Random Pictures.....

This year is almost over and i am so grateful to have all of these people in my life. I am missing some pictures of the boys (my brother, uncles, grandpa and all of them together) but i just wanted to post this, because Calvin has been sooooooooooooo busy and he is in charge of the blog and i am getting bored of the old post!

My family. This was last month in Las Vegas. I love hanging out with the girls I wish we could see each other more often.

My boys, are the cuttest thing ever. They are so sweet! They are growing toooo fast!!!!

My big boy Calvin, as you all know he is the best dad ever!!!!!!!!!!! and Hubby!!!!!!!!!!

The Mckendrick girls. These girls are funny! I love spending time with all of them knowing we can have some major fun and no one can stop us.

Caleb Turns Three

Happy birthday Caleb!

Halloween in Vegas

Romy's baptism was a hit as was trick-0r-treating with the cousins on Carol's side of the fam.

Caleb kept asking, "Dad, can we go to Halloween yet?"

Josh's Elder's quorum party he organized went well even though the majority of the attendees were the Sabogal's. He had the most hilarious games we've ever played. It was perfect for all of the couples there. Games included the photo scavenger hunt through the casino, town plaza, and Blockbuster in our costumes; the newlywed game mixed in with "smash an egg on your head: raw or hard boiled?" And this bizarre orange race in which we had to knock the orange with another orange in a pair of pantyhose hanging from our waist.

One of the funniest things we heard on Halloween night was when one of the homeowners in the neighborhood asked: "Did you guys take a bus to get here?"

The First Two Days

We celebrated Caden's fifth birthday on the second day of school. The first day of school was pretty chaotic due to the disorganization of the admin. The A/C wasn't working in the cafeteria and they decided to give us an orientation after sending off the kids. Shouldn't they have done that like the week before? On top of all that, they said kindergartners couldn't have backpacks! Can you believe that? So here's a post that combines the first day of school with the 5th birthday.

Recruiting Trip

We had the privelege of spending a week or so in Utah last August to see family, recruit some future BYU students from our ward and welcome home our newest returned missionary. It was relaxing and as usual, a beautiful Provo summer. Here you'll also see a picture of Josh playing games with nearly all of he 10 grandkids as to keep adults sane. The organized chaos that the kids call playing is non-stop and they never complain until we have to leave:( I ran into my old Intramurals boss while my bother-and-laws and I were sticking true to one of our latest traditions of playing basketball. This time it was against the better part of the BYU baseball team. Another trat is that of going to Tucanos to eat as well as Cafe Rio. Stephanie really enjoyed the campus and tour taken from the Hinckley Alumni Center on the day of summer graduation exercises. It reminded me of two things: the first summer session I attended as a freshman when i was walking by the MOA when Pres. Monson posed to take some pictures with graduates. I walked right by them! Then there was my last summer in Provo when I graduated the day before Carol and I got married. Here you'll also see Robby Polo who served in New Zealand and returned with his parents on his birthday! It was a huge Sabogal-Polo turnout in SLC! Before that we got to sneak over to the conf center for a quick tour with polo & stephanie. We went on the roof and saw the most amazing gallery of art. It was all of the originals of the book of Mormon artwork! (the guy was like EVERY piece of art in the CC is original!) Dang! You've gotta see these things up close. There's things you can't see in print. The TEARS on Lehi & Sariah's face when they are on the ship on the way to the Promise Land as well as the view of the once powerful Nephite nation with Mormon (the bottom part that is usually cut off is pretty gorey). It had the quality of a French art gallery (Carol and I being expert critics and all, lol) and come to find out... the artist (whos name escapes me) was French.

Vacation Begins...

The first two weeks in pictures...

Storytime.

The best part about Legoland is the preferred parking for all Volvo vehicles. Oscar & "King"

Incarcerated Cousins.

Jason & Brianna

Lilly on "Small World"

Entering "Small World" with the boys.

Waiting for "Buzz Lightyear"

More line lingering...

Autopia

Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium. The game ended in the bottom of the ninth in dramatic fashion with a walk-off homer that won it for the Dodgers.

Top Deck with the ward & fans.

Santa Monica Beach & Pier

Burying all of our buddies...

A nasty burn accompanied by new (huge & dark) freckles :(

Burying our next little victim...

Night swimming...

Private swim lessons with Christian...

Moving all the furniture out to replace the carpet :(

Missionary farewell.

Comment if you've ever served in an area (on your mission) for more than 9 months. (That's exactly 1/2 of this Chilean Sister's 18 month mission! She must have loved your ward (and town) so much :)

Caden's primary teacher... and future missionary (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Homemade Lego power vehicle. We spend hours at a time with mom and dad building new things.

These two weeks were fill with moving, disneyland, beach, dodger game, legoland, pool and pizza night all in a span of five days!

Beach Bickmores

Our awesome Bickmore cousins made the trip down from Utah (Kent & Terry's families were well represented).

Our annual "jump" pictures are becoming quite popular. Excuse my flab.

Searching for a little mermaid...

...oh, we flounder!

I never imagined this (having two boys of my own) even being possible. Sometimes I still can't believe it. Thank you Carol for doing such a great job raising them. I know it is not an easy task! No one loves you more than they do. I'm sure the three of us constantly (and literally) fighting over you--just you--proves that.

C-Bad '09

Memories of chilling with our Utah/Bickmore cousins in the 80s. I'll have to dig for & scan those pictures. Desirae in Daisy Dukes. Quite a sight to see.

The best investment you'll make in life is investing time listening carefully to Grandpa Bickmore.

Checkin' under the hood. (It's all good).

Sea otter, sea otter, what do you see? I see...

Preparing dinner.

Gazing at the sea.

The view from our campsite.

If you're happy and you know it shout hooray!

Sweet Suite Sweetness!

I had been waiting 10 years for this day to come. I'd actually given up hope a while back. Thank you so much Alex and Jessica for hooking it up with these "sweet" suite tickets last week at Staples Center. We had the time of our life watching a variety of talented artists perform!

I'm sorry, but all I got on camera that night were a bunch of pearly whites... oh well.

We chose to be adventurous and take the Metrolink for the first time into L.A. It was an unforgettable experience. Everything was so tranquil (beats L.A. traffic in the heat), cool (A/C was kickin') and plush (clean and freshly upholstered) until this sheriff came through an roughed up this young man (typical racial profiling stuff that minorities complain about) that bought a student (discounted) ticket. I mean the kid was not talking back, but he was avoiding the questions (and the truth) for awhile. I felt uncomfortable when the cop began to cuff him, threaten to throw him in jail, search him, use some explicit military terminology, then take a PERSONAL PHONE CALL, then continue to badger, taunt, and chastise the dude. This last part was done while he was writing him a citation and informing him he would be booted off at the next stop. Dude, but who buys a discounted ticket, then lies to a cop about not having ID on him (he actually fessed up to his age in a timely manner) and avoids answering a simple question like, "What year were you born?" I hope I don't sound like Obama did this week when he criticized the police for roughing up a Harvard professor who was breaking into his own home, but c'mon! The other thing I noticed right away when the cop was dealing with the situation was that I would have dealt with a similar case a lot more chill in my classroom. Why? Because I've had worse cases where kids have NEEDED the treatment that the cop was dishing out. I've so far been unable to incorporate these "strategies" into my pedagogy.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well, it's not much, but it's well on its way. However, some thinning, pruning and spacing are definitely in the works. We'll see how well the little ones keep care of the sprouting corn, peas, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and broccoli!