WICKED!

Sweet, innocent, Dorothy was strolling along the gray-toned sidewalk trick-or-treating and collecting quite a basketfull of goodies when . . . .along came greedy, jealous, angry Elpheba, the wickedest witch of the West to steal that basket!
Green with jealousy, she threatened and cursed and created quite a scene which . . .


attracted the attention of the nearby patrolling clone troopers on duty to keep the peace.

They decided to investigate and have a closer look . . .

Elpheba was intimidated by the fierce troopers and decided instead to accept Dorothy's offer to trick-or-treat along with her. Something you'll never see in OZ!

Hop on POP!

Sad Dad,

Bad Had,

What a day Dad had!

Hop, Hop, We like to HOP!

We Like to Hop on Top of POP!
STOP!!! You must not Hop on POP!!!

Puzzle of the day . . .

If you were about to die and you were near a candy store, what candy would you buy???


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Answer: LIFESAVERS! of course

kaylee

Secret Agent

Secret agents come in all shapes and sizes and colors. Recently, we've had several sitings on our property and believe we may have uncovered a secret agent working on a top secret mission. Something in his disguise tipped us off and we have reason to believe our suspicions are correct. Just to be sure we hooked up a hidden camera and these are the pictures we found: We believe his identity may be related to Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb. What do you think????

A Virtual Tour

Our rental house is just fine for renting, though it has some unique features, such as a laundry room right in the middle, no towel racks in the master bathroom, and no room for a table in the kitchen eating area. Other than that, the neighbors are very kind, there is plenty of room for the trampoline in the backyard, and the house is in good condition.

A few days after we arrived Kaylee pulled me aside and said, "Mom we have got to talk. I don't know how much longer I can handle these plain white walls! What color do you think would work in my room?" It was difficult to break the news to her that we couldn't paint in the rental and we weren't going to hang any pictures or decorations. I didn't realize she ever took note of color.

Well here is the virtual tour, all out of order, but you'll get some idea.

This is the entry door- to the right is Greg's office, to the left, the garage door, and also the stairs going up to the only room upstairs, a large game room. Straight ahead on the right is the eating area, and on the left the laundry room. Further down are the two bedrooms, and then the kitchen/ family room and our master bedroom. One entire room downstairs is full of boxes- things we won't unpack. It smells horribly musty and cardboardy in there so I avoid it all costs.

The main living and family room area and the door to the backyard. Our room is on the right.

One of the two giant pantries. Look out CostCo, Wal-Mart and Sprouts- we are going to fill these cupboards!

The cave- aka Greg's office. It has two front windows facing out towards the street.

Kaylee's own bedroom- for the second time in her life. The first two years, probably don't count thought since she has no recollection of them.

Continued Tour

The living room fireplace and media nook. My ability to decorate is beyond limited so its pretty sparse.
The kitchen area with the giant island and our new barstools. We had to find a way to have our meals and since the table only fit in the dining area on carpet, that wasn't an option. Our new home will need barstools anyways so we found these this week.

The giant room sleeping quarters. I thought the kids would enjoy an extended sleepover arrangement but Trent has put a wrench in the bedtime routine and decided to forgo sleeping and bedtimes and naps. It's not a pleasant scene.

The dining room- on CARPET! Obviously, the owner didn't have children.

The playroom/ toy room/ library/ lego center/ train station/ craft area all rolled into one. That's versatility!

A VERY involved project

Tyler's birthday was, well, an exercise in patience this year. His first present was a remote control helicopter that lasted about 20 minutes until it was damaged beyond repair. Luckily, Greg had bought one for himself, under the pretense that they could fly them together, that one lasted maybe 30 minutes. From spare parts on both, we maybe earned 10 more minutes. Although captivating to watch, they were difficult to fly and manuever.

Needless to say, he was devastated. Wanting to fix the problem, Greg to him to the hobby store and bought a bigger, more expensive helicopter. Mind you, I wasn't consulted on this one. While Tyler was at a birthday party, Greg "tried" it out. It broke. He tried to return it. No returns on hobby articles that have been flown. Well, I don't know that it actually flew, but it was difficult to argue.

When Tyler found out the second round was broken before he even touched it, he was crushed. Originally, Tyler wanted a Lego Star Wars Gun ship, but we wanted to expand his horizons a little- he basically lives in a star wars/ clone wars mindset- so Greg found the helicopters. They were a definite bust.

By this time we were out of our house and getting ready to leave the state. We could not take any more baggage onto the plane- we had FAR more than we could manage. So Tyler waited until we got to Texas, and then he waited while Daddy searched for a truck, and then he waited while we unpacked, and finally Daddy and Tyler went shopping.

At the store, Tyler changed his mind and decided on an AT-TE walker. A very involved, intensive, complicated project. He went to work. I didn't see him for 8 hours straight. He studied the manual and worked and reworked and reworked. And then he emerged with this:

NICE WORK BUDDY!

hooray!!!!

Hooray! The kids are now allowed to post on my mom's blog [with her permission of course!] so the blog is now a family blog . Every Sunday, me, Tyler, and sometimes Megan publish a family newspaper called the Sunday Squeak. Our parents say that we will find a way to put the newspaper on the blog so people can read it.

kaylee

Our final San Diego week

Tuesday our home was emptied and we headed over to stay with Grammy and Ron. After finishing endless last minute details we arrived with our Trailblazer loaded to the hilt with those " few last things." They never ended!

We tried to enjoy a few of our favorite spots: In-n Out, Pat & Oscars, friends houses, family play dates, and so on those few final days. We made a last quick trip to Sea World with our passes and hit our favorite rides and attractions: Atlantis, Sea Lions Live, the dolphins, Shark Encounter, and the Logging ride. A beautiful day. I was able to enjoy a going-away dinner with my friends from the ward as well. Friday we ventured over to the Blue Angels and toured through the space craft and watched the Blue Angels and Fat Albert fly. Amazing fun. We were spoiled by Grammy and exhausted from a full week.

I nelgected to post pictures from Tyler's birthday. It was a crazy year, but still seemed to work out. For Tyler's Family party Grandma Langford made him and an awesome football cake! We held a pool party and swam hard. He was also privileged to have a double party with his friend Eli and his church buddies. A very kind gift. So thankfully, he didn't miss out much. Then we all celebrated again for his baptism.

First Week in Texas

We're official Texans now- with a truck parked in the driveway.

The night before school Megan yanked on her front tooth and wiggled as hard as she could. It wasn't more than an hour before she had pryed it out of her mouth. Now she's working on the next tooth so she can be toothless for Christmas!

First Day of School - again!

All reports were positive and happy. They attended art and music on the first day and said their teachers and classmates were quite nice.

Our mighty mighty moving truck- this carrier was huge!

Adios Clasico Court

One of the strangest sensations I have experienced was walking through our Clasico Court home one final time when it was completely empty and perfectly cleaned. Ghosts of memories surrounded me on all sides, recalling bringing my children home from the hospital there, or watching them learn to climb the stairs, and hearing their footsteps and laughter clamber through the halls. A whole heap of living made this house a home. I couldn't process the fact that these four walls were no longer the container for our family history. Surreal and strange.

Expressing my sadness for leaving my neighbors, my family, my walking partners, my friends, my ward, my familiar activites and teachers, is so heart-wrenching, I find myself reserving the pain for private moments. The pain is eased by the good memories of I have farewell dinners, and meetings and talks.

Clasico Court thank you. I cherished our time with you and now will pass along your blessings to another family. Adios and farewell.

Tyler's Baptism

One of the blessings we experienced was the opportunity we had to have a family baptism service for Tyler on his 8th birthday, September 27th. Just a day before the movers came, it was an exhausting as well as a sweet time. Bitter and sweet are always a package deal.

The sweet part was Tyler's sincere desire and enthusiasm to be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He would wake up on cloud nine and report that his mind was spinning with excitement and he could barely sleep. Another sweet blessing was the opportunity the baptism provided for us to gather with dear family and close friends and share this experience. Camille and John's family joined us from Fresno, as well as our nearby family: Jason and Lindy, Mel and Rol, Colby and Heidi, and both sets of grandmas. Dear friends from our ward, the Sutherlands, Plumbs, Hendersons, and Combes attended as well as our third grandma, and San Diego neighbor, Edda. We were able to take a break from the endless packing process and enjoy some family time, from dinners to Bananagram challenges, the moments were memorable. Tyler thrived on another oppportunity to play with his cousins and didn't waste a spare minute of playtime.

All of our family was able to participate in the baptism which added to the spirit and closeness of the service. Megan and Kaylee sang a duet accompanied by Joanne Stohs on the violin and myself on the piano. Jason gave a touching talk on baptism and Grandma Langford a tender talk on the Holy Ghost. Camille and Lindy offered prayers and Greg performed the baptism with John and Ron as witnesses. Grammy cooked up a delicious feast to devour beforehand and such a display of cookies, fudge, dipped rice krispie treats and goodies afterwards. Colby was the family photographer with his new camera and Mel and Heidi helped out with set-up and everything else. Trent was our comic relief and persisted in declaring, " I want to go swimming!" throughout the baptism.

The bitter part was shed in tears of sorrow, knowing that these associations would no longer be daily or as frequent. Change is difficult, though it provides opportunity for growth. Saying farewell was painfully difficult, a good reminder that the most important thing in life is our relationships with others.

Just kidding- a few more . . .

The dinner crew- we decided to combine meals together which worked wonderfully. Preparing for 40 people seems overwhelming, but it was actually simpler.

Tyler on top of the world.

Megan catching a wave!



Trent and his cousin Jake sharing a moment on the shore and pondering the meaning of life.

Beach campers 2009

One final snapshot before we headed for home after three sandy, sticky, salty wonderful beach camping days.

San Elijo Beach Camping 2009

No longer in the dark and needing a distraction from unpacking, I decided to catch up my blog. Catching up is never easy mostly because its difficult to know where to begin. The choice was made easier this time, our hard drive is in the process of being rewired and I can only find these beach camping pictures, so I'll start there!

True to our 7 year tradition we camped at the beach with our wonderful friends, the Sutherlands and Plumbs, as well as other friends, the Rands, the Joys, the Parkers, and the Romneys. An extra bonus was Jason and Lindy who came to join us for a few days as well.

With so many friends, there is never any lack of things to do. Tyler was our master builder and set out building elaborate tunnels and irrigations systems. Kaylee and her friends set up a full aquarium complete with star fish, crabs, and other sea life. Megan took some rides on the kayak and enjoyed boogie boarding. Trent just loved roaming on the shore and playing in the tide.

Tyler the builder

The aquarium

Beachin Trent

Drew enjoying his first taste of beach sand- yum!