October 2008

Caroline loves to iron. She specializes in Dad's handkerchiefs and placemats for fancy dining on the kitchen table.




Caroline and Joseph sitting in their own chairs between General Conference sessions in October. They are capable of playing very well together and can be quite entertaining. Joseph adores his sister, especially when she makes him laugh.





Caroline and her good friend Hannah dressed up like princesses, their favorite playtime activity.



Caroline and Joseph keep themselves busy while I fold laundry in the morning.



Caroline got paints for the first time this week. She was so excited to use them, I let her paint while I was making dinner and not closely monitoring her. I turned around to see what she had done when she exclaimed, "Look Mom, I painted the wall pretty!" In the instant that I had to choose, I realized I had not given her the rule to "not paint the wall" and chose to take a picture, then laugh and have her help me clean it up. She never has painted on the wall since. Thank goodness for Mr. Clean wipe ups!




Joseph is so cute.



Caroline dressed like Cinderella for Halloween with her reluctant handsome prince.



Caroline is ready to go trick-or-treating. You notice the shoes in her hands, but the real story is that she wore those plastic heels for two hours of trick-or-treating at the shopping center in the afternoon. She refused to take them off even when she had blisters forming on her feet and her toes were squishing through the front. She is a true girl.

Family Pictures 2008

As is usually the case, taking family pictures was a somewhat stressful experience, but it all turned out well and we are grateful we did it. It was hard to choose which ones to get with the package.

If any of you have a "Portrait Innovations" near you, we highly recommend them. They were fabulous to work with, very affordable and it was a quick process.

Notice Joseph's shorter hair... I really like it like this.

Joseph's First Birthday - October 15, 2008

On Joseph's birthday we received a chin up bar in the mail for Eldon and I. The kids have never had so much fun making a mess in the house. It was a terrible mess to try and clean up, but it was worth the fun!




Joseph had a minor trauma as we celebrated his first birthday because he burnt his hand on the candle. Mom and Dad both thought the other was taking care of it... we'll communicate a little better next time.



On the second try, we didn't even light the candle. Poor kids. We are learning on them! Joseph seemed to like this much better.

Caroline explains the art of making dump cake.

September 2008

Joseph really likes his food now and can sometimes even out-eat his mom! There is no guessing why he is so big.



Joseph shows signs of loving tools. He is a young man after his father's heart.




Caroline loved decorating cow cookies that Aunt Kathleen (Kow) and Uncle Tony gave us during their visit.

Summer Vacation: Our August Adventure

All great vacations must begin with a squared-away haircut. This was Joseph's second.


Hiding in a cave on our hike in Snow Canyon near St. George, UT.






















The family in Snow Canyon. Those clouds almost rained us out of Tuacahn's presentation of The Sound of Music the night before. But the prayer of a two-year old availeth much. The rain stopped just in time for the show to begin.






















Eldon and Shaela celebrating their old age (29 and 28 years, respectively) with Shaela's parents in Las Vegas.






















Visiting San Diego's Balboa Park while spending time with Mike before his deployment to Afghanistan.





















Eldon and Mike with Charlotte Rose, Joseph, and Caroline.





















Bobo and Caroline had a tea party with two random boys at Grace Ada Park in Modesto while Eldon and Shaela tossed a frisbee.






















Caroline, Joseph, and Shaela with Snow White at Fairyland in Oakland, CA. Joseph is particularly attracted to Snow White's nose.






















Caroline as the little pig who built her house of straw. I'm huffing and puffing...






















Shaela and Caroline climbing Hyde Street in San Francisco after eating a wonderful dinner at McCormack's. We walked almost all the way back to our hotel, much to Shaela's consternation, because every passing cable car was full... or at least two full to take on two crazy adults with two crazy little kids.






















Eldon and Joseph climbing Hyde Street. Right after doing this, we walked down and back up the famous windy section of Lombard Street.






















Shaela looking at the OIF/OEF Memorial Wall at the Marines Memorial Hotel where we stayed in San Francisco. We found all 16 of the men that 1/5 lost when Eldon was deployed to Ar Ramadi, Iraq from March to September of 2005.






















Caroline and her cousin Neal Pettit playing at the Oakland Temple. We were there for the wedding of Eldon's cousin Valerie Nicolaysen to John Brody. Mazletof!






















Shaela and Joseph on the beach at Lover's Point in Monterey, CA. This was the southern leg of our bike trip.






















Eldon and Shaela on the sand dunes overlooking Monterey Bay from the north end of the city. This was the turnaround point of the northern leg of our bike trip.






















Joseph and Caroline fast asleep with their helmets.






















Joseph and Caroline waking up in the bike trailer. We thought this photo was priceless. Look closely for the moisture seeping out of the mouth and eyes...

Our last stop before returning our bikes was at Dennis the Menace Park. Shaela did a re-enactment of a scene that originally occurred in October 2005 when she was about 8 months pregnant. She had a little more space this time.

Here's Shaela doing the same thing in October 2005, a month before Caroline was born.






















Joseph being cute while back in Modesto.






















Grandma Beck (Bobo) and Joseph playing together in Modesto.






















Neal and Caroline eating watermelon in front of Bobo & Papa's house.






















Caroline and Shaela watching the geese on the southern end of Silver Lake at Plasse's Resort in the Sierra Nevada of California.






















Joseph got tired on our little hike to the lake. Very, very tired. He slept like this for a while after we got back.






















Shaela and Joseph in the kayak on Silver Lake.

Eldon returned to shore with Caroline asleep.

And Shaela returned to shore with Joseph asleep. It was a grueling kayaking trip around the lake's island.






















Our campsite in the background with kayaks and The Beast in the foreground. Old friends from Davis will be interested to know that The Beast is still going strong with more than 260K miles.

Caroline roasting marshmallow's over our campfire.






















Joseph eating dirt and marshmallows. Yum!

Caroline being a ham. She had just been imitating a bear. What is this? Who knows, but its funny.






















Caroline and Joseph playing around the resort's tractor tires.