Sunday Holiday Fun

Nate's mom gave us a package of little crafts for the kids to do. We decided to bust the first one out today. The kids put the faces on all by themselves (Ethan's turned out a little skiwompus...love it!). I had to do the hot glue gun on the antlers and bows. It made me realize that we have absolutely no paper craft glue in this house. I have scrapbooking sticky stuff, hot glue, and rubber cement. Elmers anyone? Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays so far!

Goodbye November....Hello December!

I can't believe we're on to December already. Time goes by sooo fast. I've decided Thanksgiving is my new favorite holiday. No stress of gift giving, just being thankful. Pluuuuus!...it entails delicious food. Nom nom nom. Thanksgiving morning, I dragged the kids out of the house to the store, as a good procrastinator does, to get last minute fixings. On the corner, down Center St., the kids spotted Mater. We looked like a bunch of scrounges, so we headed back later, after getting all proper to take some pics. There were jars to donate to a boy who is in the hospital. His favorite movie is Cars, and it was just a good natured idea. Who knows where our dollar and fifty cents ended up, but to stop and think of that little boy made me grateful. I'm so thankful that we are a healthy and happy family. Not to mention the fun pics we were able to snatch. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Our Crazy B-day Week

For Jack's 5th B-day/family vacation, we decided to attack SoCal. And I mean ATTACK it head on. We drove down Monday, and then the crazy week began.

Tuesday...Sea World

Wednesday...California Adventures...

the kids ate up every minute of it

Thursday...JACK'S BIRTHDAY...

and official Disneyland day! Grandpa & Grandma Miranda & Uncle Chase hung out with us for the day. Oh, and P.S. Ethan LOVED Mickey Mouse. Loved!!! Jack and I conquered Star Tours, even though Jack's height was checked EVERY time we passed a crew member. Ha! He was perfectly 40 inches. Thank goodness!!!

Birthday dinner break. Met Grandma, Uncle Tanner, and Aunt Becca at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Then back to D-Land to finish the night.

Friday... Day 2 of D-land, but no pictures to prove it. Jack and Nate got to live it up on Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. Jack was uber stoked. Are we surprised? Not from our adrenaline junky.

Saturday... San Diego Wild Animal Park...

it was animals presented in a whole new way. Much more personal type of a zoo experience. Very cool to see the animals in herds and not just in small exhibits. The boys loved the gorillas (they had a brand new baby), the lions, the elephants, and the cheetah run (they are crrrrrazy fast). We got to have Grandma & Grandpa Quan meet us for the day.

Sunday...RELAXATION, well kinda...

we could've gone to Universal Studios on the passes we had bought (everything listed was included in our SoCal City Pass...HIGHLY recommend it!), but we decided to hang with the fam instead. We stayed at my Dad's the whole week, but felt like we were so on the go that we didn't really get to hang with them much. We ended up down at the pier enjoying the beachy sunshine. The boys played in the water and had a blast. I just love this picture of Ethan and Uncle Tanner...

Monday...we drove home. It was a whirlwind of absolute awesomeness!

Speaking of Ghosts

We're back from the dead...buahahaha!

Here's our halloween in a few, nay, a dismal amount of decent pics... If only these kids would sit still just long enough for our camera to "warm up". Or, maybe I should just invest in a better camera. Yes, I think that would be best.

The kids loved hoarding the candy. We unloaded once and went out for more. For those of you wondering, Jack chose his costume all on his own. When I asked him what he wanted to be, he told me..."a ghost with blue wings and orange spikes." I asked if he meant a dragon, but he was adamant. There was no way I could deny such creativity, right!? Mind you, I DO NOT sew. And, they DO NOT make boy/dragon wings. Some spray paint, wire clippers, flannel, sew on velcro, hot glue, and styrofoam made the dream possible. Ha! Oh, and P.S.... I suck at face painting. Unless you have thoes crazy nice brushes, well, who are we kidding!?

Ethan, on the other hand, was a chicken. We had everything planned to be Mickey Mouse. We had even bought leggings from the toddler girl section at "Wally World." He was stoked. A week before Halloween he decided he would have NOTHING to do with anything but the Mickey head piece. While I was at work, a lady told me that Old Navy had costumes for 6 bucks. The only one in Mr. E's size was the chicken. I snagged it, took it home, and it was love at first cluck. He wore it to the grocery store, to pick out pumpklins, and asked for it first thing in the mornings.

Ranch, Oregon, and All the Places in Between

Well, I took my last week of vacation time for this year, and to Oregon we went. On the way, we stopped at Nate's family's ranch. It's a real working ranch that two of his uncles and their families live on. Pretty out of my box, but fun to be in for a while. Jack loved EVERYTHING about it, and Nate got back in touch with some of his roots. After two days, we made our way to Meford, OR. The kids did pretty well. We made a few stops on the way to get them out and moving every now and then. While in OR we had a fabulous time. Nate's parents had a ton of fun things lined up for us. We headed to the coast after a few days and spent some serene time on the lovely beaches of OR. After a fantastic week, we headed out on our way home. It's been nice to be getting back to our routine, but we miss Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks Mom and Dad for all you do for us. We had a GREAT time! Oh, and the pics are in backwards order, because Blogger and I don't agree with how easy putting pics up SHOULD be. So, if you want the proper effect, start at the bottom and work your way up. Cheese!

Winnemucca, oh Winnemucca. There's not a whole lot in Winnemucca. BUT... We found a veterans memorial with some retired awesomeness. Here's a retired fighter jet and my boys. It was a random find, but Jack thought it was pretty sweet.

Redwood trail on the way home from the coast. AMAZING! Huge, crazy huge. It was pouring rain which another hiker only told us made them more beautiful than usual. I just can't believe how big the roots are. Sheesh!

Ocean World. We got to pet sharks and watch a seal/sea lion show.

Jack LOVED the waves at the coast. We brought our weight in gold home in rocks. That's right, beautiful, unique rocks. Hand picked by Nate.

Crater Lake, OR

The Vortex House

Burney Falls... SO gorgeous!

Some ruins up above the ranch. "Jack, just look, don't touch!" No need to ruin the ruins ;)

On the porch at Uncle Ralph and Aunt Patsy's house.

Jack on his first solo horse ride at the Ranch. It was love at first horse.

Eureka, NV on the way to the Ranch. Fun old stuff to look at, but literally, the town, in it's entirety, is maybe a 5 minute walk.

Bonding Time!?

I just wanted to take a second. You know how some days you just wonder if you're the only one who feels the way you do? The days where you feel like your eyes are so tired that they burn with the crying sensation? The times you just want to sit on the shower floor, let the hot water sprinkle all over you, as you just let out the tears you push back... you know, because you're tougher than that? The times you look in the mirror and think, life is so crazy. Crazy in a good way, but crazy. You look at how different life is than how you imagined it 10 years ago, but yet, you embrace it, because in a weird way, it's better than you could've imagined, but at the same time, how did life happen while you weren't looking?

Do I make a good enough effort everday? I swear I try, but could I be better? I'm sure I could. Motivation... inspiration... goals are set and schemes are made. And yet, I don't know how good I am at making them all come to fruition. I've decided that life, a quality one, is a choice. It's a hard one to acknowledge and achieve. I can live life, or I can liiive life. Am I okay with complacency, or am I trying to be better than I was yesterday, last week, month? I honestly don't know why I'm rambling like a mad lady, but I was just thinking, and wondering, am I the only one? No, I know I'm not, but sometimes you just reach out. For a sense of human contact, emotional support that sometimes we just stop nurturing. Yes, I'm slightly crazy :) And oddly, I do feel refreshed. Oh the power of prose.

Summer Has Come and Gone

Today was the first day of school, for most kids around here. I just can't believe how quickly time seems to go. I'm excited for a little work relief. Back to School is one of our busiest seasons. *Deep sigh*

Other news... Ethan turned one last Saturday. He had his check up this afternoon. 18 lns 14 oz, 30 in. He's defintely the bigger of my 2 small children. 9th percentile for his weight, and 50th for his height.

Jack is potty trained except for bed time, has a curiosity for everything in life, and can light up any room with his over the top personality. One set back to being almost 4...he thinks he's soooo independent, and to let him get there I've realized I have to let him be and do exactly what he thinks he is and can. It absolutely kills me sometimes.

Sad, sad, sad is the blog situation. Ethan is just a wee kid in my last post. Good grief! I will have to get some pics up ASAP. Sorry for all the boring letters and no amazing pictures.