December 30, 2008

Hunting for Geodes


Last Saturday, I decided to take the boys geode hunting. They're WAY into rocks right now and geodes are the ultimate. If you don't know what geodes are, they're the hollow rocks that develop crystals inside. So, we found out that there are a few specific places where you can find geodes. One popular place is the Hauser Geode Beds just outside of Blythe (a 3 hour drive from Temecula - where we're staying for the holidays). We decided to make it an all day adventure. Jill packed us lunches. Dawson & Grandpa came with us and we had a great time.



Here's a picture of the boys hard at work looking for geodes. Apparently the geodes form in volcanic ash. So, we spent a lot of time digging & breathing ash!

The boys had a blast and found some really cool geodes. I'll post some pictures of the geodes they found later as well as some pictures that Grandpa took of the boys on top of a nearby extinct volcano.

P.S. I'd definitely recommend a geode hunt for anyone with boys between the ages of 5 & 11. Fun stuff.

December 15, 2008

Temple Lights

For Family night we went to the Temple to look at the lights. The kids love this tradition and look forward to it every year. I must say that the Mesa Temple is decked out!! They have lights everywhere and on everything. The kids had fun going around to each of the little scenes they had set up with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, and the Wisemen. Ashy loved the donkey's and animals around the stable. After we looked at the lights we went into the visitors center and saw all the Nativities from all over the world they had displayed. We then saw the massive statue of Christ and listened to a message they play about him. It was so sweet to watch Ashton's face as we walked into the room with this huge statue of Christ. He got silent and his little eyes were just fixed on Christ. It wasn't that long ago that he left his Heavenly Father and I'm sure it must spark a feeling inside little kids, just by their reaction when they see their older brother.


Bananas

Kaden was so excited to bring Bananas home from school. In his first grade class the star student of the week gets to bring Bananas (the monkey) home for the weekend. They have to take it with them wherever they go and take pictures of what they did together. Then they make a little poster and put the pictures of their weekend.
It is a little creepy when you think that monkey goes to all the kids homes, so Bananas had a bath as soon as he came to our house.

December 14, 2008

Thanksgiving Week...



Thanksgiving would not be the same without the famous "Turkey Bowl"
The cousins all went in their P.J.'s
Uncle Grant, Aunt Linny, Uncle Sterling, Aunt Jenna, Uncle Jared, Tyler, Grandpa,
Logan, Sawyer, Spencer, and Kaden

The whole clan

Kaden's a happy boy!!!

We celebrated Kaden's 7th Birthday! We all went around the room and said why we love Kaden. The consensus was, we love him because: He is...
Creative, loving, tenderhearted, funny, good artist, makes everyone laugh, sensitive, honest, says sweet prayers and loves his Heavenly Father
When we were all done, Kaden was feeling like quite the KING!!

We celebrated Kaden and Grant's Birthdays!!

The kids, "Big and Little" made ginger bread houses

Spencer and Kaden wanted to go see our old house in Valencia, so we did a little drive by and took a picture
24261 Kotler court
Great Memories in this home...

Tyler had to work with a client in San Diego, so while they were working and surfing, we went to
Sea World!!
The kids love this huge shark mouth


Love the Polar ice cave. This is Ashy's "ROAR"

By the end of the day Ashton was so tired. We got back to the hotel and bathed the kids. Ashton climbed into his bed with pillows and blankets all around him and he was OUT...but oh so cute when asleep. We had a great week and are thankful we could be with our family on this special holiday.

Look At Me!!


On Sunday, Ashton came running into our bathroom saying, " Mom, look at me...I'M SHARP!"