DISNEYLAND!!

Posted on May 28, 2014 by francescaforsyth

WHAT?? We went to Disneyland about 5 months ago .. wha? I know. I’m ridiculous. There seems to always be stuff going on around here these days (and by “these days” I mean, since we moved to CA). This week we have the Ward Talent Show, in which I am singing in 3 acts, Daniel is singing with me in one act and I am entertaining all the kids during the … wait for it … THREE intermissions, by singing “wiggle songs”. Also this week, is scouts, practices, I’m teaching the activity day girls how to sing, our AC died, ants are invading … yeah. That’s this week. And I haven’t blogged about Liam’s 6th birthday .. blah blah blah … we went to DISNEYLAND in January

Liz came into town and made this all possible. She’s the bomb.

We did two days. Day one – Disneyland, Day two – California Adventure. We stayed at a Marriott next to the parks. The parks are right across from one another and both are spectacular, as only Disney can do. Ya know, as I was experiencing Disneyland and all of its grandeur, I thought, if there is anything that is “overdone” it’s Disneyland. I have been teased for doing things a little overdone myself and have actually been quoted saying, “the art of overdoing things is a lost art!” Sooo, this was right up my alley. It makes me think I would looooove to do this as my job – to be on the creative team at Disneyland. I could come up with all sorts of craziness. It would be great. Anyway, back to January.

We left Ray with Christina because he naps and wouldn’t fully appreciate the experience at 18 months, so we were free to hang out until all hours playing at Disneyland. We went on a Mon and Tues … or a Tues and Wed?? Can’t remember, but it was the middle of the week in January at Disneyland and you’d think it would be totally dead … but it is like NYC, Disneyland is the amusement park that never sleeps.

We went in with a plan though. I had been prepped and trained by Christina and Aria, who are SoCal, Disneyland Annual Pass Holding vets. Christina and Aria planned out which rides were most worth it and which my boys would be most interested in, then Christina sat me down and trained me … for days. seriously. We watched youtube videos of certain rides, I memorized the map, we had teir 1, 2 and 3 rides and alternates. We had a plan from the moment we walked inside the gates. I had to know where to go and when for Fast Passes and make sure we hit the busiest rides first before they got crazy long lines. And I’m happy to report – it was a success! And all of the planning was worth it!!!

We rode everything we wanted to and some favorite rides twice! I think the boys’ favorite place was Tomorrowland in Disneyland because that’s where Jedi Training was, Space Mountain was Noah’s favorite ride and Liam begged to go on the little rocketship ride there all day and loved it. Gammie bought them awesome weaponry there too. Noah got to build his own light saber and he made Mace Windu’s purple one and Liam got Zurg’s gun. The coolest ball, popping rotating gun ever.

My favorite ride was Space Mountain too. Alright, here’s the story in pictures:

The boys walking together while we stood at the gate to get in.

The picture with Daniel is showing how many people were waiting for the park to let us in to Tomorrowland. This is Disneyland on a Monday in January, mind you. The picture of me is when I went to save a spot at the front of Jedi Training while Gammie, Daniel and the boys rode some rides.

And then there was Jedi Training …. I think I was more excited for this than the boys. Liam was flat out too nervous to do it, so it was just Noah who went up. But I just wanted this experience for him so badly! They LOOOOOOOOOOOVE star wars. This was like a fantasy coming true, and I was all pumped up for them.

Gammie getting love as we walked out of Tomorrowland.

On Tom Sawyer’s Island. I have to be honest, I thought this would not be too exciting or cool. But then we went and I was wrong – the boys loved this too! It had a myriad of caves and hiding spots and places to climb and it was all contained on this one island. You’d think you couldn’t get lost … but Liam proved you can. Liam got lost on one side of the island. We got pretty nervous when we didn’t see him after a few minutes and started looking around for him, calmly at first. We sent Daniel into the caves, but he couldn’t find him, then Liz and I split up to find him and in doing so, we left our backpack on a bench. We found Liam, who was crying, and turned back to the backpack and Disneyland workers were standing next to it radioing to others that there might be a bomb threat. We assured them it wasn’t and we were just in a panic because Liam was lost. It all worked out. Scary moments though.

Glad to be together and on the way back from the island.

This was from lunch … but what I didn’t get a picture of was dinner ….. somewhere in the New Orleans area of Disneyland, there is this place, a café where you can get these garlic fries with magical sauce that is laced with crack cocaine (just kidding), but really!!!! I couldn’t get enough of them. The tragic ending to this fry story is that I had Daniel hold the to go box of fries while I took Liam on one more ride at the end of the day and Daniel put them down on a bench and forgot about them. We walked out and I asked where they were …. my mouth died a little inside. It was so sad. Saddest part of the two days – no question.

Then – California Adventure – Day Two!

Yes, I was there!! There are only a few pictures of me and here are two of them I actually have more pictures that Liz and Daniel sent me of the two days, but I don’t know where I downloaded them …. anyhow, here’s me! On the left, Liam and I are waiting to do “Turtle Talk”, awesome. And then we were on the carousel in the right hand picture, obviously.

Taking a breather in Radiator Springs.

Daniel and I ran off by ourselves to do the scary ride … forget what it’s called (Hotel something)

And World of Color. I wish I had more time to write more, but Ray is standing at my side crying. Disneyland – it’s all it’s cracked up to be! Thank you Gammie!!!!

Camping at Joshua Tree National Park

Posted on May 7, 2014 by francescaforsyth

This past weekend we went camping. Daniel has been referring to it as “glamping” (glamorous camping) … because he’s a punk. For some reason, it is the Forsyth way to not call it a vacation unless you are hurting yourself in some way. Daniel only calls it camping if you are suffering. Evidently, we were not suffering sufficiently enough to call it camping. Moving on …

Joshua Tree is a pretty cool landscape. We took lots of pictures (is it “glamping” because YOU brought the tripod and nice camera, Daniel?? hmm?). I’ll stop harping and let the pictures tell the good story:

Uncle Jeff told stories to the boys and then we put everyone to bed and the parents had fun around the fire, talking, taking pictures of the night sky and then playing with the camera. We used Walter’s phone for a tiny light and then kept the shutter open on our camera and drew all sorts of fun things …

Then we slept … not for very long. But we slept. Daniel slept like a log! I did not. I can now officially deem myself a “light sleeper”. I used to sleep like a log too, when I didn’t have kids, but ever since Noah, I hear everything. I heard the kids moving in their sleeping bags next to me, I heard coughing and sneezing and I heard Ray moaning in his sleep (he does this a lot). I woke up about 7 or 8 times over the span of 5 hours. I kept moving Ray under his sleeping bag covers and moving Liam off the tent floor and onto his mat and pillow … I was exhausted when I woke up the next morning, but that didn’t stop me from making awesome camping pancakes!!

I think it’s my mom’s fault that all of us girls do this. We love breakfast. Whenever we went camping as a family when I was younger, my mom would make an incredibly delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes cooked in the bacon grease, so they were like fritters! I didn’t do the whole sha-bam, I just did Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes. They are Daniel’s new favorite breakfast. It was so much more fun to make all this side by side with my sisters. They appreciate it.

But even before the morning scene got cooking, Daniel and Walter went hiking around the boulders in our campground and Daniel took pictures of the camp site.

Then Emily woke up …

And now I have to make mention of something genius I saw on Pinterest … a hand washing station. It was so useful and since a picture is worth a thousand words here it is. The only difference between this one and mine, was that I didn’t bungee cord the paper towels tot he container. I hung paper towels from a bungee cord hanging from the easy up.

After we packed up camp, we went on a short hike to see an arch.

The boys asked if they could climb on top of the arch and I said no because it was too dangerous, then we looked around for where Daniel had gotten to … and he was on top of the arch.

today

Posted on February 26, 2014 by francescaforsyth

I started my period. TMI? Whatevs. My house is a bit of a disaster, I already showered, took kids to school, ran errands, hung out with Zacky and then Christina and put Ray down for a nap, so I feel like I can be done for the day and not feel bad about it. It’s noon.

I am on the committee that puts on the Relief Society activities/meetings. Last night we had an event and it was awesome. We had Patriarch Bascom come speak to us about the Book of Mormon. It was mind blowing. He talked about the editions of the Book of Mormon and why they came out and how the closer we get to the original words spoken from Joseph’s mouth, the better the text is; it is more clear and makes more and more sense with what scholars continue to discover about ancient times and texts. It was so exciting. Patriarch Bascom reminded me of my dad and Bro. Collette. He was so excited about the Book of Mormon and all of his studies about it. He was moved by words and passages. He found wonder and amazement at what it must have been like to be Joseph Smith, speaking out loud the words from 3 Nephi 11 for the first time in this dispensation –

5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.

6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:

7 Behold my Beloved Son, bin whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.

9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

It was so powerful and such a testimony builder to listen to the Patriarch speak. He was animated too, just like Daddy. And he didn’t need to look at anything, no notes, no hiding behind a pulpit, he was so comfortable just discussing with us his findings. I loved every moment. I felt like clapping afterwards, but I guess that’s irreverent. I went up to him afterwards and chatted with him for a bit. He studied religion in college, majored in it and then taught high school history and later a high school religion course too. Such a fascinating person and an enlightening night. I love having time to educate and uplift myself all at once. Loved it, loved it.

Anyway, as a sidenote – we put together a “bread bar” to celebrate and mirror the sustenance we were given through Patriarch Bascom’s presentation. Give us our Daily Bread … through an awesome little bread bar. We had pita and naan bread with several different, yummy hummus dips. There was honey wheat, pumpkin, cinnamon raisin and jalepeno cheesy bread. All complete with butter, honey butter, jelly and olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip everything in. We decorated the table with lavender, green potted plants and one basil plant.

Besides this, life is moving forward here in California. Today is a cloudy day, which is why I’m taking some time and spending it indoors to type away, but pretty much every day is a sunny day. It’s unbelievable. I was bummed out last Saturday because early in the week it said it would be 77 degrees at the beach, but it cooled to 71 and we decided against a beach day with such chilly weather …. I know. I smile even as I write this because most of the country is covered in snow, in February, and here I am bummed about 71. I’m not bummed. It’s gorgeous.

I realized that I never really documented Ray’s first word. I’m pretty sure it was DADA, because he loooooves Daddy. But Ray went from grunting to saying like 4 words all at once, so It’s hard to say. But here’s a list of what little Ray is communicating these days:

Daddy
Mommy
Woh-wah (Noah)
Le-oh (Liam)
Sacky (Zacky)
Nina (Aunt Stina)
dee (drink)
down (up and down … it’s confusing really. You have to watch where his hands are pointing)
muh (more)
uh-side (outside)
shoo (shoes)
no
no (“yes” – again, this is tricky)
uh oh
buzzy (fuzzy)
bubee or buzzy (his favorite blanket)
Guc (all animals)
huh-coc (helicopter)
uh-pay (airplane)
nice (usually accompanied with petting Emily’s hair … usually because he’s been mean to her)
at (hat)
day-doo (thank you)
eees (please)
nuss (nose)
eye
eh (ear)

He’s a pretty cute little human at 20 months. He still walks like a drunk and I’m worried about that … when is he going to master walking? His run is hilarious. He ends up going faster but in reality, he just makes his steps tinier and quicker. You just have to see it. It cracks me up every time. And he is a true Daddy’s Boy. This is a first in our family. We have a lot of family photos around the house and so all day long I hear Ray rounding a corner or coming down the stairs yelling and then I see him point at a picture and yell, “Da-dee!!” Sometimes he hears the front door open and he takes a swift intake of air and says, “Huh! Daddy?!” His little heart is broken ten times a day. I need to start taking pictures of Daniel down from the walls … nd maybe we need to start entering and exiting from the back or side door??

Recently, Liam and I have been working on a project for his kindergarten class. It’s an alphabet book that he is making entirely on his own. His teacher sent home very specific instructions on how parents couldn’t “help”. This has been pretty painful for me. A project that I have to watch being done not perfectly?? … and although this started as a “pulling-teeth” exercise, it has become wonderful. Liam talks about it all the time and what needs to get done before it’s time to turn it in. He’s really become conscious of responsibility a little. And I’ve learned how to work with Liam better – giving him ideas, but letting him come up with it on his own. You should see his “proud of me” face. It’s gorgeous. He half smiles and sticks his tongue in his cheek and his eyes are alive with excitement and pride. I love it. I need to catch it on film sometime.

Noah. And there’s my Noah. He’s such a good boy, but lately he’s been talking back. He knows he’s pretty smart. Too smart. So he’s beginning to think that he knows more than everyone. Parents, teachers … everyone. This was a conversation we had on the way home from school the other day:

Noah: Is it bad for boys to take off their shirts and show their top part?
me: not when you’re swimming. But if you’re at school or anywhere else, it’s inappropriate to take off your shirt. I mean, you don’t see mommy walking around in her bathing suit, do you? And you don’t see Daddy walking around without his shirt on, right?
Noah: no. Ya know, even when you’re swimming, there are swim shirts.
me: yeah, in fact, we just got a shirt like that from Aunt Aria for little Ray. I’m excited to use it next time we go to the beach.
Noah: he has a swim shirt?
me: yes
Noah: no, I mean one that you use in the water. It’s made out of different stuff than regular shirts.
me: yes, I know. Ray has one.
Noah: But is it a swimming shirt? One that he can be in the water with?
me: yes. I know what you’re talking about and I’m telling you that Ray has one.
Noah: no, no. It is made from swimming material, like swim trunks.
me: Noah, I know what you’re talking about and yes.
Noah: …(silent for a second) … mommy, can I see it when we get home?

It’s like he felt the need to check up on me. sheesh. This kid. I even got a call home from his school teacher about him “talking back”. So we’ve had several talks about it. I really think he doesn’t know it when he’s doing it. So I’m trying to make him aware.

But … here’s a thought – what if he really is a genius and it’s terribly frustrating for him to talk to everyone around him?

Last night, Daniel and I went in to check on the boys before we went to bed and we found paper next to Noah’s bed with equations all over it. He was doing addition and division last night. But addition into the thousands – like 13,777 + 13,777 = I don’t even know, I’d have to add it … Anyway, he’s a beautiful creature, just like the other two. I’m a lucky mom.

As for me, I know it would make me so happy to clean everything up and I should. I should get up off this darn couch and clean. Yeah … but I’m feeling tired and it’s overcast and I ran 3.22 miles yesterday and I just want to maybe take a power nap before the boys come home from school ….. pretty sure cleaning up is not winning this one.

Christmas vacation in NorCal

Posted on February 9, 2014 by francescaforsyth

First and foremost, Noah was baptized in northern CA. It was absolutely a dream. I loved everything about it and who was there and the Spirit that was so strongly present. I hope Noah remembers the day in some way. A little tidbit of information? Both Daniel and I were baptized in that very same font. Daniel has a picture of himself at 8 years old and his Dad (who baptized him), standing in the hallway of the church where Noah was baptized too. You better believe we took of picture of Noah and his Daddy in that same hallway. Here are a few pictures:

Yeah, Daniel was taking the pictures and didn’t seem to notice that Noah wasn’t smiling at all, in either picture. Other than that, perfect day

As for the rest of the trip – we hardly ever pulled out our camera. It’s too bad though, cuz it was a blast!

I will have to give more details later – gotta run and make dinner.

Christmas morning

Posted on February 9, 2014 by francescaforsyth

This year we did our own Christmas morning. By choice. And it was nice. We slept in a little, then Noah and Liam woke up. They opened their stockings and then all their presents and it was fun to watch and take pictures and just enjoy the morning focusing on Noah and Liam. Then, Ray woke up. And then Ray experienced Christmas morning. It was so cute.

Best Christmas morning picture ever, right?