California was the second week of November. We are such a wonderful time, we learned some lessons. Previous years it worked better to let the kids sleep all night while I drove. The drive comes at the end of my 7 days on, it is a dangerous and ultra miserable day/night/day for me. This year Mason woke and couldn't sleep, He just cried his little eyes out all through Nevada. It was a miserable drive, then we played at Disneyland several hours after arriving in California, we were ALL grumpy, all tired, all miserable. The one lucky/nice thing that happened our first day there-----we ran into my cousins from Bakersfield. I haven't seen them in at least 5 years, we just happened to run into them. We were waiting for dinner at Rainforest Cafe, I looked up and saw Jimmy, Traci and little Jasey.....it was so cool!!!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It is all about fun, there are no real expectations that, if not kept, will disappoint anybody. I don't have to buy gifts for anybody, I don't have to prepare tons of food, I don't have to feel hurt that nobody remembers me, etc. My kids didn't have to try hard to learn to love this day. Mason responds, "we are getting more candy today, OK." I don't have to beg, yell, and ask 3 or 20 times to get ready to leave the house. I can ask only once, get your trick or treat bag and lets go!!!! We have had 4 halloween parties this year, when I was a kid you pulled a costume together using tape, fake blood, DI clothing and a pillow case the day of halloween-------------and halloween only lasted a single day. Now halloween really lasts the full month of October, at least in our family it does. It is a great time to get stressed out adults to let their hair down, knock down a few, and just have fun. I guess I have decided that life is really good, I am happy, we are healthy, and our dentist will be busy!!!

We haven't been able to do much this summer, I worked the entire month of July and then work every other weekend. I have one friend from high school that I still talk to, have something in common with, like, and see now and then. Her son was having his mission farewell, so we took the opportunity to drive down to Saint George to a little family fun. It has been slightly cool in Salt Lake and we have been missing swimming in the pool. We stayed in the Super 8 hotel which wasn't 'super' but at least it had a pool. The kids could have cared less that there were dead cockroaches on the walkways, they just saw the blue water. We also went hiking and playing on the red rocks. They had so much fun but scared the tar out of me. I have never experienced fear like that, they would get so close to the edges and I just kept fearing the worst. Mat didn't help by repetitively pretending to throw them over the edge. All in all, we had a great weekend!!!!!!!

Melia's first day of school.  She was so nervous, she had a frightened look on her face.  It was even more gut wrenching because she was trying to be so brave.  It wouldn't have been hard for me if she was excited.  But when I walked out the door and I saw the little quivver of her lip I felt like I was abandoning her.  As a parent you want to take away all of their pain, but you can't.  It is as painful for me as it is for her.  I was nervous for the entire 3 hours, waiting to pick her up.  She reported that she was nervous for a whole 5-10 minutes, until they finished introductions and the teacher had them all in the palm of her hand.  I hope each and every day Melia finds joy in learning!!!!!!

4th of July weekend.  We have tried to give the kids a holiday weekend even though I'm working every single day, all day.  We went for a bike ride Friday night, did the Pepperwood Parade Saturday, then they swam for several hours, now we are heading out to do fire works.    These are the greatest days-----I want to always remember how I feel right now.  We are all healthy, happy, and full of sunlight.  We have wonderful friends, wonderful family, and 2 annoying dogs who we love but are making us crazy.  More pictures to follow.

So far this spring we have loved having warm weather, beautiful blue skies, bright sunny days, and trees and flowers in bloom.

We spent about 5 hours at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving point, it was slightly overcast and extremely humid for Utah. It was cool when we started so I forgot all about sunscreen----I had jackets for all of us. However, by about noon it was 75 degrees and about 85% humidity (I guess). We were all sweating and by the end of the day, all sunburned. The flowers were beautiful and hopefully got one or two pictures worth sharing.

We had a fun Easter Holiday. Melia had an Easter Egg Hunt with her best friends, Kate Wing and Allison Sweney. Mason and Allison's little brother Becket got to lay too. They decorated eggs, hunted eggs outside, and ate way too much Candy.

Happy New Year!!!!!  We have a wonderful bunch of family and friends.  Whoever said there isn't diversity in Utah hasn't checked out our parties.  We are usually the minority.  We had a wonderful snowy few days that deposited a bunch of the white stuff for us to take advantage of.  It could only have been better if the kids were not so grumpy and tired from our New Year's Eve Party the night before.  Life is GOOD!!!!

We had a very fantastic Christmas morning, day, and evening.  We didn't change out of our Christmas jammies until 5:30 pm, we had to go out into public to visit family so thought we should actually dress for the day. 

Mason loved all of his cars and balls, Melia could barely pull herself away from her Hanna Montana make-up box.  Mat and I enjoyed some rice pudding, broccoli soup, and homemade bread.

Melia really enjoys gymnastics, I love the fact that she is good at something that she loves.  I was so proud of her, not only for the skills she could perform, but because she is so sweet, shy, and loving.  Grandma and Grandpa T, Grandma Galvez, brother Mason, mom and dad were all there.  Melia bought everybody a cold stone ice cream when she was done and was so proud to pay by herself with her own gift cards.

When would I ever have considered a "Sharpie" to be almost as dangerous as a knife when decorating pumpkins? I never thought I would ever find myself saying things like "don't eat the snail", "get the dog's tail out of your mouth", "stop eating your boogers"?  I never imagined I could feel good about sitting in front of the TV  for almost 48 straight hours----granted I was comforting and holding my sick baby boy and that is all he could and would do.  I never imagined I could love my life as much as I do------I haven't competed in a bike race, tennis match, triathlon, volleyball tournament or anything that used to be so much of who I was.  Melia and Mason are absolutely and positively the best of me, how can I be so lucky to be a part of their wonderful little lives?  It almost (ALMOST) makes me want to have another one.

Blake Powell, Lara Ross and ME----we are in the Garden of Gethsemane, need I say more?

I am standing in front of the most famous site in Jordan/ in Petra. I am posing with Donna Colson who is the couple missionary in Northern Jordan, she and her husband picked us up and drove us the 3 hours to Petra, hiked with us 3 hours and drove us 3 hours back to the Amman airport. They were wonderful to us, they provided us water, sun screen, and fabulous company.

This is me and my assembly partner in Jerusalem. We are at the church of the nativity. You can see the woman behind us with the alter behind her. That is the exact spot (supposedly) where Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus. The column on the right is where Joseph and Mary supposedly layed the baby Jesus to sleep in the Manger. This tiny area is where the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenians all share and worship.

Here is day one of our Disneyland trip.  We pulled Mason out of the car seat at 5:00 am after driving all night.  His entire face, neck, back and chest was nothing but rash.  This was why he spent the first day at CHOC (Children's Hospital).  They never will know for sure what it was, my pediatrician seems to believe it was a reaction to his MMR vaccine.  He was worse on day 2, but better on day 3, 4, and 5.  It was amazing to see how his little personality changed once he started to feel better.

I had to chose bright matching clothes for Disneyland so when they wondered off I wouldn't lose them forever.  Melia was so tough and brave, her favorite ride was Tower of Terror, she rode it 4 times.  Mason had a bought with some illness that made us spend the first day in Childrens Hospital of Orange County.  Every vacation has to have some glitch, right?!  We had a wonderful trip anyway.

I am officially finished with school AGAIN.  I  watched my father cry his eyes out all through the ceremony.  My in-laws were just as moved.  Poor Mat had to walk the halls outside the ceremony with a screaming baby.  I watched Melia climb over both sets of grandparents, stand on her head on the chair, and sing Briar Roses' song at the top of her lungs.  I am officially Dr. Timpson-----what will my next challenge be?

When I brought Mason home from the hospital Melia was pretty jealous for the first several months, I guess I assumed she still was or hadn't even thought about it for a while. The other day I took Melia skiing to give her a little "Mom and Me" time. When we went back to my sister-in-laws to pick up Mason, Melia replied, "I can't wait to get Mason, I miss him." Looking at this picture, reminds me that Melia really does love and take care of her baby brother, even if that often includes tackling him, dumping him on his head, stealing his toys, etc. They are the two cutest kids in the world and I'm certain that I'm the luckiest person ever!!!

Melia surprises me every single day. She never appears to be paying attention, I say that because she is usually talking, jumping/falling off her chair, turning circles in her chair, applying make-up, etc. The other day we had a family home evening lesson about Jesus on the cross, why we celebrate Easter, etc., she was able to recall pieces that her primary teacher had told her, all very accurately. How does she listen, pick her nose, and dance in her chair at the same time? Anway, Easter was a fantastic day, we were able to spend most of the day with family and at church.