MLK day

I have a dream... it's to spend a perfectly warm January day at the beach!  Oh wait... that's not a dream... that really happened!!  On Martin Luther King Day, it was... no joke... 87 degrees!!  So that, my friends, is perfect beach weather!  Yes, even in January.  But, we pay an arm and a leg to live in this weather, so don't hate me.  Since it was low tide, we chose a beach perfect for tide pools.  The kids were so happy to be back at the beach, playing in the sand!  It really was the perfect beach day... my friend Amy said it was the day we waited for all summer.  Cause in the summer here, the beach can be overcast till late afternoon and usually windy.  

  

Maggie building animals out of the beach rocks. 

We explored this cave that is usually filled with water during high tide. 

Exiting through a tunnel in the cave... 

Yes, even I played along... 

The tide pools were cool.  We found starfish and crabs and sea urchins.  

I took this picture because I don't think I've ever talked about this before but this little piece of nature makes me want to throw up but mostly makes me really, really angry!  This is my phobia and it's called trypophobia... the fear of holes and clusters.  I'm moving on now cause I can't stand looking at it... 

Zoey got so comfy at the beach, that she insisted on taking all her clothes off... 

Totally fun day!  Makes us look forward to summer 2011!

Krispy Kreme

Last week, we went on one of my most favorite field trips ever for Joy School... Krispy Kreme!  The kids were learning all about "order", so what better way to drive the point home than to take them to Krispy Kreme where they can see the order of how donuts are made!  Brillant!

The manager we had this time was fantastic.  He brought out a tray full of the various stages of donuts from yeast and flour all the way to a fully glazed hot donut!

The kids are patiently waiting for the donuts to plop into the hot oil... 

Our favorite part... the waterfall of frosting!

What a special treat!  They all got a chocolate frosting with sprinkles donut and milk!

We love Krispy Kreme!

January Presidency Message

A couple Christmases ago after the death of my grandmother, my aunt Molly had the idea for each member of our family to pick a one-word resolution as a gift to grandma. All we had to do was pick one word to describe how we wanted to improve our lives in the coming year. Since then, I've enjoyed the simplicity of picking one word in January as my focus for the year. It's my goal and my theme.

What word would you choose for yourself or for your family? Patience... health... others... organization... love... joy... self discipline... gratitude... consistency... the options are unlimited, really!

The one word I think I am settling on for myself is spirituality. I would love to increase my spirituality this next year. One way that I know I can do this is by being more consistent with my scripture study. I've enjoyed reading the scriptures with my children this past year at bedtime but now it's time to get serious with my own personal scripture study! I am most excited to accomplish this is by using a website my aunt Jana just recently brought to my attention called readthescriptures.com. I pick the book of scripture I'd like to read and set the length of time I'd like to read it by and they send me my gospel reading via email everyday.

Happy New Year and may the Lord bless you in all your endeavors this next year!

Love, Nicole

meet our pet hampster...

Grant was majorly overdue for a haircut! I think his hair was the longest it's ever been! It was so long that once the buzzing deed was finally done there was so much hair that Cory gathered it up into a neat little shape and called Zoey into the bathroom to pet our new pet hampster... which she did!

We were all laughing hysterically... except for Zoey who thought she was petting a hampster!