Oh, The Places We Went

Quick! Now that Little League season has started and we have all three boys on teams this year, its time to get some photos in first of something rather than baseball! Because very soon that's about all its going to be. So here's a glance at some of our February activities before the Boys of Summer move in and take over.

For our first photo essay we feature Harriet and her haircut. This was my first attempt at more than just a bangs trim for her - this was a good 3 - 4 inches off all around, as well as a bang blending attempt. I was happy with how it turned out, and even more importantly she was happy with the results.

Harriet's hair before:

Harriet with a whiteboard drawing she made of

herself wearing the dress she was wearing

and with her cute homemade haircut:

And in other Harriet news....

Last Saturday was a rainy morning, perfect for a limo ride to

the movies! Harriet was invited to a friend's party where they

rented out the entire theater to see "The Princess and the Frog"

and drove all of the girls there in a giant Hummer limo.

they also ate delicious rainbow popcorn

Saturday afternoon it was still rainy, and still the perfect

atmosphere for indoor entertainment. Luckily the perfect

opportunity presented itself in Kenzie and Abbie's Roadshow!

The twins and I attended their Stake's Roadshow and were

able to see the best one of the bunch - "No Pyramid For You!"

starring Kenzie as the Pharoah's wife who is using all of Pharoah's

savings for his giant tomb to educate and free her slaves.

Kenzie in the red

the poor singing the praises of the Pharoah's wife

Abbie as one of the slaves

Pharoah and his wife ultimately doing all of the work

after the slaves have been educated and freed

singing the finale

The girls did an awesome job and Harriet and Jack were

excited to talk to their cousins backstage and present them

with some calla lillies courtesy of grandma

with Kenzie

with Abbie

Great job everyone!

This week for Dr. Seuss Day we had a breakfast

of Green (scrambled) Eggs and Ham (bacon)

The celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday

continued at school with a Read-a-Thon

Jed and his teacher

And finally,

Jack recieved his Boy Scout Tenderfoot Rank

at this month's Court of Honor

Here he is with his parents, who look a little

wiped out to me. It's been a busy month!

Recent youtube

Saturday evening the boys were out with the skateboard and the bike and the wooden ramp that was left in our house by the previous owner whose wife had been in a wheelchair.

We had been watching snowboarding and some skiing from the Olympics and I think it inspired the boys a bit.

As a result we have several new videos uploaded to our youtube account (hevansrich)

Here's a link to two of them. Sorry about the light issues, it was getting dark outside.

hope you enjoyed the Olympics as much as we did! and these videos as well.

Fail? I don't do fail.

Inspired by the Olympics

Saint George and St. Valentines

Lucky me, I was able to spend last weekend, a four-day presidential holiday/Valentine's Day/Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics weekend in this most lovely place:

With this most lovely lady:

Thanks to the unwavering support of Pete

and other encouraging family

members CD and I spent a long sister

weekend in St. George hanging out.

The weather was absolutely amazing,

clear and sunny and warm, we even had

people laying out by the pool at our condo.

(but not actually swimming..)

CD and I did some shopping and

dined at some delicious places, we also

explored some of the expanding areas of St. George

(explosion is more like it)

ate snacks, scrapbooked (me)

and watched plenty of Olympic coverage.

(On that note alone it was quite an exciting couple of days!)

The above photo is from our Valentine's dinner at Benja Thai,

a delicious Thai restaurant in St. George

that is right down the street from our condo

(isn't that the sweetest, most calming web site you've seen?

and doesn't make you want some Thai for lunch?)

Pete and the kids did great at home,

we are blessed to have so

many willing hands to help us out when needed.

The Thursday before Valentine's Day

was the last school day before the

four day weekend, and it was the day

that all of the kids had parties in their

classes. I spent several hours at the school

that day hanging out with my kids

and participating in their celebrations.

So much fun.

First I stopped by Jack and Harriet's sixth grade class party:

they were decorating cookies and delivering Valentines

Harriet's Valentine's Day outfit included

her heart socks from a soccer

uniform a couple of seasons ago

Harriet's homemade Valentine's heart envelope

In Henry's class there were more

snacks and a lively game

of Bingo in progress when I arrived:

Henry was among the first winners!

For his prize he chose this Silly Putty

Jed's class was also playing Bingo:

and he was a winner, too.

He chose this green stuffed frog.

Doing their deliveries:

I LOVE YOU!

Jack is #8

playing offense

getting the ball

shooting low towards the goal

(and nearly making the goal that would have won

the game against the only undefeated team in the league.

As it was his team tied them, no small feat!)

13 Years Ago Today

The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

Last week in Southern California this was not just hype. Well, not all just hype. Everyone got very excited about the storms and the amount of rainfall we had here, day after day. Granted, any one of these days on its own would have been quite impressive, but we had five days in a row of heavy thunderstorms, some complete with thunder and lightening, and at least one Tornado Warning. I don't have a rainfall total number, but take into consideration that last year between the months of probably March and November there wasn't even really one day of rain, this was a Big Deal.

For the most part our family loved it. Of course we didn't have to deal with flooding or mudslides or overturned boats in the harbor like many others did, but it did mean that every single sports practice, as well as church Activity Days, was cancelled. Schools were cancelled in some places and people were urged to stay home and off the streets. I'm sure that makes those of you in Utah, the mid-West and the East just roll your eyes, but we really enjoyed our taste of winter. We just stayed home and hunkered down, made a fire in the fireplace every evening and roasted marshmallows.

Here are some photos of one of the heavier storms one afternoon. There was thunder and lightening and it sounded like the rain couldn't fall fast enough or hard enough.

our courtyard quickly becomes a lake fed by the roof waterfall

rapids in the gutter

view from our garage

saturated front lawn and gutter river

These next photos were taken and sent to me by a friend of mine who lives in "The Woods" which is the neighborhood just down the street from us behind La Madera Elementary School. It is the "forest" in Lake Forest, and has a pleasant little stream that runs along a gully with walking trails that criss-cross the stream through a grove of Eucalyptus trees. The stream became a raging river which flooded the trails and swept across the bridges.

On one of the last evenings of the storms, around 10 p.m. there was a strong storm that consisted of thunder and lightening and eventually hail! Only the second time I've seen hail in Southern California. Sue blogged about the storm that evening here.

We roasted hot dogs one night, but those didn't turn out great, I ended up microwaving them in the end. We did do marshmallows and s'mores some nights, and they were yummy. Jack and some of his friends also had the bright idea to roast starburst, which makes them warm and chewy, but also left a bit of a drippy mess on the hearth.

We'll miss this when its warm again!

Day after New Year's Day and the First Lost Tooth

Late afternoon the day after New Year's Day we get together with family for a delicious brunch and belated Christmas gift exchange. Dave grills some burgers and Sue makes a delicious pulled pork salad with the Cafe Rio Recipe salad dressing (on coincidentally the same day the first Cafe Rio in Southern California opens right here in Lake Forest). We also enjoy a couple of bottles of sparkling grape juice and some delicious Marie Calendar pies courtesy of Grandpa John.

Porter refreshes Pete's drink

Our girls show off their various admission wristbands from

various holiday activities. Harriet's is from our night out

ice skating in Utah, and I think Abbie's and Kenzie's may have

been from the thrift store stake dance they attended the night before.

Family favorite French Silk pie

After dinner we open some presents from grandpa and grandma who of course always give us

the best books!! Jack & Porter got their favorite reference books which include Ripley's Believe it or Not and the Guinness Book of World Records. Harriet got a fun book called Lemon Tart which is billed as "A Culinary Mystery" and includes recipes! Henry added to his growing Ready, Freddy! library, and Jed received a great book called Charlie Cook's Favorite Book which he has since read and submitted a book report on to his first grade.

Jed on the elliptical machine Santa brought the Coes

Now Jed has had a pesky front loose tooth (his first!) for the past few days. It is really bothering him (and quite frankly ready to come out) so Pete tries to take a look at it.

The Horror!

This is the drama that ensued as Pete tried to even pull back Jed's lip for a peek at his tooth.

Later in the evening the tooth finally comes out, I can't remember the actually mode of extraction but I think Pete must have helped out somehow.

Here's dad and Jed with Jed's first lost tooth!!

new hole in Jed's head

When Jed went back to school Monday after winter break he was happy to be the first name on the Lost Tooth chart in his class. He was presented with a ribbon sticker, and because I happened to be in the classroom getting ready to help the kids go to library I was able to get a picture with my iPhone.

It's going to be a great year!