Reverently, Quietly

Last Sunday Destroy was asked to be a reverence child during sacrament meeting. Basically a reverence child is supposed to stand very still up in front of the congregation before the meeting starts with his arms folded. The intention here is to motivate others to be reverent. I guess we think that if a child can do it, we can too. Anywhoo... Aaron and I thought that they had maybe been mistaken in the child they picked. But, they weren't. So we explained to Destroy what he was supposed to do and he sounded ready and excited. So with Daddy sitting behind him up at the stand, Destroy reverently folded his arms and stood there for others to see him. He did an awesome job with the exception of waving and saying hi to everyone he knew. We were pleasantly surprised. Maybe he really is growing up!?

Now, if Destroy can sit still and be reverent, anyone can. GOOD JOB, BUDDY!

Search's first kiss. I guess it didn't go too well because now he pulls her hair and bites her all the time.

Farewell to the Happiest Place on Earth

One of our favorite things about living in So. Cal has been Disneyland! We got annual passes this last year so we were able to go a couple times a month. The best part was that we could leave whenever we wanted instead of having to stay all day to get our money's worth. We got to leave when the kids started putting up a stink. I'd definitely have to say that we got our money's worth of Disneyland.

Some of our favorite rides were the Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters, Winnie the Pooh, It's a Small World, the Jungle Cruise, Monsters Inc (Disney's California Adventure), Bug's Land (also DCA), the Brother Bear Forest (DCA), the carousel, Pirates of the Caribbean (until we got to scared) and Dumbo. We tried taking Destroy on Star Tours and the Matterhorn but he cried the entire way through. Aaron felt like a pretty lousy dad. We also took him on Soarin' over California which he liked all except for the end fireworks. Aaron and I got a do a couple of date nights so we went on the California Screamin rollercoaster, the Maliboomer, Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad. Now that I've named all the rides in both parks, I think I'll close.

We also loved the parades and the shows, especially the Aladdin show. I especially liked all the food and going with my friend, Nancy and our kids just to kill some time during the day. Anyway, goodbye Disneyland. We'll be back someday when ALL our children are ALL tall enough to go on ALL the rides.

It's a little early for high school, isn't it?

The other day I go into the living room to find Search and Destroy sitting on the couch reading books. Although that isn't completely out of the ordinary, it doesn't happen much. So I took a closer look and noticed that Destroy was reading the thesaurus and Search was reading a novel. So I asked what they were doing and Destroy said they were going to high school. Search repeated, "I coo!" (which also means high school in two-year-old language). Destroy often takes Search around the house pretending to do things, but this was the first time they have gone to high school. Normally they just go to preschool. I'm glad that I didn't have to read the thesaurus in high school. That would have stunk.

Another funny Destroy note: The other day he was talking on the phone (pretending, of course) to "Regular Bobby". I'm not sure whether he is refering to Bobby's bowel habits but I thought it was a pretty inventive name for a friend. I often hear him talking and playing with Regular Bobby.

Happy Birthday, Search!

Search turned two yesterday (crazy, I know). Last week I asked Destroy what kind of cake we should make for Search and Destroy told me we should make him an "I Dig Dirt" cake. "I Dig Dirt" is Search's favorite movie. Search was pretty excited that there were trucks on his cake but the first thing he did after he blew his candles out was to start picking off the trucks. Thanks, Mom, for the idea for the dirt (crushed up Grasshopper cookies), it turned out really cute. His friends B, M, Ella, Julia, Ella (again), Blake, Brad, Sam, Tommy and of course Destroy, came to sing for him. While trying to blow out his candles he left a long streak of 2-year-old drool on one of the pieces. I guess he was marking his piece of cake. Yesterday I decided that I would let Search do whatever he wanted... so he got to blow bubbles while eating his cereal, wear his rainboots outside even though it wasn't raining and he even wanted to take a nap. So I let him do that too. But that wasn't too hard for me to do.

A New View of Vampires

Okay, along with a few other women that I know, I'm a little obsessed with the vampire in these books. Traditionally, vampires are supposed to scare people and not the opposite. I read the first two books (400-500 pages each) in about 4 days. The extremely romantic, gorgeous and myterious vampire makes husbands (and humans for that matter) look really bad. I guess I wish I had a vampire of my own so I think I'll have to dress Aaron up as a vampire for Halloween. Maybe that will appease me. I am counting down the days until "Eclipse" comes out!

There's no place like... a home!

Aaron and I spent three long days and two short nights out in Indianapolis this last weekend looking for our next residence. We found a great house (yes, a HOUSE) that we will fit into perfectly. The best part about it is that it's on a half an acre (don't worry, there's a riding lawn mower) with huge tall trees, green grass and a little stream running along the side. There is also a swingset for the kids and a MINIBARN! An Indianapolis must-have (everyone has one in their backyard). The house has four bedrooms, a dishwasher, washer/dryer, garage (things many of you people who don't live in student housing probably take for granted) and a beautiful deck on the back. The only thing that I don't like is the original owner's taste in home decorating. But, all of that funky wallpaper will be coming down along with the pink floral curtains. We are very excited to move from our 850 square foot apartment to a half acre area. The crazy thing is that we will only be paying about $80 more per month for rent than here. The thing that scares me the most is going to be trying to find friends out there as good as the ones we have here. I'm pretty sure that won't happen and I guess that Search and Destroy are going to start having to play together! We will really miss Irvine and all the good friends that we have here. Wow, I'm starting to get a little teary. Better stop.