Happy Halloween

Last night we went to our ward's trunk or treat. Actually, three wards combined to make a TRI-ward trunk or treat party. Vienna wanted to be Snow White and use the cute dress and shoes that mom and dad gave her for her birthday. So in the day I put sponge curlers in her hair. When it was time to get ready, I put make up on her and took the curlers out. Then I sprayed her hair black. That stuff is messy and she couldn't even touch her hair or it turned everything black. It took us three washes after the party to get it out! Anyways, then I put a big red bow in her hair and she put on her dress and shoes. Clark wanted to be a clown but he didn't want the make up, so I spiked his hair. Jaron threw on his Austrian costume and I grabbed his work stuff to make a construction worker costume and off we went. There was a great turn out. We decorated our trunk. Jaron stayed with the van while I took the kids around. It was fun to see members of our ward. When we were done they had hot dogs and nachos. Then they had a parade/costume contest. I told Vienna and Clark to hold hands and wave to people. They marched around and around and had so much fun. When they were done, they announced the winners. There were so many kids and tons of cute costumes that I didn't think we would win. Plus, there were tons of princesses. Well they gave out four awards. When they got to the cutest costume, they announced, "The winner is Snow White, the taller one. We think the shorter one was so cute, but it's the taller one." Well, I wasn't sure if Vienna was the taller one, so I didn't do anything. Jaron kept saying, "Joni, that's Vienna." I didn't want to disappoint her by bringing her up but then her not being the winner. So the judges looked around at Vienna and pointed at her and told her she was the winner. I ran and got her from the parade and she went to the stage and got a certificate and a big candy box. When she jumped to me off of the stage, I lifted her up so the whole audience could see her. When I did, she lifted her arms above her head, clenching her fists in celebration. She did the whole Rocky-at-the-top-of the-hill pose. Jaron said it was really funny. She definitely performs in front of an audience. We were so proud of her for winning. It was such a fun night. I know it is a lot of work for activity committees but we loved it!

Here is our Snow White, The Cutest Costume Winner.

Her hair looked like the real thing. I even had someone ask if it was a wig.

Here is our cute little clown. He would squeeze his nose and say, "Honk Honk."

Here is our Austrian.

Here is our trunk and my creative construction worker costume.

This week we went to a really fun pumpkin patch. The kids had a blast.

Here the kids rode a train around the pumpkin patch. They were too cute.

We carved pumpkins on Thursday night.

Vienna was so excited to carve!

Jaron was a good dad and helped out.

Vienna and Clark showing off their pumpkins.

We have had the most fun celebrating Halloween.

Lemonade for Sale

Vienna wanted a toy from the Disney Store but she was $15 short.  I suggested she try to earn some money and she decided to have a lemonade stand.  So Jaron made some yummy lemonade and I made a sign.  We set up shop and soon the air was filled with Vienna's cries of, "Lemonade! Come get some Lemonade."  She made $20 in about an hour and a half.  With that good of profit, we might turn this into a business!  (Child services would probably get called, so maybe not a good idea.)

Here is Vienna selling some lemonade to a neighbor.

So I have been trying the book called "Deceptively Delicious" where you sneak vegetable purees into the family's food.  Here are my beet purees ready for the freezer.

Here are some pink pancakes, with beet purees in it.  Guess what?  The beets make the pancakes better!  The kids love them.  I will never go back to plain white pancakes!

Clark is pretty happy about pink Mickey Mouse pancakes.

Happy 4th Birthday Vienna!

Our sweet little Vienna turned four today.  What a wonderful little girl she is.  She has the biggest heart and loves everyone.  I am so glad she came into our lives four years ago.  I don't know what I would do without her!  I love you Vienna!

Jaron's mother made this beautiful dress.  She is very talented.

This is at the Oakland Temple.  It was a beautiful day.

We were lucky enough to have had my parents visit for the weekend.  It was pure joy!

Vienna had a great birthday!

Here is a picture of her gifts.  Looks like a good birthday!

Jaron's mom made Clark this apron and my mom gave him a motorcycle so he wouldn't feel left out.  It was a fun day for everyone.

A friend gave us this puppet theater so I sewed some puppets.  The kids thought it was great!

Jaron's parents gave Vienna this cute styling set along with a craft kit.  Just what a little girl loves!

For Vienna's birthday we went to Chuck E Cheese's "Where a kid can be a kid!"  Vienna is showing off her new birthday shoes.  She used some of the money Jaron's Grandma Lewis sent to help buy them.  Very cute!

Clark loved this place.  This horse really moved up and down like a horse.  Clark really got into it!

The kids had a blast.  It was a good choice.

Clark is a very happy kid! All in all, it was a great birthday.

Labor Day Weekend

On Wednesday before Labor Day the kids and I went to a children's museum.  It was right next to the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay.  The view was amazing and the kids had a great time.  The theme was ocean and fishing, which was really fun.

Here are the kids in the bird's nest of a ship.  

Clark was the captain.  He would get mad if other kids tried to take away his wheel.  He could have driven that ship all day!

Here is Vienna at the top of the fishing boat.  The kids had a great time playing on this pretend boat.

Vienna got to help build the golden gate bridge.  She thought she looked like her dad in the construction gear.

Clark is our little digger.  He loves trucks and shovels.

They had an art section and the kids loved it.  It was really messy, but so it is with kids!

For Labor Day we went north a few hours to the Fort Bragg area.  It was beautiful with lots of redwood trees and the ocean was beautiful.  Here we are Friday stopping at a local diner.  It was in a cute old house on main street.

The kids loved that we were next to this huge moose.  

On Saturday we took a four hour train ride on this old fashion steam engine.  The train took us along a river through a redwood forest.  It was so much fun.  I was just taken aback by the beauty.  To have this beautiful steam engine puffing away next to a beautiful forest, it was the best!

One of the cars was open and you could stand out in the air while riding the train.  We loved to stand out there because the smells were wonderful.  Also, the trees were so tall, it was cool to see them against the sky.

We walked through Fort Braggs and found this gigantic redwood.  They said  it was planted in 100 AD.  That is amazing!

We went to Glass Beach.  Long ago people used this area as their dump and the waves took the glass and turned them over until they became smooth glass.  These pieces were all mixed up in the rocks on the beach.  It was pretty cool.

Here is us standing on glass beach.  The waves and rocks were amazing.

We hiked along the cliffs above the ocean.  We saw some beautiful views.

On Monday the little town had a parade for Paul Bunyan.  It was very small townish, but really fun.  

On our way home we stopped at a light house.  This is the house of the keeper.

That is the lighthouse in the background.

This was a beautiful place.  It made me wish we lived at a lighthouse.

Here we are standing at the edge of the cliffs by the lighthouse.  We had a great weekend!

THANKS GRAMMY FOR THE PAINTS!

Jaron's mom sent these paints.  The kids love getting packages in the mail.  We had a lot of fun painting.  Thanks GRAMMY!

Our Visit to Utah

We spent most of July in Utah, though Jaron flew back to work. We had so much fun.  Here are a few pictures.

Clark happy to play after being in the car for over 15 hours!

Racing down the sidewalk.

 

We went fishing that first night by the Allred's house.  Both kids caught fish.

Having a good wrestle in the back yard.

Our Fourth of July Barbecue.  Look at our Patriotic shirts.

We went to the Allred's condo in Park City.  The kids loved the pools.

Clark was prepared for just about everything.

Showing off his new tube.

Malinda made this nice sweater.  It was beautiful.

Vienna just chillin on a Sunday afternoon.

Vienna showing off her catch of the day!

Clark had a lot of fun fishing and hanging out with his grandparents.

We went to a horse parade with my parents.  Vienna had to wear the whole outfit.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I know it is funny, but I am wishing myself a Happy Birthday!  Today I turned 27, wow I am OLD!  I feel like I have had a birthday MONTH!  I spent the month in Utah and loved it.  Jaron's parents watched the kids and paid for us to go see Hello Dolly, which Jaron's younger brother Dallin was starring in.  Then my parents took me out to lunch and paid for me to get a hair cut.  Jaron and the kids gave me flowers for our front porch.  I have had a great month and feel so very blessed on this day.  I have the best husband EVER and the most wonderful kids in the world.  And best of all, I am going to the beach tomorrow to celebrate my birthday.  So fun!  I am one lucky girl!

Stitches & Bikes

Here's the damage.  Two inner stitches, Four outer stitches, and one big scar front and center.  Could it have been anywhere else?   Oh, Well...

We bought the kids new bikes.  Vienna is so tall she had to get the bigger size bike.  She loves that it is purple!

Clark is our little wild child on his new bike.  He just pedals fast and turns quick.  He has fallen once and we were happy he had on his helmet.   I hope I can survive a boy!

MORE STITCHES!

Well, it happened again. I am now an experienced mother who has lived through 3 times going to get stitches. Yesterday I was doing laundry and Vienna asked if she could come too. So she walked down the outside stairs that I hate so badly. She was almost to the bottom when she tripped and fell into a ceramic flower pot that was at the bottom. She looked up at me and had a large cut on her forehead, the exact spot of Clark's scar. My first thought was, Oh, that needs stitches. My second, my kids will have matching scars. Clark got stitches a year ago on his forehead.  Vienna started to cry and asked if she would have to go to the hospital. We are experienced in this. I told her probably. I grabbed Vienna and ran up the stairs. I put a towel on it and called Jaron. He was in San Francisco but said he would catch the next train home. This was at 1:30pm. I called the doctors and they said to come in and they would tell me what to do. Clark had only been asleep for a little while but I didn't have anyone to stay with him. So I woke him up and loaded the kids in the car. The doctor said it needed inner and outer stitches so he sent us to the emergency room. By this time Jaron had met up with us. There was a really nice PA who took care of Vienna. She put some numbing medicine on it and made us wait 30 minutes. It was so worth the wait. Vienna didn't even cry. Last time the doctor stitched her up when it wasn't numb and she was hysterical the entire time. After a couple inner stitches and four outer stitches we were on our way home. The PA said it should heal nicely. It is a straight line and with the inner stitches she won't have the dent like Clark does. I wish we would have known this for Clark. He now has a permanent dent on his forehead. So we survived. I was much calmer for this time around. I held Vienna snug in a blanket while they did it. The PA even complimented me on how well I did. It hit me later and I felt emotionally exhausted. It is so hard to be a mom and see bad things happen to your babies. Now my sweet little girl's forehead will have evidence of these nasty stairs. The ironic thing is we are moving in four days so we won't have to do these stairs any more. I knew they were going to be trouble. I am just thankful for good doctors. 
Another day in the life of a mom... 
Joni

Stinson Beach

My sister Stalee and her girls came to visit the week of Memorial Day.  We had so much fun.  The thing we loved most was going to Stinson Beach.  Here are some pictures of our fun time there.

Clark loved the sand!

Vienna posing--she loves to wink!