October

We love October in the Saline family. For lots of reasons, mostly because of Halloween... but we all get excited at the beginning of October because we really do a lot of fun stuff! Of course, Codys birthday happened in the middle of all of this, but I wanted to wait until it was all over to put up all about the last crazy month of October. First we went to the pumpkin patch at Cal Poly. We LOVE this pumpkin patch, first of all any size pumpkin is $5! but second the field is enormous and COVERED with pumpkins, so it looks really cool for pictures.

On our way in!
These 2 were pretty cooperative for taking pictures,
even if they werent cooperating they took cute pictures!

This one however was a stinker! For some reason he wanted nothing

to do with smiling.

Another activity this month, that I had to include for memorys sake was

Jake and lily decided they wanted to earn some money.... So they started a lemonade stand! On the coldest day! It was freezing and it was actually kinda late when they

started it all, so I was surprised they got any business at all! At first Jake

wanted to charge $1 for every cup, because he figured he would make a lot more money

faster, but when the first customers came and looked at him funny, he took my advice and

changed the sign to 25 cents... I feel like laughing just writing this! It was so funny and fun!

Then Lily had scarecrow day(in lieu of Halloween)! Only the kindergartners do this at the school, they dress up like scarecrows and parade in front of the whole school, then they do tons of

crafts and games for the rest of the day. When Jacob did this I think I was still too confused

and new at it to really appreciate it, but this year we were all ready and had a ton of fun!

Doesnt Lily look like an adorable scarecrow?

Then it was the ward halloween party! You'd think I would have been able to get a picture of them all together but I didnt sorry! Lily was Snow White.

Cody was a piyate (yes, I know I spelled it wrong, but this is how he said it all month long!) He looked like a little capt. Hook, minus the hook half the time!

Jake was a ninja! and his friend Jacob was also a ninja! We invited Jake's friend to come to halloween party and he and his mom showed up, its always a crazy night, but who can turn down an extra night of halloween candy? It ended up being our only halloween candy night, but I dont think the kids really minded. We tried to not make a big deal and then the night was over... Next year will make up for it!

We also had a little shindig with some friends and required dressing up, some people came looking so AWESOME!! but Nephi and I have to coordinate our pictures and then I will post! Wish me luck to get it done before Christmas!

My baby is 3 years old!!

Its true! Cody is 3 years old! So I thought I'd take a moment to update you on all the wonderful 3 year old things he is up to:
-He LOVES: dinosaurs, cars, trains, anything with buttons, legos (when his brother is playing with them), balls, and baseball!
-He talks a ton! we dont always understand him quite yet, but when we do, he say's full sentences, no more baby talk for him anymore! He clearly states, "Mom, Lily said 'Get out of here' to me" or "I love you too, Mom".
- He can keep up on pretty much any game that his brother and sister play, his favorites are Hide 'n' seek and tag.
-Cody knows over half the letter sounds as well as names them! (Thank you letter factory!) This surprises me, because neither Jacob or Lily had them down at 2 yrs, but Cody has loved watching that show and learning letters since he was real little, plus it helps that his bro and sis were working on this kind of stuff and he was also listening in :)
-HE is potty trained!! Yeah! my first kid to have it completely down BEFORE they are 3! and he has been at it since summertime!
-He HATES taking pictures! Which is why sadly I dont have a really good one of him on his birthday! I tried, but he is very stubborn when he has his mind set, and taking pictures is definitely one of those things!
Overall, he is a sweet, wonderful, loving kid that we sure LOVE to have around!

I thought I'd add in this cool picture Nephi got of the kids. We walked out of Lily's kindergarten performance and there it was! a double arc, and the first time we have ever seen a complete rainbow on both ends here in CA!

And of course, I had to show off what a pretty kitten Lily made for her kindergarten performance of The 3 little kittens!

Recent happenings...

So first and foremost, Lily broke her ARM! It is not a great story nothing fantastic... she was playing at chickfila, and was running away from a game of tag, she ran up a little 2in. high ramp for babies and stepped too far on the edge, slipped and hit her elbow in just the right way. It is a really small break, couldnt even see the break on the x-ray, but the evidence of a break was there, so the dr.'s still insisted that she needed a cast but only for 2 weeks, and I think it is mostly for pain issues and for protecting the healing from the normal kid things that happen day to day. Which I am very glad for because she has already fallen down face first sooo many times since she got her cast that I couldnt imagine what the last week and a half would have been like without the cast! Anyways, she loved it at first, hates it now, says "MOM, I CANT LIVE WITH THIS CAST ANYMORE!!!" almost every night. She had all her class at school sign the cast, and has been very popular because of the whole event. Actually that has been my favorite part, because this whole time her brother and all the boys in her class were all very tender with her. The boys in the class at first were helping her up anytime she was sitting down or going outside, or doing anything!! Writing, coloring.. you name it they were all there to help her!! She loved it! Until a few days later when she came home and said "no one even helps me anymore, no one even notices except for Kailee!" She obviously was very spoiled due to the whole thing, but she has gotten really good at drawing and writing with her left hand! Thank goodness it comes off this wednesday! I will have new pics this next weekend of a very happy little girl showing off her arm!
I ran a 5k again with my friend Holly and her mom Donette. It was the same one I did last year, and both times it happened to be the HOTTEST day of September! and of course the race didnt start until 9:00! It was in upland, and the course is the worst, well maybe not the worst, but it has a gigantic hill for the first mile, and in the heat it looked almost impossible both times! but this year was a lot better than last, I didnt want to die afterwards, actually I felt pretty good at the end. It helps that they had a few houses with hoses out to spray all of us crazy runners going by! That and the water stops saved the day! I shaved 3 minutes off my time from last year, and was pretty proud of that since I didnt expect much since it was crazy Hot. It wasnt as good as Holly at 27 minutes!! WAY to go HOLLY!! but it wasnt bad! cant wait to do more later this year and next! Thanks Holly and Donette! Ready for a 10k or a half-marathon yet?

Last but not least Nephi's cousin came down to visit California and we are always lucky enough to be included in their plans! They are so great, they have great kids that are older than mine, but they are so sweet and they all play well together. We love seeing them, especially since it always means a guaranteed beach trip! Thanks guys for the fun! Sorry we had to cut it so short! Love you!

A giveaway!

I LOVE giveaways, and when they include a dress this adorable I am all for it! I know, I know my chances of winning are next to nill, but this gives me an extra entry, so I'm trying anyways! Have you seen this dress?? They sell it at a website called all things ribbon and the giveaway includes an adorable headband that completely matches! So if anyone else is interested check it out at: Allthingsribbon.com

or to enter the giveaway check out: hairbowsforgirls.blogspot.com

Back to school!

Its that time of year again!!! HURRAY!!! We have actually been in school for at least a whole month already, but better late than never, right? The kids are doing great Lily loves kindergarten except for all the boring school stuff and homework :) Lilys usual complaint is "I already know all this stuff, and its so boring!" and Jake is as usual doing his smarty pants Jake thing! He has a GREAT teacher this year, I am very excited and looking forward to this 2nd grade year!! Can you believe it? Alright 2 kids down, 1 more to go!!

We LOVE summer!

What would summer be like without slip 'n slide? I thought I'd try it out on the kids for the first time in their lives, and they had a blast! They couldnt quite figure it out just right but they had fun trying. They basically couldnt slide past a couple of feet on their own until Nephi came home and started throwing them down the slide! I wish I had a video of it but my camera died just after Nephi got there!

A fun day at the beach with our friends this last week, this was like the first really hot day of this summer, and it was just perfect for the beach!

Our favorite thing to do this summer is get free food from chickfila! Last week Lily and I dressed up as cows and got free combo meals!! It was great and a lot of fun! Jake and Cody refused to participate so it was up to us to get the free food, and we did pretty darn good. Jake refused mostly on the basis of people staring at him, and Cody was just in a bad mood! He'll regret it someday!

Fourth of July AND Nephis birthday!

These last few weeks have been awesome and busy! Especially this last weekend because of the holiday, and also because it was Nephi's birthday. The fourth was fun we didnt do a lot, mostly because it was on Sunday, and then also because I wasnt feeling well and took a super long nap, but then we went to Azusa for the annual fireworks extravaganza. You know, the crazy war zone type of fireworks, where everyone up and down the streets has all sorts of fireworks and firecrackers, its crazy! The kids and Nephi love it though, this year was really the first that the kids really got into it, and didnt hide at all! Then on Monday was Nephis birthday, and this year I planned a small surprise party, mostly family, and a few friends. It was so much fun and Nephi swears he was actually surprised! I tried so hard to be smooth and convince him that nothing was up! The funny part was that I tried so hard that he actually thought I was mad at him when we went out to dinner just before the party! Anyways, Thanks to all those who could make it, I really appreciated all the help and love! Nephi was in such a bad mood this weekend, mostly about getting old and all that it means, and it was just the thing to bring him out of it! So thanks everyone for helping me to show him we love him!
We, and I mean especially the kids had a blast at the party because we had some great friends there! Here is Lily with Hailey and Ella.
Nephi blowing out the candles on his fabulous cake!

The birthday cake I finished in 2 hours :)

Nephi was a little anxious to get started.

Nephi, ready to wack the heck out of the pinata.

Fourth of July pics:
We were lucky to have Josh and Aubrey at the 4th of July celebrating in Azusa, they were lucky enough to have crazy Lily jump in on the picture! Love you guys!

Nephi and Jake were taking crazy pictures, and I think even they were surprised when this one turned out pretty cool!

I love this picture, the kisser was my nephew Nathan, he is such a sweetheart!

Anna had sparklers for the kids, Thanks Anna! Another great fourth of July celebration!

I know its been awhile...

and I'm sorry! but, I had a choice between focusing on my family their lives, my school, their school, and I obviously had to let somethings go and this was near the top of the list :) So since it has been so long, a lot has happened. I finished another semester at Chaffey, Jake finished first grade, Lily is done with preschool, and Cody is just busy being Cody and having fun! Nephi is still busy working, and trying to keep up with me and all the things I've planned for the summer; because I decided I deserved a little break from school, since this last semester kicked my butt! So now its summer! Yeah! The first noteworthy thing to mention about this summer is my brothers return from his mission! Yeah 2 years in Peru and now hes home! We are all so proud of him and his accomplishments! He has changed a lot, and it is a little weird to have him home, but its fun, he has so many stories, and he really has changed in a lot of good ways! Meeting him at the airport was so funny, because their plane wasnt supposed to land until 650am, and my Dad repeatedly told us to not worry about being there until 730. So we kinda took our time, but we made signs and we wanted to make sure we were there in the perfect spot to show them off, so we got there at like 7:00. Anyways, we had some trouble finding the right terminal, and when we did we just couldnt find there flight on any of the boards. Finally, getting frustrated I'm looking around and I see this guys walking straight towards me, which kinda flustered me, because he was only like a foot away still coming at me... so it took me a minute to realize it was Robs coming to give me a big hug!! It was so funny, it took everybody a second to realize what was happening, but it was so much fun! My mom and my dad were still outside looking around so we at least got to surprise them! So in this pic, here we are giving our first hellos and being silly!

One of the first things we did this summer was go to the beach! This time, we went to visit Jamie, Colin, and Hailey at their beach house. It was such a beautiful day, perfect for the beach, we all had a ton of fun, and cant wait to visit again!

The first fun thing that just the kids and I did this summer, was go to Olvera st. (not sure thats exactly how its spelled). We took the metrolink (barely making it in time! Who ever heard of a train that arrived a little early?). The train station was literally across the street from Olvera st, so that was nice, and was worth the cost driving and parking. We all walked around took part in a tour for a little bit, and ate some yummy food! We had so much fun, the kids cant wait to go again sometime, but I'm pretty sure they just cant wait until they get to ride the train again! Like Jake strumming his guitar? He took it out just for the picture! and Cody and his buddy Dean? Cute, huh?

Lily and Alexandra on the train, so excited to get there!

The boys, trying not to get into too much trouble, I'm pretty sure we really interrupted everyones normally peaceful ride into work.

In front of the train station waiting to go home, Cody was so cranky!

Then, for Jakes birthday, we took him to legoland as a surprise, he wasnt that surprised though, but he had a lot of fun. Funnily enough, I think at the end of the day he was a little dissappointed that not everything was entirely made out of legos, funny, huh?

We were lucky enough to have Nephi's cousin and his son in town, so they were able to go with us. His son was about the same age as Jake so they had a lot of fun together!

Jakes on his birthday! and I know, I know, I didnt even make my own sons cake! Lame, huh? I am so burnt out from cakes right now, so I asked him if it was alright if we just got him an ice cream cake, and he loved that idea, and then when I brought it home, he asked if he could decorate it with his legos, so here is the product of Jakes genius! Like father, like son, right? I think he had more fun decorating his own cake anyway.

This last weekend Lily was able to participate in her second recital. She tap danced to a song entitled "Aint nobody here but us chickens", so here she is in her chicken costume. She looked adorable! and she danced sooooo well! We were so proud of her, she LOVES to be on stage, and you can see it every time! She wasnt nervous at all, she kept just telling me how excited she was! I think she thought it was weird that I kept asking her if she was nervous!

Last Christmas update

So as I mentioned on the last post, I am putting up a few more pics of the fun things we got to do this last holiday season. We were lucky enough to be able to see the Christmas lights on Thoroughbred this year with our friends the Beesleys. We had so much fun, I think we have gone every year, but for some reason the kids always find loads of new things to love about the place. We cant wait until next year!

The kids love this giant nutcracker!

As usual the Ward Christmas party delivered our favorite guy in the red suit! We are never disappointed and especially not this year! This Santa happened to be extra special to us this year! I love how Lily is still afraid of Santa!