Birthdays All Around

Maggie’s birthday is the 25th and Brandon’s the 30th. So we had a fun birthday filled week. Starting with Maggie’s nursery leader, Sister White, coming for a visit and to drop off some toys! She’s the most fantastic lady! She loves the kids and they all love her.  Every parent in our ward is thankful for Sister White. I spent the day making fried rice and cupcakes, cake-batter ice cream and some delicious strawberry banana trifle for Maggie’s little party. (I‘m sure there was some healthier food in there somewhere, but it obviously wasn’t tasty enough to remember.) We had Jon, Jenna, Katelyn and Nathan over, plus Sarah, because she was visiting. Monica was able to bring Kim over too. It’s so fun to have friends, for me just as much as for Maggie. We had some cupcakes for the girls and sang Happy Birthday to Maggie. I tried to have her eat some, but you can tell by the scraping of the tongue that she was not excited about that. Jenna found some great toys from thrift stores and Monica remembered how much I’d coveted the shoes she has for Kim, and got Maggie a pair! Sarah and Katelyn very much enjoyed the ice cream and trifle. Happy 2nd Birthday Maggie! Saturday was Brandon’s birthday. We started with a trip to the park where Maggie sat down in the grass and immediately began to remove her shoes and socks. We all play a little baseball and enjoyed some nice soft grass. So for dinner we went to Iguana’s.  We like to watch Man Vs. Food and it was one of the places he visited in San Jose. Iguana’s is famous for it’s Burritozilla, a 5 pound, 18 inch burrito. Yup, it’s baby sized. We watched this show just a couple days after Maggie was born and behold, there was a burrito the size of our new baby! Nathan was just a couple weeks old when we went, so here’s him next to the infamous Burritozilla.  The boys split it, though Jenna had to finish it. Here’s evidence that it wasn’t just a boys trip – all the ladies! They really enjoyed themselves. Sadly since they had eaten so much meat, beans, and rice, Brandon wasn’t up for a cake, so there were no candles to blow out. Lame on my part. Oops. Well, Happy 26th Birthday Hunny!

A peek into the Jeffery Family Reunion 2011

I love my family.  We got together for another reunion, and I really had a blast.  However, I have a sad amount of pictures to show for it. So again, I plead to any of my family reading this, PLEASE send me the pictures you took.

My little vacation with Maggie started out with a flight into Salt Lake where my aunt Katri picked me up, and we headed to Mountain Home to spend the weekend with my family. We hung out on the porch in the mornings and watched the baby birds. We went cherry picking and then ate tons of cherries.  Did you know that if you leave them in a cooler with dry ice, it carbonates the cherries. They’re all fizzy! It was awesome!  We toured my mom’s new shop, Encompass – Holistic Health, and got massages. I’m so proud of my mom.  She’s acted on something she really wanted to do, and it’s working out great! So anyone in Mountain Home, head on over there – across the street from the hospital for some holistic goodness.

We celebrated my brother Alex’s 8th birthday with homemade cheesecake brownies!!Then we all headed over to Bear Lake on Monday for a week of family!!  We were able to rent a huge lodge-cabin thing. It had like 14 rooms, 2 living rooms, 2 fridges, ovens, stoves, and dining areas.  There was a game room with pool and ping pong and foose ball. Outside there was a nice noisy stream, it sounded so beautiful.  Past the stream was a fire pit, and out back was a volley ball net and a fenced off play area for the little kids.  Maggie still talks about going on the teeter totter with Uncle Trais.  It was SO much fun to all be stuck in the same house together!  We played lots of games, my favorite being Dominion. Maggie will still burst out, “COUNCIL ROOM!” every once in a while.  It happens more often when we’re talking about festivals. :) You can tell she had fun with family, since she still talks about it all the time.Blake and Dale playing Blokus, and working on slings. We had a leather working “class” taught by my mom.  They made slings and bracelets and hair wraps. There were even stamps to decorate your leather with! The girls really loved that part. I remember Kaisa designed a beautiful turtle hair wrap for her mom. The slings were the most fun of course, because when you finished you got to go throw rocks!

It was not as easy as it looks, and it doesn’t look that easy. Kaleb was a regular ol’ David, slaying the giant also known as the sign on the fence. 

And unpictorally documented by me we had:

trips to Bear Lake. Logan and Spencer were kind enough to bring and share their new kayaks. There was an impressive current, for it being a lake and all, so we had a fantastic contest to see who could stay sitting up in the waves with their feet and hands continually out of the water.  It was so funny to watch Katri and Paula and Trais falling over with the waves. I’m sure I made quite the picture too. The littler kids were way better at it.  They must have stronger abs compared to their small size.

Some people toured some caves, much like Mount Timpanogos, so they tell me.  There was also a pioneer reenactment place near by, which resulted in some really cool hats. ;) Much of mine and Katri’s time was taken up by (duh duh duh!) …. the Yudu. It’s a silk screen printer.  Through a long and very frustrating series of events we ended up with some seriously awesome Jeffery Family Reunion 2011 t-shirts. And Katri and I came out of it knowing that sometimes you have to go through a lot to get to the end, but the end is worth it. If for nothing more than the memories.

There was a great system set up where every family was in charge of a meal, which made things easy, spreading the burden of food preparation and cost.  It also included a spiritual thought by the family doing the food. It was really wonderful to hear peoples thoughts and insights.

Grandma and Grandpa had a family home evening for us all. It was very beautiful, focusing on the Holy Ghost and it’s guiding, comforting and protecting powers.  They gave 4 examples of huge miracles in the lives of our family. As they were telling the stories of how Dale managed to live through falling from a banister and hitting his head at age two, how Jared miraculously lived with his soft little baby head, while Steve came out of brain surgery with no negative consequences, I was thinking, “Man, I’m glad my family hasn’t been through any real medical emergencies like that.”

Oh, how easy it is to forget the MIRACLES that happen in our lives. I was then lead into the first time of reliving my car crash with my family there. I’d explained before to a few close friends and Brandon, but this was very different. Through my tears I was able to explain what happened with help from my dad, mom and Steve and Johan. 

Um…sorry, I don’t really want to go into it, but here’s the gist: I was driving my dad, Alecia, and Kendra down to Las Vegas to see the Medieval show at Excalibur for Kendra’s 16th birthday. Everyone had fallen asleep, and then so did I.  I drifted to the right, where a huge rock popped the front right tire.  We went careening off the road, the car rolling at least 3 times before coming to a stop upright.  I went into shock almost immediately. And…through lots of hazy memories we all ended up in ambulances and at the hospital in Cedar City.  After x-rays I was life-flighted to Salt Lake. My mom, Steve and Johan were able to meet me there. I was immediately given a blessing, and come to find out, it’s ok that my neck looks broken on an x-ray. I was born with it. My mom brushed out a garbage can full of hair that had been cut off by glass.  My shoulder is still sore sometimes. My dad had stiches on his head. Kendra sprained her ankle. Alecia had some internal bruising but she’s ok now. We all have residual back pain.  But that’s it. Miracle.

Not all miracles are so blatant, but don’t forget them. I thank my Father in Heaven that we are all alive today, and that I am continually blessed with so much more.

So…back to the stuff that doesn’t make me cry. We built a fire the last night, made s’mores, covered Logan in glow sticks, and my favorite – we sang. Braden was gracious enough to bring and play his guitar, and we rocked.  I knew almost every song he played! And once he was out of songs, we headed into hymns, and then rounds. I don’t know what it is, but singing is so much more fun around a campfire. 

At the end we all packed up and headed to Utah.  My brother got baptized! I’m so proud of him. I got to read the talk that Kendra wrote on baptism, my dad gave a fantastic talk about the Holy Ghost, and my mom, Alecia, Danielle, Kaylee and I all sang Beautiful Savior. All followed by a beautiful confirmation by my dad, who I am convinced will one day be a patriarch.  He’s so eloquent. We went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s and celebrated Birthday Sunday on Saturday – you can be confused, it’s all right. It’s Alex, Maggie and Brandon in July.  Alex ended up blowing out both cake’s candles in one breath! Which is fine, because Maggie wasn’t interested.They both ended up with a lot of cool presents. (By the way, we did not make it home with the Paper Bag Princess book. I’m hoping someone found it, and that we can get that back eventually.) Maggie seriously LOVES everything she got. Thanks guys! Since Brandon wasn’t able to come to the reunion, everyone signed a dollar bill, put them all in an envelope which I gave to him when we got home, and we ended up buying the computer I’m sitting at. :) He really appreciated it, so Thanks everyone!That night I got to relive my past as I went with my old movie group (cousins and their friends) to see the last Harry Potter. It was so so wonderful! I felt like I was 18 again! In regards to the movie, I’m right in line with Trais, “I feel like part of my child hood just died.” I grew up with Harry Potter.  Now it’s over! Well, *awkward Voldemort/Draco hug*

It all ended with a wonderful ride to the airport with Garet, who’d had to work during the family reunion. So I got to spend some quality time with him too.

Thank you to Paula and Katri for planning so well and doing so much to make it such a wonderful and memorable experience for everyone.

It was such a fantastic trip.  I have such a fantastic family.

Brandon is...

amazing. He is my best friend. He makes me laugh harder than anyone. I'm glad he's an assistant scout master.  The boys really like him. I wish I was camping too. I'm getting into a bed with only one pillow on it tonight. I'm very glad it's only for one night. It's amazing how dependant you can become. He's so great.

4th of July

We started off the wonderfully busy weekend at Rio Del Mar Beach near Santa Cruz.  It was so beautiful! The weather was perfect and sunny, the water was cold but refreshing, and the girls had so much fun!  Jon’s sister, Rebekah came for the weekend and we really enjoyed her company.The girls had some fun with sand castle smashing before we headed out.The super famous Mystery Spot! (There are so many cars around here with the bumper stickers…)We stopped off at the Mystery Spot.  It was so strange!  There is some type of gravitational/magnetic/optical anomaly surrounding this little cabin in the middle of the woods.  Look at the height differences! The level says that the board they are standing on is level.  Brandon is definitely the tallest until they all switch places.And this little T that Jon and Jenna are on is level as well, but if you want to be taller, you just stand on the right side.

For the 4th we went to an Oakland A’s game.  It was much more fun for me, being closer to the field this time.  It’s amazing how your taste for something can grow when your spouse likes it so darn much.

We have lots of fun in the pool at Jon and Jenna’s apartment.  Maggie loves playing the the hot tub, since she can only last about 4 minutes in the normal pool (and yes, it’s heated to 78*) before her lips turn blue. She loves when the jets turn on because then she can play with the bubbles. And of course we love the hot tub as well. Who doesn’t?

We had a the BBQ going as well, and ate some delicious burgers before heading to San Ramon for some beautiful fireworks.  They get more creative every year! There were some smiley face ones and the blue looks like blue, instead of purple.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend that left us all a little sunburnt, but remembering and enjoying lots of family time together.   I am so grateful for this country! We have so much opportunity and freedom, when others are left in destitution and poverty.  I try to keep in mind that I have everything I could possibly need and most of the stuff I want.  It’s amazing how blessed I am. 

Stay grateful.

It’s so loverly

I really love living in California!  It’s just so beautiful here.  And I truly love having family close by.  Jon and Jenna have made our time here so much fun! June was a fantastically busy month.  We went on lots of little trips and enjoyed lots of outdoor time.  Jenna, Katelyn, Maggie and I were intending to meet up with some people from Jenna’s ward at the beach, but we took the wrong road and ended up at Half Moon Bay.  Can’t really complain.  We decided to go scope out the tide pools instead of driving the 2 more hours to meet up with friends.  The tide was high when we first got there but we had fun playing on the beach, watching the sea lions bask in the sun and dropping rocks into the little stream flowing into the ocean. 

Our stake had a 50th Anniversary Party weekend.  Friday night there was a SWEET carnival.  There were little games for the kids, fishing and biting the donut off the string and bean bag tosses. AND….. it was catered by Coldstone Creamery!!! You could choose from 4 different kinds of ice cream then go to the topping table and have you way with it.  Oh it was so delicious!  I got Strawberry and Cakebatter ice cream with graham crackers and lots of caramel syrup on top. There was chocolate and candy pieces and sigh, it was just so fabulous.  The little ones LOVED the ice cream, check out their faces and tell me they didn’t love it.  We brought Jon and Jenna and met up with Monica and James.  Monica and Jenna actually went to high school together in Sandy, UT.  Small world, eh?

Jenna turned 24 the day after the carnival (the eleventh).  We had a fun time swimming and thrifting and eating cake.  Her half siblings and dad came for the swimming, presents and cake :D

Brandon is one of the hardest people to buy for, because when he wants something, he goes out and gets it or if I have actually gotten the chance to buy it he already knows what it is. Sigh. Sometimes, however, a genius thought hits me.  This was one of those times.  Growing up Brandon had a cat shaped syrup pitcher.  As the syrup came out the mouth there ensued lots of puking sounds while syrup was being poured. I found a puking duck on ebay for Father’s Day!  It has an awesome hat, a little suit coat and a tie.  It’s so cute!  And he didn’t even guess what it was beforehand! I was so proud to have come up with a good present that he didn’t already know about. Of course…that left his birthday (July 30) sadly lacking in anything resembling a cool present. Sometimes you just can’t catch a break.

A couple weeks later we were able to meet up with people from Jenna’s ward.  A bunch of moms get together and take there kids out to play so that everyone can have a good time.  This lake was so neat.  It was like a swimming pool – life guards and roped off deep ends and a diving platform for the older kids, but it was sandy and wonderful.  We had lots of fun playing with other kids and getting to know other moms. 

                        

A friend got some free tickets to a San Jose Giants game, so of course we went!  I have to say, I really enjoy minor league games better than major.  The atmosphere is more fun, it’s cheaper, and you can actually see the players because you’re not sitting forever away.  I’m much more inclined to pay attention to the game when I am close to it, and I can’t afford to be close at a major league park.

We found a fantastic splashy park in Dublin.  (I actually just found one in our town-so we’ll start going to that one now) It has little fountains everywhere and the water pressure varies, making it so much fun for the kids!  Maggie really loved it, and Katelyn could not have been more happy.

Our summer has been so wonderful so far!  We are excited to have so much to do, and fun people to do it with! Yay!

Addendum

To add to our previous posting of Memorial Day weekend, here are pictures! Which I know is the way more exciting part. Almost all of the editing credit goes to Jenna, as I got the pictures off her computer after she had gone through and done her blog. Bwahahaha! I mean...
Here goes:One of the best parts about the camping was the little park right in the middle. All the kids could come and play and the girls really loved it!She loves her daddy so much! And he is such a sucker for her every whim. It's just adorable.That's Jenna's words. We have used our tent before, a couple times. But not for a whole weekend. I really do enjoy camping.And to the beach we go. Cold and windy, but so much fun!Even some rocks for the kids to climb on.Experiencing the tickle-tickle of a crab on their little hands.The glass was beautiful and so smooth.
We really had a lot of fun, and obviously a lot of dirt. Yay for family!

Marshmallows and sea glass

I love to stay at home. Especially on days like today, when I can not see the sun and it's cold enough inside that I don't even want to open the front door, let alone go outside. I love to curl up with a good book and sing to Maggie while she plays with her toys and tells me all about her favorite animals. Yes, I can sing and read at the same time. I've sung the same songs so many times I don't have to think about the words anymore.

I also can't stand the idea of being stuck at home. I need to know that I can leave if I want to. It is such a blessing to be able to have two cars, not that I go out that much, but the knowledge that I can is very comforting to me.

Pictures to come (which is why I don't blog as often as I should, because I never want to go to the trouble of finding and editing and whatnot the right pictures to go with it. I am off the hook for right now though because all the pictures from this weekend are on Jon and Jenna's camera.)

This weekend was fantastic mixed with a little bit of horrible if I'm to be honest. We went camping up at Gualala River Redwood Park with Jon, Jenna and Katelyn. We got there late Friday night and stayed til Monday morning. There was a fun little park for the girls, and almost half of Jon and Jenna's ward was there too. It's a tradition for them all to go up for Memorial Day weekend. So there were other kids to play with and people to meet. We go down to Jon and Jenna's every Wednesday night for Brandon to go play basketball with Jon and his ward. The guys had fun getting together and playing bocche ball and wiffle ball. It's so fun for me to see Brandon around other guys, because it's been a long while since we've lived near people that he wants to hang out with.

Sadly it rained almost all Saturday, so we spent the afternoon in our tent playing games until the girls were making us so crazy we had to put them down for naps. We took breaks when the rain would let up and played at the park and visited other friends campsites. We went down to the river for a bit and Jon got to row Katelyn around in a little canoe for a while. We had dinner with some friends and enjoyed sitting around the fire, roasting marshmallows (which we put on Fudge Stripe cookies-best idea ever!) and starbursts. I did not drip melting candy on my hand like I did last time. That night Maggie woke up like 4 times. One time for about 2 hours during which she was totally awake, wiggling and talking and laughing and screaming and all around super annoying for it being some time in the middle of the night. Brandon does not do well without sleep and I take naps very well. This is why a family is meant to have a mom and a dad. I am much more patient in the middle of the night than in the evening, and Brandon the opposite. Even with the little patience I have been granted, it was really a hard night. I had a headache most of the rest of the weekend from lack of sleep. In fact...I'm going to take a bit more ibuprofen...brb. And I'm back.

Sunday we were able to have church! We had a sacrament meeting in a bigger clearing. Since the bishop was out with us, and there was a big enough group we had gotten permission for the sacrament as well. It was a great experience to be out in nature and thinking of the blessings that we've been given. We relaxed, had yummy tacos for lunch, napped, and had a big potluck with most of the campground for dinner. I had a taste of Abalone, some rare clam like thingy that people had gone out diving for on Saturday. Not bad, but not the best thing I've ever eaten, by far. I'm not a fan of seafood. We never made it through the rest of our marshmallows, but we had some fire roasted corn and hot dogs. We snacked on twizzlers, reminding me of my mom. Katelyn didn't fall in the fire, which I was pretty sure was going to happen, but I did totally wipe out tripping over a rope. I've got some pretty bruises to prove it, the one on my palm being the worst by far.

Monday we packed up and headed further north to the Glass Beach. On the ridiculously windy road Katelyn woke up from a little nap to start throwing up. It was just wonderful/nasty. She just kept looking at me like, "why is this happening to me?" Then throwing up some more in her little blanket I held in front to catch all the...yea, anyway. We still made it to the beach. It was windy and cold, but so fun! The boys took off climbing up all the rocks and cliffs, while Jenna walked along the shore with Katelyn pointing out all the animals, crabs and anemonies, little fish, hermit crabs, squirrels, seals, and lots more ocean-y things. She's a true biologist, she was having so much fun! Maggie and I sat on the beach and sifted through the little rocks finding the coolest pieces of glass to keep. Ok, Maggie was just picking up and throwing the glass and rocks, but we all had a lot of fun.

The ride home was long and uneventful aside from some cricked necks on mine and Jenna's part from trying to nap and a serious meltdown from Maggie when she woke up twenty minutes from home and we had no milk to give her. Silly baby. All in all, we had a really great time! A lady we were camping with even told us about a house for rent in their ward if we wanted to move in. Alas, it's too expensive, but it's nice that they wanted us to be a part of their group. They obviously have a lot of fun all together. I hope to be able to get closer to the people in our ward too! I need to throw some sort of party so that we can all get together outside of church and have fun together. Anyone up for a BBQ at the park this week?

Ugh. So much for drying out our tent on the porch...it's raining. A potluck inside somewhere?