Griffin and his new pet

For months Griffin has been pestering Mike and I to get him a pet.  He had his heart set on a rat and nothing we could say or do deterred him.  So after getting a free cage from a lady in our ward we really had no excuse not to spend the 20 dollars to buy this boy a rat, and all the supplies.  

"Crumbs" is a black and white small rat that has instantly made his way into the hearts of all the children and Mike.  I am willing to say hi to the thing (yes, I call it a thing). But I have yet to hold it and I have no intention of doing so.  

Griffin plays with Crumbs all the time and it cracks me up to hear him talk to him.  "Hi, Crumb, did you go poo poo on me again?"  Griffin walks around with a towel, toilet paper, and a bag to dispose of the droppings.  I feel like we have a new born again.

Mike loves the darn thing too, he will hold and play with it.  I usually ask before I enter a room..."is the rat in there?" and will only enter if he is safely in it's cage.  

I don't know if I'll always feel this way, but for now, I'm happy for Griffin, and happy I don't have to hold it.

A couple of things I do appreciate about Crumbs and rats in general so far is:  

They don't seem to bite.  Mike said he's never had a rat bite him and they are known not to be bitters.  

Also Crumbs does not run and hide as soon as you put him down.  He does love to explore but usually comes back to Griffin when Griffin puts his hand down and calls for him.  

He is a cuddler.  Mike sat on the coach tonight with Crumbs up on his shoulder with his head nuzzled into Mike's neck.  

And lastly Griffin is learning so much about responsibility.  He has to clean up after Crumb, change his bedding, clean his cage, feed him, and play with him. 

  

Soooo BIG!

My baby is loosing her teeth!  Well, just those baby teeth.  I pulled out Elliot's first baby tooth this week.  She has been working on it for a few weeks now and after noticing that the new tooth had already broke thru behind the baby tooth, I knew we needed to get it out.  She was so brave and wide-eyed as I yanked it out.  We all started clapping and cheering for her.  What a big girl she is.  

Manresa State Park

We finally found the beach since moving to California.  We went to Manresa a few Saturdays ago with some new friends.  We miss our 45 minute drive to York, since it took us about 3 hrs with Traffic and distance to get to the coast.  But we made it and it was a beautiful day.  

The waves were much bigger than what we were used to, so boogie boarding for the kids was not as much fun.  They kept getting knocked over by the waves.  The water got much deeper quicker too, so we couldn't really wade to far into the water.  

We all loved seeing dolphins swimming along the coast line.  After Manresa we took the long way home and drove up to Santa Cruz and drove along the board walk.  We'll have to stop there next time and check out the beach.  

11 years and counting...

July 28th couldn't come fast enough for the twinners.  They were so excited for their birthdays.  We had a great time opening presents, going to the movie theater, and finishing the night up with a yummy dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory.

The kids have been dying to see BRAVE Disney's latest movie.  It was so cute and worth seeing.  

Miles and Caleigh are such fun kids to be around.  And they are as different as night and day.

Miles is our natural born leader.  He loves people and makes friends wherever he goes.  He has a great smile and wears the nickname of "smiles" well.  This boy has talent when it comes to music.  He has a great ear for notes and can play many popular song on the piano.  I love Miles' energy for life and his daily quest for fun.  He loves to tease us all, but is the first to pay attention when we need to calm down.  Love you Buzz (Mike's nickname for Miles)

I don't know how so much talent winded up in this little girl but she blows us away with her abilities.  Since we've moved she can usually be found at her sewing machine.  She takes scraps of fabric and turns them into barbie skirts, barbie purses, purses for Elliot, organizers, pillows for dolls, and she even made a doll quilt.  All without instruction!  Mike said the other day, it makes him smile everytime he passes her room and hears the hum of her sewing machine.  

Caleigh has a great sense of humor, and has really matured so much this past year.  I look forward to many days shopping and laughing together.

Love you Goose!

Grr....

I changed my layout, and lost my entire blog list!  Grrr...  I'll be reentering that all soon.

Getting to Stockton, just over the mountain...

It was time to head to Stockton and see our new home.  My parents and oldest Nephew Sam came with us.  We stopped the first night in Reno, NV to see family and hit Scheels sporting good store on the way out the next day.
The kids loved the giant Ferris wheel in the middle of the store.  And seeing all the presidents around the store.  We spent a few hours here looking around and having a good time.

 After leaving Reno, it was just a short 3 hr drive over the Sierra Nevadas.  I don't know how often I'll be going over that in the winter, but it wasn't too bad.  When we arrived and pulled up to our new home, our moving truck had just arrived before us.  Mike gave us all a quick hug and hello and we started in unloading the truck.  I'm so glad we had Sam, and my parents.  They were all a huge help.




The next several days were spent unpacking and figuring out where things would go, but we did take a break one day and head to San Francisco.  Stockton is only an hour and a half away.  We first hit Boudin Sourdough (of course) and we all enjoyed some clam chowdah (whoops still east coast pronunciation) in bread bowls.  Then we hit Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Lombard St. and the Golden Gate bridge.

Funny story about Lombard St.  I really wanted to go there and thought Sam might enjoy seeing the hills of San Francisco.  What I forgot to take into account is my brakes.  They have been super squeaky for a while but I didn't think about it as I started my descent down Lombard St.  Uhhh...my poor van squealed and whined the whole entire way down!  People were covering their ears because of the horrible noise coming from my car.  We were all in tears laughing so hard.  How embarrassing.  Needless to say...if you come to visit us, and we take you to SF...we won't be driving down Lombard St.  

We had a great day and were sad to leave...and especially sad to hit 5 o'clock traffic, then construction.  Making our quick trip home, twice as long.  Oh well, it was worth it.

A side trip to Boise

When we left Layton, Mike headed to Stockton, CA and the kids and I headed to Boise for some family time.  My Mom arranged for pictures for the grand kids the next day.  They all had matching shirts, the girls in red and the boys in blue.  We had added two new babies since the last family picture 2 years ago.  Mikayla and Maggie.  I still need to download the photos of all the grandkids, there are 16 total!

But I snapped a bunch of my kids while we were waiting for our family turn.  They crack me up!

We were able to be in Boise for the 4th of July.  Caleigh organized a parade and Gpa followed along behind them with music playing.  That night the kids and I snuck away to watch the fireworks over Boise with Gma and Gpa Peterson and Uncle Jeff.  They have the best view of the valley from their home and we love watching the fireworks and chatting with them.  

Here's the two newest additions to our crazy clan.  Maggie on the left and "Micki" on the right.  They were a crack up with the fuse ball table.  They looked like they knew what they were doing.  They are both so cute and we were in heaven playing with them.  What cuties!

 I love this photo of Max and Caleigh.  It says it all.  We just love being together.  The cousins all got along great and we had so much fun being together and laughing, talking, playing Words With Friends, eating, and catching up on each other's lives.  What a great time, we can't wait to be able to drive (yeah, we are close enough to drive) home more often now.

Plus the kids couldn't get enough of swimming with Gpa Tom and visiting with Gma Frankie.  We love our family!

Across the country...one more time.

The day finally came when we bid farewell to NH, New England, Friends, Friends that felt more like family, and all the fun we've had the past 4 years.  Time to move across the country again...

Mike and I both had to drive our cars so we split the kids up and hit the road.  Most days were just driving, driving, driving.  We did hit a few fun stops along the way and one not so fun stop at a urgent care center for Miles vampire-red eyes (we're still not sure if it was pink eye, or just allergies.)

  We found Cabela's flag ship store in Sydney, Wyoming.  And took a picture by the Elephant.  We all love the Elephant. 

Then on the fourth night we found ourselves in Layton, UT among family.  

We were so grateful for this stop, we stayed the next day to play with some of the UT Petersons.  Shannon is always a great Hostess and made yummy food and found us fun things to do.

We toured Temple Square and the new visitor center and the old visitor center.  I think after such a long week of traveling and being cooped up in a car made me extra emotional because I felt the spirit so strongly at the visitor center.  The kids loved seeing all the displays and artwork.  I love the picture of Elliot touching Jesus's feet.  How sweet is that?  It reminded us all how much we had been blessed the past week with safe traveling and so much help from friends and family.  We are so blessed!

This collage is of the new visitors center's Temple model.  We called it the dollhouse Temple.  It was so cool!  I love the picture of Caleigh and Elliot in front of it because the glass is reflecting the actual SLC Temple in the glass.

It wasn't all spiritual fun, we also found shopping at the new mall across the street.  It is a wonderful outdoor mall with gorgeous water and rock features.  The kids had fun hitting the Disney store and the chocolate store.  We all loved walking around just being together.  

We are so glad that we are close to family again.  Our home in California is still 10 hours from family, but we can drive it and we plan too. 

One last show...

Emma was so sweet to invite us to her dance recital.  The girls and I were so glad to have a break from packing and go.  Her and Lauren often beat us all at Just Dance Kids so we knew they would own the stage.  Emma's group danced to "I just can't wait to be King" and Emma's costume was a Zebra...it was SO CUTE!  Lauren's bright colored leotard fit her energetic personality.  It was a fun show and we had a great time.  Miss you girls!

Goodbye Whippoorwill Ridge

Before we moved I had to snap a few last photos of the outside of the house.  We has so many fun memories in this home and we will miss it.  

It was late one night, and Miles was hard at work mowing the lawn, and the kids asked to run thru the sprinklers.  Of course!  It was so hot and it was a great way to cool off before bed.  We won't miss NH humidity, but late summer nights running thru the sprinklers will definitely be missed.

Preschool Carnival

The last week we were in Farmington Elliot, Lauren, and Dallin all attended the rec centers preschool carnival.  The turn out wasn't great, which meant we had unlimited attention and cotton candy!

Elliot refused to have her face painted, but consented to a hand tattoo.  What a cute butterfly.

The bounce house was a hit, and the other games.  Elliot was too shy to put her face in the poster though, so I had too and she took the picture. 

The highlight of the carnival for me was watching Elliot win the potato sack race 3 times in a row.  Who knew she was so talented at potato sack racing?

Look at the height on this girl!

"Sweet" Activity

What a Fun Activity!  Sweet Mimi was in charge of our Wednesday night activity and she shared her mad cupcake decorating skills.  She started with a scripture, a song, then she showed us some great stuff.  There was tons of sugar going on in that room, which meant the laughing wouldn't stop!  Some of us made some really cute stuff, and some cupcakes just looks delicious.  Either way they all tasted great.  

Becca, Sarah, Coco, Mimi, Caylee

 Isn't her hat so cute!  What a fun girl.

Finally my creations.  I had so much fun trying out new techniques and using my imagination.

West Coast, East Coast, West Again...

After many agonizing months of waiting, interviews, and decisions Mike has accepted a job at UOP in Stockton, California.  He will be Director of the Writing program.  We are so excited to be making it back to the West Coast.  

We leave New England with Heavy hearts.  I have grown to LOVE it here so much.  We have made lasting friendships with the wonderful people.  We hate to leave them behind.  And I don't know how to say goodbye to places and memories that are so near and dear to me.  But, I know that there will be more adventures ahead.