Ben got bigger!!

Sarah, I couldn't figure out how to e-mail this to you with Picasa. If you know how, let me know, kay? Love ya!! 

Surprise visit to Sacramento

Last weekend my brother-in-law, Andrew, flew my mom and dad, my brother, Nate, my sister, Elisabeth and Benjamin and me (Matt couldn't come because he had a Jr. High retreat to lead worship for) down to Sacramento to surprise my sister, Sarah, for her 30th birthday. It was a blast. When we got there, Andrew and his dad picked us up and brought us to Andrew's parent's house. We stayed there while Andrew went home and brought Sarah out for a supposed dinner date. While we waited someone said that we should have called her and told her "Happy Birthday" since Sat. was her actual birthday, and she might get suspicious if no one called her. Nate was the only one that could have called at that point, becuase he had his cell phone, and if any of us tried to call, she would see that we were calling from Sacramento. So, Nate made the call. Unfortunately, Nate is the worst lier ever, and Sarah was asking the wrong sorts of questions. Finally, she asked, "Are you guys in Sacramento?" He pretended like he was loosing reception, and hung up on her. I think that made her a little suspicious. She's a sharp cookie!! Then we all (all of my family and all of Andrew's family -- minus his brother, Serge, and his wife, Olga) went over to Andrew and Sarah's house. We got everything ready (Andrew's mom and sisters had made a ton of wonderful Russian food, and his mom had made an amazing birthday cake for Sarah), and then waited in anticipation. Finally we heard a noise at the door. We waited. There was a slight knock. We were confused. Someone opened the door, and Andrew came in. He said that when he told Sarah he had to come back to the house to fax something, she decided to wait in the car. He asked what he should say to get her to come in. Angelica (Andrew's sister) said to say that Skipper had peed on the couch (something he's been known to do on occasion). Andrew quickly went back out. A few moments later they both came to the door. I heard Sarah laughing. "She must know we're here," I thought. Then they came in and we jumped up and yelled, "surprise!!!" She was surprised that the party ended up being at her house. We then commenced the party, and had a wonderful time. The whole weekend was great, really. It was so much fun to just hang out with my family, kind of like it used to be when we were younger (except I have a baby now, who did amazingly well on the whole trip, despite the fact that his sleeping schedule was all out of whack). We got to sit one afternoon and draw and paint and, of course, play games!!! :-) (That's for all you Hadleys who may be reading this!!! :-) ) We did watch a movie, too -- Freaky Friday. Anyway, we also went and kind of explored Auburn, an old mining town, on Monday afternoon and evening. It was a blast!!! I am so thankful to God for family, and for safety on the trip, and for my sister!!! (I only wish Matt could have been with us.) Maybe next time!!
I'll include a few photos so you can sort of feel like you were there. :-) From top to bottom: the four siblings in the airport before we flew back(this was our silly pose -- Lily said she can't do silly, she can only do cute!); Ben at Sarah's party; Sarah opening gifts; Sarah's beautiful cake; most of Andrew's family, with my parents and Lily in the background; us after church -- apparently I missed the memo that we were supposed to wear blue! :-)

Ben's New Bath

Benjamin is getting to be a big boy, and now that he can sit up by himself, he was ready for a new bath tub. I'm new to motherhood, so I'm not exactly sure if an inflatable turtle bath tub is the best thing for him or not, but he likes it, and he gets clean, so I think it will work for now. :-)