Random photos and thoughts...

Meet Alexandra and Shane. Alex is on the left in Shane's suite and Shane is on the right in Alex's Princess dress. These two are so connected they sometimes forget who they are.

 While Daddy is away, the kids shall play... during dinner. Kevin went to Park City for a week for work and to see his family (mostly his beautiful new niece, Charly). We missed him terribly, especially Shane. He was grumpy for most of the week.

 We went to visit my parents in Pismo and the kids and I went on a nature walk. This is where we rested.

 Crazy Hair day and Shane managed a mohawk. The funny thing is that he looked cuter than ever. This kid can't look bad... ever.

Fun times with Mo Mo and Grandpa on the Central Coast.

The long awaitied visit from Mo Mo and Grandpa finally came, and went. The kids were so excited for them to be here. The boys were even excited to give up their room to stay in Alexandra's room, kind of like old times at Glenwild. While the kids were in school the adults had a nice peaceful and quiet morning doing various things such as going for drives, working, and catching up on one another's lives. When the kids were home, we spent our time at swim lessons, beaches, farmers markets and various activities around town. These photos are taken in San Simeon (Hearst Castle) and Montana De Oro State park. Grandpa enjoyed collecting rocks for the kids to name and cherish forever more. Alex waslucky enough to get a mani/ pedi from Mo Mo, and all four adults enjoyed a reflexology massage in town. We ALMOST have the grandparents sold on SLO. The fact that it is in the boonies and none of their other kids are here is what is keeping them from us :>) Grandpa has finally given up on SLO's bus station being the only attraction in town.

I am reading a book right now entitled "Mothering with Spiritual Power". I wish I had the testimony of the Book of Mormon like she does. She talked about the time when Jesus gathered all the children together and then blessed each one of them individually. I hadn't thought about it much beyond that it was such an example of how the Savior loves children. What I didn't grasp was the significance of the "each child individually" part. What the author gathered from these scriptures was that we as parents need to gather our own children individually, and spend time with them individually. I've always known this but I felt so strongly about it after reading this particular chapter. So, now at night I take roughly 5-10 minutes with each of my children in their beds before they go to sleep. They LOVE this time. They are more motivated to get ready for bed so that they can have their time with me. Most of the time I need to cut them off. They would probably talk my ear off for an hour. It won't be long until they won't want to talk to me like this, so I am savoring these precious moments. 

My mountain babies are turning into beach kids. They love the water, especially Jesse. We will go to the beach when it is 65 degrees out and water temps in the 50's. Before I can even blink, he is diving into the waves. Alex isn't too far behind. Shane mostly wants to look for sea creatures and shells.

I can't help it. I have to talk about this child. I love this photo because the sun is shining down on him and it represents who Jesse is to me. He is full of light and life. I wish I could take credit for this boy but he came to this earth pre-wired. Nothing has or ever will keep this kid down. I know this because he was knocked down pretty hard when his brother and sister were born. I tried to force him to grow up when he was barely two years old. It was a tough time for the whole family that first year after the twins were born. As hard as is was on me and Kevin I think Jesse suffered the most. But I don't want to make this a sad post. This is about Jesse and what an amazing human being he is. Jesse keeps journals. He goes through a journal in about a week. He keeps his inventions in there, his poetry, his spells, his stories. I am already asking him how to spell words when I can't remember... and 9 times out of 10 he knows the proper spelling. At this point in time he wants to be an engineer and he wants to be an author as a hobby.
 He spends a lot of time inventing things. I find the garbage I recycle in his room under his bed made into all different types of gadgets. Jesse decided that he wanted to make some money so he made Christmas ornaments out of paper with various prices on the back. This kid has such a creative mind but not only that he is artistic and talented so those ornaments are actually beautiful works of art. He even made a box out of craft paper to hold the ornaments in.
Sometimes it feels like my heart is going to beat out of my chest when I realize how much he loves me. He cares so much about my feelings and if I am not feeling happy. He will do whatever he can to cheer me up. He writes me notes and letters and rubs my back. As a baby he wasn't much of a snuggler. He was too busy discovering the world. He has become so affectionate and in need of love and affection from his mom and dad. When he has a desire to do something it comes quite easy for him. He is a lot like his dad in this way.
 Right now he is really into handball. He is has become very good at handball in a very short period of time. He swims three times a week and is becoming very strong. He swims like a boxer in a boxing ring. He kind of agressively punches the water with his arms. I think I can probably write a book about this kid. I am proud to be his mother. I am humbled by the gift he is to this family. My prayer for him is that he will reach his full potential. If he does, he will prove to be an extraordinary human being.

Turkey Enchiladas and Artichokes Anyone?

Kevin said these were the best enchiladas he has ever had and the funny thing is that I grabbed what I had around the kitchen and put it together- thank you Trader Joe's and San Luis Obispo farmers market. Oh, and when he eats artichoke hearts he makes funny noises. There aren't many foods that he makes a big deal of, but this funny green vegetable is one of them. Here is the recipe in case you are interested:

One Turkey breast, cubed ( you could use chicken or whatever you have)
One can of refried pinto beans
1/2 bag to full bag of frozen corn, depending on your preference
One packet of healthy dry ranch mix (just check ingredients for chemicals and junk... I use the stuff from whole foods called "Braswells Ranch Dressing Mix)"
Corn Tortillas
1/2 cup to 1 cup shredded cheese ( I used a mexican mix from TJ's
Fresh Cilantro
Fresh chopped tomatoes
Sour Cream
1/2 Jar Corn and Chile Tomato- Less salsa from Trader Joes

Mix the refried beans, corn, half the cheese, and ranch mix into the turkey. Soften the corn tortillas by steaming them with a tiny bit of water in a skillet so they get soft. Put desired amount of turkey mix in the middle of the tortilla and roll it up. Put rolled up tortillas in a 9x11 baking dish. They should be tight against one another. Sprinkle remaining shredded cheese on top of rolled up tortillas. Lastly spoon the corn salsa over the cheese and spread out a little. Put in the over at 350 degrees until the cheese is bubbly and the tortillas look slightly browned. Top with tomatoes, sour cream, and cilantro right before serving.

Our fun Family Home Evening

If you haven't joined Pinterest, you are missing out. I love it and I get some great ideas for FHE. This one was on the people of Ammon, the Anti Nephi Lehis. When they were converted to Christ, they wanted to Show God how committed they were and how much they were changed. They made a promise to God that they would burry their swords forever and never fight again even if they were being attacked. We talked about our own weapons and how we use them to cause war in our family and home. Of course we all use different weapons to break the peace and I asked the kids if they would be willing to burry their swords (that they made) in the ground forever. They agreed. It was a good lesson. I hope it lasts!

My little swiimmers

The kids joined a swim team. They go three times a week and they love it. They get to swim in a olympic heated outdoor pool that is not treated with chlorine. They mostly joined so that they can win metals. We will se about that...but they will be able to compete at swim meets.

Jesse on Harry Potter

Ok, enough is enough. This kids in on imagination overload. If you notice the bottom picture of Jesse, he only has about 50 pages left so he made sure that he had the next book close by so that he could continue he Harry Potter high. Well, we had to put a stop to the madness. Jesse became so engrossed in these books that he stopped hearing us. I would call Jesse's name 4,5, 6 10 times and he literally would not hear me. And, this isn't even when he was reading. We told him that until he starts hearing us again Harry Potter would stay on the shelf.

Our new life in San Luis Obispo

Here we are, on the central coast of California... How did we get here you ask? I don't have enough blog space to really fill you in the details. So, I will give you the cliff notes. We got in our camper van last June without knowing for sure where we were going. San Diego was at the top of our list, but we were open to whatever looked appealing to us. The plan was to go to L.A so that Kevin could get some work done and I would spend that time in Pismo Beach at my parents place with the kids. Well, the days turned into weeks on the central coast. I knew I didn't want to live in Pismo, the fog would eventually do me in and it just didn't feel right. Arroyo Grande, the city just south of Pismo was a bit more appealing because you could go inland a bit and get more sun. We found a great pride of ownership property out in Arroyo Grande and we actually put an offer on it. It was a small outdated house on an acre. The property was fantastic. Fruit trees, dirt, grass, chicken coups... just fantastic for the kids. To top it off, the house was a mile from a highly rated elementary school. It was country living at its best. Turns out that the owner had been there for over thirty years. He basically got cold feet (or didn't like our offer) and took the house off the market. The other elementary school I thought would be fantastic for the kids was in San Luis Obispo. This is the home of Cal Poly. The town is great. It is beautiful and the climate is just about perfect. The growing season is, well, the whole year. So we started looking for a rental near the Bishop's Peak Elementary School and we just happened to find one. It takes us five minutes to walk to church, 15 minutes to ride our bikes to school and 10 minutes to ride our bikes into the cutest, most quaint town. We drive SO much less now. The kids are either scootering or bike riding or swimming. Of course nothing is perfect and there are some downsides to where we are but the positives far outweigh the negatives. Here is a picture of the kids riding their bikes to school.

Let them eat cake

I bought some organic strawberries at the farmers market on Saturday and frankly, they weren't very sweet. So, I thought of a way to make them sweet. How about a strawberry cake? This was WAY better than I thought it was going to be. There wasn't any frosting but it needed none at all. We put a little whipped cream on top and the Charles family was in strawberry heaven. The recipe is Martha Stewert. I highly recommend it. Shane and Alex helped a great deal in cutting all the strawberries and pushing them into the cake batter.

San Luis Obispo... The Garden of "Eatin"

Our house is about a 1/4 the size of our home in Park City. It is old and it needs some TLC. This may be a good thing. I am kind of a clean freak and when you have a house that never quite looks clean, well, you let things slide a bit. Yes, this is good for me. There are a few features of our little rental that makes up for what it lacks. The backyard is wonderful. We have seven, yes seven fruit trees. We have fig, pear, apple, peach, lemon, lime, and orange. Oh, and tangerine... that makes eight. I also get to go to the most amazing and glorious farmers markets almost any day of the week.

We went to the San Luis Obispo Drive In Movie Theatre. I cooked dinner in the camper van and we watched BRAVE. The kids LOVED watching the movie in the pop top tent through the window screen. They wanted to stay for Spiderman but it didn't start until 10pm... just a little late for our munchkins!

This is the Avila Barn. The kids love this place. You can feed the animals, pick your own fruit and go on hay rides. We picked our own blackberries