Recap of 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I can't believe it is Christmas time already.
This year has just really flown by!

Well, I really feel like I cheated with Christmas cards this year. We usually send out picture cards. I always love to get picture cards and am disappointed when there is no picture with the Christmas card. So I apologize if any of you were disappointed when you opened our card and found no picture. I am just lucky that I was able to get them out before Christmas this year. (If you remember I didn't get any cards out last year and ended up sending out Happy Summer cards this last summer).

If you look under August in the Oldies but Goodies column on the right side there is a big summer update about our exciting adventures from the beginning of this year. Since then I have been pretty good about keeping this blog updated.

Here are some quick recaps of our year:

~ Camping in Hollister with Hansen's

(find out what happened to Kaulana's truck)

~ Hailey graduated kindergarten

~ Camping at Half Moon Bay

(find out what animal we were

able to get within feet of)

~ Camping at Olema with Huntley's

(find out what we were unprepared for)

~ Our very own water slide in the backyard

~ Evan decided he was ready to potty train at 2 1/2 AND did it

~ Max passed away

~ Evan started preschool, Hailey started 1st grade and Kayla started 2nd

~ Evan turned 3

~ Hailey turned 6

~ The kids got to shoot water out of a fire truck

~ Hailey was our soccer super star

~ Kurt and I celebrated our 9th anniversary

and

~ My mom has continued to be a trooper over the last year while battling liver cancer. She has been so strong and we have been so proud of her.

* * * * * * * *

Well, that is our year in a nut shell. Have fun exploring our blog and reading about our fun adventures. Feel free to leave us a comment if you feel so inspired!

And for all of you non-bloggers: you have got to try it! It is so fun and easy! I thought I was blogger-challenged until I tried it and realized how easy it was. I love finding out what family and friends are up to. It is such a great way to keep in touch; especially with family and friends who live far away! Start your blog today! Go to http://www.blogger.com/!

We hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Man, our house is cold!

Okay, so you need to know some info before I tell the following story. Kurt is an extremist when it comes to the temperature in our house; understandably so since he works outdoors and is exposed to extreme temperatures all day long. During the summer he will come home and crank the AC really low so we are all freezing and during the winter he runs the gas fireplace and/or cranks the heater way up til we are all sweating. I, on the other hand, am the conservist and think that if you are cold - get a sweatshirt or a blanket. If you are hot - sit near a fan. So needless to say, Kurt and I sometimes have thermostat battles.

One time during last summer he had come home and then a little bit later we left to go do a family activity. When we returned home at about 9 pm the house was freezing! He had set the AC to 68 and forgot to change it before we left. We had to put the kids to bed in winter pj's. It was hilarious! We laughed so hard. Well since then, he has pretty much left the thermostat alone.

So for the last week the kids and Kurt have been complaining that it is cold downstairs. I have even noticed that it was cold but being the determined one to conserve, I didn't touch the thermostat. Finally today I couldn't handle it anymore. It was just too cold! I went to the thermostat to bump up the temp and realized that the heater was turned off altogether! No wonder it was so cold in here! I had turned it off last week when it was sunny and the doors were open because the kids were running in and out and we were working in the garage.

So it turns out that both Kurt and I are thermostatically challenged! Ha ha! You just have to laugh!

A Wonderful Thanksgiving!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving. We were blessed to have 5 out of the 6 White siblings at our house. We had a total of 23 for dinner, 19 of which stayed with us for a few days. It was so much FUN!


We had:


April and Rick with their son Makana. Their oldest son, Kaulana, was not able to come due to his first baby due this week - we are still awaiting to hear of her arrival.


Margo and Greg with their 3 children. Their oldest, Brittany, was in San Diego celebrating Thanksgiving with her in-laws.


Paul was able to come with April.


Kurt and I with our 3 kids, who by the way, were in heaven with all their cousins here!


Jenny and Chad with their 7 kids.


We wish Jared and Dianne and their 3 kids could have been here but they live in Virginia.
Dad and Julie spent Thanksgiving in Utah with Julie's children.


Here are some pics of our fun time:

Eating delicious mandarin oranges

You have to love California weather - it was beautiful!

All 14 kids played outside while we cooked!

Uncle Rick and Uncle Greg checking the

turkey on the BBQ - delicious!

We were worried about seating because we

don't have 23 seats inside but the weather

was wonderful so the kids ate outside.

Our attempts at a family picture:

We are hoping that our niece, Jessica, got a better one!

We thank everyone for coming and making the journeys to our house. We had a great time and hope everyone else did too! We especially thank all those that helped in the kitchen! We couldn't have done it without you!

Many Thanks!

I want to send a heart-felt THANK YOU to my dearest friend Kristen for hooking me up with a template website: thecutestblogontheblock.com. They have so many cute backgrounds! I can tell many hours will be lost to playing on this website!

Keep checking back to see what it changes to next!

Thanks again Kristen! Love ya!

Blogiosis

So I am suffering from a major case of blogiosis - I can't decide on a template. I keep changing and can't settle on one.

Does anyone know how to get super cute and fun templates?

Let me know!

Happy (belated) Halloween!

Okay, so we are total slacker photographer parents lately. We only took pics of the kids at the pumpkin patch. We don't have any pics of them in their costumes this year. They were not too excited about their costumes because we didn't buy them new ones - they had to pick from their dress-ups in the toy room. What mean parents we are! But guess what? They had a blast in their old costumes! Halloween was still fun without new costumes!! Who would have thought it was possbile?!

We told the kids they had to pick pumpkins that they could carry themselves.

So these are what they chose:

Okay, so notice Hailey is not holding her pumpkin. It is too heavy for her to carry.

What is this poor child to do?

Daddy to the rescue!

I wonder if he is wrapped around her little finger?

Fun at Auntie April's house!

My kids love going to Auntie April and Uncle Rick's house. They have the best time there - from pedicures, to crafts, to picking veggies in the garden - they are in heaven. April took floral classes this summer and so last time we went down there, April and the girls made floral head pieces. The girls loved modeling them!

Here is Hailey:

And here is Kayla:

Kayla made her own (with Auntie April's help):

Hailey's found this ribbon and wa-la, gorgeous!

And, of course, Evan was in heaven with Cousin Kaulana's 4x4 truck to work on. Here he is helping him find the short in the engine:
And what job is complete without working on the tires?

Honestly, I am surprised these kids come home with us!

The BIG 3!

It is official -

Evan is the Big 3!!!

He is not my baby anymore and I don't think he is even
considered a toddler anymore. He is officially a big boy now.


We had a party at our house with Grammy, Papa,
our neighbors and his friends from nursery.


Evan had a great time!

And even took his new fire truck to bed with him!

In Remembrance of Max

Our beloved dog, Max, passed away on Friday, Sept. 19th. He had a condition where his airway was starting to collapse due to old age. He was like a normal dog when he was calm. It was only when he would get excited about something that he would have trouble getting the air that he needed. He had been doing really good all year but since the beginning of September his condition had been getting progressively worse.

On September 9th, Kurt had to rush Max to the emergency vet because he was barely breathing after Max was running around the front yard. After spending the night at the hospital, Max came home and we had a new and clearer understanding just how serious his condition was getting. We tried to keep our house as calm and uneventful as possible so he would not get too excited again. He lived like a king during his last 10 days - table scraps, belly rubs, extra attention, special blankets and lots and lots of love.

Max was an amazing dog. His personality was like none other. He loved Christmas because he always knew there was a present for him. He would hunt under the tree for it, bring it out and go to town unwrapping it.

He was definitely a huge part of our family and will be terribly missed!

Who is going to eat the kids crust off their sandwiches?

Who is going to eat the extra pancakes?

Who is going to chase the lizards in the backyard?

(Evan has volunteered for this one! Ha ha)

We will forever miss you Max!

We Love You!

Evan-isms

So my poor mom is sick today so I have the wonderful pleasure of spending the day with Evan. He cracks me up with the things he says and I try so hard to remember them but I always seem to forget. So today he has had me laughing several times already (it is only 10:46 am) so I thought I would write them down before I forget them again.

We were running errands and I had to go to the bank. We pulled in the parking lot and Evan gets all excited and starts shouting "the sucker place! The sucker place!" They have suckers in a basket by the door and he gets one when ever he goes in with me so the bank has been officially renamed "the sucker place" - do you think there is a double meaning there?

Then when we came out of the bank there was a huge dog sitting in a vehicle. It must have been some sort of great dane or something - it was big! I told Evan to look at the big doggie. He looks at it, looks at me and says "it's not a dog, it is a horse".

Man, this boy cracks me up!

Hailey's soccer practice

Here is our little soccer star!

She is so cute and we are just so proud of her. She is having the best time at practices. The way the birthdays fall, she is one, if not "the", oldest one on the team. She is taller than most of the kids and is the only one going into 1st grade. Hailey has surprised us with how aggressive she is; we didn't really think that she would go after it but she does.

She is doing a great job!

National Night Out

Every year our city has a National Night Out at all the Roseville Parks. The Police, Fire Department and Smokey the fire dog go from park to park talking with the kids and letting them sit in the fire trucks and police cars. This year they actually let the kids shoot water out of one of the fire trucks. All the kids loved this! Here are some pics:

Summer 2008

We have been very busy this summer. Well, mom and dad have been extremely busy working and keeping up with the kids. The poor kids have been stuck at home a lot waiting for mom and dad to come home. But we have tried to get out and do some fun actvities with the kids!

In April, we went camping with Kurt's sister, April, and her family. We went to Hollister which is kind of east of Santa Cruz, inland more. We had a great time watching Uncle Rick and Cousin Kaulana 4-wheel drive. The kids are standing in front of Kaulana's truck. (This is the best picture I have of the kids for the whole trip! How sad!)

Kaulana had gotten his truck stuck up in a ravine and had to drive it out backwards on its side (see the dirt scrap marks). He was so lucky he didn't damage any more than ripping of the passenger mirror and his front bumper!

In June, Hailey graduated kindergarten. She is so excited to start 1st grade and be on the same playground with Kayla!

Look how big my baby is getting!!

In July we went camping in Pescadero, which is about 1/2 hour south of Half Moon Bay. We had a great time but unfortunately we forgot the camera and have no pictures to remember our trip by. We hiked a trail that went up behind our campground and overlooked the ocean - it was beautiful! We also took a hike at Ano Nuevo, a state beach right on the ocean. They have a trail that crosses sand dunes to go out and see elephant seals. We were literally feet away from them. It was amazing! Man, we wish we had the camera!

Then in August we went camping with our good friends, The Huntley's and their 3 boys (all about the same ages as our kids). This time we went to Olema, which is North of San Francisco and about 20 minutes away from Point Reyes. We went tide pool hunting at Kehoe Beach and found this amazing star fish. Of course it was too far away to touch but it was beautiful to see!

Evan playing on the beach.

We also went hiking in Muir Woods - again, another beautiful location!

On our last day, we went out to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. When we left our campsite, it was warm and sunny. When we arrived at the lighthouse, it was foggy, cold and windy. The kids and myself were dressed in sweatshirts (good), shorts (not so good) and flip flops (really not good) (we were supposed to go to the beach after this). The kids wrapped up in their beach towels and we hiked 1/2 mile in the blowing fog, then down 308 steps to the lighthouse. We stayed in the lighthouse long enough to warm up then walked up the 308 steps and 1/2 mile to the car. We were so proud of the girls - they did an amazing job! It was difficult but we accomplished it!

Another fun thing we have done this summer was to purchase this water slide for the kids. They have been having the best time on it - although it is doing a number to our grass. Luckily, I know a GREAT landscaper!

We hope all of you have had a wonderful summer. We can't believe school is starting so soon - although we know some of you have already started!

Big Helper

We had to replace our garbage disposal a few months ago and of course, Evan had to help. He LOVES tools! Wherever the tools are, you will find Evan.

Kurt is just loving his little buddy! Evan loves trucks, tools, tractors, bobcats, backhoes, excavators, the list goes on and on. He gets so excited when he sees trucks or tractors at work; especially when they are daddy's tractors and Evan gets to drive!

Hard at work!