2012

• Redo Front Yard - Tresa (Jun)
• Go on Vacation - Greg (Jul13-15)
• Spy Day - Enoch (Jun 4-9)
• BYU Football Game - Gavin (Oct 5)
• Game Day - Gavin (we played a lot of games, just not all in one day)
• Go Swimming - Kate (Feb 18)
• Lego Building Day - Enoch (Nov 11)
• Finish Enoch's Room - Enoch (Feb 27)
• Geocaching - Greg (I can't believe we didn't go once this year!  How is that possible?  This is going on the list for next year.)
• Super 17 at the Space Center - Gavin (Jul 27-28)
• Go to Lake Powell - Enoch (Aug 8-12)
• Remove Microsoft Windows from my Life - Greg (Probably will never happen.  Sorry, sweetie.)
• Finish the Book of Mormon - Tresa  (Oops.  Can I admit this didn't happen?  I blame Guard!)
• Go Camping - Kate (Jun 14-16)
• Sleep in Sleeping Bag - Enoch (Jun 14)
• Sleep in Hammock - Gavin (Mar 17)
• Lord of the Rings Marathon - Gavin (Not sure if if was a marathon, but Gavin did watch the movies before he saw The Hobbit.)
• Potty Train Coal - Tresa (Jan-Feb)
• Dolphin Cake - Kate (Feb 18)
• New Year's Eve Party - Enoch (Dec 31)

Crazy Adorable Border Collies

One of the big draws of having a motor home for Greg was that he could take his puppy along on vacations.  We know that we won't be able to take her all the time, but this time we could.
My aunt Jai loves dogs, especially border collies.  She is the one we talked to while deciding on a breed of dog, picking out Coal and all our many dog and training questions we have had since Coal joined our family.  She was so wonderful and willing to let Coal stay with her while we ran around and did touristy things on our trip.
Coal was in heaven.  Sellands have two border collies, Kelso and Andi, and Coal was determined to be their friend. Kelso and Andi weren't too sure about this hyper, eager puppy who was now in their territory.  They were very accepting though and let Coal play along with them.  Coal was quite selfish and a show-off when they played ball, but lucky for her, Andi and Kelso let her have her way knowing that she is a puppy.  There were only a few scuffles between Coal and Andi - two alpha dogs trying to establish domination - but for the most part the two of them got along great.  Kelso just ignored Coal and that worked well too.
Kelso and Andi are truly well-trained dogs.  We can only hope that someday Coal can be as well behaved as those two amazing girls.

Aren't they beautiful dogs?!  (from left to right:  Coal, Kelso, and Andi)
Kelso has the most amazing coat.

We all know how neurotic Border Collies are about their tennis balls.  Clearly these dogs are no different.

San Francisco

It has been a few years since we have been in San Francisco (seven years, in fact).  We are not much of big city folk, but we decided to make the effort to go because we were so close (about an hour away).  The kids were excited and Greg and I geared up for the day trip.
Aunt Jai and Uncle Clay were so nice to lend us their Land Cruiser so we didn't have to drive the motor home through the city.  Geez!  Can't you see us trying to navigate that monstrosity through San Francisco?  Greg remembered his Dad driving their motor home through San Francisco when he was a teenager.  If he has memories of that, you know it had to be good.
Our first stop was Lombard Street.  This charming, brick-lined street is known as the crookedest street in the world.  We thought it would be fun to drive down it.  We didn't anticipate the maze of one-way streets to get there and then the 30 minute wait just to drive down it.

Enoch was a bit worried.  He kept asking Greg if it was safe and if we should be doing this.  By the time we got to the end, he thought it was pretty cool.  It was an unique experience and I'm glad we took the time to do it.  Where else would you find a street like this (I've heard there are a few more in San Francisco)?

 

Gavin was convinced he needed to go to Ghirardelli Square.  He didn't have to talk to long or hard to have Greg on board.  While we were trying to find parking, we came across the San Fransisco Maritime Museum just down the street from Ghirardelli Square.  The Museum was on our Passport list, so we stopped by to see what it was about.  It is very small, but on the water.  It had a few displays, but the best thing there were some cute kids!

 

We didn't stay long, but we did get our Passport stamped.

We then walked a short block down to Ghirardelli Square.  

 We didn't stop for ice cream because it was so cold, but we did browse through the store.  I'm not sure if they have this all year long or just at Christmas, but we stumbled upon a pretty sweet deal.  Fifty squares of assorted chocolate for $15.  Kate and Enoch liked the raspberry, Gavin and Greg liked them all and I liked the sea salt caramel.

I love how Gavin is gently cuddling his chocolate.  It was the highlight of his trip.

Next up was Fort Point.  This was Enoch's favorite part of the trip.  We let him run wild and he loved it.  He really struggles with being told to go here and then go there and look at this and don't touch.  At Fort Point he could run and explore.

Fort Point is located right on the Bay under the Bridge.  It is an amazing century-old fort, built from bricks, that protected the Bay from the Spaniards, Japanese and other enemies during various wars.  It has numerous cannons and cannon windows (I know there is a better word for that!), that point right out into the Bay.  It was very impressive.  And, we got our Passport stamped!  Twice, in fact, once for Fort Point and once for the Golden Gate Bridge. 

It's a great place for pictures:

Guard slept through the entire visit, but we did find his room!
Whew!  A lot of pictures and so much fun.
We drove a short ways up the hill and stopped to see the Golden Gate Bridge.  Greg stayed in the car to feed Guard and the kids and I got out to look around and snap some pictures.

 

Back in the car for one more stop.  By now, the kids were done, but we really wanted to see Muir Woods.  It was so much fun the last time we were in town.  Unfortunately by the time we arrived, it was dusk.  If you've been to Muir Woods before you know that the tree canopy creates so much shade and then add to it the late time and it was rather dark.  Pictures didn't turn out well and the kids walked through as fast as they could.  Oh well.

 

We finished up the night at Malin's home for dinner and visiting with family.  It was a bit overwhelming for the kids after such a long day, but it was fun for me to see my family and catch up with them.

We decided the rest of our short stay would be more relaxing!

California Here We Come!

Ever since we bought the motor home in October, we had plans to go to California on Christmas Day - have everything, everyone packed, food in the fridge and take off.  We didn't plan on having sick kids for weeks before Christmas and on Christmas Day.  That wasn't in the plan.  I didn't have time to get things packed and we, of course, couldn't take sick kids on the road, so our trip was delayed.  By the 27th, kids were feeling better and Greg was anxious to be on our way.  We packed up and prayed that the kids would stay healthy.  We didn't pull out until 4pm on the 27th, but we were finally on the road.
We drove as far as St. George the first night.  We overnighted at a Wal-Mart parking lot and left bright and early the next morning.  Guard was up about 4am so I snuggled in bed with him while Greg started driving.
The great thing about a motor home is you can eat meals on the road.  The bad thing about traveling in single digit weather is we couldn't put water in it or the pipes would freeze.  So, we could eat breakfast and lunch on the road, but we still had to stop for potty breaks.  Usually, we would end up eating our meals when we stopped, so we didn't save much time that way.
Enoch and Kate had a great time riding up on top.  They thought it was the best thing ever!  They had their pillows, blankets, DVD players, books, games, toys and they were set.  Gavin usually rode down with Greg and I held Guard - the entire trip.  It was a long ride.  Coal liked being up front with Greg or under the table.

 Riding up front is quite comfortable, but the farther back you get, the bumpier the ride is.  You get thrown around quite a bit being in the very back.  Still, we all enjoyed the ride.
When we reached Nevada, we remembered what the sun looked like.  It was so nice.  The weather was still cold, but sunny.  We drove south through Las Vegas because of a snowstorm going through the Sierras. Our drive was longer, but we felt safer.  We did run into some snow flurries, but for the most part, the weather was very cooperative.
We also ran into some traffic, but what else do you expect in California.  We didn't reach Alamo until 7:30pm.  It was a long day of traveling and we were happy to arrive at the Sellands.  Luckily for us, they have a long circular driveway with an electric hookup - a perfect place to park for a few days.  It worked out very well.
We knew we only had a few days in California, so we planned our time accordingly.  We wanted to spend time with family and see some sights.  We decided to go into the city the next day and hope the kids weren't too worn out.

A Million Thumbs Up!

After the kids opened their Christmas presents downstairs, we told them we had one more present upstairs.  We led them up the stairs and out the front door.
Surprise!  A motorhome!

The kids were so excited!  Gavin already knew about it (we can't be sneaky enough for him), but Enoch and Kate were so surprised.  Enoch said, "You got this last night?  I can't believe it!"  We actually bought it in October and kept it at Greg's dad's house (it's permanent parking place).
It was a long process finding this present.  We have been thinking about a motor home for a little while.  It made sense for our growing family.  We started looking during the summer.  We looked locally, nationally and were not finding anything that worked for us in our budget.  One night, Greg and I were both frustrated, we decided that it just wasn't working, that maybe this was Heavenly Father's way of telling us to wait.  The next day, my dad (in Africa) called Greg at worked at advised him to look immediately at a listing on KSL.com and to go see it after work.  Greg called, drove to South Ogden, checked out the motor home and bought it.  Yikes!  I can't believe he bought it without me seeing it, but he said he knew right away that it was ours.  No question - it was for our family.  And under budget!
I was so surprised at how well it was taken care of, inside and out.  It is an upgraded model and so they are a lot of extras that we were not expecting.  Everything worked great and looked wonderful.  It was such a blessing to find it.

After adding a few personal touches, the motor home was ready for Christmas.  As you can see, it was a big hit!  Each of the kids had a bundle waiting for them inside.  It included a fleece blanket (that Mom made), a towel with their name of it, a Book of Mormon and a toothbrush to keep in the motor home.

 Enoch said, "If I had a million thumbs, they would all be up!"

 

Now, we can't wait to use it.

Christmas

Disclaimer:  I got really bad pictures of Christmas this year.  I'm not sure what happened, but they are awful!

We started Christmas morning by opening our stockings upstairs.  Gavin, Enoch and Guard were very happy with their stockings.  Gavin really liked his Dr. Who t-shirt and Scout approved swim suit for Jamboree, Enoch was fascinated with his telescope ring and Guard liked his books and toothbrush.  Kate was so sick she stayed in bed and Greg took her stocking to her.  She thought her stickers with her picture and Coal's picture on them were very fun.

After a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls, grapes and breakfast casserole, we put Guard down for his nap and headed downstairs to see what Santa brought.  Yahoo!  Geotrax, a roller coaster and a lot of building blocks.

 

Poor Kate!  She perked up enough to ride the roller coaster and that wore her out.

We then opened family gifts and presents from Mom and Dad. 

Kate got a huge play-doh set with homemade glitter play-doh, cookie cutters, molds, rolling pins and a whole slew of fun things.  She also received some fun games.

 

Enoch was ready to try out his remote control car as soon as he opened it.  He also got a fun helicopter to use with his Lego alien space ships.

 Gavin had to search for his present.  We hid it and he found it only after it rang.  He also got two pairs of shoes (because when your feet are as big as Gavins, shoes are a gift).

Guard opened his presents a bit later after he woke up from his nap.  He got a baby remote control car (the baby shakes the rattle/controller and it makes the car go).  He also got some fun books (we had these board books in the tiny version with Gavin was little and all the kids loved them.  After Kate, we finally threw them away because they were falling apart.  When I saw the huge version at Costco, I knew we had to get them).

Uncle Jarom got some fun DVDs and reusable bags (and sitting in his uber cool blow-up Star Trek Captain's chair we got him for his birthday).

 

I was so excited to open my necklace Greg ordered me from Etsy.  It has all the kid's names on it and I love it.  Greg got a wax jacket, which he has wanted since he returned home from his mission.

 

We had a great time opening presents and the kids were very happy with what they received.  But...the fun wasn't over yet!