Layover

On Thursday Morning my parents had a layover in Oakland for a few hours. They were flying back from Hawaii where they just had spent 11 days on a cruise. They planned a longer layover in Oakland so that we could have a chance to see each other. It was definitely worth it!

The girls and I picked them up at the airport at about 8 a.m. and then headed over to Denny's for a big breakfast. We had fun eating our pancakes and hearing about all the fun things they did on their trip. It had been raining all morning, so after breakfast we talked about where we could go to finish our visit out of the rain. We decided to go to the Oakland Temple visitor center. When we got there the sun came out and it ended up being a beautiful morning. We enjoyed walking around the temple grounds and inside the visitor center. Grace and Eve loved the time with Grandma and Grandpa. After we dropped them back off at the airport Grace cried and said, "I want to go on the airplane with Grandma and Grandpa!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oakland Temple

This past Sunday, right after church, Aaron, the girls, and I visited the Oakland Temple (about a 1 1/2 hour drive.) We had a wonderful time walking around the temple grounds. We took our time smelling flowers, watching the water fountain, and admiring the view form the temple's terrace. It was a beautiful day.

Both girls loved seeing the temple (in fact Grace insisted that we sing "I Love to See the Temple"...and we all did!) Grace kept telling us that she loved being there...that she wanted to live there...that it was her favorite place. While walking around Aaron asked her how she felt, and she replied "I feel the Spirit." Children are so amazing.

We spent some time in the temple's visitor's center as well, which we all really enjoyed. After leaving, we drove out to Mt. Diablo (a state park in the bay area) to drive to the top of the mountain. It was a slow and curvy drive, but we really enjoyed looking at the amazing view. On our way back down the mountain we stopped at a picnic site and ate the picnic dinner we brought along (very quickly since the sun was going down and it was getting cold.) Then we headed home. It was a great day. The kind that I wouldn't mind having over and over again!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

This morning as we were eating breakfast Grace announced, "I'm going to fly a kite today!" I looked outside at wetness and told her that we would not be able to fly one, because it was raining and probably would be all day. She seemed determined and later in the day reminded me that she was going to fly a kite today. I told her that we could go to the library and check out some books about kites. She agreed, and after Eve's nap we set out to the library. As I loaded the girls in the car I was glad to see the sky clearing up a bit...and by the time we left the library, we noticed that it was unusually windy. Grace seemed excited and I told her, "You were right, it is a great day to fly a kite!" As soon as we got home we pulled out our kite and Grace ran around the backyard with it flapping in the wind. She giggled and screamed in delight as she saw it rising above her head. Eve was watching in amazement and screaming right along. I don't know how Grace new it when she first woke up this morning, but it was the perfect day to fly a kite!

Her Words

I just wanted to share some of the words that Eve uses on a regular basis to express herself. Some of them she has been saying for a while, and others are fairly new. Here they are in chronological order (to the best of my memory, at least:)

Dada
Moma
Shoe (sounds like "shhh")
Cracker
Cat
Car
Grace (It comes out sounding something like "gosh"...but she says it very distinctly when referring to her sister!)

Oh yes, and there's "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" (she says this to express just about everything else!)

SOLD

Our house closed escrow early last week! It is sold and now we are renting it back from the buyers for a month or so while we wait for our new house to be completed. It's really nice to have that stress behind us, but now we have a new stress...PACKING! I pulled out a few boxes this morning to get started on this daunting task, and the girls wanted to climb in. They had fun playing in the box for a while, I got distracted taking pictures, and then Eve was ready for a nap. She's asleep now, Grace is watching Sesame Street, and I am putting off packing again! I better go get started.

Thank you

I just wanted to thank all of my family and friends for remembering my birthday! I received phone calls, cards, a package (Mom and Dad), e-mails, and even a blog posting (Julyssa.) It's such a wonderful feeling to know that I'm loved!

I had a really nice birthday. It's fun when you get to spread it out over a few days! On Friday Aaron and the girls took me on a picnic for lunch. I got to enjoy hot dogs and fresh cut flowers that he brought for me. On Saturday, he took the day off and we went to a session at the Oakland Temple, did some shopping near San Francisco, and had a nice Italian dinner (all while the girls enjoyed playing with Uncle Brian and Aunt Sarah at Grandma's House.) This evening we've been invited to celebrate my birthday at Aaron's family's house. I'm excited to have yet another night of not having to cook, and my mother-in-law's cooking is so yummy! She's even making me my favorite dessert!