How SUITE it is

Nothin' better than a cold diet Pepsi and watchin' an A's game.

Our friend Jeff called the other night and said he had 2 extra tickets to the A's game on Saturday. Oh yeah, they were in the Luxury Suites. We had a lot going on Saturday, but Tim really wanted to go. I started whining (a little) and said that I had only been to 2 games this year. And I pointed out how many games he had been to this year, including the BBQ Terrace, I think I should get the tickets. Tim said that I could go and bring a friend! And he said that he would watch all 3 kids. So April J. and I made our way to the game Saturday afternoon. We had a great time along with Tammy and the McKissick Family, talking and eating and watching the game. Even thought the A's lost, it was very nice and relaxing. After the game, April and I made our way over to Fenton's for some yummy ice cream and more talking. It was a great day. Thanks McKissick's for the tickets and Thanks Tim for watching the kids! It was a much needed break.

My 10 year High School Reunion (Am I really that old???)

So the reason I went to Utah was to attend my 10 year High School Reunion. One of the best parts was that Tim showed up and surprised me!! He decided to come out at the last minute and didn't tell me. It was a great surprise. He left California at 8 p.m. Friday night. He drove to Winnemucca and slept in the car for 4 hours and then drove the rest of the way to Utah. The timing was perfect because he made it to the family picnic about 5 minutes after I arrived with the kids. (Because we both got lost trying to find the park.) The park was fun. There was a ton of little kids running around. It was weird/neat to see the "cool guys" from high school pushing their kids in the swings. It was a little windy so the boys couldn't play whiffle ball, so they were a little upset about that. Then they went to go jump in the bounce house. But it was time for the bounce house to come down -- Caden lost it. He wouldn't stop crying. So we knew it was time to leave the park.

Later that night we had an adult dinner at Buca di Beppo. It was a blast. So many people showed up. I didn't even get to talk to everyone that I wanted to (or I didn't even know that they were there!). Here are some pictures from Emilee's blog from the reunion. (I can't download my pictures from my camera yet, because of the ink being out. Stupid, huh? Hopefully next week.) It was great seeing our "old friends," some that I have know from Jr. High and elementary.

Emilee, Alisha, & Me

Alisha (Payne) Owens, Me & Tim , Bill & Emilee Carruth
Ryan & Tiffany McLelland, Marie (Camp) & Paul Richardson, Jeff & Monique Goddard

I want to thank Brooke and Jaime for all their HARD WORK for putting the reunion together. They spend a lot of time and a lot of effort to pull it together. I also want to tell them thanks for the movie gift certificate. Tim and I won the "being married the longest" award. Yikes!!

Getting to Utah ...

I think I jinxed myself with my last post because It took me and the kids a lot longer to get to Utah then we expected. Oh wait we probably could have driven to Utah fast than sitting at airports all day long. So the story goes like this (and Miles likes to tell everyone too) ... We missed our flight going to Utah. We left the house at 7:00 a.m. after trying to print out my boarding passes and the printer running out of ink halfway through, making a quick stop to McDonald's, getting gas, hitting the morning traffic, seeing an accident on the side of the freeway, and construction at the airport, we got inside the airport 15 minutes before the plane was supposed to leave. No one from Southwest even tried to help me with the 3 kids in tow. They just said too bad ... here stand in this line and check your bags. And then the nice workers at Southwest had the nerve to let another family cut in front of me in that line because they "got in the wrong line." I almost lost it. I didn't know if I should cry or start yelling. I didn't do either. I just calmly stood there. We finally got to the front of the baggage checking line (which took longer than a line at Disneyland) and told them my problem. They checked my bags to Utah and told me that I could get on stand-by for a 12:35 flight to Utah. So we waited for that flight for 3 hours. And then after the wait, there was only one seat open. So a nicer Southwest worker helped me out. He said that my options were 1. Go home and come back the next day and get on a flight, or 2. We could fly down to L.A. and then from L.A. get on a plane to Utah. I called Tim because I didn't know what to do. We decided to go with option #2. Besides our bags were already in the air on their way to Utah. So we got our new tickets and waited about an hour and got on the plane headed to L.A. No problems. Then we had to wait another 3 hours because the plane that was going to take us to Utah was delayed about an hour. So we ate dinner and looked at the gift shops at LAX and waited for the next plane. It finally came. We got on and was finally on our way to UTAH. After an hour and 40 minute flight. We finally made it to Utah at 10:30 p.m. Hallelujah! I have to say the kids were SO GOOD!! Alexandra had a rough 20 minute period on the last flight just because she was so tired. We we survived a very long day and 2 airplane ride to get to there.
(Note to self: NEVER EVER miss a flight again.)

UTAH ... or BUST

So the kids and I are leaving for Utah tomorrow morning. I still have a ton of things to do ... finish the laundry, pack, go to Target, the library, Miles' school, make handouts for Relief Society, we have tickets for tonight's A's game and Stamp Club ... and here I am blogging. I'm excited to get to Utah for a few days and see some friends that I haven't seen for a long time and hang out with my family.

Boating on the Delta ... no kids allowed

Last Saturday we went boating with our friends. It was great. We were able to find babysitters for the older kids and spent the evening on the Delta. We had 3 boats and 6 couples and 3 babies. We all took turns tubing and then stopped for dinner at a restaurant by the water. It was a fun evening. Alexandra did surprisingly well on the boat. She only cried when the boat stopped. Thanks to April and J.M. for putting this little getaway together. We will have to do it again soon.

Alexandra wearing her life jacket!

I love this picture of Tim and Alexandra on the boat. The sun is just setting and you can see the love they have for each other!

Swimming at Gehringer

Miles and Caden both had swim lessons a 2 weeks ago. Caden especially surprised me at what he was doing. He was going in the "blue badge" pool where he couldn't touch and diving down for toys, and doing "torpedo" swimming. Miles is a great swimmer. His swim teacher was trying to teach him how to dive. But Grandma Doll, being the great diving coach that she is, gave him a quick lesson and he was doing great! Remember Miles, your feet go in last!

Build-A-Bear

Miles and Caden got invited to a birthday party at Build-A-Bear Workshop. They had a blast. We have never taken the boys because it is so expensive. They had fun picking out their Bear's names and taking them home in their cool outfits. And they took a ton of pictures with their new best friends.

Caden with fluffy. Miles with Miles Jr.
Caden with Fluffy and Miles Jr. and their take home boxes.

Rice Cereal!

Alexandra had her 4 month check up on Wednesday, July 18th. She weighed in at 12 pounds 8 ounces (in the 20 percentile for her age) and was 25 inches long (the 75th percentile). She is healthy and doing great! She is rolling over both ways ... when she wants to. After her appointment, we went to Target to pick up some Rice Cereal.

Her first time eating Rice Cereal:

I think she likes it!!!

Oh ... maybe not ...

... I think she likes her fingers better!!

Doll Family Reunion in Utah

We drove to Utah for the family reunion. I hate making that long drive from California to Utah. But I do have to say on the way there the kids were SO GOOD in the car! Thank goodness for portable DVD players. How did our parents ever survive without them for those long car trips??
We woke up at 4:00 in the morning to leave for the beautiful drive that awaited us. We arrived Thursday night July 12th and stayed at my parents house for the evening, We were too tired to do anything else. Friday morning we got up and drove to Huntsville to meet up with everyone at Pineview lake. After being in the water and getting sunburned, we drove back to my parents house. We celebrated my mom's 50th birthday with a BBQ and some not so tasty Carrot Cake from Costco. Then we went and had a family picture taken with my family because the last one we had professionally taken was when Caden was about 6 months old. On Saturday, after Tim started to feel better from being sunburned ... We drove up to Hooper to Kim & John's house. We had a great time. The boys got to swim, go "fishing," and hit the Elmo pinata. They were good at talking some smack that night too. Their favorite thing to say around all the Utah cousins was:
Miles: "Who dunked on Kirilenko?"
Caden would respond with "Baron Davis!!"
Tim was so proud!!
Just in case any one forgot:


Our cousin Jessica also made this awesome video for the family reunion:


We had a great night, hanging out with the family. My favorite part was Rebecca cutting my hair ... with an audience. She did a great job!

Suzi & Alexandra: I think our favorite activity that night was playing whiffle ball amongst the horse poop and the llamas:



We stayed Saturday and Sunday nights in Layton. Sunday we went to church in Kaysville. Off the subject here, but I just have to say that I felt a little claustrophobic being in Utah around so many Mormons in one place. I was ready to leave church!! It makes me realize how much I love our little ward here in California. Anyway, so Sunday night we went to Stef and Gary's house for dinner. We watched the older cousins play some 3-on-3 basketball. They are all getting old and out of shape!!


We ended the night with some stories about Grandpa and Grandma Doll and talked about the Doll Family Genealogy. Monday we got up and drove back down to my parents house to do laundry and pack up. We decided to start driving back to California that night. After we went to the Salt Lake Bees game. We drove to Winnemucca before finding a hotel room for the night at 3:00 a.m. We ended up finally getting home Tuesday afternoon. I think I am still recovering from the drive!! It was a great, and quick weekend. It was good to hang out with family and cousins that we haven't seen in years.

All Star Fan Fest

This year the MLB All Star game was in San Francisco. I got free tickets to go to the All Star Fan Fest. (Haven't I said how much I love free stuff?) We got to go July 6th from 7 to 11 p.m. The boys had a blast. I think their favorite was participating in the Pitch, Hit & Run clinic on the big baseball field. I told Tim that this was a once in a lifetime experience!

Miles and Caden's picture was taken for the front of their own USA Today Newspaper.

These pictures are supposed to look like we are catching a fly ball just over the wall.

4th of July

We went to the A's game on July 3rd. I like to go to the firework games because they are the best around. I guess I enjoy a good fireworks show where the music and fireworks are synchronized.
Miles thinks fireworks are too loud so he is plugging his ears.


Caden enjoyed the fireworks show. He is our little "tough guy." Isn't he such a cute kid?

Alexandra is waiting for the fireworks to start too. Doesn't she look great in her pink A's outfit? (Thanks Jeff & Tammy & Sophie)

Then on the morning of the 4th, we had a pancake breakfast and parade at the church. Tim's mom bought us all the Old Navy shirts this year. Alexandra got the "Grandma favorite grandchild" treatment that day. Linda decorated the stroller and made the blanket and headband for Alexandra, plus bought the "lil firecracker" shirt, the Capri's and the sandals (that didn't end up staying on her feet.) to complete the ensemble. Didn't she do a GREAT job? You can tell Alexandra loved it!! Thanks Linda!!

Later that day we went to Tim's parents house for a good old fashion BBQ. And the boys got to swim in grandma's backyard.

Our matching shirts

Here we are in our matching shirts for the fourth!

MHS ~ 10 years later

I just had to write that I get to go to my 10 year high school reunion. See our reunion website. I am so excited!! I was able to get some cheap airfare to Salt Lake. So the kids and I are going to fly out to Utah for 6 days. Unfortunately Tim can't come because of work and the paper route. But I am excited that I get to go!!

New Calling

Saturday night we went to Lincoln Lopez's Baptism. Afterwards, Bishop Score came up to Tim & I and said we needed to talk. You never know what is going to be said when the Bishop asks you to come into his office to talk. {My heart starts to beat a little faster.} We first started with some small talk and he asked us what our callings were and if we magnified our callings. Then he started to say that Sister Dangerfield has been the Relief Society President for about 6 years and her husband isn't doing well ... So I am thinking to myself "Relief Society President, NO way, I'm not old enough." Then he says that they are not releasing her {Thank goodness} but they are looking for a new 2nd Counselor who happens to be the Home, Family and Personal Enrichment Counselor because Jen Munns is moving in a few weeks {Thanks Jen}. So Bishop extended the call me! I was, and still am, feeling a little overwhelmed. It is going to take a lot of time, and planning and prioritizing of my time and life.
The amazing thing to me is how quickly it happened. Friday was our Stake Temple Day. Bishop Score said he was at the temple praying for an answer to fill this position. He said my name was the right one that came to mind. He saw Tim and I Friday evening at the Temple and he had his answer before he even saw us. So he extended the call to me Saturday night, before he had talked to his counselors, before he had talked to the Relief Society President. He just knew it was right. That testifies to me that I know this calling, at this time in my life, is right for me. It is truly inspired, because I wouldn't pick it. The Lord knows I need it. WOW!

Digital world

I have been online looking at blogs from some of my friends from high school. They all have CUTE blogs that they have designed using digital scrapbooking. So I thought I would try it out. This is my first page that I have designed. It's not the best out there, but I am learning on my own and hopefully I can get better.

SO BIG!!

Alexandra loves to play "Soooo Big!" Miles took the bottom picture. He did a great job!

Here is a new video of Alexandra & Caden.

The Week of the Desks

Two Sundays ago (June 10th) we were driving home from Church and we were stopped at a stop light. On the corner of Clayton Way and Concord Blvd. there was a big desk with a sign that said "FREE." I said to Tim, "Look a free desk" more teasing than being serious. We drove passed it and and he called Chris immediately asking to borrow his truck to haul this desk to our house before anyone else took the desk. Chris and Tim went back, picked up the desk. They said it was heavy and big. They didn't know how to two of them lifted into his truck at all. Chris had to go somewhere. So Tim called J.M. and Max to haul it into our house. It WAS big! But it was free!

Then on Thursday (June 14th) we were on our way to a park for a picnic with our friends. On the corner of Concord Blvd. and Denkinger there were about 20 school desks sitting out. Once again I said to Tim, "Look free desks." He said we would pick one up on our way home, if I really wanted him to. We got home and we forgot to get a desk, so I made him go back and pick one up. When he got back he had brought home 2!! One for Miles and one for Caden. They were so excited!! They put all their school supplies and books in them immediately.

What we learned: Concord Blvd. has sweet stuff for FREE!! Hurray for free stuff.

Cute Babies ... Best of Friends ... Upcoming Terrors in Nursery

We were at the park Tuesday night celebrating Chris' 35th Birthday (he's SO old) and realized I had my camera so I took some pitures of our all babies who have been born since March. It will be fun to watch them grow up and be friends. Looks like little Tyler will be the "ladies man."
From left to right: Sophie McKissick ~ April 12, Tyler Cook ~ April 18, Lauren Jacobs ~ May 17, Alexandra Doll ~ March 12.

Here are all the mommies holding their cute babies!! Tammy & Sophie, April & Lauren, Hayley & Tyler, Me & Alexandra.

Jana & Anthony's Wedding

Tim's baby sister Jana got married this weekend. Everything turned out beautiful. Thursday night we went to the Oakland temple for Jana's endowment session. Friday we helped set up for the reception and we had a family dinner at the church. Saturday Jana and Anthony were sealed in the Oakland Temple. It was a short but sweet ceremony.

The kids were surprisingly good, for being such a long day. Miles was "Mr. Photographer." He took almost all the pictures that he wasn't in, and he did surprisingly well. We had 260 pictures on our camera. That kept him busy most of the day. The highlight for Miles was that he caught the garter at the reception. He was so excited and kept running around with it. Alexandra looked beautiful in her black and white dress. (And not in the HUGE bow on her head in the first picture.) But she was the happiest all day after I took off her dress and carried her around in her onesie during the reception. Caden had fun running around with his cousins and friends. Tim was busy being the DJ for the reception.

Memorial Day Weekend

Last weekend was Memorial Day. So on Friday we took the kids to see Shrek the Third. We went to the re-opened drive in theater. I think we will do this more often. It was great! Kids 11 and under are free and you get to take in your own food. That was nice and cheap. Plus the kids can talk with out bothering everyone in the theater and I could wear my PJ's!

Saturday we took the kids swimming. We were at the pool for 4 hours. I even brought my camera to take pictures of Alexandra in the pool, swimming with Tim. She doesn't seem to mind the water. But we only keep her in for about 5 minutes.

Monday we went up to Mt. Diablo. The biggest "mountain" (it's more like a hill, compared to Utah moutains) in the Bay Area. We stopped for some Subway sandwiches and then had a picnic at Mt. Diablo. First we stopped at "Rock City" and climbed around the rocks. Then we drove up to the top and looked around. We could see Concord, Clayton, Walnut Creek, Martinez and Danville. Miles got a little scared being up so high. Alexandra was a trooper and survived the day. We went to Tim's parents' house afterwards for a BBQ. The boys swam in Grandma's pool/slide. Miles said that was his favorite thing he did that weekend.