Ryan's Baptism

Ryan was baptized on his birthday, two weeks ago.  It was a beautiful day and Ryan says it was the best day of his life, so far.  His grandparents were able to be there along with many aunts and uncles.  Uncle Chris and Grandpa Stovall gave talks, Jacob shared some scriptures, and even Alison (and all the primary children) came up to sing a song.  I made a slide show of Ryan and will see if I can somehow post that. 

After the baptism, we had lots of green food at the church and then came home and had more green food at home.  We did not have corned beef and cabbage, but rather grilled flank steak (it was too warm to cook ham, which was Ryan's original main dish choice).  We had mint brownies for Ryan's birthday cake and apple/young berry pie for John's birthday.  It was a great day.*

* Grandma Stovall got the stomach flu the night before Ryan's baptism and so it wasn't quite a great day for her.  Luckily, two days later, only a few people who at the baptism/dinner came down with the stomach flu.  We feel pretty lucky that everyone didn't get sick.  

Pictures for the Bardsleys

Here are two pictures that I thought I would post for our family in Amsterdam.  The first is Alison in a dress that Mia gave to her and she has been waiting for years to wear! She was so happy to wear the dress today for Easter that she did not take it off all day.

The second picture is a tulip that came all the way from Amsterdam and was planted in our garden.  So, it was probably planted too late and it got warm here too fast, but at least there is a bloom (even though it is right at the base)!  We are all excited about it.  We will do better next year.    

New Year's Eve at the beach

This year we hit the beach on new year's eve instead of new year's day, and we went to Half Moon Bay instead of Santa Cruz, but it was still beautiful. We went tide pooling and saw snails, crabs, anemones, starfish, some mollusks, and seals.  We then ate at a restaurant near Pillar Point and watched the sunset. It was a nice day and a nice end to 2012. Thank you weather, for not raining. The beach in winter? Oh yes.

What happens when you drop an unopened gallon of milk on the floor?

If you answered nothing, you are wrong. The plastic container will break in several places and milk will fly everywhere. Maybe you can see the milk dripping down the wall and clock. I still need to clean the ceiling. The best was the dried milk spots I found on my face. Of course it happened 15 minutes before school on a day when I am gone all day. Fun times.

4 months til baptism

Ryan will be 8 in March and he is already looking older. He is looking forward to his baptism.

Third time is a charm

Ryan got hit in the face today with a baseball.  He and Jacob have become more interested in baseball because of the world series. It is the third time he has broken off half of the bottom right permanent incisor. Unfortunately, this time we did not find the piece that was broken off plus the tooth next to it was also broken in half. We did find that piece. The top gum and upper lip are pretty banged up but I am hoping those teeth will survive. The last time we were at the dentist having Ryan's tooth glued back on, the dentist said, "this tooth is not going anywhere for a long time". Well, Ryan and the baseball proved him wrong.
Other than that, it was a beautiful Sunday here in Fremont. Tomorrow it is supposed to be on the mid 80's.

Alameda beach, october 1

All weekend long, alison has been talking about going the beach on monday while the boys were at school. I am not sure what brought this about but the weather was very hot today so we went up to alameda and hit the beach. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.