Fun little breakfast

William was sitting next to me a week or so ago as I was flipping through a parenting magazine and he saw a picture of a fun looking breakfast. He asked if I could make that for him, so I did my best. I baked up some zucchini muffins and went off that. He was so happy to eat his breakfast that next morning :) Zachary enjoyed it as well, but he just loves food period.

Tunnels for Thomas

The boys were making tunnels the other day and sending their Thomas trains through again and again. Thought it was cute and something to capture :)

Sweet moment

Tonight while I was singing to the boys in their bed they were quietly laying side by side. Then they rolled to face each other and William asked Zachary "do you want me to hold your hand?". Zachary just nodded as William took his hand and that is how they fell asleep. My heart melted.

I just love my sweet boys.

Christmas Highlights

I am finally sitting down to write a little bit about our Christmas time. We had a small early Christmas as a family before we left for our trip to Truckee. William was so excited for Christmas this year. We had a chocolate advent calendar that he got to open every day and he would always tell me "Mom, Christmas is a long time". I would agree with him that Christmas is a whole month long. The big thing that he kept asking for was a watch. We would sing Santa Claus is coming to town and even Zachary could "sing" along with a pretty good melody. They both understood that they had to be sooo good if they wanted Santa to bring them what they wanted. William did find a CARS watch in his stocking the night of our family Christmas. He was SO happy and excited! I also noticed that he takes after me in the present opening department :) He would rip his gifts open so fast and then hardly look at them and be on to the next. It made me chuckle.

Zachary really enjoyed ripping the paper off his gifts this year which was so cute to watch. He also got really mad when all the ripping was done because he still wanted to rip more, not because he cared to much about what was inside. Christmas is so fun with little kids.

We went to Truckee for 5 nights to be with Billy's family this year. It was so cold, but there was no snow. Billy actually went golfing the day after Christmas rather than skiing, which I'm sure made him a little sad. It was a good trip. The boys made a ginger bread train one night, William got to watch a lot of trains driving on the hill over and across Donner Lake, we skipped rocks on the ice of the lake and hung out inside a lot. Zachary's highlight was the fact that there was a big black lab in the house. He would hug, kiss & lay on that dog as much as the dog would let him. (which was a lot because she is now 8 years old and lots more mellow than in years past) One night he would only let the dog "hold" him while he drank his bottle of milk. To funny.

I also made Christmas baskets this year for all the girls I visit teach (5) plus one for the Bishop and his family. It was fun to do and even more fun to deliver them. I just love the extra giving during the Christmas season.

We got lots of Christmas cards this year which was really nice, I still have yet to take them off the door- they have been so fun to look at everyday.

We were excited to get home to warm & sunny Santa Barbara after our trip to the Sierras and it has been such a warm and beautiful winter so far. We did not mind coming home to the 77 degrees and even an 85 degree weekend!

Now onto 2012!

Hiking & Battle wounds

Yesterday we decided to go on a family hike. So we put on our backpacks... Billy packed William and I packed Zachary. We started from our front door and headed down the trail to the compound, across the river crossing to sage hill camp ground and back to the Aliso Canyon trail. The trail is a 3.5 mile loop and adding the distance to and from our house it was a little over 5 miles. It was a perfect day for a hike, the weather was not to hot nor to cold and perfectly sunny and clear. The Aliso trail climbs up to a ridge top where you can look down at the Santa Ynez river and across to Rancho Oso. I was surprised that there was still so much water in parts of the river. Then the trail turns back toward the back country and there is a connector trail that you can take to upper Oso camp ground where you can get on the buckhorn trail. (You could do some serious backpacking on that trail). We stayed on the aliso trail which loops back around, drops you back down to the canyon bottom where you follow a creek bed back to the trail head.

By the end of the hike, I was tired, hungry and my feet were starting to hurt. I guess that would happen with all the extra weight I was carrying plus being about 18 weeks pregnant. It was so nice to get out and get some good exercise though. As we were crossing back through the camp ground, all sharing a pear and not paying attention, we walked under a pine tree. Billy ducked, but not quite enough and William took some branches to the throat :( Poor guy. He was scratched up pretty good and not very happy about the surprise. Kind of a bummer to finish off the hike that way. Especially because the bruise on his forehead, from tripping and head butting a big rock not quite a week ago, is finally fading. Good thing he is a tuff boy.

Sorry William, I know you will heal fast.

I love living in the wilderness!

A Date

When Dad was here earlier in the week, Billy came home from a fire and we took advantage and went out on a date! I really can't remember the last date we had been on, mostly because it's fire season and we just don't get the opportunity. Our neighbor was planning a surprise birthday dinner for her husband and we got invited, so we left the boys with Grandpa and went down town. We ate at a new Mexican place in town called Casa Blanca, it was good food and great company. It was such a treat to go hang out together with friends and not have to give the boys a second thought because they were in such great hands. Thanks Dad, I love you.

William's birthday party

I was a little preoccupied with other things in the month of September to do a lot of planning for William's birthday. Billy left for Texas the 1st of the month, I was dealing with my property management, our tenant in our condo decided to stop paying rent, planning the RS homemaking night.... let alone two small children by myself day and night. William would occasionally mention that he wanted a train birthday party and a thomas cake. I kept putting it off dealing with everything else on my plate. About a week before I got down to it and decided I better have a train party for him, with or without Billy here. So I got on oriental trading and bought some supplies and favors, sent out invitations and started jotting notes on what i needed. I decided to make a big taco salad with chicken, beef and black beans on the side, chips & salsa and fruit and a big pot of macaroni and cheese, hot dogs on the side for the kids. I thought about having puzzles out, the train table, thomas tents, baseball, monkey bingo and a tattoo station for things to do... not to mention the swing set and all the trikes, bikes, and wagons. Everything seemed to be falling into place quite nicely. As people would RSVP i would sew up and fill the treat bags to be handed out at the end of the party. Then the party got closer and I realized i hadn't ordered enough treats for how many people were RSVPing.... I was starting to stress about putting on this party solo and how i was going to make a thomas cake.... we got a little sick at the start of the week... the temperatures back here were hitting near 100*..... ahhhhh.

Then on Wednesday, the day before our birthday, Mom showed up! I was saved! She helped me run all the errands for the party, bake and frost the cake, prep and cook all the food and clean, clean, clean. I would not have been able to pull it off without her. The party was a success and even more people came than had RSVPed. The final count was 22 kids and 21 adults! Yikes. But somehow there was plenty of food and drinks, enough cake to go around and everyone enjoyed themselves. Even though it was 84 degrees, the people that came up from SB were pretty happy to be out of the fog and didn't mind so much. All the kids ran around and played and all the adults mingled away. I don't think I really talked to anyone.... just tried to stay on top of everything, but it was a train party for William and now it's over!

This was actually the night of our birthday- William opened presents from Truckee Grandma.That is a big thomas tent! He is on the phone telling Billy all about it!

Clean freak?

Today was really hot. Outside it peaked at 108 and inside our house it read 91. We have one window air conditioner in the office room and today i had it on. We hung out in that room quite a bit today including lunch time. We decided to have a picnic on the floor on a little blanket. Well, Zachary being 15 months old isn't the best at picnicking on the floor. He walked out of the room carrying his plate and five steps later his lunch was all over the floor. I immediately started to pick it up and put it back on the plate and Zachary immediately went over to the place where I keep the dust pan and little broom. He brought it over to me and handed it to me without me saying anything. haha. I guess he has seen me do this once or twice before :) What a good little helper.

On another note. William is really getting good at talking. He calls Billy at least 3 times a day to see what he is doing and tell him what we are doing. (Billy is in Texas fighting fires for the month probably). Talking to Billy tonight, he told me it has really been a joy for him to be able to talk to William on the phone during the day and that it blows him away how well he speaks and understands. On my side of the phone... I kinda wish he didn't talk quite so much sometimes :) But I love him and am impressed by him also. He is one smart little man.

Cuddle Brothers

I didn't take a lot of pictures over the weekend that we were in Truckee and South Lake for Ian's wedding. But I did snap a couple of the boys the day after we got there, taking their nap together on Grandpa's bed. They were so tired from our drive late at night and getting in at 3am. They didn't sleep as well as planned in the car :( Anyway, looks like William makes a good pillow! It's so sweet to see them cuddle.

New family pics

When Tracy came to visit I asked her to take some pictures of us... and boy did she take pictures!

Thanks Tracy, you are a wonderful and talented photographer! Here are a few of my favorites.