Big Bear in July

We decided this year to start an official tradition. We wanted to go camping somewhere we could easily return to every year, just our family, no matter what our plans with our extended family are. We went to Big Bear first in 2006, but our trip was cut short due to an ectopic pregnancy and emergency surgery for me! We returned in 2008 when we stayed outside of Big Bear but spent the day on the Alpine Slide and in town. We took Carter to the Moonridge Zoo on our first trip to Big Bear and then returned there in 2009. With our history there, we decided to camp for two nights and have Big Bear be "our" spot.

We are so glad we did! I'll be first to admit that camping with a baby is very tiring, but it was very worth it. The first day we arrived, set up camp, went for a bike ride with the trailer that we forgot a piece to for the third time, cooked and ate foil dinners I made at home and had a campfire. I think my children's favorite part of camping is the campfire. That night we also had a Team Todd talent show complete with karate and joke telling from Carter, dancing from Claire, cheerleading from me and masterful storytelling from Danny. Danny used his phone to find some kid-friend scary stories to tell as well. Unfortunately, the story he read was pretty poorly written and Carter was scared of people in the forest after that;)

I love William's "Elvis smile" as I call it (it looks like one lip turns up).

Claire excited about nature!

Making s'mores!

Carter enjoying his s'more in the bike trailer/seat.

Perfection--with dark chocolate Hershey's--yum!

The next morning we ate breakfast and then went fishing.

We then spent some time at the Big Bear Discovery Center and went for a very small hike. We are breaking the kids in slowly. It was pretty hot, too.

Inside the Discovery Center.

Outside.

We decided this will be the place we can take a picture every year and watch the kids, especially, change over time.

Just because he's cute!

After lunch, we took the kids to a public swim beach. They were too little to go out very far and kept getting cold anyway. The crazy thing that happened while I was in the bathroom was that a tornado (small one obviously) came through and picked up a ton of people's stuff and broke our new umbrella! I heard everyone screaming when I was in the restroom and came out to see lifeguards taking boats out to try and retrieve things that had been dumped in the water!

We then went to the Village to get ice cream and walk around.

That evening, both Danny and I went on our own bike rides since the trailer wasn't functioning (we forgot the piece that goes on the bike!). The campground is on the north side of the lake and the bike trail is right by it. It was very beautiful and peaceful to go riding there. We had another campfire that night and went to bed a little earlier. The next morning we got up, packed and headed home fairly quickly. We were all pretty exhausted.

Our little campsite

We will never forget the Chinese couple staying between us and the bathrooms who watched our children go by a million times a day and brought us purple yams to eat our second night there--they were delicious! Also, Claire zooming around on the scooter and our decision to say calm and happy no matter what happens, including sleeping on the ground because of a hole in the air mattress, not catching any fish, thinking we lost the keys to the bike lock so getting it cut off and then finding the keys, numerous meltdowns, nursing all night long to keep William quiet, etc. Being together and working through problems together truly does bring us closer!

Many Firsts at the Todd Pad

Today is little Claire's first day of preschool. She did fabulously at drop-off, ran right to the play house she is familiar with and wouldn't budge for a kiss good-bye so we settled with blowing kisses. William is asleep and my chores are (half) done. I am hoping this is the first of many more blog posts what with 5 whole hours a week with just one child. (Claire goes to school from 9 am -12 pm Tues/Thurs but Carter gets out at 11 pm on Thursdays).

Outside the Bouncing Bunny classroom

Our little Beary girl, we only had a slight meltdown when choosing her first day outfit. This girl is par-tic-u-lar. I have no idea where she gets it from!;)

Carter started kindergarten 3 weeks ago and is doing very well. We like his teacher but he has 37 students in his class. His report from the first day was, "Mrs. C yells a lot and there are these little teeny kids who just cry and cry. They cried the whole time!" He is learning a LOT and a new teacher should be hired within the next week or so and the class size will do down to 25. I have awesome friends and we organized a swap with our younger children so I can go in and work in the classroom on Wednesday mornings. I really enjoy being there, watching Carter and getting to know his classmates. Last week I got an invite to play Xbox at Arturo's house and to go swimming at Pamela's, so yes, I feel pretty cool!:)

All ready for the first day!
We know, this backpack is huge, but it WILL last until he is an upper grader:)

Danny went in late so we could go together

Sitting at his desk
This is right as we are about to leave, his eyes got a little watery and I will admit, so did mine! I left my baby with wolves (or so it felt).

On Carter's first day of school, William cut his first tooth! He now has two on the bottom and although he slept through the night five nights in a row last week, I think a new tooth must be surfacing because he is FUSSY!

William
Happy boy William

On that same day (Aug. 23rd) William wore the duckie outfit for the first time. This is significant because all of our children have worn it and I love the way they have all looked in it. Anyone see a resemblance?

Carter

Claire

Other news of note: I will be running my first Rangar Relay in October. Although I just finished saying I want to reserve my away time from the kids for BYU Women's Conference in May, then the opportunity to run the race came up and since Amber is turning 30 that same weekend we are doing it together as a "coming of age" adventure.

Daniel continues to work hard for his money and we are grateful for a good job with all the cuts recently, especially in education. He also works hard being super dad and husband and we are all appreciative of all he does!

Now, look forward to some exciting posts: Recap of Summer and Things we are Enjoying. And, maybe you'll get to see photos with me in them, braces and all! I am off to pick up Claire. This is going to be great year!

Team Todd Video Montage

The "Ooh-la-la" Girls

After William's blessing, when all the family was together, Ella (Heidi and Ned's daughter) and Claire had a ton of fun dressing up. We are big fans of the Fancy Nancy books at this house and so Claire has learned to say "Ooh la la." The girls got these outfits on themselves and then came out to model and said "ooh la la." It was too cute. These girls sure love each other. Cousins are fun!

Ready for action

The "Belle" of the Ball

Love the glasses

William's Blessing

William wearing the blessing outfit both Daniel and Carter were blessed in

Outtake #1 of group photo

Outtake #2--where did Claire run off to?
Outtake #3-notice Carter and Claire

This is the best one we got:) April, Wes, Annette, John (washed out from the sun), Heidi, Ned, Ella, Asher (in Danny's arms), Hayley, Ryan, Sue, Jeff, Danny, Sarah, Carter, Claire, William, Robbie, Laura, Eric, Sydnee and Kollin
Grandma and Grandpa Ottosen were there but had to run off so they missed the group photo, with Eric and Sydnee in this one

William and his great grandparents

It was such a great day to have our families with us (minus Jake and Amy) and to be spiritually fed at the same time. Danny blessed William and it was beautiful and we enjoyed a fun afternoon and evening together. I love the group photo because it shows how many people are there for William and will continue to be throughout his life. What a blessing that is! At the end of the night I realized we hadn't taken any photos of just us with William and Claire took some of me with William before church but they turned out bad. Oh well!

The Miracle of the Human Brain...

I spend far less time on the internet these days than I have in the past. There are many reasons why this is the case: I have my phone which allows me to check my calendar and email throughout the day, I am now exercising regularly and, of course, I try to spend most of my free time with Sarah and the kids.

Anyway, there are still so many amazing things in the world that one can find by surfing the "human network." Hey, isn't that a line from a commercial or something?

Anyhow, here's something you may have seen. I saw this some time ago but it's worth a second look.




The "miracle of the brain?" Sure, partly, but there's a lot more to the miracle of the human being than simply the physical brain.

Beach Bonfire

William at the beach for the first time;)

Berry girl playing in the hole Danny dug

As soon as we could see the ocean, Carter was so excited...it is going to be a fun summer!

The funny girl who ate her hot dog and destroyed her bun. She did not inherit my carb addiction.

Cute boy Kollin busying playing in/eating sand

It was cold enough to put William in a favorite outfit Carter wore as a baby. He looked so cute in it and stayed warm!
Master roaster Papa

Sydnee, Eric and Kollin

We were so glad Robbie & Laura came down for William's blessing--it is always fun to spend time with them!

Bonfire time! It was such a fun night...looking forward to many more this summer!

Family Home Evening at the Todd's & Giant Catfish

Family Home Evening at our home is always hilarious and uplifting, even when it's chaotic since there is always something inherently joyous about striving to do what we know is right. Although we are not perfect in our adherence to holding FHE, we are generally very good about doing it (thanks, of course, to Sari).

So, for our posterity and for general hilarity, it struck me that it would be worthwhile to make an accounting of a typical Todd home evening. What was initially going to be a "quick run down" of how tonight's evening and subsequent FHE program unfolded has become quite detailed. Anyway, for what it's worth, here it is:

1. I arrived home from work around 5:05PM and enter the house through the garage to find the kids are playing an educational game on the computer. Claire was runnin' the show and Carter lay on our bed watching. Sarah is starting dinner (tilapia, broccoli and some strange whole grain that was delicious...Sarah, what was that called again?)

2. Since William was chillin', Sarah advised me to take my run immediately. I ran the 3.2 mile loop (walking up the steepest hills) and made it back in just over thirty minutes. It was hot and my new New Balance shoes were not as wonderful as I would have liked, but that's tangential.

3. I arrived home to find Claire asleep on the bed and Carter now on the computer. "Time to get off guys!" Sarah said from the kitchen (yes, our home is small) so we drag Claire out to the dinner table and force her to wake up so she wouldn't be up till 10PM and we eat. Delicious!

4. I offered to get started with the dishes but am advised we should commence FHE immediately so the kids can get in their bath. Claire and Carter ran over and summited the entertainment center. It was my turn to choose the song and I chose my favorite primary song, "Give Said the Little Stream." We sang the first verse since it's the only one we know, or at least I know.

5. Carter offers the prayer since it's William's turn and he's a bit too young to do so obviously. We then do "family business" which consists of each of us explains the events we have going on for the week. Sarah is interrupted about 12 times and I don't think I even got a turn.

6. Sarah then produces a semi-large piece of construction paper and we collaboratively create some rules and their respective consequences. We have done this before, but this time it seems more serious since the children choose the consequences. The only rule Carter lobbied heavily against was that which required that toys and other objects be put away before the next item or items are retrieved.

7. Sarah then went on to explain how rules, like commandments, are meant to provide freedom and happiness and not the opposite. We then discussed what life would be like if no one at home shared, if we yelled and screamed at each other and if daddy or mommy decided to hang out late and not come home. We all concurred that this would not make us happy.

8. Game time! Hide and go seek, as usual. It doesn't matter, the kids love it. Claire and I hid first and chose to hole up the master bedroom closet which, if you've seen our hose, is not a walk-in closet. She couldn't seem to hold still but it was actually a the sound of air escaping my body that revealed our hiding place to Carter and mommy. I must admit, it was on purpose...hey, I was sick of hiding in there!

9. After a few more rounds we end up at the table to complete a small school project for Carter's class. After that dessert is served: sugar free Jello pudding. Guiltless but not necessarily the most tasty treat, but that's OK, the kids liked it and it's healthy.

10. The kids get in the bath and I take William outside to relax him. I noticed all the bark chips I had so neatly cleaned up on Saturday have been scattered on the walk way. I took a deep breath and happiness flowed through me, forcing out frustration. I'd rather have healthy kids running around than neat bark chips. We headed back inside and I finished up the bath. While Sarah read a story to the kids in their pajamas, I did the dishes and did the rounds cleaning up toys on the back patio, etc.

11. As we do every night, we read from the Book of Mormon stories book and said our family prayer. Claire said the prayer and I helped her. Hugs, kisses, tooth brushing and then both kids on their bunk bed for their nightly story from me. Right now I'm telling them a story about 13 orphans who are taken in by an immensely wealthy man named Mr. Willard. They soon discover his riches come from his fishing lure business. At this point in the story (I tell them a "mini-chapter" every night) four of the children, William, Carter, Claire and Tommy (there's always a Tommy in every story I tell for some reason) are endeavoring to catch a monstrosity of a cat fish named General Sherman. In tonight's chapter they hook him but he breaks the line. Carter begs for me to continue, but I kiss him goodnight and carry Claire to her room where, as usual, she demands a story. Her story is much shorter since she already had the main story and, as usual, she asks for a "teenie bit uh wata'" so I bring her about an 1/8 of a sippy cup of water. She passes out and Sarah and I plop down on the couch and sigh. Oh yeah, William.... (:

Monday night at the Todd's.

One last thing. In case you didn't know, giant catfish actually do exist in fresh water in the US and have been caught both in "olden times' and in more recently. Need proof?:




Finally: yes, there are tense issues in this posting, but I am too lazy to go back and edit all of them. So live with it...oh wait, you're not OCD about that, or are you?