New Scrapbook Pages

I finished these two pages from our trip to Utah over Thanksgiving. We spent a fun afternoon and evening with my brother, Mike and his family.


I didn't design this scrapbook page, it was predesigned and I just added the picture. But I loved how the color of the page matched so well with the picture. This picture was taken when we had our family pictures done by Julie Campbell.

Glimpses of Christmas

A little glimpse into our Christmas. Leaving "magic reindeer food" for the reindeer, yummy chocolate croissants, Julia playing with the doll house, Amber looking at a new book, Jared eating a chocolate hazelnut ball, Ryan showing off his candy, Jared playing with his Thomas train in the doll house, Amber showing off her new outfit, heading out to a show. I don't think I'm in any of the pictures from this morning. Funny how that happens. Merry Christmas!

A Lovely Sunday Evening

(This is from an email I just sent my parents. I thought I'd post it here, too.)
It all started with a simple comment from me, "Dave, let's have a fire in the fireplace tonight." Julia heard and said, "Can we put pinecones in the fire and make a wish?" (not sure where she got the "make a wish" from.) Then Amber said, "And can we dress up and act out the Nativity?".

So we did. We had a fire, we gathered up some Nativity costumes and acted out the Nativity. Amber as Mary, Ryan as Joseph, Julia as an Angel, Jared as a Shepherd. Do Shepherds really throw their sheep? It was short and sweet. Then we each took a turn putting a pinecone in the fire and sharing our "testimonies" or whatever we wanted to say. We sang a few Christmas Carols. Then I read 2 Christmas stories. "Room For A Little One" and "Christmas Day in the Morning."

And we enjoyed the evening together. There was some chaos, and some quarreling, and some feelings hurt, etc. But overall it was a nice evening where we enjoyed being together. And it happened almost by accident. I certainly wasn't planning all of that for this evening. But it turned out better than I could have planned.

By the way, Julia has been making very serious faces in many of our recent pictures. When I asked her about it - asked her why she wasn't smiling - she said that it was her "curious" face.

Gumdrop Tree

I remember making a gumdrop tree at school - either 1st or 2nd grade. When I told Amber about it, she really wanted to make one. This is how it turned out. They loved it. Ryan also helped, a little. I'm not sure where more gumdrops ended up, though. On the tree, or in his mouth.

Gingerbread House 2008

It was a candy fest here last night. Lots of icing and candy! I'm pretty sure the kids were in heaven. Except Jared - we had to put him to bed because he was past his prime. Don't feel too bad for him; he found some of the extra candy today.

Dave experimenting

Happy Birthday, Camille!

This month is such a special one, it's birthday time for you!! Have a fabulous day!

Visit to Santa 2008

We were at the mall last night and went to visit Santa. Amber did not want to be in the picture. It looks like Jared didn't want to either. Ryan and Julia were into it, though. We were at an outdoor mall, and at a certain time - they had 10 minutes of "snow". (Think soap bubbles.) But it looked pretty cool.

We've got the moves!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Happy Birthday, Jeff! We're excited to see you guys next week!

Sharing

Just wanted to share two websites I found that look good.

1) Simple Mom
"Live simply. Stay sane." That sounds like something I could use.

Simple Mom

2) Christ Centered Christmas
This is a blog that has lots of ideas for keeping Christ in Christmas.

Christ Centered Christmas

Feel free to share any of your favorite websites/blogs with me.

White men can jump

Ever since I saw this jumping photo from our recent family photo shoot, I've wanted to do a side by side comparison with this jumping photo from our wedding. One thing's for sure - Dave can still jump!

Utah Shermans

We spent a fun afternoon/evening with Jeff and Roberta on the Friday after Thanksgiving. All the kids had a cousin to play with. Roberta made us some yummy pizza and cookies!

Thanksgiving Day

We had a wonderful trip to Utah. I have lots of pictures I'd like to post, but for starters - here's some of Thanksgiving Day. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but I tried.

Playing with Photoshop

This was fun! I followed a tutorial from www.jessicasprague.com to create a "dreamy/handtinted effect" on a photo. What do you think? I like how it turned out.

Randomness

All four kids had dentist appointments on Friday afternoon. It seemed like a good idea at the time I made the appointment (6 months ago), but then I started to get a little bit nervous. Luckily, Dave was able to come along for back-up. The 3 big kids all went at the same time, and then Jared had his check up when there was a free chair.

Dave and I decided at the last minute to go see Twilight on Friday night. Jared was asleep, and Amber watched the other kids. We went to the 7 pm showing and the theatre was packed with teenage girls. And they screamed! Oh how they screamed! Dave and I enjoyed the show, but I wasn't CRAZY about it. It was definitely a little hokey in spots. But, it was fun just to enjoy the hype and see how they translated the book into a movie. (Book was better.)
I saw on Tammy's blog that she saw the movie - did anyone else see it? What did you think?

The Importance of Being Earnest

On Saturday I went on a fun outing with some friends. We went out to the Glendale Centre Theatre to see the play The Importance of Being Earnest. Our Book Club had read the play last year, and this was planned in connection with that. We had so much fun! We went to the matinee performance, then went to dinner afterwards.



Cynthia wrote a great post about our excursion on her blog:

http://cuteandfunrasmussens.blogspot.com/2008/11/bookclub-excursion.html

Happy Birthday, Jared!

Jared turned two today. We celebrated at Grandma Susie and Grandpa Roy's house. We had dinner there, and cake & ice cream. Jared loved the chocolate cake and got it everywhere! He wasn't too interested in opening presents, but he loved the little airplane from Grandma Susie. Happy Birthday, Jared!

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Happy Birthday, Kate! Hope your birthday was fabulous!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Happy Birthday to my older brother, Jeff. Hope he has a great birthday today!

Recipes

A group of my friends from church have been doing a Recipe Club. We recently had a night where everyone brought soups. They were all so different and delicious. We put together a blog where we'll post all of our recipes.

http://mprecipeclub.blogspot.com/

We also had a night of Appetizers & Desserts, and a BBQ side dish night. All the recipes are on the recipe blog.

Trunk or Treat!

The kids had fun at our Ward Trunk or Treat last night. Luckily, the costumes all came together in time.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch this evening. We go to this place every Fall - it's about 5 minutes from our house. By the time we got there, we only had an hour until closing. It wasn't quite enough time for the kids to see everything they wanted. And I'll admit that I took up some of that precious time trying to get some pictures I wanted. But all in all, I think the kids had fun. We probably won't make it back again this year, but there's always next year!

Family Pictures

We had some family pictures taken last weekend at the beach. Our friend, Julie, took them for us. She posted a sneak peek on her blog.
Go here to see them: (scroll down a little)
http://juliecampbellphotography.blogspot.com/2008/10/sherman-family.html

Also, Dave and I went to a Halloween Party last night, and dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

My Little Monster

I found this cute monster costume for Jared at Children's Orchard. He loved it! Here's a picture of him wearing it to make sure it fit. Our kids are dressing up as: Hermione, Harry Potter, a Witch, and a Monster! Halloween is almost here.

Amber's Birthday Party

Amber had a fun birthday party yesterday. She had some friends from church come and they made some Halloween crafts, made candy necklaces, and decorated sugar cookies. I'm pretty sure she had a great time! Julia joined us for the fun, and Dave, Ryan and Jared went out for some boy time.

Cool Class!

Just wanted to let everyone know about a fun class that's being offered. It's free!
This is the website where I've taken all my digital scrapbooking classes. Jessica Sprague is an amazing teacher. So - this class is about telling the stories of your life, and it is not strictly for digital scrapbookers - it's for anyone. Just wanted to pass this along. I'll be taking it for sure!!
Visit www.jessicasprague.com

Happy Birthday, Amber

Our Trip to Solvang

The kids were off school on Tuesday, and since Dave was home, we decided to do a day trip. We drove to Solvang, a Danish village in northern Santa Barbara County. It took about an hour and a half to get there. We had really good pizza for lunch. Then we rented a bicycle surrey and rode around town for an hour. Jared loved it! The other kids seemed to like it, but were a little unsure at first. We had some yummy aebelskiver (danish pancake balls). Sooo good!! We bought an aebelskiver pan so we can make some at home.

Next we drove to an apple orchard, just 10 minutes outside of town. Julia was very excited because she had just done a whole unit about apples in Kindergarten. We each picked a small bag of Golden Delicious apples, and they were certainly delicious!

I had read about a little waterfall that was 10 minutes (other direction) outside of town. Ryan really wanted to hike to it. The hike was supposed to only be 10 minutes. At first, only Ryan wanted to go (with Dave) and Julia and Amber wanted to play at the playground and wait. At the last minute, everyone decided they'd try the hike. It was perfect. It was just 10 minutes on a pretty trail to the waterfall. At this time of year, it was only a trickle of water, but it was still pretty. Ryan, Julia and Amber all ended up in the water, splashing around and having a great time. (When we first reached the trailhead, Amber saw the sign warning about mountain lions. That almost did the kids in. But we told them if we stuck together and kept our eyes open, we'd be fine. I did keep a close lookout for any mountain lions, but we didn't see any.

That little frog in the last picture is a frog we saw in the bathrooms after our hike. Amber spotted it on the wall and Dave took a picture of it. As we were driving home, the kids said, "Mom, are you going to do a blog about the frog?"
We had a really fun day!

A Hint

We ate these yummy treats today on our day trip! Guess where we went? (I know Heather will get it right.) More pictures to come later.

Our Days

I haven't taken any pictures since Ryan's birthday party. He had a great time. 4 of his friends came and we had a pirate party at the park. I have been really sick. I finally went to the Dr. a week ago and she put me on some antibiotics for a sinus infection and bronchitis. I kept thinking I'd start feeling better, but it wasn't happening. I talked to my Dr. again today, and she's switching me to a different antibiotic. Hopefully this will do the trick. I have had zero energy. Dave was home last week which was a huge help to me. Dave found out that his company was eliminating his position as part of an ongoing reduction in force, due to transferring operations out of state. So, after taking some time off to help me and spend time with the kids, he'll be hunting for a new job. Tomorrow the kids are off school, and we're planning on doing a little day trip. Don't know where yet.

Ever had one of those days?

Does this picture make you want to laugh or cry. (maybe both?)

Happy 7th Birthday, Ryan!

Pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's visit

Some more pictures from last weekend. Pictures from Descanso Gardens, Getty Villa, Dinner with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Roy, iphone fun, learning to crochet, and others.

Boo!

Did I scare all my (6) loyal readers away by tagging you? You don't have to do it if you don't want to. All in good fun!

Tagged!

My cousin, Heather, tagged me. I'm supposed to share 6 random things about myself.

Here goes:

1) I do not like to eat shellfish. It's a texture thing.
2) I can't stand wearing flip flops, or any other type of shoe that goes between my toes.
3) I'm very good at remembering names of people.
4) I do not love fresh tomatoes. I love tomato products like ketchup, spaghetti sauce, salsa, even fresh salsa. But when I eat a fresh tomato - it's not my favorite.
5) I have never gotten a speeding ticket before.
6) I love going to libraries and bookstores.

Now I'm tagging - Lori W., Denise, Eleisha, Roberta, Camille, Jen

Here are the rules:
These are the rules which need to be passed on:
1. Link to the person who tagged you on your blog.
2. Post the rules of the tag on your blog.
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of the post.
5. Let each of the people know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let tagger know that your tag entry has been posted

Grandma and Grandpa visit

My parents are in town visiting and we've been having fun spending time together. I'll post a few more pictures tomorrow.

Labor Day

We went to Zuma Beach on Labor Day. There were a bunch of families from our ward that all met up down there. When we first got there, it was a bit overcast and cool. The kids were all huddled up in towels by the food, and Jared kept darting off - towards the parking lot, the life guard tower, down the beach. Anyway - I started to feel this was a doomed beach day and maybe we should give up and go home. But then, the sun came out and the kids went in the water, dug in a hole, and were having a great time. We stayed a long time, and some of us got a little burnt! (me!) One guy from our ward made a cool sand sculpture. It's a King Tritan-esque octupus king. Isn't it amazing? Lots of people would stop and watch him. It was a fun day!

First Day of School!

This morning was the first day of school. All the kids were very excited! They were up bright and early, eager to wear their new clothes. We all walked over to school together. Julia was so ready to get to her class. We dropped Ryan (2nd grade) and Amber (5th grade) off at their classes first, then went to Julia's kindergarten class. I'm excited to hear the report after school about how it all went for them.

Blast from the Past!

I was looking through some old pictures, and came across these from Easter 2005. Sometimes it's hard to tell how your kids are changing and growing, because you're with them all the time - and it happens so gradually. It's fun to look back at old pictures and see how little the kids were.

Camping Trip

We went on another camping trip. Lots of fun and lots of work. We went for 2 nights to a campsite that's across the road from the beach. We spent most of Friday at the beach and the kids had a blast! Our friend, John, brought his kayak and let everyone who wanted to go out for a ride. Dave, Ryan, Julia and I went out on the kayak on the ocean and looked at the kelp (seaweed) forests. Amber didn't want to kayak; she spent the whole time on the boogie board. Jared loved playing in the water and the sand. We camped with a bunch of families, so the kids had tons of other kids to play with. They loved it! We need to catch up on some sleep now.

Bike to the Beach

We had a really fun Enrichment Night this week. We rode our bikes down a canyon trail to the beach and had a BBQ. There were 15 women who did the bike ride, and others that joined us at the beach for the BBQ. The bike ride was so fun!! It takes about 45 minutes to get down the canyon. The trail starts out paved, then becomes a dirt trail with some rocky patches. We crossed a stream bed and got a bit wet. The weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful. At the bottom of the trail we just rode our bikes across PCH and were on the beach. We roasted hot dogs and had corn on the cob and dessert. It was lots of fun!!
(P.S. They had a big flat bed trailer at the bottom, to drive all of our bikes back home - so we didn't have to ride back up the canyon!)




My friend, Stefanie, gave me some pictures that she took.