The Case of the Missing Coat

On the first really cold Sunday this year Brett asked if I knew where his coat was. I went out and looked in the front closet. This is where we hung them last winter. My coat was there and his was not. I continued to look in all of the closets in the house. All I could find was an old coat.

I asked him if it was in the closet at work. He mocked me and said, "I don't leave my coat at work." So, he put on his old one and went to church.

At church I asked the custodian if she saw a men's overcoat in the spring. She hadn't seen one. The only coat she could remember was a women's wool coat - NOT BRETT'S. We were a little troubled.

Monday rolls around, and Brett heads off to work. Shortly after he left home, I got a call. "I found my coat. It was in the closet." He had the brand and the size, and it even had his leather gloves in the pockets. He then asks me how long I think it has been there. My reply was, "Probably nine months - since the last time it snowed."

He hasn't had to wear suits to work since May, and the weather was nice. We are glad that it was there and we don't have to replace it.

Sun Dogs

The other day I was driving to preschool and saw the most amazing sun dogs. I had the preschool camera with me, so I pulled over to the side of the road a took a couple of pictures. I didn't get a picture with both of them. There was one on each side of the sun.

Then on Sunday, we went out and shoveled people out. On our way from one stop to the next, we saw some more sun dogs. Then on our way home, the sun was setting and the colors in the sky were beautiful - no camera though.

Super at Seven

Emily counted down the days until her birthday. It wouldn't have been so bad, but she started when we returned from Las Vegas. She also watched the mail for birthday cards. She knew that grandma would send her one. Grandpa Holt came through with the first card, and it made her month. She was very excited to get it, and he wrote her name on the front of it. It really liked that. Grandma's card made it the day after, and that was exciting, too.

Emily got her ears pierced when she was in Las Vegas so there wasn't any big presents on the day of her birthday. The morning before, she asked me if she was going to get a new outfit to wear to school like she did last year. So, I went out and got her one. She also got a gingerbread house (I think the last three years we have decorated gingerbread houses about the time of her birthday), a birthday barbie, and a book.

The children only get birthday parties every other year, so on the odd years they get to go to dinner with mom and/or dad and a friend. Emily wanted to go to Larry's place (Larry was a neighbor and the manager of a restaurant called Perkins). While we were there we got a peanut butter silk pie. The friend that she invited was called at the very last minute (20 minutes before we were picking him up), and he was able to make it. It was a fun time and a great birthday.

Brrrrrrrrr!

So I woke up a little early today and decided to check the weather. The high today is set for -7 and the low for -12. We are at -7 right now with a wind chill of -30. Lucky us.

Time to bundle up.

Wouldn't this be Magical?

It was Magical

On our vacation, we woke up on Monday morning and went to Disneyland. We got there about 8:00 a.m. and the adventures began. Of course we had to get our picture taken by the front entry way. Then we were on our way.

The first place we went was Fantasyland. The place was beautiful. It was decorated for Christmas, so there were lights and ornaments on all the buildings and trees. We were literally transported.

We went right to Fantasyland because Claire wanted to go on the tea cups. We didn't even have to wait in line for this ride. It was beautiful. The girls really wanted to spin, so I spun them fast (it's a good thing I've been to watch several dance classes and I learned the concept of spotting - I didn't even get dizzy). Caleb and Eli got in a cup together and they were spinning really fast, too.

We went on several other rides while we were there, and then we got on the train. We rode all around Disneyland. We got in trouble for eating - oops. Grandma had packed peanutbutter and jelly sandwhiches for us to snack on, and we were munching on the train. We had to ride it in a complete loop, because we didn't want to miss anything in Fantasyland. When we returned, there was a time to dance with the princesses.

Caleb got really close without even knowing it. He decided that if we were going to be in the pavilion, he would make the best of it. We went to It's a Small World and the Matterhorn (I liked these). Small World was decorated for Christmas.

After Fantasyland we went to Tomorrowland. We went on Space Mountain - not my favorite ride. Eli liked it and wanted to do it again, but we never made it back. After we got in our "spaceship" for the ride, we were getting ready to "take-off" and we had to take a detour. We were taken behind a curtain off to the side where we were told that our spaceship was out of jet fuel. We had to climb out and then walk through one of the control rooms and get into another "spaceship." It was an interresting experience.

We went to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, and it is a 3D interactive movie. FUN!

We went to Critter Country and hit Splash Mountain, or should I say it hit us? Some of our group got wet, Caleb's shoes got soaked, but I got the prize for being drenched. It was pretty funny. I was in the front of a log with Caleb right behind me and the rest of the people in out log were adult women. We were heavy and made a BIG SPLASH!

There was one ride on Moday that Claire couldn't do - It was Indiana Jones. She wasn't quite tall enough. She got to go on the Jungle Cruise with grandma and grandpa instead. Later than night, we were going to try going on the ride again, and I was going to try to sneak Claire on, but my children were too honest - they wouldn't allow it.

We kind of ended out day between New Orlean's Square and Frontierland.

We saw the parade on main street and I had to get a picture of the gingerbread man because Claire is a gingerbread cookie in the nutcracker.

One of the reindeer came over to where the children were sitting and gave Claire a high five.

I think Brett's favorite part of the parade was Santa's helpers. Enough said.

We saw Fantasmic, and we saw the fireworks. Somewhere in there we ate lunch and dinner. The kiddos were troopers, and the girls were falling asleep while we were holding them.

O.K., I was a little worried about losing one of the children. You hear horror stories about that, so I tatooed my children. I pulled out a pen and wrote my cell phone number on their arms. I told them if they got lost to tell the person helping them to call the number on their arm.

We did random checks to make sure it didn't wash off.

At the end of the day, we walked through the parking lot, crossed the street, and went to be at the hotel, only to anticipate another day of adventure.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Here is a clip of Caleb dancing.

California Here We Come

Here we are in the car on our way to California. Spirits were high, and excitement was in the air. We headed out of Vegas at about 8:30 in the morning. (The temperature was 19 degrees Celsius).

The drive ended up being a little long. Most of the children fell asleep on the trip. We went to Laguna beach, and when we pulled into town it was lunch time. We were looking for a place to eat and we pulled into this little place on the side of the road.

It was a pretty good place, and there were many locals who were coming. We ordered our burgers, fries, and drinks; sat outside to eat; and had a great time. We did have a little more than ketchup.

We were in the sun and loving it. We did get a little warm though. After lunch we went down the road to the beach.

Claire made some sand castles, and Joyce brought some shells. There were no shells at the beach, and Joyce dropped them in the water, and the girls were excited to pick them up. They did see grandma drop the shell though.

Brett found a sea star and it was eating a mussel. It was pretty cool.

Here is Eli sitting in the water. It was a little cold, but the kid got used to it right away.

It was fun to have seaweed and sea animals and salt water and sunshine.

Brett dug a hole to bury Caleb. It didn't work, because Caleb wouldn't sit still and he was cold.

We went up to some rocks where there were tide pools. We saw sea urchins, sea annenomes, and sea stars. We also saw hermit crabs, crabs, fish, mussels, and barnicles.

This was the first time my children had been to the beach and seen the ocean. They were so intrigued with all that was there. It was a great time, and the children had a blast.

Right before we left the beach we decided to have a family picture taken. It was a lot of fun, and I think we all got a little pink.

To end the day, we went to the Newport Temple and I made our family get out of the car and get a picture. Some of the family (Brett) was a little concerned that we were not dressed appropriately for the temple... some of the children were still in their swimming suits. When we pulled up, there were security guards walking around, so they (Brett & Caleb) thought we would get busted. Then we went to the hotel. It was a great end for a wonderful day.

Especially for Natalie

Grandmas sitting out of the pool talking to you on the phone.

Looking for you in the pool.

Holding a spot for you at the table.

Waving, "HELLO!" Because we miss you.

Seth throwing himself off of the highest mountain. Trying to "dive" in. It was the best event of the day... and we caught it on film.

We sure miss you and wish you were here with us.

My "EAR-isistable" Child

For Emily's seventh birthday we told her that we would allow her to get her ears pierced.  Brett told her that she would have to wait until she was 12, but since I got mine pierced when I was seven, I thought I would use the same timeline for her.

It was quite the process to get her to the mall.  Getting her dressed and then trying to put her hair up was an ordeal, especially since she is very tired due to late nights at grandma's.  When we got to the mall, we went and bought pajamas first.  Then we started the "hunt" for the store to do her ears.

We saw a place in the middle of the mall called the piercing pagota.  We thought that might be the place, but we decided to move on.  We continued to the end of the mall so that grandma could get a new battery in her watch, and then we went back to a PINK, PINK, PINK store.  Did I mention that it was very pink.  We went back to it because when we walked by it, there were little girls in there getting their hair styled.  Claire wanted a hair style, so we went back to check it out.

While we were there we noticed that they did ear piercing.  We also saw Claire's favorite store across from this one - "CLAIRE'S" and they did ear piercing.  We checked prices and decided on the pink store "CLUB LIBBY LU."  We got her all set up, and she was a champ.  She chose her earrings, sat in the chair, and didn't even flinch.  Now she has a couple of extra holes in her head.

Just a note - Claire left very disappointed... she thought she should get her ears pierced, too.  We told her that should could get her ears pierced when she was seven.  She wants to come to grandma's house and get them pierced at the same store Emily did (that will be an expensive ear piercing).