Warp Speed Ahead

Winter is the time of year that everything seems to be in warp speed. You barely have enough time to throw up the lights, wreaths, stockings, tree, and ornaments. Bake cookies, frost them, sprinkle them, scrape frosting off the floor from them, and distribute them. Then buy presents, wrap them, bow them, and open them. All while cramming the holiday treats in our mouths running from party to party. Gosh, how I love that time of year. Personally, I think the Christmas tree should stay up all year around. Imagine the different ornaments you could hang on it for Easter, Valentines day, or Thanksgiving. Now that I have my land legs back-I am getting around to posting our adventures.

Making cookies with our friends the Stangers. Don't worry, if you received some goodies from us. We were very strict on the licking of fingers and counters until AFTER we were done decorating.

Kirk and Grandma Strobel took the kids (Annie, Richard, Alyson) to visit the snow up at Lydle Creek Canyon. While Annie loved knocking the snow off of the trees, Alyson loved the snow for a different reason.

Christmas Day after having the kids open presents we headed up to Lake Arrowhead to spend some time at the Strobel family lakehouse. There was plenty of snow for the kids to go sledding. Kirk was wonderful with the kids forging the sledding paths. I was knocked out with a bad head cold and was able to sleep to recover fast. Thanks Kirk.

The snow was a little on the stiff side, which made it difficult to make a snow man. So we made an skittles ice man instead. I was concerned about Max being cold. So I dressed him in a turtleneck onesie, footie fleece pajamas, 2 pair of socks, and another fleece overjacket. He was toasty and content. Richard got Uno Attack from Aunt Kelleigh and we enjoyed it over and over. If any of you have played with Richard you know how much fun it is to see his reactions and his strategies. Alyson spent the entire time outside. We made sure to teach her about avoiding the "yellow" snow.

We had a quiet New Years Eve and celebration for Alyson's 4th Birthday. We and our friends the Emerson's went up to Lydle Creek Canyon again for snow. I guess when you live in California snow visiting is cool. There were people up there piling it up on their cars before they would drive it home. I had a good laugh. What a great time!

Life is back to normal, still at a crazy pace, but with a lot less sprinkles and sugar. Darnit! Now we are just working on getting ready for Valentines day and making ornaments for my tree still in my living room. Haha. Just teasing.

Christmas Tree Trimming

Ahhh...Christmas in California--hot, sunny, and so not natural. I was actually sweating standing in line to buy our tree in a t-shirt. Tonight we turned on the tunes and set out to have the kids decorate the tree. The kids had a lot of fun and the only casualties were a snow globe and a red glass bulb. We cleared out the kids to clean up the mess. It was all going great and cheery...till ...

Rich: Mom, the tree is living right?
Mom: Yes, it was, but it was cut down so we could have it. See? It doesn't have any roots. It is like the roses I cut and put in a vase.
Richard ran to the other room. Tearing up, and sobbing.
Rich: WHAT? It is dying? WHY WHY WHY?
Alyson: We killed it?
BOTH OF THEM: Why did we have to let it die? WHY? We killed it. (repeat this for like 10 min)
Mom: They planted another tree in its place. Umm, next year we will get one with roots and then plant it outside in our backyard. (feeling really guilty) We should just enjoy this tree. Thank it for being so beautiful and reminding us of Jesus' birthday and his sacrifice for us.
Richard: I am so sad mom. I want it to live not die.
Goes upstairs to cry. I go upstairs and hug them both.

What wonderful, innocent, and sensitive children I have. No wonder Jesus said to become like little children. They hurt when even a tree is harmed. Lesson learned for myself.

Jeepin Adventure: The Mojave Road

This is Kirk's first attempt at contributing to the blog, so be considerate with comments.. :)

Back in mid November Richard and I set off across the Mojave Desert for a three day "off" road trip. Tom Hanks (Yellow Jeep) and Jared Howell (Red Jeep) joined us. No guy trip would be complete without gas station food and beef jerky, so we stopped just across the Nevada state line near Laughlin to get the goods. It's also a good idea to fill up the gas tank as there are NO services for the next 140 miles of dirt. The trail is called the "Mojave Road". Its an old indian route that was also used by the army before the railroads came across the West. It basically goes from Prescott Arizona to Barstow California, all off-road. If you are that interested in the history click Here.

So we set off across the desert with loads of beef jerky and Richards new Route 66 "Rock On Skull Cap" that he found in the bargain bin at the gas station. The theme of the trip was set by Richard at the very first picture. The only question remaining was whether the price of Chaps went up... or down... This was truly a "guy" adventure!

The first night we camped at an old Army encampment called Piute Fort. The stone walls and corral are all that is left of the fort. There is a stream adjacent to the fort, where lots of water rushes up out of the ground from an earthquake fault line that penetrates the water table below. Its quite unusual to find so much water in the desert! Richard practiced his swordsman moves while we explored the ruins.

Leaving Fort Piute we headed off across the Mojave Preserve. We had 120 miles to go in just 1.5 days, so we did not want to waste too much time! We did not want to miss any of the weird desert stuff (and there is a lot to see). Next stop was some old abandoned homestead. The owners probably defaulted on their sub-prime mortgage and took the house with them! Naturally we had to stop and check it out. I bet we could get a smokin deal on real estate out here...

There are plenty of "tribute markers" on the trail. This one was placed by some railroad buffs just a few weeks before we passed by:

There are many elevation changes across the Mojave Preserve. The trail starts out at just 500 ft and varies to almost 6000 ft in the higher mountain passes. The Joshua Trees start appearing at about 3500 ft. We traveled through the Joshua Tree "forest" on this part of the trail.

Stay tuned for day 3 of the Mojave Road adventure.....

Maxwell's 1st Birthday Party!

I decided to do a luau theme for Max's birthday party. In my mind a tropical oasis was swirling around me-palm trees, sand, coconut drinks. Then the next day I pitched the idea to the kids. Both of them thought it stunk. I didn't know a 3 year old and 5 year old were so concerned about their image. Richard sighed, "Mom, haaaaagww, there is NO WAY I am wearing a flower necklace (lei) or a grass skirt." I paint the picture of a surfer and he still didn't go for it. Alyson did like the idea but once Richard mentioned pirates it was over.

So, pirate theme it was and it was a lot of fun. We had a Pirate treasure hunt, we made real maps and burnt the edges to look authentic. The kids ran around the backyard looking for more maps and clues. I also got unfinished wood boxes at Michael's and painted them gold. Then the kids decorated them with stick on jewels. It was their take home treasure chests filled with goodies.


I had never decorated a cake before so this was my first attempt. It was a lot of fun. However at the time, and the 3rd trip to Target for frosting, you would have thought different. I have 5 tubs leftover if anyone needs some-good to be prepared. That is why i took still camera shots instead of film. I found the recipe on http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50180

Here are some photos of the cake.


If you are going to make this cake, email me and I can give you some tips-things I wish I would have known before attempting this at 11pm the night before the party.

Stacey and McClain were great entertainment for the party! Who needed a bouncy house? Watching Aunt Sue and Aunt Mary run with the kids was awesome. Max mostly played with his car and loved opening presents. He is such a wonderful blessing to our family. We are delighted to have him and look forward to a lot more birthdays.

Kailyn is going to get a ticket here in California for talking on a cell phone and driving at the same time. Good to know the training starts early! Next lesson is texting and driving with your knees while putting on your makeup and drinking your soda.

Due to the fires here in Southern California, most of Kirk's side of the family couldn't get to our house with the freeways closed and they didn't know if they too were going to be evacuated. They were missed but we are happy they are safe.

Halloween 2008

Halloween is one of our family's favorite holidays. It is a fun time for spooky stories, creepy decorations, and crawly costumes. Gone are the the days where I can dress up the kids as whatever I wanted. Rich had to be a ninja. "Ninjas are sooo cool", Aly wanted to be Ariel and Max had no choice but to be a lion and a turtle.



We went to a trunk or treating at our church on the 25th of Oct. Everyone decorates their trunk and the kids go around in the parking lot. There were about 200 people there with a lot of Halloween energy. We have done this for the past 3 years and the kids love it. Kirk's mom, sister Kelleigh, and Annie came to celebrate with us.




Richards school only allows the kindergarten students to dress up. Then they do a parade to all of the other classroom to rub it in that they got to wear their costumes.
It was a fun day for Richard. They visited a pumpkin patch and had a special Halloween brunch. Here is Richard, Jacob, and Kenton.



Richard's Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Wallace invites all of his class to come to her house to trick or treat. The kids are amazed she doesn't live at the school. She is really sweet. We went with the Fossler family. Rich made his best ninja face and it shows!



We came home and went trick or treating around our neighborhood. It was a long day full of adventures.



****NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART*****

I went to change Max's diaper. Note: we have been having problems with his lactose intolerance and so whatever comes out isn't normal. However, i bend down closer to examine it and there is a hard green lego mixed in. I yell out to Richard "RICCCHHHARD get in here NOW" He comes running--2 min later after i have yelled after him again. I tell him this is why we don't leave our legos on the floor and what happens if Max would have choked on it. I start folding up the diaper. Richard begins to wail and cry and throws himself on the floor. "NOOOOO it is my lego, I will miss my lego. I NEEEEED MY lego" I am like..."ok you want it?" I open up the diaper again. "GO for it" I take out a wipee and dig it out and hand it to him. He goes into the bathroom and pours soap all over it. This is where dad enters the picture, wondering what is going on and why is there so much crying. In between sniffles, gagging, and crying Richard explains what happened. Kirk says, "Well that is too bad, the lego is going in the trash." "NOOOOOO! Come on Dad, I won't do it again, please! I need that for my star wars ship" On and on and on...from the floor, kicking and crying. I tell Kirk that I didn't have a problem with him having it if he wants to wash it. The lego is round and small, and feces is compacted even inside the lego. Rich is having a hard time getting the "it" out. Kirk has the idea of letting it soak. For the past couple of days, I have had the pleasure of seeing this poopy lego on the ledge of my kitchen window. Finally, yesterday, I threw it out and Richard hasn't asked about it since.

St George Fullen Family Trip

We all hopped into the family wagon on the hot night of September 26th and headed towards St George, Utah. Ever since Richard has started school he raises his hand and waves it frantically waiting for someone to call on him to talk. Which works out great when you are in a van with 3 kids and you have your back to all of them. So he was quiet for most of the trip. Max fell asleep and Alyson was content watching dvd's.

We stayed the night in the glorious Oasis hotel in Mesquite, NV. The next day the kids needed a break so we made a stop at the Virgin River to hike around. Our shoes loved it so much there they especially wanted to stay...stuck in the riverbank mud. Every step we would pull them out and convince them that our feet needed them.

Everyone was ready to go for a swim at the Washington Recreation Center in Washington, Utah. My parents, brothers, nephews, nieces, and sister-in-laws were all there. The pool was amazing. It was half indoors and half outdoors. It had a slide, a lazy river, a small water park for infants, and a playground with a huge bucket that had water filling into it and about every 3 min it would tip over and drench everyone. We were smiling the entire time.

The next day we went to a paint-your-own place. All the kids got plates, cups, or mugs to paint. Alyson did a tile with a lizard on top. Richard painted his own cereal bowl. Aunt Angie helped him draw a Super Mario on the side. After we went to this park in the middle of downtown St George. Normally it would have keep off signs all over it--but not this park. It was a kid magnet! Kids crawling all over the rocks and splashing in the stream. Rich and Ethan played Star Wars. While Alyson and Jocelyn played "save me". Max loved crawling up the stream and splashing.

That night we went to Fiesta Fun. I would say this was my family's favorite. We had an exclusive 3 hour pass to do as much stuff as we possible wanted. We did the slick track, water boats, miniature golf, little put put cars, and video arcades. I remember going here when I was in my early teenager years. When we get on the race track I turn 13 again and the gleam of beating my brothers comes out. Here is a photo of Jason, Scott and Mason, Angie, and Trish and Jocelyn in the race cars, Scott and Angie inside Fiesta Fun, and daredevil Cameron.


At night we relaxed in the pool. We were the only ones in it. Chicken fights and dive for the glow sticks took up most of the time. Then it was...oh Lorie is in bed? Lets play superman Richard!

We woke up early and headed to Zion's National Park. The red rock, green trees, and blue sky was an amazing contrast. We hiked and played in the river. I decided to just let Max go for it and see how dirty he could get. He had a lot of sand in his diaper for the next couple of days.

After we took family photos. Here is everyone and their family. Mom and dad, Scott and Angie, Jason and Jenn, Kirk and Lorie, and Brian and Trish.

What memories! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Fullen.