harry potter

Well, after years of hearing everyone tell me how fantastic the Harry Potter books are I'm finally going to find out for myself. I say "myself" because I am going to try and read them alone this time. Danny and I really wanted to read them together so about a year or so ago we started the first book. And a year or so later we have managed to get to around chapter six in the first book. It was just really hard for us to find time to read together since we couldn't do it until the kids went to bed. I think most of the time though, our excuse was, "I'm too tired to get up to look for the book. Let's just stay here on the couch and watch T.V." I know. Awful, huh? Anyway, it's kind of sad since we really enjoyed reading together out loud....but I was just DYING to read these books! At the pace we were going it would have taken....well, a really long time to finish the books!

Anyway, I started the other day where we left off and I'm on chapter 12 now. And already I'm seeing all the little differences between the movie and the book. Anyway, I will let you know what I think once I've finished it. :o)

blog woes

So it's been brought to my attention that different web browsers may mess up my blog page. Sorry! Mozilla seems to show everything but it also seems to space it out farther apart than it really is. Internet Explorer seems to display it correctly and the old AT&T/Yahoo browser that I've been using works, too. So, sorry! If you use Mozilla you'll be able to see everything but you'll have more scrolling to do! :o) Those are the only browsers I've tried.

new blog look

Well, after a lot of web searches, trial and error and basically flying by the seat of my pants I finally figured out how to make my blog look a little more original. Let me tell you something though...HTML's and codes and computer jargon are definitely NOT my thing! But I'm quite pleased with the result and excited that I did it all myself. I was really trying to give it a "scrapbook" feel. Now I know it doesn't even begin to compare with alot of everyone else's blogs (some of yours are so gosh darn cute!) but at least it's my own design. And I'd better be happy with it for awhile because I am definitely NOT changing it again anytime soon! :o)

seagulls, disneyland and wildfires

Well, we had a lot happening this weekend...
FRIDAY-On Friday we met Danny at the beach after work and ate pizza. There were tons of seagulls that were continually "floating" over our heads while we ate just waiting for us to drop anything. I know the kids thought it was really fun, but I was a little paranoid. I mean, I don't know of anyone who really wants a bunch of huge birds hanging out above their heads. You know what I mean?? Anyway, we finally gave in and gave them some pizza. The kids loved it. Here's a video...I couldn't get it to work through blogger, sorry. But Emily explained how to upload videos through Google first! Thanks a bunch Emily! :o) Just click here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9128007888816077375&hl=en

We had a lot of fun but boy did it get cold quick! As soon as the sun went down, we were out of there! The seagulls even followed us to our cars for awhile!

SATURDAY-We were also able to go to Disneyland and California Adventure again on Saturday. It was still a bit crowded but not as bad as the last Saturday. We upgraded our passes to the Annual Passes while we were there so we'll be able to go throughout the year. We got the least expensive passes which gives us only weekdays but we look at that as a blessing. Saturdays seem to be crazy no matter what time of the year!

We also got to meet Mickey this time at his house. The kids loved it! I was worried that they might be a little nervous but they all did great.
The kids were also excited to ride on the Sun Wheel at California Adventure. Let's just say that Danny and I were not so excited...that ferris wheel is so high!! And we both have a little bit of a "heights" issue. We opted for one of the stationary gondolas as opposed to the extremely freaky rocking ones. I know for sure Grandma Berta would have done the same! And even then we were a little nervous. Danny did a great job hiding it!The boys also got to meet Mater and Lightening McQueen while Shailey and I were on a ride. At the last minute Eli freaked and didn't want to get out of the stroller, so Danny had to push it into the shot to get the picture.
SUNDAY-We woke up early Sunday morning to the sound of loud howling winds. The last time I saw winds that strong was during tornado season in Texas. It was crazy! On our way to church we saw trees down and traffic lights out. Sure enough, the power was out at the church building, too. They had a generator going to light a couple of areas, but mostly it was very dark. Shailey kept asking why they didn't turn on the lights. And of course she had to go potty in the pitch black bathroom. Poor thing! We had our meetings switched around for a combined ward conference. Because of that, our sacrament meeting didn't meet until the third hour, which ended up being a good thing. The power came back on just minutes before the meeting started.
When we got home, we notcied one of the trees in our backyard didn't survive the winds. It was broken in half. And to the north we saw an enormous, dark cloud moving toward us and the faint smell of fire. We then realized that the dark cloud was from a wildfire. As it came closer, we could see that it was a bit orangey, too, and the wildfire smell was getting stronger. We saw on the news that wildfires had broken out just north of us and also south of us in Malibu.

Probably the weirdest part of the day was when the smoke finally reached the sun. As it passed over the sun, it cast a really bizarre orange glow everywhere. It was unreal. It looked like dusk, but it was only 2:00 in the afternoon! We had to turn on lights in the house since it was so dark.

We are still having high winds today. The kids are not allowed outside until the winds die down and the tree is cleaned up. So until then, we'll have to play only indoors. We're hoping that the wildfires will be contained soon. How scary! We're just glad that we're still quite aways from all the fires. Hopefully they won't cause too much damage to others' homes and properties.

disneyland!!

Our family had the opportunity to go to Disneyland yesterday! We kept it a secret from the kids all week and didn't tell them where we were going until we got there. They were so excited! And it was really fun to see all of the cool Halloween decorations they had up. We have never visited Disneyland during October so it was fun to see the park in a different way.

Pumpkin Donald Duck at the front gates.

Pumpkin flower designs were planted everywhere.

Minnie Mouse and friends at the Front Gates.

The entryway to California Adventure decked out in candy corn.

Since we didn't have the chance to go to Disneyland on Eli's birthday on September 21 like we had originally planned, we decided to celebrate his birthday while we were there. We went to City Hall and he got a special "Happy Birthday" pin with his name on it. Needless to say, he got a lot of attention from everyone!

I think the highlight of the whole day was when we went to the "Turtle Talk With Crush" show. For those of you who haven't seen the show, it's pretty amazing. They have a large auditorium with seating for adults and in the very front a big carpeted area for kids (and parents) to sit. In the front is a huge TV screen that looks like a fish tank. Now, I still haven't figured out how they do it (Danny thinks it's motion capture), but they have a computer animated Crush (the "surfer dude" sea turtle from Finding Nemo) come out and swim in his "tank" while he actually talks and interacts with the audience. Well, he happened to notice a little "sea dude" in the front who was wearing a "red colored shell with a white stripe down the side" (Eli was wearing a red sweatshirt with a white stripe) and a button that said "Happy Birthday". He then had the coolest conversation with Eli. He named Eli "Electric Eel Eli" or "Triple E" and taught Eli how to say "Totally Sweet!" He also sang his version of "Happy Birthday" which was something like (in the tune of Happy Birthday), "Doo doo doo doo doo doo....cha. Doo doo doo doo doo doo...cha" and continued through the end of the song. Anyway, it was so much fun for us and Eli to have had Crush talk to him for so long. After Crush talked to the audience for awhile, he let the audience ask him questions. Shailey was really hoping she could ask Crush if he liked pancakes but she didn't get to. All in all, it was the coolest experience.


We all got to see the "new" version of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride with the additions of Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa and even Davy Jones. It was fun to see the new changes to one of our favorite rides. Believe it or not, we also saw Mickey Rooney riding in one of the boats as we were waiting to get on. The line had been pretty long for the ride and as we got up to the entryway, we saw a boat that was nearly empty. We were wondering why they hadn't loaded more people onto the boat and then we recognized Mickey Rooney sitting in the very back. It was kind of cool. :o)


We also got to see the Haunted Mansion Holiday version of the Haunted Mansion. It was actually less scary that way than the regular version so we all went on the ride. The kids seemed to think it was fun, especially Shailey.

Haunted Mansion Holiday decorations.

Jack Skellington at the gates of the Haunted Mansion.

Shailey got to ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for the first time. It was at night so I knew the ride would be darker but that didn't seem to phase her one bit! She loved it! Immediately after we got off she wanted to ride it again. Unfortunately, we had to get back to Danny who was with the boys saving a spot for us to watch the fireworks show.

We were excited for the fireworks show since we had staked out seating in the front of the castle early on. We were disappointed though when they had us stand through the whole show and there was a continual flow of people walking right inbetween us and the front of the castle where the show was! I have no idea why they planned it that way. It was very hard for the kids to see with all the people walking in front of us. When we watched the show two years ago they allowed you to sit in front of the castle and they had areas much further back for people to get through. Also, we were really bummed that Tinkerbell didn't make her usual appearance during the show. We still had fun despite the disappoinments.

Sleeping Beauty Castle at night.

All in all it was a fantastic day! We purchased a 2-day park hopper ticket so we will use our second day this Saturday and then upgrade to the annual passes at the park. We are excited to be able to go to Disneyland regularly (even if it is still about 1 1/2 hours from where we live) since it is one of our family's favorite places to be!

Our family in front of "Pumpkin Mickey Mouse".

ants, ants, ants!

Shortly after we moved in we found out we had an ant problem. Seriously. If I didn't sweep the floors before bed I would wake up to find those ants swarming to every miniscule crumb on the floor. It drove me nuts! So then I would spend my mornings in my pajamas swatting ants on the floor with a flattened cereal box from the recycling all the while feeling a little guilty as the phrase "All creatures of our God and King.." repeated over and over in my head. I know that God created ants and that they are amazing creatures, I just don't want them all over my kitchen and dining room! We were also finding them in the bathroom (which is strange to me-we don't eat in there, I swear) and they liked to hang out in the bathtub faucet. So every time you turned on the faucet you were greeted by the lovely site of ants pouring out. GROSS! Anyway, the exterminator finally came today so hopefully our ant problem won't be a problem anymore. We had to stay out of the house for four hours while the chemicals did their thing. The kids had fun since we got a pizza, went to the park to eat and play and then went to the library. It ended up being a really fun day, exterminator and all!

new changes

So after a long long LONG drive and a stressful week of house hunting we are finally settled into our new place in Camarillo, California and we love it here! The kids have an ginormous backyard to play in, the weather has been awesome (between 75-80 degrees), and I love how there are palm trees everywhere! The library here is fantastic! They have an entire "discovery section" for kids with a huge pirate ship that looks shipwrecked that houses books and seating. The kids love the beach, also. It was the first time they had been to a "real" beach that wasn't too cold to play on. (I know Oregon has beaches...but it's not the same as a southern California beach.)

Danny is enjoying his new job and new boss so far. He is really excited about his new postion in Field Sales. He thinks that he will really enjoy driving around to actually meet with customers face to face instead of over the phone like his previous position.

I am enjoying my time at home with the kids. Although I look around and am sometimes overwhelmed with all that still needs to be done. But all in good time, right? I'm not super woman or anything. :o) I am really anxious to decorate the kids' rooms. The boys are sharing a room and Shailey has her own room (which she is soooooo excited about...and me too!) I really want to decorate both rooms in the extremes for boys and girls rooms. So for the boys, a lot of blues and reds and bold colors, and for Shailey a lot of pinks and purples and princesses.

I am also trying to work on Halloween costumes. Now, I can sew a little...and I may be in way over my head, but I'm going to sew a pirate costume for Eli. Shailey is going to be Snow White. She had a hand-me-down Snow White dress, but the skirt was torn and really needed to be replaced. So I nervously took the stitches out holding the skirt together, cut out new fabric, gathered it up and stitched a new skirt back on. I figured as long as I was sewing I'd add some embellishments so we made her dress even fancier. It turned out great! And Isaac is going to wear a hand-me-down dinosaur costume. It's a little short in the legs since it's for a younger babies, but everything else fit him fine. So I'm going to work on making some kind of dinosaur feet that strap over his shoes and come up to his ankles or something. I'm not sure yet.

Anyway, that's all for now. I will post more later. Oh! One more thing that happened today! Our bedroom door apparently had a lock on it that we hadn't even noticed before....and found out we had the hard way. Eli and Isaac locked themselves in the bedroom. I thought to myself, "Oh, no big deal. I'll just unlock it from the outside." WRONG! It required a KEY to open it! WHAT?? So I called our landlords after trying to explain to Eli how to unlock the door to no avail. (How is it that he figured out how to lock it in the first place but couldn't figure out how to UN-lock it??) Our landlords, Dennis and Nellie, a retired couple, quickly came over to help. Nellie looked at the door and didn't even realize there was a door knob that locked like that in the house and felt sooo terrible since Isaac was bawling on the other side of the door. They called a locksmith who arrived very quickly, he opened the door in literally two seconds (I was amazed!), and wouldn't charge since there were kids locked in there. So anyway, our door currently has no knob and will be replaced with a privacy lock that can be opened easily by a grown-up on the other side. Needless to say, Eli and I had a little talk about locks.