Merry Christmas!

I was a slacker this year and didn't get around to doing Christmas cards, so I thought I'd post something on here for anyone that still checks.

Audrey is turning 2 in just a few weeks! She’s our little firecracker and always keeps us moving. She runs on her tip toes (where did she get that from?!) wherever she goes and is usually as happy as can be.  She loves babies and is quickly mastering her colors and letters. She is quite the little talker these days, though it’s still a guessing game to figure out exactly what she says!

Evan is 4 and is enjoying preschool. He goes twice a week with 3 of his best buddies. He just finished his first soccer season and is getting ready to start T-Ball in the spring. He is a great big brother and loves anything related to space! He can tell you a couple facts about each planet and even some of their moons! He has been starting to read and spell and loves to do simple math problems!

Baby Brother is due February 7! We’re getting very close and are anxious to meet him. We are still trying to decide on a name, but are determined to have it picked out before his big debut. Evan is very excited to have a little brother! Audrey on the other hand is in for a big surprise! She loves babies, but we’re not so sure she’ll like being replaced as the baby in our family.

I’m busy chasing two toddlers around while trying to sneak in a nap every once in a while. I am currently serving as the 10 year old primary teacher and it’s been a lot of fun. I’m definitely counting down the days until I’m done being pregnant and I have another blue bundle to snuggle!

Reed has been keeping busy as a field engineer at PCL Construction. He recently was able to present at a regional conference and is being a great missionary to those he works with. . He is currently serving as a priest advisor in our ward and is enjoying keeping those boys in line!

And though PCL has been good to us, Reed will be starting a new job as an Assistant Engineer for Webb Associates after the holidays. We are excited for the change and are so grateful for the opportunities it will provide our family. One of the big differences will be that we won't be moving around every few years! We have loved being here in Riverside and are excited to really call it home.

We're so grateful for the wonderful year we have had and are looking forward to all the exciting changes that 2014 will bring. We love this time of the year that we have to reflect on the birth of our Savior and are so grateful for Him and His gospel. We hope this finds you all well and that you all have a very merry Christmas! 

Big Kid Stuff

Evan has been pretty busy growing up lately! Not sure who told him that was ok, but he's doing it anyways! First up last week we started preschool. We have a group of 4 boys from our ward and us moms just take turns teaching twice a week. It's not Joy School or any kind of 'official' preschool, we just decided what we think the boys need to work on and we teach them! We took the first week. I was pretty close to dishing out the ridiculous amount of money to send Evan to preschool after the first day! It was a little crazy. But I readjusted my plans (and expectations!) the second day and things went much better. I think it's going to be a fun year!

 First day!

Rocket ships are more fun with a buddy!

 

The crazy class

Evan also started soccer this week! He's been really excited and couldn't wait to get his uniform. Unfortunately it was really hot. And it was obvious Evan wasn't ok with that! The first 20ish minutes is their 'weekly practice'. We are in a big group with some other kids that all do the practice together. Then they split them into smaller groups to play a 3 on 3 'game'. Evan did well, but I think he was pretty overwhelmed with all the people and the heat. He said he had fun and we're excited for another (most likely) warm game next week!

The much anticipated uniform-and it's even his favorite color!

 The supportive sister

 Action shot. Evan is in the blue

Happy to be a soccer kid...and in the air conditioned car!

 

 Poor Audrey was drenched in sweat! And she didn't even run around at all!

When we got home, we filled the pool and had some otter pops!

Beach Time

The last weekend in July was crazy. Saturday was Evan's birthday party, his cousin James' birthday, and the stake Pioneer Picnic. Ev's actual birthday was Sunday. Monday was my Mom's birthday and Tuesday was Uncle B's birthday. Tuesday evening we dropped off the kids at my parent's house for a couple days so Reed could play in a 6 man beach volleyball tourney. Picked up the kids Thursday evening and then Reed's parents flew in at midnight. Friday we went to Sea World. It was Reed's Mom's birthday on Saturday. Then they flew out Sunday. It was all really fun, but it was a lot! Reed and his Dad were planning on going on a ward ocean fishing trip early Saturday, but it was too much. So we've definitely been having a few recovery days here at our house.

Reed and I had a lot of fun at the volleyball tourney. Reed got to play volleyball with some of his buddies and I got to sit on the beach all day without having to chase a single kid out of the ocean! Reed played on a team made up of guys that either played at BYU or have some kind of connection to someone who did. It was fun to see some of those guys again! The team had a corporate sponsor, so we didn't have to pay for our hotel or any of our meals! It was pretty nice. 

Unfortunately, there were like 20 something guys on the team. The first day was pool play and everyone pretty much got equal playing time. So yeah, Reed split time with 3 other setters. Kind of lame. But it was really cool because they had some current and past pro beach and indoor players on the team, including 2 time Olympian Jake Gibb! It was pretty cool. Gibb and his current beach partner, Casey Patterson (who was also on the team), are currently ranked in the top 3 in the world!
Reed setting

The guy in the white hat is Phil Dalhausser, aka The Beijing Beast! We also saw Sean "Rosie" Rosenthal (who was actually in disguise the whole time) and former USC quarterback Matt Leinart (who knew he played beach volleyball on the side?!)

 Reed saying hi to Jake Gibb (in the black)

The second day was elimination day. The team had a few amazing comebacks to stay in the tourney, but ended up taking 7th. Pretty disappointing, but that just goes to show how much competition was there. They pretty much played the same 10 guys that whole day, excluding Reed. Super lame. They probably would have had a better finish if they would have let him play. Oh well.

 Maybe next year...

Party Time

A couple weeks ago our space loving boy turned the big FOUR! He's been pretty excited for his birthday and for his space birthday party! Since there apparently aren't very many space loving kids left, we had to do most of the party stuff ourselves. But it was fun to work on the decorations and invitations and stuff together. Evan loves helping Mom use the Cricut!
We had hung up the solar system above the table Friday night after Evan went to bed. When he came out Saturday morning, he took a few minutes to look at it and then told me that Uranus was too close...!

We just invited all the kids in his Sunbeam class. Everyone made us pretty nervous, but all the boys ended up coming! I was so glad and so relieved! And it turned out to be a pretty fun party! First we started off with 'Pin the Rocket Boosters on the Spaceship'. I think Evan was the only one who played the first time around, unless of course you count Ryder's mom!

Then we headed out back to have 'Rocket Races'. I found these cool little rocket balloons at Michael's and the kids loved them way more than I thought they would!

Then we drew a big circle on the patio with chalk to make a moon and the boys took turns throwing water balloons at it to make 'craters'. They loved it and I should have known to make more water balloons!
Next we headed back inside to open presents and then have cake and ice cream.

Here's the awesome 4-year-old with his moon cake

 Having some juice a few minutes before a tummy ache set in

 I love these little friends!

He's already excited about turning 5...

Happy Birthday Ev! We sure love you a lot!

Space Jam

About a month ago, Reed and Evan discovered a kids youtube video about the solar system. Evan really liked it and was interested in the planets and the sun. So for the next few days, me and Ev started learning about the planets during Audrey's naps. It was so fun to see him learn and ask questions and remember certain facts about each planet. I love that he brings up that Pluto used to be a planet, but it's not anymore! We learned a few things about each planet and drew them close to scale. He got to practice his writing by writing the name of each planet, he got to practice cutting out the planets, and he got to color them in. So it was an overall really good little project. Here's our solar system we made together.

I love that every time we see the moon we have to specify that it's earth moon. The other day I told Evan that my parents were in the mountains. He asked if they were on Mars' mountains since they are the tallest!

Our solar system didn't quite satisfy his love of space. For the last probably 2 weeks, he gets up every morning to work on his own solar system. He did all the planets and is now working on the moons. I hope he doesn't plan on doing every single moon because there are over 100 of them! But he's well on his way! Here's what his wall looks like now (and he just handed me another one of Saturn's moon to hang up)

We'll see how long it takes for him to finish covering up that wall! Now, off to the space shuttle to play astronauts!

SD Day 2

We did a little more exploring our second day in San Diego. We started out at Balboa Park. It's a pretty cool place with lots of museums and room to run around. We only went in one museum that was free. It was an art museum and the guys there followed our stroller like hawks! So we didn't stay long.

Looking for fish in the koi pond in front of the Botanical Building. Evan was not impressed.

 Cruisin' through the Rose Gardens

After a quick picnic lunch we headed over to Old Town and visited the Mormon Battalion Museum. The Church has put together a neat little tour that was fun to go through. At the end, the kids got to pan for gold and pump water. Evan could have done both all day!

We spent some time at the beach before getting some In N Out on our way home. It was such a fun trip, but we were all ready to get home and get some sleep! 

Sea World!

Reed took a few days off last week and we made our way down to San Diego! And our first stop was Sea World! We were all so excited, but I think Reed may have been the most excited! We saw most of the shows and visited most of the animals and can't wait to go back again!

Checkin' out the sea lions

Dolphin Show! We all really liked it. I was impressed with how much Audrey got into it.

We loved the Shamu Observation Window. We were so close!

 Love Audrey's excited little face! The magic of Shamu!

 Though she does look a little nervous here...

We sat in the splash zone at the Shamu show, but didn't get wet at all. Poor Audrey tried to sleep through most of the show. It was a long day!

Per Reed's request we went to see the dolphins in the morning, around lunch, and right before we left! He loves dolphins. And we even got to touch one! Pretty cool! Evan and Reed played a dolphin carnival game and Evan won Flippy.

Then he went back and won a pink one for his sister!

They were 2 very happy and very tired kids on our way to our hotel that night!

Such a fun day!

Does Audrey look tired or what?!