Friday, June 26, 2015

Brielle's Baptism

Brielle and her cousin, Gavin were able to be baptized on the same day, June 13th.  Their birthdays are exactly 4 weeks apart, and they love spending time together.
We got to the church early, to make sure everything was set up and ready.  Brielle got to watch the font being filled up and confirmed that the water would be warm.
We had lot of friends and family that were able to come, including Grandma and Grandpa and Katie Christensen, all the way from Ecuador (they are on the phone that is hanging on the door)
In her journal, she wrote "On Saturday, June 13th, 2015 I got baptized. After I was baptized I got confirmed and got the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Daddy baptized me at my baptism.  I felt happy when I came out of the water."
The 4 big kids sang the song "Baptism" together.  This is them practicing ahead of time.
Brielle woke up with a cold, so wasn't particularly smiley, but was still very excited about her important decision she had made.
Congratulations Brielle! 

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Happy 2nd Birthday Preston!

PRESTON 2-year-old Stats

My name is: Preston (aka: PrePre, PJ, Friendship, Cankles, Critter)
I'm: 2-years-old
Things I love:

-Randomly Screaming throughout the day
-Dancing
-Trucks, Trains, Planes, Boats...
-Swimming
-Singing
-Going to the Library
-Playing at the Park
-Watching Signing Time
-Spotting Deer on the way up the hill to Grandma and Papa Finlay's house
Favorite book: Most any book with trucks or animal.
Favorite Foods: Hummus, Grapes, Soup, Mashed Potatoes
Pet Peeve: Not getting to do things by himself
Catch Phrase: "Yea! I did it!", "Can I?..." "bankanana"=(asking for his blanky and pacifier-aka 'nana'), "No, MY do it!" "You okay?" "Hey, stop kicking me!" (when no one is even around him)
Height: 36 inches (91%)
Weight: 32 pounds (93%)
Words: Starting to speak in full sentences, still parrots what anyone else says, is understandable to most people.
Sleeping: UGG! 3 months ago-before the crib to bed transition was sleeping about 13.5-14 hrs a day. (11 at night, 3 for nap). Now is still struggling with staying in bed and keeps getting up to turn on the light and read books. Now naps about 2 hours (11:30-1:30), and nighttime is probably about 10 hours (8:30pm-6:30am).  Has never been great about sleeping through the night and still often wakes up in the middle of the night.  Usually a hug and tuck in will put help him go right back to sleep. 
Movement: Jumps, Runs, Climbs, Scoots on Bikes or Scooters

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Pretty Perfect Spring Break

Well, my kids get out for Summer Break next week, so I guess I better hurry and get this spring break post up.  :)

We didn't go anywhere for spring break, but we didn't exactly stay home either.  We had a great balance of a few packed adventure days with some calmer close to home swimming or park days in between.

Monday-Spring Cleaning day: big kids cleaned out their backpacks-(they get an amazing amount of trinkets--and junk from their friends), baskets, and went through clothes.  Then we spent the afternoon watering the orchard, cleaning out the car and playing outside.
stomp rockets at the park

Tuesday-We went to the Natural History Museum, which we hadn't been to for at least 3 years (I think it was before Brielle started Kindergarten...the kids couldn't remember it).  They had made a lot of changes and we especially enjoyed the addition of the outdoor garden area where we were able to enjoy our picnic.  We then went to the California Science Center which is right next door and found more fun exhibits we had missed when we went on New Years Eve with Scott and Hannah.  The kids especially enjoyed the virtual reality games and outdoor tide pool area. Ethan's soccer got rained out that night, so instead we went swimming in the hot tub in the rain.











Wednesday-Was a recovery day getting things done at home again in the morning.  The afternoon was very fun thanks to Margaret who took the boys to ice cream while Brielle and I had a date getting pedicures. We then took dinner to a family in our ward.

Thursday-Another day out and about.  Annie and Abigail joined in on our adventures for the day as well. We went to the Getty Museum, where Brielle wanted to see a Monet painting that she had missed when we went over New Years.  We then went to the Noah's ark exhibit at the Skirball.  The kids played hard, especially enjoying the rope ladders and swinging bridges until they kicked us out at closing time.  We stopped for dinner at In 'n Out and then went to the LA Temple Visitor's Center to explore some more until traffic had died down enough it was worth making the drive back home.






Friday-We went out to breakfast with James before he went off to work and got all our shopping and errands done (with a very ornery Preston from missing his naps 2 days this week.)  After his nap we went for a hike and to throw rocks in the river and then went swimming.  That night James and I went out to dinner with some friends while Ian watched kids.




Saturday-Brielle had volleyball and Ethan had Soccer.  James met us at Encanto park and biked home with the big kids.  That evening we took a picnic dinner out to Cal State Northridge and met up with friends and family for the BYU Volleyball game.
BYU volleyball at Cal State Northridge