Flour + Water = Love

This makes me so, so happy!

There is flour

(lot's and lot's of flour),

there are pots and pans

(sometimes sky high!),

but there is also

love!

Bellisimo!

Free Museum Day: The Aerospace Museum of California

How can you not love an airshow?

It's as American as apple pie

-which ironically, I don't like very much!,

or say the hot dog

-which again, I don't like very much...

Hmmm...

but it's everything that I DO love about this country!

It's freedom, innovation, adrenaline...

Really, you can't go wrong!

And when free museum day rolled around,

we took advantage of saving big bucks on admission

and hit the road...

 

Grandpa Lopez flew

the Coast Guard "doggie-nose".

We still see it flying in the sky,

and always, always think of him.

We love you, Grandpa!

Ready for take-off!

Not exactly warp-speed...

but one-day,

I want to fly in one of these babies...

I love seeing my boys on the "tarmac". 

They look so small!

My girls in a fighter!

Did you know I almost joined the Air Force?

I was on board with the recruiters and

would depart after graduation to report

to Lackland Air Force base in Texas.

Thank goodness for a little thing called,

"The Book of Mormon",

which changed my life forever!

Big mouths...

Samuel giving his cheesiest

"dignitary" grin!

Yes,

out of all the amazing things to see and do,

leaves top Gabriel's list!

Demonstrating how to go,

when you,

you know,

have to go...

And the proper washing of hands!

Thanks, Bella!

Love the fan!

One of our favorite parts of the day,

standing near a roaring propeller!

We screamed and whooped and hollored

and you could not hear a thing over that engine!

This was a really great day!

Beautiful weather, beautiful planes!

And free!

This Never Gets Old...

We have a tradition of

Family Fun Fridays,

and the usual night consists

of homemade pizza-

pepperoni, olives, and pineapple for the kiddos,

gourmet masterpieces for mum and dad!-

and a movie.

This time,

I thought we'd mix things up and

get off the couch!

And where to but one of our family favorites,

The Fountains!

We all go nuts over the sourdough bread,

and all that chewing is best done watching

the awesome water shows!

The kiddos got in some playtime before

it became "officially" dark,

and I discovered, "Crazy 8's",

a kids clothing store that I will definitely

be visiting another time!

Happy Friday!

Miner's Ravine

Determined to get in a little day hike,

we hit Miner's Ravine late in the afternoon.

Knowing the sun would set quickly,

we gobbled our goods

(string cheese & salami)

and then hit the trails.

We oogled the pretty homes on the hillside,

disrupted a parade of skittish turkeys,

climbed a sweet overlook,

and

I fell flat on my face!

Awesome!

Seriously,

good family times,

And the bonus?

Only fifteen from home!



Our Christmas & New Years Holiday...In a Nutshell

What a year!

As I reflect on the year 2011,

I know with absolute certainly that Samuel and I

are officially old!

I putter,

sip insane amounts of hot cocoa,

and love to snug-in.

Samuel officially shaves his head

(it looks SO much better),

wears slippers,

and makes insane amounts of hot cocoa!

For guess who?

Time is passing so quickly,

but then again,

maybe we're just having too much fun?

This year, the kids started a new school

and it's been a great experience for our entire family!

We also visited several places for the very first time including

Mono Lake and Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite National Park.

In the fall we stayed in Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Park

and enjoyed the snow and hiking Morro Rock!

Isabella graduated to the older Activity Days group,

which means Young Women's is not far off...

Ava turned eight,

and was baptized with her cousin Jacob.

It was a wonderful day,

perfect for a truly wonderful girl!

We chopped Iris' hair

and she and I have never been happier! 

No more fighting, crying, or whining over

the daily task of trying to comb it!

{update}

Now she wants to grow it out! 

Nooooo...

Owen stayed home with

me and Gabriel this year,

and I have loved every minute of

having my boys at home with me!

This fall he'll enter kindergarden and

I'll have to learn to make do

without one of my favorite little men!

Gabriel officially passed Owen in weight,

and yes, people still ask if they're twins!

(For the record, they are not!}

As for Samuel and I,

we have been blessed beyond measure.

Our family continues to grow stronger each day

and we have a loving Heavenly Father

to thank for that.

We're also bearing down on Samuel's final semester of school,

and are all looking forward

to his graduation from the MBA program in May!

It has been a long journey, but he has worked so hard,

and we are so very proud of him!

Here's a peek into our holiday...

Love,

The Samuel Elmers

 Holiday Kick-off Dinner:

Chinese Take-out!

High Tea!

The kids went bananas and dressed to the nines!

The herbal tea was a flop with everyone except Iris,

but the various tarts and puddings were a unanimous hit!

Christmas Cinnamon Rolls! 

The downside?

No powdered sugar for the glaze!

I substituted regular sugar with poor results,

but sugar is sugar and we ate them anyway!

Our neighbors were kind enough

to give us a wooden cut-out of a snowman.

We debated as a family how to decorate it,

and finally I insisted:

OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

And there you have it!

Chrismas Eve Dinner is something we LOVE!

A West coast feast of dungeness crab,

shrimp, clam chowder, and sourdough!

I love California! 

Tradition rules:

Everyone opens one gift from mom and dad on Christmas Eve: 

New PJ's! 

This year,

before the kiddies went to bed,

we set out Santa's cookie plate. 

We remembered, too late,

that we didn't have any more homemade cookies to set!

Too bad!

Oreos it is-plus carrots for the reindeer!

Sure enough,

they were gobbled up,

and the big guy left a note too!

Christmas morning was a blur,

with the kiddies getting us up at around 6:30 a.m.

At church, later that morning,

a sweet sister asked,

"What did you all get for Christmas?"

To our kids delight they reported on the various

guns, knives, and ninja stars left under the tree!

She was horrified.

Looking back,

I guess there was a rather violent theme to the gifts... :)

One of my favorite memories though,

was of Owen learning how to use his cap gun. 

He was terrifed when he heard the caps popping

and started screaming,

"I don't want a REAL GUN!".

Made us laugh... :)

We visited my mom's for a Christmas feast,

and watched Grandma Lopez  gobble her See's candy

while the kids pounded huge balls of bubble gum!

At Samuel's parents the gift opening frenzy commenced

and we munched on appetizers throughout the night.

Yum!

One of the gifts Santa left for Bella was

new paint for her room.

She loved the peacock blue and I couldn't resist

a little paint stenciling...

Our house was all a twitter getting ready for the

big New Years bash!

We love having the family over and

I'm sure our neighbor's LOVED all

the whooping and hollering at the stroke of midnight!

It's hard to top fireworks when you're ringing in the New Year,

but watching the girls dance to Despicable Me

on the Wii is a pretty close second...

We took a much needed trip to San Francisco

and walked Lombard Street...

...the pier...

...Union Square and Chinatown!

The highlight:

Seeing someone pee on the street.  Awesome.

A true highlight?

The Oakland Temple!

We arrived too late to see the Christmas lights,

but really,

it doesn't need them!

As our holiday came to a close,

Samuel took the kids out into the field to give

Ava's bb gun a whirl.

Everyone still has all their eyeballs

so that ended well...

Last but not least,

on the kids first day back at school,

Iris woke up with the awesomest bed hair!

2012...

Here we come!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...

Official Christmas decorating

began somewhat unconventionally

with a sink bath for Gabriel.

True,

he's too big for the sink,

but he needed a bath,

and what can I say,

I was feeling nostaligic...

so in he went!

Then...

the real fun began!

*

Peeps

Nativities

Paper Chains

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Merry

Christmas!