blog book update

I am still working on our blog book from Blurb.  It is time consuming but I have a feeling it will be well worth the effort.  If you'd like to see a finished book check out this post from Amy - she just recently finished up her own blog book.

my kind of name

What Halloween lovin' gal wouldn't like this name for a sandwich shop?  Love the name, the the font, the whole design.  

There were just so many cute places in San Francisco.  I also loved the outside of The Giant Robot.  Check out the adorable robot graphics.

I'm diggin' the whole wording/graphics on the window thing.  I'm wondering how it would translate to home.  I could deck out my sliding glass door with words - how about..."don't you dare come in the house with dirty feet" written in a very cool font, of course.

finding balance

I decided to post about San Francisco in snippets instead of one long post - one post seemed too overwhelming.  Since I have been home I have had constant feelings of being overwhelmed and so I decided to post these pictures first, kind of as a reminder for me to find balance in my own life.

We spent a day in Sausalito.  While there we saw this street artist that does the most amazing structures with rocks.  We watched him as he patiently stacked rocks one on top of the other - balancing them in the most unbelievable ways.

Can you believe it?!?!  His work was beautiful, especially with the sea serving as a gorgeous background.  Now if I could just balance my life...

a stack of sharpies and a hand cramp

The girls and I left Thursday for our trip to San Francisco.  Before we headed out for the long drive we made a stop at Torrance High School for an author discussion and book signing with Stephanie Meyers.  We got to listen to her answer fan questions about the Twilight series and her new book The Host as well as hear a few personal stories.
We were about #830 and above in line so we had a bit of a wait after the discussion to get our books signed but it was still an enjoyable night, at least for us.  I can't imagine being an author and signing so many books.  Each person could have as many Host books signed as they wanted and then up to 2 other books. Between myself, Megan and Em we were able to get each Host book signed and then all our copies of the Twilight books.  The group waiting in lined was into the 900's so you can only imagine the hand cramp poor SM must have had.  We laughed when we got to the table because there was a huge pile of black Sharpies at the ready.

We had never been to a book signing so it was a fun new adventure for us to experience.  I'm not sure I would do it again - I take that back, I would do it if I could get a book signed by JK Rowling but beyond that I am not sure I would sit for hours to get a signature.  It was still an enjoyable night and a great way to kick off our San Francisco trip.

birthday wishes

Megan is 14 - where did the time go?  Has it really been that long since I had my first little baby?  

I wanted to post some baby pictures but am unwilling to attempt the major hunt of non digital photos (my scrapbook/photo jive is sitting in huge rubbermaids while I attempt to get my creative area of the house organized)  So current pictures will have to do.

14 things about Megan...

1.  She is game for anything...she is is willing to try new things - foods, activities,etc.  She goes along with most of our families hair brained ideas (like posing for pictures in a graffiti filled alley in the Haight Ashbury district of SF where we had previously tried to take pictures but were taunted by some homeless men - we walked the neighborhood a bit more and then came back to this photography heaven) and genuinely has fun doing them. She doesn't however do things that she knows are wrong or hurtful.

2.  Her room is hardly ever clean (at least as clean as I would like it) but she is a good worker and will help out when asked.  

3.  She is super creative.  She loves to create and has produced some great art.  She is also a skilled writer.  She has written a children's book and has had some of her poetry published. One of her poems has just recently been accepted for publication (will post about it later) and she won a garnet from a jeweler for me with a Mothers Day poem that she wrote.

4.  Megan loves to read - love doesn't even seem to be the right word.  She reads huge books in one day and often times she'll be reading 3 books at one time (not sure how she does that - it would drive me crazy)  She just finished reading The Host by Stephanie Meyers and is finishing up the unabridged version of Les Miserables.

5.  She loves clothes and finds total enjoyment in shopping.

6.  She can not make a decision to save her life.  When you ask her to make a choice she gets distraught (even when it is a simple decision)

7.  She has a happy countenance and is nearly always happy (even when she is doing things she may not love) She occasionally has a "teenage moment" (as she calls them) where she is crying and grumpy but they never last long.
8.  Similar to number 7 - she loves to laugh.  She can find humor in some of the most difficult situations.  She loves a good joke and enjoys (and understands) her dad's sarcasm. She keeps our family smiling.

9.  She loves her friends and loves to be social - she is so excited to be 14 and able to go to church dances now.

10. She mumbles when she talks

11. She is a great student and has made the superintendents honor roll (3.85 or higher GPA) every quarter during middle school

12. Her current aspirations (they are always changing) for what she would like to do when she is older are become a writer (see #3 above) or do something in the field of science (although she is not sure what)

13. Her favorite meal is roast beef, mashed potatoes (she could live off mashed potatoes) and grammy rolls.  She requests this meal for her birthday every year.
14.  She is a wonderful daughter, granddaughter, niece, cousin, sister and friend.

Happy birthday Megan - we all love you!

we heart san francisco

The girls and I are home...update coming soon!

too hot to handle

To celebrate our elementary schools 10th birthday the PTA planned a big carnival last Friday. It of course had to be on one of the hottest days we have had this year (100 degrees) - it made for a very uncomfortable afternoon but we managed to survive it (even without Derek, who was still gone to Mexico and missed all the carnival goodness - I'm sure he cried himself to sleep every night)

Emily trying to beat the heat by putting out a fire.

One of the booths was a silly string war booth.  2 tickets got you a can of silly string and an opponent who was similarly armed.  The kids loved this booth.  The popularity of this booth is evident when you walk the school campus - silly string stains are everywhere.
In my opinion a good indicator of a successful activity (when kids are involved) is the dirt level. Judging by the black top dirtiness of Em's feet the heat didn't bother the kids and they had a blast.

photographic proof of a very poor job

Here are the promised pictures of the pathetic Youth Conference toilet papering job.  I thought the young men at church could do a much better job then this but I guess I was wrong.  Aren't parents passing on their fine tuned tp'ing skills to their children?  Step it up parents!  :)

outtakes

Not sure what is happening in some of these pictures but they are good for a few laughs.  

Does anyone know why sometimes you can enlarge a picture by clicking on it and other times it doesn't work?  It drives me nuts that I can't open every picture in some of my posts.

Megan makes this face constantly at home (the picture below) & it cracks me up


I wonder what was so funny.
Love this shot of Derek

Surprisingly we had very few break downs during the shoot however Rona did get this one of Luke.

How I wish we had video of these pictures of Luke (there are about 5 more in the series - I spared you)  The kids thinks he is an international model - catwalking and posing up a storm.  

These pictures of Nate are especially funny to the family because we know what caused Nathan's reactions.  Let's just say we were heard a few little sounds right before Nate started cracking up.

mexico, youth conference and more

I realize that there have been a serious lack of posts this week.  

Derek is off in Mexico "team building" translation - playing around but calling it work.  For as much as I complain about these type of trips it really isn't all that bad.  I am glad that he can get away for a few days and not have to worry about work.  We do miss him a ton though.

Megan is also gone this weekend - she is at her first Youth Conference.  I have been able to see her quite a bit though.  YC is local this year and I have been helping with prepping and serving food to the youth so I have been able to talk to her.  She is having a blast but we miss her here at home.

Emily has been my huge helper, especially today.  I spent most of the day at church today (9am - 9pm) except for 2 hours between my food service shifts.  Emily held everything together here at home - watching the boys and cleaning house.  I am feeling especially grateful for her today I need to think of something fun to do with her as a thank you for her.  It was a serious long day for her.

We have also spent some time this weekend cleaning up a very poor toilet papering job.  When I was a youth I took pride in my tp'ing jobs - what is wrong with todays youth?  I have some pictures of the sad job and will post them when I have downloaded them.

Not much else going on here.  It is way too hot in our corner of the world - where is the 70 degree California weather that I love?  I miss my hubby and my daughter.  I'm feeling anxious about all the packing for trips that needs to happen in the next few days.  I'm feeling stressed about my new calling as activity leader to the girls I teach in Primary.  I'm excited to have baby Carter over tomorrow.  I'm too tired to write anymore.

Hi, my name is...

This morning at LAX Derek spoke with Elder Jeffrey R Holland.  Elder Holland asked Derek what his name was and Derek responded, "Derek Baker, I am Dena Smith's younger brother" to which Elder Holland replied, "That's all I need to know about you" (or something similar to that) I thought that was such a nice compliment to Dena and speaks volumes about her and the example she sets.

Both Elder and Sister Holland then asked about Dena and the rest of the family.  They even mentioned how they had gotten a letter from you recently Janae.  

Elder Clayton and his wife were also traveling with them.  Derek said it was interesting to watch people approach them to say hi (I'm sure it became very clear who the Mormons were at LAX)  I asked Derek if they seemed bothered by people approaching them and he said not at all.  He extended his hand and a smile to everyone.

Derek's phone call this morning to tell me about his brief encounter has made me think about how grateful I am for prophets and apostles on the earth.  

ADDED 5.16 - I just realized that it probably seems weird that a General Authority would make that comment to Derek - to clarify for those that don't know...Elder Holland and his wife know Derek's sister Dena and her husband.  Ole and Dena served as mission presidents in Chile a few years back while Elder Holland was serving in Chile.  Derek's mom Bernice was also serving as a missionary there at the time.  

just what i wanted

On Mothers Day I woke up to lots of hugs and kisses (always a favorite) and then proceeded to open up the Mothers Day gift that Luke made at school (a cute frame with a picture of an even cuter boy)  He had been trying to give me the gift days before Mothers Day - he was having a hard time waiting.

Then I opened a gift from Derek and the kids...a lens that I had been hearing about from my photography friends.  What a great surprise!  I am anxious to start using it.  Maybe it is magical and will help make all my pictures perfect or perhaps I should just continue to take classes, read photography books and keep shooting.

The Mothers Day hoopla continued with Derek saying he would teach my Primary class so that I could go to Sunday School and Relief Society.  At church the men made smoothies for all the woman and gave us some chocolates.

The rest of the day was spent together as family and going to dinner at Bernice's house.  It was a very nice Mothers Day.  I appreciate all that Derek and the kids did to make it a special day.  

I also appreciate my mom and mom in law for all that they have done for me and my family.   I'm thankful for their examples and for the things that I have learned from them.  

It is also a blessing to have so many good woman around me that set an example for me to follow.  I have amazing friends and family that are great examples of motherhood.  

thanks rona

Let's just say that it has been a really, really long time since we have taken a family picture. I'm not kidding when I say a really long time...the family picture of us that is on Derek's moms mantle is from when Emily is like 2 years old - she'll be 12 this year.  So we're a bit pathetic.  JUST ADDED...at Benice's house last night we noticed that Emily is probably only 10 months old in our family picture.  It's official, we are totally lame about taking family pictures.

On Friday I asked my friend Rona if she could take some shots of us on Saturday.  She wanted to practice doing a family photo shoot so it all worked out.  We headed to the trail right behind our house (dragging our heavy kitchen bench with us - thanks to Derek and Rona for carrying it so that I wouldn't sweat in my picture clothes)

Rona did an amazing job.  She would have done even better with a more picture perfect family but hey we did our best.  Here are just a few of the shots.  We are headed off to Bernice's for Moms Day so I'm running out of time with this post.

Happy Mother's Day!

disclaimer...I am laughing in the above photo, hence the crazy woman smile.

From the picture above it is obvious that I in fact did birth one of the devils minion - nice picture taking face Nathan.  I actually love this shot I just wish we had a normal face shot as well

boys vs. girls - night out

Last night Derek and the boys were off to Blue Jay for a Fathers and Sons camping trip with all the other dads from church.  Yesterday it happened to be rainy and rather chilly all day here so I can only imagine how much fun they must have had.

  

The great thing about this one night camping trip (with only dads and boys) is that there is very little preparation.  You can bet that if the moms were going way more effort would be put into it...I would probably at least bring pajamas & toothbrushes.  The boys play for hours in the clothes they left in, sleep in those clothes, eat breakfast in those clothes and come back a big dirty, smelly, happy mess with nasty breath from lack of brushing.  I'll have to get some pictures when they get home.   Oh the fun of camping with dads!  

The girls and I spent the evening having dinner at In N Out,

followed by the dollar theater where we saw Penelope. Cute movie, by the way - the costumes and sets were amazing.

To finish off the night we ventured to Golden Spoon for a late snack of frozen yogurt.

When we got home we were clean and able to brush our teeth (and sleep in warm beds) - I think we got the better end of the deal although I'm sure my boys will think they did.

san francisco ideas

Derek, Nathan and Luke are headed to Lake Powell in a couple of weeks for a house boat trip so the girls and I decided to plan a trip of our own so were off to San Francisco. Megan and Emily have never been and it has been quite a while since I have been there.

We need some great "don't miss" ideas for places to visit (not only in SF but also during the trip from here to there)  Anyone have ideas?  Let us know what we should see and do during our trip.

happy, happy birthday

Happy 9th birthday Nathan!  

To celebrate the big 9 we're going to share 9 things about Nathan that make him so great(there are of course more then 9 but we're sticking with his age.

1.  Nathan is very easy going and is almost always agreeable

2.  One of the few times that Nathan is not agreeable is when he is sick - I have never seen a worst sick person ever - he is a totally different person when he is sick.

3.  He is a great helper although he tends to be more willing to help when I ask instead of Derek.

4.  He loves video games of any kind - play station, nintendo ds, wii, arcades, whatever - he loves to play them

5.  He is just so darn cute!

6.  He does very well at school - he recently passed the AAA (gate) test with a 99%  A few days ago we were talking about how smart you have to be to work at NASA so he currently wants to work there when he grows up (in the same sentence he also said that he wanted to be a race car driver - I'm sure they have to be smart too)

7.  Nathan has lots of friends and is accepting of everyone

8.  He loves facts - once he learns a new fact he shares it with everyone

9.  He can eat beans like no ones business.  His favorite mexican restaurant meal is a bean burrito with a side of beans and beans...no beans and rice, beans and beans.  He often comes home from school and asks if he can have a can of black beans for snack.

We love him (side effects and all)  He has been a blessing in our home for the past 9 years. Happy Birthday buddy!