Random October

Not a whole lot of random pictures this month, but a few. The boys got to experience their first Pinewood Derby. Mike worked hard to help Steven and he built a great car. Adam used Mike's old car. (I think)

It only took 5 months, but my team got together for a celebratory dinner after our win. :)

Steven fell asleep snuggling with me, so I had to take a picture. Love this sweet boy of mine!

Adam...being Adam. :)

Happy Halloween!

Another year, another fun Halloween. We were at Sam's club a couple months ago when they were selling the boys costumes. They liked them, so we decided to do Super Heroes this year. The kids decided Mike would be Batman, so Sarah chose to be his sidekick and I was of course his nemesis. Mike's costume was made in China by people that obviously don't know what proper proportions should be on a tall costume, so he called himself, "Old, Fat Batman". A true tragedy. Mine was incredibly tight, and I'm glad I only had to wear it for an hour. 

I taught school Halloween morning, but I had no desire to be catwoman, so I broke out my old princess costume. I told the kids to call me Queen Elizabeth, and although they never seemed to call me anything but "Teacher", this day they all called me Queen. I even broke out my sweet British accent. (That I'm sure could actually fool people) ;)

Brace Face!

Since most of Sarah's adult teeth had come in we decided it was time for an orthodontic consultation. As with her glasses, since some of her friends have braces, they are now super cool and she wanted them. The orthodontist said she could have them on as soon as she wanted and that was it. She wanted them. Now. We went in for a consultation and left with an expensive mouth of metal. I think she was lamenting it a little bit when the wires started moving her teeth and they started to hurt. :) The best part is that we got to break out some of our best braces nicknames. When my sister had them I called her Hepheastus, the Greek god of metal. She didn't like it. (I had braces, but they weren't on as long as hers) We also broke out, "Train Tracks", "Metal Mouth", and a few others I can't think of as I write.

Pinewood Derby Time!

Steven "competed" in his first Pinewood Derby race. It was so much fun to watch him and Mike prepare his car. We had to borrow a scale and Mike pulled out his old tricks to make it go faster. (and learned more tricks from other dads at the race) Steven's car performed great and he had a lot of fun. Mike took better pics, so I'll have to add them later.

Trip to California- LA Temple, Santa Monica Beach y Hermana Soto

No trip to LA would be complete without a visit to my temple, so we left Wednesday morning to visit the Temple Visitors Center, where I spent a lot of my mission, and spend some time at the beach. Mike had to work every day at 4 and the drive was long, so we didn't get a lot of time with him. I've been back to the Temple Visitor center one other time since its remodel, but it's always a surprise to see how much it has changed. It's pretty amazing. (You should all go!)

After the temple we headed to Santa Monica beach near the pier. When we took the kids to Disneyland six years ago Sarah said her favorite part was the hour we spent at the beach. Steven saw a Swedish family being followed around by a cameraman. They daughters were trying to pull themselves up on the rings but having problems. Steven made sure to show them how it was done. 

The seagulls are obviously not scared of humans, and know we're suckers with food, so we fed them for a little while until we realized they were never going away. :)

After the beach we drove to visit one of my mission companions, Erika Soto, that married a guy that lived in our mission named Erik Sosa. Erik is a sculptor and last time we visited them he gave the boys a large action figure thing that they still like. We went to Chick fil A and just socialized for a while.

On the drive home we stopped for a visit with my mission President and his wife. It's always great to see them. 

Trip to California- Universal Studios

Mike goes to California twice a year for simulator pilot training, so we decided it would be a great opportunity to tag along for a family vacation. We decided to go to Universal Studios because of Harry Potter land.

We like to stop whenever we see temples, and this trip we saw two on the drive down. The first one was the Cedar City temple that I didn't even know was being built. We saw it and decided to stop. We'll have to go back for the open house. The second is the Saint George temple, which is one of my favorites. (Who am I kidding, they're all my favorite)

We thought that since we were going before UEA and on a Monday we'd have it all to ourselves, but apparently the word is out and people like to have fun in southern California year round. We started off in Harry Potter world and thoroughly enjoyed Butter Beer. Sarah said, "This is nerd heaven Mom", and I agreed with her. (Now I just need to see the Universal Studios Florida one since it's BIGGER.)

We also visited some of the other areas of the park. Jurassic Park was a lot of fun. The dinosaurs scared Adam so he opted out of the ride and we hung out and took pictures. 

We thought the hotel we chose was close enough, but we didn't realize how bad LA traffic would be. (I won't say too much about it, but four+ hours of driving each day wasn't the funnest. First world problem for sure.) :)