2010/01/22

Just a bit of God's Splendor






We went for a hike last weekend. It was a beautiful day to behold and we knew that the week following would bring its share of wind and rain, so we decided to make the most of it. We packed the kids in the BRV and took the dog along too. We arrived at the hill, it felt like a mountain, and discovered that Salt would have to stay put in the van and salivate on our windows because dogs weren't allowed on this particular trail. It turns out that was a huge blessing in disguise. The hill was an arduous work to master with 3 littles in tow. The terrain started off mild and we made great distance with relative ease. Because we forgot the backpack carrier Silas rode most of the way up and down on Jake's shoulders. I wore Samuel in the bjorn which is not friendly for hiking. The terrain quickly turned from ease and laughter to steepness and heavy panting. Libby with all of her 4 year old wisdom, which comes naturally from being sheltered at home all her little life declared, "I'm too big for this hike!" It's hard to laugh when you're panting. We were defeated and didn't make the top. We hadn't packed lunches and weren't carrying more than one water bottle between us. So, we made it half way up the face of the hill which was approximately 870 feet. We took a picture and then we headed back down the hill, Libby slid/fell nearly all the way down. We kept hearing her little squeals and gasps with shouts of, "I'm too big for this hike!" We have set it in our minds to come back with food, more drink, and backpack carriers so that we might defeat the hike another day.

The Crated Creature of Happiness.



Oh yes, somebody is very excited!

2010/01/19

Oh Pottery Barn, Oh Williams Sonoma!



Do you know whose been flying your plane???

We go to church with a man who, in military terms, is the equivalent of the head maintenance officer for Williams Sonoma/Pottery Barn Aviation Department. He and Jake have always had a lot to talk about because of their connections to flight/planes. Anyway, Jake was offered the chance to bring the kids and come aboard the private jet for a flight. So, of course we took the chance. I took the littles and headed over to the home of the said maintenance officer to be with his wife, while Jake, Colby, Benjamin, and Louisa went to the airport. Am I making sense? They took off and Jake actually got to fly the fancy jet up around 46,000 feet. Guess who else got to fly and nearly jerked the thing off auto-pilot? I'm sure you can see by the picture above. I mean, I hear it's hard to resist when a little girl ascends the cockpit and says, "Do little gewrls get to fly planes?"

I know you're all hoping for me to tell you about the interior of the jet. It's million dollar decorating from what I gather and the plane travels with it's own chef. So, when the CEO must be on the road, they don't have to eat out, they can just eat on the plane. There's a bed and a bar I'm sure. The kids were told to keep their feet off the seats...

Notice Louisa's feet. Oops!

2010/01/13

Samuel Snuggles Sweetly



Say that 3 times.

He is a daddy's boy. It's awesome that Jake has been home during the first part of this little lad's life. He's really fond of his poppa and his poppa of him.

A New Year in the Kitchen



Jackie's been in the kitchen and doing very well I must say. For the new year she's been tasked with making 4 recipes per month. She may choose savory or sweet and so far sweet has reigned. Here's a picture of her making cookies. Her first batch of cookies ever. She's made brownies before, but brownies aren't cookies.
The particular recipe she followed was handed down from my Grammie (my dad's mom). So there's no pudding or cake mix called for in it, I've worked to steer her from those quick recipes as there's not a lot of learning involved if all you need to do is dump oil and eggs in a pre-packaged powder mix.. back to the point this was the real deal! She did fabulous. When we realized we only had half a bag of chocolate chips she opted, by her own good judgement, for a half bag of peanut butter chips to go along with. Very impressive and with a delicious result!

Benjamin the young..


so full of life and love.

He has been inquiring about baptism a lot lately and has really been expressing a child-like faith with love for the Father. He passes us notes declaring His adoration of the Savior and only recently duct-taped a note to the front of his bike for all to see. We met up with a new neighbor today and she seemed to look curious at it. I wonder if she thinks he was referring to his excellent ability to ride his bike. It was a sweet testimony whatever she may have thought.

Yesterday, I also heard him declaring to Louisa and Libby in his most proud voice, "Guess how many days these socks have lasted without going into the wash?" muffled responses in the background, "Three girls, that's right, three whole days."

He told us last night as well that his hair has become way too long and he now wishes to be bald.

Then today he inquired, "What does boycott mean?" I answered him and his response was, "Oh, then I want to boycott Lowe's."

2010/01/05