Ben is Four Today

Ben has been anticipating his birthday for weeks. When it finally turned April, he exclaimed, "It's April! It's almost my birthday!" Poor kid had to wait 29 days, but today it finally arrived! He had high expectations, but overall I think we succeeded in having a very fun day.

We started out the morning with presents and then headed to Walmart to pick out a "big boy" bike (Bradley got a big boy bike in January for his birthday, so Ben needed to have one too). He tried several bikes, in and out of the boxes (see below), and finally settled on a Spider Man 3-wheeled scooter. He also couldn't leave without a Storm Trooper Blaster Gun which I find very obnoxious (thanks to Dad for pointing that one out!), and now Bradley is the jealous one.


Next, we went to Ben's favorite "cooking place." He got to choose anywhere in the county to have lunch. ANYWHERE. Where did we end up, you ask? Taco Bell. And yes those are carrots on his plate. I brought them, along with special food for Brad. James just laughs now when we eat at restaurants and I pull half of our fridge out of my purse. Hey, if they had it on the menu, I wouldn't bring it, but they don't, so I do!

After lunch we hit up Jamba Juice for some "shakes," and then headed home to assemble the scooter! Ben was nervous at first to try out his scooter, but in no time at all he had it down. Bradley had to try it out too, and we spent a lot of time outside riding bikes and having fun.

After bike rides, Ben took a great nap and then it was party time! His good friends Solomon and Simeon came over to celebrate and have pie with us. They played with his new toys, and we went outside again to try out the scooter!




Well, it's almost dinner, bath, and then bedtime. I'm exhausted! But overall, I think Ben had a great day. We love you Ben-Ben. Happy Birthday!!

I Have Good News...and Bad News

I'll start with some good news... We planted 62 cauliflower plants today! Ben will be so excited(cauliflower is his favorite vegetable).

Now some bad news...

Now more good...

Overall you can see that the good definitely outweighs the bad. The frost and a couple of gophers got our tomato plants, but we also planted seeds and may plant some more mature plants as well. Snails or some other insects are also feasting on some of our leaves, so we'll be taking care of them asap. How did our ancestors survive when they had to live off their own land? It's crazy making!

On a brighter note, as you can see, many of are plants are starting to push up through the dirt! We have zucchinis, peas, potatoes, squash, and lettuce pushing through! Our strawberries are looking great too, and we should see a bunch more crops rise in the next few weeks.

It's very exciting when hard work is rewarded. This has been a great experience for our family to have together. We are city folk by nature, but being out in the dirt for several hours a week, and helping new life to grow...it's a beautiful thing. And I say that with complete sincerity!

Elder Vader

The missionaries joined us for dinner Monday night. They were as impressed with our Darth Vader helmet as our boys. Seriously funny. The boys liked the missionaries before, but dressed like Darth Vader they were transformed in their eyes into true heroes. We suggested that the mask might help them with their missionary efforts...at least with the guys. "You don't know the power of the Holy Ghost!" :)

Mormon Helping Hands

I love that our church is actively involved in the community. Today we spent the morning at Nipomo Regional Park. 350 LDS members from the Santa Maria Stake showed up to help garden, clean-up, and do other projects around the park. Savanna, who will be 12 in October, was able to help the Young Women with the nursery. I was there to supervise, along with the boys. Man, there were quite a few kids to watch! It was fun to play with them and allow their parents to work on the park. Overall, I think it was very successful and unifying service project. Our church is awesome. :)

Our Other Blogs

Well in case you didn't know, we have two additions to our family's repertoire of blogs!

I have created my own cooking blog, "Dinner with the Wyetts," which you can access on the sidebar of this blog (http://dinnerwiththewyetts.blogspot.com). I haven't had too much time to update it, but have posted a few of our family's simple, favorite recipes for now. Please try them out and give me some feedback! My dream is to open up my own restaurant some day. I want my food to be healthy and delicious. A place where families can gather, enjoy GREAT, quality food, and nourish their bodies without breaking the bank. We have scoured the areas we have lived in for really tasty, healthy food. We have found ones we like, but most of them are very pricey or are a little too funky for the average Joe. Nobody wants to pay $15 for a plate of weeds- not even me! I envision a casual, cozy place with awesome food, affordable prices, quality service...a place where the average family can eat at on a regular basis and not feel guilty because of the grease or calories, or that they've spent half their grocery bill! A place where there is something for everyone on the menu (even picky 2 year-olds and their even pickier daddies!). So, let me know what you like and what you don't...it could end up on my menu!! I will also be posting some restaurant reviews for those interested in the same dining experience we are. And lastly, feel free to send me some of your family's favorite recipes that I can post too!

James has also started his own blog, "According to James," which can be accessed at http://jameswyett.blogspot.com/. He's quite creative and opinionated, so it's bound to entertain you!

Blogging is just a fun, easy way to stay connected, and exercise some of those creative juices. I also enjoy reading my friends' and family's blogs...if I don't have your blog address, please send it to me!

Have a wonderful night.

Holli :)

Bradley's "Log" Post

hi its me bradley want to talk about our family i like when my daddy do good work and i like my family and i. like my house and i like heaveniy father.

(Bradley typed this all by himself. It took him over a half an hour, but man, that's pretty good for a five-year-old. Total genius!)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Part 2- as Promised!

I know this is a little long and badly filmed, but you have to watch it until the very end- so funny!

A Belated Birthday Party

Okay, this is my first attempt to post a video. It is only part one, but it took FOREVER to upload, and part 2 is 4 times as long, so I will have to upload that in a separate post!

The day after my birthday I woke up to a fun birthday surprise. Savanna, Brad, and Ben had made me a party complete with breakfast, flowers, juice set up in Savanna's tea pot, a handpainted jewelry box for a gift, and a play to entertain me while I ate. :)

The play is based on the boys' favorite book, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." Like I said above, I will try to upload the second half on different post! You can see from this small segment that each of my children believes they are the director. Savanna especially likes to take the reigns which thoroughly annoys Ben, and down right makes Brad hostile. Still, it's pretty funny! If you haven't read the book, it's a good one. They're making a motion picture of it this summer, but I'm sure the book is way better...as usual.

Our Little Gymnast

Savanna, our future Mary Lou Retton, practicing her hand stands. She's pretty good. She's working on her flips right now, but can do all sorts of fancy stuff already after only 2 months of formal gymnastics training. Yeah, we're all pretty impressed. :) Watch out for her!!

Boys will be Boys

There is something about Star Wars that intrigues the young and old alike! Our friends were moving and they gave James this adult-sized Darth Vader costume. It came complete with a voice box and four colored "lifesavers" (aka lightsabers). When we came home, James knocked on the front door in full costume. Savanna, who had been watching the boys, looked through the peep hole. It didn't phase her at all to see a 6 foot Darth Vader at the door. She just yelled, "Boys, daddy is home!" He then proceeded to chase them around the house as they squealed with delight and fought against him bravely. Then it was their turn to try on the costume. They both looked incredibly funny, but I have to say Ben took the cake with his little, bare chest and deep, raspy voice. The voice box will change your voice to make it like Darth Vader's, or you can press a button and it will make scary breathing sounds. The next morning I awoke early to Ben, wearing only underpants and the Darth Helmet and heavy breathing, going up and down the hall. Gotta love it.

Need I say more?? Boys will be boys!

We Finished Planting...for now at least

Well, we finished planting almost all of our seeds last Tuesday. Let me see if I can remember everything...we planted cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, green onion, yellow onion, red onion, bell pepper, celery, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, spinach, romaine, potatoes, and radishes. I think that's everything! All we have left is a few more red potatoes and sweet potatoes (I'm waiting for the bag I bought last week to sprout)!

We've been down to check on the garden and our tomatoes aren't looking so hot, but our zucchini and squash are starting to break through the ground. Also, the Hursts have caught close to 10 more gophers in the past week! So, overall we should have a sweet harvest in the next couple of months!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep, it's the big 3-0 today for me. I have to admit, this was not a birthday I was looking forward to...I know, I know, thirty isn't that old. It's not really the number of the years that has been bothering me. Other things, like the number of pounds that I have acquired as I've neared thirty bother me, and the few gray hairs I've recently found REALLY bother me! But, now that my birthday's here, it doesn't seem so bad. Overall, my twenties were a blur. Marriage, graduation, babies, career changes, moves- lots going on. I'm sure the next decade will bring just as much chaos, but I'm grateful for all the lessons I've learned that can help me along this next leg of my journey. Plus it helped that my family totally spoiled me this year! I received wonderful gifts, and lots of cards, emails, and calls. Overall, I am feeling very loved and fortunate. What else could a girl (even an "old lady" as my sister lovingly refers to me now) ask for??

Once again..."We actually live here!"

Our latest "adventure" took us to the Morro Bay State Museum of Natural History. There is just something about Morro Bay. It is only a 40 minute drive up the freeway, yet every time we go there we feel like we are on vacation. This museum was very kid-friendly with lots of hands-on exhibits, which is a must with our crew. We were expecting a tiny museum, but were surprised at all the exhibits and the quality of the presentations- the kids learned a little about oceans, tides, earthquakes, estuaries, animal life, recycling...pretty cool stuff. The best part though had to be the view from all the big bay windows- yeah, I'm going to say it again, "We actually live here!"

It was a fun afternoon. We hit up our favorite cafe on the embarcadero which has great veggie burgers for us non-animal-eating people, real burgers for James, and salmon for Brad. :)

We also scoped out the place where we will be chartering a boat for my grandma's memorial service in May. We'll be taking a catamaran out to sea to scatter her ashes and to say a few words. It should be beautiful, just like Morro Bay.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. We celebrated early with family and the kids did a big egg hunt at Grandma Patti's house. They LOVED that there were quarters in their eggs (and I loved that there wasn't candy). They each ended up with $6 which, especially to a 3 and 5 year old, was very exciting. Brad keeps his bag of quarters in his pocket and has sweetly offered to buy us groceries, dinner, admission to a museum...if only $6 could go such a long way.

On Easter Sunday we enjoyed a lovely morning at church. James is on vacation and it was so nice that he was able to join us. Savanna sang beautifully in the choir, Ben gave his first talk, and Bradley had a "Primary Spotlight."

Excuse me while I digress from Easter, but this is too funny not to share. The primary is our church's youth group for ages 3-11 years old. The "Primary Spotlight" is where a child is chosen and a list of clues is read off by one of the primary leaders about that child, and the class has to guess who they are describing. For example, one of the questions is "Where were you born?." Brad was born in Northridge, CA, so the leader began the spotlight with "This person was born in Northridge, CA." Brad's hand immediately went up and he yelled, "Jesus!" The leader chuckled (James and I, who were standing in the back, practically fell over we were laughing so hard!), and then she proceeded with her clues. "This person's favorite food is cashews." The room was quiet. "This person's favorite color is blue." Still nothing. "This person has a pet named Big Ralph." Again, Brad's hand shot up and he yelled, "Hey, I have a dog named Big Ralph!" Again, the leader chuckled, and James and I were now dying with laughter. Still, even after his outburst, no one could guess who it was! Even with Ben muttering repeatedly "My brodda has a Big Ralph. My brodda has a Big Ralph." the leader had to read four or so more clues before someone yelled out, "Bradley!" Oh, I'm glad James was able to be there for that.

Okay, back to Easter. After a great morning at church, we went home and had a lovely dinner, a lesson on Christ and his resurrection, and, of course, another Easter egg hunt. We ended our day with our family reading. We just started reading together as a family. We try to read scriptures daily (try being the operative word), but we've also started reading short novels. The boys sat quietly for 45 minutes while James read them a book with absolutely no pictures. I was pretty impressed! I figured it was a fluke, but we've done that two more nights since and they love it.

Overall, it was a spiritual and relaxing day. I personally would like to do away with most of the commercial hoop-la, especially around the religious holidays. The baskets and eggs are fun, and while I still do them, I try to down play them as the main event. And it's not just the religious aspect. Am I the only one who is a bit annoyed at how many holidays there are on the calendar where everyone is "expected" to do or buy something? Why to we have to buy cards and candies on Valentine's Day, eggs and baskets on Easter, gifts on Christmas, etc. etc.? Can't we be spontaneous anymore? Can't we give gifts when we want to, not because we feel we have to? Shouldn't we be showing the people in our lives that we care every day, not just on a few scattered holidays? Then there's all the Hallmark-created holidays like grandparent's day and secretary day and love your tree-hugging neighbor day...oh, don't get me started on those!

Maybe I should label this post, my tangent post. :) At any rate, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter (sincerely, I do).

SOCCER - GAME 2

That little blur you see by his foot...that's the ball.

Game two was awesome! James was really on his game. He scored 2 goals, and almost scored a third one with his head! He is really incredible on defense. The other members of the team started referring to him as "the wall"- yeah, you can't get by him! It was really fun to see him, and he assures me that once his endurance is up to par, I ain't seen nothin' yet!

Our 1st Visit with Sofia...

So, I thought during my visit with my new little niece I would get my "fix"... let me just tell you that this did NOT help my baby fever! She is absolutely darling. I love her little newborn grunts and facial expressions. She is so soft and smells so good...I just love her!

And as you can see from the picture of her with James (aka the BABY HOG), he took a liking to her too. In fact, as I was looking through my pictures, there are only TWO pictures of me with Sofi and about a half a dozen with him! He even stole her away for over 2 hours and took a nap with her. I tried to take her from him, but he said I would wake her up! I'll just show him this post when he denies that he wants another baby as much as I do! :)

Boys Talk

As most of you know, our family belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our church is unique in many ways, but one of them is that members of the congregation take turns speaking on assigned spiritual topics in our main service (The Sacrament), and also in our Sunday School classes and other classes. The children are included in this opportunity. They each have a class, according to their age, that they attend each Sunday and everyone gets a chance to speak in front of his peers about the monthly theme. I think it is great to have the kids exposed to public speaking at such a young age. I also love that they are given spiritual topics to think about, and that they gain experience writing their own talks.

Well, my boys were both assigned to give their first talks in March. It was so fun to sit down with them and help them. Basically they just dictated to me what they wanted to say and I wrote it down. I was able to stand with them at the podium on the days of their talks and prompt them with the words they had come up with. They were so cute, that I wanted to share. Out of the mouth of babes comes profound words about : "Families have important responsibilities."

BRADLEY

"God wants my family to teach people about the gospel and about Jesus and about the Spirit. God wants us to work together hard to be a missionary and to clean our rooms.

God wants my dad to be a police guy and to put bad people in jail. My dad has to be a nice husband and daddy. My mommy needs to teach Savanna and me and Ben to do good work and make us breakfast and dinner and lunch and snack.

I need to teach Ben how to be a good Ben. God wants me to grow up and be a missionary.

I know that Jesus is a good guy and He likes for us to be nice and play together. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

BEN

"Heavenly Father wants my family to:

• choose the right
• do work
• take care of people
• be like Jesus
• go to church
• get married with a girlfriend at the temple
• keep the commandments
• eat good foods
  
  I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe my family is nice. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

  
  They are so cute! :)

  
  

We Have Plants In The Ground!

We have two large garden plots. Here is our first one after a day of planting! But, let me back up and show you want we did...

John, our garden gang leader, gave us lots of tips today about planting. Very helpful, especially for us novices. Here he is showing us how to rip off the leaves of a tomato plant before we put it in the ground, so we can bury it as deep as possible. Thanks, John!

Okay, so in this first lot we planted our zucchini, spaghetti and crookneck squash, watermelon, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, and sugar snap peas- it's going to be very green in here!

Brad had a blast today planting and he really was a great helper...Ben, not so much. Here he is proudly displaying our spaghetti squash plant before we put it in the soil.

Jake doing his impression of...um, not real sure. But it was a funny picture!

There I am! You see, I do actually get out from behind the camera!

We caught two gophers today. The boys were very impressed. I know it's necessary, but it was a little sad. They reminded me of my hamster, Foxy. Poor gophers.

Here the garden gang begins on plot #2! We have quite a bit to plant here, and by the time we started this plot, the rain clouds were rolling in.

Bradley planting a tomato plant.

Go, Jake, go!


Don't you love our cute signs? I teased with John and told him that this is how Relief Society does their gardens!



Oh, another attractive picture of my husband's butt! He didn't think I'd actually post this one!


Here is our quaint strawberry patch.


Well, it began to pour and we had to quit for the day. Here is our second plot. We were able to plant tomatoes, strawberries, red leaf lettuce, jalapenos, serrano peppers, carrots, romaine lettuce, and beets. Not too shabby. If the weather is okay tomorrow, we plan on getting the rest in the ground!