Hot Air Balloon Ride

We started our day at 4:00am. We had to be in Napa by 5:30am so I picked our babysitter up around 4:40am. Thank goodness we found a babysitter that was willing to get up that early to watch our kids. I was a little worried that we wouldn't find anyone. We got to Napa a few minutes after 5:30 so most of the food was already eaten. We had to wait around for a while until they figured out where we could launch the balloons. We were supposed to launch in Napa but it was too foggy so they were trying to figure out if they could launch from their second place in Winters. For those of you that don't know winters is only about 20 minutes from Vacaville so it would have been funny/depressing if we drove about an hour to Napa just to turn around and drive past our place to Winters. It was really windy there so they had to go with their third choice which was in Hidden Valley (1 hour north of Napa).

The crew inflating our balloon.

I didn't realize how many people it took to set up/take down a balloon.

This is one of the other balloons but ours look very similar.

Two balloons about ready to take off.

In the balloon about ready to take off.

One of the workers saw Nathan taking the last picture and offered to take one for us.
I think we had about 14 people in our basket.



View from our balloon. Hidden Valley Lake


Another view from our balloon. Other balloons about ready to take off.

Handsome

We had a little trouble landing because the balloon chasers couldn't figure out where we were so we had to float around for a while until they could find us. Most of the other balloons stayed in the same area were we took off but our pilot was adventurous. Eventually we landed in a field next to this house.

House we landed next to.

The mom came outside taking pictures and all the kids ran outside to see us land. Once we got into the van we drove to their house and gave them a bottle of wine. I guess it is tradition if you land in someones yard to give them a bottle of wine.

We had to battle with a bunch of these to land. It was definitely a bumpy landing.

Getting out of the basket after we landed.

The drive to and from the launch spot was very windy so I felt really sick by the time we got back to Napa. When we got back though they had a really nice breakfast for all of us. On our way home we may or may not have gotten a speeding ticket. I swear we weren't going as fast as the police officer said we were.

Random question for those willing to answer: How much do you pay babysitters per hour?

This was the second time in the last month that two of our babysitter's mom called us up saying that we paid their daughter too much money. I honestly don't think we pay too much but now I'm just curious what others pay their babysitters.

Anniversary

Yesterday was mine and Nathan's 6th anniversary. I can't believe that we have been married that long. It definitely doesn't feel like its been that long. We spent the morning here...

doing an endowment session at the Sacramento temple. Although it wasn't the Portland temple where we got sealed 6 years ago it was still wonderful to be able to go to the temple on our anniversary.

The rest of the day was spent like this...

as a happy family. Okay well Easton had a couple tantrums but other than that we were all pretty happy. I love my family and I couldn't think of a better way to spend our anniversary (the day our family was established) than as a family. It probably would have been a little more relaxing if it would have been just the two of us...

but I guess that will have to wait until next week when we get to do this...

I'm pretty excited!

I love you Handsome! Thank you for the last 6 years. They have been absolutely wonderful! I'm definitely lucky to be married to you, my best friend.

Love you, Ashes

San Francisco

We went to San Francisco this last weekend. We were going to take the ferry over but we got up later than we had planned and we also thought it would be fun to go to Muir Wood National Monument so we decided to drive instead. I forgot to take a picture but we definitely went to Ghiradelli's and got me some chocolate. In fact that was our very first stop. Nathan got me a bag of 50 squares of chocolate and they are sooo good! Then of course we had to show Easton and Blair Pier 39 where all the sea lions are located. On the way there Easton had to climb some stairs to get a better view of the bay.

Dad and Easton looking at the bay.

Blair
She was too busy to look at the camera.

Sea lions

Golden gate bridge
Even though it was foggy/over cast/cold we still managed to get a little burnt.

Driving across the bridge.

Muir Wood:
Parking there was crazy. We probably had to hike further from our car to the entry than the whole hike inside of Muir Wood.

Dad and Easton
Easton just woke up and was still sleepy.
Once we got inside Muir Wood Easton's energy came back and he was off running down the dirt paths. Once he did get tired and needed to rest for a while he often times wanted his mommy to hold him. It wasn't uncommon for me to have Blair on my back and Easton on my front. Silly boy!

Me and Blair

Easton inside one of the trees.
Whenever Easton found a hole in a tree he would run inside and wait to scare us. He also claimed that there were pumas and tigers and lions in the woods. He has quite the imagination these days.

Random:

Like I said Easton has quite the imagination these days. I swear he has two imaginary friends (we need to find him some real friends. The problem is there really aren't very many kids his age. I definitely miss my Maryland friends! He'll be starting preschool next month so hopefully that will help). I know one of his "friends" is Molly who is 2 and likes to hit and kick him and the other is a boy but I can't remember his name because I'm pretty sure Easton made the name up.

Easton is telling lies these days but he's not very good at it. The other day I had a meeting for Young Womens (I'm the beehive adviser. Nathan's the elder's quorum 1st counselor) so Nathan was home with the kids. Easton wanted a snack pack so he told Nathan that I told him he could have one which wasn't true. Then later Easton got in trouble so Nathan sent him to time out and he told Nathan, "Mom said I don't have to go to time out." Easton tried that one on me the other day too. "Dad said I don't have to go to time out."

Speaking of time outs. Blair is starting to hit and she thinks it is funny. We tell her no and she looks at us, smiles, and then hits again. Yesterday she hit Easton and of course Easton magically remembers all the rules when they apply to someone other than himself and he felt it was only fair that Blair get a time out for hitting him. I decided to appease Easton and told Blair to go to time out and she did it! She walked over to where Easton has his time outs, sat down, and gave each of us the biggest grin ever! I couldn't help but laugh. It was pretty cute and funny. Now to her it is a game. She kept putting herself in time out the rest of the evening probably because she kept getting laughs out of me. I think it is going to be hard to find a discipline that works for Blair because she doesn't take anything or anyone seriously. She thinks everything is funny.

Blair newest trick is throwing food on the ground. If she doesn't like it, it belongs on the floor. If she is done eating it, it goes on the floor. If her sippy cup is empty, it ends up on the floor. It's really annoying!!! I'm just glad that we don't have carpet under our kitchen table anymore.

Just the last couple of days Easton and Blair have really started to play with each other. It is way cute! They usually chase each other around the house, tickle each other, or climb into boxes together. Although it is generally short lived because Easton manages to turn most everything into a wrestling match, the small amount of time is filled with smiles and laughter. I'm just glad that they are starting to have fun together.

Joys of Food

This little girl just loves to eat! If she sees food she wants it and she wants it now! She will scream and holler until she gets exactly what you have. She instantly will become your best friend and stand right next to you so she can have what you are eating. Just recently she has figured out exactly where the snacks are in the cupboard and will now just help herself.

Blair pretty happy with herself for getting her very own raisins.
This is how I found her one day when I walked into the kitchen.

Eating a cookie is hard work!
After Easton and Blair had lunch I gave them each a cookie to eat for a snack. Easton quickly finished his and wanted me to read him some library books. After we finished the first one I went into the kitchen to check on Blair and this is what I found. A half eaten cookie in the hand of a baby fast asleep.

Blair feeding herself with a spoon.
I really don't know why I haven't let Blair feed herself with a spoon before (I guess because I didn't want a huge mess) but she did pretty well. A lot better than I thought she would.

Video of Blair feeding herself:

I like how she has to dip several times before she finally brings it to her mouth to eat.

Family Reunion

We went to Idaho for a family reunion on Nathan's side. On the way there we stopped in Utah for a little over a day to see Nathan's dad. Braeden and Ella (cousins) came over to play in the sprinklers and pool outside. While Nathan was on his dad's computer Nathan for some reason thought that his dad was spitting or dripping water on him. It turned out that the ceiling was dripping water from the bathroom upstairs.

Braeden, Ella, and Easto

Dad and Blair.
Blair was out playing with the kids until she got sprayed one too many times with the hose. I guess she was content just hanging out with Dad in the safe zone.

Ella pushing Easton on the swing.
It's weird that Ella is only 6 months older than Easton because she looks like she is at least a year if not two older than Easton.

We took off Sunday morning from Utah to Idaho so we could go to church with Nathan's grandparents. After church Nathan's brother came over and took Easton on Braeden's motorcycle. No worries. Someone was riding with Easton the whole time. Plus is has training wheels on it.

Video of Easton and Uncle Blake:


Easton seemed to have a lot of fun on it. While Nathan was on with Easton he let him control how fast they were going. Easton gunned it and wouldn't let go. Nathan finally had to tell him to let off on the gas. Such a daredevil.

Video of Easton and Nathan:



Video of Dad and Easton:




Video of Blair walking:

For some reason Easton kept having accidents at Nathan's grandparents and the weird thing is he kept peeing on the same exact stair (second from the top stair). It was really annoying but also kind of funny that he was that consistent.

We took the kids down to the river one night to feed the ducks.

Dad and Blair

Easton feeding the ducks. At first Easton kept throwing in whole slices of bread but he eventually figured it out and broke pieces off and threw those in instead.

Video of Easton feeding the ducks:

Blair thought the ducks were pretty cool.

After feeding the ducks we took a little detour to Reed's Dairy to show Easton the baby cows, baby goat, and baby sheep. Nathan and I were there earlier picking up ice cream to celebrate the fact that I passed my written DMV test. I am now officially an Idahoan. Don't judge me Shannah!

We took the kids to one of the local parks. It was a pretty nice park but there were a lot of people and it was really hot so we didn't stay too long. We actually ran into some of Nathan's extended family while we were there.

Nathan went to Utah for a day with his aunt and grandma to pick out some new cell phones for me and him while his aunt and grandma picked up Nathan's cousin from soccer camp at BYU. We actually didn't end up get phones (long story) but while they were gone in Utah Nathan's grandpa took me and the kids to Bear World. We drove through and got to see a bunch of different animals. Easton loved it! There were times when I thought I was going to hit an animals because they were so close to the car.

Grandpa and Easton

Not the best picture because of the reflection.

Tour bus where you could feed the bears bread. The bears would go and stand against the bus.

Easton next to the bear.

Bear cubs getting bottle fed. You could pay $35 to feed the cubs but honestly I didn't think it would be worth it. They downed those bottles like there was no tomorrow. I seriously think those people paid $1/sec to fed those cubs.

Video of a girl feeding a cub:

Grandpa and Easton

They had a petting zoo which Easton really enjoyed.

Easton feeding the baby deer.

Bear cubs. They weren't part of the petting zoo (unless you paid to bottle feed them then you could pet them).

Blair

Easton

They had a few amusement rides for the kids to ride on that were free! Grandpa took Easton on the first ride but then I took both kids on the rest of them. This was Blair's first time on amusement rides. I was a little worried how she would react to them but she was fine. She really didn't have an opinion either way. She just sat there.

Grandpa and Easton rode this one together.

Easton on the train. Blair and I rode on the train too but we didn't get a very good picture of all three of us.

On the roller coaster ride. This ride was a little crazier than I thought it would be.

Easton and Blair. I sat behind them.

We spent two nights at Nathan's mom's house. We took the kids to the neighborhood park just down the street from him mom's house.

Blair on the swings.

Braeden, Easton, and Ella riding the dinosaur.

Actual family reunion was the 31st. Nathan and I didn't really think things through very well beforehand so we actually had to leave the reunion early so we could head back to Cali. We wanted most of Sunday to relax from our 12 hour car ride before Nathan had to be back at work on Monday.

Easton and William.

Blair was supposed to be taking a nap. Actually I had Blair asleep in Grandma's trailer but Nathan was worried that she would fall off the bed or wake up and we wouldn't hear her so he moved her to the pack n play. Of course she woke up the second he laid her down.

Easton all ready to go swimming.

Video of the kids attacking Jarom:

They were all pretty excited to go swimming.

Blair swimming with Aunt Kaity. As you can tell she wasn't having a very good time.

It was definitely a very short trip but as always it was nice to see our family.