There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

"Bryce was still practice-less to begin with"

If our life were the Christmas Carol it would begin like this.  Bryce got a part-time job associating at an office in Carlsbad twice a week.  However we are still searching to find a practice to buy or join for a long-term basis.  Everyday Bryce or I will turn to the other and say "What are we going to do with our life.?"  Oh well. Despite the unknown future we have been enjoying the Christmas season in California.

Dallin is going through a REALLY frustrating phase in which he is always trying to escape out the front door and sit in the middle of the street outside my parents house.  This is really scary for me because when you live in a house in which 7 adults are in constant states of coming and going it is hard to keep track of the door being shut.  We have had a few scares in which the door hasn't been shut entirely and Dallin has been sitting in the middle of the road.  Ahhhhh!

Our big welcome to the "overpriced-ness" in Cali was going to the mall.  We wanted to get the boys' picture with Santa (thus the matching outfits).  However we were informed the instant I snapped this picture that phones and camera's were not allowed in the North Pole premises and if we wanted pictures we could buy a package for $29.99.  Bah Humbug.

 Bryce was happy because he got to go the Poinsettia Bowl with the Donaldson clan.  The boys and I stayed home but we did proudly sport our BYU attire.  I think this contributed to the Coug's triumph.

 Dallin and Quin loved the Christmas tree.  In fact they loved everything about this season.  It was really fun with Quin this year because he was so caught up in the magic of everything.  In fact we are still singing "We wish you a Merry Christmas" before bed every night and are already talking about Santa's next visit on Jesus's birthday next year.

 Above is a picture of Dallin when he successfully sneaked out of the house and sat himself on the sewer in the middle of the street on Christmas Eve.  Luckily he did not suffer the same fate as many deer who find themselves in the middle road during the winter....

 Christmas morning was fun.  I think the picture above sum's up Dallin and Quin's morning.  Dallin was just happy exploring the ripped paper and fun toys while Quin was focused on opening each of his gifts as fast as possible.

This year the boys and I did "12 Days of Christmas crafting" and gave our crafts away to family members on Christmas morning.  It was fun to see how proud Quin was of each of the creations he gave away.  I liked this pic of Grammie with her Santa.  It was a good way of encouraging the spirit of giving rather than just receiving.

The Last Consecutive Date Date of My Life

I really wanted to do a post on 12-12-12 because the man at Budget Truck rental told me it would be the last consecutive date of my life.  So for this eventful date I will tell you the recent events of our life.

We moved to California.  The move down was awful!  It took 2 trucks and 2 cars filled to the brim to get us and our stuff down here.  If I were to do it again, I think I would just sell everything.  It is a pain to move that much stuff.  Especially since we moved it 4 more times since getting to California.

Move 1:  To a storage unit
Move 2:  Into a guesthouse of the dentist we were going to be partnering with
Move 3:  Back to the storage unit.  The job opportunity we came down for didn't end up working out.  Some changes were made to the final contract and we didn't feel comfortable signing it anymore.  Now we are back to looking for a job, which leads us to...
Move 4:  Into my parents house.  We selected a few articles of clothing and toys and have moved in with my parents.  So glad they were there for us with open arms!

Sometimes when I start feeling sad that things didn't work out with the job and that I moved away from a house that I love, I pinch myself and say "You are in Southern California!  There is no snow outside" or I think "At least there are palm trees outside your storage unit" and I start feeling a little better.

Hopefully we will know what we will be doing in the future, but until then we will just put our faith in Heavenly Father and His plan for us and enjoy the last consecutive date of our life.

What we have learned from Soccer

 1.  You never know what is going to happen
The day before Quin's first soccer game we got an email saying that the Coach who was supposed to coach Quin's team had resigned and unless any of the parents stepped up, Quin's team would be dissolved.  This was bad.  Quin was looking forward to playing soccer.  We had been talking about it for weeks.  Luckily this good looking guy stepped up to the plate....

....Coach Doty!!!  Bryce jumped on board and I have got to say he was great with the 3/4/5 year olds on our team!  He made things fun and the kids really listened to him well!  I became Team Manager and spent the next six weeks texting and emailing about practice, team pictures, snacks and games.  I now officially feel like a soccer mom.

 2.  Don't use your hands:
Bryce had two main concepts he wanted to teach the kids on the team.  The first was "Don't use your hands."  Though simple, this was a profound lesson for the kids.  Above (Quin is #2) is our team, and notice, none of them are using there hands.  Concept #1: Check!

 3.  It is good to have a cool team name:
When asked what they wanted their team name to be, the kids suggested "Feet".  After a few suggestions from Bryce and I, they changed their minds and decided to go with "Sharks".  All the parents were happy to be yelling "Go Sharks" rather than "Go feet!"

 4.  Know your teammates names and which way you are going:
The second main thing Bryce was trying to teach the kids was to learn their teammates names.  It took nearly the entire season, but we finally achieved success on this one...which is better than we can say about scoring in the right goal.  Let's just say we didn't really mind which goal they scored in, it was all a win to us.

5.  Dallin really liked the yellow dot in the middle of the soccer field:

As soon as we walked into the sports complex, Dallin would always race to the middle of the soccer field to find this yellow dot.  I don't know why, but he was obsessed with touching the yellow, spray-painted dot in the center of the soccer field   Unfortunately this passion led to some problems during the games.  Dallin will miss that yellow dot.

 

5.  Quin is one cute soccer player!
It was so much fun watching Quin play!  He was so easy-going and just loved to run with all the other kids.  It was a great experience for him and we are excited for many years of games ahead!

A Halloween Story

Once upon a time there was a handsome prince named Quin.  Prince Quin decided to set out on a quest to rescue the beautiful princess who had been captured by a ferocious Dragon.

 Prince Quin searched the Kingdom of Klamath high and low until he came upon a terrible beast causing havoc in the streets of downtown Klamath.  That beast was the terrifying Dilly the Dragon.

"Take me to the beautiful princess!" yelled Prince Quin.

"You must catch me first!"  roared Dilly the Dragon who set off at a breathtaking speed

 Dilly the Dragon and Prince Quin thundered through the streets of the kingdom.  Prince Quin bravely slashed his sword while the clever dragon blew fire and dodged all of the prince's deadly strokes.

  At last both the Prince and the Dragon were spent.  

"You are a fierce-some opponent" said the Dragon
"And you are a worthy foe" cried the Prince.
"Why don't we make a deal" said the cunning Dilly.  "Let us share the Princess! You can live with me in my cave and we will have the Princess to take care of both of us.  She makes the most delicious meals and is a wonderful story-teller!"
"What a ingenious dragon!" replied the Prince. "It is a deal.  We shall share the Princess!"

So the Dragon called Dilly took Prince Quin to the beautiful Princess.  While she was a bit taller than the Prince had imagined, he could not deny that her cooking was wonderful and her stories (particularly those about trains) were most entertaining.  Together the Princess, the Prince and the Dragon lived happily ever after.  

The End

Note:  Pictures taken by the noble and just King Bryce

Pumpkin Heads

One of our family's favorite fall activities is going to the pumpkin patch.  This year Grammy took us to one in San Juan Capistrano where there were not only pumpkins to crawl on...

...but there was also an awesome "cornbox" which the boys enjoyed digging in.

 There was a giant dinosaur statue which Quin loved, but Dallin preferred the frog statue which was a bit more his size.

However the biggest hit was this snaggletoothed llama.  Although I do love llamas, I found this guy's large tooth rather intimidating.

Dallin however fell in love with Snaggletooth at first sight.  For anyone who doesn't know, Dallin's absolute favorite toy is his stuffed llama.  I think that seeing the real deal was kind of a dream come true for him.

Fast forward through a week in California stressing out about job interviews, where to live in the future, a long car ride and a case of the croup.

Now we are back home in Klamath and we decided to ride the Pumpkin Train today.  This miniature train, on Train Mountain, is probably the thing we are going to miss most about Klamath Falls.  We have rode it many times and every time it is a hit with our kids.  It is a hit with Mom and Dad too because it is free!

 Today's ride was special because it took us to the "pumpkin trees".  The train conductor told us that before he  drove the engine to this special area he had to shake the trees so all of the pumpkins fell off.  He told the kids they could pick one up.  Quin enjoyed taking one home with him.

Love these pumpkins!

If you ask Dallin to smile

you will get something that looks like this...

 or this...

 ...or this...

 ....but only if he is not running away.

Yes.  We have a walker.

Saying Good-bye to our First Home

I am going to preface by saying that this post may be a little premature.  Officially we haven't sold our house, but it is in escrow and we should be closing next week.  But I won't have time to be blogging soon and today I am feeling nostalgic, so lets take a little tour of our first place. 

This is what the house looked like when we bought it.  The picture is blurry, I know, but the paint color was U-G-L-Y and peeling off.  So Kari decided to transform it into this....

For a few weeks last July Bryce, I and Bryce's parents painted this sucker.  For anyone who thinks "Oh the house just needs a little coat of paint" just know that painting the exterior of a home is long, hard work.  But worth it.  My neighbor told me that the red paint on the door was a good idea because it keeps the "bad spirits" away.  This is the only thing he has ever said to me.  Yes, I was a little creeped out.

This room went through the most drastic changes.  I wish I had a picture of the original.  It was something from a horror movie.  I had numerous people in my ward, at the doctor's office, co-workers of Bryce's, say that they had looked at this house and loved it.  They would have bought it.  Except for one thing.  The living room.  Picture the white woodwork a dark wood color.  Picture metal bear stencils glued to the mantle.  Picture orange and hunter green.  Yes, I wrote that right.  Orange and hunter green.  Picture marble tiles lining the walls.  When Bryce and I decided to buy the house my one condition was that we needed to get this room fixed within the first few weeks of owning it.  Thanks to lots of help from my dad and other family members, we were able to transform this room to one of my absolute favorites.

Here is Quin's room with his first big-boy bed.  We do have one potty training stain on the floor in this room.  But, shhhhhhhhhhh.  That will be our little secret.

Here is the kitchen/family room.  We added the chandelier and a ceiling fan that Bryce got working last week.  Miracle!

This back patio was Bryce's labor of love.  Before there was dirt and a big stump outside.  Bryce made a patio out of pavers, laid some bark dust and brought the grass to life.

The master.  When we first moved, after about a week, there was water leaking through the wall and we were really freaked out.  "We bought a disaster!  Ahhhh" we thought.  But this too turned out all right in the end.

The fire pit.  This one is funny because it is made from all the yard junk that Bryce didn't know what to do with.  He had a bunch of stumps, rocks and broken concrete from that back yard.  With those things he created this.  What can I say, he has vision.

This house is special because Dallin was born while we lived here.  I spent hours in that rocking chair.  I will always love this room.

And last is a picture of the bark dust that I laid.  Yes, see that long line of barkdust lining the sidewalk.  Yep, that was all me.  Well, me and a wheelbarrow and a ton of barkdust.  Once again, one of those projects where you think "this will be an easy project, just throw some barkdust on the ground."  But once again, a little trickier and a lot more time consuming than originally thought.

Someone once told me there are houses that you love and houses that you tolerate.  This one makes the "love" list.  We will miss it and all the memories we made here.  

Now just keep your fingers crossed that we close on it in a week....

Quin's First Day of Preschool

 I feel like I have been preparing Quin for this day for about a year.  I have worried about him being ready to be a big boy and go to school for a long time.  I have stressed about getting him potty trained in time.  I have pulled my hair out trying to get him to do things independently from me, like go to Sunbeams and playdates by himself.  I probably have an ulcer from worrying about him being scared while surrounded by a bunch of kids he doesn't really know.  While I don't know that all the worrying was necessary, I do know that we did it!

Days before the first day of school Quin and I rehearsed how the drop off would go.  We talked about it.  We reenacted it with trains.  We went to the school's openhouse.  And I am proud to report things went just as practiced.  I walked Quin to his classroom, gave him a hug and a kiss, said "See you soon,"  and he walked right into his classroom.  I'm not gonna lie I was a little shocked.  I expected some tears and prepared myself for it.  But he was so brave!  I went to my car.  Took a couple deep breaths and got a little teary eyed and drove home with Dallin.

Fast forward 3 hours later, I went to pick Quin up and he ran to me and gave me a hug.  I asked him if he had fun and he said "Ya!"   Hooray!  Mission accomplished.  Now hopefully this pattern continues.  I am so proud of this guy!

The Doty Family's list of Bad Things

1.  Packing.  It stinks.  We are moving, yes, but more on that in another post.  Today we will discuss bad things.  And packing is #1.  The only good thing about packing boxes is that sometimes you find stuff that you have been missing for years.  Like your Michael Jackson Greatest Hits CD.  This leads to #2

2.  "I'm Bad" by Michael Jackson.  I never thought I would say this, but I am officially sick of this song.  Why?  Because Quin is obsessed with it.  However, he thinks that the lyrics are "I Bam."  I think Quin has an image in his mind of Michael Jackson working with a hammer while singing "I bam....I bam......I bam, I bam, I bam."  Every time we get in the car Quin says: "Turn on 'I Bam'".  I usually try to persuade him to try out "Don't Stop til You get Enough" or "The Way you Make me Feel."  But it never works.  We only listen to "I'm Bad" in my car.  Even on Sunday mornings driving to church.  It is either that song or a Quin screaming "I want Bam!"  so we usually go with good old M.J.  Don't judge me.

3.  The sound of tape dispensing.  This one is for Dallin.  Have you ever realized that packing tape makes a really loud ripping noise when it dispenses?  Dallin has noticed.  And it scares the socks off of him.  Whenever I go to tape a box shut you hear the tape-ripper noise followed by Dallin screaming and crawling for cover as fast as his little body can go.  This is then followed by 10 minutes of Mommy trying to calm him down.  I think this fear dates back to January when Dallin was wearing the arm braces which stuck together with really strong velcro.  Similarly, whenever we took them off there was the loud ripping noise followed by Dallin crying.  Poor guy.  Though strange, tape dispensing has become a very bad thing in our home.

4.  The scene in The Little Mermaid where King Tritan gets really mad and blows up Ariel's secret Grotto.  Pretty terrifying stuff, I know.  For Quin this is the stuff that nightmares are made of.  I have to make sure I am close by when this scene comes along (in case you are wondering it is right after Sebastian sings "Under the Sea") so I can fast forward to the much less creepy part where Ariel swims by these little beauties....

Man I thought these guys were super scary, and still kind of do, but Quin doesn't even bat an eye.  Who would have thought?

 

I guess everyone has their own list of bad things. 

All about Quin: An Interview of a 4-year-old

How old are you?  Door (a.k.a Four, see previous post for explanation)
What is dad's job?  to make the fire
What is mom's job? coloring
What is your favorite thing to do? take a bath and make it hot
What is dad's favorite thing to do?  play race cars with me and give me a bath
What is mom's favorite thing to do? color and play race cars with me
What is Dallin's favorite thing to do? play toys and take a nap
What is your favorite thing to watch on TV? Spicable Me (a.k.a. Despicable Me)
What is your favorite thing to eat? chocolate, chocolate's nummy!
What is your favorite place to visit?  Brent's house
Who is your best friend? Brent
What do you want to do when you grow up? Go to Disneyland
What is your favorite toy? McQueen from Cars 2
What is your favorite color? Blue, like Thomas
What are you good at? Having fun!

Quin's Fourth Birthday

8:00am:  Wake up in Park City, Utah.  Go grab some continental breakfast at our hotel.  Quin was allowed to choose whatever he wanted for breakfast.  His selections included: fruit, scrambled eggs and Sprite.  He mostly just drank Sprite.  Breakfast of champions, I know.

 8:15am:  Perfect showing "four" on fingers.  A month later when asked how old he is, Quin will reply:

"Door" (he has a problem with the "f" in four)

He will then proceed by explaining:

"You put your thumb down and that makes door fingers!"

It is pretty stinkin' cute

 9:30am: open some presents in the hotel room.  The favorite gift?  Diesel 10

To better understand Quin's love of Diesel 10 refer to previous blog posts

12:00pm:  Quin's favorite meal:  Kraft Mac N' Cheese courtesy of Arby's

12:30pm:  Head to the Alpine slide.  Quin and Mommy went first.  I was white knuckled on the ski lift!  I didn't want this to be Quin's last birthday, who seemed to have know fear of being up so high!

1:30pm:  Mommy screams the whole way down the slide and Quin laughs.  Success!

 4:00pm:  Head over to Heber City for Dinner at Burger Keen.  If you have a kid who loves trains you MUST go here!  Quin was in heaven!  Not only do they have an awesome soda machine with flavor boosts, but they have models trains running through the entire restaurant.

6:00pm: Quin's favorite part of Burger Keen was the train table complete with Thomas the Train characters. After about 2 hours of playtime we were able to drag him away.

It was a great "Quin style" day.  I love this four year old!