Sacramento!

Jake's oldest sister, Crystal and her family, live in Sacrament. We have never been to visit so we decided to start our Spring Break off with a bang and go on a little vacation.
I don't have any pics of our Saturday because I forgot the camera. But, on Saturday we went to the Folsom Temple and walked around the outside with the kids, beautiful! Then we went to the Fish Hatchery and fed the fish, that was great fun!!!

The boys played dress up on Friday night after dinner. Ashton had so much fun!!!

Ashton and Curtis had matching Cars jammies. How fun to wear matching!

Sierra was attached to Kelly's hip the whole weekend. I never saw her. They loved making these bead things and playing Rock Star. On Monday night before FHE they put on a show for us in Kelly's room and then we all voted (like American Idol) who was the best. Kelly had the giggles, Sierra won! :)On Sunday, Aunt Crystal was so nice and let the boy's help her make Chocolate Chip cookies. We enjoyed them the rest of the visit, the boy's did a great job!

All the kids were on the trampoline most of the time that we were hanging out at home. Even when it was freezing outside they would be out there in t-shirts. Jake was so fun, he would go out and jump with them and they loved it.

On Monday Crystal took us to see the Capital Building. Those tiny people are Crystal, Sierra, Kelly, Bryce, and Curtis standing in front.
There is a hallway with all the counties of California and Sierra had her very own County. :)

WE LOVE L.A.!!!
(the kids were not happy taking this picture, we took Ashton from his buddies and Sierra from Kelly)

Inside of the dome that you see from the outside. Beautiful!

All of the doors were original from the time it was completed in 1874. It took 14 years to build this amazing building.

"Honest Abe" watches over our State Assembly.
State Assembly Room. This room is green because green was a color of the common man. The desks and chairs are original from the time period.

George Washington watches over the Senate.
This is the room for the Senate. It is red because red is a color of royalty and when George Washington was first President people wanted to call him King and he would say I'm not your King I'm your President.
The kids were troopers. They did not love this but they would look and listen. We are sitting in the balcony where the public can come and watch our Legislators and Senators make decisions for our State.

Then we went to the Train Museum in Old Sacramento.

Ashton loves Trains.
Curtis was asking the manikin for a ticket to ride the train. :)
Ashton would not look at the camera, he couldn't take his eyes off all the trains.
This train we are standing in moved a bit simulating how it must have felt for people walking and sleeping in a moving train.
This was the Dining Car and this man was showing us with the bells how they used to tell passengers that it was meal time before the public address systems that we have now. He allowed the kids to try.

They used real China at meal time on these dining cars and they had displayed all the different patterns they would use and they were beautiful.
Then we went upstairs and they had all the toy trains for the kids to play with. Ashton was in heaven, he loves Thomas!

Thanks Coppin family for a GREAT weekend!

No monkey's jumping on the bed!

Yesterday I had Lincoln and Rocky at our house for a little bit. I was busy cleaning bathrooms and I heard Ashton and Lincoln jumping on his bed. I yelled from my bathroom, "Ashton, no jumping on your bed." He said "why?" Me: "because you could break your bed" Ashton: "That's okay I will just sleep in your room on the floor" Me: "No, I don't think so"! Then I heard Lincoln whisper "I'm going to go shoot your mom". I had my head down cleaning and I look up and Lincoln is standing there with Ashton's pop gun pointed right at me and a scowl on his face. (He was mad at me for not letting them jump on the bed.) Then Ashton comes in behind him with Sierra's pop gun pointed at me. BOY OH BOY's!!!

Pink Shirt Update (FUNNY!)

Last Sunday was Stake Conference and we were cozy with our family and Sophi and Rich and their boy's on one bench. Before the meeting started Lincoln and Ashton were drawing together and talking back and forth.
Lincoln: "Ashton, you're wearing a purple shirt, that's wierd."
Ashton: "No, it's pink."
Me, Mom: "and it's pretty cute!"

Historical Site?

Yesterday we had our den meeting for our Wolf's. We had planned to take them to a Historical Site, which is a requirement. We made plans to meet our boy's at William S. Hart Park. We could not take a tour because their last tour is at 12:30pm, our boy's our still in school and Jake at work. However, I printed off some facts about Hart and his home and we were going to hike up to the mansion and then go look at the animals they have there. FUN meeting, right? WRONG! We got there a little late, about 5:10pm and the security guy was locking the gate. Had no idea that they locked up Hart Park at 5:00pm. We had all of our boys there with their ride so we told everyone to follow us and we went across the street to the Veteran's Park. Counts for visiting a Historical Site but not nearly as fun as what I had planned for us. Jake did great, he was talking with the boys about what the Veteran's Park is all about and then he played tag with them. Jake is great with history and facts, I could have never done what he did just off the cuff.

Alvin!

Sierra got a new Betta fish yesterday! She named him Alvin. Grandma picked her and Ashton up at 9:00am and they went on there outing. She received some money from her Baptism and really wanted to get a pet, so she got a fish! :) She is so thrilled about getting this fish, she jumps for joy, talks about him constantly, he is always on her mind. :)

I want to be like Daddy!

The other night we were all hanging out in our bedroom watching home movies on the computer and Ashton decided to put on Daddy's sweatpants. I turned and looked at him and started laughing so hard!

Something To Look Forward To!

Today we planted our summer garden. Really hard work! Jake and I had to dig out a whole planter of strawberry plants that have been there for like 2 years and have never produced any strawberries. It was wasting our valuable garden space. We mixed up all the dirt and made luscious soil with the good stuff from Green Thumb. We planted corn (we'll give it a try and see if we can get any to produce), tomatoes, green beans, 1 red bell pepper, cucumbers, zuccini squash and yellow squash, and carrots. We are so excited and can't wait to see what yummy veggies we get to eat this summer.

Pie Contest!

Last night was Enrichment, "An Old Fashioned Country Fair"! There was a pie contest, I made an apple pie with my good mother's guidance. :) She is such a great teacher and since this was only the second time I've made a pie it was much needed guidance. It was great for me to practice, I had so much fun!!! I won!!! BEST FRUIT PIE! There was only one other fruit pie :) but I still won a prize and my kids were very proud.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Leprechauns came to our house last night and turned our milk green. Sierra had cereal with green milk and Ashton wanted nothing to do with it, he thought it looked gross. :)

Sierra came home from school and said that Leprechauns came into her classroom and messed it up and left sprinkles all over. So, she was determined to catch a Leprechaun and she set up a little house for them outside with a tiny pillow (scented to put in your drawers) and a penny and a piece of her pirate gold on top of a frisbee. She was standing at out sliding door with Ashton and Blake and they were all ringing jingle bells. Then they went to my mom's house because I had an appointment and when I got back she was really cranky, WHY? because she had not caught a Leprechaun yet so she was drawing one on a piece of paper and cutting it out. She had put a trail outside of Honeycomb cereal, pennies, gold, sticks. She was very determined to catch a Leprechaun. I told her maybe they are not real and she said "mom you just have to believe".

It's GREAT to be EIGHT!!!

Sierra looked like an angel in her beautiful white dress!

Ashton is wearing a baptism sticker on his shirt that he got in his church class.
Today at church, the Bishop asked Sierra and Faith to come up to the podium and he announced to the congregation that they were baptized yesterday and that they were the newest members of our ward. Several members of our Ward approached Sierra and said "Congratulations, can I shake your hand". They were all so sweet!
I helped in Ashton's class and his teacher, Sister Moyes was asking the kids if they want to share anything. It was Ashton's turn and I asked him "don't you want to share something" he said "no I didn't bring anything" I told him he should share with his class something special that happened yesterday. He thought for a minute and then said "my sister got baptized". Sister Moyes was so excited because her lesson was on baptism so she was asking Ashton what color Sierra was wearing and who baptized her and Ashton was able to answer her questions. When class was almost over Sierra walked in because she usually comes to get Ashton and I told her I would be in there. Sister Moyes asked Sierra to be her special guest and told the kids "this is Ashton's sister, she was baptized yesterday, see how she is wearing all white, white is a symbol of being clean all of her sins were washed away and she has made a promise to our Heavenly Father that she will Choose the Right".

Baptism Day!

Thanks to Heather Keil, Sierra had beautiful invitations that we sent to our family and friends.

Thanks Heather!!!!!

Sierra was baptized yesterday a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was such a special day. Faith Hopkins was also baptized yesterday and Sierra liked that all of the attention was not focused on her. I did her spotlight, and cried the whole time (I started to cry when I was holding her hand and walking up to the podium).:) Aunt Miriam played the piano for all the songs that were sung. Sister Ostergard from the Stake Primary Presidency gave the talk on baptism. Jake baptized her and he got a little confused. At first he was turned around and then he kept trying to put up his left hand so my dad (who was one of the witnesses) kept telling him to put up his right hand and Jake just kept thinking he was because it looked right in the mirror until finally he went, OH! He then set he and Sierra up perfectly and was able to get it done. My mom made Sierra's dress that she was actually baptized in (beautiful!) and it kept floating up so Jake was also trying to keep her dress down and was kind of holding it in between his knees. When he put her under the water he said he pushed her far down because he did not want to do it again and did not want any problems with her dress. Sierra said when she was under the water she counted to 12. :) She was completely immersed and then her toe popped up. They did not have to do it again because at one point her entire body was under the water. They all did such a great job. Jake, Sierra and Dad (with his gentle reminders). :)

Sierra told me when I asked her how she felt. "I feel good, my skin felt different when I came out of the water, I feel more than excited and happy!"

I helped Sierra get dried and changed and then the Hopkins family sang "Faith". Aunt Briana gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and then Sierra received the Holy Ghost from her Grandpa Terry. Jake's grandpa Elmo confirmed him when he was 8 and he thought that was pretty special so he wanted to carry on that tradition by having Sierra's grandpa confirm her. He did a nice job. It was a very special, spiritual and memorable day.

Sierra's friend from school, Gracie, came and Sierra loved that! Gracie is not a member of our church and it was very special to Sierra that she was there.

Sierra's good friends from church came to (they have been friends and playmates since they were 2 and 3 years old); Alison, Amanda and Sonora (Sonora is not in the picture because she had to leave). We love you, cute girlies!!!!

We concluded the memorable day with a fun party at our house. We ordered a Jump House, great idea from my husband, we never saw the kids (and there were alot of kids here) unless they were hungry or thirsty. My step-brother, Ryker, and his family came from Utah for the baptism and he is a professional chef, we were so lucky he made Grilled Vegetable Lasagna and Mac and Cheese. My mom made delicious Spaghetti and Meatballs. Janelle and Terry made Garlic Toast that disappeared very quickly. I made Caesar Salad and Chocolate Chip Cookies. My mom had made homemade croutons the night before for a Caesar Salad she made for a dinner party she went to and she had leftovers so she gave me a baggie for my salad and they were so yummy. The best croutons I've ever tasted (I don't usually eat the croutons in my salad but I had to eat these ones).

Sierra got so many great little gifts from our family and friends, I told Jake this morning how blessed we are that so many attended her baptism to show their love and support for our little girl. Thank you to all!!!