Pete's a JAG

Seeing as how Pete and Jessica already posted on FB about their big life changes I think it's safe for me to add a few pictures here. My brother Pete has joined the Navy JAG team. He is super excited. Our amazing home teacher Jon Padifield just retired from a 30 year career as an officer in the NAVY, and graciously offered to come and swear pete in.  As we were listening to Jon talk about his love of country and what an honor it is to serve in the Navy, I had to look over my shoulder and make sure Dave hadn't already ran out the door to join the Navy too! It was inspiring and a special moment that we felt lucky to witness. (side note: dave says if he doesn't get his dream pediatric job we're joining the navy!) 

We are happy for Pete and Jessica. IT has been a blessing to be near them for the last couple of years and now we're both leaving town this year.  End of a fun era!

Jon had originally wanted to be a pilot in the air force but he was too tall!! 

Jon and Pete

 

 

Happily signing his life away! :)

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 cute spectators

4th week of spring break

I have hardly been on the computer lately. We're now on our 4th week of spring break!! So fun but so crazy. No time.

Week 1 - Calvin's spring break. My goal was to have things as easy going as possible, no daily struggles like getting ready for school, etc.  The Hulterstrums had the week off also and were kind enough to include Calvin on a few activities. One day he went bowling with them, we all went to a movie, Sherman and Peabody. They took Calvin strawberry picking.  It was nice. We hung around the house and watched TV quite a bit and had a pretty decent week. Calvin was pretty good all week.  It is nice to have the time when Calvin is home without the girls because he can relax.  The girls have lots of extra energy that they sometimes use to annoy him!

Week 2 - the girls spring break. We had a couple of beach days, went strawberry picking, went to see the flowers in Carlsbad, went swimming with friends. It was a very busy and fun week.

Week 3- Joe and Janell came to town. We have been lucky to have Joe and Janell pretty close for the last 6 years, but since we are both moving this summer we have been wanting to get together with them before we all move.  It was too bad their break started the week the girls were back in school but it was still fun to be together. The girls missed a day of school to go with them to the Mormon Batallion and beach, the beach again, and then we went out for ice cream, hung out at home and had a really nice time.

Week 4 - Dave is off work. This week Dave is off. We started the week with a trip out to Houston to look at housing and for schools for Calvin. It was nice to be together and bless my dad and Kari for watching the kids for 4 days. Amazing.

Pics to come soon.

pics

Lexey's birthday at school. She is so cute. 

 That night we had FHE with her choice of treat, ice cream bar with M&M's, gummy worms, chocolate sauce! We had Bob/Kari and Pete/Jessica and the boys over. Annika also stayed.

This is how Clare and tressel sleep. His head is on her pillow and he stretches the full length of the bed to lay next to her.  It is ridiculous but she loves it!

I went outside to do yard work, saw this bad boy and came in and called a Mexican. haha., just kidding. not really. He's coming Tuesday.  Dan would love it.

And while we're on the topic of being offensive, I saw the funniest car sticker. It had a symbol like a R rated movie.  R / no fatties allowed.  It cracked me up.

Calvins passion is swimming. He has been trying to swim in our pool which is still colder than the ocean. Last weekend we took him to the beach and dave offered to swim with him. He had a blast, as did the girls and tressel. It was a beautiful CA day.  Calvin is crazy fearless at the beach and it is too scary to take him alone. He goes out super far and then drifts away.   I need a teenage swimming buddy for him this summer.

all 5 of them are in this pic somewhere. Dave and Calvin are swimming in the way bad. Love this shot!

throwing away junk, saving memories

We are doing a massive clean of our house. By "we", I mean me. I am cleaning. The kids are messing. Dave is saving. Any way, it is so great to get rid of stuff we don't need. There are some things that are a little hard to get rid of because even though we don't need them, there are memories. At this point I'm not saving every card and note I got, though I used to! It has been fun reading through some things. I took a few pics of things I wanted to remember but not keep. I'll probably have several of these posts over the next couple of months as I finish cleaning up all our stuff.

This will be kind of a bragging post so feel free to skip it if that is annoying, but it is for my kids so they know had talents and loves before they came into the world. As a kid, my mom always told me my dad was a brilliant student and I wanted to be more like him and do well in school. Dave is brilliant of course but I also want the kids to know I did well in school too....they have no reason they shouldn't do well also!

I am throwing away lots of school work. I took a pic of one of my tests from an animal  physiology class. One of my favorite classes I ever took. It was at CSU San Marcos.  The year I was home from school.

I thought it was funny how this teacher used secret names so that he could publicly post scores.

I picked the secret name George b/c I loved George Straight. I even joined the George Strait fan club!

I got varsity letters in band and soccer. I think the stars are for ALL CIF and ALL palomar league for soccer. I played 4 years varsity soccer and I was pretty good, especially by my senior year.

 I found this great note from the Konolds! I have loved them for many years. What dear people. Now Bishop of our ward.

Sr. year of soccer I got the "golden boot" award for most goals and assists.

This bad boy is Dave's. He was a wresteler in high school. We are FOR SURE saving this in the hope that he'll put it on for us one day! Clare cried laughing when she saw this.

And another note from Marilyn Faulkner.

 I had a file of notes from my "favorite families" - Faulkners, Jergensens, Hawkes, Stone, Christensens, Hilbigs. All great family friends and especially supportive of my Mom when she was sick. Great people.

Some A's and B's

 A post card from a friend Kirk Faulkner a childhood friend who went on mission to Russia.

Surprise!

A couple of months ago  when Jessica had a surprise party Lexey said she wanted a surprise party, so we went ahead an planned one. Of course she didn't remember saying she wanted the surprise and spent weeks thinking up different things she might want to do for  her birthday. It was helpful for me to have her input. We had the party 10 days before her real birthday so she was still thinking we had a couple of weeks to talk about her birthday

 

 

Here are all the cute faces that met her as she walked in the door, saying "Surprise!"

The kids were all very excited to be part of the surprise. Here they are waiting for lexey to come home.

She was surprised. She didn't know what to think.

We had a great party...decorated goodie bags, made fruit loop necklaces, played pass the present..

We also played the balloon game where one player from each team dressed up in Dave's clothes and the teammates filled the clothes with balloons.

 Lexey isn't a big fan of cake so she requested worms and dirt.   Some of the kids were really worried when we said "we're having dirt for dessert" but most figured out it was going to be yummy.  one of the girls insisted she would not eat the dirt. So cute!

Love my little lexey!

She still has a few little birthday activities coming up .. family dinner and lunch with bob/kari, which has become a favorite b-day tradition.

more pics from the phone

Jo went through a stage for a couple of weeks where she'd open the freezer, get out the ice cream and help herself. It was nuts. Fortunately she doesn't do that anymore,(now she likes corndogs). I wish I had a lock on the fridge and freezer.

dog beach is my heaven on earth. We usually stop after a rough Calvin morning. Jammies b/c we never had time to change and because it is cold AND because it is so awesome to take them off and with them goes all the sand before we get in the car.

lunch date with friend Julie and little Jo tags along. She is great company. Julie and I take a long time on our lunch dates (2-3 hours) and jo can entertain herself by eating the entire time!:)

Legoland with Annika's family several times.

 ohio state scarlett and grey legos.

shopping in jammies. 

Quick hike with Dave. The girls didn't have school this day and dave happened to get home early. He was only with us an hour before going back in but we did manage to squeeze in a 10 minute hike!
Meanwhile, Lisa group texted some besties from med school and said "take a pic of what you're doing and pass it along" so this is what we were doing.

 Jo was with me in the backpack

Jo selfie. Look at that beautiful baby face.

I took Calvin to legoland with his friend Ryan from school.  All the boys wanted to do was buy stuff at the store.  Kinda crazy.  Ryan is Calvin's best friend at school. They enjoy each other. Both of them got much needed haircuts shortly after this day.

 Jo is quite the legoland fanatic!

Lexie's lego creation

cutie lexey

Wild Animal Park with  Arden and Maggie