The dirtier the better!

We went on the annual "camping on the beach" trip to Doheny, CA with our good friends the Nelsons... it pretty much rained the entire time. Rough on the parents, but SO much fun for the kids! It was dirty and sandy (and snotty), but was honestly one of the best trips all summer! Thank you Nelson family- we wish you were closer!

Ethan loved the sand! Each day he would build "the great wall" and wait for the tide to come up and wash it away.
Licity's vacation revolved around "lil' mermaid". It's amazing how entertaining one doll can be (sing, dance, swim, etc.).

Licity being "lil' mermaid"


Not even Maci could stay clean on this trip.

Highlight of the trip... one of Kyle's famous (way too scary) stories.

I'm back!

Hooray! I finally have a camera again- I'm still not sure how it works, and the lighting is all off on all of these, but I'll get there. So here's what we've missed... Ethan continues to thrive in school. He is so excited about everything he learns and is easily enticed by whatever reward they're using at school. He's started the "Book It" program and is so focused on getting a free pizza (like we don't have pizza once a week anyway) that he will read both morning and night because that's what he thinks he needs to do. I love his determination and know how wonderful it is to not have to fight him on homework.

Licity is as crazy as ever. Her favorite thing is sitting on the counter in the bathroom making silly faces in the mirror, applying mommy's "lip glogs" (see also: slide show from September), or coloring with deodorant all over the mirror. Fun! She also loves her school but for very different reasons than Ethan- I would love to know who Hunter is? She is also impossible to get mad at- not because she doesn't do infuriating things, but because she is always smiling (especially when she's doing something wrong).

Maci is a busy baby. She's well on her way to crawling and is so intent on grabbing anything within reach. She went through a nightmare of a time switching to bottles, but she's adjusted now and is such a happy baby-She definitely has one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen on a baby.

My Smart Little Ethan

So I asked Ethan a question about something that he had done the other day that I knew he didn't want to give me the answer to... after pausing for a long time and with a very dumbfounded look he finally said, "Well, I guess it's better to tell the truth than to lie." WAAWHO!!! He is listening! There is hope after all!

Where did September go?

September flew by so instead of writing it all out, I thought these pictures could explain most of it.

Flashback Friday!

Well I didn't quite get this done on Friday so really it's flashback Monday-- I heard someone else using this idea and thought it sounded fun. I'm going to start way back to the days when Kyle and I first met... It's been 8 years since I first saw him giving his talk in Sacrament meeting in the MCC 2nd Single Ward. I can't say love at first site because that's just cheesy, but I knew for sure this was a guy that I wanted to meet. A friend of mine introduced me to him... and his girlfriend, who was in town visiting. Fortunately, a couple weeks later, we were both running late and bumped into each other again in the parking lot (without the girlfriend). We started talking and there were definitely sparks -- until he went on to go sit with all his friends while I stood there alone... Anyway, I persisted and invited him to a "family home evening" that night-- which he stood me up... and again, I invited him to play soccer the following week-- which he failed to return my phone call -- until finally he did call. We talked all night long and I decided that I would try again to invite him out on a double date that my roommate and I had just planned. A couple nights later we went out and had a great time. He called first thing the next morning but then I didn't hear from him for 2 weeks! I was totally confused but I knew we had so much fun when we got together so I thought, "Okay, one more time." I had been given tickets to the circus and knew he was the only one I wanted to go with. After canceling a few of his own plans we met up and went on the most amazing date- we laughed, we flirted, we talked and we had our very first kiss... The rest is history. He proposed 6 months later and we were married four months after that on August 4th, 2000. I finally found out that there was a very good reason for his hesitation and it just showed me more of why he was such a great catch... and besides, 7 years of marriage and three kids later- I think everything worked out perfectly.