Prayer!!!

So Booklyn has now started saying her own prayers, we are so proud!! It's quite adorable actually, she might say something like this, "Heavenly Father, thank you to food, Heavenly Father, thank you to broccoli, thank you to mommy, thank you Linguine make good food (she had just watched Ratatouille) thank you Jesus Christ, amen." Might I add as she says "amen," she raises her hands straight up in the air. Anyways, the other night she went on and on and on and finally after about 2 minutes of nonstop worship, Tyler, who is the most patient of all of us shouts out a sigh and says, "I just can't take it anymore!!!" It was hillarious!

P.S. Today Ryan said "Da Da!" Of course, Scott thinks it's because he loves him the most, I just nod my head, and say "of course, Dear!!!"

West Hills Ward

The ward received our records in our new ward this Sunday and were officially welcomed in. After Sacrament meeting the members we greeting us with phrases like, "Did I hear right, you have 5 kids?" and "You're the new family with 5 kids." I guess we stick out a little. In the Summit ward it wasn't all that uncommon for us and our friends to have that number, or more!
We were invited over to our new friends Jeff and Natalie Call's house after church. I told Jeff that my grandmother was a Call, and that my dad was born in Afton, WY. After chatting for a while, Jeff decides to go on the church's new website (new.familysearch.org). What do we find out?..... his grandfather is my great grandfather, or in other words, his father and my grandmother are half siblings. (My great grandfather and his first wife had my grandmother, she died and he remarried and with his second wife had Jeff's dad!) Cool. I can't wait to talk to his Jeff's dad when he gets off his mission.

The West Hills ward is also setting a lot of records for the Humphrey family as well. Since receiving our records on Sunday, we've had the primary president, the bishopbric and the Relief Society Presidency come over to our house. Wow. Is that a welcome or what. I can't recall in my entire life ever having the Bishop ever coming over to my house. They really know how to make us feel important. I can't forget the Elders quorum, in our new ward either, they came out in numbers to help us move in to our new home. Thank you. I would be ungrateful if I didn't thank the Summit ward's Elder's quorum for helping us move out, Thank you as well.

The wonder of it all

All in all we had a wonderful vacation/trip up to Portland. None of the places we went to were busy at all, which allowed the kids to wander and explore as much as their parents would allow. Hearst Castle was the only hard part for the kids, as it was a living museum and no flash photography was allowed in or OUT of the castle grounds. The younger kids were getting a little rowdy outside the front of the castle and the guides suggested that they go inside to a quite room to play. This allowed Darcy to feed the baby and allowed Brooklyn to play with some toys, and get some of their energy out without disturbing the other visitors.
Sequoia was great. I think we saw maybe a dozen other cars the whole time we were there. It felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. The kids and I loved it. (Darcy was not comforted in the fact that no one would hear our screams, if a bear or mountain lion attacked) The kids could be as loud as they wanted and not disturb anyone. We had an amazing experience seeing the wonder of the some of the largest trees in the world. The few visitors we did see were mostly foreigners. It reminded me of when we went to the San Diego Zoo in October (kids are free for the whole month). A lot of people were speaking in foreign languages. The zoo wasn't that crowded then either.
Yosemite was awesome. Again not a lot of people. We did meet up with a family from England that we met in Sequoia, and their daughter, who was about Elena's age, and about her height too. If Brooklyn hadn't gotten sick we would have been able to have hiked a few more trails. She was able to ride "shotgun" on Darcy's lap. Maybe it was the insanely windy roads or the entire pack of ice breaker sours that she ate that made her throw up. We knew when it was time for her to throw up because she'd say, "Don't like it throw up." Not very enjoyable for Darcy who had to hold her for the hour trip on these curvy roads. We all wish we had a few more days there to see the grandeur of it all. We were able to get up to Glacier Point before they closed it the next day for the winter months. Hiking up to Glacier Point and Moro Rock and seeing the views were breath taking.
I think I should be out of work more often. j/k

All in all the trip was great. The day before we left Fontana there was a car chase that ended in front of our house to wish us goodbye with Fontana PD and Sheriff lights flashing all around, and even a helicopter overhead for over an hour wishing us goodbye. One of the suspects only broke in and barricaded himself in our neighbors house for an hour or so.
Arriving into OREGON, we were greeted with snow. Lots and Lots of SNOW. Roads were closed. What should have taken us 8 hours took over 13. Did I mention there was lots of snow. Record breaking snow. It broke records dating back to the January 1950. Welcome to the cold Humphrey family.

Best picture ever

Okay, for 4 months we've been trying to take a picture of Ryan
that shows just how cute he really is, I think we nailed it!!!
Call me a little biased, but I think he looks just adorable!!!!!

Ryan was priviledged to have his first taste of real food a

couple days ago...Mason thought he'd be nice and share his

gummy bears with his little brother(the one time Mason has

been willing to share!!!). Thankfully Scott was right there and

noticed Ryan choking and was able to turn him over and give him

some good back blows, but the gummy bear managed to slip down

his throat into his little tummy. Scott said after the fear of the whole

situation was over, he couldn't help but laugh as Mason sat there crying,

saying, "Why didn't you tell me he couldn't have gummy bears???"

I guess what had happened is while Scott was installing a shelf in our

kitchen cupboard, Mason was helping him out and Scott vaguely remembers

Mason saying something about "Ryan" and a "Gummy Bear." It was one of those

not so great parenting moments where you barely hear what your child says and

you agree to it anyway. So, poor Mason was so confused about why dad said he could

have a gummy bear one second and the next his little brother was choking to death.

Life is just full of surprises, I guess the earlier he learns this the better! ;-)

Yosemite

I love the picture of Ryan pointing towards the sky, I thought is was cute. Anyways, Yosemite was so fun. Spending 2 days there was barely enough time to see everything we wanted. We were able to go on a couple hikes and drove to some pretty spectacular view points. Half Dome is so beautiful, and just the waterfalls, there were too many to count.



And, what's a family excursion without Mason acquiring some major injury...that's right, he decided to walk along a wood fence about 3 feet in the air and did a lovely face plant onto the cement! Luckily no stitches required this time.

Sequoia National Park

The highlight of the whole trip for Scott and I

was the 400+ steps up Morro Rock. The view

was one of the most amazing thing we've ever seen .

We were able to make it to the top just before the sun was setting.

You could see forever. We took tons of pictures, but none of them do it justice.

The only thing in my book that comes close in comparison is seeing the

Delicate Arch at Arches National Park in Utah at sunset.

This was such a feeling of awe and amazement to see one

of the most beautiful of God's creations.

Solvang

Yes, we are here in Portland and now I finally have a little time to update the blog. I know it took forever, sorry, things have been a little busy. My parents spent tons of time getting the house ready, but there was still a lot to be done, so we actually just had our first night in our house on Jan. 9th. Before that, we were staying with my parents. First of all, we would like to update you all on our amazing trip up here. Since we have so many pictures, I'll be updating them in sections.

We started our trip in Solvang, CA...it was so much fun. The kids ate their first abelskeiver

(a danish dessert, kind of like a round puffy pancake), they loved it so much that Mason and Brooklyn licked their plate clean.

Hearst Castle

After our relaxing 2 days in Solvang, we were able to head
up the coast to see the beautiful Hearst Castle. Scott,
having served a mission in Spain, has been priveledged
enough to witness these amazing structures,
but I have never seen anything like it.
Words cannot explain how pretty everything was.
My absolute favorite part of the whole thing, was the
outdoor pool. The view of the ocean from that spot was
so beautiful. I would love to go for a swim and step out
of the pool to that view, heck I'd just be happy to have
a pool!!!

Best of all

There were many wonderful memories on this trip up to Portland, but my favorite by far was this sign we saw outside a gas station in California. I laughed so hard I actually had to take advantage of this facility.

Sometimes it's just the small things in life that make me happy!!!