Clark's 5K Race

Clark has been participating in a local 5K series all summer. Because the races are early and the children usually are just waking up when he runs, we've missed the first three events. BUT, we woke up early Saturday morning so we could cheer Dad on as he crossed the finish line! The girls are so sweet; they yelled and screamed "go Daddy!" and "you can do it, Daddy!" the whole time. Well done, Clark!

Halloween!

I know I'm weird when I say this, but I love dressing my kids for Halloween in regular clothes more than in costumes! Costumes are fun, but black and orange striped tights are even more fun! Yes, yes, total Mom fail, but whatever. :D

 Aurora's hair can be explained by one thing: HALLOWEEN. (Or, she just woke from a nap.)

 Mom wins Grandma-of-the-Year because Azucena told her she wanted to be Rapunzel with her long, beautiful hair, so my mom went and made this wig for her. YUP. Thanks, Mom!

Gwen's Funeral

The day before her 88th birthday, Gwen passed away. I got a call a half hour before midnight on Sunday saying she had been taken to the hospital and got a few texts and Facebook messages a couple hours later confirming that that was old news and she'd passed away. Clark had promised me long ago that I'd be able to go to the funeral services no matter when it happened, so we spent a lot of time looking up flights from Salt Lake to any Bay Area airport. Turns out that this week was UEA so everything was sold out or over $900. Eep!

Clark looked into renting a car and it turned out that that was $25/day so we talked it out and decided to both travel to Petaluma by driving rather than flying. Annie and Kelly were amazing and took the girls last minute while we packed everything up. I love Clark for taking time off work and then driving like crazy to get to the services so I could spend time with my family and honor Gwen.

 

 

 Turns out Gwen was the first female high school band director in the state of California. What an amazing accolade for my awesome aunt!

All five of Jerry's children were able to make it!

Mara has the full shot, but this was setting up for our group picture

 

I love this picture of Mom with Aunt Harriet!

Brady's Homecoming!

The reason we traveled to Utah was to welcome home our very special missionary, Uncle Brady! After a bit of a delay in Minneapolis, he and six other missionaries finally arrived in Salt Lake City to their families. It was quite the crowd but it was a room full of joy! Welcome back from the Toronto Canada, Mandarin speaking mission!

  

 

Happy Father's Day!

I'll pretty much never get a perfect picture of babies/toddlers/preschoolers all looking at the camera and smiling during special occasions, will I? :D

California Trip!

So, I randomly entered a contest to win tickets to the BYU v SJSU football game and won! I felt so blessed, especially because this year was our fifth anniversary and our plans to take a small vacation together had fallen through. Alaska Airlines was one of the sponsors so we were given a pair of round trip tickets and, of course, tickets to the football game itself. We were able to leave and return whenever we wanted but Clark had to work and we had to find sitters for the girls (Clark's parents were awesome and helped us out) so we ended up making it a 24 hour trip! It was our first trip alone since Azucena was born. The morning flight was so early we saw the sun rise over a sea of clouds--gorgeous!

We flew into San Francisco, so we took advantage of that to visit the Golden Gate Bridge and do a session at the Oakland temple (where my parents were sealed). It was a great morning!

After leaving San Francisco, we headed down to San Jose where we spent the afternoon with Janette, Kyle, and Steve. We got to chat and catch up, see Kyle do some karate sparring, and Janette and Steve were kind enough to treat us to a great dinner! Thank you!

The game was pretty late, so we didn't head out until around 7:30 at night, but we got to the game in time for all the opening ceremonial things (national anthem, coin toss, etc.) and found out that our seats were pretty great! We were right in the middle of the BYU fan section, and only a few rows back.

After the game, we stuck around for a while because the players have a tradition of coming to the fan section at away games and giving high-fives to all of them. Clark loved it! He had specific compliments for most of the players and I know he loved being able to have contact with them.

I am so grateful we were blessed with this trip! Alaska Airlines and BYU Football were so awesome to have the giveaway and we really, really appreciated the time with just the two of us and being able to have fun in California.

Disneyland: Day 3, pt. 2

It took us over TWO HOURS to finally see Bert and Mary Poppins. INSANITY. Also, since they're supposed to be on a stroll, they never stop. So if you want pictures, you'd better run in front of them to get it!

 We learned that the Dapper Dans would be part of the Disneyland Band parade and show so we watched the beginning at the castle again but this time joined them as they marched back to the Main Street entrance. Following them meant we had a great view of all the characters and cast members in the show! Chip even came over to the girls to give them a high five. :D

  

The heat in the afternoon was crazy, crazy, crazy.We decided to find an air conditioned show and settled on the Frozen Sing-Along in California Adventure. As we walked over, we stumbled on the Newsies show (performed with Mickey Mouse) so we stopped to the girls could see him again. As the show was winding down, Minnie joined them for a moment, then went to a little area to meet friends. What luck! We hurried to her queue (and just made the cut off!) and learned that the outfit that Minnie is wearing is so expensive that she almost never makes appearances. Adelaide thought it was her lucky day to see Minnie twice--and in a pink dress this time! They were so happy!

The sing along was in a cute castle and had two "historians" sharing the story of Anna and Elsa. We were even visited by Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff! It turns out the male historian (far left in my picture) was one of the same guys from the Royal Theatre the day before and Clark and I were so pleased! That guy is seriously so talented.

After the show, Clark needed to change the baby's diaper, so he headed to the restroom while I took the girls to see Olaf a second time. Glad we did, because the lighting was better (hee!).

Sticking with the a/c theme, we remembered that we had wanted to take the girls to see "Turtle Talk" which is an interactive show with Crush from Finding Nemo. Adelaide loved sitting right where the turtle was and listening to him chat with people in the audience. Azucena was even willing to sit on the floor for the last few minutes of the show!

Just outside the turtle theater, Princess Sofia was meeting with friends! We got in line and the girls loved meeting her. They even told her that their pajama dresses are the same as hers (they have Sofia pajamas).

We began to head toward the Paradise Pier area of the park to try a few more attractions. Azucena had wanted to go on the Jumping Jellyfish the night before but it had just closed. Adelaide was upset that she couldn't go with her sister and father and it was a light struggle to keep her with me instead of climbing over the gate. Azucena really liked the ride, though. I don't know if it's because they're young or because they're nothing like me, but all three girls had zero trouble getting on the rides and being tossed around.

After the Jumping Jellyfish, we got in line for the Ferris Wheel. We had the option of being in a mobile cart or a stationary one. Bless Clark for letting me be in a stationary cart. I'm pretty sure my stomach could not have handled a moving one. Those things were crazy. Unfortunately, that meant a slightly longer wait (it was a 2:1 ratio) but the girls didn't do too terribly. And once we got inside and moving, they were enthralled. They kept saying things like, "we're up on top! Look at all the stuff down there!" Clark had a rough patch when we got near the top, but he was awesome and still smiled so I could get a picture of us.