My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

I have been seeing this on people's blogs and gave it a try...funny! I think I will do the rest of the clan now!

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Love/Hate Relationship

California and I have a love/hate relationship. So I thought I would write some of my loves and my hates...feel free to comment about what you love and/or hate about this place.

Hates:
Traffic
Traffic (I hate it so bad I had to write it twice)
Living in a crappy house and paying out the wazoo for it.
Rats in the church--YUCK
Spiders (ok those are everywhere but i think my house has more than its fair share)
Water bills
Tiny trash cans
Lines for everything (even camping)
Safeway
No "untouched" places
Gas prices (I filled up here before going to Utah at 3.15/gallon and put gas in the rental car there at $2.25/gallon)
Very small parking spaces
Narrow roads
Walmart is far

Loves:

The weather
Trader Joes
The people I have met
The smell of outside
Having a creek right across the street
My great neighbors and neighborhood
Biking
Hiking just around the corner
Beautiful beaches
The golden gate bridge
Having the city so close
Sailboats on the ocean
The YMCA
Our wonderful ward
BUNCO
Recycling
IKEA
World Market

Funny thing about California:

*My neighbors all leave beers (some leave a whole 12-pack) out for the trash man on the week before Christmas. You'd think he'd be drunk as a skunk by the end of the day.
*When it rains too much, its global warming, when it doesn't rain enough, its global warming...too hot, too cold, too foggy--all a result of global warming.
*It is bad to have a green wooden tree craft (not even decorated like a Christmas tree) for the holiday party but eating Latkes and playing dredle is A-OK, oh and a tablecloth with menorahs and stars of David is ok too.

This place is crazy and funny. I miss home but I love it here!!!

Junior Botany

Its kind of embarrassing when your kids are smarter than you. Yesterday a bird flew into our car and I let it out and said to Cyrus, "What kind of bird was that." He says, "It was blue." Then we decided it wasn't a bluebird, for the very scientific reason that it didn't have that thing on its head. Then Hannah looks at us like we are idiots and says, "It's a WESTERN bluebird."

Now we might have shrugged this off as a wild guess except, the other day we were hiking and Hannah says, "What kind of fern is that daddy?" and Cyrus responds with, "Uh, what fern?" So Hannah walks over and picks a piece of the fern that Cyrus couldn't see and checks out the roots and the leaves, even breaking off the root and examining the leaves closely. She then informs us, "That is a sword fern. You can see the hilts." What the heck are hilts? She then proceeded to inform us of the names of several things we would have called "pretty flowers" and "grass" and "ferns." She is smarter than us. Please don't laugh.


this is a funny picture the girls took with our new computer. I wonder how long till I'm one of those people who has to ask my kids how to turn on the computer. I am very afraid.

Boy do I Miss the Gym

Last week I went to Idaho and this week Sammy is sick and can't go to daycare so I haven't been to the gym. Boy do I miss it. I love the gym, it keeps me sane and happy, oh yeah and it helps me with those extra baby pounds that have been hangin on. Of course, talking with Lainie on the treadmill about chocolate and cake and ice cream does very little to put me in the mood for dieting...but that is part of the "keeps me sane" part, I guess.
would you look at that butt--how did that happen in only two weeks??!!!!

Swim Team

The girls are having so much fun at swim team and are coming home absolutely exhausted and hungry every night. They are turning into amazing swimmers. Last year, Hannah was afraid of the water and wouldn't let go of the side for fear that she would sink...now she is swimming like a little fish. Today she was working on breaststroke which is pretty hard for her, but she is improving and really likes swim team. Carolyn looks like an old pro. She is so comfortable in the pool and so happy trying new things.

The thing I like best about our swim team is the coaches. They are great. They realize that this is a SUMMER REC LEAGUE and honestly, the fun and the comfort in the water is more important than racing. I am so impressed with how in touch they are with what being a kid is like (they rub pretend bumble bees off their ears with their shoulder to work on form on the back stroke and try to avoid spilling an imaginary bowl of boogers off their heads to practice smooth breathing in free style). My greatest fear with starting swim team was that they would be so intense that my kids wouldn't enjoy it, but they laugh and play and relax and I am glad we did it!!!



I had a hard time getting Hannah to take her head out of the water to get her picture. She swims all the way across the pool when she is doing free style and when she is doing back stroke now!!!




These are of Carolyn swimming freestyle...kind of hard to see. She swims with such big arms and such a straight body. She is getting faster every week!

Brand new computer

I got a new computer. Cyrus went to the store alone and now I have a computer that is HUGE. Like the sceen is bigger than our TV (which isn't saying much since we have a tiny TV I can put away on a shelf), but still. Cyrus loves big stuff. He's nuts!!!

The computer does this cool thing. You just push a button and look at the screen and it takes your pic. This is a picture we took. Aren't we cute.

Fijian sisters

There is a place that I have never been but that I love because of some dear sisters from my church...FIJI. We have a lot of Fijian women in our ward and they are some of the most wonderful women you will ever meet. I love them so much. Today, I was still in a bit of a funk worrying about my family in Idaho, Sam was VERY VERY sick (similar to how sick Hannah got around age one when she spent a week in the hospital), and I was exhausted from being up all night with Mr Pukes~a~lot. So I went to church, dreading the meeting that I had after church and wishing that I could be home with Sam. One of our dear Fijian sisters bore one of the most powerful testimonies I have heard in a long time, quoting some of my favorite verses from the Bible. I felt overwhelmed and my the Spirit and was reminded that there is so much good, so many things that are right in my life. I also felt that despite the current bout of hardship my family is going through, my parents are doing what God would have them do, and that makes all the difference. At times life is hard but it is also good. God loves all of us and I know that. All this I learned from the Spirit that I felt from a sister who truly knows and loves God. I was so greatful for that sweet faith that is so common among these Fijian sisters and grateful for their truly gentle and powerful way. I thank Heavenly Father for Fiji.

Michael Chiarello

One of the funniest moments from my trip was when I was telling my brother about Katie playing Rachel Ray and he said that his boy plays Michael Chiarello (from Easy entertaining). I think that quirkiness must run in our family.

Trouble...

Cousin Derek

Cousin Tanner

I have been thinking a lot about trouble and the way people deal with it...Cyrus mom and my mom and dad have seen a bit of trouble lately in their lives and I have been thinking and praying and wondering. I have come to no conclusions. Mainly, I have just wished that Cyrus was a dentist already so we could help them out so money worries werent part of the trouble.

Here are some pics from my trip to Idaho. Just Sam and I went. We saw my mission companion Becky, Grandma Javadi (we call her Grandma White because of the white hair), Great Aunt Zahra, Aunt Petra and Uncle Michael and Kaylee, and Danna (Cyrus cousin) and her little man whose name is slipping my mind this moment. In Idaho we saw Uncle Dave and Aunt Jessie and their boys Tanner and Derek, Grandma and Grandpa Fitzgerald, Aunt Dona and Becky.
Utah Cousins

Idaho cousins with Grandma and Grandpa Fitzgerald except Becky (she was at school)

Sam loving Grandma White

Sam and Aunt Zahra

Hannah

Grandma Berger wanted to know how Hannah did this term at school...she had a great report card. She is in an advanced reading class and is doing great wih her mad minutes, she struggles with 8+8 (she keeps putting 15) and 9+5 (she puts various random answers). She catches on to things quickly and is very bright. However, her teacher says she needs to do her homework. Funny thing is that she DOES her homework and even takes it back to school. She just never takes it out of her backpack. She has the messiest backpack in the world. I guess she cant have it all. Beauty, intelligence and organization~that would be too much.

Our little Toad

By popular demand, here is a few pictures of Sam Bam showing off his walking skills and his incredible good looks.

What Matters...

Today my girls got their report cards. I had worried and worried about Carolyns mad minutes. She has been struggling with them the whole term and we had been practicing and practicing but still, she was stuck on the subtract...so today she got the card and I opened it with some trepidation. First thing I looked at when she handed me the card was the teacher comments. They said, `Carolyn is a conscientious citizen: always choosing to help her peers, especially those who are most in need.` The rest talked about how she had reached all her benchmarks, etc etc. but I realized that in all my worry about math and learning math facts, I had forgotten what really matters in this life~becoming like our Savior. Carolyn may have been struggling with doing math fast, she may have needed to use her fingers for subtraction a little more than was desirable, but when someone needed help, Carolyn helped them. She chose the better part in the most important part and for that I am happy.

Nose Pickers

Katie and Alyse all dolled up in their ballet costumes. They will be dancing like little ladies as soon as they get that booger.

Sideways Sammy

Katie loves the picture of Sam that is sideways. Every day she laughs and says `HA, Sideways Sammy.` Little does she know that the pic is sideways because her mama is too lazy to figure out how to fix it!!! So I thought I would add a few more funny sideways, just for Kates entertainment.

Crazy hair day

The girls had crazy hair day at school. Hannah wanted 15 ponies and Carolyn wanted the best bed head I could give her. Katie comes by her incredible bed head naturally


Nice.


My girls have this friend Haley who is always so funny on dress up days. On decade day she dressed up as Elvis. I love Haley

Activities

I thought it would be fun to post the activities that the girls are doing. They are having so much fun!!

Monday: Carolyn and Hannah do piano lessons
Tuesday: Katie has Joy School, Carolyn and Hannah have swim team
Wednesday: Katie has ballet, Carolyn and Hannah have swim team
Thursday: Katie has Joy school, Carolyn and Hannah once again have swim team
Friday: Carolyn and Hannah have swim team

Swim team just started last week. Before that all three girls were taking swim lessons. Piano will end when school ends because Candace is moving. We are on the hunt for a new piano teacher...for fall. Swim team goes until July. It is really fun for them. Many of their friends do it and the coaches are really funny. Hannah has a really encouraging fellow who has helped her a lot with her confidence. She has gone from being afraid of the water last summer to swimming a full lap in an olympic sized pool with only one stop!!! SHe has great form and puts her head right in the water. She is good a both freestyle and backstroke. Carolyn was already a fair to good swimmer so she is in a different group. Her coach is funny and very much like a kid. Last week he told them they had a big bowl of boogers of the back of their heads and if they didnt breath smoothly, the boogers would fall in their mouths. She laughed and laughed but you should see how carefully she was breathing. She is certainly a better swimmer than me already. I cant wait to see what the end of summer brings!!!

Piano lessons has been so great for the girls. I cant believe how good they are getting on the piano. Candace has been the best teacher in the world. I dont know how we are ever going to replace her....

Joy school is a rotating pre school that is taught by the moms. We buy a curriculum and rotate around our homes teaching about the joy of different things...like the joy of setting goals and the joy of obedience, the joy of work, the joy of spontaneous delight (silliness). It has so many fund ideas to keep kids engaged and has really been fun for my Katie. The other kids at school are so sweet so she just loves it!! And what little girl doesnt like ballet? Katie would go there every day if she could. I love the teacher and since I dont care much if she grows up to be some kind of professional, I dont care that they dont use any traditional ballet terms...she is happy and having fun and that is what it is all about!