HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEY!

We hope you had a great birthday. We miss you and love you!!!
(My singing should secure never being asked to join the ward choir)

The Nut Tree
9/19/08

Payton had the day off from school and so Dave took half a day off and we headed down to the Nut Tree. I know I had been there several times as a kid but I had no recollection of it. But it is wonderful now. It's a great park for 2+ year olds. We had to go on a few things with the big girls but it was great. It's compact and clean and they can go on everything several times (totally worth the $10 bracelet which is unlimited rides and admission) and there was plenty for Mayce to enjoy too. We had great afternoon.

Here's Dave and the girls with the Engineer who drives the original train from the old park. He was very informative and had a wealth of knowledge of all things Nut Tree.

The girls are riding a Hobby Horse made from the pattern of the ones also at the original Nut Tree.

Don't let this ride fool you! I went on with Mayce and when it takes this corner you had better hold on. The girls loved it.

Ahh, they're so cute! (Sorry Tommy, I forget to get Dave to pose in one. I know you want to keep the contest going!)

Seriously, we had a great time. It was nice to let them go on as many rides, multiple times, that they wanted. There's tons of shopping and places to eat. And it's across the freeway from the outlets. Perfect for everyone!

Sorry no picture, but I just wanted to update. Life has been crazy so it's hard to keep up. The funnest (is that a word?) thing that's happened is Tuesday night Dave's softball team clenched 1st place. They went undefeated this last season. In the championship game Dave hit another home run. I grew up watching my dad play softball and they hit them out all the time. However, I guess in the last 20 years they've changed the type of ball they play with and I've been informed it's much harder to hit it out now. But my man has done it a couple of times now so whoo hoo! I haven't been to many games this season because they've been starting at 7:30 and 8:40 and the girls go to bed at 7:30. Trust me they need their sleep! But Tuesday I was able to find a babysitter and go to the games. It was a double header. It was a fun time.

I also have a bit of sad new. I don't know if everyone has heard that Dave got the girls a couple of "pets." Yes, we now have fish. Beta fish of course. Fallyn's is red and named Strawberry and Payton's was blue and named Pointed Blue. (Those of you who know us well know that my girls are two of the least creative people when it comes to naming animals. Dave's mom has had cats and they're all Whitey White, Blacky Black, a Stripety Stripe.) So Strawberry is a CRAZY name for us. Anyway, Pointed Blue has passed on. We only had him for a couple of weeks and I have no idea what went wrong. The girls are like, "Oh well, lets go get another one!" But I think I'm having issues. They are in a twin tank. It keeps them separated so I know Strawberry's not to blame. They were fed every day, and not over fed. Their water (which I prepared ahead of time and left out for 24 hours so it would be the proper temperature) was changed weekly with the stuff to neutralize tap water. I thought we were doing everything right, so what happened? I don't know if I can just replace Pointed Blue like he was never here! It's bad enough watching them swim in their tiny little tank/bowl but now to have Pointed Blue's blood (they do have blood right?) on my hands, how can I replace him? I guess I'm just going to have to pull myself together and be strong for my daughters. Well, I appreciate you letting me work through this. I'll post pictures when we replace poor Pointed Blue. And I've all ready been informed that Payton wants a red one now and it will be named Pointed Strawberry. (Tears stream down my face from laughter when I hear them discussing that kind of stuff.) I think we'll try to keep different colors so it will be easier to tell them apart. Wish me luck (and the new fish)! Thanks again for listening!

I love the State Fair! Or any carnival for that matter. I love the cool air of the night, all the lights from rides and games, and of course I love the food! I'm sad that riding the rides has fallen off of the list but I think I'm too old for them. I can do the Ferris Wheel, and apparently the Bumble Bee ride, but that's about all I'm good for. How sad! Maybe if I get back into shape I'll be able to some day ride the Zipper again. Is that ride even around anymore? Monday night we went to the Fair and had a blast! Thank goodness my kids still love seeing the animals more than the rides. Thanks to Grandpa & Grandma we got to do some rides though so we got the whole experience. We had a great time!
Dave looks so cute! I'm glad he suggested taking this picture! ;)

This was Mayce's expression the ENTIRE time. Someone has got to get this little girl a pony!
On the spinning dragons with Owen.
And here's Mayce and me flying the Bumble Bees. She enjoyed this too. She saw the bigger kids going on rides and really wanted to go on something. She surprises me everyday by how she wants to do what her older sisters do. She is a 5 year old stuck in a 1 1/2 year old's body.

Happy birthday Dave! Here are a few pictures from the out of control party we had for him Thursday night. We love you!

My baby's first day of school! I am proud to say that I "kept it together" I was definitely on the edge though. She has absolutely loved her first week of school. She was pretty timid at first, but not in a needy way. She was just a little quiet.

Here she is waiting in line.
And here's Fallyn in line with her. Fallyn has adjusted well without her. I can tell she misses her though because she's been a little crankier than usual.
This is Payton at her spot at her table. We stayed for about 10-15 minutes while her teacher read a book and we wrote a note to our kids. Ahh!
And here is Payton with her teacher Mrs. Williams. Payton has nothing but wonderful things to say about her. We'll get to know her better Wednesday night. Dave's mom is the only one who has really met her but I'm not going to mention why that is because I might cry. Ask Dave about it!

So I fell off the wagon for a few weeks, but I'm back. Here is some catch up! We are so lucky to pretty much all of our family in town these days. So Friday, August 1st we all went to the Rivercats game. I am not a big fan of baseball in general but I've really started to love going to the games. We sit on the grass and totally enjoy ourselves. On this particular night both of our families went together so we had a ton of people!

These are my parents with Mayce and Payton.

Here's Mayce looking so cute with her Rivercat Claw. My dad bought them for the Payton, Fallyn, and Owen at our first game. The girls had no idea what they are for but now they're a favorite play item.

More of our group here. Dave along with a brother, a sister, two brother-in-laws, and a sister-in-law.

Here's Dave's parents with his sister, my brother (above), and Fallyn.

And here are the 40 hot dogs it took to feed everyone. I don't know who paid but thank you!

This post is way late oh well! Here's what happened last Saturday (the 19th):
Dave was on an overnight scout camp out so the girl's and I mooched off of Antelope Stake's Pioneer Day festivities. Dave's parents were there making the pancakes and my parents were there eating them. We didn't stay long but Mayce was feeling the pioneer spirit in her dress. My mom made that a few years ago for Fallyn. When I showed it to Mayce her eyes lit up, no joke. She is definitely my girliest girl!

After the pioneer party we headed out to catch the end of the Eppie's race. My brother participated in all three legs this year. I am totally naive to the lingo of these kind of things but some of the things I heard were that his time was 2 hours 16 minutes and I believe it was much better than he had expected. (Robby, leave a comment if I'm way off with that.) It has semi-motivated me. If my little brother can do it, so can I! Who knows how long that will last but it looked like fun (to someone who didn't spend over 2 hours working my body until it would work no more!) I'm so proud of him, and there he his with his 2 boys and Payton and Fallyn.
Here's Mayce hanging out in the stroller. She loved that thing. They had an entire kids area in the park after the race. They had inflatable toys, face painting (that my girls would absolutely not do), and little carnival games. Along with free popcorn and cotton candy! Yum! I think next year we'll go just for the fun of it. They had a live band and bunch of different vendors, it was quite the event.

So there's last Saturday. We haven't done much since then. We'll see what I can pull together for tomorrow.

(Disclaimer: Sorry I couldn't get this to rotate. I tried saving it rotated in my photo program but when I saved it, it saved it into still pictures. So, those of you who know more than me feel free to clue me in. Thanks, and sorry!)

Here's a clip from Dave's softball game last night. We had a lot of fun. The game was at 7:30 so the weather was nice. Almost sweatshirt weather (I love sweatshirt weather!) and his team won so it was a great night. So Dave's been a little bummed about his season so far. They're only allowed single walled bats and apparently he's never hit with that kind before. His hitting (in his opinion) has been less than stellar. He usually gets on base, and has even hit one out, but most of the time he's racing the throw to first. But here's a good clip because it summarizes Dave well. He is willing to sacrifice his body for any sport. He usually pays for it the next day, like he is today with multiple open wounds and the inability to move body parts, but he knows no other way than 110%. So this clip is for Cami, it's not a real game if Dave doesn't end up the dirtiest player on the team.

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to go to Lake Tahoe with friends from our ward. Mindy and Bruce came with us so we had a car full. The girls had fun but I think the beach house in North Carolina has spoiled them. They played for an hour and then ate and probably expected a break in a house for a while and then out to the beach again when they were ready. Sorry ladies, this is the way most people go the the beach. We still haven't taken them to the Pacific Ocean yet, we probably should to bring them back to West Coast reality. But they had a great time and are still talking about it. It was nice to get away from the smoke that is still invading our air. I'm trying not to be the paranoid mom who doesn't let their kids play outside right now, but when the smoke is as thick as fog I have a hard time encouraging outside play. So here are the girls at Lake Tahoe!

Here's the girl's posing for me. Fallyn with the hand on the hip is funny. And apparently this is what Payton thinks of when she's told to pose. I guess we need to work on her creativity. I think she gets the lack there of from me. Whenever I was told to do a funny pose after a team picture I always looked lost. I was still trying to think of something funny while they took the picture. Maybe I should have Dave work with her.

The water was pretty cold but they all got all the way in. We have some water girls!

This was taken right after Mayce put her face in the water. She was fearless once she got in. She spent the beginning of the day just sitting in a chair eating gold fish crackers. I kept asking her if she wanted to swim but she like hanging out with the adults.

Here's the group picture. Look at all those boys! We are definitely outnumbered. It's a big change from Redding where there were lots of girls their ages. It's nice though because at this age they don't really realize the difference. And they spend a lot of time with their cousin Owen so boys aren't too foreign to them.
We had a great time and are looking forward to another outing to the lake. Thanks for the invite!

We had a pretty mellow 4th of July this year. We went to out to breakfast, then to Roseville's parade, home for naps, Grandpa & Grandma Corbridge's for swimming and dinner, and then we watched the fireworks. It was nice and relaxing.



Here's Dave and our ladies (well, two of them are being ladies) on the sidewalk waiting for the parade to pass by. We viewed at the end of the route this year but are planning on going earlier next year so we can watch from the beginning. It's a pretty long route for some to walk so toward the end their enthusiasm for participating has wained. The space between the "floats" also gets a little spread out. With our crowd we need it coming constantly. And, they had jump houses and slides set up in Royer Park, which was not on our agenda for the day. We spent most of our time telling them, "no." Not fun! Dave and I are firm believers in keeping our kids in the dark when it comes to fun things they will not be doing. Next year, to the front!

Here's a view from the spot where we watched the fireworks. As per tradition, we sit illegally on a median of grass in the intersection of Arden, Alta Arden, etc. and watch Cal Expo's firework display for free. This started when there were no kids. This year we had four, ages 5 and under. (Happy to have cousin Bruce in town now!) Not so safe and sane. Every year we talk about paying the money and watching from the stands, I know we're missing more of the show from a mile away, but we never go inside. And I don't know if my ladies even know we can do fireworks ourselves. Although that may fall into the "keeping the kids in the dark" category. I grew up celebrating the evening of the 4th at my parents with friends and homemade ice cream. Not to mention the dad's letting bottle rockets go from between their teeth and the firemen showing up after having calls about illegal firecrackers, those were the days! Seriously, don't mention that to Dave because he would totally try it.

Here's Payton and Fallyn with their glow necklaces. (Thanks Brittany, they loved them!)

My sister Kelsey surprised us with a visit. Mayce loves having her here. You can tell because Mayce's actually letting Kelsey hold her even though I'm within eye sight. (Boy, I sure wish Kelsey's husband Tommy would let them move out to California. Utah is no place for a California Girl!)

Grandma Corbridge made glow light accessories for Mayce's hair. And here she is with her infamous SMILE! I'm going to have to start practicing smiling with her in the mirror. I know as a teenager she'll give me a hard time about taking so many pictures with her smiling like that. Sorry, it cracks me up.

So, those were the highlights from our holiday this year. We're bummed we weren't able to make it to the annual BBQ in Nevada City, especially since I heard there's a permanent soft serve machine on the deck now, but we'll be there next year. It's so nice having our families so close by and being able to celebrate with the Corbridge's and Walker's together. We are truly blessed. We're also blessed to be touched by so many family and friends who have served and continue to serve in the various armed forces. With out them, and others like them, we would not have the freedoms we enjoy. I honestly cannot tell you how in awe I am of them and their choices to serve. They, along with their families, are in our prayers daily. Thank you!

It was a pretty quiet week for us. I think we've finally recovered from our traveling so here are a few silly pictures of the girls just because!

Here's Mayce in Fallyn's raincoat and shoes. Why does she have a raincoat in the middle of summer in fire crazy California? Because she wanted it. It's just that simple with her. I'm getting weaker in my momminess as I become outnumbered. And the shoes, Mayce is a shoe lover. We are in trouble. She loves every one's shoes and usually needs to be wearing a pair at all times.

Who says the Mr. Potato Head parts are just for him? Not my girls. The parts are usually on them before the potato.

Here they are being "burritos." It cracks me up how much Mayce needs to do what they do. That girl is way ahead of her 17 months. (Yea! Nursery in one more month!) Today she was chasing Fallyn around the island in the kitchen and she'd change directions every time Fallyn did to head her off. Fallyn's comment, "Man, she's good." Ha! They make me laugh so much!

We were fortunate enough to have spent a couple of weeks in Ocean Isle Beach, NC. The girls and I were there for almost 2 weeks. Dave joined us the second week. Here are the girls in a tide pool that Grandpa Corbridge helped maintain for them. They loved the shallow warm water.

Payton is her father's daughter when it came to spending time on the beach. She could stay out there all day if we let her. Fallyn takes after me. It's fun for a while but, we need some indoor time too.

It's tough to maintain napping while at the beach so Mayce took it whenever she could get it. We enjoyed walks on the beach because Mayce would sleep. She's so cute!

Payton's squaring off with a wild crab here. I'm surprised she got this close to it. She's not very outgoing with anything unless it domesticated.

When the sun goes down the games came out. The girl's enjoyed being involved in anything to prevent their bedtime. Of course a card game could not be interrupted for such trivial matters.

We had a great trip and are spoiled for having had the opportunity. It is a great trip for EVERYONE! Fingers crossed that we'll have the opportunity again some day!