Side trip to the Sundial Bridge

Stephanie had posted about a trip her family made to the Sundial Bridge in Redding. When I remembered that when we picked up Alice and Jasper I had to call them and check where the bridge was at. It was about 10 minutes from where we got the puppies so we made the side trip. It was a really cool bridge. Too bad it was not sunny to be able to use it as a sundial. There is a neat museum and nature center that we are planning to come back to another day.

Dolly's Merry Happy Christmas Birthday

This year for Dolly's Birthday and Christmas she got some money to use on either a new computer or a pug puppy. After much thought she decided she wanted the puppy so the search began. She called and emailed on many ad's and only one had replied but they wanted too much for the puppy. Then this morning we got a call back from someone in Redding that had an ad. The price was half what others were asking. When she talked to him he said it was the last two of the litter and asked if we would like both for $50 more. We jumped in the truck and took the almost 3 hour drive to Redding. As you can see she fell in love with them so they both came home with us. She has named them Alice and Jasper. The kids loved holding them on the way home.

The Christmas Elves deliver

Our long standing Family tradition continues through the generations. Santa's Elves made an early delivery today. Everyone got some new PJ's. Even Mom and Dad got some this year! No modeling of those but the kids were very eager to get the new PJ's on and model them. As soon as T had his on he said "I am getting sleepy". This was at 6:30 PM :).



Merry Christmas Eve to everyone.

It burns us!

Today is Dolly's Birthday! December is an expensive month with three birthdays and Christmas.

I appreciate all the Dolly does and am a lucky guy. The kids were waiting all day long to be able to sing Happy Birthday to Mom. I kept asking what she wanted for her Birthday dinner and she just wanted hamburgers and hot dogs so we had a very casual dinner at home tonight.

Birthday lunch for the twins

On Monday we went out to Red Robbin for lunch for the twins Birthday. We stopped at Stephanie's on the way to pick up the cards my Mom had left with her and Stephanie had some extra coupons for a free kids meal so they got a free meal and a free sundae!

Happy Birthday to the Twins

After much waiting P and T finally got to open the birthday presents under the tree. They were both very excited but also very patient to let Dad sleep in some this morning.

T got a Star Wars ATTE lego set that he really wanted.

P got an American Girl doll named Mia.

Is this thing still on?

Yes, we are still alive. I have just not taken the time to update the blog in awhile. I know I have been bad. Will try to do better.

Leslie watched our kids for a couple of days this past weekend so we could go out and spend some time together for Dolly's birthday. When we picked them up on Sunday I spent some time trying to resurect Leslie's computer. It is slowly coming back from the grave. Had a few viruses on it and was basicly just stuck.

T came up to me in this outfit and I just had to share it.

New Calling

Well, it was not a total surprise to me. I had a meeting with the Stake President the other day and as of Sunday I am now the Elders Quorum President in our ward. I knew the Bishop was looking to make a change there and had a feeling it was coming my way. This should be a new challenge but exciting. Never have served in the EQ Presidency so lots to learn. The Home Teaching has really been down of late so that is a major area to work on but I have some ideas for fiun activities next year as well. Still serving as the Ward Clerk until the paper work is in for a replacement.

C the "Lunch Lady"

Last night I gave C some extra money to make a lunch for me for work. She jumped at the chance to earn some extra spending money and she loves to help out. She really got into coming up with things to put in for me. Her lunch for me included, 1/2 a ham & cheese sandwich, 1/2 a PB&J, a bag of chips, an apple and some vanilla pudding she made. She put it all in bags she labeled for me. I just had to share these with you.

Work picnic

Back in August there was a company picnic that the family attended. They just posted the pictures from this today so thought I would share. The theme was the 60s and we each got a tie-dyed shirt for the event. It was lots of fun. Had lunch, cotton candy, ice cream, snow cones, music, bounce houses, water slides and crafts for the kids. I spent an hour at the First Aid booth to volunteer some time while the kids played.

P looks like a normal girl......

The other day P walks into our room and out of the blue says the funniest thing. I had her repeat it on video for you all to enjoy. She has a wicked fast sense of humor. Always comes up with some great ones for us to enjoy.

Family time at the park

Today was Labor Day so I had the day off work and the kids had the day off school. Got to sleep in and then we went out for some fun time. We went to the park that the Jones' found with the cement slides today for a picnic and play time. Stopped by KFC for some food and grabbed some cardboard from the back of Winco and off we went. It was a great day with a light breeze and much cooler than last week.

Here is C getting ready for her first ride

P was ready to go


T lined up and ready to launch
Here is some video to get an idea of how fast these slides are.

C and T racing down the slides

P going solo

Afterwards they stopped at the little kid park and had fun on the tetter-totter. Liked this pic so just had to share it as well.

Family swim party at the Schlaws

My sister was kind enough to share a couple of good shots from the family swim party at Tami and Dave's. I have a few on my camera to download still but Steph got the new nice camera so these turned out very good.

I love this first one with all the kids making some great faces. :)

Here is C just chilling in the tube. She does not like to go underwater but she sure loves to be in the water.

Here is P crusing around on her noodle. Amazing how well these things actually float.

And finally three generations of stylyin hair. This is my Dad "Boppi", T and myself

Flashback to my past

Today P informed us that she does not want to get married. Her logic brought back memories from my childhood.

She figures that if she gets married she would have to move out and leave home. She does not want to move away from Mom and Dad so she figures if she did not get married she would not have to. :)

When I was about seven I decided I did not want to get baptized because if I got baptized then when I turned 12 I would get the priesthood and then when I turned 19 I would go on a mission. If I was on a mission then I would be away from home. I did not want to leave home so figured I would stop it early. My Mom informed me that when I was 19 I would think differently.

Friday night at the movies

We had a really fun night last night. We told the kids to get a pillow and a blanket and hope in the car. They had no idea where we were going. They kept guessing but we told them it was someplace they had never been to before. We took them to the Sacramento drive in to see Iron Man. It was a perfect night. Just a little cool.

We got there at 7pm and had the total pick of where to park. We backed the truck in and setup the pillows and blankets in the back. Then the kids got to play at the park for a bit until it was time.

Was it the best clarity? No.

Was it the best sound? No.

Was it expensive? No. Have to love $6.75 per adult with kids under 11 FREE!!!

Was it a great night with the family? YES!

We had a great time laying in the truck watching a good movie. This drive in is not just for old films. They bring the new releases in. They had Iron Man and Speed Racer. They will have Narnia and Indiana Jones too. So we will likely go back in a couple of weeks for those. Can bring a picnic dinner and have a great time.

Hear this

The other day C made some extendable ears. She gets very creative with anything we leave lying around. We have to be carefull or paper, plates, tape, glue, bags or boxes end up in one of her crafts :)

Haws berries

While wandering the web came across this tidbit of info. Thought I would share. As many of you know the Haws family traces our roots back to Scotland. I did not realize that the berries of the Hawthorne bush are called Haws. They are pretty looking berries too!

The Hawthorn bushes have been heavy with Haws, which ripen around the end of September, changing colour gradually from scarlet red to a darker crimson. These can often be picked as late as November. They were not greatly prized in the more distant past, considered worthless except in times of need - according to one saying, "when all fruit falls, welcome haws", indicating that they would do if you couldn't get anything better! They were eaten more regularly in the Scottish Highlands and in India the tree is actually cultivated for its fruit. Nowadays haws are used for making wine, Hawthorn jelly and a liqueur made by steeping the berries in brandy.

All 13 memorized

On Sunday P and T were called up to the stand with members of their class to get a certificate from the Bishopric. They both memorized all 13 Articles of Faith! They worked hard all year to get them done and even had some Sunday School class memorization parties at their teachers house. We are all proud of the work they did and just hope they can remember them when they get older ;).

Another use for Duct Tape

Someone shared this with me and it just cracked me up so I thought I would share it with you.

We are still alive.

Yes, we are still here. Everyone has returned to good health and we have been very busy. I have thought about a number of good posts for the blog but they did not make it from my brain to the keyboard to you.

Everyone is busy. T is playing little league and cubs, P is playing softball and activity days, C is doing activity days and all three are doing piano. Now that the games have started we are trying to fit karate back in for them all as well. One of my new favorite tools is Google Calendar. They finally came out with a tool to sync between Outlook and Google Calendar so it makes it nice for me. I have created a calendar for each of the kids and D has one as well. These are shared between us so we can see what everyone has scheduled. Each person has a seperate color so makes it easier to see who is doing what when.

Here is what it looks like. Still adding a few more Family items as that is a new calendar just created. I have added the black blotches on some of the names.

Ick we are Sick

Well, it has been going around and finally landed at our house. It started with C getting a cold. She was good enough to then share this with her family. We are all taking lots of Airborne to try and keep healthy. Crossing our fingers that it all works. I know that Stephanie's family has been sick forever it seems so we are praying to keep out of that mode.

Girls at Cubs!?

What is the world coming to? We had girls at Cub Scouts last night! P and C have a couple of their best friends whose parents work with the Cubs so they have to go with them to Cubs. Once they found out they have been begging to go with T so they can play with their friends. I am not sure who looks forward to Cubs now more. The cultral hall was filled with the squeal of girls playing. They had so much fun they did not want to come home.

Temple Fandango

The Church is moving to a new Family Search and Temple Ready program that is just awsome. It is being rolled out by Temple region and the Sacramento Temple is live on this now. If you have not all ready signed up I would highly recomend that you do. It is at http://new.familysearch.org/. It is simply incredible. You will need your membership# and confirmation date to register so talk to your Ward Clerk if you don't have this.

When you go in click on See Me and My Ancestors. Your geneology that the Church has on file will show. It has all the records for our family going very far back. That is just cool. But to make it even better you will see an icon by each family listing. It shows if all Temple work is done or not. If you see work is needed you click on the ordinance print out a sheet to take to the Temple, do the work and that day it is recorded as complete. No more duplication. This is Temple Fandago :).

I saw one family of Nathaniel Green Williams and Eliza Helen Wall that have a daughter Miss Miss Williams Birth: 8 November 1879 Provo, Utah, UT. Eliza was born in Nauvoo in 1843 so right in the heart of the early Church. Miss Miss Williams died before she was 8, likely at birth. However she is not sealed to her parents. There looks to be a duplicate as shares the birthdate of another daughter so unless it was twins. She needs to be sealed or the records merged. There is likely another duplicate in this family as well. The great part is that with everyone in the world in the Haws Family working on these records we are no longer duplicating our work.

(UPDATE: After poking around found how easy it was to compare records and merge duplicates. Once you carefully verify they are the same. Now the Temple work shows as complete for this family)

We are starting to enter Dolly's information that we got from her Dad when he passed away. Hope to connect into some known lines to help fill out more of her work.

This is the biggest thing to come to Family History and Temple Work ever in my opinion.

T's first pack meeting

The family all went to T's first Cub pack meeting last night. He kept asking all day long if it was time to get ready. They were not able to get T his Bobcat at this pack meeting as his paperwork was still getting processed so he will get it next time. We all know he has passed it off and look forward to him getting awarded the badge. He was very excited as he got his Pinewood Derby car kit and has pages of designs for us to look at and decide.

All the boys got to help tell a silly story by reading slips of paper. You can see T waiting patiently for his turn to read.

Am I Crazy?

Ok, not sure if I am crazy or just drawn to the strange. I have once again started that silly, frustrating licsense plate game to find plates with each number in order. It actually took me a couple of days to get to my current number of 10. Yes that is right, I am at the big huge number of 10. Going to see how it goes to get to 100. Then I will decide if I am up for the challenge of getting to 999. I think Mom made it that high before she had enough.

A Cub helps the Pack go

T was super excited to put on his new Cub uniform and start his adventures in Scouting. He has all ready passed off all his requirements for his Bobcat badge and will get that in a couple of weeks at his very first pack meeting. He is spending lots of time reading his Wolf book and has all ready started a few projects from the book.

Activity Days here we come

P was very excited. Tuesday she got to attend Activity days not only with her big sister C but with Mom as well. Mom is an assistant for Activity days so both girls think it is pretty cool that she is there. P has been looking forward to going with them for many many months now.

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your fence down

Running behind on my updates but hey I was on vactation and was taking it easy. The weather here did not take it that easy though. On Friday there was a severe wind and rain storm that blew through all of the West Coast. We got hit with some very strong winds. All over the area there were trees and fences down. Some very big trees came down in the area.

We were very lucky with no damage to our house and did not lose power. We did however lose a few sections of our fence in the backyard. Our neighbor lost his whole fence so we are not too bad. The fencing was old and rotted at the base so not a surprise that it came down. Just a bummer. Going to Home Depot today for materials to fix this. Going to have to replace about four posts and at least half the main 2x4's. Most of the fence slats are ok to keep.