Real San Diego Pic

This is a pic of the kids doing our Easter Egg hunt on the beach--on Tuesday.... These kids don't have the speed thing down just quite yet--they like to stop and open the eggs to see what it in each one before putting it in their baskets.... sheesh. who taught these kids how it's done?!

San Diego

Happy Spring Break!

No, this is not an April Fool's joke, we really did this today. Caleb wanted to make a mutant snow goon and we had fun doing it. Not your typical Spring break activity but you do what you can in a Utah Spring. :) See ya in California!

Sleepover success!

Ya know, there are some sleepovers that just need to end early. Kids are tired, kids are at each other, the mom is just ready. But this sleepover could have gone on longer, it just ended so that it would end on a happy note. :) I think it was the best one ever. We went to Granny Gray's house last night and that was wonderful entertainment for the boys. Then they all went to sleep fairly well and in the morning they resumed their usual play. Setting up clubs with the sleeping bags, sliding down the stairs in the sleeping bags, playing dragons and swords and portals and making up their own rules with memberships and everything. What made this sleepover great was that it snowed during the night and the snow stuck! It was also fabulous packing snow so we (excluding Jonah who chose to remain indoors) headed outdoors and built ourselves a fort. It was a great fort! The boys had fun throwing snowballs at each other with the fort, and working together. Too bad the sun came out and melted it. :( But after the fort was done we came inside and my Gray boys introduced Dacia's Gray boys to snow ice cream. It is a Rachiele family thing and it is sooo good. Well, Jonathan was not too into it but he was also complaining of cold from being in the snow.

Good times were had by all. The boys could have gone on forever, they love hanging out with each other. But like I said, I ended it simply so we could have all happy boys and they would be left with happy memories instead of someone getting too tired and then someone else crying. But goodness, the sleepover ended at 3:00pm I would think that was long enough! As we were driving away from Dacia's Caleb was on major sleepover let-down. He was so bummed that he could not be with them longer and he just wished he lived at their house. What cute boys! We love our cousins and we just wish the other three were here to play with us more (that is a shout out to you Jackson, Douglas and Cooper).

Grandpa Guido

Before the week passes me by and we get on to more exciting events and holidays I did not want to forget about my weekend. My Grandpa Guido Rachiele passed away and his funeral was on Friday. It was neat to be able to hear the other grand kids memories and remember the times I got to go to his store and he would let us grab as much candy as we wanted for free. I know, I was one lucky kid. He had to be one of the most well know men in Carbon County. He was the County Commissioner for eons and everyone who was anyone went to his store to talk politics or just to relax in the chairs behind his counter. The Mayor of Price even spoke at his funeral and had all kinds of wonderful things to say about him. The coolest part for me, I think, was when we were making our way to the cemetery. It is at the edge of town and so you need to drive a little ways to get there. The city sent police cars to each intersection we would cross and blocked traffic for us while we drove to the cemetery. What a great honor for my Grandpa to have him remembered as such a good man.

Well, after the funeral and food we headed over to the house and people started talking and taking the things that they wanted. My Grandpa Guido had a lot of clip-on ties. He wore a white shirt and tie everyday that he went to work. So, all of the grandsons were able to pick out the tie that they wanted to keep from Grandpa's collection. This is a picture of my boys in their Grandpa Guido ties that they wore to church on Sunday. They were so proud and excited to wear them, Willy loved showing his to everyone in Nursery. And the picture you see in the background was painted by my Grandma Dorthy (Grandpa Guido's wife).

So, here is to you Grandpa. I kept thinking at church how my Grandpa probably never thought one of his ties would make it to an LDS church but there were three of his grandsons wearing them with pride. Peter even slept with his on the night he received it. Cute, cute boys and one awesome Grandpa to remember.

Wortcher

We were sitting around the dinner table tonight eating pizza, and talking about Layton for some reason. Jonathan started messing around, "Layton, Layton-hey! That rhymes with Satan!"


Spencer is a little rascal. One of his favorite things to do is steal your place once you get up for whatever reason. If you're sitting down watching tv, or typing at the computer, or reading, and you get up for any reason, you come back to find him in your spot, giggling. The other day I was laying down on the floor reading a book when Addison started fussing. I got up to put her binky back in her mouth and turned to lay back down--and there was Spencer, laying in the spot I had just vacated, laughing at me. At first I thought he was taking my spot because I had warmed it up, but now I think he's just a little stinker and likes to steal my spot.


Jonah attended his first Blue and Gold banquet with the cub scouts this week. He had just received his new cub scout shirt that day, and he was pleased as punch! He posted the colors as a part of the color-guard, and was super excited to be able to handle the American flag. He's been learning a new blues piece on the piano in addition to his classical ones, and he seems to really get a kick out of it. That is the piece he constantly keeps coming back to the piano to play at odd times of the day. This morning he and Spencer were screeching at the unholy hour of 8:45am and I stumbled out of bed and downstairs to yell at him, demanding to know why he wasn't at school, and that he was late, and so on. He finally said, "But dad, it's Saturday!"

(Stupid red-eye correction feature. Red eyes or black eyes, take your pick.)

Dacia trying to coax Addison into taking a bottle.


Spencer got a hold of the camera. This is Dacia trying to coach him in taking a picture, then giving her back the camera without destroying it first.

Rachel's Blessing

Hey all: Just to let everyone know we are going to have Rachel's blessing on Sunday Feb. 28 at 6:30pm at the Jackson's in Holladay. Mindy's mom wants to do a dessert for it, but we have not found out if it will be a pot-luck style dessert or not. More to come on that later. Looking forward to seeing all of you soon!