Family Pictures 2012

We had our pictures taken a few weeks ago by my friend, Alia.  We grew up together in the Live Oak Ward.  I love them!  I just wish she wasn't moving because I want more taken in a couple of months.  Hmm. . . . maybe I'll schedule a session when she comes in town.  Anyway check them out!

I Love My Family!

Sunday morning all the boys came into our room for some family cuddle time.  Logan of course was being difficult for the picture.  But it is moments like these that I love!

Can you believe it?

I have 2 days till this little guy comes!  Where has the time gone?  I feel so unprepared but yet organized.  Weird, I know.  Some things are stressing me out. . .

1.  We still don't have a name, but that doesn't surpirise me at all.  With the other two it was like this.  The birth certificate lady comes in and says we need a name before your little guy can go home.  David and I look at each other and say, "Luke?" "Luke!" "Luke it is!"  Very similar situation with Logan also.

2.  I feel very unprepared to bring a new baby home.  I think because we have not one single thing in our house that is baby.  Logan has been out of diapers for almost a year.  No diaper bag, no baby toys, no crib, nothing.  My dear friend Laura just this evening dropped off her really cool swing so we do have a place for the baby to lay. Whew!

3.  I'm worried the baby will be smothered by his brothers.  They are so excited!  Beyond thrilled and just keep talking about picking up the baby and holding him.  They are not gentle be any means.  That is going to have to be lesson #1 being gentle.

4.  I'm missing my favorite holiday!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!  I love being around my family, talking, reminicing about old times, catching up on the latest news and eating a traditonal Thanksgiving dinner.  This year we celebrated Thanksgiving early with Dave's family and it was anything but traditonal.  To say the least I was a little disappointed.  This year my Mom and Dad are going to my cousin Chris' house in Camarillo for Thanksgiving and taking the boys with them since I will be in the hospital.  I love my cousin's the Johnson's and am feeling so sad I don't get to see everyone.  Dave and I did decide though that we would order a Thanksgiving meal for 2 from Claim Jumper to ease my pain.  Did I ever mention I love my hubby!  He is the best!

5.  Last but not least.  I don't get to go black friday shopping.  I LOVE BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!  It seriously thrills me!  Hopefully I will be able to do some shopping online in the comfort of my home with my 3 sons!  (Que the My 3 Sons theme song now!)

Well stay tuned for pictures and updates for the arrival of Didlake #5!

2011 Rewind

Since I have been pregnant the blog has taken a back seat.  It almost has gone to the trash.  But I just can't give this up, I love to talk about our family and this is my electronic journal so I have to keep it up!  So in the next few weeks or days it depends on how ambitious I am, I will be back posting.

Labor Day

On Labor Day Dave had promised the boys to go fishing.  It really is such a funny outing because the boys have to practice patience and soft voices.  It really is so impossible for a 5 and 2 year old but at least they try.  Here they all are "fishing" with all our patience and soft voices we still were not able to catch any fish and we were rained out but the boys still thought it was the best!  I guess that is all that matters!

Move In Day

We moved into the house this weekend and we are totally thrilled.  Here are some pictures of the home as we viewed it.  Really gross and dirty but a ton of potential!  We just fell in love with it!  It was smaller than we anticipated but it was a sinlge family home and we were thrilled!  

We were helped by the faithful members of the Elders quorum and family.  We are so blessed, thank you to all that helped!

Entry

Living Room

Kitchen

Master Bed

Master Bath

Kids Bath 

Boys Bedroom

Hallway

Big Bear Trip

I wanted to take the boys up to Big Bear this year before all the snow had melted.  It was going to be a super quick trip but I wanted to make it fun.  I decided to invite Rachel, Micah and Brooklyn to join us.  We decided to drive up Sunday after church to get an early start Monday, so we packed all the kids in the car and headed up to Big Bear.  

Monday we woke up early, Rachel though I came to find out didn't sleep much at all, sharing a queen size bed with a 5 and 2 year old isn't all that relaxing.  We all ate, got dressed and headed out the door to the tubing hill.

It was really fun and I was excited to see the boys faces and share this time with them.  Of course we couldn't leave Big Bear without the traditional picture on the steps in front of the cabin.

Vacation Day 5

We kind of laid low yesterday and took it easy.  Dave of course watched more soccer, but Luke and I made boysenberry jam while Logan was napping.  I love to make homemade jam it taste so much better and really doesn't take that long.  Also it is great for food storage!  This recipe I used was typical freezer berry jam.  Usually to seal I water bath all my jars but I have noticed that with heat, especially strawberries it turns them brown, Yuck!  So I freezer jam.

1. Luke smashing the berries.  2. The boysenberries resting.  3. Sterilizing the bottles.  4. Luke pouring the 6 cups of sugar.  5. Lemon  zest.  6. Sure jell to make the jam set .  7. Bottling the jam.  8. The end result.

Later of course we went swimming and then after the boys went to bed David and I watched Leap Year with Amy Adams.  Really cute, even Dave laughed.  I would actually buy this one.   

So sad our vacation is half over, it is amazing how time flies when you are having so much fun.

Vacation Day 4

We did lots of errands on my Honey-Do list.    We headed over to the Salvation army, Goodwill and Keepers to look for some furniture to buy fix up and sell.  I have done it a couple of times and brings in a little extra income and really is quite fun.  I found the most beautiful nightstand that Dave had bought for me to turn around and resell but I think I might keep it instead and sell some other things it is to good of  find.  Dave told me this is going to be my down fall, he probably is right.  You gotta love your husbands.  There was a new hamburger joint opening that day called Th Habit Burger Grill in Lake Forest.  From 12-2pm they were giving out free burgers, fries and drink.  So we went, DAve got the BBQ Bacon, I got the Teriyaki and the boys got Charbroiled.  It was super yummy.  The OC Register was there writing an article for local section.  They interviewed me and took pictures of the boys.  TO read the article and see a picture of Logan click here.  

Of  course they spelled my last name wrong but they got Logan's right.  

We do have the same last name!  

After lunch we went to IKEA to get magazine files to organize my desk for the business.  I was totally stoked when I found the ones I wanted had been slashed to $2.99.  It totally made my day!  We came home and went swimming for an hour.  After we put the boys to bed David and I rented AVATAR.  Really long movie, glad that I didn't spend any money to see it (got 4 free rental for redbox).  Don't know what all the hype was about.  Went to bed really late again.  I love vacation at home.

Vacation Day 2 & 3

Tuesday Luke had his last day of swimming lessons with Anna and it was a totally victory!  He started to swim.  He finally got it!  I am so proud, I truly was getting worried because last week we spent more time coaxing him to stay in the water then anything  else.  But now he is so confident, he is just swimming like a little fish.  (Sorry no pictures to document.)  Later that day we spent more time watching the FIFA World cup.  Have I mentioned that I have watched more soccer in the last week or so then I have in my entire life.  Yeah it is fun, but half the time I just look at the players and want them to cut their hair.  Super Gross! After the game we went to the mall returned some things and got Dave an eye exam at Lens Crafters.  He is so blind it really is sad but for graduation my parents wanted to get him some prescription sunglasses so we had his eyes checked.  Later that night we took Luke to the pool to practice swimming.

On Wednesday a friend of mine, Lindsey Brewster invited us to go to the Beach Club in RSM.  We love the beach club so I took the boys for a few hours while Dave stayed at home to "study" for the state board exam awhile watching the world cup games.  I know, how does he do it?  I wonder myself.  After I put the boys down to bed I went to San Clemente to have a girls night.  I love my girls.  It is so great to be able to get together talk and laugh.  We had so much fun that I didn't get home till 12:45am.  Till next time.

Vacation Day 1

Dave has 2 weeks of vacation before he starts his LAST internship and we are trying to live it up and the best we can.  When I say that I mean do as many things as we can do for free and catch up on the "Honey-Do" list.  

So for the first day of vaca we decided to use our D-land passes for the last time before summer was all blocked out and we really wanted to see the World of Color show at Disney's California Adventure.  So we had heard that for you to actually see the show you had to get a fast pass that gives you a showtime and a place to view.  So we got there around 11:30-45 and went straight to the fast pass distribution for the show.  I ended up waiting in line for at least 30 min and saw Kaylee Earl (she waited for 40min) and got tickets to see the 11:15pm show.  11:15 holy cow David and I were like "This better be the best water show that we will ever see." We never stay that late at Disneyland, but I have to say it was kind of nice.  We just took our time did things that we don't normally do. And we didn't really feel rushed because we had to stick around anyway.  So we did see the Fantasmic show which was fun for Luke  and Logan to watch but then Luke just kept asking for the stroller.  He really just wanted to go to sleep.  Funny kid you would think that he would want to just keep going but no.  He just want to go to sleep.  At 10pm David and I were waiting with 2 sleeping boys for the show to start and decided to get a funnel cake and hot chocolate.  Yummy!  It really just hit the spot.  11:15 rolls around finally and we watch the show.  It was funny though because they have an announcement to all the viewer that if you have a seat directly on the water that you will get wet!  Dave and I were laughing because we couldn't believe that water would carry that far, but sure enough a heavy mist covered the crowd when it started and made it mighty chilly.   It was so cool though!  I would encourage all to see it if you get the chance!  In comparison to any water show I would say it is as grand as the Bellagio's water show in Vegas but with a great Disney twist love it, go and see it!

1. David and Luke with Kenai and Koda

2. David and Luke on the Silly Symphony Swings

3. & 4. King Tritons Carousel

5. Bug's Life Show

6. Winnie the Pooh Ride

7. Waiting for Casey JR Train

8. & 9. On the Train

10. Me closing my eyes for the Tea Cups so I don't get sick.  The things you do for your kids.

11. Tea cups!  I didn't throw up, Yeah!

12. Autopia

13. Fantasmic Show with Logan

14. & 15. Sleeping Babes

16. One last photo with the happy tired parents!

Memorial Day

You can tell when I have a wedding or job because my blogging takes a total back seat.  Here I am in middle of June talking about Memorial day.  So for Memorial day we stayed at home and just hung around and relaxed.   

We did have one outing to the mall. Dave had gotten quite a bit of money for graduation and I had some stashed away for a rainy day.  Our old computer was about to die, we hadn't even turned it on for over a month because we were afraid that it would crash and we would lose everything.  SO we all hopped into the car and headed down to the MAC store and came back with this bad boy 27" IMAC. 

 We love it!  It has been amazing having a computer that works and is so fast.  I'm glad we got it, it was a huge expense but needed and Dave really deserved something for all his hard work he put in the last 10 years!

We came home later had ribs and all the BBQ fixin's.  I did want to do something fun for Luke so I set up the fire pit and we roasted marshmallows after we put Logan to bed.  It was nice to just have some one on one time with him!  It was a fun and relaxing day.

Chapman University Graduation

Yesterday we had David's graduation  (FINALLY) at Chapman University!  He received a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.  You can now all call him Dr. David Didlake.  (Just kidding, he would really hate that.)

David,

We, your family, especially me, your wife are so proud of you.  We appreciate all your hard work, the time and effort it took to get here.  

We Love You!

Love, Us

Picnic Dinner

This evening when it got time to eat dinner Luke decided that he needed to have a picnic.  It being left over night we decided that it would be fun.  So we laid out a couple of blankets and enjoyed our gourmet meal of grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit salad.

(Check out Luke's handy work with the camera!)

Happy 86th Birthday Grandma-ma

Happy 86th Birthday Grandma-ma!  

We love you!  

Love, Us

Homemade Kite

All Luke has been talking about is flying a kite.  When David was home for week after finals he took it upon himself to make one for Luke.  He looked up some directions on the internet and gathered the materials and set to work.  We later went to the park and to try it out.  Unfortunately it didn't work as well as we had hoped but Luke and Logan had a blast running with the kite flying behind them!

Easter Recap

Have you noticed a trend lately?  I have been trying to catch up on all the things that we did in April.  Anyway Easter was a blur with General Conference, egg decorating and making our way down to Vista to have an Easter Luncheon with Great Mema and Great Papa.  All in all it was fun and somewhat relaxing having David home!

Daddy's Day Off

David, my wonderful hubby has been "working" aka studying so hard that he decided that he wanted to take a well deserved day off with the fam!  So on Friday morning, we packed out rain boots, buckets & shovels and headed down to the creek again. Luke of course wanted to walk right in the middle of the creek so we kind of let him.  Lets just say that we emptied at least 3 cups of water out of his shoes.  We stayed well over and hour and then headed back.  The rest of the day is kind of a blur running errands and just relaxing.  It went way too fast, I hope Dave takes another day off soon!

"On the last week on Christmas. . ."

Luke's School Christmas Party, Decorating Cookies, Finishing Gma's Quilt, Getting out Christmas Cards & Letter's, And trying to have a Merry Christmas!

( You should be sing this to 12 days of Christmas Starting at 5 golden rings!)

Like the card?  

Yeah that was supposed to be your Christmas card this year but we had technical difficulties so COSTCO to the rescue!

{Merry Christmas}

We had a great Christmas starting off of course at Mema and Papas Christmas Eve. Stephanie took Luke on a ride on her quad.  Then we did our usual eating dinner and opening presents.

On Christmas morning we woke to find Santa had brought the good boys and girls presents.  Mom and Dad were obviously on the naughty list because we did not get anything.  But the boys must have been on the good list because they did receive a pirate ship, shopping cart, cowboy boots and hat and a Noah's ark just to name a few.  Christmas was fun this year because Luke really got it and it was fun putting out the cookies milk and zucchini for the reindeer (we ran out of carrots, so we got zucchini from the garden).  We are so blessed and grateful for the wonderful things our Father in heaven have blessed us with.  I am grateful for this season as we reflect on our Saviors birth and start the new year off with a Christ centered perspective.

 

Merry Christmas to all!