A Night at the Drive-In

Last Night we took the girls to their 1st Drive-In Movie. (Ashlyn has gone before, but has no memory of it.) We picked up some dinner at KFC and headed to the West Wind Solano 2 Drive-In. It cost our whole family $13.50 (you can't beat that price) to watch Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. We set up the back of the van with blankets and the girls changed into their pajamas.
We brought goodies and a cooler full with drinks from home to enjoy as we watched the movie. After awe were set the girls were ready to watch the movie the only problem was we still had a whole hour before it would even start. So we took them to the playground, over by the concession facility, to get some energy out before the movie started. The movie was really good and we really had a great evening together. Ashlyn and Aubrey fell asleep about half way through the movie. Autumn loved the movie and stayed up to see the whole thing. We will definitely be doing this again.

1st Day of Swim Lessons

This is the 1st day of the 1st week of swim lessons for the girls. Ashlyn has taken several lesson and is feeling more confident with her fear of swimming. She loves the water and loves to go to the pool, but for some reason will not trust in herself to let go and swim. She can swim all by self if she just believed in her self a little more. We are hoping the lesson will build her confidence to just go for it.

Autumn is on her 2nd year of lessons and is still learning the basic. She can go under the water for 8 seconds with her eyes open and is learning to feel relaxed in the water.

Memorial Day

On this beautiful Memorial Day we remember those who lost there lives to give us the freedoms we enjoy everyday. We are grateful for all those brave men and women who are fighting right now for all of us.
Today we stayed close to home and played at the park. We meet up with some friends and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. The kids rode their scooters and bikes and the adults talked and ran after the kids. Noah and Ashlyn even got into the swing of things when they started to play softball. We came back home and played games until bed time. What a fantastic day we had.

A Visit from Aunt Tiffany

We had a wonderful visit with my sister Tiffany and her boyfriend Daniel this past weekend. On Friday we were able take them to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. We had a great time visiting and riding rides.































On Saturday we took them to the Oakland Temple, through San Fransisco, played a little at Ocean Beach, drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to Old Sausalito, walked around the Palace of Fine Arts, and spent the evening walking up and down Fisherman's Wharf.
On Sunday we had a nice relaxing time visiting and playing games. We are glad that they could come and spend some time with us. It was a lot of fun.

What Animal are you Afraid of?

Ashlyn just finished up her last unit at school on "Being Afraid". Her teacher sent home a homework assignment to build a model of a habitat for an animal that she is afraid of. Ashlyn choose the Black Widow Spider and gathered as much information about the Black Widow Spider as she could. There was a research organizer sheet to fill out and keep her on track. She had 3 weeks to complete the project and prepare a 2-3min. presentation to share What animal she was afraid of and Why, Where the animal lives, and How it makes its habitat. She is only a 1st grader.
She First had to create a Black widow Spider out of black model magic clay. With a red hour glass shape under its belly and a glossy finish on the spider using clear nail polish. Noah and Ashlyn choose a box to place gathered bark and wood pieces. They cut out a square window on the side of the box so that you could look in to see the Black Widow. She placed the spider under the wood pieces and strung up a web. She rolled a cotton ball until it looked like an egg sac. She painted the wood pieces and egg sac with glow in the dark paint. Then we placed 3 glow sticks in various places inside wood pieces. Then she wrote Beware: Black Widow!!! and her habitat was complete. She wrote her presentation questions on index cards and practiced on us. Her teacher said she did an outstanding job on her presentation and habitat. She also said Ashlyn was the most organized in the class. We are so glad that Ashlyn is doing so well in school and loving 1st grade.

Play, Work and Play some more.

We decided to play first and then work hard this weekend. So on Friday we took a 1/2 day and headed to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.The girls were really excited and could hardly wait to get there, even though we have been there a number of times. We had a great time together and the girls ran from ride to ride. They have several water play areas and we took advantage of them too. It was a nice Hot day only 98 degree, but cooler than at home which was said to be 103.
On Sat. I had a garage sale with a friend in the horrible heat and managed to make some money too. I am surprised I did as well as I did. Noah worked on the yard and the girls went back and forth from mom to dad and dad to mom We did reward ourselves that evening with a swim at the club house pool.

There is some Good to found in Very Hot Weather

It has been unusually hot for this time of year, even for California. There are record temperatures being broken all over the sate. The news said it is 10 to 20 degrees above normal for May. We are definitely feeling the heat. The high yesterday was 101 and the low last night was 72. With that being said we have found that there is some good in the Very Hot weather. The last few evenings, as the heat starts to become more bearable, we have been outside in our backyard playing in the water, eating ice cream, and just sitting watching the beautiful sunset.

Mother's Day Weekend

I had a wonderful Mother's Day Weekend surrounded by family. Friday my mother-in-law came over and we had a great time playing with grandma. Noah surprised me and his mother with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

On Sat. Noah's sister Rachel, her son Logan and our brother-in law Kurt came to spend the day with us. We went to the farmers market where we bought some yummy strawberries, oranges, and bread. We went out to eat at Uno Chicago Grill and then headed back to our house. At home we rested, visited, played out side, and played the game Apples to Apples. We had a BBQ with marinated chicken, veggies, fruit, and for dessert strawberry jello angel food cake. It was a very good evening.

On Mother's Day Sunday I was greeted by three smiling faces that gave me kisses, hugs, and their cards. What wonderful gifts I awoke to. At church the girls sang to me and we were served great big delicious Cinnamon rolls and fruit. The rest of the day was spent being pampered by my family. Noah cooked an awesome dinner and made me cherry chocolate ice cream for dessert. I had a table full of gifts to open and I loved every single thing I was given.

Who does this look like?

So which of my daughters does this look like?

Dedeicated to our Moms

A Sonnet for My Incomparable Mother

I often contemplate my childhood, Mom.
I am a father and a mother now, and so I know
Hard work is mixed together with the fun;
You learned that when you raised me long ago.
I think of all the things you gave to me: Sacrifice, devotion, love and tears,
Your heart, your mind, your energy and soul--
All these you spent on me throughout the years.
You loved me with a never-failing love
You gave me strength and sweet security,
And then you did the hardest thing of all:
You let me separate and set me free.
Every day, I try my best to be the kind of person like you were to me.
By Joanna Fuchs

Autumn's Updo

Autumn has a fun personality and a great imagination. She loves to play pretend. The other night she was getting dressed in her pj's and she was so giggly and happy that I had to fix her hair. She let me put her hair in an updo and it was hilarious. She was running around the bedroom pretending to be a princess with her new hairdo. Aubrey saw how fun it was and she wanted her hair up too(what little hair she has). So both girls were running around parading there updos laughing and giggling.

Happy Birthday Dad and Grandpa!

Today is my Dad's birthday. It's hard to be away from him, because I miss hanging out and talking with him. I want him to know he is loved and appreciated. I wish we could be with him on his special day. This poem is dedicated to my Father and the Grandfather to my children, on his birthday.

Life Lessons

You may have thought I didn't see,
Or that I hadn't heard,
Life lessons that you taught to me,
But I got every word.

Perhaps you thought I missed it all,
And that we'd grow apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything,
It's written on my heart.

Without you, Dad, I wouldn't be
The woman I am today;
You built a strong foundation
No one can take away.

I've grown up with your values,
And I'm very glad I did;
So here's to you, dear father,
From your forever grateful kid.

By Joanna Fuchs

South Border Smores!

Here is a yummy, easy, and fast desseret that my family loves. We had it last night for a Cinco De Mayo treat.

South of the Border S'mores

This recipe is from the May issue of Family Fun magazine.

2	flour tortillas (8-10 inch)
3	large marshmallows, cut in half
2	tablespoons milk chocolate chips
1/2	teaspoon cinnamon sugar, mixture

1. Generously coat a medium skillet with vegetable spray and heat it over medium heat.
2. Place a tortilla in the skillet, then sprinkle the marshmallow halves and the chocolate chips evenly over it.
3. Top with the second tortilla and spray it with vegetable spray as well.
4. Cook the tortilla stack for 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned, then carefully flip it and cook on the other side for an additional 1-2 minutes.
5. Remove the tortillas to a cutting board, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top, then cut the s-more into quarters.
6. Makes 4 S'Mores.

Silly Aubrey

Aubrey is getting to be such a big girl and will be 18 months at the end of this month. Her personality is really shining through. She makes us laugh on a daily basis, because of the cute things she does or says. I love when she says "bye, see ya" or "what?" or "goodie"when she wants chocolate.
Here Aubrey is making due without her binky.










Here she is walking around the house in Ashlyn's shoes (on the wrong feet) and to see her walk in those big old shoes was priceless. She loves shoes.