wrote about ponies.


Then the graduation.

The weather was perfect.






Chinese food was good...honey walnut chicken please.


Point Lobos was amazing as always.

We went on the north side of the park for the first time and loved it.

Then the south side we always go to.

I usually never take pictures unless people are in them but this was so pretty.
Can I have one of those houses please?




Bad pun time...Justin climbed a mountain!

As in this one, and the mountain that was learning Arabic.

Oh man, it was even worse that I explained it.

A Boat House

This is my visiting teaching companion Leana,
and our boat-dwelling visiting teachee Chantil.

I think this picture needs to be submitted to The Ensign.

There's a good story there somewhere...
about the girl from Russia doing her visiting teaching in America on a boat.
Or something like that.

Chantil also visit teaches me.
Pretty sure us having each-other as visiting teachers was an accident.
But we loved it.

She is moving on so I needed pictures.
Because I like her and because when else am I going
to visit teach someone who lives on a boat?

A boat that has a hammock on the deck?

A Break

My poppies and I are grateful for a break in the rain.

PS
I love this book that my aunt Kalene lent me.
There is nothing appealing about the cover or title but it's so good.

A more important PS
Today I'm thinking about my cousin Chad & Cherisse's family.
And my brother Brent & Errin's family.
They're all amazing.

Scenes from a Stress-Free Weekend

2/19 - dinner at a Chinese restaurant with Justin's Arabic classmates and teachers.

2/21 - visit to the Heywood's ranch

K taking 3 kids to dinner isn't entirely stress-free (esp. when food took literally an hour after it was ordered to be brought out).

But we are totally free of school stress for the first time in almost 2 years.

We found out that Justin got a waiver!

He was close to passing, but didn't. Getting a waiver is just like he passed. He got it because of his good reputation and leadership skills. And because of prayers. They work. THANK YOU!