snow!

Well, not quite yet. But I love looking at these pictures of the kids playing in the snow last winter. We got hit hard a couple times with up to 5 feet of snow within 2 days. I will definitely be sad when my nice green lawn, and beautiful flowers and trees are all covered by snow.

This is great picture of our Subaru, buried so well you can only see it's side view mirror.

Jackson Lake

Jackson Lake is just a couple miles down the hill from us. It's a pretty small lake which makes it just the right size for us. At the beginning of this summer we took everybody down there with the raft for the day. Of course the kids love playing in the water and the boat. And Nathan loves paddling around his younger sibling.

The Car Show

This weekend we spent a couple hours checking out the Wrightwood Classic Car Show. The kids love playing with Nathan's hot wheel cars so I figured they would enjoy seeing the real thing. There were a lot more cars than I expected and a few interesting ones, like the 4x4 corvette, and the one with a "fuzzy" interior.

Of course by nap time we had a little trouble keeping their attention.

Beaches

Back in June we spent a couple weekends at the beach in So. Cal. along with Matt's parents. The kids love the beach, they spend a lot of time bringing buckets of water up to the sand just to watch it soak into the ground. They were temporarily sidetracked by this seal on the rocks and wanted to get a closer look.

On this day Nathan wanted to be buried in the sand, and of course the twins wanted to follow in his footsteps.

First Day of 5th Grade

This morning I sent Nathan off to school for his first day of 5th grade. I hope we like his new teacher. He already knows that his good friend Wyatt is in his class again, so he is very excited about that.

My Shy Guy

Aaron does not pose for pictures, I had to talk him into sitting still, then tickle his feet to get a smile out of him. If I ask him if I can take his picture he says "no" and takes off running.

Little Miss Photogenic

Alivia is all about posing for the camera now. She loved her new dress and flower I brought back from Hawaii.

My Weekend Project

About two weeks ago I decided to take on a little weekend project. I bought a couple Adirondack chairs from a local guy that sells them put together but unfinished. I knew it would take some work getting them looking good, but I was in a crafty mood and was up to the challenge. After about 12 hours of sanding and a couple more of staining, here is the end result, two beautiful (and comfy) chairs to sit in and watch the kids enjoy their new backyard.

Mountaineer days

Every year for the 4th of July weekend our town of Wrightwood puts on a parade and hosts a bunch of fun activities right in the middle of the town. This was our 2nd year going. We missed the parade this time, and to make it up we let Aaron and Alivia ride the horses. They were so excited to ride. Alivia was jumping up and down saying "ride the horse, ride the horse"

Oahu, Hawaii

We just got back from visiting the Island of Oahu. When I say we I mean Matt, Nathan and I. The three little ones stayed at our house with Matt's parents. We were very lucky that they agreed to watch the kids for 8 days. It was nice getting a break from them, but I missed them so much I was ready to go home after 4 days. I think Nathan needed a break from his little siblings too.

View from our room

We stayed right on the beach of Waikiki, but we left almost everyday to go explore. We first went snorkeling at Sharks Cove. The water was nice and clear there and we saw some fish and coral, but no turtles. There was a beach just down the street called Turtle Beach, and sure enough there were turtles there, the only problem was you couldn't really snorkel in that area, the water was too murky. I was just glad that Nathan got to see them, one even came up onto the beach, very cool.

Sharks Cove

The next day wasn't as sunny so we thought it would be a good day to see Pearl Harbor. We started off at the USS Missouri, then headed over to the USS Arizona Memorial. They show a short movie about the events that took place on December 7, 1941, it was a little hard to watch without tearing up. And I think Nathan has a good understanding of what happened and why they built the memorial.

The next day we hiked to the top of Diamond Head, it wasn't that bad of a hike. I say that now, but if you would have asked me that day I would have complained about the heat, and the crowds. It was crowded at the top, so I didn't we didn't have an opportunity to take a family picture, but I did get this great panoramic shot.

We thought we should try kayaking since we heard of this "sunken island" which is really a huge sand bar, and wanted to check it out. This was our first time kayaking but we were going to stay in Kane'hoe Bay, so it's somewhat protected by the waves. We rented a 2 man kayak with room to add nathan in the middle, but that meant he didn't have to paddle. I was a little nervous at first because the water was very deep until we got to the sand bar. Once out there we could get out and walk around in the very shallow water. It was pretty neat, and I'm glad we went, but boy were my arms sore the next day.

The rest of the trip we just did a little more exploring, found a couple of other spots to snorkel. We found a beach way in the northern part of the island that had huge waves and watched people surf there for a while. We took another hike up to Manoa Falls. This was more of a jungle hike, very lush and super muddy. I enjoyed this hike much more than the Diamond Head hike, other than the part where my feet came back covered in mud.

Our New House

The other big change in our lives was the move into our new house.

We have lived in Wrightwood, CA for a year and a half now and really like it here, of course we liked living in Redondo Beach too, but we couldn't afford a house there, so the mountains were a great second choice. We bought our house in April, and we've been enjoying every minute of it. (expect for the leaking pipes, leaking fire sprinklers, insect house guests, demolition of the backyard) My favorite part is the backyard. We put in lawn and a playset for the kids. This was definitely a necessity, living in a small town (only 3000 people) and 30 minutes away from the next big town the only park around here is very small and doesn't even have grass.
Here are some before and after pictures of the backyard.

Baylee

The biggest event in the last year was the birth of my 4th child, Baylee. She was born January 30, 2009 weighing in at 5lbs 13oz. She is such a sweet heart, she hardly ever cries, well not lately anyway. She was a fussy baby unless I was holding her, which is pretty difficult when chasing around my two year old twins. Recently I bought a jumperoo, which has given me a few hours a day of hands free time. She really loves that thing, take a look...

Here she is yesterday sitting up all by herself for the first time.

Getting back to my blog

So I tried to start a blog about a year ago, but I only managed to get 3 posts written. Now a year later I'm trying it again. I have a lot to share about the last year so I'll be posting as much as I can to get caught up.