Here's what our Saturday looks like.

We're finally redoing our nasty bathroom. Basically we gutted it and we're starting from scratch. Stephan's working on the plumbing under the house right now. We have a raised foundation so there's less than 2 feet of space underneath our entire house. Here's the underneath of our house. Weird, uh? This is an optical illusion because it makes it look so spacious.

When we ripped up the floor, there was five layers of flooring all on top of the original subfloor: black and white checkered linoleum, yellow flower linoleum, plywood, green and yellow linoleum and then more plywood. Ugh. It was seriously disgusting. There was termite and water damage in the subfloor so we have to replace most of that, hence the big hole.

Stephan invited the girls down with him. 

Penny went down first. Ginger's excitedly waiting for her turn. Penny's standing on the ground here, just to give you an idea of just how cramped it is down under.

Then Ginger.

We should have put Jake down there because he's the only one who doesn't mind crawling around. He's such a perfect baby. He was playing in his room all by himself during all the excitement. 

Penny the Graduate

Penny's part of a pre-school program at the high school and they had a graduation ceremony this weekend. Initially I was skeptical about a silly, little pre-school graduation. But I'll be honest, it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. Each of the high school students picked a pre-schooler and shared a few things about them. Penny's favorite teacher, Mac, said lots of nice things about Penny. Of course, I cried.

As they marched these little kids out onto the stage, Penny never smiled once. I don't know why she was so stoic. It's like she thought she needed to be serious while on stage. Even as Mac was sharing some funny inside jokes between her and Penny, Penny never cracked a smile. She just stood there all somber. Maybe she was nervous.  The ironic thing about Penny "graduating" from pre-school is that she'll be in the same program again this fall.

This is Penny and Ginger before the ceremony. Sometimes they really like each other.

This is Mac sharing some sweet things about Penny. 

It's almost like she's trying not to smile.

 

 Here's Penny looking at who knows what.

Pine Mountain

We went camping this weekend in a new place, Pine Mountain. It was so pretty and unexpected, and cold. We'd planned on camping much closer to home but that campsite was full so we kept driving into the Los Padres National Forest and came across this little gem. We got the last site out of the six in the campground. Penny had her heart so set on real camping that I don't know how we would have recovered if we didn't find a place to camp. It was a miracle, seriously. I mean, who just heads into the mountains to camp without a reservation on Memorial Day weekend?

Our original destination, Wheeler Gorge for you locals, is along a little creek and has bathrooms and running water throughout the campground. And, it's not quite up in the mountains so it's still low enough to be warm. We'd brought the girls swim suits and were going to splash and cool off in the stream. Pine Mountain, where we ended up, is at 7,000 feet. Fortunately we'd brought some water with us. We unfortunately didn't bring enough blankets and coats so we were all pretty cold at night.

Despite the cold, Penny had the time of her life. She kept singing songs about "real" camping. Stephan and the girls have camped plenty of times in the tent in the backyard but this was so much better than she could have imagined. She didn't mind freezing. We went to the store last night after we got back home and Penny told everyone she saw who would listen that she went camping in the mountains.

Penny in front of the hill next to our site. She called it Prayer Mountain. I have no idea why.

We hiked Prayer Mountain.

The girls on top of some Prayer Mountain rocks. (That's right, Ginger's wearing her favorite pink leggings with the pink and purple owl socks.) 

I'd forgotten how annoying crawly babies are to take camping. He spent quite a bit of time just hanging out in the tent, which he didn't mind if his sisters were in there to entertain him. 

If he'd been ignored for too long, he'd crawl up to the tent door and chew on the zipper and growl until someone noticed him. He's so funny. 

 There's just something about a big empty tent that kids LOVE! They all loved wrestling with Daddy and jumping around on the sleeping bags and throwing pillows.

Cutey Jake.

There was so much firewood around this place. Stephan's approaching camp with his wood collection while Ginger warms up by the fire.

Poor Ginger had a fever and this horrible cold all weekend but she's still so sweet.

She's cooking her hotdog "on" the fire. In case you can't tell in the photo, her hotdog isn't even in the fire ring.

We finally cooked her hotdog for her. And she ate it like a weirdo.

I know it doesn't look that cold but it was and Jake doesn't have any really warm clothes. He was a giant ice cube when we finally left but he didn't even seem to mind freezing. The Elmo toilet seat in the background was for the girls. They haven't quite mastered peeing in the bushes and they were petrified of the pit toilet.

Oh, Ginger...

Backyard photo shoot

We have lots of pictures of our children, but not many frame-able pictures. I've noticed that the girls aren't wearing pants in lots of our pictures, or they have crazy hair. I'll be honest, the girls hate having their hair done so unless it's a church day or preschool, I let them go free. It also feels so useless because Ginger will usually pull her hairdo out within the first hour so why even waste the time in the beginning, you know? I remember thinking that my little sisters always looked crazy because their hair was never done and I was in high school and embarrassed for them; but now I understand. It feels futile.

Anyways, I was trying to find a picture to frame of Penny and Ginger and we seriously had none of them both fully clothed and not looking homeless or too goofy. So, I took some pictures of them and couldn't believe how cute they looked with their hair done and in clean clothes.

Another pile of pictures...

I feel like I never really say anything on this blog. All I do is post pictures of my kids. Unfortunately here's another post without much to say but lots of photos. 

On Christmas Eve we read the nativity story from Luke. I told Penny we could act it out and she assigned everyone in the family a part. She actually surprised me with her assignments because I thought for sure she'd make herself Mary and Ginger would be Joseph or something. Whenever they play house, Penny always gets to be the mommy and she makes Ginger be the daddy, which if you didn't know, is the less desirable role. As the angel, Ginger took her part seriously. She stood on the little chair with her arms out bringing tidings of great joy for some time.

 

Grandma and Grandpa pulled out the snowman bubble blower and the girls were in heaven while they waited for Christmas Eve dinner. As I look at this picture, it's seems so ridiculous that snowmen are associated with such a green Christmas.

 

Stephan's Grandpa Lovstedt is visiting his parents so we were able to get a photo with four generations of Lovstedt men. 

 

 

Christmas morning was fantastic. The girls loved all their presents and I was embarrassed by how much they got. I swear next Christmas will be different.

We got to skype with my sister, Amanda, on her mission. I couldn't even e-mail on my mission and I swear it hasn't been that long since I was a missionary. She is happy and enthusiastic about the work.

Later on Christmas Day we went for a hike with my sister Juliann in the nearby Santa Monica Mountains. Juliann graduated from BYU this past year and moved to Southern California last month. Everything was so green and beautiful. Juli claims we only like having her around to take our pictures for us.  

 

We went for another hike later during the holidays in the same area, except we made it all the way to a waterfall. It was just over three miles and Penny hiked the whole way. She even crossed the small river. Penny decided her and Ginger should both wear all pink. I'm sure the day will come when my kids wonder how I could let them out of the house in this. Ginger insisted on walking so we let her start out but then forced her into the backpack. Her little legs make her a slow hiker.

 

 

Another day during the holidays, we went sailing with some good friends. Stephan got a turn behind the helm. Doesn't he look like a salty sea captain with his beard? Ditte's dad was nice to let Stephan try it. It's so crazy to learn all the weird sailing terms. If only I could remember what they meant. Like "coming about."  I think it means turning around, or something. I probably just made that up. Aside from some sea sickness, it was a beautiful day. We left Ginger and Jake home and had a fun day with only Penny. The sun was setting as we cruised back into the harbor.

 

 

 

Hiking Sycamore Canyon with the Fam

One of the best things about living here is our fantastic weather. Last weekend was beautiful so we went for a family hike in Sycamore Canyon with Grandma and Grandpa. Not many leaves change colors during the fall so it was fun to be in the canyon where we could see some yellow leaves. I know, I know. It's December and our "fall" is finally here. 

We're having crazy, rainy weather today so don't be too jealous all you family in freezing places. Although you're all probably having snow so maybe you're jealous of our rain. 


Grandma was trying to get Penny and Ginger to smile naturally for the photo so she was telling them an interesting story. Ginger paid no attention to the story and gave her cheesy, typical smile while Penny got too sucked into the unusual details of Grandma's story.

 

Ginger, like her Grandpa Keller, loves examining and collecting rocks. She is always filling her pockets with rock treasures.

How can you resist Jake's smile?! He's still mostly my favorite child. We can't get enough of this kid.

Grandma's two new knees did a fantastic job while she was hiking. Penny and Ginger love that Grandma can go for hikes with us again. 

Grandpa surprised us with some delicious chocolate covered peppermint oreos and that's how we got the girls to pose for the picture. There's not much you can't get a Lovstedt girl to do for some chocolate.