Stay at home mom with kids in school!

This year is a new phase for me as a stay at home mom with all my kids in school.  It is so fun!!   I love my littles and miss those days of having them at home, but I'm having a great time in this stage of life too!

When the kids went back to school in August and Jojo started Kindergarten, for the first two weeks of school I was too sad to even go home!  I knew if I did I would just lay in bed and cry so instead I caught up on errands, tried out some new gyms to see what kind of exercise I wanted to add to my dog walking!

I'm also teaching a high school biology class for some freshman and sophmore home schoolers! It is so fun! They are great kids. I get a kick out of watching them interact, flirt, talk, etc. It is just great. I also love being back to teaching bio.  It is on of my loves.  I have had to change my teaching style a bit to match up with the learning styles of these very self motivated home school kids, and that has been fun too!    On Mondays I teach class from 10:45-12:15 so after I drop off the kids I spend and hour or so getting things ready and then head over to class. After class I usually go right to kickboxing and get a quick workout in before heading home. It's a great routine!

Every other Tues I work in Jojo's class in the morning.

Wed/Th/Fri I walk with Gabby and/or Holli Ewell or occasionally someone else!

Once a month I check out Clare and Lexey on a different day and take them out to lunch for a little one on one time. I started this last year and it really means a lot to them. They talk so much during this time, they are always in a great mood, and we have some really great conversations.

For Jojo I check her out of school one day a week around lunch time and just bring her home to rest, relax, chill and hang out. She has been struggling with separation anxiety when I leave her at school and she is also pretty burned out and grumpy after school. A little bit of extra home time seems to help her quite a bit.  I do have to say that I am seeing improvements in her ability to handle the full day now so I think she might be getting used to it.

We bought our first house!

Mid-Sept we went to see a house on Shadowline and we both really liked it.  In fact, I was so excited about the house I could hardly sleep that night after we saw it.  However, we were still toying with the idea of buying the Lime Grove since we could get it at such a good price.   I took Holli Ewell over to see the house, and Kari and they both thought it was nice.  I think I saw the house a total of 4 times.  I really liked it but hesitated to pass up the great deal on buying in green valley, had a desire to stay in the neighborhood with the Hussmans and McEwans and other great families that we know, and keep our great deck and view.  However, there were so many great reasons that we have been wanting to move - better freeway access, sidewalks and streetlights for the kids to walk around and play, proximity to the park, neighborhood with kids around, smaller and more manageable house and yard.  After discussion for a few days we decided to buy the Shadowline house. It is what we want in this stage of life!

The house had originally been listed at $789-849 but a few days before we decided to buy the range dropped to $769-819.   We decided to offer $775. 

After we made our offer, Dave wanted to see the house one more time in the daylight since he had only been there one time in the evening after dark.  We noticed that day that there was no A/C unit in the house.  I was glad to see that because then we knew that we would be spending 6-10K on an A/C and possibly ducting and a new heater if that was needed as well.  So, we decided we would not go up too much in price knowing we would spend that right off the bat.

They countered at $795.  We decided that we would go up to $780 and that is all.

The realtor's talked back and forth a bunch and their realtor said the lowest they could go is $790.  We decided to hold at $780 and see what they would say.  Their realtor offered to give them a portion of his commission (4K) and our realtor offered to pitch in 1,000, raising their take home value to 785. I'm sure they were hoping that we would just be willing to budge on the last 5 but we decided not to, figuring that 3 weeks on the market and knowing they already had another house that we were in the position of power and they would be crazy not to take it and keep it on the market even longer waiting for another offer.   

And we were right. After a couple of days of waiting they came back and accepted our offer of $780.

That was Oct 6th. It has been a whirlwind of paperwork, emails, phone calls and little decisions.  We've had tons of paperwork to do with the bank, paperwork with the realtor, paperwork with the escrow company!  I went to the home inspection which was fun to spend a few hours in the house.  Nothing major came up on the inspection and all the other reports - termite, title, etc were all nothing too surprising so things have been moving forward pretty smoothly. We are scheduled to close escrow Nov 7th.  I planned for a moving truck to come load all of our boxes and furniture on Nov 15th, giving me a week to take a few things over myself and a few days to look around and see how I want to set everything up! We are all pretty excited!  I hope we have made a good choice -- I think we have!

The kids will stay at painted rock, at least for this year while Clare finishes 5th grade.  Next year it would be much easier to switch over to Tierra Bonita so that we are going to school with the neighborhood kids, and it's right next door to the middle school where Clare will be! So, we'll see how the girls feel about that. I have almost a year to talk them into it!

Yesterday was our first day at the Del Norte ward! Pete and Jessica sat in our row with us. That was super fun. My kids loved playing with Jackson who is just over a year and darling as can be!  It seems like it'll be a good ward for us.  Clare has a class of all girls and she liked it! Lexey of course loves everything. Jo has a great teacher  (Jenny Baker) and 4 out of the 5 kids in her class are sweet little girls.  Yesterday I sat with Jo both hours of church and I am hoping that doesn't last too long. Jo is having lots of separation anxiety ever since starting Kindergarten and the ward change a few months ago when we were split out of green valley ward.

two months no blogging! Yikes!

Well, it'll have to be catch up time over the next couple of weeks!  Life is great and busy and I haven't been writing much!

Things to catch up on - Labor day weekend staycation with the family
Trip to Oklahoma for Ohio State football
Kids back in school, fall schedule.
New schedule for Denise with all kids at school - kickboxing, paddle boarding, teaching bio, lunches
purse and wallet stolen at the beach



I'll try to get caught up soon, but for now I'll just start where we are!  Today was the primary program in the Lake Poway ward.  Backup a bit....for years we have been in the Green Valley ward! Great ward and getting better all the time with new young families moving in.  When we first got here 8 years ago there were only 40 kids total in the primary and this year there are 85 active kids!! Amazing growth. Plus, there is still the fun of seeing old old friends like the Brunsons, Jo & Lyman clark, and a few others who I have known for 30 years. Many of the old friends have moved away but sill many great familiar faces! Anyway, in august there was a stake boundary change and we were moved into the Lake Poway ward with a handful of other families. It was sad to change wards for my kids and for me!  But we also knew we were house shopping and thought maybe we wouldn't be there a long time anyway!!

Back to the primary program. clare decided not to be in it. She has had a tough time with the ward change saying that she just doesn't like it there.  Jo and Lexey were both darling.  I had to sit on the stand with Jo or she wouldn't have gone but with me there she was happy to do her part and sang all the songs. Dana Hamsen wrote  the program and did a fabulous job.  It was one of the best primary programs I have ever seen! 

We have loved ward choir in the Lake Poway ward. The jorgensens open up their home and host a children's choir (for kids ages 6-12) for 30 minutes and then adult choir (ages 12 and up) for 30 minutes.  It is amazing. So fun, so great to hear the kids sing! Something very special.

This week we go to our first day at the Del Norte ward since we are soon moving into the ward.

Clare broadway camp

Clare signed up for a Best of Broadway summer camp.  We invited about 8 friends to sign up with us but in the end nobody was able to do it with her. She was really bummed to have to go alone but since it was already paid for it was too late to back on the first day! I was proud of Clare for going and trying something new with no friends. She ended up having a GREAT time at camp! If we are in town we will probably do it again next year and maybe Lexey would enjoy it as well. They did acting games, which Clare said was her favorite part of camp, they also did singing with choreography. Each day a few minutes before the end of camp we came to watch the kids perform all the songs they were working on. It was amazing how much they learned each day! By the end of the week they had about 10 songs learned, plus some cute lines to introduce each song, plus some "commercials" to show us while we waited for all the parents to come in before the show started.

1st week of school!

School started this week!  The girls have all been excited to start school. Our neighbors go to a different school than us and they started two weeks before us. The girls said, "no fair they get to start school already"! Jo has been counting down the days to the start of kindergarten for weeks. we had a paper chain in the girls room.

This year everyone got one new item for school and a pair of much needed shoes!  Lex and Jo both picked a shirt and leggings (but it was too hot for leggings) and Clare picked a little study board that goes on her lap.

The first day of school was a hot San diego day and a very exciting one! Dave was able to go into work late so that he could come with us and enjoy the first day festivities!  It was a special day.

It's kind of sad for me to see them all go back to school and to see my baby go to kindergarten! lots of mixed emotions. I have loved all my littles. It was a great life having kids at home - going on walks with friends, meeting friends at the park, going to the zoo, sea world, LEGOLAND and the beach. It has been a sweet ride. Jo has been a great little companion the last couple of years. She is so easy going and sweet and I had her all to myself. The other girls were just as sweet too!    I will miss the other "mom friends" that I had the chance to meet up with for joy school, babysitting swapping and just playing. It is a great way to get together.  It is bittersweet to say good bye to this phase of life. I can't say that I've loved every single minute of it.  There are always good and bad times. But overall there is nothing better I could have done with the last 13 years of life than be at home with babies and toddlers. They are heaven sent. Some days I think I wish I could stay in this phase forever, but then I get a little taste of freedom and think that this next phase will be fun too!

It is also a fun phase of life we are entering as the kids get a little older and more independent that we  have some new freedom!  This year I will be teaching a high school biology class to some home school students. There are about 10-12 kids in the class. It will be really fun. Dave and I have time to meet during the day for lunch, which is also fun. (we started doing this with Jo last year quite a bit).  It is so fun to watch the kids develop personality, talents and hobbies and get old enough to do fun things with us.  They are delightful people.

summer 2016

schools out! Lots of playing with the Hussmans.

June week 3 - my cousins - the jorgensens were in town. We saw them a few times. Last week of dance classes and dance dress rehearsal. Lex and Clare were in the neighborhood play at the Hussman's house.

June week 4 - Dance recital! Grandma Joyce stayed with us. The kids were so helpful and attentive to her.  We loved having her here.  Jo and Lexey attended VBS (vacation bible school )at a local church.

July week 1 - reno trip

July week 2 - Calvin at school. Lex and Clare at art camp (half day), Jojo at dance camp with the Boles twins (half day).  Carter's come to town and we get together with them a couple of times.  Dentist appointments, ortho appointments for Clare and Lex who are both missing permanent teeth -- what?!!!  Father and son campout.

July week 3 - Clare swim and tennis camp at RB swim and tennis club with Hallie Law. Lexey woodworking camp with her friend Emma. 

July week 4 - lots of beach days

August week 1 - Calvin at scout camp mission bay (no electronics for the entire week), Clare at theatre camp in Poway

August week 2 - for the first time in the summer everyone is home together.  I set up lots of play dates for the girls at other peoples houses and one last trip to the beach. Clare had to get a tooth pulled Friday.

August week 3 - Monday is the last day of summer vacation. We meet Jojo's kindergarten teacher and the kids class lists are posted. Tuesday is the first day of school!

We've had a fun summer this year. We took all of July off piano which was really nice, though it made it super hard to get back into it.  The kids enjoyed playing with the Husseman neighbors, we tried to get together with friends as often as possible, we had a great trip to Reno, we did lots of swimming and quite a few beach days, the kids have great tans!

calvin is at scout camp this week!

This week is scout camp on fiesta island in San diego. Calvin and the other scouts left at 6am Monday morning and have been there all week! We are so happy for Calvin that he is having a good time! And so proud of him for staying all week.

Kyle McBride has been kind enough to watch over calvin and take responsibility for his medicines. We are so grateful.   He has been very generous with his time to be with these boys all week and very attentive to each of them. 

Kyle texted a couple of times to tell us Calvin is having a great time. Monday night the boys went on a night kayak ride to watch the sea world firework show over mission bay.   Wed they went on a bike ride, went sailing on a catamaran and jumped in the bay to swim.  So great for Calvin to have these fun experiences with kids his age!

Here are some pictures of something the boys built in their camp. 

beach week

This is our last week of summer before Calvin is off school. We went to the beach Mon, Wed and Th.  It is beautiful beach weather and it has been fun to go with friends.

Monday we met the Hussemans, Hulterstroms and Clifford's at Moonlight beach. As luck would have it, all the kids Clare's age were boys!  She loves her  boogie boarding buddies and thinks it's funny so many of them are boys!

Wed Lex and Jo went to a movie with the Hussemans so just Clare was at home with me (calvin was at school). I offered to take her school shopping for clothes and she said all she wanted to do was go to the beach. We called and texted lots of friends but we couldn't find anyone who was available to go! The carpenters hadn't returned the text so I called. Courtney is not a huge beach lover but when I said we were just going for two hours Ginger decided to come along with all three of her girls. The girls had a great time together and it was so fun to catch up with Ginger. She is a sweet friend and great woman! After the beach, Clare ended up spending the entire day at the carpenters, which was a treat for her!

Today (Thursday) we met Tracy Larsen up at clare's favorite beach Califia in San Clemente. It has GREAT boogie boarding waves. Clare and David spent 3 hours in the water together. I went out with them for a while too. It is one of the few beaches that I can't resist. The waves are so fun! Lex also had a ton of fun boogie boarding with Clare and David, playing in the sand and teaching Ruth to boogie board. It was a great day!  Lex and Clare would be happy to stay at the beach all day every day!

Jo jo loves the water too but gets cold faster than the other girls. She plays in the waves, stands on the boogie board and then spends more of her time in the sand.

This evening (th night) dave took Clare and Lexey along with Calvin to LaJolla shores for the scout activity tonight. Clare and Lex aren't scouts but they love to tag along! The beach is perfect right now. The water is warm, the sky is clear and it is perfectly beautiful! Such great summer days!



In other news, Dave has a beard.

cute jojo

Cute Jo is so excited to do gymnastics this year for her sport. Yesterday we went to gyminey kids for her evaluation so they could see which class would be best for her. She had a great time and did a really good job. She is very coordinated and has great balance. She is so excited to start class in 8 more days! She is also super excited to start kindergarten in about 24 days! She is counting down!

on Friday Jo went to a birthday party for her friend Jenna. I was impressed with her handwriting. She is getting better at her writing. She's ready for school to start. I especially love her backwards JoJo.

cute girls

This week we had several dentist appointments. All three girls had cleanings. Jo had two cavities which she had to go get filled. She did a great job. They didn't have to numb her mouth at all so the recovery was very quick. this was the first time we met with Dr. Good. She is my new favorite. I'll request her in the future. 

Lexey and Clare both had to go back to the orthodontist.  Alexey is missing two permanent teeth, a molar on the bottom and one of her front four teeth. She still has a lot of baby teeth so for now we are just waiting. In a year we will go back and see how things look. Once she loses her baby teeth (around age 10-11) we will start treatment.   Clare is also missing one permanent tooth, a molar on the upper right. Eventaully we will probably pull the baby molar out and then just close the gap.  She also has a permanent tooth that is not coming in as it should. Next week I take Clare back to pull the baby tooth in the hopes that the permanent tooth behind it will find the space and come in as it should. It's possible she'll need more help getting that tooth to come in right but hopefully not. Clare will go back to ortho in 6 months to check on the progress of that tooth. She will likely need braces within a year or two.  We are going to have lots of time and $$ invested in our orthodontist and dentist!

I took a few pics of the girls while we were at the orthodontist. They are adorable.

 

cliffords are home

Our best family friends were in Canada for last year, we were in Houston for the year before that, only overlapping for about one week last summer! We have missed them! It is so fun having them home. We love their new house in Green Valley only 5 minutes from us.  We took them with us to Mormon night at the padres. It was a great evening. Clare got on the big screen dacing like crazy, the kids ate cotton candy, which Jo bought with her birthday money, Lexey tried to shower  James with way too much attention while he tried to scoot out of the way.  Jo and Jessie sang and held hands all evening. A great night.  I left with most of the kids around 9:30pm as the little girls were past done! Dave stayed with Clare and all the boys for the end of the game which went into extra innings! They got home at 11pm. It was a long night. The game started at 5:40.  It is amazing how long baseball games are!

reno trip

We had a great week off.

Friday July 1st- The girls (jo and lex) attended their last day of VBS in the morning, meanwhile I took my car in for an oil change and found out it needed breaks and a water pump! Glad I took it into a good shop instead of just a ten minute oil change.  Dave came home from work around 2pm, around the same time I got my car back. Dave had stopped on the way home to get me some biker shorts so we could ride bikes in Reno/Tahoe.

We hit the road around 3pm, a couple of hours later than planned and made it to visilia by 10. The kids were all pumped and hyper so they didn't settle down until midnight. That was not fun!

Sat morning we took the kids to swim at the hotel pool and stopped at the store for some snacks and then hit the road for Sequoia.  there was some traffic just past three rivers so we pulled over and let dave ride his bike for about 45 minutes. Then we got back on the road and there was still traffic so we decided to skip sequoia. It would have taken us all day to get there and see everything and on the 4th of july weekend it just seemed like a bad idea!  So we headed for Reno, arriving around 8pm. The kids were hyper, yet again, so I went out for a bike ride while they played with grandma and grandma for an hour before bed.

Sunday - church, park

Monday - 4th of July - we went to Scott Lake up near Tahoe. It was perfect. We drove our cars on a dirt trail about 4 miles off the main road. The lake was completely secluded and not crowded. Great way to spend the 4th. We had lunch - hot dogs on a small grill. We went on a fun hike up a waterfall.  Dave and his dad rode bikes about 30-45 min from the lake down to a parking lot where Linda and I met them with the cars. Dan took a couple of really hard falls off the bike!

Tues - We went back up to Tahoe. Dave and I went biking while Dan and Linda took the kids to the beach. The bike ride was amazing. It was 17 miles total. The first 4 miles I had to walk because it was  uphill.  Then we hit about 2 miles downhill past Marquette lake where we passed into the flume trail. The flume trail is gorgeous and sits right near the top of the mountains overlooking Tahoe. all along the trail you can see the lake. It's amazing. That trail goes about 7 miles. Then you get a straight downhill for the last 3 miles!  Once we hit Lake Tahoe at the bottom we rode about 3 more miles to find the kids.  It was the longest ride I have ever done. It was very fun.  Would love to do it again.    We didn't get home until around 6pm so we took everyone out to dinner at Red Robin.

Wed - Dave went out early and rode 22 miles up in Tahoe. It was a very hard and fun ride for him. Around 11am I took the kids to the water park in Sparks. Dave met us there about 1pm. Jojo had fun going on some of the rides and then got pretty cold. She rested for a couple of hours and then later in the afternoon did some more slides. Her favorite was the Tortuga on the double tube. we did it over and over and over again! All the kids had a good time.  Clare and Lexey also did the Tortuga a dozen times on a double tube.

Th -July 7th!! JOJO's 5th birthday! In the morning we said happy birthday to jojo. I asked her if she wanted to open a present in the morning and she said no, she wanted to wait until after we sang happy birthday to her! Dave asked her how  it feels to be a five year old and she said she isn't five until we sing to her!  She is so cute!

 We went river rafting along the trukee river with Dan Linda and Mark and two of his kids. It started around 11 and we finished around 2pm. We ate lunch near the river and then drove over to up above doner lake for some rock climbing. Calvin did a great job repelling down, I took a turn repelling down as well (after a good cry ... I was scared out of my mind)! Then Dave set up the ropes for climbing so the kids all took a few turns going up and down the rock. Lexey went first and scaled all the way to the top so quick! She got up there and we told her she needed to repel back down. She looked down and said, "no" so she hiked around the back of the rock.   Jojo, on her first time up went a little too far and got stuck so Uncle Mark had to climb up and help her get down. After that she just went up and down five feet so she could get some practice with the technique.  The kids had a good time. We ended up staying at the rock climbing for a few hours, much longer than planned os it delayed our dinner, once again!   On the drive home we picked up happy meals for the kids.  When we got home we sang happy birthday to Jo and let her open presents. The kids played for a bit and then went to bed around 8:30-9. At 9 Dave and I went to the casinos to look for food but nothing looked that great. We stopped by a well known little hole in the wall down a dark alley called "the nugget" but it was so disgusting inside we couldn't stay and eat. We ended up going to BJ's for dinner super late! 10:15pm. We were both exhausted but you've got to take advantage of the babysitters when you've got 'em!

Fri we left about 9:30 to drive home. The drive was uneventful. We got home about 8:30pm. Meyer was very happy to see us.

beautiful article by Mary Paleologos

There is not one person who will avoid some sort of struggle or hardship in life. In fact, there are things that happen in life that often shake us to our very core.

The essential nature of being alive and being human is to experience life in its purest form — the wins and losses, celebrations and challenges, and the good with the bad.

Some of these experiences are not favorable. We might be in pain, physically or emotionally — we hurt. Often we feel betrayed by life itself, we feel it is unfair and question why we have to go through these struggles.

What we don’t realize is that these struggles are a gift from life itself. When we come face to face with a struggle, a low point in life, be it an illness, a relationship breakdown or financial ruin, at the time we are lost in darkness.

Having had two brain hemorrhages, I know what it is like to be lost in the abyss of darkness with no slither of hope of any light shining through.

You can’t see your way out of it, let alone focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. Some refer to this as the “dark night of the soul” — I call it the emergence of the soul. It is in this place that your soul speaks to you and you begin to realize that you are not your circumstances, but something far greater.

Everything you are going through, every struggle, pain or hardship, is actually a gift. It is a gift because it is in the struggle that you are brought to your knees, where you question the purpose of your life. It is a gift because it asks you to go deeper into yourself and find the gold of who you are.

The common saying “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” has a very profound truth to it. What you overcome in life makes you richer in every way. When you are in that dark place looking for a way out of your hardship, you are faced with two choices: give up or tap into the inner resources that you didn’t even know you had, and come through it stronger and more humble than you were before.

Life never hands out things that you can’t handle. How you approach it will determine how you come through the other side. You can assume the victim role and feel sorry for yourself, or you can reach into the essence of who you are and find your inner strength. Then demand the self worth and ability to rise up and meet your challenges heart on. You need to believe you can do this — you are powerful, you are amazing and you are inspirational!

I am sure you have heard many stories of people saying that they feel blessed to have gone through their hardship as this defines who they are today. This is not something that people just say, this is something they know.

Through darkness comes light, through fear comes love and through pain comes triumph.
This is the triumph of the human spirit; it is not in a select few, it is in every one of us.

Your struggles and hardships are your gifts so that you can reach deep down inside of yourself and discover your inner power and the glory of who you are. Use them to share your message of hope and love with the world.

The world needs your voice, your message and your experiences so that they can resonate in the hearts of others and give hope and courage to show that it is possible to overcome anything.

Let us share our gifts with each other as we will be far richer for the experience.

new bike

A couple  of weeks ago Dave got me a  new mountain bike.  It is a really nice bike, full suspension.  A very nice ride!  Dave and I went out one day while the kids were in school and rode for about two hours. I can't even come close to keeping up with Dave but it was still really fun. I love being outside.



We haven't been able to go out again since then because Dave's bike broke while we were out and it has been in the shop for 10 days. Hopefully he'll get it back soon. He has also been pretty busy at work so I thought I should figure out a way to go by myself sometimes too.

I have been a little nervous about going off in the woods by myself on the bike during the day, and I don't have any friends that ride mountain bikes.  However, today I tried taking Meyer out with me. I figure with a big dog running beside me and being on a bike moving pretty fast I'm not the easiest target.  Anyway, I took Meyer out for about 30 minutes. He had to run really hard to keep up with me but did a great job. It felt so good to be outside. To smell all the weeds and flowers and dirt, feel the wind in my face and hear meyer running hard next to me.  I saw several baby bunnies and we crossed paths with a coyote. Meyer didn't even see it!! It was just a few feet away from us off the trail.  It was a fun and not too hard ride for me and the very maximum that Meyer could do. I am getting a little better on the bike, learning to use the gears, not having to get off the bike and walk up little hills. I still have a long way to go to be able to go up steep hills and to be able to go over boulders.

We went riding last summer a couple of times but I was just on a regular bike and it was a very bumpy ride, my arms and back really hurt after riding all the bumps. Having a nice bike makes it much more comfortable. 

I look forward to many more rides with Dave and I think it'll be a great new tradition to take Meyer out and get him worn out every once in a while!

Memorial day weekend!

This weekend we did a little family staycation. We had wanted to get away and do a little weekend trip but didn't plan until last minute so a few of the things we wanted to do were already booked, plus we didn't really want to go fight the crowds at some of those popular Memorial Day destinations.

Sunday we went to the Cube in orange county. It is a science/children's museum. They had a cute little dinosaur show, lexey was called up to be a volunteer. We rode a helicopter simulator through an Irvine nature reserve very close by.  the kids played in the "store", there was a great dinosaur exhibit.  Calvin was very grouchy for much of the trip but enjoyed a few mintues of the museum. Finally for the last 45 min or so I sat with him in the car so the girls and dave could see a few things.

Then we went to medevial times. once again Calvin was not enthusiastic, but of course everyone loved it in the end. The girls were very concerned about the fake sword fighting and the fake deaths of the various knights. The were gasping, covering their eyes, and near tears. They are funny adorable little girls. Dave and I ordered the vegetarian meal which was a huge improvement over the traditional feast of 1/2 a chicken. I can't even imagine how many chikens they waste.

On the way home from orange county Dave made an impromptu stop at the beach in San Onofere. We paid $15 to park but it was so worth it to just drive right down to the beach and park and have the place to ourselves and not have to worry about walking miles as you normally would on memorial day weekend. The kids played int he sand, clare and dave went on a walk. We were there 5:30-7:30. It was beautiful. We stopped at in-n-out on the way home and then everyone was in bed by 8. Great day

Monday we went to breakfast at IHOP, bowling with Bob and Kari and then up to the Larsens for dinner. The kids loved playing with the Larsen kids and running around up and down the giant hill in the back yard.  It was a great family weekend together. Thanks to Dave for spending all of his free time with us.

jojo says

Sometimes Jo tags along with Dave and I on our lunch dates.  today I told her we were going out and she said, "oh no, please don't go to that indian place!"  She used to love it, but now she is tired of it. We aren't! We still love it! She loves it when we go someplace where she can get a fish taco! Today we tried a new little hole in the wall Mexican shop. She got a great fish taco.

Also, Jo told me today "my favorite healthy food is bacon. My favorite unhealthy food is rolos."  I thought it was funny that bacon is considered healthy food.

Jo got to swim with her preschool class last week! She had a great time!

more praise for Calvin

This weekend was the big ward fundraiser dinner. All the youth had to be there two hours early to help set up and then throughout the evening were asked to help serve food, etc.  We dropped off Calvin at 3 and we had to go to the girls piano recital.  For the actual dinner Dave and I went to a wedding so dan brought the girls over after piano. (It was nice to have Dan here for a quick one day trip. He came down with a couple of "friends" for a wedding. I assumed those friends were boys. We were super surprised when Sat morning a couple of girls came upstairs!)

Anyway, Sun morning I got a call from my friend Julie Parrish who is the YW president and was overseeing the setup. She said Calvin was her best worker, stayed on task the entire time, and was a pleasure to work with. I appreciated the phone call and told Calvin about it so he would know that I heard back that he had done a great job. The girls also told me he was the server for their table and did a good job with that.

Dave often picks up cookies to bring to deacons quorum. This week when he went to get cookies Calvin said he also wanted to get some cookies for his class.  After they finished checking out, Calvin gave Dave $4 to cover the cost of the cookies for his class! What a sweet boy! Calvin attends Jo's primary class of CTR 4's. They kids adore him. He is very sweet with them. He always attends primary 2nd hour and for 3rd hour sometimes he goes to deacons quorum but often stays with the 4 year olds.

Calvin has been doing really well for a few months.

About 6 months ago,  on Dr. Max's recommendation (dr. max is our amazing neuropsychiatrist that we've been sing for several years) I started going to a therapist to help set up a behavior plan. Since Calvin has been doing so well at school for a long time it was apparent that it was the home cs. school environment that made the difference. Dr. Max felt that with some coaching on how to do a behavior plan we could make big improvements at home.  I started seeing Dr. Robin Stutzman. She helped me plan a behavior chart for Calvin, helped teach me how to talk to Calvin and the other girls when problems arise. A couple of times I took Calvin with me to chat with her so that he could give feedback about what was working for him and so that he could hear us talk about what a good job he was doing. It was very helpful.  Dr. Max keeps moving up and up on my list of favorite drs we have ever seen!  I always leave his appointments hopeful that we can make improvements.

big weekend for Calvin

This weekend Calvin had a BIG weekend. I am so proud of him. He went on a campout with the scouts by himself. This is the first campout he's done without dave. They camped Friday night. Saturday they worked on an eagle scout project all morning and then in the afternoon they worked on building kayaks. They boys have been working a couple of months on some kayaks for their high adventure trip in june. Dave and Calvin aren't going on the trip but they have enjoyed building the kayaks.  Calvin really gets into it.  Calvin was gone from about 4pm Friday to 5pm Saturday and had a great time and was perfectly behaved.  Kyle McBride helped watch out for Calvin and gave him his medication at night and in the morning. It was very kind of him to do that so that Calvin could attend without Dave going.

Sunday was Calvin's first day passing the sacrament. We went shopping to get him a new belt and shoes and slacks so he would look nice. Previously he had worn sweatpants and tennis shoes with his white shirt.  In years past I have bought him new church clothes on several occasions but they've always been too uncomfortable for him to wear so then he goes back to what is comfortable. He's been doing great wearing his white shirt and tie for many months now.

Sunday Calvin got dressed up very nice and looked great. He went to church early and learned what he is supposed to do.  He did an amazing job passing the sacrament.  We were all very proud of him and he was proud of himself. I am so happy for him to be making such great progress.

Lego is good to us

Calvin recently got a brand new lego set. He worked on it all day and then went to bed with about 1/4 of it left to be completed.  That evening Meyer got one of the wheels off the table and chewed it up. Bad puppy! Calvin was so devastated. I emailed lego and told them what happened and asked how I could order a new wheel.  They wrote back that they had mailed us a new wheel. That was so kind! I didn't expect that.

Also, a few months ago I wrote lego and told them that I have a handicapped son that loves legos and does them a lot (as often as we can afford), that it helps him feel happy and calm. They wrote back that they would send us a free lego set. They sent a small car, about a $20 set. Once again, so kind! It was actually a set Calvin already had so he gave one of the sets to Lexey and they built legos together.

Calvin got the priesthood

Today was a big day for Calvin. He got the priesthood. 

When he first turned 12 he was at all interested in getting the priesthood. He continued to attend nursery in Houston and then moved up to sunbeams. when we got back to SD he went to sunbeams for fall and then moved to CTR 4 with Jo in January when the classes changed. 

After we got back Calvin did express some interest in getting the priesthood so dave told him he needed to attend priesthood quorum and wear a shirt and tie. Calvin has been doing those things for months.

Lately Calvin had started saying he was ready to get the priesthood.  Then, a few weeks ago there was a meeting for the young men about the importance of the sacrament.   After that fireside Calvin was very gung ho and asked constantly when he could get the priesthood.   Dave was out of town last week so I made the appointment for today.  He interviewed with the bishop before church. During church the bishop called him up to the stand and said he was ready to receive the priesthood, and then after church Dave ordained him to be a deacon in the aronic priesthood.

Pretty amazing.

softball and choir concert

The girls and I went to the Millennial choir and orchestra concert with the carpenters.   I checked out the girls early at about 2pm and we picked up the Carpenters and then head up to Orange County. I wasn't sure how traffic would be so we left super early.  There was a delay at the Carpenters (to be expected) so we didn't hit the road until 3 and we had time to park and eat a snack I brought before heading in. We sat in the tippity top seats . .The music sounds good up there but it is not the same experience as good seats. I think in the future I'll go as often as I can afford good seats.  All the girs did decently, not that great,  but it was pretty long. About 1hr 45 min with no intermission. I think they should have had intermission. Clare said she doesn't want to go again. Lexey and Jo loved it and want to go back. Jenny Oaks Baker was a guest violinist. She was spectacular!


Lexey played softball and loved it!   Earlier this year I asked Lexey if she wanted to play softball and she said no.  So, instead she asked to play tennis like Clare.  Then one day we were walking around and passed by Aubrey Park where the girls were playing softball and we sat to watch for a few minutes. Lexey loved it and asked if she could play. I told her "I just asked you a few weeks ago if you wanted to play softball but you said no!" She said, "I didn't know this is softball!"  Pretty funny!  Anyway, my good friend Gabby Meadows was team mom, and her husband Jeremy coaching. She mentioned that someone had dropped off their team so we registered and joined their team. It is always nice to sign up with a friend. The team was a great group of moms and girls. Lexey had a good time.   Lexey realized right away that the pitcher and catcher touch the ball 1000 times more than anyone on the field so she wanted to play those positions. She tried catcher but the gear was way too big for her so it was very uncomfortable.  Then she wanted to be pitcher, it's where all the action is! I took her to some pitching clinics and practiced at home but by the time she was getting ready the season was winding down and her team was in the tournament (where it actually matters if you win or lose) so she never got a chance. Next year when we register she can sign up as a pitcher and then have a chance all season to try it if she would like to.  Also, she will be one of the older kids on her time which will give her a little advantage as well.   At the team party, Lexey got "The Kevin Award" - named after Kevin the minion who is always cheerful and happy.  Lexey's coach also said she is very coachable and such a sweet girl!  I'm glad she had such a great experience playing softball this year.

pics to come

Mike and Mandy visit

Mike and Mandy +Maddie and Soren came to visit.  I only took a couple of pictures, but Mike took lots.  We had such a great time with them. We went to Cabrillo to see the tide pools. We saw anemones, sea slug, and had  a fun little hike to get there. We also went to the beach one night to do smores, and we spent another day at the beach in Coronado.  Overall for spring break we went to the beach 6 times!!  IT was great!  Maddie and Soren warmed up to the kids pretty fast which was great. Maddie and Jo spent all their time together and Soren got lots of attention from everyone. Calvin really loves Soren!

Goodbye hugs

While we had company, Clare (and Meyer) slept on a mattress on the floor in my room. Meyer is quite a bed hg. Sometimes he would get frustrated with Clare taking up too much of the bed and he would go sleep elsewhere. On this particular occasion he got as much bed as he liked. Almost all of it!

 Mads and Jo at the beach!  Had such a great evening playing in the sand they didn't even want to come in for smores.

la jolla shores sunset

These are from our hike to the tide pools in pt loma at Cabrillo.

jo looking so grown up

lovely lexey

house shopping

We currently live at 15908 Lime Grove Rd. It has been so great being here. It is a fun house! The deck is amazing, it is big enough to have company over for dinner, family in town to stay with us, has a great pool, beautiful sunsets, etc. But it's time for us to buy our own home! So, we've been looking around quite a bit the last few months, not super seriously but trying to get a feel for the market and what is out there in our price range and what types of things we like.   Now we are starting to get kind of serious where we are ready to buy if /when we find something we like. It is a little bit fun and a lot bit stressful!  It is such a big decision and we want to do the right thing for our family and for our finances! We have run across a few houses we really loved. A couple we saw while we were still not seriously looking and one was 3 BR, not 4, but otherwise would have been great.  I am worried we won't find the just right house, but a wise friend told me today, it only takes one house to be the right one. Hopefully it comes our way in the next few months.  If we don't see anything we like, we have up to a year to make a decision and move out. I figure we need to know where we are going by this time next year so Clare can enroll in middle school and plus, a year is plenty long to look for a house!

We check Zillow and redfin daily (ok 50 times daily) .I go to lots of open houses. It is a busy time.  A few nights ago I dreamed of the perfect house 2500 sq feet, ocean view and  the perfect price. (only in my dreams...that real house would be several million)! Obviously if I dream about this, it is something I am thinking about a lot.


The kids have come to MANY open houses with us. they love to go in and say "this is my room" "I love this house" "I would never live here"  etc etc.  They get a kick out of little things like closets, carpet on the stairs.   They are fun kids.

phone pics

How do you get the phone pics from the phone to the blog ? i emailed a few to myself to include here but I need a way to do this more regularly.

jo drew this picture of Meyer for pictionary one night! So cute!

 Clare was Venus Williams for a famous Californian wax museum project for school. She did great and she was absolutely adorable!

Grandma brought a fun "fart" game kind of like hot potato. The kids loved it!

 at the mormon batallion.

 saying goodbye

Jo loves Legos. calvin taught her to do them and she does a great job. This Elves set was super complicated and she got very frustrated a few times (since she didn't want help but actually needed help) but did finish it! She is a very determined and bright little girl.

a few things things

To be healthier, cheaper, give our kids less of a feeling of entitlement, and to make good habits we are not eating out until summer vacation in July. We have been in the habit far too often to stop and get a hot and ready or hamburger from in-n-out on the way home from activities when we are pressed for time and/or super hungry! instead we will head home for a meal or pack more snacks. This does require more work on my part, but that is okay, it is a good cause.  Dave and I can still eat out for date night if we choose or if someone invites us out I wouldn't make the family skip it, I just want to break the habit of eating out for convenience or because I'm too lazy to cook.

When we have company in town it is very easy to move Clare into our room. It is not so easy to move Clare out of our room.

Meyer is almost 1. He is a good dog minus the time this week he peed on dave at dog beach.

Calvin was riding his bike and hit a little toddler at the park. We were all standing right there but assumed Calivn would go around or slow down but he didn't. The baby is ok but had a bump on his head so  Dave told the mom she should take the baby to the ER at Rady's.  Then, once he got her crying and worried he also told her that he was the attending neurosurgeon on call and would meet her there.  Dave actually beat her there, helped her check in and get taken right back without any wait.  The ER docs got a BIG kick out of this entire event, making fun of Dave for trying to drive up business while on call. Funny not funny.  The family was very understanding and luckily the baby is totally fine. Of course we offered to pay their ER bill so we will see if they send it to us or not.


Dave and Clare have been buddies for two charity races. A couple of weeks ago it was a 5K run called Liams fund. This weekend it was a 15 mile bike ride for epilepsy foundation of SD.   Clare is a trooper! It's fun to see her get older and strong enough to do these things with Dave.

on the back of the shirts for the liams fun run it says "you think this is hard, you should try brain surgery!"  The Liams fund raises money for the neurosurgery department at Rady's to buy equipment so it very directly impacts Dave's work.  It was started by a parent of a child who had had 75 surgeries by age 3. It is humbling to see what amazing parent advocates and care takers there are.  The real heroes of medicine are the patients and their families. There is a great quote* about his in the book "the Emperor of All maladies" which I highly recommend.

*quote from Emperor of All Maladies: "but the story of leukemia - the story of cancer - isn't the story of doctors who survive, moving from one institution to another. It is the story of patients who struggle and survive, moving from one embankment of illness to another. Resilience, inventiveness, survivorship - qualities often ascribed to great physicians - are reflected qualities, emanating first from those who struggle with illness and only then mirrored by those who treat them. If the history of medicine is told through the stories of doctors, it is because their contributions stand in place of the more substantive heroism of their patients."

great weekend with the grandparents

We had a really fun weekend with the grandparents in town. I regret that I took very few pictures!

After weeks of beautiful 70 degrees and sunny weather it was rainy all weekend!

Th - grandma arrived at 8:30 in the morning. Dave picked her up while I did the morning drop off and walked the dog. Then we met for breakfast at Original Pancake House. We had a pretty busy day with kids pickup, piano, a dr. appt for me, etc.  Just our usual life!  It was a rainy day so softball was cancelled opening up our evening for dinner at home instead of on the road.  Activity days was at 7!  Lexey was super excited for her first time attending.

Friday - I went with Lexey's class on a field trip to Legoland. It was a great day. Dave, Clare, Grandma and JoJo stayed home and hung out and took Jo to dance class. When the field trip ended Dave was myster reader in Alexey's class.  Grandpa Dan arrived about 2:30pm.  We had dinner and hung out at home. 

Grandma and Grandpa spent a lot of time with the kids reading books, playing games, doing crafts and goofing off. The kids love the attention!  Grandma and Grandpa are so sweet with them!

Sat - Dave took his dad to ride bikes around the lake. Dan passed out on a rest they took. They considered going to the ER but after talking to cardiologist Joe Hymas they opted to manage it  in the outpatient setting once back in Reno.

The baptism was in the afternoon. It was great. More on that in a separate post.

Sun - church, including a special fast for the Simpson family and the baby twins, one of which has an enlarged bladder so they are doing surgery in utero to place a stent to drain fluid.
Bob, Kari and Dan came to dinner.

This week is spring break for the girls. Calvin had spring break a couple of weeks ago.

Monday - finally a sunny day!  We went to the mormon battallion and then coronado beach (with Meyer). On the way home we stopped to get kids burgers at in-n-out and got the adults indian food from our favorite little spot, Tandori Express.  Dave had been begging Calvin to go see batman vs. superman with him all weekend and finally talked him into it Mon afternoon.  Dan also went to the movie.  Linda watched once I was a beehive with the girls.

Dan and Linda headed home today (tues).

I took the three girls + Hallie Law to the beach today with gabby meadows.

Tonight Dan babysat for us . Dave and I went to dinner at Yanni's. Dave got lamb cannoloni. It was very delicious but I couldn't enjoy eating lamb.  I just kept picturing sheep and hearing baaa baaa.  the sauce, cheese and pasta were delicious though and the boudini for dessert was divine. My dinner was chicken penne masala and it was so so.

We are so excited!

Dave made this great invitation. We printed a few at Costco to mail to family and to give to friends at school. We are excited for a fun weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Gonda on their way today! Dan comes Saturday. 

jo has questions about babies

Jo has been asking lots of questions about babies lately.  (no, I'm not pregnant).

Today she asked, "how did Joseph get baby Jesus out without a knife?"  super good question. I gave her the answer of how babies get out.

A few days ago she asked, "how do babies get in?"  I told her that moms and dads have to love each other and get married and then they can get  a baby. She wanted more details.. "yeah, but how does the baby get inside the tummy?"  I told her I'd tell her more when she gets older. her reply, "I am already older!"

Love this sweet, smart girl!

saturday is a special day

I love Saturday mornings. We don't have to wake up at a specific time. Calvin sometimes gets up first but then he often grabs a snack and goes back to bed (either to sleep or watch TV on something).   On weekdays, I get up around 6:30 and then help Calvin get ready and out the door so when the girls wake up I am busy and we go right into breakfast and morning stuff such as packing backpacks, piano, homework, etc.  But Saturday, if the girls (lexey and Jo) get up around 7 or 7:30 I am often still in bed. They come in bed with me and snuggle, talk, read, rub backs, and relax or the girls giggle about little things. They are adorable.  It's really fun. Jo gets hungry really fast so it only lasts 5-15 minutes but it is a really great time.


Tonight after priesthood session all the Young men met at the Ewells for pizza. Since Dave had taken Clare and Lexey to a Liams fundraising dinner, I took Calvin to the dinner. I was the only girl besides Holli there! Dave got there just as everyone else was leaving so the girls played with the dogs and jumped on the tramp while we chatted with the Ewells. Then the girls snuggled with Chris and Holli, acted very silly, teased poor 16 year old Cory by hugging him and talking to him!


I went to a bridal shower for one of the resident wives. It was a very fun event. I don't know many of the resident wives very well, but they are really neat gals and it was nice to get to know them a little better.