Thanksgiving Point

We enjoyed a wonderful day at Thanksgiving Point with JaNae, Justin, and Max, Grampa and Gramma, and JaNae's sister Jolynn and her boys.  We started at the Dinosaur Museum.  The boys (of all ages as you can see) especially enjoyed the sand and water area and the dinosaur dig.  Grampa is so good to get down and play with the boys.  They enjoy him so much.

We then enjoyed a nice lunch at the restaurant.  McKay decided he would rather sleep than eat!  We were very pleased with our boys.  To eat at a nice restaurant with eight boys (ages 8 and under) and actually be complimented by the waitress about our boys makes any mom burst with pride!

After lunch we went to the main gardens.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  It has been so long since I have been there, I didn't realize how nice it was or how much the boys would enjoy it.  We all had a wonderful time and I can't wait to take the boys back.  A great way to start the week with Grampa and Gramma.

The Three Nephites

We were sitting down for lunch after church today and we asked the boys what they learned about in their primary class.  T.J. said that he learned about when Jesus Christ was leaving the earth and he asked people what they wanted before he left.  He said that most of the people wanted to go with Jesus but 3 of them wanted to stay on the earth until the second coming.  I realized he was talking about "the Three Nephites".  He then continued saying, "I'm guessing that one of them maybe died because the other two could be Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus."  He was so serious and Mike and I both burst out laughing!  I could tell he was really confused as to why we were laughing so hard.  It was such a sweet thing and made my day!

Grampa's Visit

The Sunday after George arrived, we had all of the family here for dinner.  It was fun to see everyone together.  All of the kids gathered around Grampa and he told them stories of his childhood and advice that he would leave with them.  The boys were so excited to be with him and loved listening to him.  He speaks to them in a grown up manner that draws their attention and makes them feel so big and important.  

Flag Football

Flag football ended about a month ago, but I never posted anything about it.  This was the last game of the season.  (Very Cold!)  T.J. was on a team with several friends from the neighborhood.  He really enjoyed it.  I am not sure how much he actually learned.  We had very dedicated coaches, who were also very dedicated to winning.  He did enjoy it and started playing football with the kids at recess.  My main goal in having him do football was for him to understand the game enough that he would play with his friends.  In that case, it was a great success!

Nate's French Toast

One of the boys favorite thing to do with Grampa George and Grandma Margaret was to play restaurant.  For breakfast one morning I made french toast.  A little later, Nate was making "breakfast" for breakfast and asked if she wanted french toast.  He then fished the wood toast out of the bucket and said, "Here's the toast, it just needs to be frenched!"  I thought that was so cute!

The Train Arrives!

On Thursday (October 2) we went to meet George and Margaret at the train station.  It was the like stepping back in time.  The station looked like a little brick thomas station.  No door just a little glass room with park benches and we stood 6 feet from the train as it pulled with the boys grandparents from England!  It was 3 hours late so the boys had stayed up until 12:30 to greet Grampa, but it was worth it!  This was an experience we won't forget.  So cute and personal.  I think it made all of us want to try a trip on the train!

Fun at Disneyland!

It has been a long time since we posted and I am going to try to do better.  I will post some of the significant events over the last several months and write about a few others.  Following our visit to Carmel, we headed south for a wonderful week at Disneyland.  It can't get any better than that.  We LOVE Disneyland.  We all enjoy it so much!!!!  McKay loves everything about Winnie the Pooh except the life size bear!  T.J. is a new boy now that loves all the roller coasters and tried every ride he could go on which was everything except the Maliboomer, which unfortunately McKay was also too short for.  We also did the Character breakfast for the first time.  That was a treat!  So much fun to see all the characters and a delicious breakfast.  We really had a great time and are excited to use our season passes to go back.  Let us know if anyone wants to join us!  I am ready to go anytime, just prefer someone to go with me.

A Day to Remember Grandmommy

We attended a wonderful luncheon with Michael's family in honor of Grandmommy.  She was such a sweet and wonderful lady.  It was neat to listen to memories and read the wonderful booklet put together in her memory.  After the luncheon we spent a beautiful and a bit chilly afternoon at the beach.  We later spent the evening at Grandmommy's home visiting with her friends.  I enjoyed wondering through her home and garden's and trying to fill my mind with memories of their beautiful place knowing that would be the last time we would be there.  This was our last family picture taken in front of their fireplace.  A treasure!

Until we meet again...

Josephine Brinckloe

Yesterday we received the news that our dear Grandmommy had passed away after a wonderfully long and influential life. She returned home to be with Granddaddy who paved the way for her a few years ago. I'm sure she also is able to spend some time with Jacob and Oakley, our nephews who we also had the privilege of knowing...albeit a short time.

One of my most cherished experiences with Grandmommy and Granddaddy was just a few months after Alisha and I were married. We made a trip west after we graduated, and spent a few relaxing days with them in their home. One evening, we pulled out the HUGE scrapbook they always had, and poured through every picture, journal entry, flyer, and note in there. Grandmommy and Granddaddy stopped on on each page, giving us an in-depth view of their experiences throughout their lives. I felt like we got to know them so much better that night than we ever had before.

On Saturday, we planted our first bush in our yard. Fittingly, it is an English Boxwood...one of Grandmommy's favorites. We are dedicating that bush to her, and every time we walk down our cobblestone path to the mailbox, we will smell the sweet fragrance that I have grown to love, as it speaks of memories of my grandparents. I will post a picture of it when I get a chance to take one.

To Grandmommy: Thank you for your legacy. Thank you for your love. We are better people for ever knowing you, and the people you have touched in your lifetime are countless. We are so grateful to have had you in our lives, and pray that we will live our lives in a way to honor you. We will miss you dearly, but know of the great Plan of our Heavenly Father, which gives us the opportunity to meet again.

So...until we meet again....

Love, Mike, Alisha, TJ, Nate, and McKay

(P.S. Thank you to Geoff for the picture, which I 'borrowed' off his blog. :)

Best....pancakes....ever

Seriously.  You have to try them to believe it.  We found part of it on the internet, and Alisha added a couple things that perfected them.  For those that care, 1/4 cup batter makes a pancake, 5 of which are 4 Weight Watcher Points™ (minus the bananas.  Add whatever points those would be):

2 1/4 C.  Whole Wheat Flour

3 T brown sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt (I never use a full tsp...usually just over 1/2)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 egg whites

1/4 C. applesauce (unsweetened)

2 1/4 C. water

2 mashed bananas (ripe)

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then mix together.  Add more flour until consistency is just right.  We usually pour a bit of olive oil in the pan so they don't stick.  We top it off with pure maple syrup from Costco.  Great breakfast!

Enjoy!

(P.S. Janae, you are welcome to try this, modify it to make it a bit better for you (take out brown sugar, etc), and post on your culinary blog.  Then we'll try it after you perfect the healthfulness :-)

State Chess Tournament

TJ just competed in the state chess tournament for 1st graders....and won 14th place! Not bad, I say, for just starting this year. His school placed 11th overall in the state, and TJ and the rest of his team were honored at a school assembly last week.

It's almost a good thing he didn't place better, because his trophy wouldn't have fit on his shelf....it would be almost taller than him! We are very pleased at how well he did.

Golfing with Alligators

At the beginning of March, I played in the ProLab Classic golf tournament in Hilton Head, SC
. It's a tournament that is for those in the Photographic/Lab industry. It's a team event, and my partner hit the ball off the tee close to a water hazard. As we got over the hill to where his ball was, we found it....about 2 feet from this guy's tail o_O. He's about 10-12 feet long from nose to tail.

We actually saw quite a few of large alligators while there....they aren't afraid of you (obviously), but you don't need to be extremely afraid of them either. Don't bother them and they won't bother you.

Family Home Evening with Jospeh Smith

This was a FHE we had a few weeks ago.  They boys had so much fun I wanted to post it, but it took awhile to get the pictures.  Nate gave our lesson.  He taught us about Joseph Smith and did a wonderful job.  He pretended like he was Joseph Smith.  Told us about his life and then let us ask him questions.  What an amazing guest speaker we had :)!  After the lesson, we cleaned and filled our water jugs and put freeze dried food in a backpack to complete our 72 hour kits.  We've had them ready for awhile, but felt like we should add to them.  Now we are even more prepared.  What a great feeling!

T.J.'s Piano Recital

T.J. recently had his piano recital.  He was very nervous, but did very well.  I think he is an amazing piano player for his age.  With little practice he can really go a long way!  We are very proud of him and his talent.

Wonderful Boys and Brothers

Today during scripture study, we were talking about what it meant to be the seed of Joseph.  T.J's response was, "It's like we are the seed and you are the sun helping us grow rightly."  I loved that and thought it was so insightful of him.  He had parent teacher conferences this week and received exceptionally good marks.  We are very proud of him, especially when the teacher has wonderful things to say about his character as well as his grades.  He is an amazing boy that we have been blessed with.

After school today, T.J. brought home the book "Thomas and the Treasure" for Nate.  Nate really wanted it from the book fair yesterday.  Come to find out, T.J. won a drawing he had entered and got to pick any book.  He chose this book for Nate.  It almost makes me cry thinking of how thoughtful they are to each other.  At Costco, Nate got a sample of three jelly beans.  He carried them around the whole time and as we were leaving he got really upset because one fell on the floor.  I told him it was ok, he still had one left, but he started to cry saying that one he was saving for T.J.  I hope all our children will always have this type of relationship!

Fondue Party

This past Valentine's Day, I bought a fondue pot and recipe book for Alisha.  That was only half the present though...we also did a complete fondue dinner, complete with cheese fondue, broth, and chocolate fondue for dessert.  We didn't get a picture of that adventure, but we did the dessert part again last night!  We cut up angel food cake, bananas, marshmallows, and strawberries.  The fondue recipe was:

2            oz unsweetened chocolate

20         marshmallows, quartered

6 tbsp   corn syrup

2 tbsp   half-and-half cream (we just used milk)

1 tbsp   butter, melted

1 tsp     vanilla extract

Yes, it was loaded with sugar, but man oh man, did it turn out 

good :-)

Thomas tower

McKay and his new Thomas kick is manifest in many different ways....of course he enjoys building Thomas towers as well.  Each block has a different Thomas character, and when the whole tower is built, what does he do?

Knocks it down!

Evening at Nanna's house

Last week Geoff and Janae had come down from Idaho to spend some time, so we all got together and had dinner and a great time.  We love getting together with them and my mom at her house, and boy oh boy, the cousins sure like to play!

Exercise!

Alisha got an exercise ball and has been enjoying doing pilates to a video she got.  Nate got a spiderman bouncy ball (you know the ones with the handle that you can bounce all over the house) that he now loves also to use exercising with mom!

Tired of Mom's Lunch

This is a very common scene around 12:00.  (Notice the Peanut Butter sandwich again.  Poor kids, Mom's not very fancy!)  If you try to feed McKay lunch before his nap, this is what you get!