9-27-2016 & 9-28-2016 - Breaking Bricks at my parents house

What do you do when your husband works alot at night? Well for these two days, we went to my mom's and broke up bricks.

She had tons of bricks that needed to be broken up to be used as road base for cement. So I used my muscles to push wheelbarrows and whack bricks. It was tedious and hard work, but fun at the same time. My kids did a pretty good job the first day of smashing bricks.

Waiting for daddy to get home after having a bath at Bonka's.

We headed back over on Wednesday. We did alot of work before lunch and stopped when Kali got there to eat lunch. After lunch, we put Logan and Kyla down for a nap and finished the process of breaking bricks. 

 Last wheelbarrow full of bricks.

 All the bricks that I moved with the wheelbarrow.

Empty pile of bricks. Ones that are stacked up will be used for the shed that will be built next year.

9-25-2016 - Matt's 50 miler reunion

Well, Matt went on a 50 miler when he was about 14 or 15. I can't remember his exact age. He tells me stories about it every once in awhile.

He told me the first part of the hike they did for it was hard and he was at the very back of the line. He felt embarrassed to be the last one, so he made it a point to be one of the first for the rest of the hike.

He also has told me stories of his dad having lost his wallet and having to turn back to go find it at one point.

His brother, Mitch, met them somewhere along the hike and had brought them ice cream.


So why am I writing about this 20 years later. One of the leaders was cleaning out his boxes and found the videos for it. He got them transferred onto a DVD and decided to throw a reunion for the 50 miler participants that year.


We headed to Heber for an evening under the stars and watching the "boys" be boys and have ice cream.

I saw a couple glimpses of the DVD but was mostly watching Logan. Kara had fun playing on the trampoline and also the swing set in the yard.

Just before we were going to leave she slid down the slide and kissed the pavement. Her nose got scratched up to prove it too.

It was fun seeing old friends while watching them be teenagers.

9-23-2016 to 9-24-20 - Watch Leili and Kyla (including sleeping over)

You are crazy when you volunteer yourself to watch your sisters two kids, who are 6 months older than your 3 year old and 7 months younger than your 1 year old. 

Yep that would be me. My mom was going out of town to visit my sister in Reno and Kali's husband was at a work getaway in Midway for the weekend. So I volunteered to watch her kids. Plus we had only been home from Disneyland for 3 days. 

I knew Leili (4 years old) would be just fine. It was Kyla (10 1/2 months old) that we were a bit worried about. Kali had never left her over night. She was still nursing and hadn't really taken a bottle except maybe 4 times in her whole life.

So my theory was, it was only 1 night and it wouldn't be that hard.

Kali dropped them off at 10am. She was a bit nervous to leave but still left anyway. It went pretty well. I even had all the kids minus Leili down for a nap at the same time. I first had Kyla in my room for a nap and then decided after that she could sleep in the laundry room and have her own area. It worked out perfectly. 

Matt was at work the whole day so it was just me and 4 kids. We managed pretty well and I even was able to get some of the Disneyland laundry put away. Kyla wanted to be held alot and wasn't sure about playing around. 

Logan just followed Kara and Leili around playing with them. 

We had lunch and snacked on Cherrios throughout the day, which Kyla loved.

Kara, Leili, and Logan having a tea party with water. I caught them trying to use my water bottles upstairs while I was cleaning up from lunch and told them they could have a tea party downstairs at the table.

Kara and Leili reading books and driving their "car".

After Kara got up from her nap, we made cookies with Leili. It was nice having the younger two asleep while we did this. These two fought over who was going to help me, but were pretty mellow about it.

Video - Time Lapse of dinner with me and 4 kids under the age of 4. 

We had a pretty successful nights sleep. Kyla slept way late and through the night which doesn't usually happen. Kali came back home from Midway about 10am, but I kept the girls with us until we went to Shawn's surprise 30th birthday party that Kali needed to get ready for. 

I had a bit of fun doing Leili's hair. She holds still while I did it and there was so much of it I was able to actually braid it.

Matt and Leili putting a puzzle together while all 3 kids were asleep for an afternoon nap before the big birthday party.

All loaded up and ready to go. Its a good thing we have a Durango that can fit 4 kids inside of it. 

Ready to surprise Shawn for his 30th birthday!

Matt getting ready to "pin the mustache on Shawn" game.

Video - Matt Playing pin the mustache on Shawn at Shawn's surprise 30th Birthday Party

Getting ready to play "whipping cream and bubble gum" game that Kali found on pinterest. 

Kara loved the game, but Leili wouldn't get her face dirty.

 Kali put all the 30 candles on Shawn's birthday. Lots of candles equals a big flame. 

We had a successful first sleepover. I was able to get Kyla switched over to a bottle really easily and we even seemed to have gotten enough sleep. Till our next sleepover!

9-7-2016 - Just a random day

We had a random day on 9-7-2016, but we had some fun. We went shopping looking for Leili's birthday present but found a dinosaur head to play with instead. 

While Kara and Matt were taking a nap, Logan and I played with their hats.

After dinner, the kids and I went for a walk. They both found a couple of sticks and brought them home. They decided to go fishing off the front porch while I relaxed.

I love lazy days when we don't have to be anywhere and don't have to do anything. These days seem to be more far fewer then we use to have before Kara started preschool.

9-6-2016 - Kara's first day of Preschool

Well it finally happened...Kara had her first day of preschool. A lady in our neighborhood teaches preschool, so I signed her up to go there because the class size was small and it is practically 10 houses away from ours. I like that we can most definitely walk there and not have to load up in the car twice a day in a two hour period. 

She started on Tuesday, September 6th. We went in for the first 15 minutes to see her class and made sure she felt comfortable. 

I was able to drop Logan off with a neighbor, which was nice so I could spend the 1 on 1 time with Kara. 

We went in for the first 15 minutes to see her class and made sure she felt comfortable. 

I was able to drop Logan off with a neighbor, which was nice so I could spend the 1 on 1 time with Kara. 

When I picked her up she was so excited. It was quite interesting to ask her "what did you do" and get back an "I don't know". Oh well, at least she thoroughly enjoyed herself. 

My mom ended up stopping by for lunch with Mason since she was watching him. Kara and Mason raided the cherry tomato plant while Logan wasn't looking.

Kara's first time writing her name.

Logan having fun during dinner time and showing me how he eats.