Wadman's Bean Jar...

What happened to 2010?!?

2011-01-02T16:17:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's 2011!! Life is so crazy! We had a super-wonderful 2010. As much as I would totally LOVE to catch up and blog about the whole year, it's a fantabulous idea, but not realistic in my world. I do hope to keep up this year. (I even updated the pictures to our latest and greatest, that we took for our Christmas cards.) Wadman 2010-in bullet points:

*Took our annual ski trip in February and we AMAZED at how well the kids are doing!

*Brian and Jaimee ran their 4th Half Marathon

*J played his second season of baseball on the Angels. Loved it.

*B finished up her year of dance and although she loved it, decided it was not her "thing".

*Both B and J had an amazing year of school with WONDERFUL teachers.

*S and Jaimee made it through 3 year old Preschool unscathed :)

*We played hard over the summer. Lots of swimming. Friends. Did I mention swimming?

*Went to Utah for the Heaps/Tolman Family Reunion. It was so nice to see everyone!

*Started another year of school. Excited for a year of hard work and great accomplishments!

*J played a season of flag football and has decided that FOOTBALL is the best thing EVER!

*B started playing the clarinet in the school band and loves it!

*S and Jaimee began the 4 year old class of preschool. Totally excited. (just in case your wondering, Jaimee is an assistant/teacher at Sophie's preschool- a really GREAT preschool!!)

*Found out S had 8 cavities!!!!!$$$$!!!!

*We went to Disneyland for 4 days in October and had an incredible amount of fun. SO.MUCH. FUN.

*B got her braces off. She's sooooo happy.

*Brian and Jaimee got to go back to Utah in December for Kaitlin's wedding. It was a quick trip but a really great trip.

That sums up our 2010. Hope your year was amazing. Can't wait to blog about 2011!

Dancing Queen...

2010-01-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

B had her Christmas Dance Performance on Saturday December 19th. She had decided a few weeks before the recital that she was going to stop taking dance after the performance was over. She had so much fun during the performance that she decided it was worth all the work and is continuing on (much to my absolute delight!!). Due to other people having their cameras and taking great photos, we have a few to share. Both Brian and I and the kids came to the 3p performance along with Grandma and Grandpa and Mike and Amy. Mike totally embarrassed B at the beginning of one of her dances and yelled her name really, really loud. We did bring our camera to that performance, but only shot video. Our camera does not take good pictures in the dark. I am kicking myself for not getting a group photo of all who came to support B. She felt the love, that's what is most important!

Here we are with Julianne and L after the evening performance.
This is my favorite dance that they did to "Feliz Navidad". It was so cute!

They had a great time dancing and singing. I think that is what we love most about this particular dance studio. They do singing AND dancing and incorporate it all for the performance. We can't wait til June!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

2010-01-05T16:35:00.001-08:00

Every year, day after Thanksgiving you can find our family up in the mountains searching for that perfect Christmas tree. Its a fun thing we've made into a family tradition.
The kids look forward to it. A lot.

For the past 4 years, (I think?), we've been going with Brad and Julianne and their family. I actually remembered my camera (I know- miracles STILL happen!). Here's a few pictures we captured on our tree cutting adventure:

We've narrowed it down to a science...or maybe have just ran out of patience in our old age! Here's our plan of attack:If we don't find "the one" in the first 30 minutes, we settle for whatever looks some-what decent! Fortunately, this year we lucked out, and found a great one in a short period of time. It was about 30 feet tall, but we only have 9 feet of space in our house. You do the math!!!

Here's Julianne with her little one, aka Bruiser! (I say that with complete love and adoration for the little guy!)

This picture is TOTALLY out of order. But, oh well! On the way home, we ran into this crazy hail storm driving through Citrus Heights. So, we thought we'd document it. It looked like it had just snowed!

J hanging out with his cousins. Not doing too much of the looking...

B and L - they are sooo cute together. Good buddies from the start!

Here is Julianne with the kids. Brad and Brian are off cutting trees down. In fact, our tree fell on that exact spot about 3 minutes after we took the picture. Phew! It was a close one!

We love our little Christmas adventure into the mountains. It starts the season out just perfectly! Thanks to Brad and Julianne for enduring with us in our craziness. I personally LOVE a fresh cut tree in the house. So beautiful. Its beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!

Good family. Good food. Good times.

2010-01-05T14:30:00.001-08:00

Now that we survived the holiday craziness (but very good-ness), I feel like I can finish blogging 2009!
So, here we are at Thanksgiving. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner with the Wadman side of the family. It was our first attempt at cooking the bird. And, I can officially say I feel like a grown up now. Cooking a turkey will do that to you, you know...

Here I am in all of my glory- early in the A.M. Thanksgiving morning. Just me, Brian and the bird. All went well. Thanks to Brian for taking such wonderful pictures!

B had fun helping me set the tables and do some minor decorating. We had about 20 people over in our little family room/kitchen area. Who says you can't feed the masses in small spaces. This is how we fit everyone in! It was cozy, but very nice.

In our family, every November we do a "Gratitude" tree. Each week during family night, we add things we are grateful for to our tree by writing on paper leaves. It was really great to sit as a family and have discussions about what we are so blessed with in life. I write out exactly what each person says and put their names on the leaves so that we can each see what everyone is grateful for. We are so blessed in our life. We have so many things we are grateful for. But here are a few we were especially grateful for this year.

This is what half of our dessert table looked like. We were still missing about 5 more pies. Amazing, I know. I always over plan for dessert. We had enough food to feed at least 50 people!

You can't tell with this pillow in front of her, but Amy has a baby growing in her tummy (as my kids would say). S was OBSESSED with little Garrett. She kept rubbing Amy's tummy and asking all sorts of questions about the baby growing in there. Well, as time is rapidly approaching for his arrival, we are all very anxious to meet baby Garrett!

Here we are grubbing on all of our yummy food. It was a great day to spend together. We all really enjoyed it. We even had a visit from the Manners Police, if you can believe that! (Thanks to Dave for that!)

We are so grateful for all of our family and friends who love and support us so much. It was so much fun to host Thanksgiving! Now that I feel like a grown up, we'll have to do it again...in a few years! It was a really great motivator to get my house cleaned up too. A win-win situation. Good family. Good food. Good times.

Goodness Gracious...

2010-01-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I totally forgot to blog about the braces. Yes. B has braces. She got them on in October. Crazy, huh? I loved this picture. So, here she is in all of her glory!!!

It was really rough for the first few months. But FINALLY I think her mouth has sufficiently adjusted, i.e. gotten over the foreign objects that have taken over. I swear with her appliance thing in there, she totally had to re-learn to even swallow. Although, it came close to driving us all mad, she has now taken to eating decently normal again (she hasn't quite jumped back into eating chewy meats...we'll give her a break for what she's dealing with!!).

A funny...

2009-12-10T22:47:00.001-08:00

I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the past week...for many reasons we won't go into.
Late this afternoon, as I was enjoying a freshly baked sugar cookie, I remembered I needed to move our dog, Sadie into the garage before it got too cold. With cookie in hand, I got my coat and grabbed a doggy biscuit out of the cupboard (we use it to bribe Sadie into listening to us) and headed out the back door. As I walked out the door, I instinctively took another bite of my cookie. But, to my surprise, it wasn't the cookie that I put in my mouth. Yeah. I ate the dog biscuit!! It was hard not to fall on the ground laughing as I spit it out on to the grass.

It was funny.

I've never been so distracted with life-stuff, that I've eaten my dog's treats before. I guess there's a first time for everything.

13.1 miles of the pain you crave...

2009-12-08T23:06:00.000-08:00

This is the group of us that did the Run the River Half Marathon on November 14th. Starting from the left- Brian and Robin Gibson, Julianne (my SIL) and me, and Becky and Terry Weaver. Notice the medals. We all wore them very proudly while we ate our victory lunch at In and Out Burger.

It was fun, but actually my most painful half marathon. I think I pushed myself way harder this time. It paid off. I was hoping just to cross the finish line, and we (Becky and I) actually ended up beating our old time by 4 minutes- YEAH!!

It was really great running and training with you guys. Can't wait for the next one. Hopefully I'll be able to walk normally by then. Seriously. Even after a 20 pound bag of ice in an ice bath, I was still in pain and it took a good week to feel human again. OUCH! But, its like the logo for the marathon my brother Todd ran in June- "26.2 miles of the pain that you crave". Crazy, but very true..

mine should read- 13.1 miles of the pain you crave.

totally WICKED...

2009-12-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

The first weekend in November, Brian and I went with the Webb's and the Weaver's to see a great musical! It was Terry's birthday so we went to San Fran for dinner then walked about 100 blocks from the restaurant to see WICKED. So fun! I have to say, its at the top with my favorites now...it was really good. Even Brian really liked it, and that's saying A LOT. It gives you a whole new perspective from the Wizard of Oz movie- that's for sure.

So Proud!

2009-12-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

We have a few things to "brag" about. J was chosen as Student of the Month in his class in September. Pretty awesome!! The teachers choose students who are excelling academically, getting along really well with classmates, also who don't have any behavior issues. J is a really super kid and he was so surprised to be student of the month. They don't find out until they get called up during the assembly. Lucky for us, his teacher emailed a few days in advance to give us the heads up. I personally enjoy his old man smile...

On October 30th, during an all-school assembly, B and 2 friends sang a song in front of everyone! What I love about this is not that she sang and sounded great (she did, I am biased), but that her and two of her friends thought up the idea and asked their teacher (they are all in the same class), and the principal. They basically made all of the arrangements and practiced every day to make sure they sounded good. I'm afraid every teacher at the school heard them sing in a private concert at least twice! Just so you know, they were dressing up for Halloween/Sports Day at school. So, that is why they look the way they do... (B is the one in the middle).

I do have a video, but I'm having trouble uploading it (its a really big file). So...I guess you'll have to come over to my house if you want to see the video because I've lost my patience with trying to upload it!

Happy Halloween!

2009-12-02T10:17:00.001-08:00

Ok. One day I will get used to blogger. But until then, you'll have to handle my un-organized posts. I typed up some stuff and then added the pictures...so, here are the pictures, you'll have to scroll down to get the info on them...sorry!

S at her preschool party

S is dressed up as Pumpkin Spice (I don't know, that's just what the package said...)

Here is Mulan...

and a very scary skeleton...Yikes!

What a bunch of cuties!

We love Halloween! It was a great weekend. We got to celebrate at school parties, and a party at church, and then trick-or-treating. I have picture of Sophie at preschool, and then a few of the kids before our ward Halloween party at church. I don't have any of trick-or-treating because...well, I don't! We went with the big Wilhelm clan. It was really fun to be with friends we've known forever, and we just feel like part of the family (it does help that my sister really IS part of the family!) We ended our Halloween night by stopping off at the Weaver's house for a post trick-or-treating gathering of food and friends. We got there early and left before most others came. Our kids were so tired and ready for bed by 9pm! Can you imagine?

Apple Hill and Pumpkin Patch

2009-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

In October, we went to Apple Hill with Heaps family that were in town for Ben's wedding. It was a great place to go and spend time together. My picture taking skills are lacking, and I realized I did not get pictures of everyone there- LAME! But, here are some of my family with a few cousins.

Wilhelm family, our family and one Olson...

S petting a pony

B riding a pony with cousins

J on his pony

S and A, one of her favorite cousins...

B and L

We took this picture with a few of us while we were waiting for others to arrive. We always have fun at Apple Hill and we go every year. We were excited to go up there this year with more family. Can't help eating all the yummy apple treats they create up there. I think that is why I like to go!

S and I went on a preschool field trip to a pumpkin patch that same week. It was fun to go with Jody too! Here are a few pictures:

Here's Jody and I on the hay ride...S is in the black and white striped sweater on the side...

S and E picking their pumpkins to take home.

I think Fall is my favorite season. I love the weather changing, I love the colors of the leaves. I love the smell of fires and cider and pumpkins...I could go on and on! It helps me get ready for my favorite time of year...CHRISTMAS TIME!!! Hopefully soon, I finish catching up on my posts so that I can actually blog about Christmas on time!

A Heaps Wedding...

2009-11-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

On October 17th, my not so little brother, Benny Boy (as he is affectionately known in our family) got married! He scored in the spouse department (so did she, Ben is a super guy!!). Shannon is amazing. She has passed the test of the Heaps family. Its a rigorous test, I tell you. Not many pass. I'm kidding. There's no test. But she fits into our family like a hand fits a glove. 3 points that I make:

The first time she met a large group of our Heaps family together (it wasn't all of us) she did not freak out at the sheer number of people around. Lets face it. That ca be scary for anyone! In fact, she jumped right in the mix- helped cook, talk, played with the kids, etc.

Second, her middle name is Leone. Not very common, right? Well, my mom's name is Cleone! Can't you see the coincidence?! Or is it...

Finally, she can handle Ben (and I say this with all the love in my heart) and all of his stinkiness. She's amazing!

Shannon has many other amazing things about her. I could go on and on. Just know that we love her and we are so happy for both of them! Here are a few pictures from the big day (in no particular order. Thanks blogger!):

I love this picture. Shannon's face says it all. Ben just got slammed with cake!

Myself, Ben and Jody- AKA (in the Heaps family) as the "three little kids" not to be confused with the "three little pigs"!!

Some Heaps cousins bustin' a move...

What little cuties!

Ben and Shannon with Ben's siblings (2 are missing. Marilee is serving a mission for our church in Puerto Rico, and Kelly was dog sick, along with her whole family, and had to stay in Utah).

I wish I had pictures of Shannon's family. They are really great too! It was fun to meet them and hear stories about Shannon growing up. She comes from great roots. It was a beautiful wedding. I'm so glad I got to be there and support them.

Kindness begins with me

2009-11-16T22:40:00.000-08:00

I just have to say that I'm surrounded by amazing people! I cannot begin to express to you how grateful I am for the amazing people in my life and what I've been able to learn from them.

I've always wanted to be that person who sees someone in need and just KNOWS exactly what to do to help out. I feel like the lame one who stands on the sideline watching someone struggle, wishing I could do something, but not knowing what that is. And in all of my lame-ness, I end up watching other people help out and serve (which is great to see, I learn a lot by watching others!!) I've just always wanted to feel like I could help someone in need and know that I'm doing some good.

I've learned a few things over the past year about kindness and showing love for others ( I've learned this in all of my spectating that I seem to do...).

First, never suppress a generous thought. If you think, "I should really do.... for (so and so). " Do it. What harm could come from doing a kind deed?

Second- you don't always have to ask "What can I do to help?" Most of the time, you will get an answer like "Oh, I'm fine. I don't need anything." Just do SOMETHING. If you feel like someone could use a hand up or just a helping hand, do something.

Third- when someone does ask for help- DO IT (if you possibly can!). Obviously, within reason. Why say no if you can possibly say yes? My husband would battle me on this because I do have a hard time saying no when asked to help, to the point of getting overwhelmed at times. I feel like there's got to be a balance...still working on that one.

Thank you so much to all of my friends and family for helping me learn! I could go on and on for hours about people who have been amazing examples of service to me. But I won't. I will tell you of two recent events in my life when someone has touched my heart when I really needed it. September was a rough month in my life, for many different reasons. It was really really tough for some people that I love dearly. Anyway, I made a comment (on Facebook, of all places) that my heart was hurting. That was all. I received a knock at my door later that night to find a sweet friend standing there with a pan full of heart shaped rice crispy treats and a hug. She didn't push me for more information, she just said she loved me and handed me the pan. Made my heart feel a bit better, not so heavy and sad.

Kindness does that, you know. Even in the form of hugs and heart shaped rice crispy treats.

Last month, I (gasp!) got sick with a yucky cold/flu. Not just sick, but beat-down sick. (Side note: Moms should not be allowed to get sick!!) Anyway, my super-duper sweet sister in law called me up one day and told me she was bringing my family dinner. And sure enough, she showed up with home made chicken noodle soup and warm rolls for my family to eat so that they didn't have to suffer through another night of mac'n cheese and hot dogs. THEN she proceeded to write me a note about how loving and thoughtful I was! HA! It made my week. She took the time to think about me, and I can't begin to describe how she made me feel (underneath the sick- yuckiness!). I hope she knows how much I love and appreciate her!! (In all of my lame-ness, I'm afraid I fall short at expressing that!)

You know most everyone has been touched by countless others who are really just angels living here on earth. I love this quote from Elder Holland. He talks about angels that live right here on earth.. "some of them we walk with and talk with- here, now, everyday...Indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind."

My mom, who is one of those angels, would sing a song to my family growing up "Kindness begins with me." It runs over and over in my head more than I'd like sometimes! But hopefully it is something I can be, more often.

The end of an era...

2009-10-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

It finally happened. After 9 years, we don't have a crib up in our home! It was kind of bitter sweet to pack it up (I did say pack it up, not give it away!). Our little baby isn't a baby anymore and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that!

So, here is a picture of her sleeping for the first night in a big girl bed. She was soooo excited. She slept in the crib longer than any of my other kids, probably because I had to kick them out before the next baby needed it. But, we don't have a next baby (yet), so we packed up and here we are! Don't you just want to kiss her little cheeks??

Soccer season!

2009-10-26T22:43:00.001-07:00

Now that soccer season is almost over, I figured I better blog about it! J started soccer in August. This is his 3rd year playing. He has been having so much fun this year! He loves his team and loves his coach. He's not only the youngest on the team, but also the very smallest. But he puts his whole heart into the game. He has scored quite a few goals, and had a lot of assists. He prefers to play defense, but man, when he's on offense, he's all business!

I love this shot we got with him and his coach, Ken. This was his coach's first season in soccer and he loved these boys! They are a roudy, rough and tumble bunch, but he was always patient when he was working with them. About 3 weeks ago, Ken had an accident and severely injured his leg. I think he was in the hospital for a week and had quite a few surgeries. Anyway, another dad stepped up for the last few weeks of the season, but every practice and game the team would do a huddle/cheer and say "for coach!". Ken finally made it out to Saturday's game (although I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be there!) and the boys were soooo happy to see him. He couldn't run up and down the side line coaching, but he sure did a lot of encouraging from his chair.

Its been a great season and we've met a lot of great people this year. I hope J still wants to play next season and maybe we'll be on the same team as some of the boys from this year.

Family Vacation August 2009

2009-10-25T17:06:00.001-07:00

Wow! Time flies when you're having fun...or really busy! I can't believe its the end of October and I haven't blogged for 3 months! Well, I'm going to try to get a re-cap of 3 months in a few blog entries so bear with me!
The last weekend in July/August, we took one last family summer trip to San Diego. Brian grew up there and we have to go back every few years so that he can get his beach fix. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. We LOVE San Diego. We went with the Webb family and the Weaver family and had a really great time.
Here are some pictures to fill you in on what we did (sorry for the lack of editing, but I'm already 3 months behind...editing would make it way longer!).

We played at the beach AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! This was our typical beach set up (thanks Becky for letting me "steal" some pictures from your blog!)

I love this picture!

Becky and S just chillin'

Just having some fun in the sun...

Playing in the sand (building a Volcano!)

This is J's favorite thing to do when he's at the beach!

Cute girls!

So, the next few pictures you'll see some body surfing. To say that Brian loves body surfing would be an understatement. At the end of July, when Brian tore up his arm and had to get 6 stitches, the doctor told him ABSOLUTELY no going in the ocean. But that would be like telling Brian to stop breathing- not going to happen. He always finds a way...

Brian promised the older boys he would teach them how to body surf. It can be pretty rough, especially since Brian almost always prefers to surf shore break. Needless to say, the boys (and Brian) all got pretty tore up in these waves, but they had a BLAST doing it!

Here is a picture of half of the elevator we were ALL crammed into. Pretty amazing the thing could lift all of us!

We stayed at the Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. It was BEAUTIFUL! This was a picture of the lobby on our floor when you get out of the elevator. Lets just say this was the nicest hotel I've EVER stayed in or probably will ever stay in. An amazing friend hooked us up with a sweet deal. We were all so spoiled and we loved every minute of it!

The next few shots are just some of my favorites from the trip. I'm kind of crazy and I'm obsessed with pictures of feet. I wanted to get a picture of all of my family's feet in the sand (around our last name written in the sand..I know so creative- LOL!). Here's what I've got- one in color and one in black and white....which one do you like the best???

This one makes me laugh every time I see it. Yes, Terry did make the dent in my van, but not with his super-human strength!!!

My sweetie pie just having so much fun! This one is on the all time favorite list!

Just so that you know we did a few other things besides just play at the beach (although not too many!) here are a few pictures of us our first night in SD. Brian took us all out to the beach to shore fish. Although we didn't ever catch anything but seaweed, it was fun digging for the sand crabs! (There was supposed to be a picture here of the fishing action but I accidentally deleted it- AHHHHHH! So, just use your imagination...)

Say Cheese!!

Our little S LOVES her Grandma Weaver. What am I saying? We all LOVE Grandma Weaver!!! But S especially does and she took advantage of spending as much time as she could with her!

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and then walked through a beautiful botanical garden (which I have NO pictures of!)..after that we had a little bonfire/weenie roast on the beach.

Grandma got in some good reading time when S wasn't requiring her attention!

B did a lot of digging...

Dena and her son...

J loves to do/play anything that requires throwing or kicking something...including Frisbee!

The guys started a rousing game of pickle after regular old catch got old. It was fun to watch Justin and Brian really get into it!

Roasting some weenies...

As it got dark we drove over to the cove and walked out on the ledge at seal beach. Here's the crazy kids:

As sad as it is, all vacations must come to an end. So, Monday morning we packed up and headed out to Oceanside to play on the beach one last time. On our way out of town, we stopped for some authentic Hawaiian Shave Ice...oh, so nice!

Here's to great friends!

She's such a beauty, isn't she???

Now, that's a blue tongue...

Dena and I with our littlest ones, savoring every bite!

What a bunch of cuties!

How could we resist a shot like this? (thanks again Becky!!)

These two were sooo cute together. They played so much and had a great time everyday.

Obviously, the Hawaiians don't believe in the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" thing. NICE!
We had an amazing amount of fun and were all sad to leave San Diego. We are looking forward to many more family vacations to come!

July Fun- including TWO trips to the ER...

2009-07-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, you could say July has been the most eventful month of the summer! We've had some really great fun...and two trips to the ER. J was the reason for our first ER visit...

As you can see, his forehead and eye are severely swollen (Quasi-moto style!). While we were camping, he had something bite him on his eyelid (I vote for a spider..ew...). Luckily, it was the day we were heading home. He swelled up bigger and bigger all day. Finally as we drove in to town, I called the advice nurse. She consulted with an on call Dr and told us to stop at a drugstore for some benedryl and go straight to the ER. So, we did just that. What did the ER doctor say? I believe his exact words were "Why are you here?" Yeah. 10 minutes and $180 LATER, we were told that we didn't need to be there and that we were already doing everything we could for him. Thank you advice nurse!!! NOT A HAPPY ENDING to a very fun trip!

I signed all three kids up for swim lessons at the new community pool with Jody and her kids. They had a total blast. They had great teachers and got to play with cousins. Win-win situation. On the last day of class they got to ride the water slides. The day they waited for had FINALLY come!

Here's B coming down the slide for the first time!

Now its J's turn! I believe his response was "THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!!!"

S wouldn't go down her slide without the help of her teacher. But she had fun and did it again and again!

Here's B just chillin' (like a villain...)

My shark boy with his cousin just after riding the slides.

S really loved taking swim lessons (she's the one laughing in the picture). She got a lot more comfortable with the water. We are happy about that.

Our second trip to the emergency room just took place yesterday. Fortunately for you I do not have a picture to post because there was a serious amount of nastiness there.

Brian and I were trying to put together a little dog kennel outside so that our sweet Sadie will be able to reside outside when the weather is nice (I can't take the dog hair ANYMORE!!!)

Anyway, its metal fencing. Brian was trying to push two pieces together and it snagged (or actually gouged) his arm (no more details needed- just know it was way past all layers of skin-nasty!!!). 2 hours and 5 stitches later (along with a tetanus shot) he was a new man!

So, yes, we've lost a significant amount of money this month. But, hey, we have health insurance AND our family is safe and healthy. What more could I ask for???

We {heart} Lake Tahoe

2009-07-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

We have a family tradition- every summer we join up with Brad and Julianne and family to go camping for a weekend. This year makes four years running. We always have fun and the kids just LOVE it. What kid wouldn't??
This year we went to Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful weather!! Our camp sites were okay (I booked them this year, and I'm no longer allowed to be in charge of that :) We realized we prefer to be more secluded than we were. Our camp site was about 500 yards off of Highway 89...so, lets just say we listened to cars driving by all night. I personally prefer to listen to nature while camping. But, that's just me.

Here are some pictures of our fun:

Our family went for a hike on Friday morning-planned by B. It was short, but sweet. Really beautiful.

Just playing in the freezing cold water!!!

View from our hike. It was right above Emerald Bay. Much love for Lake Tahoe!

The kids had tons of fun playing in the sand. They got together with a few other kids and made a little pond for some baby fish they caught.

Our bathing beauties!!!

All the kids playing in the sand

Brad with some of the kids right before dinner on Friday night...

Hanging out around the fire on Saturday morning.

These boys together = TROUBLE!! They are really good boys...but they are definitely BOYS. They had fun killing the huge ants that were everywhere, and moving rocks and building forts. What else do boys do while they are camping???

We had such a fun and relaxing time. Can't wait until next year's trip!!!

Livermore or BUST!

2009-07-17T12:37:00.001-07:00

We went to the Webb's new house in Livermore for a sleepover on July 2nd. We had a great time, as you will see in the pictures below.
**side note: I totally stole ALL of these photos from Becky's blog because I'm a loser and ALWAYS forget to bring my camera. Lucky for me, I'm usually with family or friends who remember theirs. Thanks Becky!!!

Here we are grubbin on T. Weav's food. Yummy!!

The ladies enjoying some relaxing time. Except for the fact that the kids all took turns cannon-balling us. We were wet, but it felt good! The Weaver's air mattress had a hole, so they were finding the leak by putting it in the water, and it ended up there ALL DAY!

The kids had fun playing on the mattress-turned-raft. They loved having Brian try to flip them over while they were on it!

Brian is trying to surf...pretty easy when there are no waves!!!

T. Weav and K. Weav, just chillin!

The guys. (they wanted to copy our pic!)

By the end of the day, we were tore up from the floor up!

We had a really fun time. Thanks Webb's the good food and good fun. Your new house is amazing! Can't wait for the next swim par-tay!!

Utah Trip-{LAST DAY WRAP UP}

2009-07-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

I am hell bent on finishing this up! I've got lots more to blog about. Why do I feel like I have to blog everything? I do not know. I think because this is my family memories. My journal writing isn't the best, so this is pretty good (Plus, it will really help me when I get around to scrap booking this!!).
FRIDAY-
Brian took 2 nephews and went hiking in the morning part way up Timp (the MOUNTAIN, not the cave again!). They had fun, but they were pooped when they got back!

Jody and Kelly and I snuck away to do a little shopping when Brian got back. Then we met some long-time family friends at a park for some play time. Way back when, in the 70's, early 80's, my family lived in Cedar City, Utah. We grew up with the Ohms family. They are like family to us! In fact, Sarah Ohms and I have been "best friends" since birth. We moved away from Utah when I was little but we kept in contact- writing letters back and forth. We got to see each other a few times over the years, which was really great.
Anyways, we met up with Jenny (Ohms) and her husband and children. We got to visit with them for a few hours. It was really fun to get caught up on what was going on in her family. We ended up meeting up with my friend Sarah and her sister, Amy (Ohms) and husband for dinner, along with Chad and Sarah, which was really incredible. (No kids, just adults, so we could really talk!). Plus we ate at the Brazilian BBQ place in Provo. YUMMY!!!
I really, really enjoyed talking to Sarah and catching up with what was going on in her life. We lost touch for a few years, so it was really good to find out what she has been up to.

I tell you, I'm surrounded by amazing people. I'm blessed to call so many incredible people my friends, and the Ohms family, especially Sarah, are no exception to that. I got to see my dear friend Mandy,who I love way more than my luggage, and miss so much! I have an incredible family who all love to spend time together-(I'm referring to both Wadman and Heaps families here!).
Life is good. I love catching up with old friends, visiting with family that lives far away. This trip was muy loco at times. But really good. Muy bien. (Marilee would be so proud, I'm using my spanglish!)

Utah Trip {Day Six}

2009-07-13T23:27:00.000-07:00

I've really been wanting to condense the blog entries on this trip. I mean, its starting to bore me and I'm the one who was there. So, I apologize if any of you are bored with the trip, but I had to leave this day to blog by itself. This was a really great day for two reasons.

1- I got to have lunch with my ladies!!! (I'll explain later).

2-I got to go to the temple open house with my family. Its not everyday you get to stand in the House of the Lord (although not dedicated yet) with your WHOLE family. Well, some of you might have had that experience, but my kids are little. So, this was great!

Lunch. I escaped away from my sweet hubby and children to have lunch with Jess, Jan, Jaye, Jill, Rach, Jen, Jody, Marsha, Julie and Mandy (we MISSED you Sarah!!).
It was SOOOOO great to all be together, just like old times. Funny thing is, most of us live in Cali. Really the only ones from the group that are from Utah are Jess, Marsha, Julie and Mandy. It was really crazy that we were all in Utah at the same time, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to meet up with the Utah ladies and have lunch. It was incredibly great. I really, really wish we had taken a picture!
It made me sooo happy. Sigh. Did I mention that it made me happy??
It helped that the food was incredibly delicious too(thanks Jan and Jess!). Thanks Jess for being the hostess with the mostess, even when you didn't feel the greatest. You're amazing.

Temple. We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House that night. We went with Kelly and Jody and families. What can I say? Its beautiful. The spirit was strong. Except for when my 5 year old son decided he was done and started throwing a fit in the middle of the tour. But, we won't talk about that. No, we won't. (Again, remember the PMS happening!) This is the one and only picture of my family in front of the temple. Not the greatest, but I'll keep it.

All of the cousins that came on the tour with us (we missed Chad's and Todd's families). Look at J's face. Does that look like the face of a child who would throw a temper tantrum inside the temple? Almost angelic...but, not quite!!

This is them being goofy. Or should I say, being themselves!

While I was at lunch with the ladies, Brian took our kids and a niece hiking for a few hours. They hiked up to a waterfall that was close by Kelly's house. Isn't it pretty?? They had a blast and told me all about it when I got back.

We ended the day back at Bob's house for some dinner. This time Bob was back in town and so we got the chance to visit with him some more too!

Utah Trip {Day four is really Day five}

2009-07-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

So, I just realized, I posted day four, but that was actually day five.
Mi malo.
SO, on Tuesday the 16th, which REALLY was day four, we went with Jody and kids and Darcy and kids and Kelly and kids to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point (Its not really called the Dinosaur museum, but I don't remember the correct name, and I'm too tired to look it up!).
That was so fun. We watched a 3-D Whale movie that made B's day (she's obsessed with whales and dolphins...and horses, pandas...pretty much an animal LOVER). Pretty cool, but slightly sickening. (It kind of makes me feel carsick.)

We walked through the museum and had fun looking at all the cool dinosaurs. They even had a few play areas the kids got to play in a water/sand box and "dig" for dinos.

No cameras came along on this day. Its sad, but true. No wonder I skipped over it! Anyway, we left the museum and headed over to Bob and Yasmina's house for dinner. Bob was here in our hometown on business ironically, but we had fun hanging out with Yasmina and the kids. Yasmina cooked us up some delicious lasagna. We played on the Wii a little and went to the park down the street for a thrilling game of tag. Brian ended up with mud ALL over the back of his shirt.
Good times.

My baby is THREE!!!

2009-07-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right. My "baby" is 3. (This is the only semi-decent picture I got of her on her birthday. We had already eaten cake as you can plainly see...) She is sooo grown up! Her birthday was on the 5th. We told her the 4th of July fireworks were for celebrating her birthday.

She said, "Yep. Dat's wight." So confident the whole country is celebrating her birthday. She's a cutie, what can I say? This just happens to be my all time favorite picture of my sweet little lady. Doesn't it just make you smile??

It was taken last year, but will always remain a favorite of mine. It just captures her COMPLETELY. My little lady is so sweet, and loving, also feisty, crazy and goofy all at the same time.

She is intense. She is the only 3 year old that I know that seriously checks a person out for a while (and I mean that LITERALLY) before she determines if she will like them or not (its almost like she's looking right through you!). And, those of you she really loves, you know who you are. So, if you are one of the chosen few who she's decided are on her "favorite" list, count yourself lucky cause this girl is one in a million!

She has quite the personality. Her laugh is very contagious, I might add. I've really loved watching her turn into her own little person with likes and dislikes. She has such a strong spirit about her. I'm just so blessed to be her mother.

Soooooo Behind & Utah Trip {Day Four}

2009-07-11T22:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, its amazing how far behind I get on my blogging in such a short amount of time. We have had an amazingly fun and full summer! Life is good. I cannot complain. I'm happy to fall behind in my blogging because I'm just out having fun with the fam!
So, back to catching up. I've really got to move through the Utah trip because there have been like 2 "trips" since then! I know, we get around, what can I say?
Day Four- we spent the day in downtown Salt Lake City. I started out the day by driving my husband crazy, being a backseat driver. Yeah, I know better. But, what can I say, sometimes my mouth wins out over the flashing warning signs going off in my brain! But, he still loves me. We still had a fun day. He's a good man. It didn't help that I had a SERIOUS case of PMS the entire week I was up there. Not sure what would have been worse, PMS, or DMS (that stands for DURING menstrual syndrome, for those of you who don't know). Needless to say, I was a little short with other family members while there too. I have already apologized. Again, the mouth sometimes wins out, no matter how hard I try.
I digress. We got to downtown, and headed for Temple Square to the visitor's center. We tried really really hard to walk around quietly inside the North Visitor's Center with SEVENTEEN children, but we were not too successful. We managed to snap a few pics in front of the Christus Statue before we realized, we really needed to feed the masses.

The following picture is "the masses" that I speak of (minus baby Josh-Bob). I love them. And this is only HALF of my Heaps family nieces and nephews!!!

So, we escaped on a train ride over to (I forgot the name of the place- dang brain fart!) where the planetarium is. We found the food court, fed the masses and made it to the Planetarium farely unscathed.

This is not a picture of us at the planetarium (just in case you didn't notice!). My loading of pictures onto blogger is not up to par, obviously. A sweet photo of the masses in front of the Salt Lake Temple...I explained to J that the big tall building was the church office building where the Prophet worked. He was so astonished. He got so excited and decided that he was going to walk into the building and see President Monson, because he knew that President Monson would want to see him.
We explained to him that the prophet is a really busy guy, and that he probably wouldn't even be there. But, he was determined to go and ask.
So, J and Brian went off into the church office building. But, alas, he was not there. James came out of the building very disappointed. But he got over it pretty fast and started playing with cousins again.

Here we are, at the Planetarium. J and B, very serious about their visit to the moon...The kids had a lot of fun there. We got to ride in the biggest elevator I have EVER seen in my life, we got to walk on mars and the moon. All in the same afternoon. Who knew?

Two of my sistas and my sweet honey...

I think the train ride back and forth was a highlight for the day for some of the littles. These pictures are WAY out of order. This shot is most of the masses. Jody took this of the kids lined up next to the fountain in front of the Church Office Building. Only J and Josh-Bob are not pictured. (J is still a little disappointed about not seeing President Monson and Josh-Bob can't sit up on his own yet!)

Utah Trip {day Three- more pictures}

2009-07-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Just more pictures of our Monday night BBQ....Here's a picture of Todd and his family.

Just cousins joking around on our almost-night hike...

Kelly and part of her family (missing her oldest daughter, Kaitlin, and her now 16 year old son, Mooley- its a nickname. BTW- happy birthday today, Mooley!!)

That's all for Monday. Stay tuned for our Tuesday adventures!!!