For you, Cory...

So the other night my brother-in-law, Cory and wife Jessica were over at our place visiting for a bit, when Cory very casually reminded me that it has been a while since I updated our blog, so I guess it is time for an update. It's not that there hasn't been anything going on in our lives lately, it's that there is too much going on lately and I just haven't had time, so I apologize... and this one's for you.

So for a quick overview of what has happened the last few months, we'll start with recent and work our way back. December 5th was our Ward Christmas party. I didn't get a good picture of our family but here is a cute family I thought you might like. Actually this is the Dyal's, who put the whole thing together. It was a "Christmas in Nauvoo" theme and it turned out amazing. (By the way, thanks for your stuff mom, it was a big help!)
The day after we returned home from Thanksgiving in Fresno, we put up and decorated our Christmas tree. The kids had a blast and Megan has been really good about leaving the ornaments and gifts alone!

While in Fresno, we got together with all the old friends. Since we are all old and ugly now we just take pictures of our cute kids and remember the "good old days". Is someone else going to have a girl so poor Megan can get a break from all this testosterone?

Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Lafferre's was a lot of fun. All the cousins had fun eating together in the kitchen. The only one you can't see is Megan because she is below the camera.

Back at the beginning of November Ethan's soccer team had a pizza party where they celebrated the end of the season and received their trophies. He had so much fun playing and can wait to play again next year. His coach call him "most improved player"!

We'll have more great news to post in the next week hopefully but we don't want to ginks anything before we get the keys!

Happy Halloween

So, I tell the kids to go stand by the fireplace so I can snap a few pictures of their costumes and what is the first thing they do... "how does Santa get through here with all this stuff in the way?" You know it's bad enough the stores all skip Halloween and Thanksgiving but now my kids are already trying to figure out how Santa is going to get in and bring them presents. IT'S HALLOWEEN! Go get some candy...

At the ward party there were a lot of extra visitors. We actually thought we might be combined with another ward because we didn't recognize half the group, anyway, some people thought Megan was the Engineers little brother, so I decided to put bows on her antennas so their would be no confusion tonight.

CANDY!

Ward Party

After a long hard evening of games and trunk-or-treating, our little bumble bee decided she needed to take a break and have a treat.
No he's has not out grown his love of trains, and probably never will.

Dressed up and ready to go!

Back to School

Ethan has had a big month. Not only did he start soccer, but he stared preschool on Monday too. He was thrilled about the idea of going, and was not disappointed when he started. He has been bored at home lately, so I knew I needed to start something. I was hoping for something just 3 days a week, but they have a great little program at the elementary school across the street from us, so we went for it. It's 5 days a week 3 hours a day, so he will be ready for Kindergarten next year. Since Megan naps in the morning still, I have decided to take an independent study math class through ARC again. We are just really excited to be back on a schedule!

Soccer Mom

It's official, I'm a soccer mom. I suppose I don't fit all the criteria of the definition, but Ethan has begun his first season of soccer (and I do drive an SUV). We are very excited for him, and so far he is having a blast. His team is the Flying Ninjas and pictured below are 3 of his teammates. They held a parade for the league last Saturday. Behind the boys, with his head cut off, is his Coach.



Ethan played his first game a week ago and although he wasn't quite sure what he was doing at first, he caught on pretty quick. His team is in gold.

Family Camping

This is how the kids looked about 10 seconds after we got to the camp site and this is how they looked for the next 48 hours.

We decided to take the kids camping before Joel headed back to work. We only stayed a couple of days, but that was enough. We had a lot of fun and the kids loved it. But after two days of bug spray, sunscreen, and sweat, we were ready for showers!

We brought a lot of things to do, including baseball, football, and games.
We spent most of our time by the water. There is a great little beach on the edge of the river and the kids had a blast in the sand. It was everywhere by the time they were done. Megan looked like a she had sand paper wrapped around her legs.

Smores is a must when camping. Here Ethan is enjoying his first taste. Megan was asleep in the tent already. She was so great. As soon as the sun went down we would put her down in the tent and she wouldn't make a peep.

Pioneer Day

Our Stake celebrated pioneer day Saturday, July 19th. The primary put on a parade and the kids were encouraged to dress authentic and decorate their bikes or wagons. Well, we don't have anything pioneerish (yes, its a word) so we went patriotic. Ethan had a lot of fun and threw out candy to the crowd. He was quite a hit!


They had a lot of games and booths including fishing, ax throwing, snow cones, popcorn and a lot more.
Above: Ethan caught the "big one" but threw it back.
I competed with one of my young women (Roni) in a game of stick pull. Okay.. yeah, she beat me... twice.
Joel and Ethan helped support our Ward in the tug-a-war. Yes, we lost that too, but in the picture you can see our ward consisted of a couple of men and a lot of young women. Well, the other ward had about 20 young men, and we held our own for quite a while. So... huh!

San Francisco... again..

We had so much fun in San Franciso on Joel's birthday, that we decided to take the kids back the next week. Oh, and Joel had a job interview with a dental supply company there too. I guess that had a little to do with it. He got the job, so I guess it was worth it. He is now the Northwest territory manager with Curasan. He will be in charge all of sales for Northern California, Oregon, Washington and some of Idaho. We'll ship him back east for training in a couple of weeks, then throw him to the wolves. He is very excited with the opportunity. Guess we'll have to put the family business on hold for a little while.

We ate dinner at the cutest place. It is called the Rainforest Cafe and the entire place feels like your deep in the jungle. They have a variety or tropical fish all throughout and life-like elephants, gorillas and other animals all around, that move and make sounds. The main floor is a gift shop and the next two floors are restaurant.

Independence Day

This year for the Forth of July, Travis, Summer and their boys came up and stayed a couple of nights with us. It is starting to become a little tradition of ours. In the morning we met Cory, Jessica and Brady at the Roseville parade. It was a lot cooler this year, than last, so we didn't mind sitting out in the sun.

Above: Ethan and Kabien watch the cars drive by.

Below: Summer, Melanie and Jessica take advantage of the lawn chairs.

That evening everyone met back at our place for Taco Salad and cookies... yum. Later we drove over to the Placer County fair grounds for the fireworks show. Below: all the boys were lying on the blanket watching, it was really cute. Megan spent the whole eveing lookin for more cookies. She is our little piglet!

Below: Megan and cousin Brady discuss the benefits of life without hair.

Ahhh... what a cute family!

On our own...

For those who haven't heard, we started our own business about a month ago. Joel has been working in the staffing industry for the last 2 1/2 years and figured if he could do it for someone else, he could do it for himself... and he was right. Our company is called CalCoast Recruiting, and you can visit the website at www.calcoastrecruiting.com for more information. It was a little scary at first, but quick success made the transition a lot easier. It is also so nice to have Joel around more, since most of his work is on the phone or computer.

The Big 3-0

Well, Joel turned 30 on Friday! We had a little cake and some gifts at home with the kids then his mom came up on the train that evening and gave him the best gift he (we) could ask for... at night away, just the two of us. I am embarrassed to admit that we have not been away without the kids since we had them. We won't let 4 years go by again.
Saturday morning we headed to San Francisco. We fall in love with this city all over again everytime we visit. We even ran into a few celebs while we were there.
Ha ha, just kidding, but we did enjoy the Wax Museum. Neither of us had been before; it is a lot of fun.

YW Pre-Camp Overnighter

We arrived just afternoon and set up right away. We had one giant tent for the girls and one for the leaders. We camped at the Feather River, and I think it was hotter there than it was at home, so we really enjoyed the water.

Besides the duck you see below, we had quite a bit of wildlife to enjoy; Gofers (watch out, you might break your ankle in a hole) lizards, beatles the size of my hand and thousands of mesquitos, all of which decided they liked my blood!


I have been in a Young Women's presidency for... well... forever, pretty much, and this was my first time to camp with the girls. I know that's pretty bad, and it wasn't even "Girls Camp". Anyway, we had a blast. Our girls our so silly all we really have to do is sit back and let them entertain us.

Memorial Weekend

Cory, Jessica and Brady came to visit for a couple of days and Ethan couldn't get enough of them.
Ethan gave Jessica a makeover one evening... boy, do we know how to treat our guests.

The Sunday before Memorial Day, on the way home from Leslie's (Joel's cousin) wedding, we drove the long way home and stopped in Vacaville. We visited the cemetary where Grandma and Grandpa Tenney are. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to see all the flags. We took it as an opportunity to teach Ethan a little about the holiday.