31<-08:00>03/14

Effie Yeaw Nature Center

9:54 am by Janelle. Filed under: News

Friday there was no school so we decided to go to the Effie Yeaw Nature center. In the end, we had a good time, though there were several times when I thought, “Why in the heck am I doing this?!” The nature center is a little building with some wild animals and exhibits about the animals in the surrounding area. They also have some indian huts and things for field trips outside. Then behind the center are tons of trails and the American River.

Like most of my outings, it didn’t all go as I planned it out in my head. I forgot cash to pay for parking and the nature center wouldn’t take checks or debit so I drug the kids to a golf course where I was told there would be an ATM machine. The machine was broken. I found a restaurant and I bought some fries and they gave me cash back. We drove back over to the nature center and paid for parking (after 40 minutes of running around to find money.) We watched some snakes eat mice, which was pretty cool. Dressed up like (freaky) birds, and played in a birds nest. As we left to go exploring, Ada scraped her knee and was moaning and groaning, Preston wore his flip flops (which I advised him not to) and whined about his feet hurting and Dallin tried running 100 yards in front at all times and so at the beginning of our walk through the trails I was thinking “WHY?! Why am I even out here??” But by the end, after the kids started forgetting their ailments and we began to enjoy all the awesome things that were around us, we had a great time! And it really helped that we had some candy. I needed it. They needed it. Candy helps.

So, if you are ever thinking of going to Effie Yeaw Nature Center. Do it! And bring $5 for parking!!! And candy.

 photo DSC_0481.jpg

 photo DSC_0480.jpg

 photo DSC_0484.jpg

 photo DSC_0483.jpg

 photo DSC_0479.jpg

 photo DSC_0493.jpg

 photo DSC_0487.jpg

 photo DSC_0489.jpg

 photo DSC_0494.jpg

 photo DSC_0499.jpg

 photo DSC_0502.jpg

26<-08:00>03/14

Blessings!

4:18 pm by Janelle. Filed under: News

I’m sure anyone looking at this (the two…or zero people…) Know we are in a pretty bad drought out here! We have been asked by the first presidency of our LDS church to pray for rain, and have even been asked to fast. Something amazing, and honestly miraculous is that in February we were asked to fast for rain the first Sunday of the month and looking at a graph of the Folsom Lake water levels (a reservoir by our house) the levels skyrocket at the beginning of February and the beginning of March (many of us also fasted in March for rain.) To me, this is not a coincidence, it is a miracle from God. He blesses His righteous people for doing what is right and for doing His work. He really does. Since I am a big weather person and can be a total wimp (as has been mentioned before…) sometimes the rain is just so inconvenient, but this year I have grown to appreciate every little drop and consider each one a gift from God.

I made the kids stop whatever they were doing and run outside, the sun was out and there were huge drops of water falling from the sky! That combo always makes me run out and check for a rainbow…we have a lot of trees around our yard so I could kind of see one, but not really.

Also, one kind of embarrassing story…in high school I literally drove around to try and find the end of a rainbow. Not that I thought it had gold or leprechauns or anything like that but I thought you really could find it. Now I am realizing it’s the angle you are looking from that determines where the rainbow looks like it is and the rainbow changes every time you move, there isn’t a literal rainbow in one place in the sky. I’m still a little shocked that I didn’t get that…I’m sure I wasted a lot of gas.

 photo DSC_0459.jpg

 photo DSC_0469.jpg

 photo DSC_0454.jpg

 photo DSC_0467-1.jpg

 photo DSC_0456.jpg

 photo DSC_0464.jpg

And the pretty wisteria!

 photo DSC_0477.jpg

 photo DSC_0471.jpg

25<-08:00>03/14

Frozen

5:10 pm by Janelle. Filed under: News

Watching Frozen with daddy.

 photo DSC_0450.jpg

 

Also, a few minutes ago I called everyone in for dinner but they were all preoccupied with the above scene and so I sat down to put a photo up here and a few minutes later I heard Preston in the kitchen with Ada and he initiated having a prayer on the food without any grown ups around!!! That was one of those moments where I felt like, “Okay, I’m not totally failing!!” YAY! I’m so proud!

25<-08:00>03/14

Little Princess

12:57 pm by Janelle. Filed under: Janelle

This little guy is all boy…except for sometimes when he wants to wear Ada’s princess dresses :) This one is an old dance costume but we call it “Tinkerbell.” He makes a super cute Cinderella too!
 photo DSC_0276.jpg

24<-08:00>03/14

Sunday Afternoon

2:13 pm by Janelle. Filed under: News

The weather has been warming up here…I guess it’s been warmer for awhile, but now it’s actually getting kind of hot. I’m a wimp when it comes to weather, so it isn’t really hot. But I think it is. With all the warmth I’ve had an itching to get outside! I want my kids to love hiking and being outside…and they’re getting better…my outings don’t always go as planned, there is usually way more whining in real life than when I plan it out in my head but I think it is worth it. They’ll toughen up.

I was  pretty proud of them yesterday, we decided to go on a walk by the river and on the sides of the river (which has a dam on both sides, so technically this part is a lake) there are TONS of river rock. Piles and piles. One of them is a GIGANTIC pile…looks like a huge mountain, and we were walking along the bike trail and decided to veer off the trail and check out this big mountain of rocks…and then we decided to climb it. We all made it up and back down in one piece! Though Shaun decided to take Ada another way down and they were practically surfing down the rocks (I couldn’t watch) but thankfully they were okay!

Even with all the whining it was a good time! We also spent some time outside eating oranges and soaking in the sun. One memory I have of me and my dad is that we would get out the cutting board and one of those huge red mesh bags of oranges (most likely picked up from the guy in the pick up truck on a corner by our house) and we’d cut them up and eat them. Dad would keep cutting more and more oranges until we’d both decided we’d had enough. I was happy to see at least two of my children would eat oranges with me…and ask for more!

And one more thing, we got a fire pit for the back yard and Dallin keeps getting into it! Even after bathing before church…we still had to clean him up! Sneaky little stinker.

 photo DSC_0196.jpg

 photo DSC_0203.jpg

 photo DSC_0207.jpg

 photo DSC_0224.jpg

 photo DSC_0215-1.jpg

 photo DSC_0213.jpg

 photo DSC_0237.jpg

 photo DSC_0245.jpg

 photo DSC_0241.jpg

 photo DSC_0248.jpg

 photo DSC_0252.jpg

 photo DSC_0253-1.jpg

 photo DSC_0255.jpg

 photo DSC_0258.jpg

We made some campfire eclairs! Shaun just got back from a scout training where they made these.

 photo DSC_0268-1.jpg

 photo DSC_0269.jpg

 photo DSC_0271.jpg

21<-08:00>03/14

Hello

11:48 am by Janelle. Filed under: News

Alright, Here are some pictures from the past few days. I thought, perhaps…and I’m not making any promises…but I’d like to document more of the day to day things in my life to remind me of all the beautiful things I have and all the small experiences I get to have with my family. With spring here, I have been noticing small things around me that I appreciate: birds chirping in the morning, the sound of a lawn mower on Saturdays along with the smell of fresh cut grass, blossoms, big puffy clouds, my kids getting along, laughing together, reading stories…so many things in life are beautiful.

I read this on the LDS church website the other day and it sums up my feelings lately and was very inspiring to me:

Near the end of his life, one father looked back on how he had spent his time on earth. An acclaimed, respected author of numerous scholarly works, he said, ‘I wish I had written one less book and taken my children fishing more often.’ Time passes quickly. Many parents say that it seems like yesterday that their children were born. Now those children are grown, perhaps with children of their own. ‘Where did the years go?’ they ask. We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present.” -Thomas S. Monson October 2000

So, maybe it will be one picture a day. but hopefully I can see the little things that make life so great!

Uncle Erik came and stayed with us for a few weeks while he was working in this area and we loved it!! The kids LOOOVED waking up to seeing Uncle Erik and were so excited when he came home at night. Dallin would wake up and ask, “where Erik?” So here they are, loving Uncle Erik and sad to say good bye!

 photo DSC_0179.jpg

I REALLY wanted to make some garden boxes this year and have a big, pretty garden…so here is my helper. And believe me, he and Ada were really good helpers……..yeah.

 photo DSC_0164.jpg

And then I bought this wooden high chair off craigslist and EVERYONE wanted to sit in it and get their pictures taken. So why not?

 photo DSC_9041.jpg

 photo DSC_9034.jpg

 photo DSC_9038.jpg

 photo DSC_9051.jpg

 photo DSC_9075.jpg

 photo DSC_9058.jpg

 photo DSC_9079.jpg

 photo DSC_9063-1.jpg

 photo DSC_9054.jpg