graham cracker houses

Christmas card

Dear friends and family,

We hope our card finds you well and joyful this holiday season!  It’s been a busy and wonderful year for our family.  Here are a few highlights.

Owen (2) –potty training, Ty’s official understudy, epic laughs, crib escapee

Tyler (5)– preschool, Lego-master, bike riding maniac

Lauren (7) – glasses, gymnastics, Junie B. Jones, in love with dance

Abbey (9) –piano, gymnastics, Harry Potter, rocking school

Sarah (11) –art, chemistry, Fablehaven, babysitter in training

Niki (ancient)–Irvine Women’s Interfaith Conference, Young Womens, loving life

Brent (dinosaur)– rodeo in San Antonio, partner, Husband/Father extraordinaire

Lots of love,

Brent, Niki, Sarah, Abbey, Lauren, Tyler, and Owen

Niki's Distraction

Hey All,

Just wanted to share with you one of the reason's why Niki got distracted from posting to her blog this year.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62889/No-longer-strangers-but-friends.html

http://www.ocregister.com/news/women-371924-day-irvine.html

As you may have heard, this conference was a huge part of Niki's life for the four months leading up to it.  She was chair of the planning committee which meant that she was busy and that she did everything!  Well, OK, maybe not everything, but she did put everything she had into it, and to me sometimes it felt like everything.  Though I know that there were a bunch of other wonderful women who also "did everything."  (I would list out their names but, I would not want to forget someone, especially since Niki does not know that I am posting on her blog!  And I know that she was very appreciative of her leaders, the other chairs, and everyone else who took part.)

From all reports it was well worth it.  They had about 500 women, representing 26 different faiths who attended.  All I heard was that everyone loved it and that the women of different faiths are all excited for next year.

(If you look close through the pictures in both articles, you can see the back of Niki's head.  She is sitting on the right side of the picture, right next to our Stake President.)

Sincerely,

Brent

I promised my Sis

I promised my Sis I would start blogging again.  Our deal was one picture a week with no obligatory writing.  Life got busy and blogging fell by the wayside.  So here's picture number one.  My baby that isn't a baby anymore.  Thanks for the encouragement Sis!  

Father/Son Campout #3

Ty and Brent went on their third father/son campout this weekend.  

Year #1

Year #2

Year #3

These pictures make me laugh for several reasons.  First is that Brent looks exactly the same in the first and third pictures.  Second is the difference in Ty's expression from the first year to the third.  His first campout you can see the apprehension in his eyes.  Contrast that with the third year.  He knows what's in store and is busting with anticipation.  They were the first to arrive and the last to leave.  Hooray for father/son campouts!

Mother's Day

It was a good day.  A day to celebrate that divine spark of womanhood that makes us who we are. I found this old picture of my mom and wanted to share it.  She was probably about eighteen.  I love how happy and confident she looks! 

Happy Mother's Day to all the women in my life, young and old.   Mother's, daughters, sister's, friends.  You make my life good and I thank you for it.

it's too quiet..

My Awesome Sis and her family were in town this weekend and so, of course, we took the kids to the beach. It's been a week of company and now everyone is gone. The house is quiet and I miss the beautiful chaos.

La Jolla Beach

A few more pictures from San Diego. I'm enjoying them even more now that we're back to the daily grind. Four more months till summer and counting.

San Diego weekend

We took the kids to San Diego last weekend. La Jolla was so beautiful. It's too late to write much tonight so I'll just post a few pictures.

Who I love...

I saw this quote the other day and it rang true to me. It's all about perspective isn't it?

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.

Louis De Bernieres

“…We see a haystack by Monet, an iris by Van Gogh, or an asparagus spear by Manet and marvel at their presence and spirit and think that these works were about haystacks, irises, and asparagus. Not at all! Monet, Van Gogh, Manet employed haystacks, irises, asparagus to speak of the symphonies of light, the glory of God’s creations, the life force residing in all forms. We care about those paintings more than we care about stacks of hay, flowers, and vegetables because we care more about light, God and life than we do about any of their particular manifestations. Meaning, not beauty, is what we are after. Big, deep, wide meaning.”

Peter London, from the book No More Secondhand Art

mug shots at the park

First he steals his sister's hat and absolutely refuses to return it. Then I find him later with this suspicious looking item in his mouth. He kept it in exactly that position for a good 20 minutes. (in case you're wondering, it's a sand covered carrot stick).