on the road

I drive on average 40 miles a day just taking the kids to and from school. Those miles don't include Activities days, mutual, and relief society. We get to leave the house by 7:20 in the morning. Some mornings run smoothly, others can include some yelling. This drive we take to school are all back roads, and some of the most beautiful views you will ever see. Now I'm not saying I will miss this drive when we move into our house, because I wont, but I am taking advantage of the wonderful spring rains, and how it is transforming the mountains and fields to green. I also love spending time in the car with my kids. We fight over music sometimes, but I get to hear how their day was without interruptions. These next few pictures are on the drive to school.

This is a ward building my parents attend. It is surrounded by pear trees. There are not many pear orchards left, they seem to have been cut down to make room for subdivisions, and vineyards.

This wonderful woman puts me to shame. She is out walking/running almost every day. she always waves to the cars as they pass. She will sometimes have a neon pink sweatsuit on. Love it! After seeing her, I have no excuses.
This is Hanley farm.
this is a farm across from the temple. I have always loved the trees, and daydreamed about living in the house on that property.
and of course the Temple. Once when we passed the temple Jacob asked, "Hey, whats that guy doing up there?" Now it's his running joke to always ask that question.
If I have to drive everyday, I'm glad it's a pretty one.

Cheeks

I don't even know where to begin. I love this little baby soooo much. Every child you have brings out such different levels of the same emotions, I don't know how to explain it. Different phases of my life, maturity, stability. This little baby has brought me such joy. I hate that she is growing up so fast. Part of me wants her to be independent, and part of me wants her to stay small. That may be because I know she is my last, but she is so much fun to be around.

What a difference two kids can be. Jacob was never happy. Bree is always smiling at you. Just today when I was putting her to bed, I layed her down and she had the biggest, goofiest, toothless grin she could muster. I wanted to get her back out of bed and play with her, but Project Runway was coming on, so baby had to go down. She melts my heart. I just want to kiss her cheeks off.

Bree is such a great eater. She latched on and nursed the first time I tried it in the hospital, and have never had any problems since then. I try to wait to feed her solids till they can sit on their own, but she had other plans. She loves eating. Don't even try to eat around her if you don't have something for her too. She loves squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears, applesauce and bananas. She loves to have Ritz crackers too. No bottles yet.

At 7 months she can mimic sounds; ba, ma, da. and she makes this weird squeaking noise in the car. Too funny. She loves peek-a-boo, and to be tickled. She loves her big brother and lights up when he comes in the room, and he is such a great helper. Jacob calls her "his girl". Of course Taryn and Lauren love her to, but the novelty has worn off. I really hope she is a happy child. And she will always know how much joy she brings all of us.

Table Rock

So I meant to post this a few weeks ago, but time flies! When Tom was home one weekend, we took advantage of the kids not going to school on Monday and hiked Table Rock. Whose ever idea it was needed to be shot. Oh yea, it was mine.

Since having the baby and not being active all that much in the last year, this was quite an effort. I think they could have hiked it twice as fast without me. But you can't get rid of mom that easy. I remember the last two times I did this hike, and it was not that bad. Of course I was in 4th grade, on a field trip, and the last time I was an in shape 22 year old. This trip was the kick in the butt I needed. Here are some pictures of that day.

I started off holding Bree in the front pack, but quickly turned her over to her dad. She fell asleep on the way down.
Jacob hording the chips.
Jesse throwing rocks....it's a guy thing.
The famdamily, overlooking the Rogue valley.
The kids and uncle Jesse.
More kids eating.
Tom was really nervous letting Jacob get too close, and Jacob had to do what the other kids were doing, so Tom took him as far as he dared to the edge.


While hiking, and me bringing up the rear, Jacob would run to the front of the line where Jesse, Taryn, and Lauren were, then run back down to me. I think he had double the walking just from that than anyone else did. He was worn out and slept like a rock that night.

Fun Filled Days

I think this has to be one of my favorite pictures. Jacob loves his uncle
Jesse so much. Sometime I wonder if the feelings are mutual. All afternoon I hear: "Jesse where are you going?" "Jesse, can I come too?" "Jesse will you make me some hot coco?" "Jesse will you take me outside?" For the most part Jesse is very patient and willing to do what Jacob wants. What a great Uncle!

Any day that my dad is not at work, the kids always ask if they can go horse back riding. We call the cousins, if they are not already here and they come over to "ride". They have yet to go at it alone. There is a little more practice needed. But if you ask the girls, they already know what they are doing, and listing to them, you would think they are experts, and Grandpa is just cramping their style!
The good part about moving back is they get to spend so much time with their cousins. All four girls are super close.
Lauren is the most excited about the horses. She would live outside with them if she could. They are so much bigger than her that she is not aloud in the pasture alone.
And this is Taryn, being Taryn! Shes not a showoff at all. (sarcasm)

The tire swing

I love this picture of Taryn. After we moved back to Oregon, Taryn asked if we could have a tire swing. She has always wanted one, and since we had a lack of trees in our home in Livermore, and our trees are not the hundred year old oak trees at our house, the next best place is at Grandpa house. A couple of Saturdays ago, Jesse, Taryn and my dad went out to find a tire, some rope, and the perfect tree.

This tree was it, the only problem....it was also near the pet cemetery. Didn't bother me, none of my pets are buried there, but my brother has a thing or to to say about it. He won't even go over there to push the kids (I think it's his way of getting out of doing it). Of course he is the one with 3 dogs over there. Let us pay our respect to our dogs and cats:

The most resent, Daisy the black lab.

Simon, the beloved cat.

Teddy, a cat that drooled when she was petted.

Sidney, our huge, six toes cat.

Annie 1, dog, hit by a car.

Annie 2, don't know what happened, or why you name a dog the same name as before.

Jenny, a Sheltie that, well I was never a dog lover.

I'm sure there were other animals, but I can't think of them right now. But I want my brother Aaron to know, that the swing is well loved, just like all the animals, and we all need to share. And lets not forget that it keeps the kids outside, and happy, therefore, I'm happy.

And yes, that is an outhouse in the background, original with the house. Never used by us, at least I hope not.

Laurens 10!!!

So since we are staying at my parents house, I don't have my own computer and so there will be no new pictures for a while. That's OK since I lost my camera for a few weeks but found it yesterday, after Lauren Party.

Lauren turned 10 on Monday. She had a sleep over with some cousins on Friday. She wanted Chinese food for dinner, no pizza. She decorated her own cake, with horses. From her parents, she got a lava lamp, jewelry, a shirt, lip gloss, a video camera, and drum roll, and dog. For now just a stuffed animal dog that she will trade in for a real dog when we move. Lauren is so excited! From her grandparents, money. Lauren is a saver, and now has enough saved to open a savings account. From her cousins she got hair clips (that are so cute I will use them for Bree too), a DS game, Carrie Underwood CD, and from her sister, money, and some candy. That took a lot of Taryn to give her candy away.

Jacob had a hard time watching lauren open presents,he not get any. Too close to Christmas, and remembering how much fun he had this year. He told Lauren that when it's his birthday she won't get any presents, and she will be crying. Probably not, but we can let him think that.

moved

So we did it. We have moved. I have had very mixed feelings about it. Love my family, and my friends here, but I felt like I had my own life in California. I still feel like I am on vacation when I am here, and I can't wait till we get into a routine again. Can't wait till we get into our house again. Come on construction! It should be fun. The good things about moving back home is that we are near to family. We can be here for each and every birthday, graduation, missionary farewell and homecoming, and weddings. Our families are getting older, an may need our help in the future, and Jacob just needs to "go fishing with Grandpa" his words.

Since we have been home, it's been busy. Just the packing, loading the truck, unloading, and unpacking is busy enough, then you add Christmases at both sides of the family, missionary coming home and daughters that want to shop and a 4 month old baby that wants to eat, I'm exhausted. I even went to bed at 9:30 New Years Eve. Party pooper, that's me. I felt like I have barley seen my girls, they are always with cousins. I guess I won't complain about that.

To top it off Our ward meets to 1:00. All the rest of our family go at 9:00.

Well I will say how much I miss all my friends in Livermore. We will be back for a visit soon.