Soccer Mom

I am finally that mini van driving soccer mom that I've longed to be for so long now! Carmen started a little soccer class a few weeks ago and is really having a fun time with it. She knows everyone in the class, so that helps make it more fun. I just love the way she looks in her pink basketball shorts, and pink soccer socks and her running shoes.

She's really quite good at running with the ball and she's fast! She just needs to learn a little more control and then she would be pretty good, for a 4 year old.


I am just so glad she seems to have found something that she enjoys. After dance classes and gymnastics and swimming, I think she could stick with soccer a while.

I ♥ Faces Photo Challenge - Blue

WEEK 38 - Photo Challenge Theme is “Blue”

All photos entered this week have to have some shade of the color blue featured in them (the color should be featured strongly.) If you'd like to incorporate a "blue" expression on the face, that would awesome as well, but please make sure that the color blue is a strong feature of your photo as well.

I knew I had a great picture already for this theme. This was taken just a few weeks ago when it decided to rain in California. It's such a rare occasion to have rain, so my girls wanted to play in it that morning. We only have one umbrella and they both were fighting over who got to hold it. Head on over to www.iheartfaces.com to see more Blue photos.

Time Out

Last weekend I went to Time Out for Women in Pleasanton. This was my third year going and every year I just love it! I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to attend a Time Out event. They also have Time Out for Couples, which I think would be really fun to go to as well.

My tickets came in the mail several weeks ago and I was counting down the days to my weekend long "time out". This year the theme was Sweet Assurance or simple truths that bring us sweet assurance. I came home knowing that my life has a purpose and I am not expected to be perfect in this lifetime. One of my favorite quotes from the event was said by Kim Nelson, "Obedience is not perfection. Obedience is trying." I love that!

All of the speakers were really great, uplifting and very funny. These two ladies were hysterical together! It is always amazing when you get to listen to Sheri Dew speak.
Hilary Weeks was the vocal artist on Saturday. She has a great voice and the funniest little ditties about raising kids. I was asked to be the photographer for the event, my pictures should appear in Mormon Times at some point. (I'll believe it when I see it) But it was so fun to take the pictures because I got a front row seat and got up close to take some fun pictures and rub elbows with some amazing people.

(I did learn I don't really love the lens I have on

my camera, not a great quality photo with it zoomed)

These two girls really mean a lot to me. They have been like sisters to me here in California. I admire them both for who they are and they are both great role models when it comes to being a mom.
And all these girls are so fun to be with. We went out to eat afterwards on Saturday and had a good chat with all the ladies. I hope we can all stay good friends for a long time!

Six Months Old

I have yet to take six month pictures of Charlotte. We got family pictures taken this week, so I guess I was holding off to just count those as her six month pictures. But she wasn't very cooperative, so I don't know yet if anything cute came out of them. We'll wait and see. But she sure if cute in this picture. I just love her big eyes and her cute little smile. She really loves the high chair and would sit in it all day if I let her.

This was the first time I gave her Cheerios to eat. She struggled a few days before she learned that pincher grasp, but now she's a champ at eating those things.

Oh Boy, I've Got Joy!

This was the first day of Joy School (three weeks ago, I'm a little behind on my blogging). This is also Aliza's first day of preschool. She was oh so excited to get to go this year. For those who don't know what Joy School is, it's a preschool co-op that moms rotate who teaches each week. There are 7 kids in our class, only one boy! So we each end up teaching every six weeks for one week, which is wonderful! And I just love having both the girls gone together at the same time. ;) I get mommy time... I mean special time with Charlotte (while she naps).

Aliza picked this outfit special for her first day of preschool. Only now she thinks she needs to wear it every day to school. I kept telling her we would buy her some new school clothes, and I guess since this is the one outfit she picked all by herself, she thinks they are the clothes she wear to school every time, like a uniform I guess.

You've got to love the sisterly love. I think Carmen was excited to have her little sister with her this year. She kept telling her what it was going to be like and how things would work.
Carmen took this picture of Aliza and I. She got this one of the two of us, and I told her to take a couple more, just to be sure we got a good one. All the rest had Charlotte (see her sitting in front of us) as the main focus of the picture! Carmen sure does love Charlotte.

The Sacramento Railroad Museum

On Labor Day weekend we went to Sacramento to the Railroad Museum. Despite how boring I thought this day was going to be, it turned out to be so much fun! These pictures are out of order. This is Aliza on a train ride through Old Sacramento. She held onto her ticket the entire time. The girls were so excited to get to ride on a real train.

Charlotte and I on the train ride.

Here Carmen is playing with Thomas the train. They had an entire floor dedicated to the evolution of toy trains. Of course Thomas had to be there!

David with the girls in front of an old steam engine.

The Bean girls in Old Sacramento

It's a rare occasion that Aliza wants to hold Charlotte. This moment was brief, but I did catch a picture.

We weren't aware that the weekend we went was "Gold Rush Days". All the streets were covered in dirt and there were reinactors dressed in old time-y clothes and horses every where. It was really a lot of fun to just walk the streets and take it all in.

Carmen and Aliza at the Pony Express.

My Aliza Lu

David and Carmen on the train ride.

Updates, Updates

This is going to be a really random post with a lot of pictures. I just need to catch up. Now that summer is officially over, I will post the rest of my summer pictures and then try to stay caught up after this.

This picture is what happens when both David and I take a Sunday afternoon nap at the same. The girls pulled all the stuffing out of the couch cushions. It was repairable, and actually quite funny, but we tried not to laugh in front of them

Aliza doing airplane on my feet. After I took this picture, I realized how desperately I need a pedicure. I have yet to actually get one!

All my girls! I just love them all so much! Charlotte just gets carried around like a baby doll all day long with her sisters. She's already pretty tough!
With three girls, this was bound to happen at some point... the dreaded "haircut". This day I found beautiful blond locks of hair under the dining room table. It was actually quite funny because the "haircut" had happened hours before and I never noticed on Aliza that she was missing some hair, until she pointed it out to me hours later. She showed me the hidden locks of hair under the table. Luckily, this too was easily repaired, but not without punishment to the big sister/hairdresser.
All summer long I debated about putting Carmen in swimming lessons. She was terrified of the pool and clung on to me for dear life every time we went swimming. With two sisters smaller than her, it was hard to ever go swimming and have fun with three kids clung onto me. I was sure she would hate swim lessons and it would be a big waste of money and time. But David finally convinced me that she needed them and he even committed to taking her everyday for two weeks. And it turns out she loved the class and even jumped off the diving board a couple times. She is now a very brave swimmer and so proud of her new found freedom in the water.
These are the girls playing "roller coaster" one day after church. They were really quite hysterical.
This is a mutant carrot from our garden. There must be something strange in the California soil! It still got eaten though.
The girls feeding their "baby doll". I have to admit it's very nice when Carmen is in such a helpful mood. To have her feed Charlotte is so nice! I can eat, or do dishes or get dinner made, or check Facebook... :)

I ♥ Faces Photo Challenge - Contemplative

This is my first time participating in a I ♥ Faces photography challenge. I love this blog and have always wanted to enter the contest each week, but this is the first time I felt I really had a photo that fit the theme. This weeks theme is "contemplative". This is my husband and daughter on a train ride in Old Sacramento. They are enjoying quiet time with one another. I just had to snap a picture while they weren't looking!

Head on over to www.iheartfaces.com to see more contemplative photos.

I believe I can fly!

Have you ever believed in something so strongly, you knew it was true? I remember being a little girl and trying to jump off our front porch steps with an umbrella because I wanted to be like Mary Poppins. Well, the other day Carmen was absolutely convinced that she could fly. She asked me to spin her around while holding onto her arms. So, I began spinning us in circles and just as we got going really fast, she yelled "MOM LET GO!" She wanted me to throw her into the air as she was spinning so she could take off. After refusing to throw her into the air she tried other tactics. Once I realized she really thought she could fly, I explained to her that she really couldn't. But because she had on Tinker Bell wings she knew she would be able to. I then explained the magic of fairy dust and that she didn't have any. She promptly replied that she would be asking Santa for some fairy dust for Christmas. She then returned to her efforts of trying to fly. Flapping her arms really hard wasn't working so I told her to try jumping off of something. I had to grab the camera at this point. This is what followed...

After several attempts the poor thing was finally convinced that she indeed could not fly. I did however had that song going through my head the entire time.

I believe I can fly.

I believe I can touch the sky.

I think about it every night and day.

Spread my wings and fly away.

I believe I can fly.

At least I think that's how the song goes....

Mexican Fiesta

Our ward had a Mexican Fiesta last weekend with some yummy mexican food. Our ward includes many hispanic families that are really great. They planned a wonderful activity with the most delicious food. And then they had the two biggest pinatas I've ever seen! Here's some pictures of the girls with the pinata. The lighting is so horrible in those cultural halls!