WOW November!

Wow a lot has happened in the last month. We are well into November and having a good and busy life. The weather in the bay area is near perfect this time of year. We have cold nights, but beautiful sunny days in the 70's. We have tried our best to make the most of it with trips to the park, work in the garden, bike rides and play time with neighbors and friends. Here is the summary.









We went to the pumpkin patch with some friends. We had a picnic and Tanner's favorite buddy Calvin helped him pick out the perfect Halloween pumpkin. The boys also got to climb on a giant hay pyramid and run around the farm with pigs and peacocks.
For Halloween this year we went to a few great parties as the skeleton family. The festivities began at Tanner's preschool. The kids played on a spooky playground, then read some Halloween stories and took some pictures. Then all the kids did a costume parade and stopped at "treat" stations to get non-edible Halloween prizes (there are a bunch of kids at the school with food allergies). We handed out plastic skeletons and bugs.
The next party happened at church. We had the trunk or treat in the church parking lot and even won a costume prize. We got an orange ribbon for our unique costume idea. We ate pizza for dinner and had caramel apples, face painting, orange play dough, and the young women danced to Thriller. It was a great time. We ended the evening with the kids trunk or treating in the parking lot. I took Tanner and we made at least 3 rounds to each trunk and he loved it.
On Halloween night we went 2 doors down for a Halloween party with our best friends on the block. They had wonderful food and we made some primary punch to contribute. The kids all played for awhile then we took them out trick or treating to the neighbors on the court. Tanner found a great little friend that totally got into it. When they both figured out that you just have to ring the doorbell and people come to the door with candy, they were off and running. The little girl would ring the bell about 12 times. Tanner and little Spider-girl could make it to the next doorstep in no time at all. We were laughing and they loved it.
Since all of the trick or treating fun, we have had to regulate the candy consumption with doing jobs and being good. Tanner had been a great little guy and now he wants Halloween to be again tomorrow.
Parker is our little mover. He is now 8 months old and trying his best to start walking. He loves to pull himself on everything and wants our fingers for stability all the time. He laughs all the time and loves to be startled. He also especially loves the tupper-ware cupboard.
We have some other big news as a family. It is official that we are moving to Sacramento. Darryl is transferring to the KPMG Sacramento office. We are hoping this will be a positive change for us. We are so sad to leave Fremont. We have made some of the most wonderful friends here. Sacramento has some great things about it. Mostly the home prices and opportunities to live near Darryl's job are the biggest reasons for the change. Hopefully it will mean that Darryl is around a lot more often!
That's our big stuff for now. More to come...Happy Fall!

Happy October

Time flies when your having fun...or stressed out. Either way I can't believe it is already well into October. Our family is cruising right along and celebrating having Darryl home finally! He has had to work every single day since Labor Day and today we finally had the chance to get up late, eat waffles and hang out. Darryl even took Tanner to the air show in San Fran today.
Tanner is a wonderful little guy with so much energy. He loves preschool and especially the instruments (they sing with little instruments like violins, guitars, tamborines) He always wants me to sing with him, but I haven't learned the songs. He also says some funny stuff. Whenever he wants something and I say no he says, "Come on Mom!" I also got frustrated one day and said, "Tanner I'm so frustrated I'm going to tear my hair out." He looked at me sideways and said, "Don't do that...it hurts." This week we built a rocket ship in the backyard that Tanner said will take us to Nana's and Grandma's houses. They live far away in "OOtah and Ida-who"
Parker is now fully mobile. He is my very best dust mop. He can climb the one step in our house and he can go from one end of the house to the other. His favorite spot is under Tanner's bed so many times I will find him kicking at the bed posts and cooing from underneath. He laughs really hard when you startle him and he is very ticklish. He loves to eat and started on some solid foods. So far his favorite is sweet potatoes and likes to get it all over the place. Recently he's had a bit of a cold. I think it comes from his other favorite pass time of sucking on shoes.
My big news was my 30th birthday. It was weird planning my own party, so I kept it simple. We had some friends over for dinner, then went bowling (we had 7 kids in total) so bowling was a safe bet. Darryl helped me bowl while I held a sleeping baby. In my honor he bowled a XX Turkey. After bowling we came back here for ice-cream cake then called it a night. 3 decades WOW!
Darryl is worn out. Luckily work is not all that strenuous, but he does have a lot to accomplish so it has been taking up all his time. We are still waiting on some future job change options, but for now we are in the thick of the busy season and will continue one until at least the end of the year.

First Day of Preschool!

Fall has begun and Tanner started preschool for the first time this morning. He was so excited he had his backpack and family photo for the teacher, and he drew his own picture to hang up in the classroom. Tanner LOVED preschool. He has a lovely British woman named Heather as his teacher. His class has 20 kids in it and he already made some friends. I like the school because it focuses on socialization. That is Tanner in a nutshell.
Lately he has loved reading books from the library and cutting and gluing. He had a fun time making a card for Nana's birthday and of course we had to show off his muscles a little bit because he loves to be a super hero.
Parker went for his 6 month check up today. He weighs in at 14 lbs 2 oz and he's 26 inches long. His growth has really leveled off and I think it may be because he has a very busy brother that is teaching him all the ropes. The great thing about Parker is his smile! He is one happy guy. He loves to be part of everything and he can army crawl everywhere now, so he just takes off across the floor until he gets to a barrier he can't get over then he will either cry or roll a different direction.

We recently had some family photos taken. That was a lot of fun, we love Janine for her skills behind the lens. Tanner and Parker took turns looking all over the place and Parker grabbed and ate most of the plants nearby. My favorite shot of the day was of our feet. This photo of Tanner next to Darryl's leg is a perfect snapshot of Tanner's favorites all in one. He never wants to be without his car, whole pants, brown shoes and it's hard these days to keep a shirt on him that hasn't been chewed on. The only thing missing is gum, maybe that's why he likes the shirt--who knows!
Darryl has been SUPER busy with work and military. He has had to be in Sacramento for work quite a lot and this month has had drill and annual training for 2 weeks. His work in Sacramento is more along the lines of the work he's interested in. He has also been kept in his 349th Guard Unit with a new drive for making things better for his soldiers. He is also continuing to take classes for his real estate license and mostly enjoys that work. We may be on the hunt for our own piece of property.....yeah one we actually live on...we will see!
I have been busy with a little bit of nursing, quite a bit of interpreting, not enough dancing (but my one class was full on Thursday!) and a whole lot of Mothering with 2 VERY busy boys. Things are progressing, and I'm tired a lot. I like to be busy so that's how I roll. We are eating lots of fun things from our garden and I have bell peppers and zucchini coming out my ears. Our zucchini has taken over the garden anyway so it might as well produce something.
My other biggest task to this point has been the sacrament meeting primary program. This is the 6th program I've written and I learn something new every time. The kids were very squirrely and rambunctious for the practice on Saturday, but on Sunday morning they were all wonderful and well behaved and prepared. I was so impressed with some of the kids memorizing their parts and all of the talks were in their own words, so it showed their personalities. I loved being part of it. I'm exhausted and satisfied.
We hope you have a wonderful September!

Family Reunion

Hello from Fremont. We are enjoying a beautiful August back home at last. We recently came back from Utah and 2 1/2 weeks of family fun. We all flew to SLC for the 24th of July weekend with my family. We had the 1st annual Hartley Family Reunion. It was the first time all of my siblings have been in the country at the same time for 9 years. We had a great time! On day 1 we went to Farmington and spent the day in the canyon with water balloon and squirt guns. We had lunch and played in the freezing cold creek that ran next to our picnic area. The water fight lasted until we were all sufficiently soaked (even the babies didn't get any mercy!) The afternoon and evening was spent at my brother Brad's house. We did a fun family history talk with my parents and learned a bit about my grandparents on each side of the family. In total there are 11 grandkids in the family with more on the way. It was really fun to watch Parker with his cousin Ethan (1 month older) as they were rolling on the floor. Parker didn't want to be left out of the fun so he learned how to roll right over and quickly started rolling across the room. On day 2 we were in Orem for some early morning family photos and crafts then off to the Scera pool for some fun in the very hot weather. It has a huge shallow area and some water slides. The kids had a great time! After the pool we went back to Mom and Dad's house for a BBQ and some fireworks. Brad took charge of the festivities and the kids loved kicking over the fountains when they finished. On day 3 we were in SLC at Liberty Park for a picnic and family meeting. The kids made some great little rain sticks and painted the outsides. In the late afternoon we went back up to Brad's house for pizza and games. We played the names game while all the kids ran a little nuts. We were all pretty spent after that, but had a great time being together.
After the reunion, Darryl flew home to go back to work in Sacramento, while the boys and I stayed for some swimming lessons with Nana. Each morning Tanner got up and got his suit on then went swimming with a few other kids from the neighborhood and his Savage cousins. It was great for him to wait his turn and watch the other kids progress. He has a strong will, so it took some work but he is now a lot safer in the water.
I was also really excited to see the birth of my new nephew. He was born so healthy and strong, and I was shocked and impressed that Cheryl could come for swimming lessons the very next week. Tanner loved every minute with them in the pool. He especially appreciated the extra granola bars from aunt Cheryl after each lesson.
We pretty much spent every day in the back yard pool. Friends that I haven't seen in a long time came over with their kids and swam. We had BBQ's and played games. It was a lot of fun to catch up and see how much our families have all grown.
We flew home about a week ago to find an overgrown garden with giant veges. We are blessed to have so much, but some of our zucchini are bigger than Parker! We have been enjoying the fresh garden goodness each day since we've been home.
Darryl is still hard at work, but as you can see...he still finds time for some fun in the skies! He has also done a little golfing and taken in some movies on his evening off while he is travelling. I found a few minutes to go garage sale treasure hunting and Tanner and Parker are just fun all the time.
Life is good and we love SUMMER!

Freefall

I went skydiving yesterday. I am too cheap to pay for a video but Paul did, so check it out.

Paul Cuff Sky Diving from Paul Cuff on Vimeo.

Catching Up

Wow a month has gone by already! Welcome to the middle of July. I remember summer going by pretty quickly while I was a kid, but this has to be the hyper-speed summer for me this year.
We have had some major fun, so here it goes.

We played with Paul and Larisa and celebrated Paul's graduation from Stanford. We ate and laughed and all the kids played hard. We will miss them so much when they move to New Jersey to take a job at Princeton.

Clark came to town for a short visit. We got to see him and have dinner at the Darringtons. Clark told us all about his new job and it was great to catch up with him.


We hit the beach in Santa Cruz one Friday with a bunch of other moms and kids. It was a bit windy and cool, but beautiful and the kids had a lot of fun. Some even ventured out into the cold water. Tanner stayed safely in the sand and had fun building castles and throwing rocks. After the beach we hit a great ice cream place called Marianne's. Tanner loved his blue lips from bubble gum ice cream.
We celebrated Darryl's 29th birthday with some cake and ice cream and he got his new iPhone. He loves the new toy and has already loaded a bunch of music and movies.


Our most wonderful trip this year was had over the 4th of July weekend in San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach. We drove down on Friday and stayed on the Army base in San Luis. Our friends the Madsen's stayed there too. We went to a great little farm for some ice cream and to feed the animals. We also went on a hay ride and ate some of the fresh fruit from the farm. Then we hit the beach for a fun evening of Surfing. Darryl got up a few times and the water was surpisingly warm enough to stay out for a couple of hours. We had our own little house on post with a kitchen area, so we did red white and blue pancakes on Saturday morning, then met up with the Weston bunch for more fun on the beach complete with frozen yogurt and a great big sand castle. In the evening we went to a BBQ and watched the fireworks from the beach in Oceano. The fireworks there are beyond belief. Drivers are allowed to bring their 4WD vehicles right onto the beach and build bonfires. In addition to the fires people buy all kinds of illegal fireworks and shoot them right out of the fires. There are huge exploding fireworks all over the place and they are everywhere for miles up the beach. It feels a little like a war zone. We were shocked that all the kids fell asleep despite the noise. It was the most amazing fireworks extravaganza/chaos that I have ever seen. On Sunday we went to church in San Luis then all crashed out for long naps until we went to Morro Bay in the evening to watch the sunset and play at the park. We went again the next morning to Morro Bay and found a fantastic Pirate ship playground for Tanner, then we took a walk on the beach and fed the seagulls our leftover pancakes and found seashells. Then we had lunch at a great little seafood shop on the pier. We watched the seals, sea otters and pelicans playing in the bay as we ate lunch. It was almost a disappointment to come home. The central coast was wonderful!
We also had a wonderful time at the county fair. We went with the Murphy family and enjoyed an evening of yummy fair food, pig races, and riding the bull. The kids got to pick a treat and Tanner kept calling cotton candy "the blue food" and I got my fill of kettle corn. Darryl had some funnel cake and took Tanner on a couple of rides. We came home tired and happy.
Unfortunately life is not all play and no work...Darryl recently started working in Sacramento for the next little while. He's looking forward to the work he will be doing, so it is a great opportunity. I went back to working at the hospital in Hayward. I'm working on call, and very rarely. My first 2 shifts back were over Father's Day weekend, so Darryl really did his Fatherly duties! I still don't love that job, but until I find something else a bit closer to home I will continue to pick up shifts occasionally. In addition to the nursing stuff, I'm starting a new year at the dance studio teaching Jazz and Hip Hop. It's fun and very laid back. I love dancing and I am fully addicted to So You Think You Can Dance!
Tanner and Parker are growing so much. Tanner is able to do flips off the side of the pool and loves swimming as often as possible. Recently he earned a trip to the new water park in our area and he loved the lazy river and shallow pools. Parker is rolling over and laughing up a storm. He's so funny and relaxed. Both boys are loving the warm summer weather and more than once have turned on the sprinklers to cool off in the afternoon.


We are truly busy and loving it. Happy July!

June Update

As you can see I seem to be suffering from "Mother of 2 boys" syndrome. Before I knew it I saw the calendar changing over to June and here we are almost to the middle of the month. Time flies when you're tired all the time...oh yeah and having fun.
Our biggest event recently was camping during Memorial Day weekend. We went on the trip with some friends from church. The Crane family has 3 boys and a girl. Their youngest boy is Tanner's age and the two of them play so well together. We went up to Rucker Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The young women will be going there this summer so in exchange for the opportunity to camp there, we did a little bit of trail prep, cleaning and general maintenance. We stayed Saturday until Monday and had a wonderful time. Darryl was the master dutch oven chef. We ate dutch oven treasures the whole weekend. We even won the unofficial prize for the fluffiest pineapple upside down cake and didn't burn any of it! Parker really liked camping. He was held and got to lounge in chairs all day long. Tanner got to see a lizard one of the men caught. He helped the older boys go fishing and paddle in the paddle boats. He tried his hand at archery and hit the target. He also astounded everyone with his ability to scale every group of rocks in the place. We loved it because the camp was every contained by a mountain on one side and a lake on the other. Tanner could only go so far, but he had the freedom to roam. Darryl and I were glad to have some time to get to know the Crane's a bit more. Overall the trip was a great time, my favorite part of the weekend was my 3 hour nap in the tent when all the boys were gone playing. Ahhhhhh!
We are hoping to go camping a few more times this summer, the boys seem to do just fine and it will get even more fun as they get older.
Summer is shaping up to be pretty fun. We are planning some fun "field trips" with friends to see the local sights and take in some of the festivals and fairs around this area. Tanner is also working toward a trip to the new Fremont water park. He has a nice jar and naughty jar that he fills with buttons depending on his behavior. If he can get 20 buttons in the nice jar then we can go to the water park. So far he's doing pretty well it seems to be very motivating, so hopefully on the next really hot day we can hit the water park.
Darryl has been working with a new client in San Francisco. He is looking around at other National Guard units in hopes that he can find a great spot to slide into when he is promoted to Captain later this summer. He is also hoping to find a unit that will not need to deploy again before he's finished with his commitment in 2012. In all his spare time he is prospecting real estate. He is constantly on the hunt for our next property or group of properties. It's like a big treasure hunt and he does well at it. Who knows where we will find the next one.
I have had some changes come my way. I will be returning to the hospital for a few shifts a month. I've been getting back up to speed on my nursing stuff, and I'm pretty excited to get back in the medical game. I've also been teaching at the dance studio and we had our year end concert. I didn't choreograph for this years show, so I helped out back stage with the little kids. It made me miss performing, but also reminded me why I don't want to have my own studio. The parents are brutal! The dress rehearsal was a disaster, but the show was wonderful. My favorite dancers were the 3 year olds. There were 6 little girls dressed as flowers and one of the older students was the gardener with a watering can. Their dance started with the little girls curled up in a ball and when they were watered they grew and started spinning. I came home wanting to have a little girl. Hopefully someday!!
Life is good for us. We are busy and happy. Tanner is a bit under the weather this weekend, but overall things are going just great. We love it when people come to visit us and help us enjoy this beautiful weather. (hint hint)
Happy June!!