Asher is Two!!

Yesterday was Asher's 2nd birthday!!

I wanted to do a quick birthday post for him, but yesterday was jam-packed and I couldn't find the time.

The day started late. All four kids climbed into bed with Joseph and me so we could snuggle and sing to Asher. He didn't like the singing. After I got out of bed, I made cookies for our hike. Then the house got cleaned up a bit.

Soon afterwards, I took one eight year old, three seven year olds, two six year olds, one three year old, one two year old, and one two month old on a hike. It was my turn to host summer camp and that was our activity. Thank heavens my friend Angela came along on the hike with me. Two of the kids were hers, three were mine. Our four year olds were at someone else's house for camp.

Once I dropped off the kids and got home, I baked cupcakes and prepped pizza dough for dinner. Once the dough was ready, we made pizza, ate said pizza, sang to Asher, ate cupcakes, opened presents, attempted to Skype with my sister, watched a movie, and let the kids have a sleepover in the living room because it was Hannah's last night with us.

See? Jam-packed. No time to blog.

But I guess this means you get to enjoy the meager amount of pictures I managed to snap of our intimate festivities. No huge party or anything. I just don't have the time right now. But I did try to make the busy day as special as I could for Asher. This weekend, we'll take him on the train ride, like we did last year. Thanks to everyone who sent presents!

Sprinkling his cheese.

Akiko and Moses really loved making their own pizzas.

One for me. One for you.

Of course, he just eats the frosting off the top.

Most of the birthday presents came in fancy wrapped packages from Utah.

Thanks for the Mega Blocks, Kristen!!

When I was baking the cupcakes, I left them on a rack on the stove to cool. About five minutes later, Joseph caught Asher walking down the hall, putting the last bite of a cupcake in his mouth. "What have you got there?" Joseph asked. Asher responded in his two year old babble. Joseph realized it was the last of a cupcake and wondered aloud if I had given him permission. One of the older kids (my guess is Akiko) responded, "It's okay if he has one. It is his birthday!"

I had not given him permission. The little stinker put a stool in front of the stove and snagged one. I suppose one of the older kids (probably Akiko) unwrapped it for him. But it is okay, because it was his birthday. I'll let it slide. I do wish they'd asked my permission, though.

I sure love Asher. He's a bundle of fun; so goofy and silly all the time. He's so sweet with Simon. He loves to snuggle and read his Thomas book. He loves to watch me cook in the kitchen and sometimes I let him stir. It's really fun to watch him play Fruit Ninja on Kinect.

I'm so glad he's part of our family.

Happy Birthday Asher "Crasher"!!

Festivities of the Fourth

We spent most of the 4th of July relaxing and hanging out at home. Well at least the rest of the family did. I was busy preparing our picnic.

Last year, I biked to Shoreline Park with Akiko and Moses in the bike trailer. We had a picnic next to the lake and watched the fireworks show once it got dark. We sort of did that again.

A giant gaggle of geese on the lake.

The plan was that Joseph and Hannah would bike to the park, pulling the older kids along in the trailer and the bike seat while I braved traffic and drove with Simon in the van with all the food (and the kids' bikes). Well, weren't able find one of our allen wrenches and couldn't get the bike seat switched and then realized one of the wheels on our trailer is bad. All the kids ended up in the van with me. Asher was really, really upset about that. I better get the trailer wheel fixed and take him on a spin sometime soon.

Hannah was very extremely reluctant to bike all the way to the park. She doesn't ride bikes much and my behemoth was very intimidating to her. We convinced her that she would, in fact, live and promised her that she would have fun. She did very well and did end up enjoying her ride to the park.

Once we all got to the park and met up with each other, we sat and enjoyed our picnic and played till it got dark for the fireworks.

Yum!!

Simon was so serene and happy for the whole outing.

Asher hardly stayed in one place for long.

I'm not really the kind of person that gets very festive for holidays. I usually only do Halloween and Christmas, if anything. But I saw this really cute idea for layered cupcakes in one of the food blogs I follow and knew the kids would get a kick out of them. I was really craving cupcakes, so it was a win-win.

They turned out super cute.

Everyone enjoyed them.

Akiko admired her sprinkle job while she bit into her cupcake.

Yeah, Moses just stuffed a half of a cupcake in that mouth.

Once it got darker, we busted out the cheap glow sticks I got at the craft store and played with them. I'm so glad we had them and used them to decorate Asher. He was impossible to spot when he ran away after it got dark.

My husband is quite a handsome angel.

This neat picture was an accident and Akiko and I unsuccessfully tried to duplicate the effect.

These glow sticks were a brilliant idea.

Even I got to goof off!

My little angel.

Wowza!

A couple little girls that were sitting nearby started hovering close to us while we played with the glow sticks. We had plenty, so we gave them a few. They were thrilled. I'm so glad we could share with them.

Asher finally settled down on the blanket when the fireworks started. He was so excited by them. This is the first time he's ever seen them. Last year, he was sick and stayed home with Joseph. He would not have remembered anyway. He was so cute. He giggled and clapped and yelled, "Yay!" and "Wow!" for about half the show.

It was magical seeing the wondrous look on his face. I love moments like that.

Sleeping Among Giants

Joseph and I both grew up doing a lot of camping, so it's something that we both really enjoy. Unfortunately, since we've been married, we haven't gone on a whole lot of camping trips, so our kids haven't had a whole lot of experience out in the wilderness. Hannah hasn't had much experience camping either.

Last week, I got around to getting the rest of the gear we needed for camping, packed up the car, the kids, and the gear, and drove up to the Redwood National and State Parks. Joseph, just being back at work from his paternity leave, didn't feel good about taking time off work and stayed behind.

We haven't been camping since right before we moved to California, nearly three years ago, so this was Asher's and Simon's first time camping ever. For Akiko and Moses, this was only their second time. Sad, I know. But now that we've finally got all the essential gear, we'll go camping much more often.

The Redwood Parks are absolutely gorgeous. There's nothing like a forest of giant trees to make you feel quite insignificant. They are magnificent. It was green and beautiful all around us.

I'm going to share our pictures now. Just keep in mind that the kids apparently asked for my permission to play with the camera while I was distracted and I gave it to them. Very sneaky of them.

And now pictures of us:

Asher poses for the camera.

Many of our neighbors told me I was brave bringing such a tiny guy out camping. If they only knew I was sans husband...

My babies and me, roughing it.

Akiko examines and protects a millipede.

I like this series of Asher pictures because they show his personality pretty well. I am not responsible for taking them.

The stink-eye.

The Law of Asher: An Asher in motion will stay in motion, unless an equal and opposite force acts upon him.

Distracto-ray!

I really like this picture, mostly because my kids are sitting in their birth order and, with the exception of sleepy Simon, they're all looking at the camera.

The fire pit fascinated the kids.

We had tons of exhausting fun. I'm so glad Hannah was there to help me with Simon and corral Asher. We caught Asher walking alone down the road a couple times. Little stinker.

On the way home, I decided to take Hannah across the Golden Gate Bridge one more time, just for fun (and it also happened to be the most direct route home). Just a couple miles north, in Sausalito, it was gorgeous and sunny, but once we got stuck in traffic near the tunnel, it got overcast, cold, and extremely foggy. The temperature dropped almost 20°. It was incredible. You could hardly see the bridge.

Barely on the bridge.

It stayed foggy until just south of Millbrae. When we got back to Sunnyvale, it was gorgeous, sunny, and warm again. Oh, Bay area weather!

Get in My Jelly Belly!

Last year I took the kids to the Jelly Belly factory and they loved it. They loved it so much I decided to do it again this year. It's kind of a drive to get up there (1.5 hours from our house), but it's a free tour and they give you free samples at the end of the tour.

We got there right around lunch time, so I treated the kids to a bean-shaped pizza before we got in line for the tour.

Hannah looks ravenous.

They don't allow you to take pictures inside the factory. I think they're afraid of spies or something. I'm sure you've all read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and know what went down in Willy Wonka's place. I suppose that's why Jelly Belly would be wary of cameras in the factory. But we still got this neat photo (though I was unwilling to give them my fourth-born for the physical souvenirs, I still get the digital copy):

I got my cheap bag of Belly Flops and we are sending Hannah home with a surprise pack of beans for her parents. We're also sending a couple small surprise packs of beans to Elder Wecker and his companion (Jake, you have to share) in the Philippines. I can't tell you all what kind, in case my in-laws happen to actually read this post.

On our way home, we stopped by the Oakland Temple to walk around on the grounds and go up on the terrace. It was a perfectly lovely day to do such a thing.

View from atop the terrace. Downtown Oakland in the forefront and San Francisco across the bay. Gorgeous day.

I also took the opportunity to take pictures of my kids being adorable (because that's what they do best).

Moses is so handsome, I'm gonna die!

Can you believe how chubby this kid has gotten in the last 7 weeks? I can't.

Couldn't decide which I liked more. This...

... or this.

Goofy goober.

I accidentally took a tour through Oakland, trying to find Moses a Sprite (he was so thirsty!). Oakland, for as big of a city as it is, has the fewest grocery stores per capita than any other city its size. Sprite, apparently, is very hard to find. I found plenty of places that would sell us an alternate choice of beverage, but that would have not been appropriate for a four year old. Eventually I succeeded in my quest, but Hannah and I saw some very interesting things and some of them we wish we hadn't seen. Oakland is a place like no other (though I have seen worse). I think I'll just stick to the temple grounds when I visit there from here on out.