Temecula Duck Pond

The summer before my senior in high school, Alex had already graduated and was getting ready to go on his mission. It was the day before he was going to leave, so I headed over to the Geyers to go say goodbye to him for two years. I brought a loaf of bread with me. I was going to do it this time - I was going to ask him to come with me to go feed the ducks! I thought it would be a fun, somewhat romantic, outing...just the two of us. I had finally mustered up the courage, but when I pulled into the driveway, I totally chickened out. I left the loaf of bread on the floor of the passenger side and when I came back to the car after saying my goodbyes, it was already getting stale from the stuffy hot interior of the car. Good thing that stale bread wasn't some omen to our future relationship :)

I later told Alex during our courtship about this little "feed the ducks with me" thing. He was so bummed that I didn't ask him. He said he would have gone in a heart beat! Oh well...

Anyways, we had a nice little Family Home Evening going to the duck pond with my parents and Mikael and Henry. Lucy worked on her duck call, Todd stole a few pieces of bread for himself, and the babies were captivated by the ducks. They even got to ride the carousel at the restaurant next door, lucky ducks! 

This outing will be added to the many other memories I have of this place. I'll have to save the story of my best friend growing up getting pushed into the pond by her brother for another time. It's a good one. :)

Pumpkin Patch

Two Babies and a Dog

These two just couldn't get enough of Brodie. I mean, how could they resist such fluffiness?!

Anna and Henry got pretty good at tossing him toys, or at least handing them to him. 

And Brodie is such a kind dog who puts up with the tugs and rough petting from two toddlers. 

A Relaxing Time

Lucy sees so much beauty in everything and she loves to share it too. Whenever we're at either mine or Alex's parent's house, she walks the perimeter of the yard looking for flowers to pick and to give. I'm constantly teaching her that flowers are not always meant to be picked. We can enjoy flowers in the yard too (In other words, stop picking so many flowers! Which I tell her directly all the time too!)

These red flowers were used to make a "relaxing time" for Nana. She found a little cup, filled it with water, and placed the flowers in it. Then she got 2 cups -a large one and a small one - and filled them with ice and water. She brought the cups and flowers into the dining room where she placed them ever so precise. She found Nana, made her close her eyes, then led her into the room where the two of them enjoyed a nice "relaxing time" together. 

She is such a beauty inside and out.

Great-Grandparents

I share my middle name, JoAnne, with my grandmother. (Did you know that JoAnne also means "God is gracious"?! So both my first and middle names have the same meaning!) I hope to emulate her gentleness, compassion and faith. I especially hope I have inherited some of her humor too :) 

When we come to visit my family, we most always make a stop to visit my grandparents. I'm grateful that they are only 10+ minutes away and that my children get to know them. I have loved getting to know them better over the last few years via our monthly (give or take) phone conversations. They're such a joy and I'm grateful for my relationship with them. 

Lollipops and balloons! Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa know how to please the crowd,

We attempted to get a picture with the four great-grandbabies, but this was the best we could get. It's pretty darn difficult to get four stubborn, uncooperative kids to take a picture.  

Annie was the most pleasant out of the bunch.

Love this picture below! Such a treasure to me. 

My grandparents sure love and cherish each other. 

One thing I love about my dad is the way he loves my children. He plays and plays with them and my kids just adore him! I love how he knows how to play rough with the older kids, and knows how to tone it down to a gentle play with Anna. I also feel like I get a little peak into how he played with me and my siblings when we were little.

Checking out Papa's big ol' ears!

Dairy Farm

Lucy had a week off of school for Fall Break. We took that opportunity and went to Temecula to stay with my parents. After all, Alex was gone all day everyday working 28+ hour shifts at the hospital (bleh!).

Since we were coming for the week, my parents asked my sis-in-law if she and her son, Henry, would come down from Utah too! All of the grand kids together....I think my parents like this nana/papa thing. :)

The first stop on the agenda was a dairy farm. Mikael and Henry hadn't even made it home from the airport yet and when my mom had heard that Henry loves cows, she found out where the closest dairy farm was and off we went! 

Can you spot Lucy?

Unless you had previously scheduled a tour to see the cows, you could only stand at the fence and look at them. Kind of a bummer, but the kids loved it anyways.

It was hot and hard to get my kids to cooperate for me to take this picture. 

A bribe of chocolate milk never hurt :)

You can tell it was warm out by Henry's rosy cheeks. Squish that boy!

Aaahhh....fresh chocolate milk!