San Francisco and the Katapodis family

What a summer it has been! We just got back from a wonderful family vacation to San Francisco. I am exhausted! But we had so much fun. We spent one day at Fort Funston (sp?) on the beach. Eleni was so excited to see the waves, she took off running right into them. I wish I had my camera that day! The kids were covered in sand from top to bottom, but they were in heaven! Lydia collected enough sand dollars to give to all her friends back home, and Jacob was fascinated by the crab legs he found scattered on the beach.

Speaking of crabs . . . the above shot is on Fisherman's Wharf. I swear, I brought the St. George weather with me! It was a sweltering 90-something, and hotter on the over-crowded trolley. And of course Eleni wouldn't let anyone else hold her. So there I was, 8 months pregnant, holding a baby and hanging on to the trolley bar for dear life.

Jacob has never been so excited--on our trip we had the chance to take nearly every form of transportation. That little Thomas the Train fan was totally in his element, checking out the "tracks" for the Bart subway in San Fran, which he thought was a real train named Bart and straight from the Island of Sodor. He kept his little face plastered to the window of both the train and the plane for the entire ride. We also rode the shuttle from our car to the airport, and he thought that was Bertie the Bus. Those of you without experience watching the Thomas series may not understand. But the rest of you mothers with boys--you understand, right? :)

We had fun walking around the wharf with Seth's family--this is Brittney, my fabulous sister-in-law and Seth's brother Vance. Their baby, Austin, is about as perfect as can be.
Here is the Katapodis clan. What a wonderful bunch of people! They were amazing-- from Texas to Vancouver traveling all the way to California. Papa & Grandma (Seth's grandparents and Elaine's parents) are sitting on the front row. They amaze me by how active they are--I think Papa's 92! And they both have the cutest sense of humor. Below you will find the handsome King brothers sitting by Papa. Isn't Seth cute?
These are almost all of Seth's cousins and his siblings. I think we were only missing Shawn, right?

This is Melissa, Seth's 2nd cousin. None of us had met her or her mother, Barbara (except Elaine, of course), but we felt right away that she was a "kindred spirit." She was so nice to my crazy kids who were running on empty! She's part of the reason I survived the trip--this pregnancy is catching up with me! And Alex & Krista (Seth's 2 cousins)--the other amazing helpers--had all kinds of cute games and toys for the kids. Their favorite was a bubble machine Alex brought, which is definitely on my list of purchases for the near future . . .
The day of the reunion was my birthday, and the Kings were so good to me! Elaine & Bruce offered to watch the kids for us, so we went on a drive exploring the beautiful bay coastline. This shot is right above the San Andreas fault line.

Then we went with all the married siblings to Papa's favorite seafood restaurant, Nick's, which sits right on the coast at Half Moon Bay. It was a perfect setting! We couldn't resist taking some "engagement" pictures with the waves and sunset as a backdrop. "Engagement" may be pushing it, though, since my gigantic belly gives me away!

Bethany's Wedding--The last of the Romney Siblings!

Well, my little sis is now married and has left the roost! It's hard to believe I've met all my Romney in-laws now, but Seth and I couldn't be more pleased. Jonathon is wonderful and perfect for Beth. And doesn't Bethany look absolutely beautiful? I wish she'd been so good at hair when I got married . . . she did her own, and my dad did the flowers. He let me help with some of the arrangements at the reception, one of the highlights for me. I love working with Daddy on weddings.




When Beth and Jonathon came out of the temple, no one was paying attention, so they had to do it over again, for the sake of pictures for posterity. This is them acting surprised. :)

And this is my favorite piece of decoration at the reception. It was held in my parents' back yard, which Daddy had made absolutely breathtaking, complete with maze, labyrinth, hundreds of trees, and beautiful flowers & blooming lilacs. It was perfect for a reception, and I'm glad one of us finally got married in the proper season to use it! Anyway, this is the cake my mother-in-law made and Daddy decorated. Isn't it amazing? It fit right between these two trees and Dad somehow tied it up there. Pretty cool! (By the way, thank you Lou for the picture--I had to steal it from you because I was too busy, I forgot to take pictures of the reception!) By popular request, I've enlarged the picture and found a closer shot.
My beautiful sisters & siters-in-law . . . and I'm being such a good mother to my crying baby . . .

Here's a picture of Benj & Amy. They are such cute newlyweds! So are Anth & Kylie. Kylie was especially helpful during the reception with Eleni, who wore a grumpy face almost the entire trip. I think she was overwhelmed by all the people. Also, Chelsea, nicknamed "Aunt Choody," made the weekend special for Lydia by having a "princess party," complete with crumpets (rice crispy treats) and lemonade. I think all the sisters and sisters-in-law had more fun than the little girls, what with our English accents and deciding on the best Disney prince and princess.Beth's colors were white and green, which ended up looking very pretty on Lydia's tan skin. One day swimming in St. George, and she's as brown as can be, while I'm still white as a ghost!
Here's Ellie with her cousin Isaac, who said this statue of Chopin was Joseph Smith . . . what a cute little guy he is! Jacob was sad not to be there to play with him. I left Jacob home with Daddy and his Uncle Brian, who is living with us for the summer while he works a landscaping job. But don't worry--Daddy secretly rented a jet-ski and took Jacob & Brian to the lake all day Saturday. Poor lonely men, left all on their own! Jacob loved it.

Just a couple more, I promise . . . Here's Ellers with cousin Miles, Isaac's little bro, and also below with Autumn, her little twin cousin (Lydia's daughter). When they were in their matching lime-green dresses, I kept getting them mixed up from behind. And Eleni wearing her scowl, of course. It has become a permanent fixture now, usually accompanied with an impatient, "Momm-eee!" like I've done something wrong. What a peanut!

Anthony's Nauvoo Wedding

I've been meaning to post this . . . A few weeks ago, my brother Anthony married his beautiful wife, Kylie, in the Nauvoo temple. What a treat! Seth was a real trooper and stayed home with the kids so I could fly out to enjoy the wedding and a quick tour of Nauvoo with my family. We only had about 3-4 hours total to be actual tourists, but we packed it in! The wedding was beautiful, the temple was beautiful, and my favorite thing was that I actually saw fireflies!!!! That's always been an unspoken dream of mine, ever since riding the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland (remember the fireflies in the bayou just before you go down the waterfall?).Abraham, Chelsea (Abe's awesome wife), Benjamin and I stayed together in St. Louis, then drove to Nauvoo. It was so fun to see all of them again, especially since I haven't seen Benj since his mission other than briefly at his own wedding! My parents drove their big van across the states to get there, and it was such a beautiful place for a family reunion. If I'd had Seth and the kids, it would have been perfect.

We were lucky to get to drop by Carthage Jail too. There is a special spirit about those sites, particularly in contrast with the sites owned by the Church of Christ. They were good too, but there was something unique about those sites hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am so grateful for the early saints of the church and the sacrifices they made. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, and although it was amazing to walk where he walked and actually see Nauvoo, my testimony of the restored gospel is as it ever was. I know it is true.

A day in the life of Lyd, Jacob, & Ellers . . .

Here are a few pictures of our crazy kids . . . Jacob & Eleni are finally getting along fairly well, and Lydia is forever accommodating them and trying to keep the other two happy. Now that she's home from school, Jacob always wants Lyd to play trains with him. This morning she had another fun game set up, and Jacob changed his mind and started begging her to play trains. She hollered in complaint to me, "Mom, I got this all ready, and Jacob says, 'I want to play trains!'" Jacob had ears only for the last part and cried out, "You do?! All right, Unt-see! Let's play them!" Lydia got the giggles and ended up, as usual, playing trains. :)

We have officially started "Summer School" at our house. Lydia & Jacob have been looking forward to it all spring, so the pressure is on for Mommy & Daddy to make it fun to be home in the St. George heat! Last week the highlight was Daddy taking the kids to the Dinosaur Tracks museum here in town. He's in charge of major field trips and science projects--Mommy is in charge of the other subjects.