Summer Vacation Part 1: Santa Clara, CA

What a crazy summer it has been - it's hard to believe it's already over - and we SURVIVED!!! Darren and Claire had fun taking turns staying with Grandma and Grandpa, where Darren learned how to ride a bike. Miles got to fly to Utah with Jerry to visit Grandpa Collingwood and Grandma Jan. In August we found out that Jerry's grandma has cancer so we made a quick trip to California to see her before she got too sick. We were able to see Jerry's mom, too. While we were there we, went went to San Francisco and Monterrey.

Everyone loved Grandma Bacon's pinball machine!

Unfortunately, Samantha was pretty crabby the whole time. We we got home, we found out that she had an ear infection. Poor thing!

Golden Gate Park, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Lombard Street

Pier 39:

Monterrey Bay and Aquarium - the aquarium was really cool because it was right on the ocean.

We even got to meet my brother, Taylor, for lunch at Chuckie Cheese.

Everyone's favorite place was the Children's Museum in San Jose.

We were sad to say goodbye!

Darren's First Day of School

Miss Love's First Grade Class




It's hard to believe that Darren is in first grade! We are proud of him and hope he has a wonderful year!

Lost and Found

You know how hard it is to find someone you really trust to cut your hair? When we moved up here, I took a chance at JCPenney and at different times had my hair cut and colored by three different stylists. It seemed like no matter what I asked for, my hair always ended up colored and looking like whichever stylist's hair who had done it - no matter that two had dark hair, and one was blonde! It wasn't a problem with the first girl that I went to, because I really liked her hair. Then she quit working there, and I was so dissappointed. Imagine my suprise when I walked into a random Great Clips to get Miles' hair cut, and there she was!!! So once again, I have someone that I like and trust, and now I only have to pay $14!

The $9000 Lotion

A couple of years ago when my mom was visiting us, Claire dumped out a whole bottle of her expensive prescription lotion. I felt really bad about it, but my mom was kind enough to forgive and not get too upset. She remembered a time when my sister had ruined my aunt Suzy's designer purse with lipstick and my aunt didn't get upset, so my mom wanted to follow her example.

This story happened to come up in my mom's sharing time the week that Darren was visiting. He had never heard the story before and was excited to share it with me when he got home.

His version:

"One time Grandma's little sister dumped out her lotion. I think it cost $9000.00. She was going to get really mad until she remembered that when she was a little girl, she ruined her sisters purse. And it cost NINE MILLION dollars, so she forgave her!"

I asked Darren what he learned from the story, and his answer was to not buy lotion that costs $9000.00. Yeah, what was my mom thinking?! (Just kidding - what a great lesson in forgiveness!)

Celebrating Eight Years!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! Because we knew Jerry would be working late tonight, we celebrated our anniversary on Saturday. It was the first time leaving everyone with a babysitter for an extended amount of time. I was really nervous, but everyone survived. Now I feel like we can do it again and it won't be a big deal. We went to the Cheesecake Factory, had a couple's massage, and did a little shopping. It was so nice to have some alone time. I love Jerry more than anything else and I am so grateful for him. He is the glue in our family. I couldn't ask for a better husband or dad for the kids. He makes us all happy! Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Samantha at Three Weeks

These last two beautiful pictures were taken by Tiffany - thanks!

Life with Four Kids: Things we've learned so far

1. Always, always make sure everyone has shoes before leaving (and keep a spare pair in the car!!!!!) My first outing with all four kids was to the library for story time. Darren forgot his shoes. Luckily, Claire offered to let him wear her pink flip flops because she had also brought her princess shoes. I don't know who I felt sorrier for - Claire's dress-up shoes are now at least two sizes too small for her, but she insisted on wearing them anyway!

2. Plan twice as much time for a family activity. For example, we had a movie night on Sunday. We had to stop the movie twice to change bad/leaky diapers, once for an emergency bath, once to start a load of laundry, once to stop a bloody nose, once to find gas relief medicine, and several times to get drinks and snacks!

3. Life isn't fair. Claire has discovered this recently. Life hit an all-time low for her when she realized that Samantha gets to keep her eyes open during the prayer but she doesn't, and on top of that, she never gets to have pretend birthday parties but Darren does!!! umm, Claire? seriously?!

4. I hate to admit this, but despite all the craziness, I'm loving it! I have the best husband and family a girl could ask for.