February 2017

 We took an awesome vacation the first few days of February. My best girlfriends, Suzanne and Chrissy, and I planned a snow trip to Bear Valley. We rented this incredible-looking cabin, rounded up sleds and snow pants for everyone, planned meals and packed games, and were able to enjoy the excitement of anticipating the event for several weeks.

Sadly, one of Chrissy's little ones got hit hard by the stomach flu the day before our trip was supposed to start, so her family stayed behind. We were all so bummed to miss the Dix's. It still turned out to be a super get-away, though, and we will all just have to do it again next winter with the whole crew.

We showed up at our glamorous cabin in the late afternoon. The area is closed off to cars in the winter, so we parked at the rental office and were given snowmobile rides up to the place. There were massive amounts of snow everywhere! Apparently, there had been a snowstorm the week before that brought in 15 feet of new snow. Crazy. It was a winter wonderland.

This is the snow pile that fell off the roof. 

We unpacked, made dinner, and were in the middle of putting kids to bed when we heard a loud crash. Dan went to investigate, and discovered the outer windowpane to mine and Todd's bedroom had cracked. There was a huge, heavy overhang of snow and ice coming off the roof just outside that window, and thick, 6 foot icicles. When we turned on the heater, it started to melt it, and it was slowly sliding down the roof of the cabin. The pressure from it all broke the outer window pane, and there were cracks in the walls where it looked like it was going to cave in. We wouldn't let the kids in the room, and Todd was throwing all our clothes and things out into the hall when the ice slid down more, and there was this enormous noise as the inner windowpane shattered and glass flew everywhere! It was freaky. The kids were screaming, the moms were scared, and Gemma and Ezra were sleeping through it all. We moved the kids downstairs to sing hymns with them and try to calm them down, while we waited for the property managers to assess the damage and decide whether or not it was safe for us to stay in the cabin overnight. Meanwhile, Todd cranked up the heat and was pounding on the roof of the cabin, trying to clear all the ice off before the wall caved in. Well, down it all came, creating this giant force that partially blew in the exterior door in the downstairs room where we were with the kids - after having told them this was the safest place in the cabin, they all watched the door half blow in, right in front of their very eyes. There was mass panic! We packed everything up, woke up the babies, and took a 10:00 snowmobile ride in the dark to another cabin. Best quote of the night was Jack, saying, "I feel like we're being kidnapped," as we rode blindly to our new destination.

Our replacement cabin was less fancy, for sure, and took a long time to heat up. That first night was pretty cold. But it turned out to be good, as it had a massive sledding hill right outside that we took full advantage of, and the property managers footed the bill for an extra day with our snowmobile rentals, so we had them to play with essentially the entire remainder of the trip. It was quite a dramatic beginning to our fun weekend in the snow! Happily, everything else was delightful and drama-less.

We played lots of games, made crazy candy creations, made slime, read books, watched a movie, and ate good food. And that's just inside! We spent plenty of time outdoors as well, mostly sledding, but also snowman-building, snowmobile riding, snowball throwing, and snow-fort building. Time seemed to pass in slow motion; every time we'd check the time, it would feel weird, like it should have been hours later than it was. We were just in this magical bubble of fun. Everyone got along with each other. Nova and Hazel furiously journaled all the details of the trip while commiserating about the angst of being the oldest child. Gemma and Griffon played cats and dogs and made each other laugh constantly. Jack bonded with baby Ezra and loved catering to him. Dan and Suzanne and Todd and I played games late into the night, and laughed so hard we cried. It was so, so beautiful in Bear Valley. We are going to have to come back again!

Jack was the best at sledding. He could make it farther down the hill than anyone else. The only time I saw him biff it early was the trip he took when I was videotaping him, of course.

It's so bittersweet looking at this picture. Chrissy's supposed to be in that space on the right!

These guys are our "California cousins." I feel like they are family. Griffon sent me a Valentine in the mail a few days after we got home, with a note saying he likes my happy laugh. Melt my heart!

Nova and Hazel went out in the snow together a lot without any adults. They were just playing in the area right outside the cabin. One of those times, they both fell into a hole at the base of a tree. They were in over their heads. They prayed to know what to do, and Hazel gave Nova a boost to help her climb out. Nova wasn't strong enough to pull Hazel out, so she went back to the cabin to get her mom to help. These little ladies are so smart and so spiritual and I'm so impressed with the people they are growing into.

Anyway, it was sad when it was time to go home. The whole thing was awesome, even the crazy adventure that first night. We might have to make an annual tradition out of Bear Valley. . . 

In other news, I'm getting better at homemade pizza. Todd brought a pizza stone into our marriage, and we are just now learning some new tricks with it, like to let it preheat with the oven up to 500, then transfer the pizza onto it with parchment paper. It's making our crust so deliciosso. 

Our stake changed the ward boundaries this month, merging our five wards into four. It gave us a few more kids and teens, and a lot more faithful empty-nesters. Our ward has been small and hard to staff since before we moved in 2.5 years ago, so these seem like they will be really helpful changes. We had a primary social to help everyone get to know each other. My kids are excited that their buddies Alyse and Grace Woodland are back in our ward. (They moved out of the old boundaries last summer, but have been pulled back in.) 

Todd and I had an awesome date night this month. I made an incredible discovery - that we can get extreme-o discount tickets to fine art performances at the Bankhead Theater here, using Todd's military ID. Our first taste of this was a delightful concert by the Chieftains, an hour and a half of brilliant music, with ditties by bagpipes and Irish dancers to boot. It was a blast! 

Hazel decided that she wasn't ready to commit to pierced ears yet, but that she'd like to give clip-on earrings a go. As a reward for a goal chart she'd completed, she and I went on a date to Claire's and picked out her first few pairs. She laid her outfit out the night before. Yes, folks, this look is premeditated and is reflective of Hazel's excitement for a special occasion.

We got the exciting news that our old friends Jill and Mitch Dabo would be in the Bay Area over the long weekend visiting Mitch's family, and they wanted to get together with us and Jon and Amy Naseath. These are good, dear friends who date back to mine and Todd's earliest times in California. We were not only in the same ward, but also the same apartment complex, and all hung out together a lot, along with a good handful of other young couples in the ward. We made some deep friendships with this group - now referred to as the Heritage Oaks Dinner Group - and it was such a fun, fun reunion to have the Dabos and Naseaths and our combined 12 kids all together for an evening. We had dinner and talked and made plans to see each other again soon.

We have had a ton of rain this winter. I think the drought is over! Instead, now we have worried a little bit about flooding. Our culdesac filled up one evening, but for the most part, we have been quite safe and comfortable here at home.

Book club has been fizzling a little bit lately, and I had this brilliant idea to recreate my ladies nights. I found a perfect cohort in my friend Katie George, and together we have instigated Game Club. How fun is that?! We gathered up a select group who all came over to my house last week to play games all evening long. We had snacks and laughed a ton and were so loud we kept my kids up (and boy, were they cranky the next day!). Here's how you know it was truly a hit: we ended the night with a Bonner Family Classic - the Hunter and the Deer. Here's how you play. Two people are blindfolded, and must stay in contact with the table (or a couch has worked in the past). The hunter is trying to catch the deer. The deer is trying to not get caught. It's funny to watch, and exciting to he the hunter, and freaky to be the deer. It's so much fun!

And here's how you know Katie was the perfect person to start Game Club with: she texted me a week later, saying she couldn't stand to wait three more weeks to play more games, and we rounded up a few more friends and had another game night at her house the next night! I'm loving it.

Hazel and I went to KB and Hope's baby shower in Santa Cruz last weekend. She's due March 13th, so our newest cousin could make her appearance very soon! We're excited to meet little Luna Louise.

January 2017

My kids, especially Gemma, have been obsessed with Cosmic Kids Yoga lately. It's so funny to hear them saying "namaste" and copying the moves as they follow along with the online videos. 

We added Gemma to the chore rotation and started giving her an allowance. She LOVES helping with the dishes.

Jack turned six on January 4th. We were still out of school that week, so we were able to make it a really fun day. We had a handful of Jack's buddies over in the morning for a science party. Check out the science beaker cake we made together:

The party was really fun, because it was just a small, cute group of kindergarteners, and we spent the whole time doing science experiments. We built catapults out of popsicle sticks, made our own slime, and watched brain balls absorb water and grow, and then bounce all over the sidewalk.

Jack's been having fun with his presents, especially the snap circuit set. He spent a lot of the break working on those, and I'm sad he hasn't had as much free time since school started back up to play with that more.

This smart little guy is finally getting old/mature enough to enjoy books at his reading level. It took a while for his abilities and his interests to meet up. It's fun to watch him reading early chapter books. He's been blowing through the first Boxcar Children book this week, and is happy to chat all about it.

Jack's favorite colors right now are orange, red, green, and purple. His favorite animal is still a tiger. He loved Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and The Sound of Music, and also listed Hoodwinked and Tangled as favorite movies. His favorite books are the Mercy Watson series, but he's also been reading a lot of A to Z mysteries the last few weeks. He listed all his birthday party guests as his best friends: Alyse Woodland, Juno Leek, Stacie Haupt, and Jonah Wilmoth. 

Jack's been serious about doing the monkey bars lately, and has gotten really good at them. He loves cheese pizza, muffins, and chocolate. He wants to be a scientist when he grows up - the kind that works with "potions." His favorite places to go are Alaska and Mexico - we've had some sweet family vacations this year, and the kids all really loved it! 

He is a really good reader, and he loves to play the piano. He likes to snuggle, he is totally analytical, and he is sensitive. He keeps wishing for snow for Christmas, with wishbones and penny fountains, and probably with his birthday candles, too. 

We went down to Spencer Dix's baptism in Sunnyvale on January 7th. He and Nova and their families are now being referred to as the California cousins. I love friends that are like family. 

Gemma turned four on January 14th. We had her two besties, Clara and Gracie, over to play the day while the big kids were at school. We decorated cookies and had a dance party and played with slime. 

She got princess dolls, bird wings, and dancing ribbons for her presents from us. This little lady is so packed with personality, and it was really fun for me this year to find some unique gifts I knew she'd love. She'd played with the ribbons at dance class and disappeared into an imaginary world twirling around with them, and I wanted to see her do that again and again. And the bird wings came because she said to me multiple times over the last few months that she really wished she could be a bird.

Gemma requested for her cake, peppermint brownies with frosting. It was yum! She loved crushing the candy canes.

We went swimming at an indoor pool in Newark on her birthday. She keeps talking about it, so I think it was a hit. It had water slides and a lazy river and was pretty fun. 

I've taken to asking Gemma what her favorite color is almost every day, because she keeps changing her answer. On her birthday it was bright pink and bright orange and turquoise and white. She said her favorite animals were giraffe, tiger, cat, dog, and dolphin. This makes me giggle to read a couple weeks later. Funny girl. She loves dolls, and in the car she always asks to listen to the Frozen book on CD. She loves to have books read to her. One of the regulars lately is "Whales, the Gentle Giant." Again and again. She loves to listen to the Frozen soundtrack, and for FHE song she always wants to sing Book of Mormon Stories. Her best friends are Gracie Woodland and Clara Haupt. 

Outside, Gemma likes to jump on the trampoline and ride "the white bike," her two-wheeler, which she can ride nonstop for 10 minutes or more, but can't start independently yet. She likes to sleep with her favorite stuffed animal, Cute Cute Otto, an otter we got her in Alaska. She said when she grows up she wants to be Mulan. Her favorite foods are pizza, graham crackers, and rice. She said her favorite place to go is "Exico." She always asks if we can go back there again someday. 

Gemma is funny, so cute, and curious. Also, stubborn. 

I asked if she had one wish, what would it be: "I would wish for cookies." 

What makes her laugh? Tickles. 

What are you afraid of? Monsters and crocodiles

What do you love to learn about ? "Making cookies." 

What do you like to do with your family? Play "Troll Chase." Todd stomps around, pretending to be a troll, looking for kids to eat for dinner. He chases them around the house, catches them and lets them escape. It's their favorite thing to do when he comes home from work. 

I signed all the kids up for a tumbling class. Jack and Hazel are together, and Gemma's class is in the morning while the big kids are at school. They're all loving it. They get really sweaty and really happy, so we're going to stick with it for a while. 

Jack was given the student of the month award for responsibility. Mrs. Allen wrote in her letter to him how pleased she was that he always pushed himself to try his hardest and learn new things (even when the rest of the class was learning things he already knew). I'm pleased that he's giving a full effort at school and has such a happy, sweet attitude when he's there.

Hazel was invited to her friend Kaitlyn's birthday party. While she was there, Todd and I took Gemma and Jack to Elephant and Piggie Day at the library. It was cute! We love their books.

The kids' school has a Diversity Week each year and has some really fabulous assemblies. They had an African drummer come, and he also put on an evening performance for the families. It was cool.

I noticed Gemma's been making a lot of faces when I take her picture lately.

My Christmas present is taken care of: a gallery wall of frames down the hallway. It makes me happy.

December 2016

December 1st is Hazel's birthday. This year she turned 8. She'd been looking forward to this birthday for 365 days. She would draw starbursts around her 8's in school and I found several countdown notes keeping track of how many months and days until she turned 8. It was so cute.

I've had my eye on this Kit Kat cake for a while now, so I was excited when she wanted to make it for her birthday cake. We had fun designing it together. And it was delicious, although also a major sugar rush!

Hazel got her own set of scriptures and a cute bag to carry them in, and (dun, dun, dun) her most wished-for American Girl Doll, Kit! Jack wrote her an adorable story about a runaway steak.

Hazel's favorite colors right now are purple, green, and orange. She loves to play with Legos and big dolls. Her favorite animal is still a cheetah, and her favorite food remains steak. Those two have held strong for at least four solid years now. Rather than having a favorite book, she's got favorite authors right now, including Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, and She Silverstein. She reads all the time.

We have watched a lot of older movies and musicals this year, and Hazel has really loved them, especially "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Sound of Music," and "White Christmas." Her favorite songs right now come from those musicals. I think her very favorite one is probably "Bless Your Beautiful Hide." The kids love to talk about how awful Adam Pontipee is, which makes me super nostalgic about my childhood.

She lists Mary Tree, Aarna Patel, and Kaitlyn Zoerhoff as her best friends. She also plays a lot with a fun girl named Adrianna. Mary's her buddy from church, and she's had a solid group of good girls to hang out with in her school class this year. I hope some of them move on to the next grade together so she can have some consistency in her friendships.

When outside, Hazel likes to jump on the trampoline and swing, and ride her bike. She sleeps with a stack of pillows. She says when she grows up she wants to be a missionary and a mom and a cook. Her favorite place to go is Mexico. Her favorite season is winter, because it has her birthday and Christmas in it. Also, she has always loved snow. She still doesn't like mashed potatoes. She's afraid of the dark. 

She likes to draw and build things, like 3D art projects, Legos, and even bookshelves she made with Todd. She is good at being kind to other people. Hazel described herself as nice, adventurous, and artistic. If she had one wish, it would be that Daddy and everybody in our family could be home all the time - almost all the time. Farts make her laugh. She likes to travel and play games with our family. She loves to learn about history - "stuff in the past - it's pretty interesting, except about things I already know about." 

Two days after her birthday, Hazel was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by her dad. She was looking forward to this ordinance with such excitement. It was so pleasing to see how much she wanted to take this step. My mom and dad and brother Chris drove up from Utah for the baptism, as well as Todd's mom and dad and Hazel's cousin Shaylee. 

Todd's sister Erika and brother KB and his girlfriend Hope came as well, from parts of the Bay Area. Our "California cousins," the Hope and Dix families, came up as well, and we had lots of support from the ward. Hazel invited Mrs. Allen, her kindergarten teacher, and she also came.

Her dress was pretty special. My friend Elaine Haupt sewed it from my wedding dress, and even designed it to match the style of my dress. Hazel felt very important wearing it, such a treasure.

I was so full of pride and joy for Hazel all day. She was beautiful and so happy with her decision. She was calm and mature and knew what she was doing. After she was confirmed a member of the Church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost, she was literally glowing. It was so beautiful to see. It was a great day for all of us.

We had a family luncheon afterwards, and then went for a walk at Brushy Peak. The hills are so lovely and green during the winter; it makes me feel like I'm in Ireland.

 Gemma went with some buddies on a field trip to Trader Joe's grocery store. She thought it was pretty cool. They let the kids use the scanner.

We went to a live Bethlehem put on by a Baptist church. There were people walking around dressed as Roman soldiers, booths where you could learn to write in Hebrew or see other pieces of ancient culture. It was super crowded and I was regretting coming until the end, when they acted out Mary and Joseph finding the stable, and shepherds and wise men coming to worship the baby Jesus. They sang a few songs and it was reverent and worshipful, and my heart was filled with gratitude and love and the Christmas spirit. Jack keeps bringing it up as one of his favorite things we did this year for Christmas.

Hazel has been focusing her creative juices on Kit, her American Girl doll. She built her a tree house and a typewriter and it's been really fun to see her at work.

We went to the Nutcracker Ballet at the Oakland Temple auditorium. It was well done and lots of fun. We brought our neighbors with us, the Bassets, Hazel's friend Sierra and her sister and parents. I hope we planted a good missionary seed in their hearts, walking the temple grounds and going into the visitor's center afterwards.

Todd wasn't with us that weekend. He was asked to fly a helicopter from Colorado to California, bringing his military unit a new aircraft. He plotted his course over Arches and Bryce National Canyons, got a real sight-seeing tour out of it, and stopped in Cedar City to gas up and visit his sister Laura as well. It was a cool trip for him. 

Gemma had her last dance class this month. She's totally loved it, but I decided to stop for a while because they don't offer prorated tuition over the next couple of months when we miss so many Mondays. Instead, they offer make-up classes, but there's only one time we could attend when she's not at preschool and it was super inconvenient. So, we're taking a break from dance. Watching her at class each week has been so much fun. She's adorable out there.

Mrs. Allen took this picture while I was reading to her class. (I volunteer in Jack and Hazel's classes every Tuesday.) Seeing it makes me miss teaching. I'm thankful I had a few years to teach and use my talents and have a career and a space to define me as ME. And I'm even more thankful to be able to be a stay-at-home mom.

Hazel's old doll, Melody, likes to have sleepovers with Kit.

I was able to come to Gemma's Christmas party at preschool. They wore pajamas, rolled out and decorated shaped cookies, and had a book exchange. She is loving preschool. She's my only kid who's excited to go back to school at the end of winter break.

We made gingerbread cookies on Christmas Eve.

Hazel made this sweet bow and arrow set for a game the kids were playing.

We acted out the Nativity story twice, because both girls wanted to play Mary.

Hazel made a better angel, because she could read all the lines.

Santa brought Jack video walkie talkies, Hazel rollerblades, and Gemma baby doll twins. They were all stoked!

I had been dreading having 9:00 church on Christmas morning, but we prepared the kids for it. They knew we were going to look at our stockings and open our Santa presents, then get dressed for church and have breakfast and save the rest of the presents for after church. Those lovely kids were cheerful about it, and it was actually really satisfying to go to church on Christmas day and sing all the Christmas songs in the hymn book and worship Jesus in that way. Truly, I wish we could have Christmas like that every year.

Aunt Laura gave us all BYU shirts, which everyone wore for about three days straight. Nana gave Jack a scooter. He rode that, and Hazel learned her rollerblades, all over the house for the next several days, until Todd and I felt Hazel was ready to go outside without having a major wipeout.

Todd had his 38th birthday on December 26th. He stayed home from work and did some home improvement projects, and we went as a family to the movie theater to see "Moana."

We had our second annual New Year's Eve sleepover with the Hope and Dix families, but on Friday night instead of Saturday. We had dinner and played games and stayed up late. I think most of the kids were up till 11:00. Todd fell asleep on the couch about 9:30. The rest of us adults waited until about five minutes past midnight, then we all headed to bed as well.

Saturday morning after breakfast, we went over to our church building and had a Nerf gun war. It was awesome!

That night, we found this goofy reindeer head hidden in mine and Todd's bed. Thanks Suzanne! We brought it with us to Spencer's baptism a week later and left it on Chrissy's van windshield. Who knows if that's the end of that, or if this is the beginning of an epic running joke?