Sam's Birthday

Lucky boy gets a huge party every birthday. We did a little trick or treating on Halloween and celebrated Sam's birthday on Sunday. Instead of a cake, we did sugar cookies that we cut out, baked and decorated. Sam got a big boy toilet for his birthday but is a long way away from figuring it out. In case you can't figure it out, Mark is a pirate, Em a 50's girl, Sam is Diego (from the cartoon...friend to Dora who is actually his favorite but didn't think Dora was an appropriate costume for a little boy) and Hannah...though not in full costume here was a mime. I tried to find a shirt with a big M on it for Super Mom but had no luck!

Luau

The YW did a "luau" evening a little bit ago. We have a family with Tongan heritage and one of the YW leaders studied at BYU Hawaii so they learned dances from several islands. They had tables set up for each of the islands with some food to sample at the end. They did a great job. The pictures aren't the best because they turned down the lights but you get an idea.

Tired little man

Happily, Sam has not outgrown his afternoon naps. If I don't get to him in time...he does it on his own...sometimes right in the middle of something. Yesterday, it was with a bag of cheetos in one hand...a cheetoh in the other trying desperately to get to his mouth. When I had put him in the car to pick up kids, he slightly woke up trying to get the cheetoh into his mouth but I had taken it after he fell asleep so he just kept putting his hand to his mouth and trying to bite but there was nothing there. I think today he was trying to get the back door open to ride his little motorcycle in the backyard. Anyway, need to take advantage of him asleep and get something done...just wanted to share.

Kristy for School Board

Well...it is official...I am running for school board. I am finishing my website today...visit it at kristynielsen.com. I opened my bank account last week and have my sign designed. I was even offered use of one of those programs that automatically calls and plays a recording. So I just have to create a brief message and it will call all the voters in Antioch telling them who I am and that they should vote for me. I will be ordering signs next week and have window signs for cars that I have to print up next week. Had my first interview by the teacher's union last week and a meeting with Dr Simms, superindendent. They have a round-table set up for Oct 1st that will be taped and broadcast throughout the month on the contra costa tv channel. They did a write up in the Antioch Press about all the candidates and quoted me in it. Not sure what my chances of winning are but it will definately be an interesting experience just running. Hannah took several pictures of me for me to use on my website. This is one I really liked although didn't use it for my website. I rarely have descent photos of myself because I am usually behind the camera. Many of you will be getting emails next week with all my info to forward on to others that you know that live in Antioch. It is all about name recognition...how many people have heard your name mentioned...kind of crazy that it is not so much about what you will do for the school board.

Mark's birthday and baptism

Mark turned eight in July. He was then baptized the first week of August. It was nice to be able to have Grandma Knight there. It was a very special day that we got to share with family and friends.

Last Summer Fling

The weekend before school started, we went to the beach with some friends. We arrived Sunday afternoon and camped out...returning home Tuesday afternoon. The kids then started school on Wed. We had a great time. We camped at Manressa Beach in Santa Cruz. I had never been beach camping before this so it was a new experience. Sunday night was very wet...not raining the mist in the air was almost rain. The kids' tents worked great. Musetta's and mine...not so much. We woke up with a big puddle on the floor of our tent. Luckily, nothing major got wet and we dried out by evening. We walked to the beach Monday morning and the kids spent pretty much the entire day boogie boarding. We had some half wet suits that Uncle Jared had given us years ago that came in very handy. Mark's was a little big so he still got cold and had to get out every hour or so in the morning to warm up but by afternoon, there was no stopping them. Of course, they were exhausted and sore come Tuesday. Sam had a great time although he doesn't like the ocean. But, Mom is ok with that since she doesn't have to worry about him wondering into the water alone. We saw some dolphins and sea lions...it was so awesome. Grandma Knight will be very jealous. There were about 10 dolphins that swam up and down the coast, playing for about 30 minutes. They also had fire pits on the beach so we got to have a campfire on the beach...it was awesome. The wagon Sam is pulling was used to carry our stuff to the car as it was a walk in campsite. He loved pulling it around. The bottom right picture has a dolphin in it...that is how close they were...the front of the picture is the wave breaking on the shore.

50 miler pictures

I put them together in a slideshow movie thing...for some reason my little video clips weren't working well so I will continue to work on them and get them posted. The first lake is Echo Lake (actually two lakes, upper and lower)...the more desolate lake with the sunset...Aloha Lake where we camped first night. Day 2 we left Aloha and passed Susie and Heather Lake and camped at Gilmore Lake (pictures of the group by the lake pumping water). Day 3 we peaked at Dick's Pass (kids sitting looking out) and camped at Eagle Lake. Day 4, hiked down to Eagle Falls which is by Emerald Bay then hiked down 89 to Baldwin Beach where we picked up the kayaks and kayaked back to Emerald Bay. Day 5, kayaked to Meeks Bay...day 6, kayaked to a campground by Sunnyside. Day 7, kayaked to campground at Tahoe City. Day 8, kayaked to King's Beach for a great finish!

Hannah's 50 miler

Hannah is a member of a BSA Venturing Crew. Their superactivity this summer was a 50 miler. Since it is co-ed, they also have to have a female leader attend these activities. Guess who got recruited? Luckily it was not all hiking or I don't think I would be walking today. We did 28 miles hiking over 4 days in Desolation Wilderness which is west of Lake Tahoe then we picked up kayaks at South Lake Tahoe and kayaked 34 miles from south shore to north shore over 4 days...for a total of 8 days and 62 miles. We started on the Pacific Crest Trail which actually runs from Mexico to Canada (and we actually met some people that started in Mexico 2 months ago and will be arriving in Canada in another 2 1/2 month) just off of Hwy 50 and hiked up and over the mountain range and down into the Tahoe basin. We saw some beautiful country although the mosquitos were horrible the first couple of days. It was an enjoyable trip although I was extremely grateful to return home and sleep in my own bed. I am hoping to do the pictures as a slideshow but have never done that before so hope it works.

more girl's camp pictures

The repelling picture is me...I was checking the ropes to make sure they would hold the girls ok...oh wait...the girls had already finished...ok, so I wanted to see what the world looked like from that angle...the reality of it is that my foot slipped on the ledge that you see the guy standing on and I flipped and flopped until I ended up in this position. Some minor abrasions on the arm but other than that, all good. The other picture is us at Sword Lake...Rebecca has the pink backpack, I am sitting to the left of her in navy and Hannah is the one sitting on the end on the left with white t-shirt. We had a fabulous group of girls that made it a wonderful week.

Girl's Camp

I got the great opportunity to go with Hannah and Rebecca as their 4th year leader for girl's camp. We had a great time...hiking about 12 miles altogether. Saw some beautiful scenery and got to do some repelling. Included is a picture of the group as we started, a picture of Hannah at the creek by our campsite, the girls and me while we were waiting for the rest of the hikers to catch up...an the group on the top of the rock the ended our gps course and gave a gorgeous view. There is also a picture of us playing a game. The video of repelling is Hannah first then Rebecca.

Hannah's birthday

Hopefully this works. The first videos I tried failed but the next ones worked so...it is luck of the draw I guess. Anyway, this is supposed to be a video of Hannah's birthday. She requested a pinata. Ignore my voice...I got a phone call about girl's camp while I was taping.

family pictures

Okay...if you look back at the blog in December, you will see our attempt at family pictures...you will also notice 2 people missing. Well, we finally had everyone home for a few days so we decided to once again attempt a family picture. It is a great story...Robert really wanted it at the beach and wanted all black shirts with khaki pants. Raechel objected to the combination so we settled on black shirt and jeans. He wanted to go to a beach in Santa Cruz. Come picture day, he decided to do half white and half black...so I frantically scrounged for some white shirts to pack. As always, we left about 1/2 hour late. I was worried about the sun and shadows for the pictures so we decided to head toward pacifica to take the pictures then head south for warmer beaches for playing. We finally found one that had some rocks that we could pose on (we are all too close in height to try a standing picture so sitting would work better). So, all neatly dressed and hair combed, we cross Hwy 1 after parking to head for the beach. As you start on the path, there is a little "bluff" with some cool trees so I headed over there for a look to decide about taking a picture there. As I looked out on the beach, I saw a guy walking toward the ocean with a hat on...and perhaps a skin colored suit...oh wait...he had nothing on! Rob and Steve were still determined to take a picture there but the rest of us couldn't take a picture knowing there was a naked guy in the back somewhere. We decided to head to the opposite end of the beach which is where the rocks were anyway. All nine of us headed down the path. Thankfully, before we got too far down, a guy coming up the path said: You know this is a nude beach right? Yeah...we definately headed back to the car! I quickly decided that we would only stop at beaches that you could clearly see from the road or a state beach. We ended up heading all the way down 1 to Santa Cruz to the beach Robert originally wanted to go to. The good think was there was cloud cover so you didn't have to worry about shadows...the not so good thing was there was also lightening and thunder to go with the cloud cover. But, as you can see, we got a little repreive from the wind and got a decent picture. We ate lunch then headed back north to play at a beach with better weather (besides, the water at Santa Cruz was off limits due to weather conditions). We hung out there for a few hours then headed home. About 5 miles north of the beach, traffic on 1 came to a dead stop. It wasn't going to move for awhile and according to the GPS, it was only about 20 minutes farther to head back to Santa Cruz and up 17...so turn around we did. By now, our gas tanks are running on empty. I decided to stop at one of David's dad's old stations in San Jose since I knew where it was and it was easy on/off. As we approached the exit, I changed my mind...not sure why but decided we weren't stopping there. Now our little warning light is coming on telling us we really need gas. I decided to stop off at another station I knew off Mission just before you head over the hill out of Fremont. As I was sitting in the car while it was pumping, a lady approached me asking if I knew where a descent hotel was...I said no...then she said she was trying to help these 2 young mothers and their 3 babies whose car had broken down and they needed someplace to stay for the night. To shorten the already long story...we helped drive them to a hotel and got them settled in. I shared with the kids how grateful I was for the Holy Ghost that guided me to that gas station so we could help them. They were so grateful that they almost cried as they hugged us and said thank you as we left. They were from Reno so they a little ways from home with little money. Anyway...hope you enjoy our family pictures and I didn't take too much of your time with our story.

Our fire pit

We are loving that the weather is so nice...although today was a little warm. Wednesday was the younger kids' last day of school so we had a little party in the backyard...Mark, Emily, Sam and I had a relaxing evening sitting around the firepit and making s'mores. The last 2 pictures was an experiment with the sunset setting on my camera...turned out kind of cool.

Rebecca's Spanish Project

Rebecca had to cook a "hispanic" food and video tape it, describing the steps in Spanish. She had a friend video taping it while I was upstairs working. This video is part of her project.

Our 3 Sons

Robert is home!!! He finished his mission the end of May. Steve and I flew to Florida and spent three days traveling to the different places he served and meeting lots of great people. Unfortunately, one of the only things I didn't remember was my memory for my camera...so I don't have pictures. Robert took lots so eventually I will get them from him and post them. In the meantime...here is Rob, Mark and Sam.

our backyard

The reason I haven't posted for a while is because we have been busy working on the backyard. I didn't get a before picture but as you look at the after, imagine it 4 feet tall in weeds...that is the before. The first picture is our patio furniture covered up...it is a firepit in a table (propane) and some really comfy chairs. The next picture shows the garden box in the back corner. We have some lettuce, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, squash, and 3 types of tomatoes. We also have 5 fruit trees along the fence - peach, nectarine, orange, granny and fuji apples. Behind the garden box are two grapevines. The other side has our trampoline and the future home of a playset/fort structure. When school gets out, we will be hosting some outdoor movie nights...hopefully we can pick a not so windy night.

Sam's snowstorm!

I was very focused the other day on working on our taxes. Sam, who loves to be in the same room with you regardless of where you are, decided to play with the shredder paper. I has just cleaned out several files and shredded them so the container was quite full. It did keep him occupied for a while so I could work on taxes!

Steve's father

Steve's father passed away on Sunday, February 10th. He was 79 and accomplished alot during those 79 years. His posterity already consists of over 50 people...the majority of which were able to attend the funeral. It was nice to spend the day with family and learn more about his dad's early years.

Snow trip

We went on a mini-vacation with two other families - Sellers and Crumps. We stayed 2 nights in the Trendwest timeshare in Angels Camp and spent one day up by Bear Valley playing in the snow. It was a very nice trip with beautiful weather. I finally had someone else to take pictures so got one of me sledding with Sam...who loves the snow and actually walked up the hill by himself.

Hannah's soccer game

Weather was not always the soccer teams best friend this winter. These are some pictures of their final game against Deer Valley...the other high school in Antioch. The final score...1-0 with Hannah scoring the only goal. They had a great season.