Halloween

We went to Kira's halloween parade in the morning and she was so excited to see us.  Parker was excited to see her and his patience quickly turned to wanting to go to the park.  We lasted just long enough to watch her walk with her class.   The below picture shows where he wants to go every day.  That child is full of energy and spoiled so we spend a lot of time at the park.  Then we went to Parkers preschool parade in the afternoon.  He basically walked to the next home and back with his preschool which was very cute.  Blake wanted to join in so he also got to be in a parade.  It worked out perfectly.  You realize that it doesn't matter how long or short...it is just the concept.  Scott wore a onesie for the day and Tyler went as Dustin to school and something scary at night.  Probably a zombie or something.  I got Kira a unicorm costume from the store but of course being Kira, she took the horn and made her own, comfortable, unique version of the unicorn.  I love her confidence and unique attitude.  It is such a gift!  I finally let my kids decide what they really want to be.  I got Blake  a costume before the cruise because they were going to have a parade.  He really wanted to be a jester but they didn't have jester costumes.  So when we got home and he kept talking about jester costumes, I got him a second costume.  It made him so happy and he was so grateful.  I used to be so cheap.  I am still not a spender, but feel like I have a perfect balance of spending and saving.  It made me so happy to see him so happy and realized that we only have a couple of years to celebrate being a kid and halloween.  Scott is almost out of the halloween stage if not out of it and it made me happy to see Blake so happy. 

Blake and Tyler wanted sticks to go with their jester costumes so they got 99 cent sticks, some craft tape and spray painted their goblin sticks or whatever they are.  They did a great job and it was a fun craft for the day.  so much better to make a costume and be creative.  We are not that creative or great at planning so I chalk it up as win for creating sticks.

The kids had a good time carving pumpkins.  Friends came over when they were carving so I sent them outside to clean them out.  6 year olds don't do a great job so the pumpkins lasted a day or two before making it to the trash full of fruit flies and insides that weren't cleaned out.  Perfect timing for the garbage man.  Kira went with a friend trick or treating.  Scott and Tyler went to pizza and trick or treating with friends.  Danny and I went with Parker, Hanna and Blake with the neighbors around our court.  Blake really wanted to go with a friend so he coordinated with a neighbor when they would go out which worked out simple and perfect.  We then went across the street and the kids enjoyed trading their candy loot the entire week. All in all a perfect week.  

I have seen a lot of people incorporating the day of the dead traditions into Halloween which I really liked.  Talking about or learning about a different ancestor.  I want to do that next year.  I think it would be fun to learn about 1 new ancestor a day leading up to halloween.  I want to put the kids in charge of researching one person and they can present a little something about them the day they are in charge of giving prayers.  I am really bad at traditions but that is nice and simple and I think we can pull it off.  I think this was the first year in many years that we carved pumpkins.  I chalk it up to not working.  YIPEE!!  

Book Of Mormon Challenge

General Conference was so great!!  So many things to enrich the lives of our family and children.  I am so eager to start them.  A friend of mine does "Mile Monday" with her kids that we run a mile and then we play soccer after.  I totally forgot about it last monday because vacation.  Blake told me it was time to go to Monday mile so we hopped in the car, hanna in PJ's and oatmeal to eat there. Anything Blake is excited about I am down for.  We talked about President Nelson and what a diligent and dedicated man he is.  Electronics and wasted time has been on my mind so much lately.  I see kids and adults on phones all the time.  I worry about that influence in my kids life and our culture.  I feel like I need to be on the offensive.  She talked about reading the book of mormon and the incredible blessing it has been in her home and how when her husband started the challenge with her blessings doubled.  So I decided for FHE we would all start the challenge together.  Kids included.  Obviously, I need to read to the younger three but the older three can totally do it.  So I found some bookmarks from some amazing blogger for reading the book of mormon in 60 days.  We finished week 1 and the kids are all really into it.  It is usually about 5 chapters a day.  I have already noticed a difference in our home.  I know it will help prepare us for the new year with new church curriculum.  We are so blessed!  I am grateful we started.  One week at a time.  We are all holding each other accountable.

YOSEMITE

The kids had Friday off for teacher in service which I was totally unaware of.  I have been mildly sick all week with a fever and sore throat/ear aches/yuck but was started to feel a little better and really wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous weather.  So I texted some friends Thursday and of course the amazing Shawna accepted the adventure.  She is my adventure friend. We will talk about going skiing and decide to go the next day.

So I picked up Kira from the gym, headed to Winco for some snacks and woke up early to get on the road.  It said it was about 2.5 hours to Yosemite and it takes about another 45 minutes or so to get to the Valley.  Some people were stopped on the side of the road which I didn't think much of but when I got a closer look I saw they were taking pics and saw Shawna and realized they must have seen a bear.  They saw a bear and 2 cubs.  There was no parking by the time I got that point but so excited for the day.

It is gorgeous!!  I can't believe we live about 3 hours from Yosemite and have never been.  The leaves were changing colors and it was a picture perfect day.  We stopped at an area where there was a little pond and the kids loved throwing rocks and playing. It was a little chilly in the shade since it was morning so continued on to the visitors center and lower bridal falls.  We hiked to the falls which took about an hour because we meandered from log to log, taking pictures and climbing rocks.  Parker loved the logs.  We got there and it was just a little trickle since it is dry season so the kids climbed in the rock beds beneath.  They were really big and everyone except Parker and obviously Hanna went almost to the waterfall.  They would have made it but it was time for lunch so we called them back.  Parker went from rock tower to tower knocking them all over.  It was like a little boys paradise.  Shawna just kept reassuring us that this was like common core and they were using good judgement of what rocks were stable and not.  It wouldn't have been a good spot for anxious moms.  We were all grateful we came back with no injuries.  The kids saw deer on the way back so close and they were beautiful.

We went back to the car and ate some lunch.  I am getting smarter with packing.  I realize a giant tupperware of cut up fruit, sandwiches, some yogurt and veggies is the perfect lunch.  We ate and the kids ran around.  Parker liked to play on the giant bear locker garbage cans.

We then went to Mirror Lake.  It was a 1.5 mile hike up so we opted to drive which was accessible for handicap.  We always thank Tyler when we we get great handicap perks.  We got there and it was a giant sand pit with no water.  Kira and Abby spent the entire time making teepee's and a flag.  I ran around the sand with Parker and Hanna.  Then parker and shawna and the rest of the kids went to find caves.

Yosemite is gorgeous.  I can't describe how massive the granite rocks are and how beautiful they are.  Every direction is beautiful in different ways.  The trees and hikes have breathtaking spots almost every 100 feet.  We had such a great day.  It ended up being about 70 degrees, the park wasn't too crowded and we all had a great time.  The drive there and home is also really nice with lakes and hills.  I just kept thinking about how lucky we are that we live in this area that last week we could be at the beach and this week we were in an area with skiing and yosemite.

For the most part everyone got along really well.  At the end of the day on the way home all the kids explained how fun it was and how they want to go back.  They were all so grateful for me taking them which is usually not the case at the end of a long day.  They are usually tired and cranky and complaining about the ride home.  I was soo glad that I went and so excited to return with Danny who has never been!  A must see for everyone.  We saw people from all over the world.

FIRST VIEW OF THE DAY... We were all in awe!

Playing by the water...

Hike to Lower Bridal Falls...The kids loved to play on the fallen trees.  

At the falls...It was all dried up so the kids climbed down to play in the rocks.  I kept thinking how Rock City on Mount Diablo lost its fun after this.  I think they would have spent all day here if we let them.

Mirror Lake...Actually a dry lake for now.  It was fun to play in the sand and see these majestic mountains all around.  Most people go in the spring and summer when there is water in the falls and in the lake which I am excited to see but I actually really loved that it was dry because I didn't have to worry about my kids drowning.

Accident

On the way back from Yosemite we were almost home and got hit.  We were at the freeway exit stopped at a red light when someone hit us.  He apparently tried to swerve to the left of my car but his front right hit my back left.  The kids were all asleep and seemed fine.   Then the guy preceded to back up from me and hit the car in back of him.  He gave us his license and insurance and wanted to take off but I told him I was going to file a police report.  He seemed drunk to me and I just feel more comfortable when there is a report for insurance.  So the Brentwood PD showed up, took out statements, gave him a sobriety check and waited for the CHP because it was on a freeway exit.  Danny came to take pics and get the kids since they were all tired and melting down.  About an hour later we were able to leave.  I wanted to see if they took him in for a DUI or not but didn't.  The PD were talking amongst themselves and thought he was drunk.  My neck was sore but it got so much worse today.  I could barely move it at church and had a headache from it being so sore.  We were working on the primary program and I was trying to watch Hanna and my head felt like exploding.  Glad it wasn't worse.  Grateful it was so close to home.  They did an overpass and keep redoing the freeway exit which I am sure causes a lot of accidents.  The guy didn't know where he was.  He had forgot that he hit me about 10 minutes into the incident.  I couldn't tell if it was a language barrier or if he was out of it.  Danny thinks they will salvage the van since it has 200,000+ miles on it which makes me sad because my van is such a great van.