Christmas Eve in Santa Cruz

One of our favorite Christmas Eve traditions(when we don't go to Idaho or Utah)is to go to the beach. I was so happy the weather cooperated for us. It was so beautiful over there. In fact my nieces and nephew even played in the water(silly kids). It was so fun to have my sister and her family, plus my brother and his wife(pregnant with twin girls, so exciting)with us for Christmas Eve. We just played and relaxed and enjoyed being together. After that we shared some homemade tamales and drinks(supplied by my brothers co-worker), with the nativity preformed by the cousins. It was perfect!

Twelve Days of Christmas

Today we received a package in the mail from my favorite sister(and not just because she's my only sister). Inside were these very cute and fun containers....



....my boys were so excited to see that it was a count down to Christmas. Below is what they had to do for the 1st Day of Christmas....



Merry Christmas everyone...Thanks to my sister!

Happiest Place on Earth?

So we decided that since the boys had a few days off for Veteran's Day, we could make a trip down to Disneyland. Brevin has been asking to go since I can remember and we always tell him when everyone was big enough to go on all the rides. We'll Zack is finally big enough. So we planned it all out and were so excited. We left Weds after school and got down there around 9pm. I don't think anyone slept because we were so excited. We woke up early Thurs morning because we had the early entrance pass for 1 day. So we get there by 7am. We go in, walk straight to Space Mountain and got right on. Brevin and Jeret wanted to go again so they ran back in line. Zack and I did a few other rides and planned to meet up after. Well we met back up and Jeret and Brevin decided to go on the ride that Zack picked. Brevin went to jump over the rail(because there was no line), his foot slipped and he belly flopped on the sidewalk. He was in tons of pain. Clint walked him to a bench thinking he would be okay....well he started going into shock. Clint took him to the First Aid area and he wasn't getting any better, so we ended up calling the EMT's in with an ambulance. After further checkup, we decided to get him to the ER. After doing ultra-sound and chest x-ray, they couldn't find anything wrong, but he was still in so much pain, so they decided to do a CTScan. When they got the results back, they found that he had a grade 3 or 4 lacerated spleen(5 is the worst). So he was admitted into the ICU in case he had to have surgery. So treatment for a lacerated spleen is bed rest and hope it heals itself or surgery and remove it. So we started praying for the 1st! They drew blood every 4 hours to check his hemoglobin levels to see if they were staying the same or dropping. They continued to stay the same for 24hrs so they let him start eating. They continued to monitor him for another 24hrs and then released him on Saturday afternoon.

To say this least, this was not the trip we had planned. After waiting in the waiting room with Jeret and Zack for a couple of hours, I decided to take them back to Disneyland. We tried to have fun, with the worries of Brevin weighing us down. I took over for Clint Thurs night and he took the boys back to the park. Then Friday Clint took the boys. Then my brother and sister-in-law showed up Friday afternoon(thank goodness, they totally saved this trip for the 2 little guys, and helped in ways I didn't even think of). They took Zack and Jeret for us on Saturday(which I think they had more fun with them then with mom or dad).

Brevin was released Saturday afternoon. We got him back to the hotel and just let him rest. He wanted so badly to go see the fireworks(much to my dismay and worries), so we drove him over and got a wheelchair. Got there just in time to see the fireworks(which he really enjoyed). Then we took the bullet train over to downtown Disney where he found a fun Lego set(which has totally occupied his days at home). Then we got him back to the hotel. Well, I think we let him do too much because he was so sick the next day. I thought we were going to have to go back to the hospital. But we go some meds in him and he decide we should just get to Uncle Duke's house. To my brother drove us to their place in Visalia. On the way we hit some traffic, so Brev ended up losing his breakfast on the side of the road. We finally made it though. Aunt Morghan made him some awesome soup and he started feeling so much better. We spent the night there and came home Monday. He is getting more strength each day and has been grateful for everyone's well wishes.

It was quit the trip. Although it wasn't what we planned, we have so much to be grateful for. Grateful that he didn't have to have surgery, priesthood blessings, answered prayers, patient boys that never complained when waiting to find out about Brevin, or going back and forth to the hospital, for Duke and Morghan(who is pregnant with twins), for phone calls, visits from friends, good doctors, etc... We truly have been blessed during this time.






We did manage a few pictures. The first was of Zack and Jeret in front of the castle, the second was in the waiting room at the ER. They were practicing their bubble blowing. The last is Brevin on his last day at the hospital. He was actually able to smile at this point.

Am I really old enough....

...to have a 12 yr old?
That's right, Brevin turned 12 last month. It was so great to have all his grandparents here to help celebrate and be a part of his Aaronic Priesthood Ordination. It was such a great day, full of happiness and peace! I'm grateful for a Young Man who is striving to be his best!

Go Giants

To say the least tensions have been HIGH in our home for this last series. I can't even fully enjoy the Giant's win because Clint and Brev are so sad about their Braves.

Hopefully they'll get over it and start cheering the Giant's on!

Amazing! It's not Baseball

So Zack decided that he would like to try soccer this year. I just love this picture of him with his dad before his first game. His Coach got roped into to coaching at the last minute so they didn't have any practices before the first game. Now most kids this would be no big deal, but Zack has never played soccer before, so I think he was a bit nervous and unsure.

I just love the look on his face during halftime. He was so focused on his coach, he didn't want to miss any detail. Anyone that knows Zack, knows he wants to get it right the first time. I just love this kid, he's every teachers dream!

If you look real carefully you can see Zack's white hair in the mix, he was a great little defender in this game. It was so fun to watch him! If you're interested I can send you his game schedule so you can come watch, it's so fun!

Jade Cove

Thursday night Clint and I were talking about the rest of our week and what was going on....we realized that our Saturday was free of any commitments so we decide we should take a day trip somewhere. We had a friend tells us about Jade Cove and that it is so fun to climb around the rocks and search for jade. So we decided that we should do it. We got up early, did our Saturday cleaning and loaded up the car and took off. Well we read all this stuff on line on how to find it...but it was very tricky. I'm still not sure if we ended up in the right place. We decided to stop at Willow Creek and start there. It was beautiful and we walked and searched for some jade. Well when we started looking for jade we realized we really didn't know what we were looking for...lol....so we just started collecting stuff we thought might be. Anyway, we didn't feel like we were really finding anything so we decided to look again for Jade Cove. We drove back and forth and stopped at every place you could stop and looked over edges to see if we were in the right place. After much searching we think we find the right place.

above is at Willow Creek...after some more stops we found this trail below.

It lead to this cliff.....

Where we had to climb down or maybe we should say slide down....

I didn't really want to go down at first, but Zack was willing so we decided to follow. It ended up not being as bad as it looked.

When we got down there we had tons of luck finding jade. We still weren't a 100% sure we knew what we were looking for, but pretty sure. We search for quit awhile and came home with a small bag full. When we got home we researched how to tell if it's real or not, we think we actually got it right and ended up with quite a bit.(now I just need to find someone that can make me some beautiful jewelry out of it)

Not only did we find jade, the boys found a snake in the rocks. Gross!

After searching we had to climb back up...way easier to go up then down.

And of course we had to have a victory picture!
We had so much fun and I can't wait to go again.

PS The tallest boy in the picture is Brett, Clint's younger brother, he's living with us now. Totally fun for us!

We Survived!

I love the first day of school. The boyz were up nice and early, dressed in their new clothes and ready to go! Of course we had to have a big breakfast to get them through the day. Brevin is taking Spanish this year for Zero period, so we had to leave the house by 7:15. It's going to be hard for me, but I guess it's good practice for Seminary! (Can't believe he'll be in Seminary in 2yrs..Yikes) They all seemed excited and a little nervous, but everyone survived including mom! I have to say it was quite weird not having to pick Zack up half way through the day. I'm not sure I like it. Zack has always been my shopping buddy and I miss having time with just him to read and play.

When we got to school, of course I'm taking pictures and Zack tells me to put it on Video. (Watch Video)



He tells me that I can look at that when I start missing him.....I love that boy!

Well I hope the rest of the year goes as smoothly has the 1st week!

Things I'll Miss

I'm not looking forward to starting school this Weds. Summer has absolutely flown by. I remember making a list of all the things that I was going to accomplish. Well to say the least, I didn't get very far on the list, we were having way too much fun. Here's a few highlights of all the things I'm going to miss because school is back in session......


Going on trips with friends......

playing with cousins at Bear Lake.....

having our cousin's visit us on California...

having awesome uncles who will bury you in the sand....

and of course, being able to sleep in. :)
Hope all of you had a great summer.....we loved having everyone come visit, we loved traveling to come visit some of you. Thanks everyone for making this a summer full of things to remember!

Brevin the All Star

Brevin was selected for the Boys 11yr old Nationals All-Star Team. They did really well and made it to the Championship game where the lost to the Gilroy American All-Stars. It was a bummer to lose to the other Gilroy team, but it was still tons of fun. Brevin had two days off and then started practice for travel ball. Good thing he loves baseball so much!

Lake Almanor

The boys and I were lucky enough to be invited to our friends lake house at Lake Almanor. We got to go about 6 years ago and have wanted to go again, and it finally worked out this year. We had such a great time. What better way to spend your birthday then, soaking up the sun, tubing behind a boat, knee boarding, jet skis, kayaking, eating yummy food all day long, and being with friends. The boys loved it and had so much fun being with friends and even making some new friends. The earliest the boys went to bed was 11pm(to say the least we are still catching up on sleep). Every night at 9 they would start playing Jail Keeper outside. I think that was Brevin's favorite part. I think Zack's favorite part was every night we would play Just Dance on the Wii, yes even all the moms did. One night we had about a group of 15 moms and kids all dancing together....So fun and Funny! Below is Zack, JT, Jeremy, and Skyler dancing.

Great day at the Beach

Jodie came to visit this last week(which is one of my favorite things). I had so much fun and my kids love it when they come to visit. Especially when Jodie brings the ingredients to make Monster cookies(unfortunately I forgot to take picture of the cookies, way yummy). On the last day they were here we took a trip to the beach! It was such a great day at the beach, sunny, warm, and cousins. Zack is so glad that Marin will play in the waves with him, because the rest of us our wimps and just like to play in the sand! Zack and Marin just cracked me up, they would get knocked over and tumble and go right back at it.....good times!

Beautiful Idaho

I forget how beautiful Idaho can be. Dad and Mom took us on a 20 miler(round trip) in the back country of Idaho, on the ATV's. I just loved the blue sky and open land. I don't think I ever appreciated the beauty of this area before....not that I want to move back....but it was just really fun.

The trail that we were on took us to the City of Rocks, which is north of Gooding. We had lots of fun climbing over and in between all the rock formations. We made dad lead the way and search for Rattle snakes for us. Thankfully there were not any out.

Gopher!?!

I went out to water yesterday and when I went to grab the hose, something moved. I totally jumped(I'm not going to lie). I yelled to the boys and told them I found a snake. They came running, they were so excited. After looking to make sure it wasn't a baby rattler, we decided the boys could pick it up. They Loved It! We happen to have some friends ride by on their bikes and told us it's a gopher snake. So the boys made a little home in the box above, but as you can see the snake had no problem getting out.......so the boys added some more barriers in hopes of keeping it for awhile. Well.....we left to go to the movie and when we came back, it was gone. JT was quit sad, he really liked it. So the last 2 days all I've heard is, "when are we going to get a snake?" Let's just say, it won't be anytime soon!:)

Small Tribute to Grandma Minick

We already miss Grandma Minick. One of the greatest blessings that has come to our family since we have moved to California, is that we got to spend so much time with Grandpa and Grandma Minick. Grandma has done so much for our boys since we have lived here. I can't count how may times we dropped our boys off so that we could go to the temple. Every time we came to visit there was food stock piled ready for the boys to eat and a never ending supply of vitamins(M&M's). I'm grateful for the last big get together with Grandma right before Christmas. She seemed so happy and we had such a nice visit with her. I remember how excited she was to have carolers show up that night. She fed us a great meal and had such a great time visiting with her. I'm also grateful for the last few visits I had with her at the hospital. She was in ICU so the boys couldn't come, but it was so nice to have 1 on 1 with her and share in some quiet moments. What an amazing wife, mother, and grandmother she has been. We Celebrate all she did and was. We love you and miss you!

We are going to miss our annal Easter Egg Hunt that we always have with Grandma. This was last years Easter Egg Hunt! What Fun! The Great Grand-kids are really going miss Grandma Minick. She has always spoiled them, not matter what the occasion.

Jeret turns 8!

Turning 8 is such an exciting time. Jeret turned 8 on the 26th and so the cub scouts invited him to join in on their pinewood derby which was the day before his birthday. He was so excited(that's actually an understatement). He and Clint worked on the car together and had so much fun making the car I didn't think it could get any better, until he comes home and shows me his trophy. I wish I could have a picture of his face, it was the best. He ended up getting 2nd place overall. Not bad for your first Derby. By the way, doesn't he look so cute in his new uniform?

On his birthday, he had his friend Daneil over and the watch a movie and played wii and ate tones of pizza, ice cream, and brownies. It was even more special because Grandpa Rog and Grandma Sue showed up. It's not very ofter we get to have Grandparents around for Birthdays. What a great day!

Since Clint had to work on Jeret's birthday, we had a family party on Saturday. We went mini golf and San Jose and Grandpa Rog got to join us. Way fun and we even got in 36 holes before it rained! It was Great even if I average 4 strokes a hole :)

Winter Break

This winter break we were invited to our friends family cabin.
It was so beautiful and tons of fun.

Brevin and his friends climbed up and made their own bobsled run. It was great, with good speed and lots of turns. They did a great job.

I thought this was a cute picture of Jeret. If you notice he doesn't have gloves on. This kid worked so are he was hot all the time. If fact most of the time he didn't even have his coat on.

Being at the cabin usually means late nights and not much sleep. Poor Zack was tired and that meant he was a little moody :). He finally started having fun and when he used the sled as a snowboard. He could make it almost the whole way down, it was very fun!
Thanks for invited us!!!