Muir Woods

For MLK day we decided to take the kids over to Muir Woods. It was a beautiful day for a walk through the redwoods. The fog was thick on the drive and just gorgeous as we wound through the trees to the park. The kids had a good time and we got out of the house so everyone was happy. We are so fortunate to live in a truly beautiful area.

Kate's preferred way of travel. When she finally did decide to walk on her own, she ran the opposite way, ugh!

Hollowed out tree. I told the kids they should just get comfortable we'd com back. We would!

A tree that had fire damage in the middle. A big tree!

Pinewood Derby

WARNING! This is a big brag post. Nate took part in his first pinewood derby tonight. I need to show some remorse, having never been to a pinewood derby I was expecting a lame night of chaos. I was more than pleasantly surprised that it was organized, well ran and ended on time. :) To top it off, Nate took 2nd place out of 35 cars! It was very exciting. He started out winning his first 3 heats, took second in his fourth and then 1st again in his last two. Then it was onto the finals and six more races. He won the first three and then took second the last three. That tied him with a good friend of ours from the ward who did just the opposite of Nate, so now we were on a runoff. They ran two races so each car could use the same track. Nate won the first and Matthew the second! So it was still a tie! So they had them pick a number so they could pick a track to run one more race. One picked 3 the other 5 and the number was 4! So they had them pick again and this time Matthew won. They ran their race and just by the slightest hair Nate got beat, but it was so much fun! Proud mom moment, Nate clapped for Matthew and shook his hand afterwards. No tears, just fun. So now I'm a fan of the pinewood derby. Geoff and Grumpy (grandpa Adams) have been helping Nate with his car since Thanksgiving and we were lucky enough to have Grumpy join us for the big event.

Nate's face after winning three times in a row. I have to admit, I was shocked too.

Grumpy giving Nate a pep talk during the finals. :)

The Pleasant Hill 1st ward represented. These four boys all made the finals. Out of four wards and 35 cars I'd say that's pretty good!

Before the race off!

The winners! Nothing like a cookie on a stick can say congratulations on your big finish.

She's Home!

We are happy to report that Emily made it home none the worse for the wear. She had a wonderful time at Outdoor Ed, but said she was really happy to be home. I'm surprised at home much I missed her! I think the thing that made me miss her most was the fact that this is just the first of many times that she will be leaving home to do things on her own. I think that realization was harder than having her gone for a few days. Enjoy your kids, they grow up too fast!

They went hiking through some Redwood forrests. The trees are so beautiful and big!

The went exploring through tide pools. Here she's holding a hermit crab.

It rained a couple of time while they were there. These are the cabins they stayed in. She said it was cold, but layers helped.

These are two of her good friends Emma and Alanis.

Em Off to Outdoor Ed

I've totally skipped over Christmas. It was wonderful, low key and lots of fun. I'll try and get back to it, but I promised my family I would post some pictures of Em as she left for Outdoor Ed this morning. I can't believe I've sent my baby off for a week! For those of you who know me well, you'll be proud to know that I didn't cry when I told her good-bye. I saw her get on the bus, plastered a big smile on my face and waved good-bye. Then I went to my car and cried. It didn't help that Ryan was sobbing and missing her already. She was excited to go and we can only hope that she is having a good time.

All set to go. They had to be able to carry all of their own stuff.

Some of her friends.

Just waiting to get on the bus.

And there she goes. Then off she came and got on the other bus since this one was full.

You probably can't see but she has her nose pushed up against the window. She was happy and that made it a lot easier on me. :)

Nutcracker 2010

Emily and Nathan participated in their schools annual Nutcracker performance. It's such a fun thing to watch every year. Grades K-3 are automatically part of the show and the 4th and 5th grades can volunteer to participate if they want to. Nate was part of the Spanish Chocolate Dancers and Emily was a Sugar Plum Fairy. It's kind of sad to think that it's the last time she'll participate in Elementary school. Ah, time is flying by.

Post performance. I wasn't able to get a close up in their costumes, darn it!

What do you think, does Nate look good in a mustache?

Emily is in back with the long sleeves.

I did not have a good seat, or camera for that matter, but here's Nate. Thankfully he didn't have to hold a girls hand this year. (If you see last year's post you'll understand this better)

Prior to their performance the chorus performed songs from the Nutcracker. Very cute!

Nathan's Baptism

We had a very fun Thanksgiving week. The older kids had the whole week off which was lots of fun. Ryan went one day and did a play at his school. It was pretty cute. Then we had family come into town. Mike and Amy came with their kids. Then Grandma and Grumpy Adams showed up Thanksgiving day. Mike, Amy and I all ran in a race Thanksgiving morning. It was a good way to start off the day; burn the pie off before you eat it! The day after Thanksgiving Nathan was baptized. I'm always amazed at how much our kids know at such a young age. It was a really busy week, but one where we were able to think about all we are grateful for.

Ryan in his Golidlocks and the Three Bears play at preschool.

Nate and all his buddies who attended the baptism. We are so lucky to have such great friends.

Nate with his siblings and cousin Blake. Tough to tell they are all related huh?

Halloween at Disneyland

Well this must be a miracle because I'm posting something that happened within the last week. We spent a couple of days in Disneyland to redeem our free "give a day get a day" ticket. Well you can't just go and spend one day there, so we spent two. One day in Californina Adventure and one in Disneyland and Mickey's Halloween party. It was so fun and was so worth spending an entire day at each park. Kate's desire was to meet Sleeping Beauty, so in the final hour we were able to catch her, phew! The older kids thought the trick or treating was so great, Disneyland gives out good treats! It was a totally fun trip, but Disneyland is a favorite destination of ours. I could go every year if it were possible. Enjoy the pics!

One last photo before leaving the park. We were all tired.

The castle looked awesome. They had spiders crawling on it. Can you see the web?

Lovin' the princesses.

Ariel was so nice.

I love this picture. Kate was so tired, but so excited to meet "Beauty" She had her costume on earlier in the night, but after a total melt down we ended up in this and you can't see it but a totally dirty face. I'm not sure Beauty was impressed, but Kate was thrilled and they are always so nice no matter how unkempt you are.

My little gypsy.

I like to call him Slick.

Tigger and the Knight!

The little spooks ready to head back to Disneyland for trick or treating!

Waiting for the Billy Hill and the Hillbilly's show. It's our favorite one to go to in Disneyland.

Another favorite of Kate's.

The tea cups, need I say more?