December 2020

I got a Canon 5d mkiv, a professional paparazzi camera.  I'd wanted one for the past ten years.  With the addition of Scott's drone to our video-making armamentarium, it was time to start making vids with the 5d.  But it also takes real nice stills.  The image sensor is full-frame and is at least twice the pixels of my previous camera.  The iphone is great and all, it's super convenient and the low-light photography is good, but the 5d is better.  

So here are some of my recent shots.

Scott flying his drone at Valley Verde elementary

Kira at Valle Verde with a nice fall background.

Our Walnut Creek home with the Christmas lights on a timer.  You can't tell, but IS300 is in the front on the jack.

Hanna being cute

Tyler playing Minecraft on his Macbook

Paisley and Roman joined us for din din 

Suzie lounging on Heidi's puzzle.  Heidi has really enjoyed her puzzles this winter.  

Parker has been way into the cats.  They are patient with him but eventually scratch him until he lets go.  

Christmas at Heather and Jason's

Matchy matchy cousins

Fun candid of Kira playing with Hanna's makeup.

Mr. T.

Cousins shot at the Maddox's

Trying the low-light features of the 5d.  This was 1/40, f4, at ISO 12500.  

Heidi got a new coat for Christmas

Heather, Paisley, Kira and Heidi

Tyler riding the balance board

Cute shot taken by Jason on the iPhone 11

 Cousins portrait

The edited shot of our kids.  I should have had Parker on the other side of Kira, but whatevs.  

Parker's wall headshot

Heidi doesn't like this much because it looks like I'm slouching.  Really I was just seated further back in the couch and it was depressed more.

Scott is real proud of his hair.  I think he should get a haircut but long hair seems to be en vogue now.

My daughters

A mom with her daughters

Kids this fall

Scott's doing public school through zoom.  He wakes up early for 7:00 seminary.  If he finishes his schoolwork, piano, chores and cleans his room, I let him play Minecraft until 9:00 pm.   

Blake's getting into Minecraft too.  He got himself a mouse just for Minecraft.  

Cold cereal and his phone.  Tyler used to antagonize Heidi and the other kids until we signed him up for public school through zoom.  Now he stays up in his room with his laptop and things are more peaceful at home.  

Hanna striking a pose. 

So stinking cute!  

Mister is so peaceful when he's asleep.  Otherwise he's volume 10, 100 mph, all day.

Hanna with the Dover bar

Heidi started a water polo clinic at Woodlands.  Over 60 kids signed up!

We got lots of tomatoes this summer and fall.  We did heirloom, salsa, and roma.  The heirlooms were real meaty, some over 2 lbs.  

Okay, bye.  

Hanna's 3rd birthday

Look who's three years old!  Hanna would say "My bird day!"  She's been talking so much more in the past few weeks.  Yesterday I got on the skateboard and she said, "Be careful, Dad!"  Ha ha.

For breakfast we had cinnamon rolls, bacon, and orange julius.  Hanna got some play doh, a doll stroller, some hair scrunchies, a doctor crash cart, a dress, and a doll from Roman and Paisley.  

After breakfast we ran the RC boats in Discovery Bay.  Heidi picked up a raft and kayak on craigslist so the kids wanted to try them out.  

Hanna is so stinkin' cute!  Oh, she got some boots, too.  

With her dolly

 

Hanna likes drawing, her dolls, riding her bike, running with the basketball (like a game of tag with me), watching youtube (though we're trying to curb screen time in all the kids) and singing.  Happy birthday, Hanna!  We love you!  

Summer 2020

Summer 2020 has been the best summer and the worst summer at the same time.  The best because we moved to Walnut Creek.  The home is bigger and the yard is like our own personal resort, so shelter-in-place has been tolerable since it's enjoyable being at the new home.  It's also been the worst because of pandemic and fear.  

Anyway, Blake got baptized on 7/5/2020 in our backyard pool.  It was a unique ceremony since usually they're done at the stake center.  

The backyard was definitely the selling point of this home.  I was against a pool because of all the maintenance, and it has been a lot of maintain, but it keeps the kids busy for hours at a time.  With the completion of the solar heating project, we can get it up to 86 degrees in the afternoon.  

Sometimes Heidi joins us in the pool 

Scott is almost as tall as I am.  

We got these tow tubes as part of a package deal and they were a great investment since the "king of the hill" game has lots of variations.  Here, Scott gets ready to jump on and rapidly displace Tyler, who is about to climb on.  

Blake has really been into maintaining the garden with me.  Larry gave us several varieties of tomatoes and this is the first time they've really worked.  They're growing like gangbusters back there and we can usually harvest 1-2 per day.  It helps that the automatic sprinkler system works reliably.  We cut these up and made some pico de gallo salsa for din din tonight.  

Parker and Hanna make a French Toast casserole for breakfast.  

We have really enjoyed living in Walnut Creek.  I like the big, mature trees that cast shade and that it's 10 degrees cooler.  I don't mind commuting to Brentwood to see patients since I take the VFR up the Marsh Creek road and have "me" time at lunch.  I like being closer to the Walnut Creek office.  

Yay for Walnut Creek!  

Living the dream

We finally got the fire pit that Heidi wanted and lit it up last night.  This is living.  It's like coming home from work to a vacation home, except that it's our home.  It's nice.   

A great thing about Walnut Creek is that it cools off at night. 

Hanna is growing right up but still doesn't talk much.  She can say a few words but can't put together a sentence.  She can get what she wants by pointing and screaming. 

Mister roasting marshmallows on the fire

Scott's about as tall as I am.  He won "best hair" at Adams Middle School and was excited about that. 

 Blake makes a s'more

Hanna likes having her picture taken. 

It's nice having a home that Heidi says is her "forever" home.  I wouldn't mind living here forever but I bet we downsize when we're old.  Even still, now I can get a mantle clock.  I want one with a mechanical movement.  Before, my budget was $30 and you can't get much for that.   Now my budget is higher but I want to wait for the right one. 

Okay, bye. 

Homeschooling The Family

My biggest struggle with homeschooling is dealing with Parker and Hanna while I homeschool.  They have little or no interest in doing school and want me to entertain them by jumping on the trampoline, going on a bike ride, etc.  I am sure it is my doing.

Now that Danny is home, we can get so much done because they are also entertained.  It is amazing how much you can get done when you don't have a 2 and 5 year old being really needy.

I found some amazing curriculum and am excited to finish up this school year with the kids.  I am in awe of how many amazing curriculums there are in the world.  We started a human body unit today that I am excited about. We did an ELA lesson that all the kids learned from.  We are reading story of the world which I love.  They do math independently.  We start our day with listening to a conference talk and journaling. Love it!  Grateful for this time to learn and grow with the kids.  For us to learn to work together (which we need a lot of help with).  My kids love to pester each other.  If that is what we gain the most out of this, that will be the greatest success.  How to be supportive, helpful and kind to each other. How to help each other.  They are all great helpers to others at school.  If only that translated to home but I am hopeful in time it will.

It was so nice that it was sunny today. We sat outside and reviewed all about prepositions and commas with prepositions and prepositional phrases.  It was so nice being on the trampoline in the sun to learn.

Grateful for this time!