Snow, Snow. . .SNOW!

Our First SNOW!!! Yee Haw! We in the evergreen state are seeing white! A beautiful blanket of fluffy white snow. Peyton and Lana were having a snow "ball" of a good time. The first snowman. . .well more like toddler than a man, but it was the first one of the winter and first snowball throwing and snow angels and snowflake eating and on and on with frozen hands did they play. During the ward christmas party as it was snowing big chubby flakes, Peyton went outside to taste test the new falling snow. Lana was dainty in her ballet slipper shoes and twirly dress, but she got in there and had her share of fun too. Oh, the magic of the Christmas season!

Ward Christmas Party

Tonight was our ward's Christmas party. My beautiful and talented sister-in-law was the woman of the hour and was in charge of the whole shabang. (sp?) It was so amazing. Christmas in Navou was the theme and a husband and wife in the ward played the part of Joseph and Emma. They even rented costumes! They were flippin sweet in their get-ups! "Emma" even made a skirt for it the day before and got a black wig. . . they went the whole nine yards. I am super impressed.

Speaking of impressed though. . . my hubby sang in a quartet tonight w/his bro. They both did the bass part and rocked! Well, it was a christmas carol, so it didn't literally rock, but it was more like - AMAZING! They have the most beautiful voices! I got a bit of video of them singing, but I really think that it would be detramental to my marriage if I were to post it. But I cannot tell you how attractive it was for me to see him up there singing and hear his voice, oh baby!

It was a beautiful evening though. Sissy did a slam bang job with decorations, food, entertainment and everything in between. Everyone had such a great time! Plus the evening was perfect with the seasons first snowfall.

Our Saturday activity. . .Wrestling tournaments! We had a busy one yesterday too. Jared took Peyton to Enumclaw to weigh in at 8:00am, came home, we all left to Graham to Holly's baptism, afterwords we had to forgo the lunch at Mazatlan. All the fam went without us and we went to Enumclaw to make it to the last two rounds. Peyton lost the first match and kicked up his game and pinned his opponent in about 30 seconds. He was pumped!

Turkey Tourney~Peyton had fun, although a bit tired from all the food he ate the day before :). He took 3rd place and was excited to get a medal. He took it to show his class on his show and tell day. Good times.

Bye Bye Baby

My cute crawler is learning like mad. We spent our usual Sunday at The Rodarte's, Grandma tells me to come over to her. Here is what she showed me. Lily is pure genious. It comes from my side :).

Going Parkin'

Good times with friends. Des and I had our monthly trek to Comfort Foods and then over to the Puyallup park. Just a quick note: the sugar cookies there are to die for, literally. . . the bomb! When we got to the park, Peyton begged me to hold Lily, and said, "Mom, look at these benches, take a picure of us." Then he and the kids posed for me. This quite a miracle let me tell you, because he never does that for me. So here are my sweet babies posers!

Getting Back to Nature

Jared has been able to enjoy the great outdoors with his dad and brothers this hunting season. Peyton, Trey and Sam have gone with them a few times too. Even though there hasn't been any kills, just getting out in these beautiful areas are worth it right? A week left in the season, we are still hoping for that elk! All I'm saying is that if there is that trophy kill, if there is any head mounted it will look really nice in Jared's office ;).

Baby Time with LJ

LJ, Lily, Luke & Lane all hanging out together at our house after wrestling, waiting for the enchiladas to get out of the oven. Sleeping babies are not off limits and will be awake and playing when LJ is around. Lane is playing too, though you can just see his hands. Too sweet. And yes, Luke has way more hair than Lily does, so not fair :)!

Dress Up

I just had to post a picture of Lana in her wrestling match outfit. No, we didn't just come from church, she is in love with dresses. This one was from Ross and it flowed around her legs just right and she just had to keep swirling it around. Tights are a new found love. Now we dress up most every day. It's fun, life's short, enjoy the twirl!

Peyton's Pin

Peyton's first pin of the season. Way to go quick feet, drive, drive, drive!

2nd Wrestling Match 11/8/08

Wresting season has begun! Life for the Rodarte's is now in lockdown and full of half-Nelson's and "quick-feet". It is amazing to see the growth in my little buddy though. Last year was his first year of wrestling and he had matches against boys who had more experience than he did, so there was a big learning curve for Peyton. There is something about this year for him though. His teacher says that Peyton has matured since last year and is now what she call a "serious student". What a relief. (I have been stressed out with this because Peyton never showed any interest in learning the ABC's, reading, coloring. . .he is on his own agenda. He learned how to ride a bike on two wheels before he would potty train.) Here he is a serious wrestler. Instead of crying at each match (which is what I did last year, though I was an emotional pregnant woman :) ) I can get excited and cheer him along. There is one person that makes the difference for Peyt, his dad. I should say it with a capital "D". Jared is his idol. Anything Daddy likes and does is what Peyton likes and does. I can't imagine a better role model for my son. With Jared and Clint coaching this year all I can say is Bring it On! Stats: 6-0;1 pin

Sweet Cheeks! Andy and baby Lily are showing off their juiciness after a fine Sunday dinner at Mom and Dad's. Andy is sure sincere with his pearly white grin.

My Baby is a Crawler!

Yah, she's supposed to stay tiny and newborn, but she has other plans. She is on her own timeline of life. I am excited that she is such a cruiser, but it is so sad too. Why do babies have to grow up?

Trick-or-Treat!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN~TRICK-OR-TREAT~BOO~GIMME SOME CANDY!

Lana and Peyton were excited about their costumes this year. Lana is in love with the Disney Princesses and I think that she looks like Belle so we found this one and were in love. It also twirls! Definately a must in Lana's requirements of clothing items lately.

Peyton got a sweet costume from Grandma R. He got to be the Great White Ninja. Poor guy is colored like his momma :) so he will always be my whitey. Ninja swords from Wal-Mart completed his get-up and Brooke painted his face, he was so happy about that. Thanks Brooke, you're a doll!

What a beautiful and perfect Halloween this year! I was all smiles and so excited. This is the best Halloween I have ever had in Washington. It rained in the morning and by 5:00 the sun was peaking out and it was so warm and nice. The trunk-or-treat at the church was a blast, we were able walk around and talk to our friends and just enjoy the night. On the way back to the house the fog came out and was a perfect background for the trick-or-treaters. Jared took the kids around the neighborhood and Cim and the girls joined in when the got here. Some of the houses were all decked out with Halloween festivness. Poor Lana and Elle had to endure some of the scarier houses in order to get the loot, but they survived and got away with a bunch of sweet treats. I just got rid of some of the Halloween candy from last year a couple of months ago, so here we go again. Could we donate to charity? :)

We capped the already great day off with a party at Crystal's house for Kyle and Brooke's birthdays. There was fabulous food, fun family and it was one freaky Friday!

Cheer Bear

My beautiful Lily is my Cheer Bear this year which is very appropriate for he. She has been such a joy in our lives. With her smiles and attentiveness and just plain sweet nature, she has brought the family such a ray of "sunshine"!

Boot Scootin' Lily

For about three weeks now Lily has been a crazy crawler. Well, more like bouncy crawlin', but it's super close to her having the ability to get wherever she wants to go. She definately is on her own set schedule of life. Two sharp teeth emerged a month ago, the bottom front. There is no question that she knows how to used those chompers either. Food is high on her list of things she is super interested in. Not so much the mushy "baby" food, she wants my apples, pears. . . steak :) Yes folks, she a Rodarte for sure! We're are in love with her, completely. I truly believe that your heart has to triple in size with each new spirit you get to have in your family. Is it wrong to love your babies so much? I sure don't think so!

Leaf Wreath

So, hello. I am back! As promised, I am show & telling my leaf wreath that Lauralee and I made today! She has done this many times and I was really excited to learn how. It's something you can make every year w/a fresh batch of newly fallen leaves. She used all yellow and I had darker colored leaves that I had snatched from off of Hwy 162 at the grange hall before Military Rd. Yes, I got my community service in today and made it into something beautiful! Life doesn't get more fulfilling than that. :) Good times. Thanks to my BFF too, Kristin held Lily for me so I could play in the leaves, getting tangled up in florist tape. One thing I can truly be thankful for are true friends. . .luv u guys!

P.S. Larissa, whatever a tag is, which I'm not sure yet, I hope this fulfills that "tag". So, do I get to say, tag ~ ur it?

"A dream is a wish your heart makes"

We are at the happiest place on earth. Peyton and Lana's eyes are big, round globes of excitement and awe. After a quick photo op, we head over to the funnest rides. Peyton and Jared were going to be riding buddies, how fun for Peyton to have his daddy go on all of the rides with him. Mom and Lana were to be mostly on the lookout for the princesses. Splash Mountain was first on the list and a giddy Peyton and Jared quickly went for round two.

Crystal's friend gave her a guide to Disneyland book and it tells you how to get the most out of your day and ride all the rides. Since it isn't as hot in the early morning hours, the water rides aren't the most popular and have smaller lines. There were a few slick tricks that it gave us to beat the heat and lines.

The Haunted Mansion was next and Pirates of the Carribean both of which Lana's eyes were tightly shut and ears muffled.After some Winnie the Pooh, Aladdin, dancing to the fiddler, the petting zoo, a long wait for Autotopia for a quick car ride, a quick rest then a night time jont with Space Mountain for the boys and Buzz Lightyear, we were filled with a fun day and ready for a good nights rest for the fun to begin again.

Monday, April 7th these two snuggle up and get some sleep before their magic begins!

Day 3~

The ZOO!!!

They way our family rolls is pretty unique. We are not few in number and I challenge anyone to have as much fun as we do on our own schedule. That being said, we arrived at the zoo after getting all families up and ready after a full and exciting not to mention long day at Sea World (which was one of my favorite days and Lana is still singing the Shamu song, "Left, right, Shamu, Shamu!). Then we heard them all onto a bus, drive 2 hours south to San Diego and by this time, we need to feed the herd. How to you feed such a slew of people? Why a buffet of course. Otherwise you're going to have a long wait for your food, which isn't fun with 22 grandchildren running around. We all load up again and head for the zoo, Jared at the wheel (he assumes this role in most situations). The navigation system is telling us where to go and when we arrive at our destination we find out that we have 2 hours to get wild with the animals. Most of the family got on the tour bus and went for a quick ride to check out the beasts. Peyton was so excited to see all of the different jungle animals and one of our favorites was the black panther. We never got to see it up close, but the quick drive by was amazing.

Frank really wanted to see the gorillas. I didn't really understand his wish to see them until we were at the exhibit. It was truly amazing. They are truly a family. Grandma taking care of her grandbaby~giving piggyback rides and mother trying to put her baby to sleep as the baby is trying to get a little "snack" and mom finally gives in after which the baby falls asleep. I can definately relate to that. It was really sweet to observe them, I haven't ever seen an actual

family up close like that before.

I think the boys were really relating to the gorillas as well. They were all getting back to their roots, their heritage. :)

On the drive home, we were able to catch a quick view of the San Diego temple. What an amazingly beautiful building that is. It would have really been sweet if we could have at least taken a picture in front of it.

Fun day all in all and we were ready to get some rest for the day ahead of us. . . Disneyland, here we come!

Disneyland!

I am new to this blogging bit and even though it's been 3 months since the trek of the Rodarte Family Adventures in California, I though that I would start there.

We started out on April 3rd in this 37 passenger bus that Dad bought and made some adjustments to specifically for this trip. He added a stove, small fridge, a bed in the very back, accessories in the bathroom as well as a sink that he designed, an extra fuel tank, paper towel racks. . . it was pretty amazing. I've learned after being a part of this family for almost 8 years now that whatever Dad can imagine in his "Great Brain", he can make happen.

So the adventure begins as we depart Enumclaw, destination Disneyland. I forgot to mention that at this point I am 9 months pregnant, expecting our 3rd! Some of my friends thought that I needed to reevaluate my decision to go, but I really felt that everything would be okay. The only thing I worried about was subjecting the rest of the family to a grouchy pregnant woman. We aren't the cuddliest things around. Dad was very accomodating to me and rigged the very back seats to face each other and then fabricated a padded board to sit flush with them to make a type of bed so that I could put my feet up. What a guy! We were loaded up with snacks everyone provided and little pillows Mom & Dad got, ipods, video games, movies and lots of Rodartes. This was going to be something that would go down in the record books as an amazing family vacation.

After 20 hours and 5 driver shifts we reached our hotel and before the bus could slow down the restless little ones were scrambling to the pool with a few beraggled parents following behind. Oh, there is nothing better than lots of sunshine and a cool pool! I wasn't quite in the mood to strut my bad self in a swim suit ("in my delicate condition") so Aaron took care of helping Lana and Peyton was pretty confidant on his own. You've never been to the pool until you've been with this family~cannon balls, splashing, laughing, piggyback rides. . . anything fun and they are a part of it. Jared had two of the five driving shifts and was too pooped to pool, so he sacked out on the bed instead.

Day 3~

SEAWORLD! Left right Shamu Shamu-Left Right Shamu Shamu

This was one of my favorite days! We went to dophin shows, a cute seal show, the Shamu show-walked and saw penguins, felt an ice wall, we all loved it! Lana still chants "Left, Right, Shamu, Shamu", along with the arm motions that the trainers did for the show. She'll sit down with me and say, "Mom, 'member when we were at Disneylan' and Shamu made us wet". She says a lot more but I know that there are many things about this trip that are engraved on her little brain.

Nearing the end of our day, Jared and a few others discovered a ride called Atlantis and with the park closing soon, they went on it about 4 or more times. The kids and Audrey and I watched them as the splashed down at one point. The ride was about 15 minutes long, so I waited and watched. They were having a good time.

More to come soon. . .