San Diego Spendloves

Miscarriages

2011-05-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

My mind has been drawn to those who experience miscarriages. I have had a lot of friends who have had to deal with this trial. My heart aches for them and my prayers are with them. This post is written in hopes to bring peace to those individuals. Personally, I had 3 miscarriages in 2002-2003. At the time they were very difficult and by the third one I really felt like Summer was going to be our only child. I had a range of emotions, but that is not the point of this post. I think one of the hardest things about them for me was that there is no set doctrine on the subject. There are some really good hopeful quotes by General Authorities, but no concrete doctrine about the finalization of those precious spirits in a miscarriage. I am a person that wants doctrine.

Since the beginning of 2011 I have really studied this topic. Tonight I read something that really rang true to me as I have studied and prayed about this topic. I hope it serves as a comfort to those who have had to deal with this. I was rereading one of my favorite near death experience accounts of Suzanne Freeman. She had a near death experience with complications in an ectopic pregnancy that went very wrong. In meeting the daughter of that ectopic pregnancy on the other side of the veil she said,

"It was made known to me that sometimes a miscarriage is allowed as a challenge for the mother or family, and the brief time spent in the mother's womb has fulfilled that particular spirit's mission. Sometimes a miscarriage occurs because there is a problem with the DNA or some other facet of development, and the spirit that would have claimed that body may come again. Depending on the cause and purpose of the event, miscarried babies may be able to choose whether the miscarriage is their total earthly experience, or whether they want to go again."

Suzanne Freeman was blessed with a near death experience to learn that her dear daughter Brook's mission on the earth was fulfilled through the ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage, but not all of us are going to have such a grand experience. In another book about miscarriages the author spoke about an important tool that we have of using personal revelation to know the purpose and spiritual outcome of the miscarriages. I know this personally to be true and to work. You don't even have to almost die to learn these things. It is as simple as asking specific questions to Heavenly Father and He pours out knowledge, as long as you do your part in fasting, praying, and earnestly and diligently seeking out those answers for your specific circumstances.

At the beginning of this year I read on a blog the experience of one woman's 3 miscarriages, where she learned through personal revelation that one returned to heaven to act as a guardian to her family, one returned to her at a different time, and another one returned to one of her children (she had like 11 kids so maybe the Lord let her have a rest!!!). To me this explains why there would be no set doctrine because every situation is different. Doctrine to me is something that you can always count on, but how can church leaders promise something that is different in various circumstances. We are naturally interested in things that affect us, and for those that have experienced a miscarriage can find great comfort in knowing that Heavenly Father does hear and answer our earnest prayers....and that is doctrine.

I feel a special kinship to people that have experienced a miscarriage. For those of you who have experienced a miscarriage and want an ear to listen to and shoulder to cry on mine is always open.

"Hmmmm what can I dye?" thinks Nephi

2011-04-23T22:25:00.001-07:00

I was dying eggs with the kids yesterday for Easter. The kids were LOVING it, especially Nephi. Later that night we noticed that Nephi had disappeared, which isn't out of the norm. A few minutes later he came out of the bathroom with "my little pony" whose hair was sopping wet and Nephi's hands were completely stained red, clothes were covered in red (although he was wearing his jeans backwards since he insists on doing things his way), and had a red dye trail from the bathroom. The bathroom was not a pretty sight. Thank goodness food coloring dye cleans up easily on bathroom surfaces (a lot easier than the nail polish he had gotten into a few months ago, which stained the cabinet). I realized that he had watched Stuart dye my hair a couple of weeks ago and he wanted his turn to dye some hair. That little boy keeps life so interesting.

Just in case you were wondering, food dye does not do a very good job of dying hair. The ponies hair is the same rainbow color it had been.

Summer and Spencer

2011-03-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

SUMMER:
Summer has really been into reading church books. I had gotten a bunch of church books out of storage a couple of months ago and put them on our bookshelf. They were kind of for decoration to fill the empty space, but Summer took notice and started picking them up to read. She read a Sheri Dew book, President Hinckley book, and Camilla Kimball's biography. It is just so wonderful that she chooses good things. While she was reading Camilla's biography she was constantly stopping to tell me things about her. I am so grateful for a daughter like her. She just radiates goodness (despite her fights with her brothers).

She has been doing amazing with piano. I think that some people just have that gift, and I definitely think that is one of her gifts, not mine. She has a phenomenal teacher that expects a lot from her, which I love. She hates to practice, but I am glad that she is obedient because she is wonderful to listen to. I am so grateful for Aunt Nita (from church) making it possible for Summer to have piano lessons. She wanted to do this for Summer to help her get over the loss of her kitten. Aunt Nita is such an amazing lady that I am in awe of.

SPENCER:
Spencer has been either glued to the TV to watch college basketball or outside practicing basketball. He said, "Mom, I like to ride rides at Disneyland with Dad, but I like to play basketball with you." He said, "Mom, if I give you a starburst, will you promise to play basketball every day with me so that I can be like Jimmer" I gladly accepted the Starburst and told him that I would do what I could. My brother pointed out that his middle name is James/Jimmer. And it dawned on me that Spencer's middle name is James too (after my Dad), so we've been calling him Spencer Jimmer Spendlove, which he loves. I ordered Spencer a Jimmer t-shirt jersey. He was super excited to wear it to school, but then BYU lost a game. Suddenly he didn't want to wear the jersey because he said that he was embarrassed. I asked him why and he said because BYU isn't good any more since they lost. We had a good chat that everyone loses and that you can still be an amazing player and lose. I think it sunk in. He proudly wore it to school the next day, among all of his SDSU fans (his teachers). Stuart has mentioned with how cool it would be to have a son play college b-ball. It would be super cool.

I am stoked about BYU basketball and think ALL of the players have done an amazing job in the big dance.

How Nephi sees some of us.

2011-03-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

I was asking Nephi today about his primary class and what friends were there. I didn't recognize one of the names, and so I said, "What do his parents look like" so that I could place who that was. He said, "His mom has a white booger in her nose (nose ring), his dad has a lot of pictures on his arms (tatoos), and his grandpa looks like a crab." I was like a crab! "Yeah you look like a pink crab and Daddy looks like a red crab that are getting married." So I asked him what his grandparents look like and this is what he said, "Black Grandma looks like a bat ray, Grandpa with hair looks like dolphin, White Grandma looks like a dolphin, and your Grandpa (my Dad) looks like a penguin." These are all compliments of course, as he loves all of the creatures at Sea World.

Where's Nephi and Summer and Spencer playing b-ball

2011-03-03T19:05:00.000-08:00

I had to run by the church today to pick up something in the Relief Society closet. I brought our basketballs so that we could shoot some hoops. I have really been trying to teach Spencer the correct shooting form. Any ways, Nephi kept leaving the gym and I kept having to find him. One time he left for a very long time. I searched EVERY WHERE (well, almost) for him, including outside. I was terrified, upset, etc. The kids and I went looking a second time. I opened the chapel doors, and Nephi was standing at the backrow with the sacrament water tray, holding it like the deacons do to pass the sacrament. My terrified, frustrated heart just melted. I know that he shouldn't be getting in to the sacrament stuff, but it was so darling that he wanted to be like the deacons. He had even put the water cups in the trays. We put back the tray and he informed me that he also ate the bread.

The kids finished playing b-ball. Summer made 51 shots and Spencer made 23. They have had a definite interest in b-ball since going to the BYU/UCLA game, which I hope continues. Everyone but Stuart (who had to work) went up to a movie theater to watch the BYU/SDSU game on the big screen. It was opened up to BYU alumuni and anyone else interested in attending. We had a blast and were cheering the entire game. I was super proud of BYU.

With all of the events with Davies and the honor code, I have never felt prouder to be a BYU cougar. It feels really great to have graduated from a school that stands for what we believe in. I am so proud of Davies for owning up to what he did, and hope to see him back on the team next year. GO COUGARS!!!!

Just in case you were wondering, water does ruin cameras!

2011-02-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

Theoretically speaking, of course, if you are going to be out weeding your yard and oh let's just say your 3 year old son comes out with your digital camera to take some pictures, and you insist that he takes it back inside so that it won't get ruined, then please follow up on that to make sure he listens!!! If you don't follow up, you just may have a camera that has been completely water logged after a couple days of rain. You may just find it in a sewage pipe that little 3 year old boys love to put things in. Rest assured if this happens to you, you will have a non-functioning camera.

Our camera's last moments...through the eyes of a 3 year old

2011-02-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

These are the last pictures taken by our camera. Luckily, Stuart was able to retrieve the memory card from our dead camera. These are the last pictures....taken by a certain little 3 year old. The rest of the posts from tonight are the other pictures that we had on the camera. Better late than never.

And now what happened I do not know. But the final resting place of our hand-me-down camera (from Sam) was our sewage draining pipe.

Awards

2011-02-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

Spencer got the Responsibility Award in January. Summer told me that her class voted her to get the award this month with the theme Citizenship. I look forward to attending her awards ceremony next week.

YEAH!!!

2011-02-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

Yummy!

2011-02-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

Can't remember what Benson ate, but am positive that he enjoyed it!

Spencer dancing

2011-02-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

Basket full of goodness!

2011-02-17T20:07:00.000-08:00

GO COUGARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-02-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

Our large spider

2011-02-17T20:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a spider that Stuart killed. It is beside Stuart's shoe. Just kidding, beside Benson baby's shoe!

Samuel the Lamanite FHE

2011-02-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

We did a Samuel the Lamanite FHE, in which we stood on a wall and withstood arrows (marshmellows) as we bore our testimonies of Jesus Christ. It was a blast...and yummy.

Benson enjoying the arrows!

Roasting the arrows.

Oh Nephi

2011-01-30T20:49:00.001-08:00

Nephi has been so dang cute lately that I had to write some of these things down for me to always have.

Recently, he grabbed my head and pulled me in for a big smooch on the lips like he usually does. Then told me that he wanted to marry me. I of course told him that I can't marry him and suggested another little girl that he is friends with. He said, "No, I don't want to kiss her on the lips. I will marry Rachel, but not kiss her on the lips." Summer then told him that he can't marry his cousin, to which he clarified (a little girl from his Primary Class).
Today at church I was wearing my beaded jewelry that I got on our Spendlove Bahama Mamas cruise. He took off my bracelet because he said I was wearing too much. He put it in his pocket. When I tried to get it back, I could tell that he was going to be really loud and throw a fit. So I decided to wait until after church. So when we got home from church I asked him if I could have it back. He said, "I don't have it. I gave it to Clair." Sure enough, when I called his teacher, she told me that Clair was wearing a blue bracelet, but she didn't know that Nephi had given it to her. What a Romeo!
Today Nephi gave his first prayer in Primary. I helped him and he spoke extremely quiet, even though he was using the microphone. When he was done, we looked up and everyone was still bowing their heads with eyes shut because they thought he was still going since they didn't hear an amen (or hear anything for that matter). I finally had to tell them that he was done. When we were driving home, I was telling him how proud I was of him for giving the prayer. He proudly yelled, "It was in Spanish!" Wow, I didn't even know that he knew Spanish! HA!
Yesterday, Nephi did something that I was upset about (I know shocking). He walked outside. I thought he was going out to throw a fit and dig in the dirt. He shortly walked back in, handing me some flowers, with a darling face. Of course I melted, even if they were from the neighbors yard (sorry neighbor). He can be quite a mischiveous little boy, but he can be such a sweet little boy that makes up for all of the gray hairs (which are many) that he has added to my head.
We were finishing up dinner one night and he said, "OK, everyone get in the car." Stuart asked, "Why do we need to get in the car?" Nephi exclaimed, "Well, we're going to Disneyland silly." We had to disappoint that night.
Whenever I talk about Grandma, he says, "Is it the white Grandma or the black one?" I soon realized that he was talking about the black haired one or the white haired one.

Ready Set Go Benson Go!

2010-10-31T23:55:00.001-07:00

Benson started walking a day after Sam and Brittany left (about a week before turning 10 months). Bummer that they missed it. Here is a video of him starting to walk. He is walking very steady now, but I just love the video of him just starting. You can click on the link to our first youtube video for family and friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzN7lqiF2ys

Here's what under our couch, what's under yours?

2010-10-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

The Many Halloween Activities

2010-10-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

We had so many Halloween Activities. We had a church carnival one night and church trunk or treat another night, preschool Halloween party, twin day, school Carnival, and Sea World's Spooktacular. Here are the pictures.

The kids had twin day at school on the Friday before Halloween. Spencer wanted to be Summer's twin, which was just what every mother wants to hear. I surprised them with gender neutral shirts so that it wouldn't be such a hard thing for Summer to agree to. Luckily, everyone was happy and they looked so cute.

Here is us at the Ward Halloween Carnival. Stuart and I were Vampire Summer's victims. Yes Mom, that is the beautiful prom dress you made me for my junior prom. Summer pulled it out of my closet that afternoon and said I should wear it to the Halloween Carnival. So this is what we came up with. Benson is a Christmas baby, dressed in Nephi's jammies from Grandma Spendlove. Summer is below with her return missionary friend, Christina. Nephi was hulk that night and Spencer was Darth Vader. Neither Nephi or Spencer wanted to be photographed that day. Bummer because we don't have any cute pictures of them, but they were cute!

Sea World's Spooktacular...with Mr. and Mrs. Gumdrop. Mr. Gumdrop is in the Circ De La Mer show during the summer time and is hilarious. So it was so fun to talk to him. He was so kind to the kids and very quick on his feet. He remembered the kids the second week we went (we went 3 Sat. in Oct). Nephi was too freaked out to get pictures with any of the characters but I think he enjoyed seeing them. One of the times was with Sam and Brittany. It was tons of fun going with them. Brittany took our family pictures while she was here. Wow is she an amazing photographer. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures with them. I am sad because we won't see them until after they return from England. They always spoil us when they are here. We love them so much.

Here is a beautiful vampire eating her dinner. She found a young couple (OK maybe not so young, but it was Halloween so let's just pretend) on their prom date and went in for the kill.

Nephi's attempt to make pumpkin pie

2010-10-31T21:47:00.000-07:00

I was busy doing something with Benson and came into the kitchen to this. I asked Nephi what he was doing and he excitedly said, "I'm making pumpkin pie." He certainly keeps life interesting doesn't he! I have been letting him use butter knives to cut certain vegetables for our salads. He REALLY enjoys using them.

Disneyland Trip

2010-10-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

The kids had their annual 2 week fall break, so we planned a 3 day trip to Disneyland at the beginning of it. We had so much fun. Even though we are only 1 1/2 hours away, we stayed in a hotel. It seemed much more like a vacation doing it this way. I think though that next trip will be no more than 2 days. By the third day, we were beat and grumpy from staying late and getting up early. So glad that we went though.

Stuart and Summer went on California Screamin' while I took the boys on the Little Mermaid ride. We had never been to California Adventure before and we loved it. Stuart's favorite is still Disneyland because of all of the nastalgia. But I didn't grow up going there and only went last year for the first time. So the modern architecture and vibrant, beautiful colors caught my eyes at California Adventure. We split the trip up pretty evenly so everyone was happy.

The World of Colors was spectacular. Poor Nephi was asleep during the show, but hopefully will be awake next time.

Spencer was not too excited about going in the haunted mansion. It was really fun taking Benson on all of the rides because he just looked around and took everything in. One of the highlights of the trip for me was definitely seeing Peter (my cousin), Christy, and their darling kids. They were so kind to bring us pizza and drinks for lunch at the picnic area. The kids had a BLAST playing with each other, while the adults chatted. I am so glad that we got to see them before he finishes school in Irvine and moves on out.

Jonas Brothers and Demi L. Concert

2010-10-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

I was driving in the car one day and heard the radio advertise a Jonas Brother's Concert featuring the cast from Camp Rock 2 (which Summer had just bought with her birthday money) for $10 a ticket. That is my kind of price! So I surprised Summer and Spencer with the tickets. Our friends the George family joined us to rock out. We had a lot of fun. I had never been to an amphitheater concert and was surprised at how awesome and beautiful it was.

Elder Spendlove's Blog page

2010-10-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Our amazing nephew is serving a mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to sharing the Savior's message of love and peace in person, he has been given a special assignment to keep a blog and facebook page to share this message. We would like to invite anyone in and outside of our faith to follow his blog, which is below....

http://spendthelove.blogspot.com/

Feel free to share this address with whomever you would like to.

Our Labor Day Trip to Steve and Melissa's

2010-09-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

Here's our trip to Bakersfield to visit Steve, Melissa, and kids. It was a very fun Labor Day Weekend filled with swimming, soccer games, karaoke, Summer's birthday party, and eating yummy food. Thanks for such a wonderful trip Steve and Melissa.

Of course we had In-N-Out Burger on the way home.

Summer's 9th Birthday Party with Friends

2010-09-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Summer's 9th Birthday Party with her school and church friends at our house. It was a lot of fun. I am so glad that we decided on a 2 hour birthday party, instead of a sleep over. We were all exhausted after just 2 hours. It was a lot of fun though. Such sweet girls that Summer has for friends!

Summer's family birthday party

2010-09-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

Summer got to celebrate her actual birthday with cousins in Bakersfield. Rachel and Lauren enjoyed decorating Summer with the beautiful new flower hair accessories they gave her. What a special birthday to spend with family. Thanks Steve and Melissa.

Grandpa Spendlove

2010-09-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Spendlove had a heart-attack a few weeks ago. Stuart and I were able to visit him in the hospital, while Rebecca watched our kids (have to be 16 or older to visit). We had such a wonderful visit. He looked so wonderful and was in such good spirits. He had a beautiful smile on his face when I gave him a hug. We were so grateful that we live so close to be able to see him. We are so grateful for the tender care that Grandma Spendlove, Sarah, Rebecca, and Steve have given him. He is home now and recovering.

The kids made him a Get Well Banner as shown at the top. Summer has shed a lot of tears over Grandpa in the hospital. She loves her Grandpa and has been very worried about him. I think this helped her.

Spencer's future career

2010-09-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

I was helping Spencer with his "All About Me Poster/Report" today. One of the questions was what do you want to be when you grow up? He usually says a scientist, but today he surprised me.

He said, "Ya know those people that dress up at Disneyland and wave."

"Um costume characters."

"Yes."

"Who do you want to be."

"Mickey Mouse."

So there ya have it; Spencer wants to be Mickey Mouse when he grows up. I tried to have him write "Mickey Mouse costume character at Disneyland" so that it would make sense, but he insisted that that was too long and just wrote Mickey Mouse.

Spencer's new tie

2010-08-31T00:08:00.000-07:00

We used to work so hard to try and get Spencer to wear ties and finally gave up. Recently, Spencer has really been wanting to wear a tie to church. His little kid ties were getting too small so Stuart very proudly passed down one of his ties to Spencer. He is just so cute.

We were filling out a questionaire for his school teacher about him. I was asking him the questions and filling in the answers. The question was, "What is your favorite activity?" He said, "Church." My jaw nearly dropped with shock and excitement. He was also supposed to take 3 things in a bag that describe him. The very first thing he handed me was his old Book of Mormon from his Lubbock, Texas Primary presidency. I was surprised thinking that he would hand me all kinds of his little trinkets and asked him why he chose that. He said, Because it's about Jesus. What a wonderful day for me.

I don't know what I'd do without each of my sweet little kids. They are all so unique and add so much to our family.

Our new police cruiser and fire truck

2010-08-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

A couple in the ward gave us their grandkids police cruiser, firetruck, stop sign, gas station, and meter. The kids have been having a blast with it. We have such wonderful friends in the ward. We are so blessed.

The kids kept going back and forth between their kiddie pool and cars. Nephi has been spending a lot of time in the yard. He likes to take anything he can find and fill it with water and then dirt to make a major mud fest. I have tried to have him not get the mud in his pool, but that's kind of a lost cause. I was getting the cups out for dinner tonight and couldn't understand why we didn't have enough cups. Oh yeah, they are kind of occupied in the backyard, or some of them have made it to the trash can. I had to ask myself are these kids cups from Chili's really worth saving? Not really. I'd much rather Nephi enjoy himself...and that he does.

Apron and Concert

2010-08-30T23:43:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me with my new apron that I made in Enrichment. It was so easy and fun. I didn't even think about the fact that it would match my dining room when I bought the material. I was just going with what was on sale and what I liked. Score!Stuart and I went to the Michael Buble concert last Friday night. We took pictures on our cell phones, but we don't have the capabilities to get them onto our computer. Any ways, Stuart's parents let us opt out of Disneyland tickets for these tickets for our Christmas gift last year. Score!!! THanks so much Mom and Dad Spendlove. It was so awesome. Michael Buble's voice is amazing and what a performer he is!

I have the best husband in the world. He was singing along with Michael and dancing with me, while a lot of the guys there you could tell were dragged by their wives. Stuart is so awesome that he will even go with me to all of the Twilight movies. I went with my Mom on opening day for Eclipse because Stuart was at scout camp, but he went with me when he got back. He is wonderful. I guess I need to remember that as I seem to always have some kind of work to be doing when Star Wars is on.

My Boyz

2010-08-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

Grandma Lentz with us

2010-08-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

One last trip to Seaworld before my mom went home. It was such a blessing to our family to have her here for 2 full months. She is so loving and kind and I can't believe that I have been so fortunate to be her daughter. I was truly in blissville while she was here. She was a great help to me with the kids and I so much appreciate it. Summer and Spencer took turns going to the pool to go do her work out every day. Nephi was attached to her. She left last week and Nephi still tells me that he's not going to go with me to the store or wherever it is that I am going and that he's going to stay with grandma. I have to keep reminding him that she went home. I know that my Dad missed her very much and is very happy to have her back. But she was able to lose 36 pounds!!! She did awesome on her diet and will continue on her journey at home. I am so proud of you Mom.

Veggie Pizzas

2010-08-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

With 100 degree weather and no real AC I was not about to turn the oven on. So we had pita bread for our yummy veggie pizzas. This is one of my favorite dinners. I usually make the crust out of crescent rolls, but this was delicious too. It really hit the spot and is making me hungry looking at it.

The best part is that it is so easy. You just get your crust, put ranch veggie dip (you can use nonfat plain yogurt with ranch mix for a healthier dip) on top, sprinkle some mozz. cheese, and your favorite fresh veggies.

What? School starts on AUG 12!!!! Way too early

2010-08-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

We took the kids annual pictures in front of our house before school. But it just wasn't fair. They finished school on June 18th and started back on Aug. 12th. They were definitely robbed of a summer vacation. We had a great summer though, while it lasted. They have been excited to be back in school.

Fun at Cabrillo National Park

2010-08-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

Stuart's b-day

2010-08-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

For Stuart's b-day we went to Hodad's, a really cool burger place with a surfer theme. Then we went to Cabrillo National Monument. It was breath-taking. We got to see a Navy submarine leaving port and submerging into the water. We also saw an aircraft carrier come in. Wow, what an awesome place to live. I love being 15 minutes from the beach.

Navy submarine

The wind was blowing so strong that day.

Spencer and Nephi's Birthday Party

2010-08-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

This is the only picture that turned out in the birthday party bunch. Spencer and Nephi had a great joint b-day (6th and 3rd) party. Lots of church friends and old neighbors came. Stuart's b-day party was a week later with his surfer friends. I guess I was too busy cooking to take any pictures. It's quite different with an adult party than a kid's party. We had hot dogs at the kids' party, but an actual yummy dinner at Stuart's party. Both parties were a lot of fun and we are so grateful for the wonderful friends we have.

My sweet little Benson of course

2010-08-30T22:17:00.000-07:00

Benson loves to crawl everywhere, including outside where he got into the sidewalk chalk (as you can see evidence on his mouth and hands on the pics above). Nephi is only that loving and kind crawling beside Benson when the camera comes out. I guess maybe I should have the camera with me all of the time so that he is always sweet with his little brother.

Below, Summer was putting him in our new police cruiser. He was loving it.

Benson at Seaworld

Benson asleep with Grandma in our dining room

A picture of Benson in April or May

Summer and her 3rd and 4th grade teacher

2010-08-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

Summer is with her 3rd grade teacher at the end of the school year. We loved her. Her teacher is teaching 4th grade this school year and so she has her this year as well. We could opt out of having her again, but we certainly wouldn't want to change a good thing. Last year the 3rd graders were tested for the GATE (gifted and talented education) program. Summer tested into it, but it's not that it really matters because they have pretty much cut the program because of budget cuts. Oh well.

Spencer's Kindergarten

2010-08-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken at the end of the year of Spencer's Kindergarten year. After looking at the picture and noticing Spencer's face, we asked him if he had a crush on his teacher. He smiled and said yes. Can you tell! She was the perfect teacher for him.

Stripey the Tigress Spendlove

2010-08-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

Summer finally got her kitten after asking for 6 years. Dreams do come true! We love her. She is so tolerant of Nephi holding her and running around with her. She is perfect for our family.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!!

2010-08-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

I want to thank all those who responded to the suicide research post. My Mom and I are writing a book to comfort those that have been affected by suicide of a loved one. Your stories and input have touched our hearts and really helped us in the process. I really prayed about how to go about this and posting this on my blog was what the Lord told me to do. I never imagined the response. I know that when the Lord asks us to do something, He truly provides the way for us to accomplish it. Thank you for helping Him/us accomplish this.

I'd love to hear from anyone else that may have something to share as we are still collecting stuff.

And yes, I will soon blog with family pics. Stuart is the only one who knows how to download pics. He has taught me, but I always forget. Sorry.

Suicide Research

2010-06-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hello. I know that I haven't blogged about our family since Feb. and now it is a topic that doesn't have to do with my family. Sorry! Our family is doing fantastic though.

As for the topic of the post, my Mother and I are researching suicide and are currently interviewing those who have been affected by a loved one committing suicide (family or close friend). If that is you and you are willing to share your thoughts, feelings, story, experiences, etc., then I'd love to talk to you. You can just contact me by making a comment on the post with your info (e-mail or phone number). Comments on my post are sent directly to my e-mail account for approval. I won't approve any comments made to this post because I want to keep everyone's info. confidential. So rest assured that your info. is safe.

Thanks,

Kathy Spendlove

Pics of Benson

2010-02-17T22:12:00.000-08:00

Benson is a good little baby. He is really starting to notice the world around him. He has the cutest little smile. And yes, I know Christmas is over, but Grandma Spendlove got him such a cute Christmas outfit that I have to use it even if Christmas is over.

Photo shoot before church

2010-02-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

Nephi in search of gum

2010-02-17T21:55:00.000-08:00

Nephi knows that we keep gum on top of our filing cabinet. Stuart found Nephi trying to climb the cabinet for the gum.

Our kids all like to play outside with the neighbor kids and lately Nephi has found a lot of chewed gum lying on the ground. Yes, you have guessed it, he likes to pick it up and chew it. We have all been working really hard on noticing chewed gum and helping him avoid it.

Note: please excuse the cluttered bedroom. When you live in an apartment, your bedroom doubles as a storage room.

Benson's Blessing

2010-02-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

Stuart gave Benson a wonderful blessing, and we were so happy and grateful to share the special occasion with so many wonderful family members (Sarah, Brittany, Sam, Grandma/pa Spendlove, Steve, Melissa, and their kids).

Then onto our apartment for dinner with the family. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Sarah, Sam, and Brittany stayed for a little longer and we went to Sea World on Monday. It was lots of fun. Of course I didn't have my camera for that.

Afternoon at Sea World

2010-01-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

Never a dull moment with Nephi

2010-01-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

Nephi loves lotions and potions. He has really been interested in the vaseline lately. I found him putting gobs and gobs of vaseline in his hair. At first it was cute and funny, but then I tried to get it out. I washed and scrubbed, but it just wouldn't come out. Of course he did this 20 minutes before the older 2 kids needed to be picked up from school. Luckily he did this the day before my Mom left so that she could hold Benson while I ended up cutting his hair.

I just couldn't get the grease out and so I had to just cut the grease out. I didn't want to use the clippers because the grease would have definitely clogged the blade. I left his hair like this until Stuart got home to use the clippers. (Yes, Nephi still loves to put Summer's hair accessories in his hair) That evening I was talking to one of my friends and she said that you can get out vaseline with dish soap. Wish I had that knowledge before, but there was just no time to google that with having to pick up the kids and Nephi being a walking mess maker with grease covering his hands, head, and clothes. Luckily though we were able use dish soap to wash out the grease with what remained of his hair. It worked great.

Stuart finished up his hair cut with a nice little buzz. Nephi loved his haircut and named himself Grandpa (my Dad is bald). Has he learned his lesson???? Of course not! I found him getting into my pomade a couple of days later applying grease to his scalp.

Sunset at the beach on New Year's Day

2010-01-13T22:31:00.000-08:00

Benson...center of attention in our home.

2010-01-13T22:06:00.000-08:00

Benson has definitely been the center of everyone's attention in our home. I have been so amazed that Nephi has not shown an ounce of jealousy. He loves his baby brother. We all love holding Benson. He is such a joy to have in our home. We are so blessed.

I think Summer could get used to this quiet Sunday activity.

After getting Benson and myself dressed, I noticed we matched so of course I needed a picture.

Thanks for making this darling tie onesie Sam and Brittany. We love all of them that you made. It is perfect from you both because Sam is all about ties and Brittany is very crafty. Thanks!

Already best buds!

Benson's favorite big sister.

Benson's favorite oldest brother.

Benson's first bath!

Playtime with Legos

2010-01-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

My Mom got the boys legos for Christmas. This is all my 3 boys (yes, Stuart loved every minute of lego time too) did during the break. Spencer gets so bored with toys and so it was amazing to see how much he was interested in building with legos. It made me so happy.

Dec 26th...home again!

2010-01-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

I got to leave the hospital on the 26th. Here is Benson and myself right before we left the hospital. Then below are pictures we took once we got home. The first one is Grandma Lentz holding Benson. Then of course our family picture and all of the kids holding Benson. They all adore him. They were getting into lots of fights over who got to hold Benson longer. Luckily my mom had a timer so that we could time their turns. Nephi always wanted to hold him. He would hold him for 2 seconds and then say, "Summer's turn." Spencer was usually done holding him after Benson would mess his diaper. Summer is quite the big sister and is so amazing with him. We are lucky to have all 4 of these angels.

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

2010-01-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

Dec. 24th at 11:57 am, Benson Jon was born to us. He was 8 lbs. 5 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. Stuart and I just loved staring into his eyes. He is such a darling boy. Tradition has it in the Spendlove family to wear new pj's from Grandma/pa Spendlove so here our kids are in their new pj's from Grandma/pa Spendlove. We had planned on having all of the kids with us to take the picture, but after we got to the hospital, we learned that children under 14 were not permitted into the hospital because of the swine flu. We understood, but were quite upset that they would have to wait to see Benson and that I wouldn't get to the other 3 kids on Christmas day.

Our Christmas gift to our family was Sea World passes for 2 years. Stuart took the kids to Sea World on Christmas Day and they all had a blast. Benson and I of course stayed in the hospital for some quiet time.

Stuart had a little fun with Nephi while he took a nap at Sea World.

The month of October

2009-11-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

Summer dressed for the fall, even though it is still very warm outside.

Ward Halloween Party

Trick or Treat night. Nephi wasn't too excited about it at all until we went to the first house and he learned that you get candy at each house you go to. He was soon running to the next house, and the next, and the next. I feel bad for the neighbors that put the bowl in front of him because he would grab handfuls of their candy. It was a really fun night.

Each month Lemon Ave. School awards 2 kids in each class for a character trait. Oct. was Friendship. Summer won the Friendship award for her class. She really is a great friend.

Nephi loves to dress himself and so here is one of his creations.

Some how the first day of school pics were deleted so here is a recreation of that.

Spencer eating a lettuce wrap and liking it!!!

Crazy Hair Day (Spencer did not want to participate)

Update on Benson, Nephi, Spencer, and Summer

2009-10-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

Months ago I mentioned in our blog that our due date is Dec. 31st, but that my Dr's office schedule c-sections one week in advance. (meaning Christmas Eve) I thought that they would never schedule a c-section on Christmas Eve, but I was wrong. We are going to have Benson Jon Spendlove on Dec. 24th....CHRISTMAS EVE!!! Kaiser (my HMO) will not do it before 39 weeks. I was kind of hoping that because I have massively large babies that they would make an exception. However, except for an emergency, they stick with 39 weeks. We have really explored so many options, but this one seems to work the best for our family. We are really excited for him to come on Christmas Eve.

The kids have had 2 weeks off for Fall Break. We went to Belmont Park, an amusement park by the beach. Nephi had several upsetting times as he was not able to ride the big kid rides that Summer was able to. But he certainly enjoyed all of the rides that he was able to ride. Summer went on all of the rides. I am amazed at how fearless she is. There were some rides that the younger 2 couldn't go on without a chaperone. Luckily Summer was able to serve as their chaperone since I couldn't ride anything. The kids had a blast. I am so glad we went.

Another day during the break we went on a 4 mile walk/hike around Lake Murray. It was beautiful and fun for all of us to be together. During the hike, Stuart spotted a snake and used a stick to gently get it off of our path as Summer and I are scared of snakes. The next morning we found Summer in bed with Nephi with her shoes at the bottom of the bed. She said that she had a reptile dream and so had to wear her shoes to his room. Wow is she my daughter or what. It sounds like something I would do even as a 30 year old.

Spencer had his first basketball game last night. I was terribly sad to miss it but I had Relief Society. I love being at Relief Society, but would have much rather seen my cute little boy at his first game. Stuart said that he was so cute. He had the job to pass the ball in from out of bounds. He kept on forgetting and so had to be reminded a lot. Stuart said that he'd put his arms up and constantly move his feet when he was on defense. I can't wait to see his next game. He constantly sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating on the game. He reminds me (in looks and actions) like his Uncle Sam and Grandpa Lentz.

Summer has loved starting Achievement Days. On her off weeks she goes to club volleyball. Summer just loves volleyball. She didn't like basketball because of the sweating. Luckily she hasn't worked up a sweat in volleyball. Hopefully she can learn to like it before she realizes that there may be times that you sweat in v-ball.

Spencer

2009-10-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

Spencer officially had his first true love! A new family moved into our complex with children around Summer and Spencer’s age. One day, the 7-year-old girl named Leila was here watching a movie with Summer and Spencer and Kathy came out to find Leila and Spencer snuggling and kissing. Leila professed a deep love for Spencer and he reciprocated and POW!!! Love was in the air! After the movie, they took a “romantic walk” (as Leila called it) around the courtyard of the apartments and were in bliss. That night, we had a chat with Spencer about how kissing is for older people and he’s too little. Consequently, Spencer has been very shy around Leila even when she attempts to show her love by giving him gifts (e.g., a chocolate Jell-O pudding cup). Unfortunately, the saga ended just one week after it began when Leila broke Spencer’s new dollar store Star Wars light saber, complete with red lighting and sound. He came in upset and said she broke it and then declared he didn’t like her anymore.

Spencer also had a cute moment in Sacrament meeting last week when the primary was performing their program. He stood with other boys in his class at the microphone to sing the first lines of a song and when the time came, he began singing loud and proud as instructed while the others stayed silent. When he suddenly realized he was the only one singing, he got a look of terror on his face, stopped singing, covered his mouth, turned to his teacher, and buried his head in her dress as he began to cry. It was sooooo tender and sweet, Kathy and I both got teary eyed to watch him. We love our little Spencer!

The things that Nephi likes to wear.

2009-09-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

Nephi loves to dress himself in swimming suits...especially Summer's. He got a little help from Grandma to put this one on. He usually doesn't put it on so neatly. He also loves to wear "neckies" (necklaces and bracelets). The other day it was all quiet and my bedroom door was shut, which only means he is up to something that he doesn't want me to see. He found my stash of "neckies" and promptly started dressing himself.

Conan O'Brien show

2009-09-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Stuart and I went to be in the audience of the Conan O'Brien Show. It was a very fun day. We got there early and walked around. The top picture is on Coronado Island on a different day, but we didn't get any pictures together that day so I put that on instead for our date. We couldn't even take a camera into the show (not surprising) so we only have these pictures that we took close to the parking lot and then returned our camera to the car.

We got there early and so were in the third row of the center. We were right in front of the band. In the beginning of the show the camera cut to a little bit of the audience and we were in the footage. It was pretty cool to be on TV for 1 second!

It was such a rush once we got into the studio and saw the spectacular stage. We sat there for awhile listening to music and watching the things they do on stage to get ready for a show. The band of the Conan Show played during commercial breaks and were AMAZING!!! We of course loved seeing and hearing Conan...especially since he was standing right in front of us and super close. It is so funny how different Stuart and I were. He was trying to be as loud as he could, and I was sitting there not trying to draw attention to myself. I know that Conan sometimes makes comments about annoying audience members so I was so nervous the entire time that he would pick us out of the crowd as the annoying audience members. Luckily that didn't happen.

Throughout the day, we learned that going to places like this in "my condition" (pregnant) is very beneficial. The middle picture is of me in front of some important building. I don't know what they do there, but no one is allowed in there. We walked to the entrance and asked the security guard if they had a bathroom. He said, "No, and then looked down at my gigantic stomach and said, "Well, I'm not supposed to do this, but in your condition I'll make an exception." He took us to the basement where the security station is for me to use the bathroom. I thought that it was so nice. Then later in the day when we were seated waiting for the show to begin and after everyone had been told over and over again that once we were in our seats we could not leave for anything, a kind page/security guard came up to me and told me that if I at any time needed to go to the bathroom to motion to him and he would let me use the bathroom (yes, probably not a grammatically correct sentence...sorry) It was kind of embarrassing because I hadn't said anything, but it was also very, very thoughtful. Maybe it is his job to clean up messes...I'm not sure.

Great day!

Summer's baptism

2009-09-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

Summer had a wonderful baptism. Summer had been looking forward to her baptism for years so we are excited that she is finally an official Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were so glad that Grandma/pa Spendlove could be with us. Grandma gave a wonderful talk and Summer sang a beautiful song about baptism written by Annie Bailey. It was a wonderful meeting. The confirmation prayer was beautiful.

Summer's 8th b-day party

2009-09-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Summer had a slumber party for her 8th b-day party. It was a lot of fun. We had home-made pizza and rootbeer. Then Summer opened all of her wonderful gifts. Nephi has crushes on all of the girls that came so he was in heaven. Stuart took the boys to a mission farewell party while I took the girls swimming.

Summer was a little disappointed with her birthday cake. She asked me to make a carrot cake. I started making it by grating the carrots. She said, "Mom, what are you doing?" She didn't realize that you actually put carrots in carrot cake. It was delicious to the adults, but not too many of the girls liked it. Oh well, more for me!

My P.H.T. Degree

2009-09-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Stuart and I went on a date to the temple today. After our session, Stuart presented me with my "P.H.T." (Putting Husband Through). He put a lot of work into my diploma, having it full of the correct diploma lingo. He is so sweet! He included the words of his mother's "P.H.T" from his father, "Be it known that Kathleen Spendlove has completed in a most satisfactory and effective manner the major project of admiring, badgering, coaxing, demanding, encouraging, financing, goading, harping, inspiring, jollying, kibitzing, loving, managing, nagging, overseeing, praising, quieting, reminding, suffering, threatening, understanding, vilifying, worrying, and otherwise aiding and assisting her husband in his efforts to complete the requirements for a Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Child Psychology from this university." What a wonderful husband I have!

San Diego Fun in the Sun!

2009-09-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

Spencer's primary class had a beach party on Saturday. As we were there a photography student came up to me and asked if she could take some pictures of Nephi. Thefirst 2 are the pictures she sent me. Then the rest of the pictures are the fun day we had at the pool today. Sam and Brittany gave us their digital camera (THANKS SO MUCH) and so I plan on taking more pictures. We had taken pictures of the kids' 1st day of school with our 35 mm, but the kids were playing with the camera and they somehow erased. I am sad not to have their first days. ..especially since it was Spencer first day of Kinder. Summer was excited to start school and Spencer loves Kindergarten. Any ways, here are the pics of how we spend our hot summer days.

Pictures of Baby #4

2009-08-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

Can you guess if it is "Airplane Flyer" or "Girl Lady?"

This baby is definitely enthusiastic with a thumbs up!

***********

Also, what do you get when you add this picture (below)...

... with this picture (below)?

ANSWER:

He'll start off on the right foot!

Stuart's Graduation

2009-08-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

On Sat., August 8th, 2009, Stuart graduated with his PhD in Clinical Child Psychology from Texas Tech University. We are so proud of him!!! He has worked so hard and it is so good to see his hard work pay off. It was great to be there and share in the day with Stuart's parents and sister, Sarah. For some reason I had a really hard time downloading the pictures so they are all in separate posts. Thanks for sending us the pictures Sarah!

It was great seeing all of our friends in Lubbock. The Davis family was so kind to let us stay with them. They were perfect hosts! Sarah Thomas hosted such a wonderful ice cream open house so that we could see all of our friends. Thanks to all of you who came to share in the day with us!

And a special thanks to the Davis and Thomas families!

Graduation picture with Family

2009-08-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Stuart's Graduation pictures

2009-08-12T10:47:00.001-07:00

Mom, Stuart, and Dad

Stuart and Kathy

Stuart and sister Sarah

I can't sleep...why not one more post

2009-06-27T23:26:00.001-07:00

I think that I am setting an all-time record for myself of amount of posts in one week. It is 11:30 and our neighbors are partying and I just can't sleep. So I was lying in bed just thinking of the wonderful week we have had and thought I should write it down so that I remember it later.

The best part of today is that Stuart returned from Scout Camp. It was so good to see him. We had been swimming and came in for a snack and all of a sudden I heard his voice walking into the door. It was wonderful. He is extremely tired and so is not having such a hard time sleeping through the noise.

For playgroup this week we went to the beach. We had about 5 families there and what a blast it was. I always love going to the beach but it was 10 times more fun going with friends. There weren't any girls Summer's age, so she made friends with 2 vacationing girls and spent the majority of the time with them. I just love how easily she makes friends. I certainly did not have that talent at that age. The boys had a blast in the sand and a little in the water.

On Thursday evening Nephi kept getting the garlic jar out, which totally disgusts me right now. I kept telling him that he wouldn't like it, but he didn't believe me. I gave him a baby spoonful of it thinking he would taste it and realize that Mom was actually right. That didn't work. He loved it and wanted more. He loves to kiss me on the lips. I love his sweet little kisses, but they have been quite stinky with his garlic breath these last couple of days because he keeps eating more of it. Boy did that "genius idea" backfire on me. He is just so dang cute though that I can't stop kissing him even with his stinky breath.

I have to brag about Nephi...he now will sit in his carseat with his seatbelt on. I know what a thing to be so excited about. He is my first child to even try to get out of his carseat. He would always take his seatbelt off while I was driving. One day I was driving and felt a bump on my head rest. I looked back and it was Nephi partially in his carseat with the car seat tipping over. He had taken off the top part of his carseat seatbelt and leaned over and took the car's seatbelt off that holds the seatbelt in place. It was so scary and luckily we were on a very slow street. He is such a strong willed, temper tantrum little guy that it took awhile for him to be obedient. I am starting to learn how to deal with his particular temper tantrums. Each kid is definitely different. Part of it was that we would all praise him and throw a little cheering party for him for leaving his seatbelt on and he just smiled with the proudest smile he could muster. He just gets so excited with praise.

There are so many things that he just wants his way. One thing is that he used to not want to wear shoes anywhere (except for Summer's, Spencer's or my shoes). He showed up to Spencer preschool class to drop Spencer off many a days in Summer's mismatched shoes. But he refused to wear shoes that actually fit him. He would much rather be barefoot. There were many times that I would just give into him and let him run around barefoot. Even when it was at a park where it hurt him to walk without shoes, he refused to wear them. I finally decided to not let him get out of the car until he got his shoes. At first it took a few minutes of him screaming and kicking in his seat, but he soon learned really quick that I meant it and he was not getting out of the car until his shoes were on. So it is another proud moment for me that he will finally wear shoes when we go out in public. It is crazy the things we have to be proud of with a 2 year old.

A couple of months ago I stopped teaching Spencer how to read because he didn't seem interested and I didn't want to force it on him. These past few weeks he has said in every prayer asking Heavenly Father to help him and Nephi to learn and to help him to learn to read. I had gotten back on track with teaching him until this week. We were just having too much fun playing the summer away (which is easy to do in San Diego). He loves to write words so I have been trying to teach him to read more through writing words. Summer hated to write at this stage so I am doing things a little different with him and it is kind of fun to switch it up a bit.

Thanks and due date

2009-06-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to you many friends for your support. I feel really stupid because everything really is OK. I just felt like blogging about it because I was in awe of Heavenly Father's tender mercies.

My official due date is December 31st. Since it is a c-section the dr. said that they schedule those a week before my due date. When I got home I looked at the calendar and noticed that that puts me at Christmas Eve. I am pretty sure that they won't schedule it for that day. We would really like to have the baby before Christmas (especially Summer). Talk about the perfect Christmas gift! We look forward to a quiet (with some baby cries) Christmas with our little family just relaxing and enjoying the new baby. Summer and Spencer are so excited about the baby. Spencer always wants to see what the baby looks like on baby center. Nephi doesn't understand yet, but really likes babies. Despite his messes and temper tantrums, he is such a sweet little boy. He has slept with me a few nights this week. He always drifts to the bottom of the bed and lays like he is a dog at the foot of the bed. It is so cute.

The kids and I have really been enjoying our summer. They have really been into earning money and are constantly asking me what they can do to make money. We have tons of stones and rocks in our yard, so I give them a penny for a rock that they pick up. Spencer is constantly going out there saying that he is going to go do his "yard sale." He is so cute. They have had to exchange a lot of money too. I made a new rule that for every hit or kick they give to their sibling, then they have to give him/her a penny. They love the rule when they get a penny, but not so much when they have to pay up.

Read with Caution: disgusting content

2009-06-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

We have had lots going on lately, but I haven't posted anything because we actually have pictures to go with them so I am waiting until they are developed.

The kids finally got out of school on Friday. I am loving having them home. Stuart left for scout camp on Saturday and will be back next Saturday. We miss him, but are so grateful that he was able to take off work to go with them. I know it will be a wonderful experience. The kids and I have been swimming and enjoying the laziness of summertime.

Caution: Do not allow Andy or Chris to read the following as we don't want them to have 2nd thoughts about coming to visit us for the 4th of July.

Many of you know that Spencer (14 months-3 years) had a bad gag reflex where he threw up all of the time. We had him tested and nothing was found wrong with him. I have found several moms whose little kids have had the same thing with their kids and really appreciated them sharing with me so that I knew that Spencer was healthy and just had a bad gag reflex. Luckily Spencer has grown out of that, but passed the torch onto Nephi. In the last week Nephi has thrown up about 6 times (thankgoodness we invested in a carpet shampooer) on different days. He is exactly like Spencer was. My doctor had told me that as long as they aren't losing weight to not worry about it. I definitely don't have to worry about that with my big boys. On top of that Nephi's favorite hobby (at least it would appear to me) is taking his stinky diaper off and finger painting with it...all over!!! He has done this AT LEAST 1/2 dozen times in the last 2 months. It seems like I am either cleaning up poop everywhere or throw up everywhere (yesterday was actually both!) I almost want to put a surveillance camera in his room during naptime and bedtime because that's his favorite time to fingerpaint.

It has been particularly hard lately since I have been so tired and feeling sick with my pregnancy. When Stuart went to scout camp I had prayed that Nephi would please hold off with this until Stuart got back so that I wouldn't be alone. Sunday one of Stuart's scouter parents invited us over for dinner. Nephi threw up there. I was mortified. As Shanna and David (scouter parents) totally took care of everything...cleaning up Nephi and the throw up....while I cleaned up myself and changed, I was reminded of my prayer to not wanting to be alone. As horrified and embarrassed as I was I was overwhelmed with gratitude for Shanna and David and a loving Heavenly Father. Shanna also took our clothes to wash. You don't get much more Christ-like than those 2. I am so grateful for their kindness. I always think that I can do it all myself, but it is much more do-able with help.

Yesterday Nephi threw up in the morning and then had his biggest fingerpainting spree of all time. I was the opposite of a calm and loving human being. After I got Nephi cleaned up, Summer watched him so that I could clean and disinfect his room. I think I probably bawled through the entire clean up. Right as I was about to be done, Stuart called from scout camp. Just hearing his sweet, kind voice helped ease my burdens. I am sad and embarrassed to admit this, but I told him over the phone that I just felt like Heavenly Father didn't love me because I have been so sick with this pregnancy and am constantly having to deal with really disgusting messes that make it all worse. Of course he was amazing and assured me that Heavenly Father did love me. That night we had FHE (a day late because with the summer break I have lost track of what day it is) and Summer said that she wanted to do the lesson. She got on the churches website and chose a conference talk by President Monson and a talk by the General Primary Presidency 1st counselor. She listened to them and took notes and then presented her lesson to us. She said, "Mom, I heard you tell Dad that you felt like Heavenly Father doesn't love you (oops on my part...she was so glued to the TV that I thought for sure that she wasn't listening), well He does. President Monson said that Heavenly Father loves us." She gave an amazing lesson and is such a sweet little girl. I need to be much more careful with what I say, but at the same time I am so grateful for Heavenly Father's tender mercies and of a child so receptive to Heavenly Father's promptings.

I really can't believe that I shared all of this because it only shows how aweful I am, but I really wanted to share it because I am so grateful that even though sometimes I feel alone Heavenly Father is always there for us, sending sweet little earthly angels to rescue us.

My Mom

2009-06-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

I have recently been thinking a lot about the great family history work that my mother has done throughout her life. When I was a little girl I was often found complaining at a cemetary with cheese and crackers as my mom was busy collecting information for my Dad's relatives. She drug us along to so many family history conferences. I always hated it (except for the part that we were in a city and got to go out to eat!). I wish I had appreciated her efforts then as much as I do now. She has done thousands upon thousands of family branches for our relatives(along with doing their temple work).

A couple of years ago she kept having promptings to do the work for a particular woman, Mona, from Millersburg, my home town. My mother had taught this woman while serving her mission, but Mona had never joined the church. Then when my mom came back to Millersburg to marry and raise her family, she would take me to visit her. She was a darling elderly woman that passed away awhile ago. This woman never had children or any living relatives to do her work. My mom got special permission to do her work and that she did. She sent me about 125 names to do in the temple that were in Mona's family tree branches and lines. I have had some really amazing experiences with doing these names and am so grateful for my mother's sacrifice for them and for myself. Lately every time I am doing one of the names I am just

Today we had Stake Conference and it was AMAZING. Our mission president asked for older couples to serve missions and talked about how much it blesses the lives of their families back home when they serve a mission. He talked about how the temples are filled with old people that people may look at and think they should just stay home and die because they are so old (it was really funny). He talked about how much the Lord sustains them in order to accomplish what they need to. Of course this made me think of my Mom. She has had many health problems and is physically handicapped, but the Lord has made it possible for her to do her passion of family history work while living at home and while my Dad is still working. She serves in the SLC family history library a few times each week and just loves it. On her days off she is either babysitting for Derek and Tanya or doing more family history work at home. She just can't stop! I would love to see the reception she receives when she dies and is greeted by the thousands that she has helped receive the necessary ordinances that they could not have done for themselves.

Any ways, I realize this is a very sentimental post, but this has really been on my mind a lot lately because I am so grateful for my Mom!!! I love you Mom!!!!

Father Son Campout

2009-05-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Spencer and Stuart went on the annual Father Son Campout that our Stake has down at the bay/beach. Stuart called me at about 8:30 laughing because during the Stake President's talk, Spencer turned to him and said that he was ready for bed. That's our Spencer. Here is a picture of Spencer in his sleeping bag. Spencer LOVED everything about the campout.

Summer's highlights in April

2009-05-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

Each month the school concentrates on a characteristic trait and then awards a child from each class with the award for that character trait. April was Kindness. Here is a picture of Summer receiving the "Kindness Award" for her class.

Summer and Daddy went on a Daddy daughter date to the "Daddy Daughter Ball" at her school. I had fun fixing her hair and putting a little bit of her kid/dress up make up. They had a blast. Stuart said that they'd be dancing and all of a sudden Summer would leave him to go hang out with her friends. He thought it was very cute.

Summer, Spencer, and Nephi update

2009-05-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Summer has been a character this past week. We told her some news to keep secret and thought that she'd be able to do it because she is so good about not telling Spencer things that she finds out (i.e. Santa). Each day she came home from school she would confess to me that she told someone else our news. Then at Enrichment one of the mother's of her friend congratulated me. On Sunday we had all of the sisters in Relief Society for Mother's Day. I was conducting and getting to the portion called "Good News Minute." Some sisters shared a couple of things and then I was about to move on. A primary teacher in the back pointed to me and said that you have good news. I replied that we did and that Stuart got a job here and so we are staying. She said, "No, you have other news." I said Summer told everyone in Primary didn't she. She shook her head yes so I spilled the beans that I am expecting our 4th! We are very excited.

Summer has by far been the most excited. She wants a sister desparately. She has been coming up with names (as has Spencer...you can vote on the names that he chose at the side poll). It is a long list so I won't type them all, but one made us crack up..."Pansy." Great intentions, but definitely has the potential for disaster!

Spencer came home from school on Monday very excited because the girls were chasing him at recess. I got to volunteer in Spencer's class on Tuesday/yesterday and watched him follow the pack of girls holding cute little Ashley's hand. He really likes girls. On Sunday Summer was talking to Grandma Spendlove on the phone and mentioned that Aunt Sarah was there too. All giggly, Spencer said, "I want to marry Aunt Sarah." What a wonderful Aunt Sarah my kids have!

Now for Nephi...we go to the park a lot. He plays on the equipment for maybe a minute and then wants to go explore the grass/mud/anywhere that is off limits. At home he has been having a great time climbing on top of the boxes (for our move). I had to put the fragile things in the closet so that he couldn't destroy anything. He definitely keeps me on my toes.

"A Girl's World" by Summer

2009-05-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

Summer wrote a story entitled "A Girl's World." She did it on very large paper with each page having her illustrations. I couldn't add those because it was on such large paper. I thought I'd include this on our blog because I got a chuckle with how much she loves and misses Lubbock. I think it is more like missing Carter Peach than actual Lubbock, TX. Any ways, here is what she wrote.

"Hello! My name is Sarah. My name means princess. Yes! I'm a girl. I love cats. I also love to draw. When I grow up I am going to be a vet. My favorite food is ice cream. I live in a house in great Lubbock, Texas. I love it here. Its awesome and fun.

I love outdoors. I like drawing outdoors. I love it. It is so fun. I love drawing flowers. Flowers smell good and are pretty. I want a cat like I want my own pretty flower garden. I would have a tree also. I would have a bush too.

I have 10 minutes till I have to go to the store. I love today. Because I am getting cat. It will be a tabby cat. It will be a girl.

Well I got to go. Bye! It was nice meeting you. See you later."

She also wrote this on the back,

"About the Author: Summer loved cats and loved drawing and flowers. So she wrote this book. Her aunts name was Sarah. As you see Summer did a signature and a portrait of herself down at the bottom."

BYU's parenting website

2009-04-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago, I received a DVD in the mail as an alumuni of BYU's David O. McKay School of Education. The DVD was about positive parenting. It is amazing and I know that they will send you one if you request it. Any ways, while we were in Utah, I stopped to talk to the makers of the DVD (those that did the research) and they told me that they have an interactive website to help parents. The website is http://education.byu.edu/youcandothis/ . It is fantastic! I am amazed at how well Stuart's training at Tech falls in line with this, but it is so nice having a gospel insight/perspective woven into it (surprise, surprise Tech didn't really do that, but luckily Stuart does that!). I hope this helps those who seem as desperate as I do at times.

Anniversary date

2009-04-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went on our anniversary date. It was the perfect night for us. We dropped the kids off with a family that we swap babysitting. Then we picked up some In and Out Burgers and headed to the beach. We went to La Jolla Shores and Stuart showed me where he will be starting his new job in July. It happens to be about 3 blocks from our favorite beach, La Jolla Shores. How lucky is he. I think we will finally invest in a surfboard instead of always borrowing one.

Any ways, we ate, talked, and watched the sunset on the beach. It was perfect. Then we went on a walk on the sand and looked at the beautiful beach houses and sea scapes. On the way home we jammed to the radio with a little Red Hot Chili Peppers. Our wedding song, "I knew I loved you" by Savage Garden came on the radio. It was kind of ironic because I haven't heard it in several years and then on our actual anniversary I heard it on the radio while I was taking Summer to b-ball and then it played tonight while we were on our anniversary date. It was precious. We are so in love and look forward to spending eternity together!

GREAT NEWS!

2009-04-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our 9th Wedding Anniversary. It was a very happy day for us. Stuart had scouts so we are going out this weekend. But....we got some great news. Stuart got the job that he wanted. He will be the Spanish speaking Psychologist at the Autism Center of Excellence through UCSD!!! Up to this point the Center has not been able to facilitate Spanish speakers. His bosses are world renowned pyschologists in the field of autism. He starts the day after he finishes his internship. He will be working in La Jolla (San Diego) so we get to stay here in our wonderful ward (although at the end of May we are moving to another apartment). I am so proud of him and am so grateful for one choice he made many years ago to serve a mission (Spanish speaking). We have been talking about how many good things in his and in our families' lives stem from that one decision. We are so grateful!

Tara- he officially graduates from Texas Tech in August, which is why we will see you and all of our Lubbock friends again.

Butterfly exhibit at Wild Animal Park

2009-04-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

The kids have had 2 weeks off so we went to the Wild Animal Park while Daddy was at a scout campout. They were having a new exhibit with beautiful butterflies. You could stand there and hope they land on you. They seem to love yellow. I don't think that Nephi realized that one was on him. I didn't point it out because I thought he'd probably try to pick it up and kill it by accident. It was a fun day.

Our trip to Utah

2009-04-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

We went to Utah over General Conference weekend so that we could attend the Sunday Morning Session of Conference. Summer, my Dad, and I went to conference while Stuart stayed with the boys. I was very grateful for this opportunity. The entire conference was amazing, but during Elder Holland's talk about the Savior the Spirit was extremely strong. It was so quiet in the conference center and it was just amazing.

We had a great visit with Derek's family and my parents. The cousins loved playing together. I particularly appreciated how much Hyrum played with Spencer. Many times Spencer feels left out of the games that Summer plays and so it was wonderful to have older cousin Hyrum take him under his wing.

We went to Temple Square to see the Joseph Smith movie, went in their heated pool (the famous Saratoga Springs naturally heated with hot springs pool) and also did an Easter Egg Hunt. I really enjoyed some adult time with my brother, sister-in-law, and parents. We also got to see Lisa's family and Shawn's family which was a great treat. It is amazing how much all of our 10 Utah cousins have grown. I just love my nieces and nephews (and of course their parents too)

Summer decided to write a report of her trip to give to her teacher so here is her view of our trip,

Summer's Notes from Sunday morning session of conference.
"Apr. 5, 2009 Right now I am at confrence. You can not imagine. The choir is singing to us. I am getting tired. I like sitting by Grandpa. I feel excitement rolling up my back. I am going to be baptized this year. They just brought a little golden harp. The presidency just came out. I love today. I feel joy. It is prayer time. Some just said the prayer.
Dieter F. Uchdorf- Walk in His footsteps. Testimony strong. Patience. craft our character. our faith. Now is the time. We come his disciples and walk away. It is never to late. The church needs you. He is our salvation.
Neil L Anderson- Humble. Love. I know who I am. My testimony blossomed. Power of God. Goodness sacrifice faithful parents righteousness personal power loyalty build up the power of god. I am going to stop."

Summer got tired of writing notes (and I can't blame her) so I will fill in what she particularly loved about conference. She loved President Monson's story about the mother who lost her children and husband. I think her favorite part was the Mormon Tabernacle choir. As we were walking in she heard them singing and she did a little jump for joy. She asked if she could join the choir. I told her some day. It was just an awesome experience.

The following are Summer's journal account of our trip.

Page 1
"My report on going to Utah. Right now I am in my Mom's white mini van. I am looking outside my window. There is not a lot of flowers. Their is a lot of cars though. I am eating dots. Dots are good. The clouds are gray and white. I am excited. It will be awesome. Bluch! I don't like the dots any more. I gave the dots to my little brother Spencer. He handed it to my mom. That is all I am going to write today. I will write tomorrow."

Page 2
"We are back in the car again. We stayed at my aunts sisters house. We had a great time. Now we are traveling to my dad's sister's house. I have not seen them in a long time. I feel sick. There are lots of hills of dirt. I am having a bar and juice for breakfast. I feel merry. There is a big rocky little mtn. Oh no! My juice spilled. Some of the wet juice is on my shoe. We are at the gas station right now. Well I am going to stop writing for the day. I feel sick."

Page 3
"Today I am going to conference. I am very excited. I drove, rode the train with my grandpa and my mom. When we got there, there was protestors. A protester is a person that goes against somebody. Then when we were inside. The ward tabernacle choir sang beautiful music. We listened to wonderful talks in the middle. I felt happy inside. We were on a tall balcony. We had a great time. Later when we go home we did a fun Easter egg hunt. The girls got pretty little princess eggs. There were 36 eggs. We split them up. We both got 18 beautiful eggs."

Page 4
"Right now we are in the big mini van. No we are not traveling. We are going to Ikea to eat lunch. My uncle is leading the way. We are listening to good love song. There are many farms and horses in Utah. Utah is fun to go to. We are also going to a heated pool. I do not know what time we are going to the pool. We are happy to be in Utah. Anybody would want to live in fun Utah. I think they grow potatoes here. I don't know. We are in Lehi, Utah. We are at a stop light. Now it is green. The mountains have layers of white snow. I wish it was snowing down here in California."

Page 5
"Today we left my cousins house. I am crying now. I can not stop. We are going to my aunts house again. I don't think her kids are home. Maybe one or two are home. I love my cousins. I miss them too. We had such fun. I wish I could stop thinking of them. I am never going to forget my cousin Rebekah. She and I are the only girl cousins on my moms side. I am not crying any more. I am going to stop right here."

Summer just loves family. Every time we visit family she bawls (and I mean bawl) when we leave. I love that she loves her extended family so much!

Beach Camping Trip

2009-03-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

We went Beach Camping this week. Every time we go camping I remember that I don't actually like to camp. But for camping it was a great trip. It was so relaxing going to bed to the sound of the ocean and seeing the sunset into the ocean. I am so grateful that I married the master outdoorsman because our kids just love that kind of stuff. Spencer is as happy as can be whenever we camp. For some reason there's just something about playing in the dirt and camping that makes him the happiest little boy. We missed Summer one of the days because a friend from church was allowed to take a friend to Disneyland for his birthday. So they picked Summer up for the day. She had a blast. This time she also got to go to Disney's California Adventure.

Happenings of this week.

2009-03-04T18:23:00.000-08:00

We got a cute new dog. Here is a picture of him.

Summer has started playing basketball at the Kroc Center. She asked me if she could play...was I about to tell her no to basketball...of course not. She loves it and does quite well. There were 17 kids there tonight and 4 of them were girls. She chummed around with the girls and flirted with the boys. She had a blast.

Our kids have loved having Testimony Tuesdays and Thankful Thursday. Spencer has blown me away with things he is thankful for. He always says that he's thankful for the scriptures. Yesterday he said, "I know that the church is true and that the earth is pregnant." He has been talking a lot about Heavenly Father creating things, but I am not quite sure how he got that mixed up. We had a good laugh though.

Nephi is up to usual...making messes while I am cleaning up a previous mess that he made. I had a Presidency mtg at our house yesterday and a friend said, "I don't know if you care, but Nephi just took off his diaper." I can't even count how many times I have heard those words with all three of my kids. He loves to take off his diaper, squat down and pea. What is up with that??? Speaking of Nephi I just told the kids to see what Nephi is doing. Nephi crawled onto the table, squated down and munched on "my basketti" said Spencer. Spencer is notorious for not finishing his dinner, leaving an opportunity for our little vulture to come in and finish. I should probably go.

2 more uses that Nephi has found for his step stool

2009-02-23T21:11:00.000-08:00

#1 Getting a drink

Things to be thankful for:
- I had a lot of cleaning to do today and Nephi spilled the grape juice before I started. Thankgoodness!!!!
- We are now the excited owners of a carpet shampooer.
- Nephi had a blast playing in the pool that he made.

#2 For the last week or so we have noticed that we are low on spoons. Even after the dishes were all done and put away we seemed to be missing more and more every day. Today I noticed Nephi shoving a spoon in the hole of the heating element tray (not sure if that's what you call it). I took it from him and noticed a few other spoons in there as well so I started taking them out and then noticed some more, and then some more. I found 13 spoons and forks shoved under the heating element tray. At least there was only one of Nephi's plastic baby forks in there. He won't be using it any more since it kind of melted into a deformed fork.

Our valentine's

2009-02-15T23:05:00.000-08:00

Stuart and I had a wonderful Valentine's date planned for this Sat. He had to train some Spanish speakers in scouting until the afternoon and then we were going to go to the temple and then do a nice romantic picnic dinner on the beach. We had a little change of plans though due to the stomach bug. A sister in the ward heard of our family being sick and brought over the nicest meal. Stuart got home from training and soon thereafter Sister Pykles brought us over a rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes (with carrots and green chilies), string beans, cooked carrots, gravy, multigrain bread and a delicious Valentine's Day choc. cake (oh and a lasagna for today). After not wanting to eat anything for awhile it was such a wonderful treat. It really was so nice and very much appreciated. Sister Pykles is so amazing to us and everyone else that she comes in contact with.

So this morning the boys got up at 6:00ish and we put on "David and Goliath" so that we could continue to sleep. Spencer soon came into the room saying that Nephi was getting into the cake with a knife (luckily a butterknife). We rushed out to the kitchen and Nephi was standing on his step stool with cake all over his face, hands, clothing, counters, floor, etc. Needless to say, next time we will remember to put yummy treats on top of the fridge and realize that he can take lids off of things he wants. Nephi certainly was happy and he didn't demolish the cake, THANKGOODNESS!! We still got to eat some tonight.

Nephi playing in the mud

2009-02-15T22:49:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago on a warm summer day...oh wait a minute on a warm winter day, Nephi found a large area of mud at the park. He got into it before I could catch him. He was already dirty and so I let him go at it and he had a blast. He was splashing around having the time of his life.

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Spendloves

2009-02-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

We barely had any pictures at Christmas because 1. we mainly took videos because we only have cell phone cameras. 2. When Melissa is around, she takes TONS of pictures and we all benefit. So of course I snatched these from her website. Thank you Melissa. I don't know what we'd do without you. You are awesome.

Nephi sitting with cousing Matthew.

Stuart with Spencer ice blocking and excited Summer ice blocking.

Grandpa ice blocking.

Melissa (top) Brooke, Sarah, and Summer ice blocking. Look at the ab workout. Wow are these ladies fit!

Grandpa bowling on the wii.

Shawn, Stuart, and Steve on Rock Band. Stuart loved singing!

Nephi and Lauren on the drums.

Stuart, Sarah, Grandpa, Grandma, Rebecca, and Steve

Christmas evening.

Christmas at the Pier.

Christmas Morning

Grandma opening magnets that Summer and Spencer made in Primary.

Happy Boy Christmas morning!

Nephi opening book and doggie from Grandma/pa Spendlove. He loves to snuggle with the doggie and make it bark. Thanks for the great gift.

Spencer opening batman from Katy, Texas cousins. THANKS!

Summer modeling her new hot pink bracelet and hat.

This was by far our very favorite gift. In school Summer made a beautiful calendar with a hidden picture of her in each month. It is kind of like a "Where is Waldo" book. It touched Stuart and I very much.

After the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve, we had an adult white elephant gift exchange. Mom opened the gift that we brought, which I had wrapped in a red turtle neck sweater (Janna's former sweater, which you probably could use right now living in the cold Upstate New York). It wasn't part of the gift, but I didn't want the real gift to break and when you are poor college kids like us you use whatever you have laying around the house. So any ways, Mom put on the sweater and looked beautiful in it. I had to include this picture because she is always the life of the party and this picture symbolize that for me.

Christmas jammies from Grandma.

Cousins with Santa Claus.

Our family with Santa Claus.

Nephi loves his Aunt Melissa.

Sunday, Feb. 8th, 2009

2009-02-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

Sundays always seem to be bitter sweet for our family. We are always wanting to have a spiritual day, but sometimes being parents gives us an opportunity to enjoy spurts of joy and spurts of frustration. Stuart and I always felt so frustrated by the time church started and during church because of grumpy kids that HATE getting dressed for church and kids that have a hard time sitting in church. Stuart thought it would be a good idea for us to do something every day (of course along with morning scripture study) with the kids to help us remember that Sunday and the Sacrament are coming. So Mondays-FHE, Testimony Tuesdays, read children's church books Weds, Thankful notebook Thurs., Liken the scriptures (acting out scriptures) Fri., early to bed and pick out church clothes Sats. It has been great these last few weeks that we have done it. But as today we realized that it doesn't mean that we are going to be able to glide through Sundays. Sometimes despite all of the preparations we make for something, we are thrown curve balls that make the journey a little more interesting.

This morning started off as usual with grumpy kids. We got to church and Nephi refused to wear his church shoes and ran off bare foot in the parking lot. He managed to get some kind of soot all over his hands before I could catch him. Of course I was wearing a white shirt to which he rubbed it all over. So we went to the bathroom to wash up. After I put him down so that I could clean myself up, I heard a splashing sound. Yes, he decided to wash his hands again in the toilet, the funny thing is that he screamed and kicked the whole time I was washing him in the sink. I guess he just loves toilet water. Next was Sacrament mtg. Let's just say that Nephi spent a lot of time with Daddy in time out during sacrament mtg. Just as we are both worn out from grumpy kids, ready to tear out all of our hair (although I do have a lot of grays, so just as long as my grays are being the ones pulled out it may be OK I guess), one of Stuart's scouts gave an amazing talk, Brother Price gave an amazing talk about the gift of tongues, and a young man leaving for the MTC this week to serve a mission in Japan gave an absolutely amazing talk. It is in these moments that we realize how fortunate we are to have the restored gospel on the earth and that the little annoyances that try to stand in the way of us feeling the Spirit really hold no signifigance. But, I am certainly grateful that Stuart is leading our family in helping us prepare to take the sacrament because it definetly has made us a happier family (even though we don't have the perfect family and never will).

Summer gave a talk in Primary. She sang part of her talk because she was using the words of one of Annie Bailey's songs for it. It was very precious. She loves to sing. I love going into primary to see Summer and Spencer.

Summer started something great in our family tonight. She was sitting by herself going through the children's songbook singing songs. A few minutes later I joined in singing with her. Spencer and Nephi joined us in the room (laughing and giggling as they hid under covers). Then finally Stuart joined in singing with us. It was a wonderful night singing together. Days like this remind me how wonderful life really is, even when only a couple of hours earlier Nephi put about 5 pieces of clothes in an unflushed toilet. But, luckily Summer yelled for us to come and stop him before he stuck more in. During the middle of writing this, Stuart came in with Nephi because Nephi had just put 1/2 a roll of toilet paper in the toilet. I think we have a future plumber on our hands. Nephi just helps us to keep life interesting.

You're going to pay me for that?

2009-01-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

Today I got paid $75 for giving Jack in the Box my opinions about their new menu board. I was part of a small focus group. It only took an hour and was actually tons of fun. I must admit that I almost want to spend most of it on all of their new things (chocolate molten cake), but I will restrain myself. They are going to be doing a new thing where you build a meal with several options instead of fries. I probably would have done that for free, but hey I can't complain about $75/hour!

Our trip to the Wild Animal Park

2009-01-24T20:19:00.000-08:00

We love the Wild Animal Park. We went on Stuart's day off on Monday. First on our visit we spotted some beautiful creatures with some cute little ears.

We only took pictures of a handful of the animals that we saw. The pictures are of course a pelican, giraffes, and rhinos. The giraffes and rhinos were observed on the safari tour.

We tried to capture the beauty of the landscaping in the following pictures and of course sunset. During this part of the day Spencer turned to me and said, "I'm impressed." I said, "Wow, Stuart he just used the word impressed. Spencer what are you impressed about." Showing me is dirty feet he said, "My feet are impressed." I guess maybe he's not quite sure what impressed means and Stuart and I couldn't figure out what he thought it meant either. Oh well, it sure was cute.

We finally made it home for dinner and were lucky enough to smuggle this monkey out of the park with us.

Stuart

2009-01-11T20:28:00.000-08:00

Stuart loves taking fun pictures of himself and I just happened to notice this cute one. He is such a fun husband that I adore!

Tide Pools in La Jolla

2009-01-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

Sat. Jan 10th was a beautiful 70 degree day in San Diego. We took the kids to the beach to see the seals and explore the tide pools. Many were getting submerged in the water, but we were mean parents and just let the kids get in up to their knees. They just didn't understand that even though it is 70 degrees outside does not mean that the water is warm enough to swim in. It was a very fun day of exploration. The first picture is of seals, although it doesn't look like it. The other pictures are of us standing on the tide pools.

Trip to Disneyland

2009-01-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Grandpa Spendlove gave us a wonderful trip to Disneyland for Christmas. Thanks so much!! Here are Summer and cousin Rachel and the teacups and Spencer and Nephi on the teacups. We had a blast.

At Last Sam and Brittany's profession wedding pics

2009-01-11T19:37:00.000-08:00

Cutting a Rug with Grandpa Lentz

2009-01-02T01:26:00.001-08:00

Here's a cute video from Sam and Brittany's wedding. Dad sure loves to dance and Summer was excited to dance with him... until the end that is! She saw another little boy she wanted to play with and just ran off leaving Grandpa standing there alone! Sorry Dad. We're glad she and Grandpa had a chance to boogie together for a little while anyway.

Stars Were Gleaming

2009-01-02T01:14:00.000-08:00

This Christmas Spencer learned a new song in Primary that he was excited to share with anyone that would listen. He sang it for his grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and even did a solo in front of his preschool class of 22 students and the Santa Paula Ward primary opening exercises. His preschool teacher audio recorded it for me. He's usually a little shy, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him so ready and willing to share his new-found talent. Notice his smile and the slight swing in his stance as he sings. Cute!

Sam and Brittany's wedding

2009-01-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

I left my 35 mm camera at the luncheon and so have been waiting for family to send more pictures (NO PRESSURE THOUGH). Then I was downloading pictures from my camera and found one that Spencer took. So this is the picture that Spencer took, which is why Brittany's head is just barely on the picture. He really does take some good shots for a 4 year old.

It was a fantastic wedding. We just love Brittany because of her compassion, kindness, and the way she makes my brother laugh.

San Diego

2009-01-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

While Stuart was presenting at a conference, I took the kids on the ferry from Coronado Island to San Diego and then back again. We left before the sun set and were on the water as the sun set. It was beautiful.

Nephi's favorite thing at the park

2009-01-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

Night in Zarahemla

2009-01-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

In November our Ward did a "Night in Zarahemla" in celebration of the ward reading the Book of Mormon. We had a dinner and then ward members put on an amazing play telling the stories of the Book of Mormon. Stuart was Nephi and the kids were the Stripling Warriors. Sister Pykles, an AMAZING seamstress, made all of the costumes. I wish the pictures had better lighting so that it would show the great detail of the costumes, but that's what happens with a cell phone camera. It was an amazing night.