my babies' songs

Because of the new babies coming to our family this late summer/fall, I've been reminiscing of when our original 5 babies were each heading to our family.  Pregnancy lasts FOREVER and you spend all those months dreaming of your baby.  For each of my babies I had a song stuck in my mind that helped me get through.  So now I'm going to reminisce on the blog, and if I'm repeating myself, please forgive me, or you are excused from reading this post Ha! Ha!

BABY #5  - This song, in my opinion, is not about romance but a song about a parent's love for their baby, and I thought of it for most of 2001:

BABY #4 - Until the 9th month I listened to this song as I dreamed of our 4th baby girl who we were going to name Sara (the Dr. had not confirmed that we were having a girl, but we had a feeling).  In the last month we changed our minds and decided on Samantha.  I can't imagine her being anybody but Samantha, or Sam as she likes to be called, but "Sara Smile" will always be my song for her.

BABY #3 - This is a romantic song about love through the years.  It gave me comfort during Mariah's pregnancy because I knew Reggie was taking care of me the whole way through.  It even came on the radio as we were on our way to the hospital, and I thought of it during the long night as she came into the world.  There are many theories as to why Mariah has red hair - maybe it's because this singer is a red head.

BABY #2 -  Hillary's pregnancy was accompanied by a movie more than a song.  We went to see Beaches and that is how we picked out her name. There is a beautiful song at the end of the movie, and a really cute one at the beginning.   When Hillary was little she had the heart of a performer in a cute little voice.  She enjoyed having an audience.  In a primary talent show when she was 3 she sang the following song from Beaches - in a much more age appropriate outfit of course.  So this one counts for her:

BABY #1 - I knew I was pregnant, even when the test came back negative.  I thought "you're wrong - I know Julia is on her way" and listened to the first song over and over again.  We gave it another week and the test came back positive.  After she was born, we were shocked that she had blue eyes, and I thought of the second song as well.  So Julia gets 2 songs!

Family Day

One thing my school does that is so cute is "Family Day".  It is a K-8 school, and once a month the kids break up into their "families" to do an activity.  From what I understand, when a child starts at our school - either as a kindergartener or a new student in whatever grade, they are added to a family, which consists of one child from every grade in that school.  They stay in the same family until they leave the school.  I think the point is to promote unity and make sure the kids have friendly faces to recognize throughout the school. The 7th and 8th graders in the families are especially responsible for the little ones.  This really makes me smile because all month long you hear us adults telling these middle school kids to not run in the halls, etc.  But on family day you hear these middle school kids telling the little ones not to run in the halls because they might slip, etc.  All of a sudden they have the responsibility, and for the most part they rise to the occasion.  It is really cute.

March Hiking

This is something I've passed a million times, on the way to Half Moon Bay.  Recently I noticed there is a parking lot near it, so I pulled over and decided to check it out.  It's uphill, so I'm calling it a hike!

I was thinking about how much Luke would enjoy checking it out,
climbing in it and over it, etc. For that reason I wished he was with me, and then I realized for that reason I was glad he wasn't.  I would have
been a nervous wreck!

When I went back to my car I realized I was on the other side of the Devil's slide walk.  I've always started the walk on one side, gone as far as I wanted and then turned back.  Now I know that I can follow it all the way through!

The walking path on the left of the new tunnels

Looks like Lightning McQueen!

that Tim McGraw

When I made my Facebook account a year ago I didn't realize that when I declare I "like" something it will show up on my wall, or home, or whatever it is called, forever more.  Well, I am actually not regretting this when it comes to Tim McGraw's Facebook page because the things that he, or whoever  manages it for him, puts on there are very uplifting.  Like the following which I noticed tonight:

He also had a list of suggestions of "Random Acts of Kindness That Won't Break the Bank".  I think this whole theme of kindness and positive thinking is going back to his (and especially the writer's) award winning song "Humble and Kind".  As far as my "cup of cheer" theme for March I think it has really helped me be a happier person.  But, I also admit that I have had some grumpy days this month as well, and I appreciate the "pep talks" like the one above.

only a few weeks left

Samantha is getting ready to leave me again!  As before, I am so excited, and I know she'll do great, but I'm also starting to feel a little sad too because I am going to miss her - and I can't help worry a little no matter how great things are.  I think that's just how it will always be.  Here are some shots of her and one of her good friends at sunset the other night.  It was a very blue sunset - not amazingly colorful, but beautiful and mesmerizing just the same.

Tonight we started planning our trip; I get to go with her again, flying to Salt Lake City and then road tripping to Idaho.  We hope to do some walking along the snake river and some other unique things to the area.  I know she'll miss her ocean but luckily this world is full of beautiful places to appreciate.

going for the record

While grocery shopping yesterday I was ecstatic to find bags and bags of valentine candy 75% to 90% off.  I think these will be perfect for filling Easter eggs at a fraction of the cost, and 2 months shouldn't have affected their taste at all.  But the most shocking thing is that I bought the candy almost 24 hours ago and I have still not opened/not snitched any of it - not even the Reeses!  I am going for some kind of record here!

So spring is almost here.  And not to ignore St. Patrick's day, Julia made a wonderful corned beef dinner, and I watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People while adding green food coloring to the chocolate chip cookie dough.  The family was a little unsure about this, but surprisingly the color seemed to fade while baking and they look like pretty normal cookies.  Oh well.

Happy weekend everybody!

Making Utah and California feel a little closer to each other

with this adorable screenshot.  Utah in the big picture, California in the right corner.  Love it!

the end of our celebrations (for now)

For the last several months Reggie and I have taken the opportunity to do a whole lot of celebrating of our 30th wedding anniversary.  As I previously blogged (in several posts) we took a trip in November to New Orleans as our big celebration.  On Saturday I made a Facebook album of many of our old, and some current, pictures together over the last thirty plus years.

 As Luke was at a youth conference all day we had the day to ourselves and watched movies, took a walk in Half Moon bay and went out to dinner.  

And now, finally, as today is our official anniversary we are going out to dinner again (what?) and  heading to the San Jose airport to pick Samantha up from her most recent Utah trip.

Some of our celebrating has been AMAZING and some has been very low key, which is still amazing.  But we are feeling very blessed.

happy birthday month to Julia!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this baby girl - then and now.  

I still remember how every day was a new adventure with our new baby.

All of a sudden life was about baby clothes and toys and blankets and 

midnight feedings and napping and cuddling.  Babyhood and motherhood is

indescribable - hopefully pictures convey what you just can't put into words.

And now life for us is about being adults together - sharing a kitchen, new t.v. shows

we come across,  me loving her children while she is helping with our last child. (How do you think Reggie and I have been able to go away on adventures so much these last few years?)

It's a special time of life that I will look back on fondly.

WE LOVE YOU HANNAH - Happy Birthday!

 So much living done in just 2 short years.  Can't wait to see and experience more and more and more with this beautiful little girl!

Is that you Spring?

This is the first day since last fall that I haven't been cold!  My "cup of cheer" might just have to be full of ice cream instead of hot chocolate!  Here is a picture that I took a few days ago,  but I think it would be pretty in this post.  Makes me think of that children's song "Give Said The Little Stream".  Happy unofficial Spring everyone!

More than excited!

It is very rare that I would try to fit errand running into my morning before work.  But I am beyond excited to go to Target tomorrow, as soon as they open, to buy the Moana movie!   We've been watching the music videos on YouTube since last November and the one below is my favorite - in fact, this is probably why I love the movie so much.  It is about family, loving where you are from, being brave enough to leave home when the time is right, but always knowing how to get back - physically or emotionally, whenever you need to.  It especially makes me miss our little Dobbins granddaughters, but life always finds a way for us to be together - whether in person or on Skype.  Life is good!

Christmas in March

Our Christmas theme for March is "Good Cheer".  I am happy to report that there are so many scriptures that talk about joy, being happy, and good cheer.  One that I found very funny and cool is :

Deuteronomy 24:5 - this is during the days of the laws of Moses.  It states that after a man marries, he is not to be sent to war or be assigned any dangerous jobs for 1 year:  "he shall be free at home one year, and SHALL CHEER UP HIS WIFE".  I like that one!

*Some other great references are Matthew 14:27, D&C 61:36, D&C 68: 6, and D&C 78:18.

But my all time favorite are words from Jesus found in John 16:33:  "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

So we're going to try to be a little happier around here; try to figure out what makes us happy, what brings us down, etc., keeping in mind that it's not always the easy things in life that bring us cheer.

Because of stuff we've been working on with the kids at my school, I've been thinking a lot about how it is human nature to, when we are in a bad mood, take things out on other people.  If we stop for a minute and ask ourselves "okay, why am I upset right now?" we might realize it's because of something that happened at work, or whatever, and we're not really mad at our family, and so it would be unfair to act angry with them.  We can just say "I'm in a bad mood, which has nothing to do with you, but I need some time to cool down".  So I'm going to be working on that.

As far as a fun, Christmas type activity, the line "have a cup of cheer" keeps going through my mind. So, this is going to be the month of what I call "The Great Hot Chocolate Taste Testing Project".  Some people actually make homemade hot chocolate, so we're going to try out a few recipes, and I think we will visit Starbucks a little more often than usual.  And maybe by the end of the month we will have said goodbye to winter and be ready for some warmer weather and cooler treats

So in conclusion:

kickball

I especially enjoyed PE today as the kids played kickball.  It brought back memories of my own grade-school days, as kickball was my absolute favorite game to play.  The kids in this class have always had such good sportsmanship - but today is the first day I've seen some real competition on their faces.  You could tell some of them play baseball and they were being so strategic in stealing bases, figuring out where to throw the ball to get someone out, etc.  But they were still good sports and everyone was happy and had a good time.  I had just as much fun being a spectator/cheerleader.  It was great to see the kids that weren't especially good at the game have some success.  I think that's how sports is - if you mess up it haunts you for days, but if you catch the ball or make a good play, it stays with you longer than you realize; everybody cheering for you, saying "great job" is so exhilarating.  So today, when one not-particularly-athletic girl just pulled the ball out of the sky, her smile was beautiful.  And when one of the boys that I am to watch over caught the ball, after it slipped threw the fingers of his teammate in front of him, everyone cheered and said "good teamwork" and he just beamed from ear to ear.  Yes - kickball and the sunshine made today a very good day!

Green is the new green

For a while here in California, during the drought,  the saying was "brown is the new green".  This meant that a brown lawn was something to be proud of because it meant you were conserving water by not watering your lawn.  In the last several months mother-nature has watered our lawns beautifully with enough rain to have the drought be officially declared as over.  In fact, there is green everywhere you look!

So Happy March Everyone!  I didn't do a February hiking post, but maybe this can count, as I took these pictures this morning.