Babysitting

Jon had the pleasure of babysitting the kids all by himself! Aimee and I were able to attend the General Relief Society Conference for our church. Jon said they had a great time playing and watching a movie together. When we got back we found them all up in Brody's room snuggled together listening to a story Jon was reading. He sure is a super husband!(Brody, Emily, Rylee, Leah and Rebekah)

Festival of the Goddess

We have a close neighbor friend who invited Rylee and Brody to a Hindi party. They were celebrating little girls. When they arrived, Ansh (their son) washed their bare feet and the grandmother gave them a red dot on their forehead. Then they sat down and had a little prayer over the traditional meal provided. Then the grandmother and Ansh's dad begged for forgiveness from the little girls and the girls patted them on the back saying it was ok. After eating, the little girls were presented with Indian money, as well as American, and lots of candy. They had a great time and what fun new cultural experience they had.

Penmanship

Rylee is learning to write her name. She is just 3.5 years old and she is a great learner. I'm sure all kids are great learners if people just take the time to teach. Check it out on paper.Now check out where she liked to practice her penmanship...tatoo style on her legs.

Dance Class

Rylee signed up for a 6 week dance class at the Academy of Dance here in El Dorado Hills. She had such a great time. She loved getting all dolled up with pink ballet slippers, pink tutu, pink tights, a pink leotard and a pink hair bow."Interpretive...grow like a flower..."It was fun to have a wall of mirror for her to be able to watch every move she made.She loved singing to Ariel the Little Mermaid "Part of your world". They did that every week and she knew all the words.

Farmer's Market

Farmer's markets always fun because you get to pick something edible right off the vine. Sweet baby man.Rylee had a great time cutting with scissors.As well as I! This time it was STRAWBERRIES!Brody, tired once again.Eat up!Food will wake him up! Yummy...Yum, Yum...ok those in Rylee's mouth are corn nuts.

McKernan's BBQ

We got together with our friends from Crossfit for a little BBQ before they started their offical Paleo diet for 60 days. The paleo diet references how caveman ate on a daily basis. They were hunter-gatherers not domesticators. The diet includes meats, nuts, fruit and vegetables. With the current diet of large processed carbohydrates based on the food guide pyramid, this was difficult to stick to. But once Jon delved into the science and pathophysiology of the benefits of this kind of diet, it paid off. Jon is a lean mean fighting machine!

Ok, back to the BBQ. It was fun!They had a blow up water slide that the kids were dying to go on.Us parents were a little unsure because the weather was freezing and by the time we left it drizzled a little.But did the kids care? Of course not!

9-11 Tribute

Today I had the honor of wearing Firefighter Gregory T. Saucedo's name on my turnout jacket as I climbed 110 stories with 342 other firefighters (343 FDNY firefighters were killed on 9/11). We were at the Renaissance Tower in downtown Sacramento for the memorial climb. Here is a little about Firefighter Saucedo...

The 31 year old firefighter was born in 1961 in Old Mill, Brooklyn. He started his life in the pursuit of being a teacher and eventually achieved a bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in Education. Then, with a change of heart he decided to switch career paths. He entered the fire academy with three of his closest childhood friends and quickly excelled. After the academy, at the age of twenty, he was offered a job with Engine Company 321 in Brooklyn where he worked for seven consecutive years. In 1998 Saucedo transferred from Company 321 to Ladder Company 5 in the heart of Greenwich Village. It was with this group of men that he was last seen bounding up stairs towards muffled screams of civilians. Witnesses state that they saw Saucedo make it all the way up to the 40th story of the World Trade Center's second building and pull down a civilian in a wheelchair. Then minutes before the second plane hit he rushed up the stairs again in the pursuit of saving more lives. He will forever be honored and missed.

-Jon

Gold Rush Days

We had the privalege of going to downtown Sacramento and experience how life was like during the gold rush days of California. They panned for gold.Road on an official steam engine and listened to the Mormon Batallion Chior.While waiting for that train ride, they got to pick out a fun balloon.Let's just say that Brody's balloon didn't last long on his head.