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.

The last on Jacob!

So, I know I write a lot about Jacob, but he is at an age where he does and says the most silly things!
-The other day I asked him if he had poopy pants, and he said, "no, do you".
He also gets very relaxed whenever he gets his diaper changes, he put his arms behind his head for a pillow.
-He was mad at me yesterday because he wanted to sit in the front seat, I told him no, that you have to be bigger, like Taryn to sit there, and he still needed to sit in his car seat. He was really quite as we were driving, and I thought he was asleep, but he was crying, and said "I am bigger, I eat all my lunch like a big boy, you said I was a big boy." What can you say to that?
-The day before Thanksgiving, his Grandma picked him up to take him to her house, on the way there, she needed to stop at Wal-mart, and Grandma said she would get him a new truck, and they were discussing what kind he wanted. Right before they got to Wal-mart, Grandma said, lets get you some big boy pant too, Jacob replied "I don't want to go to Wal-mart anymore".



Jacob loves his Grandma, she gives him just about anything he wants, chips for lunch, chocolate donuts for breakfast, and he get fed when he gets "tired". I guess that's what Grandmas are for!!

Overheard

So, the other night I had Tom put Jacob to bed, and as Tom was laying in bed with him, This is what I heard:
Jacob: Dad I feel bad for you.
Tom: Why son?
Jacob: Because you don't have any hair.
Tom: Well, what do we need to do about it?
Jacob: We need to go to the library.
Tom: Why the library?
Jacob: Because they can fix it. We have to ask the girls where the hair movie is.
Tom: OK, we will go tomorrow.
Jacob: Yea, I don't want you to get cold.

Different!

So, this weekend I have been thinking a lot about how different your kids can be. Taryn and Lauren are 18 months apart. They are best friends, yet, worst enemies. One daughter is a little like me, yet the other is nothing like I was at her age. One likes to wear fake fingernails, and earrings, and necklaces, while the other one doesn't care.
Lauren shot her first buck this weekend. I was excited for her, yet I don't know what to think. I didn't grow up in a hunters house, and never ate game meat. I never got used to it, so we will have a lot of beef jerky. She got the hunter gene from Tom. She also loves to play sports, but also like me, it doesn't come naturally for her, and she must work harder. Hopefully she will put a little meat on her bones soon. She is very competitive like both Tom and I, and that is why she likes sports.



Taryn on the other hand likes anything that sparkles. While Lauren was on her hunting trip, Taryn had the great opportunely to stay home with me. Friday there was no school, so we went to the mall and did what she wanted. I felt like a husband holding his wife's purse while she tried things on in the dressing room. We spent about 45 minutes at Clair's, where she bought some fake nails. We spent some time at both Hollister and A&F. And of course Justice. I had to drag her out. She is growing up too fast.

I was a tom boy all the way when I was a kid. My dad was worried that I was not feminine enough, and sent me to a modeling school, thinking some of the girly stuff would rub off. I went once. My dad also famously said when I was around 16-17 years old "if I didn't learn to cook, I would never find a man to marry me". Well after he said that I went out of my way to never learn to cook, just to prove him wrong. You could say that was my teenage rebellion. Poor Tom paid the price. For a full year we only ate "shake-n-bake" chicken. I have learned to cook other things since then, don't worry.

Now I didn't mind wearing church clothes, as long as they were off by 12:15. I even wore skirts on game days, or for speech and debate tournaments, but most of the time, I was in jeans and t-shirts. Not much has changed. ( I know you are jealous of the black/green leggings in this picture)

I think Taryn is a lot like my mom, in the way that she always dressed nice, and had makeup on and the right jewlery. Me not so much! With a dash of Toms humor.

Lauren is a little mix of Tom, and a little of me.

I just find it amazing that even when you treat kids the same, how different they are.