San Juan Capistrano

One of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life is San Juan Capistrano in southern California. We went there recently during a lovely, leisurely family vacation. We didn't get many amazing pictures of the gardens, but I love these pictures of my kids. Those little bits of beauty go with me everywhere, but I thought I'd share.

I don't think my blog has been introduced to Rylan's boots yet. Blog, meet boots. Boots, blog. This footwear accompanies us just about everywhere we go.

We spent almost three hours here, enjoying the fish, picnicking in the grass, checking out the ruins, and just enjoying the gorgeous weather.

Doesn't she have a cute dad?

I didn't tell him to pose like that, I promise. He came up with it on his own.

Need a mint?

I know yesterday will become one of just so many Saturdays if it's not recorded. And in reality, it wasn't that unique at all. It was just full of those little moments where I wish I could blink and catch life one frame at a time.

Trevor and I were trying to put our backyard back in order after rearranging the shed in order to pass code and be permitted. We cleaned, took a load to the dump, cleaned more, planted a tree, cleaned, prepared the chicken yard, cleaned, took in a load of scrap metal...you get the idea. We were outside ALL DAY and our darling children weren't as pleased with our industry as we were. We put Rylan in a swimsuit and turned on the sprinklers. This amused him (and consequently Evie) for a while. Here were some of the (figurative) snapshots for the day:

(flash) We take a peek around the corner at Rylan and he's standing in the sprinkler, water running down his body while he happily munches the green tops from our onion patch. What two year old do you know that relishes a handful of onion greens?

(I swear, every time we walk back there he heads to the onionpatch for a wad. He's very polite, though: he always comes running back to me, hand outstretched-- "Want some, Mom?".
I'm always very polite, too. No thank you, Ry.)

(click) Rylan is tired of the "mean water" (he's cold), so I take him inside with Evie for a warm bath. The whole time they're splashing around, Evie is squealing and the entire tub smells like onions.

(Snap) We're cleaning (remember that part?) and Evie makes the most phenomenal gremlin noise I've ever heard emanate from any being's mouth. Guess you had to be there.

(flash) I'm kissing Trevor and we're interrupted by a pulling on my leg. It's Rylan, studiously trying to style my jeans with a curling iron.

I just read this aloud to Rylan and he wants me to write that he put the sprinkler in the bucket (he filled a bucket with water from the sprinkler).

I hope someday we really will be able to watch days like this, home video style. Even though in the moment it felt like half of yesterday was spent either disciplining or distracting our children, it's easy to understand why people talk about these years as the days that we'll re-live for the rest of our lives. Heck, I'm already re-living it and it was only yesterday! Truly, these days are rich and wonderful, with two growing, discovering, vibrant little people filling every one, and a wonderful husband to enjoy it with.

Lingering humourously over some of the contents...

"It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage through their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course you can't) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying up drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humourously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight. When you wake up in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind; and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on."

--J.M. Barrie, from Peter Pan

I ran across this quote as I read the book (SO worth reading, by the way. Absolutely Wonderful)

Last night Rylan made me laugh as I was tidying his drawers.


Mom:Did you have a good day today Rylan?

Rylan: Yeah. I went to nursery.

Mom: What did you learn about in nursery?

Rylan: Jesus and toys. But I wasn't reverent. I was mean.

Mom: Were you mean in nursery or just in Sacrament meeting when I took you out?

Rylan: We went in that room and you held me and we sat on the ground*

Mom: Yeah, we did. But then you decided you wanted to be nice, remember?

Rylan: But I was mean.

Mom: Well, for a while you were being mean, but you're such a nice boy, you decided to be nice and we went back in. We got to sit next to Dad and Evie, and eat pretzels, and read that book. Wasn't that fun?

Rylan: I held your hand and we went back in. **

*When he started acting up in Sacrament Meeting (saying, "I don't want to be nice, I want to be mean" and then hitting Evie) I took him out. In order to make it an appropriate consequence and not a reward, we went into an empty room and he sat on the ground in my lap. I was trying to make it as boring as possible. It was memorably boring, apparently.

**This was a huge deal. He had to hold my hand by himself and choose to go back in, being nice the whole time. I wasn't going to carry him in so he could throw a fit as soon as I sat down. We had to try three times before he could walk all the way in by himself, holding my hand.

I tried to leave the pretty thoughts on top, "beautifully aired,...ready for [him] to put on."

He's such a good kid, and remembers and digests SO MUCH. Those wheels are always turning. I love that boy.

P.S. Yesterday whenever Evie started fussing, all we had to do was turn her around and let her flirt with the girls behind us and she was just fine. Such a social butterfly, that one. Sweet and gorgeous to boot.

Why Evelyn Loves May Day

Looking beautiful next to the flowers...

Playing with the flowers...

Delighting in the flowers...

Becoming One with the flowers.

Why Rylan loves May Day

Playing with his Chickies
(Gia Gia, John Galt, Cleo, Pip, Mary Kate and Ashley, Liz, Chantilly, Amelia Bedelia)





Eating carrot thinnings

His Favorite Yellow Pear tomato plants

Eating whatever is looking good that day in the garden

No folks, not a wig.

I looked at comments from previous posts today (finally!) and felt called to repentance. I have been negligent to future generations and family far away for not properly documenting my children's adorableness, and particularly the phenomenon known as "Rylan's hair".

I call it a phenomenon because it cannot be defined, predicted, or controlled. In fact, I just looked up the exact definition of phenomenon to be sure I was using it correctly. Indeed, Rylan's hair "must be understood through the senses, rather than by intuition or reasoning" so it may appropriately be called a phenomenon.

For the record, these aren't the best pictures of his hair, but they are the best I have, so they will have to do.


I promise I comb it, guys.

Where do you think Rylan gets his hair from? And yes, Patience, you can see our chickies in the background :) Not the yellow marshmallow kind.

Some of his eggs were filled with jelly beans (some being one) and the rest were filled with almonds. He thought the almonds were treats for the chickies and tried to dump them into the basket, saying, "Here Chickies!" So much for health food...I thought we'd taught him better than that, but alas....

Oh Easter, how we love thee

Rylan and Trevor in our front yard

Evie and Mom in our pretty dresses

Our pretty little girl

Yes, I am well aware that was blue and underlined. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't change it.

I am also well aware that there are three pictures of Evie here and only one of Rylan. I'm sorry, it was the fluffy white dress. She looked so dainty and beautiful. That said in the spirit of full disclosure, I had some other pictures of Ry Guy ready to post but Picasa would only send four at a time. But even with other pictures of Rylan, the division was not even. Easter dresses are just adorable.

Easter was wonderful. We had a beautiful breakfast and talked with Rylan about the Resurrection and that Jesus lives. He got an Easter basket full of chickies! Then we watched the first session of conference, took lots of pictures, and headed over to Uncle Brad and Aunt Caroline's house for decorating Easter Eggs, a hunt, and the second session of conference. We had a wonderful day.