With a hint of sanity!

Family Vacation 2012 Mexico

2012-01-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

Several months ago we decided this year instead of a lot of toys for Christmas, we would take the kids on a trip. Because of Brett's work schedule in December, we opted to go in January. We booked a 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise on Carnival.

We flew from SLC to LGB and had a few hours to kill before we could board the ship. We ate breakfast on the Queen Mary, which is a big ship/hotel/entertainment place in the harbor where our cruise ship was docked. After breakfast we took a bus to downtown to play. We found this great Dollar bookstore, full of used books, and while we were reading/browsing Derrick wet his pants. Ugh. All of our luggage was a bus ride away checked at the port, and we had planned to see a movie that was starting a few minutes later. So, we looked for a clothing store. There was NONE nearby. We tried gift shops, only T-shirts. Ugh. So, I did some quick thinking. I bribed Dillan to give Derrick his underwear (It cost me $4), and then I took off the tank top I had on under my shirt and put it on Derrick under his shirt. So, basically he had on a skirt. So cute. Of course, we could not find a bathroom to do this in, so we did the clothing swap in a photo booth! Haha We all had a good laugh. Then we sat outside the theater and played UNO until it opened. I took a nap in the dark theater, and the kids watched that new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.

Then we went back and got on the ship! The kids were pretty excited the first night for dinner! Lexi, did not quite make it though, she konked out part way through!

She was cold so she used the napkin like a blanket and fell right to sleep!

We got all dressed up for the fancy nights! Well sort of. As dressed up as we tend to get.

Derrick loved having his Wendi along for the fun. At least he did the first few days.

Lexi mostly enjoyed just getting to spend time with her Daddy. She is such a daddy's girl!

We had more nights of sleeping on the dining room chairs.

The kids had a great time with the napkins. The various crew members made them all kinds of little animals, hats, etc. with the napkins. The kids loved it.

Along with a lot of fun in the dining room singing, swinging our napkins, and watching the wait staff do the dances, and what not. I personally just loved having everyone fed, and not having to cook or clean any of it myself! It was cute to see what the kids would order, and how different their orders were from what I expected.

We enjoyed a number of towel animals, and the kids thought they were pretty cool. Each day they would put in their requests for what towel animal they wanted to see that night. One night Dillan asked for Transformers, and Lexi for a Unicorn. haha so them. They got a polar bear eating a fish instead!

We had some great days on land. We went to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. Our first day in Cabo we did a whale watching tour, a land tour, and played on the beach. We saw a pod of 3-4 whalaes, we weren't really sure. I will post video later. I got a couple pictures though. We saw sea lions, and birds. We enjoyed the beach a lot! So much that we opted to do that and shopping on our second day in Cabo. It was really fun. On that day, Lexi got her hair braided by a couple of women on the beach, and the boys played with this really playful dog. The pictures got all out of order so I will just caption them! Enjoy!

Fun drinks in Puerto Vallarta at the Zip Line place!

Chocolate night on board the ship! Yum.

Dillan got a frozen lemonade, it was the yummiest one!

It was Wendi's birthday while we were there, so we went Zip Lining and then had the wait staff sing to her at dinner. I think it was a pretty fun birthday!

Derrick basically sat on my lap for every meal

Derrick got sick a couple days in and was running a fever, he slept a lot for a couple days.

Zip line bandanas, unfortunately, after we got there and paid they told us Derrick couldn't go. So I stayed with Derrick and the other 4 went, while we ate, and just sat around. But we got the cool bandanas anyway.

The kids paid a dollar to take a picture with a donkey! It was very fluffy.

Getting her hair braided. It took a long time.

Eventually another woman came over to help braid. it sped things up considerably.

The finished project!

Playing games on the beach. We had a ton of fun with these things!

Still braiding!

Lexi and the donkey.

The boys and the dog


Lexi buried in the sand.


Yummy burritos we got from some guy on the beach for $1. mmm


Brett enjoying the Ocean

Lobsters

Face paint from camp Carnival

Whale tail

Whale backs

More whale

Looking at seals

The Cabo arch and our little family!

Feeding the fish off the side of the boat

Dillan made into a mermaid


Playing in the sand

Dillan's 7th Birthday- Legos!

2012-01-30T10:47:00.000-08:00

I love a good birthday party! So for Dillan's birthday he chose Lego theme, and for weeks I put together the stuff for his birthday. We invited the kids from his class at school, as well as the kids from the neighborhood, and family. We rented out my Grandma S's clubhouse for the party since it is close to Dillan's school, where the majority of kids would be coming from. We planned games, got helpers, made food, made goodie bags, etc. Here are some pictures and explanations of the party!

Dillan's nana and papa took him birthday shopping before the party so we could get everything set up. He arrived right when we were ready to start, along with two great helpers!

We had corn puff treats (loved the yellow for the Lego theme), caramel popcorn, and chocolate popcorn! It is a fun, easy, yummy snack, but I forgot what a mess it can make.

I used marshmallows to make Lego man head pops, and put them in bins of lose candy to hold them up. We used gummy bears, jelly bellies, and m&M's. They were so cute!

For the cake, I bought a pan that makes square pieces, then used marshmallows to make each piece look like a Lego block. Then I dipped them in chocolate, and assembled them on a board in a "7" for his birthday. It made serving them really easy, as they were already pre-portioned out. Let me tell you though, it took me several tries, and a lot of help (Thanks Nat!) to get these dang things covered. Next year, one big cake. Too many hours spent on this one!

For the party favors we use a craft punch to make the circles and put them on bags to make them look like Lego bricks. I then filled the bag with some popcorn, a homemade Lego coloring book. Lego man shaped crayons, Lego brick candies, and a Lego man head marshmallow pop. They turned out so cute!

The delicious caramel popcorn!

The table with the goodies and the party favor bags!

For the food, I covered juice boxes and used the craft punch to make more bricks, then we served Nachos (again the yellow for the Lego people), and individual pizzas. I made about 50 of the pizzas the night before. I was surprised how quickly it went. It took me about 2 hours to roll out and cook all the dough, top, and freeze all 50 of them. And for about $20. Cheap and delicious!

We had a lot of fun games. When the kids arrived, they got to choose a lego head cut out (Thank you Silhouette) and this was their name tag, and group. The color indicated which group they were part of for the games. We split the kids out and rotated every few minutes. It was organized chaos and so much fun!

For Lego free build, the kids just got to play with Legos and blocks and build what they wanted.

For this they got to spin around, with a hankie, and pin the head on the Lego man, courtesy of Becca, the heads I cut out using my Silhouette, which was amazing since I needed about 50 of them!

The Lego races I got off Pinterest, and I got plumbing tubing, and the kids had to stick a Lego in it and race it to their partner at the other end. This turned into a lot of spit in the tube, so by the end we kind of abandoned this station.

The kids threw legos into jars from set marks, and got prizes if they made it in.

This is Lego Bingo, it was cute! Works like Bingo, but with Lego figures, and we used M&Ms to cover each space.

To make the crayons I used an ice cube tray mold made out of silicone. Then I melted existing crayons in a tin can in a pot of boiling water, dumped the melted wax into the mold, and let harden. This took me a week to do in order to make 150 crayons total. The coloring book I found online and just printed, cut and folded.

It was so much fun! Here are some of the pictures of the kids enjoying the party!

Adult Christmas Dinner 2011

2012-01-30T09:27:00.000-08:00

Every year the Yerkes family adults get together for a Christmas dinner. This is done in lieu of gift exchanges, and is so much fun. We all love spending the time together, kid free, to enjoy eating and talking. This year Angel was on crutches due to a hurt knee, but still managed to make it. We celebrated after Christmas because due to hectic schedules we couldn't all fit it in before hand. Here are some of the pictures!

Derrick turns 3!

2012-01-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

Both my boys have January Birthdays. This is a recap of Derrick's third birthday:

Look he is showing you he is 3!

We had a family party, then a friend one. He got fun presents, and had a great time, and is so glad he is three now. The next morning he woke me up saying that he should be able to crack eggs for breakfast because he is big now. hmmm great!

He picked his cake at Costco for the family birthday party

Blowing out the candles!

We had some great party guests! Ryker!

Adley

Lexi!

Dillan

Nana

Betsy and Glen

Papa

We ate yummy cake, pizza, salad, etc!

Daddy saying "Three"!

Derrick's favorite present was his big pirate ship!

It did not come assembled, and it was excruciating waiting for dad to put it together.

All done, such a happy boy!

After his family party, about a week later, we threw his friend party. He chose a Dora themed party. So we went with the theme and had a great time. We served Dora yogurt, bananas for boots, and animal shaped waffles. We also had various beverages, then cake pops for the dessert. They were Dora themed, my great friend Nathalie made them. We started by eating breakfast, then the kids all gathered round, and we presented them with a backpack and map. We had created a balloon tunnel down the stairs, and a duck pond in one room, and a bowling alley in the other. They had to find the hidden treasure. We played the Dora theme song, the Map, and Backpack in the right places, and sent the kids on an adventure. They had to read to the grumpy old troll to get down the balloon tunnel, find the missing ducks to cross the pond, and bowl down the pins to find the hidden treasure (the party favor bags). It was great fun.

Blog catch up Christmas

2012-01-30T08:45:00.000-08:00

I am playing major blog catch up. I decided to skip Thanksgiving, and try and just hit some of the highlights. So, here is Christmas...

We saw Santa--A LOT!

We had a flood in our rental on Christmas Eve. No fun!

We had a great Christmas morning with a yummy breakfast and the company of Nana and Pop. We went to Church. We then went to Gma and Gpa's for even more Christmas fun.

Lexi loves the Beebs!

Dillan got his electric scooter!

I think Derrick was most excited about the candy!

Lexi in her new Christmas dress, which got glitter on everything!

All dressed up for Church!

The kids all got bathrobes!

We love opening presents!

We love to travel

2011-11-30T13:24:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, we just got home from an amazing Anniversary trip. I am still jet lagged, and planning a Thanksgiving Dinner to make up for the one we missed, have about a million things on my to do list, so this is the short and sweet recap of our trip, if you want more details, just call me! I can talk and clean/cook/decorate at the same time. I am just talented that way. Also, just putting this out there, we LOVE to travel, but want travel buddies. Anyone want to know when I find a good deal so you can go with us? Let me know.

This is me in the Atlanta airport. We had an early flight to Atlanta, then a 3 hour layover that turned into closer to 5. Stupid Obama. Yes, I am blaming him. The plane we were supposed to fly to Rome on had been part of the fleet that flew around the Pacific with him on his little tour thing. Of course, the press crew that was on it trashed it, so they had 3 cleaning crews trying to clean it up and get it ready for us to take it to Rome. It took a while. We did not mind waiting too much. We ate at a restaurant in the airport (Friday's) and then I worked while Brett watched football.

After we flew to Rome we took a tiny little flight to Genoa, or Genova, if you are Italian. We rode a bus out to the tarmac, and boarded our flight. Isn't Brett cute after 12 hours of travel?

Me, not so much. Very tired!

Brett was pretty excited because look at all the leg room he had on this flight? We were in row 2, and they had one more seat on that row so he had no one in front of him.

When we got to Genova, we took a bus to our ship (it was a cruise transfer). Then we pretty much slept the rest of the day, trying to catch up and acclimate. That night we went to dinner and met some soon to be new friends. When I booked the cruise they ask if you are celebrating anything special. I indicated that we would be celebrating our anniversary. Well goofy me, I put in the wrong date (the 21st, but our anniversary is the 22nd). Brett always teases me that I am the one that always gets it wrong. Long story short, they brought out a celebratory cake for us, which was awesome!

It was tasty!

The next day we went to Barcelona. This was our actual anniversary. We did a tour of Gaudi's Masterpieces, which was pretty great.

This was one cool building. I can't remember the name right now (fatigue does funny things to my brain), but the top was designed to look like a dragon, and the balconies like the masks worn to masquerade balls.

Then we went to Casa Milano, it was really beautiful.

This is from the inside courtyard.

The view from the top balcony thing. It was pretty windy, and cold. Brett thought it was funny that the wind blew my shirt up right when he took the picture. He said it made me look pregnant. haha.

This is an old curling iron! I am so grateful for modern convenience.

We then went to this beautiful public park designed by Gaudi. GORGEOUS. Seriously, it was awesome.

He used all the leftover tile pieces from other jobs to make this park, and all of the beautiful mosaics, etc. for the people.

Then to the biggest thing by Gaudi in Barcelona, La Sagrada Famila, a huge Cathedral that is still under construction according to his specifications. They are hoping to have it done by 2026, 200 years after his death to celebrate it.

The next day we went to Palma de Mallorca. It was a beautiful island. I forgot my camera, and the one on Brett's phone is kind of broken, but we went to a pearl factory, then went and bought jackets because we were FREEZING. Then we went to the coolest place I have ever been, the Cave of the Dragons, or Cuevas del Drach. It is a huge cave full of stalagmites etc. and underground lakes. It is huge. At the end of walking through it there is an underground amphitheater that seats about 600, and a big lake. They have you sit in the amphitheater, and then this orchestra comes out on boats and you get to listen to this amazing music. It was great. Then you got on a boat and rode out to the exit.

This is the cathedral in Palma. Huge.

This is in Malta. This was our least favorite day. It rained a lot. We went to Mdina, and Mosta, and the Rotunda. We rode a hop on hop off bus, and it was ok.

This is in Mdina, an old city, the old capital. It is all walled off, and very old, really cool buildings, cathedrals, etc.

We made a joke just the day before that these phone booths only exist now for tourist because everyone has mobile phones. So we had to get a picture in it.

Brett wearing the crown!

Oh, my knight in shining armor!

Our towel animal!

We played a lot of foosball or table football as our London friends onboard called it.

On this day we were in Palermo, Italy. It was a beautiful day. We went to the Opera house, the big theater, some garden place, a huge cathedral, a few smaller churches, and a big market. We took a cab, and then when we got back to the port, we decided to just walk around the city. It was really fun.

There were lots of stray dogs.

This theater was pretty big, but a bunch of people were having an Occupy Mossimo outside of it.

Horse and Carriages everywhere!

The big cathedral. Brett needed to confess his sins. JK

If you look at the rocks in front of us it says PA for Palermo, then 26, 11, 2011 the date we were there. They change it every day I guess. Pretty cool.

This is a really old, really cool tree.

This was the lunch we ordered in a little cafe in Palermo. Then we shopped. Brett got a couple suits, I got some pants and a hand bag.
That night the ship had a food art thing, it was really cool!

Then Rome, my favorite city. We went to St. Peter's, then toured the Castel Astel, then went to Piazza Navona for tartufo, then the Colosseum again, and took an amazing tour. Then took the metro to Trevi fountains, had our delicious gelato, and then back to the ship. A lot of walking in such an amazing city!

St. Peter's square. The pope came out and waved, but we missed it.

Oh don't worry this is just Brett with a bust of Lord Voldemort. Seriously, it looked just like him!

At the castel

The outside of the castel

Eating yummy chocolate!

We of course had to buy roasted chestnuts. YUM!

Listening to the tour guide.

Our favorite gelato!

The next day we left. We took a bus, then a train, then a bus to get to the airport.

We saw the monuments to Christopher Columbus, and had lunch in the city center.

Then we took a flight back to Rome, and from there to Paris. We got to Paris about midnight, and took a night time bus into the city. We ate this amazing meal at this cute little cafe, Garde de Nord Cafe.

We had onion soup (The French is implied because we were in France)

Brett had mussels.

Here he is showing me his muscles and mussels.

I had duck confie, YUM!

Then we finished off with absolutely fabulous creme brule. Then at about 3 in the morning we hopped in a cab and went and saw the sites. We went to the Arch de Triomphe. the champs elysees, the louve, the opera house, the big obilisque, and of course the Eiffel tower. The pictures suck because it was dark, and I couldn't figure out how to use my camera in the dark. But here they are!

this is brett in front of the Eiffel Tower, can you tell? haha we bought a little light up one for the kids, and some key chains! We can't wait to go back.

if you look closely you can see the louve pyramid thing behind us!

This is me trying to sleep on the freezing cold, marble floor in the CDG airport in Paris. Then we came home. It was lots of fun, but we are glad to be back and with the kids.

Halloween

2011-10-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Christmas is a really close second, but I think Halloween takes the cake, or the jack-o-lantern anway. Just love it.This year has been so crazy that I felt like I haven't been as in to it, good thing we still have one day left.

So, we started the month off making caramel apples:

She is such a little poser! haha

Most of them looked like this!

Then Lexi's school did a pumpkin patch field trip, which I went with her on as a parent volunteer. Riding the bus brought back all kinds of funny memories.

These three girls were who I was over. Abby, Abigale, and Alexis. The A team! They had a blast jumping off hay bales into a corn box.

We went through a haybale maze.

There was also a petty zoo with a kangaroo, a llama, and a donkey, and a hayride. The place was small, but the kids loved picking out their pumpkins.

Then we went to Cornbelly's, our favorite Halloween tradition. We went a couple times this year, once with our good friend's the Jamison's.

We went to a friend's Halloween party a few hours away, we carved pumpkins.

We went on train rides pulled by 4-Wheelers.

We hit pinatas that were Halloween themed. Because Halloween does not have enough CANDY!

We had a neighborhood Halloween party, the second annual cul-de-sac party, with soups, donuts, fire pits, and trick or treating!

This year we did a Mario themed costume. I made the Yoshi and Daisy because we could not find any for a good price. Stellar sewing skills, I know! haha
We included Joe, John, and Danny in our costume because it was more fun that way!

That's us, enjoying our Halloween fun. Can't wait for Monday when we can take the kids out trick or treating. I just love getting all that candy. I usually make the kids go to bed, then I sit in my room and sort it. Sorting the candy is my favorite part! Then I usually freeze half of it. I give the kids a bag with one of each kind of candy they got, to eat the next day. Then I let them have it a little at a time. Lame of me, I know, but better for them then a big sugar binge!

Travel bug

2011-10-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the travel bug? Where you just want to GO somewhere? I do, daily.
Darn!
The only thing I don't like about the kids being in school is the inability to pick up and just leave when I need to get out of Dodge.

I love Halloween! Whose with me? Ok, random post finished.

Naughty little devil

2011-10-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Okay so this adorable boy is one of those looks great on the outside, but is secretly a stinker on the inside kind of kids. Not really, he is a sweetie, but he is taking the Halloween, be a monster, or a devil, thing way too seriously. Haha, ok I am being over reactive, but Dillan got sent to the principal's office today. Now, it would be hypocritical of me to be too mad, since I got sent to the big bad principal's office a time or two (or ten) when I was in elementary school. Here's the thing, he got sent to the principal's office for telling another child to give someone a wedgie! The little stinker! I just love those dang emails from teachers letting you know your child was involved in an "incident". What I love even more is that when Brett talked to him, and told him he needed to apologize to the other kid, he said, "They already made me do that!" I can't force him to be apologetic, can I? Bah, being a mother can be so MUCH fun!

Owl Themed Baby Shower

2011-10-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

So thanks to Pinterest I have been wanting to throw a party and try out some of my new fun ideas, and new fun baking items. My friend Emily is prego, and no one in the neighborhood was doing a shower, so I hopped on the perfect excuse. Emily and I walk or do water aerobics together in the mornings, and it has been tons of fun getting to know her! Here's a peak at the shower I threw. Let me just say that once guests started to arrive I set my camera down, and did not pick it back up (oops), so no pics of the actual party happening! But we all know the food is what I care about most anyway.

These are my awesome donuts. I bought a donut maker the other day and thought I might try making "healthy" donuts, like muffins shaped like donuts so my kids would get tricked into eating them. (Derrick thinks the only food group worth attempting is sugar, not even a real food group). These are not the healthy variety, just a recipe out of the booklet that came, frosted with leftover royal icing from my sugar cookies (coming soon). But I thought they turned out great!

Then there are the cake pops of course. I made vanilla cake, and used blue chocolate discs to make these lovely little owls. Her nursery is owl themed, and I LOVED making these. I made them at night while watching shows with Brett, using an extension cord, and a big plastic storage bin as a makeshift table. So cute.

I found this cute little owl stamp at Robert's craft, and stamped some ring tags and tied them to mason jars for chocolate milk, and inserted blue straws. I meant to take a close up picture, but never go that far. I also bought the little after dinner mints that have blue "its a boy" packaging.

Here I have the brown Owl cake pops. They are chocolate, dipped in milk chocolate! Yum! I used a different sprinkle for their beaks, and thought they turned out cuter than the other ones.

I have a friend who is always making amazing sugar cookies, so I thought I would attempt it. I ran out of time so I bought a mix for the cookie part, and overcooked some of them. Ooops. I also could not find an owl shaped cookie cutter, so I bought a Halloween set, and used the Cauldron cutter flipped upside down, and just made the horns (cauldron legs) pointier by pinching them a bit. I thought it turned out great. I made Martha Stewart's Royal Icing, and when I went to frost couldn't find the frosting bottles I bought to make these cookies. I ran to the store to get new ones, and the store I needed was closed, so I ended up buying bottles that are for hair stuff I think, and made them work. It was crazy, but I loved how they turned out, especially since it was my first ever attempt at Royal icing. I used Wilton candy eyes for the eyes, star shaped sprinkles for the beaks, and used the feathering technique to create the body look for the owls using lines of different colored frosting. Fun project!

I of course do not think a party is a party without cupcakes, and my favorite is peanut butter chocolate, so pulled a prebaked bag of the chocolate cupcakes out of my freezer (baked them a few weeks ago), and whipped up some frosting. Did not have enough, so I cut up a few brownies my mother in law had brought over to help fill up the stand! Again, I have only one word...YUM!

While the dessert table was over-flowing, don't worry I served real food too. I had a great variety of fruit, with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, watermelon, and honeydew.

I had a veggie tray and pickles, olives, and some dips for the carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, celery, and tomato.

Oh I had to sneak in a picture of the completed desert table, with chocolate milk, lemonade, and water (although I did not screw the spickitt on the water jug very well, and ended up dumping it part way through because it was leaking too much.

I had told the ladies they could bring their kids if they did not have a sitter, so I pulled a couple of my previously made pizza crusts out of the freezer and made one pepperoni, and one barbeque chicken pizza, which I forgot about and overcooked just a tad!

More fruit!

I had a three pot crock pot cooker which I made pulled pork (BBQ), Little Smokies in BBQ, and Meatballs in BBQ. I set out some rolls in case people wanted to make a sandwich. I bought these due to lack of time.

And being my parent's daughter I had to have a salad. I decided to go for a summer spinach salad, and I added slivered almonds, craisins, bacon pieces, and dried pears, with a balsamic dressing. Yum!

This is Emily, the shower was for her! We played a few games, and I had onesies and fabric paint so that everyone could decorate a onesie for her baby! They turned out cute. I should have taken a picture, but after all the work I went too, I guess I am entitled to feel too lazy to get up and go take a picture! haha

Lexi Soccer Cutie

2011-09-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

I am not biased or anything, but my daughter is so the cutest girl on her team! I mean seriously...no bias whatsoever...haha.

Today she played soccer, and poor little Lexi was just getting beat up like crazy. In the first quarter she got knocked down, which happens a lot, but this time 3 girls stepped on her while trying to get to the ball. A bunch of moms went running to pick her up, myself included. Poor girl, and of course, it happens on PICTURE DAY! Go figure.

In the second quarter, she got kicked hard, and again broke down into tears. I guess that is what happens when you are in the middle of the action.

In the third quarter, she tripped and fell, and got kicked...in the face...her lip was bleeding, and she was once again crying. At this point I couldn't help but think that maybe we should call it quits for the night.

Glad I didn't because despite a few bumps, and a little bit of tears, nothing traumatic happened in the fourth quarter.

After the game, PICTURES! We all know how I love pictures. One of the moms on the team made the girls some little hairbands, which were very cute. I took a few snap shots of the girls, here they are.

Waiting for everyone to get their individuals.

Aww, what a cute little team!

Her team saying CHEESE!

Isn't she so cute?

Relaxing during half time.

Giving me five after she scored a goal

This, apparently, is her happy smile.

Getting ready for the picture.

Making room for everyone.

How I feel about school!

2011-08-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Lexi and Dillan have been at school all day, I have been extra productive, working, cleaning, taking care of my to-do list. I will be leaving in a while to get Dillan, and then go meet Lexi at her bus. The day is of course bitter-sweet. My sentiments of last year have not changed much. I am so excited for my kids to get to have the excitement and enjoyment of learning. I wish they could just be kids who play and have no cares a while longer. Yet, I love the break I get with them out of the house all day. I want Lexi to go to all day kindergarten because I think it will be better for her. I want Dillan to have challenges and just LOVE school. I am excited for them.

Then of course I have my worries...I worry about them socially, will they be liked? Will other kids be nice to them? I worry about their behavior. Will they be good in class? Will they be the kids other parents hate because they teach their children crude language or encourage inappropriate behavior? I worry about them emotionally. Will they be able to manage such a long day away from home? Will they know how to cope with the pressures of peers and academics? I am a mom, I worry. I want my kids to have high esteem, to get along with everyone, and be a good example. I want them to be smart, and always behave in the classroom. Of course, I know my hopes are not entirely realistic, but that doesn't change them.

I loved school growing up, and I want my children to love learning, knowledge, and expanding their minds as much as I did. I hope that their teachers will recognize how precious they are to me, and how important they are to me. I pray that they will take care of them, be their advocates, and support them. I know I am being emotional, but it is so hard to watch them grow up and yet I am so eager for them to as well. I feel like a vortex of conflicting emotion.

That is what the first day of school is for me...just wait until Derrick starts, then you will see emotional Rach! haha

Hope all of you have great back-to-school and first day of school as well!

And It Begins Again!

2011-08-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

It is the first day of school again, and wow, I have a lot to say, but for now, just pictures, later you can get a whole fix of my feelings and emotions as I send my children out, and entrust someone else to take care of them, and hopefully love them!

Isn't she cute in her little uniform?

My big girl riding the bus!

Her bus partner Alana, also in her class! Yay!

Silly faces!

Dillan getting ready to head out!

Dillan Soccer

2011-08-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

I realized I wrote a ton about Lex, and did not even talk about Dillan's soccer game today. He also played really well today. He has a great coach and a fun team. They are really working on spreading out and playing defense. He scored 2 goals today as well! His team was great, I think every kid (on his team) got a chance to score a goal. His grandparents and Aunt Wendi came to watch him play, and they got to see him do really well. I feel bad because I did not take any pictures! I had been snapping photos all day (literally), and by the time his game came around I was not in the mood. But he of course looked so cute, and played his little heart out. I am so glad my kids are enjoying a sport and having fun on a team!

Some more senior pics, look familiar?

2011-08-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

So when I took Sara's pictures the other day, her friend Brea came with her. She had fun, and her mom asked me if I would do her pictures as well. I said yes! I am having a lot of fun with this, trying to figure out a few things, and learning a lot about light, angles, and editing...haha or pretending to edit. Anyway, she pretty much wanted the same stuff as Sara, so we went to all the same places, and did many of the same poses. These are just a few of the pics. There are a lot more! haha Too much fun!

Isn't she a gorgeous girl?

So see how her arm is going off to the side? She is holding the bush out of her face, lol!

There was this cute little baby geting her pics done next to us, and she was in a big tutu, no top, and all these pearls. Everyone was trying to get her to do stuff and she was just cheesing it up! Brea thought it was pretty funny, and I thought her laughing made a great picture.

This is my favorite picture because I think she totally looks like a flower child, hippie, or something, so pretty! And the colors are just so bright and fun!

On this one I blurred the edges and faded the color for effect. What do you guys think? I love it!

Oh man, she is such a cute girl! I had a lot of fun taking these pictures!

Proud Mama

2011-08-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a proud mom day for me. This messy face little girl just made me smile, and smile, and smile. Remember last soccer season how Lexi would twirl, chase butterflies, ask about snacks, run off the field mid-play to pet a dog, etc.? Well, can I just say that sometimes they grow up pretty fast? What a difference a few months can make. This season she is my little dominator. She played so well today! The girl was on fire.

It was pretty dang hot out there, but she still managed to score 2 goals! Her first 2 I might add. She also had 4 assists. She had some great stops, blocks, etc. She was amazing! See how she is smiling? Not so much on the field...it was hilarious! She had on this little scowl as she glared down the other team (some of the girls were on her team last year, which was really funny). She got physical, was aggressive, and played so well! Can you tell I am proud?

Her team is just so cute. Her jersey hadn't come in yet, which is why she is wearing a different one. After the game all the parents formed a human tunnel for the girls to run through, and gave them high fives at the end of it. The kids got such a kick out of it that all the teams ran through it! haha

I am really excited for this seasons because she finally cares, and it shows!

Sara's Senior Pics

2011-08-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sara wanted some senior portraits done before she went back to school, but since she has no money (jobless senior) she asked me to do them. Of course I am no pro, but I sure had fun! I am going to do some of her friend tomorrow, which is also exciting! The picture color is not the same on the blog as it is on my screen, but I promise they turned out great! haha Let me know what you guys think!

(I need a reflector to help with the shadows, ordered one, but not here yet! Boo)

Becca's Baby!

2011-08-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we all know I do not want another baby (sorry, I lack the desire to deprive myself of anymore sleep, or add any more stretch marks), but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate a cute baby when I see one. Here are a few fun pictures I took of Becca's cute, tiny little girl. She is sweet. I do like her!

Freezer Meals- My first attempt

2011-08-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I got this bug the other day to make some meals to stick in my freezer. After a long day of kids and work, the last thing I want to do is make a meal for the family, so more often than not, we scrounge, or go out. Going out is getting too expensive, and frankly, I am tired of it, because when all is said and done, going out takes just as long as preparing something would, and my kids are starting to get entitled. Last week I decided to make up some easy freezer meals that I already knew how to do, and see if I actually used them or not. I spent about 2 hours, and made 5 lasagnas (3 meat, 2 veggie), 4 casseroles (chicken broccoli and rice), and froze taco meat for tacos, taco soup, taco salad, etc.

We have been loving it! Sunday, I had stuff after church I had to do for my calling, so Brett broke out a Lasagna, and threw together a quick salad. Perfect, dinner was so fast and easy! Then, all week, when I have needed to get dinner on, but had deadlines, I have been walking out to the freezer and grabbing something, an hour in the oven, and presto, change-o dinner!

So, I decided I should make a few more things, so we would have options. I tried making a big crock pot full of BBQ pork roast for salads, quesadillas, tacos, etc. but Derrick got to it right as it got finished, and a bottle of dish soap later, it went in the trash. (Same with the baked beans I made, only it was a whole container of salt). So I gave up for a few days. Today I was feeling overwhelmed at coming up with a meal for the kids, who are home all day and bored, so I printed off my list of yummy looking freezer meals I had searched the internet for, and went shopping.

This is my counter full of ingredients, seasonings, and foil containers for freezing the food in.

This is my sink full of chicken defrosting to use in the various meals I wanted to prepare (remember I had beef meals already prepared).

Another closer view of some of the ingredients...

And this is the lovely, and oh so satisfying result of 7 hours in the kitchen.

Here's what I ended up with:

6 chicken pot pies

4 lasagnas

4 broccoli chicken casseroles

3 beef enchiladas (making chicken ones tomorrow)

40 individual sized pockets (some ham, cheese, and broccoli, some mexican)

Lots of bags of BBQ pulled pork

3 bags of marinating chicken strips for the grill

1 big bag of marinating chicken legs for the grill

7 cheesy ham and potatoe casseroles

3 big bags of homemade precooked breaded chicken strips

5 containers of taco meat

Basically I have over 50 lunch and dinner meals prepared and frozen and in my freezer. I am really excited about this because I do Bountiful Baskets on Saturdays and so I always have fresh produce, which can be added to these frozen dinners for fast and easy. Tomorrow I am going to make banana bread, muffins, brownies, and cookies, as well as some quiche and other breakfast fare to add to it. Wish me luck!

Family Night

2011-07-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer I took the kids to the kid expo at the SouthTowne Expo Center. While we were there, there was a Fat Cats booth, and the kids spun a wheel and won a "free" game of bowling. They have been asking when we could go ever since. But the idea of heavy balls, and swinging arms with 3 wild kids, did not have me too excited, so we were waiting for a day Dad could go too. Two sets of arms is better than one for controlling the chaos. Since Brett rarely has a Monday off, we thought we would take advantage of Free bowling for Family Night. Our "free" game ended up being kind of pricey when we got there and realized that it did not include shoe rentals, and adults are expensive. But we shelled out the dough, and had a great time!

Well, most of us. Derrick was an ornery boy, and so he spent most of the time hiding behind my camera case, and whining, so that meant he spent most of the time in my arms dancing around like a fool to the pop music that was playing in the alley.

Dillan managed to bowl a strike once, and a number of spares, we can thank the bumpers, but he was pretty proud!

Lexi struggled to hold the heavy balls, but kept saying how she looked good so it didn't matter. Haha this is her model pose!

Brett and I were bowling a little more competitively, and I was beating him most of the game, despite the fact that I let Derrick bowl a few of my turns (he was so impatient). I was head all the way to the tenth frame, and Brett ended up beating me by one pin. Just my luck. But that was okay because we said, "Winner buys dinner" (as if that matters). So we took the kids to DQ, and then dropped them at the grandparents and went out for sushi. Yum! Fun night for all.

Taylor's Leaving

2011-07-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

James's girlfriend Taylor recently got her mission call to Washington D.C. North, Spanish speaking. She left today for the MTC, and so last week we thought we better have one last night out with her before we wouldn't see her for 18 months. We decided to meet in the middle, or close to it at Cheesecake Factory. So, the sisters and mom, and Taylor all went out for dinner and cheesecake.

We had to wait a while once we got there because they are busy, but lucky for us, I know a guy... So we got in, and got 2 free apps out of it. Which was nice because we were hungry!

It was a fun night of us girls talking and laughing, and discussing books. We got to hear about Taylor's recent stint in China, and chat about life. What a fun way to say bye to Taylor!

Brett's 32nd Bday Party!

2011-07-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

Brett's party was a great time, but since I wasn't the one taking pictures, I just did not do it justice in this post. I was so busy I never pulled out my camera, but my 10 yr old sister took some snapshots for me. Here are the deets:

Theme: Basketball

Food: Stadium style food, hot dogs, nachos, soft pretzels, popcorn, soda! We did pretzel bites as well as whole pretzels with a variety of dipping sauces. We had Rootbeer, Fanta, Mt. Dew, and Pepsi. We had some jalapenos for the nachos, and then added a fruit tray, some water melon, and water bottles.

Activities: Pinata, Water Balloon Volleyball, basketball, cookie decorating, coloring, visiting.

It was a lot of fun, the kids enjoyed the water balloons, and made cards for Brett. The men enjoyed some basketball, and we all loved talking and eating!

The kids hit the pinata so hard the bat broke!

I was making cake pops to look like basketballs, but never had time to finish them.
They tasted yummy though.

The boys helped us set everything up. And take everything down. So after the party was over we cleaned up, ordered some pizzas, and hung out with the family playing Uno. It was pretty fun!

My Book

2011-07-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

I am writing a fiction novel, and have started posting parts of it on a new blog www.encantenovel.blogspot.com I would love your feedback, so read, comment on the blog! Thanks

Heaven in my mouth

2011-06-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have this friend that makes the yummiest peanut butter cup cupcakes, and I love them. She sells them at a movie theater, occasionally at a restaurant, and then you can order them from her as well. Of course, I resist ordering them because I know I will just eat them all, and want more. So, it seems that every weekend I drive down to the theater to buy one cupcake for me and one for Brett. I decided that it was getting a little ridiculous, so I started searching out recipes, and kind of combined all of them to create my own recipe for these delicious cupcakes. Here is the result.

I just used a devil's food cake mix for the cupcake part, and the frosting was this:

1.5 c peanut butter
2 cups powder sugar

1 stick of butter

2 tsp vanilla

3-4 T of milk

Cream together the pb and butter, then add in the vanilla, and powder sugar, then add in milk to make it the consistency you want. I tasted mine at this point and it was too powder sugary, so I added more peanut butter (reflected in the measurements above). Thus the adjustment. I piped it on, cut a peanut butter cup in half, and stuck it on top. Yum!

Christa's Marathon

2011-06-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

Family Photos

2011-06-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

Do I, or do I not have the sweetest kids in the world? Lexi is my most gorgeous darling, and my boys! I mean, ahhh, I am lucky! Love my family. Not the world's greatest pictures, but fun, and glad I have something new to put on the wall!

Vacation Mishaps--Part Four! The Rest

2011-06-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

The rest of our vacation we pretty much did nothing because no one felt good enough to. We drove to Vegas and we stayed in a nice resort where there were lots of pools, but let's be honest, who wants to swim when they are burnt? So we went in the evenings, when the sun wasn't shining as much. We also went into the strip once and had lunch, then took the kids into M&M world, or whatever it was called. The drive home took a bit long, Dillan needed lots of bathroom breaks, and "I need food" breaks. Lol Here are some pictures.

Brett's drink!

My drink!

Our favorite pirate!

Oh the kids were so dang excited to see Sponge Bob!

Vacation Mishaps--Part Three! The Movies and Stuff

2011-06-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

The next day we checked out at Anaheim, and left to go back to Vegas. For Christmas my sister gave me a $50 gift card to AMC movie theaters, but since there are NONE by where I live, we decided to use it in California. So, we found a movie time, and headed over. On the way there I got a little dizzy, and felt kind of sick, but I got out of the car and sat down for a minute, and felt fine. We bought our tickets (they were ridiculously priced, $9 for adults $8 for kids, for a matinee price). We got in, got our popcorn and drinks, and sat down. The kids were being little angels. they weren't talking, they were watching the screen. I was amazed. They were good all through the previews. Then the movie started and I picked Derrick up to put him on my lap since the start was a little scary (We were watching X-Men), and I touched his sunburn, so he started crying. People in the theater started yelling at me, and telling me to get the "F" out of the theater. So, I took Derrick out, asked for a refund for our two tickets. They gave me 2 vouchers, and we left. He was almost out of diapers, and there was a Costco right next door, so we headed over to get them.

While at the Costco I also bought the kids all UV protection swim shirts so that we could have a great summer without a repeat of the sunburns. I still wasn't feeling great, but I thought it was just because my sunburn was hurting. Well, while standing in the checkout line I started getting really clammy and light headed. I guess the lady behind me was asking me something about Derrick and I wasn't answering her, and I got really white all of the sudden and just slumped over onto the check out counter. I guess I fainted. The people at Costco took me over to a bench, and brought my cart and Derrick over. They tried to call Brett for me, but his phone was in MY purse. After having my head on my knees for 15 minutes I started feeling fine. They checked me out, and kept asking if I was sure I was okay, then I went out to the car. It took me a while to find it (Brett parked while I was buying tickets), but I got out a water bottle and a bag of cut up watermelon, and after hydrating I started feeling much better. I opened the car windows, put on my iPod and took a nap (derrick watched a movie in the van), while we waited for them to get out of the movie.

The rest of the day I felt sick here and there, got light headed a couple times, and just felt miserable. We think it was heat exhaustion, or whatever that is called where you get all dehydrated and sick because of a bad sunburn. However, we made it back to Vegas without incident, and despite the sunburns, we were ready to have some more fun.

More to come...duhm duhm duhm.

Vacation Mishaps--Part Two! The Beach

2011-06-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

The day after the Yankees game we got up early, hit the store for sunscreen and snacks, and headed straight for our favorite place in the world--The Beach!!!

We found parking, sprayed on the sunblock, hauled all of our crap to the beach, and went to go play!

The kids were pretty excited to get there, and start playing. The water was cold, but the kids were excited to find shells and start building what they called "tide pools" where they dug a hole in the sand, and put some shells in it.

Derrick was stinking cute. He was running all over the place, and LOVED the water, sand, etc. It was hilarious because it was cold, and he was a little nervous, but didn't want to leave the water. He loved "Karwa" and just wanted us to play with him. He threw sand, he sat in the waves, he was so dang cute!

This is Brett showing how freezing cold he was. Haha. Of course, despite the cold water, he and the boys played and played. We got there before Juli and Rocco and Zeze, but we did not have to wait too long.

Once Juli got there, we had a picnic, and we sat down and talked. I tried to play with Zeze, but she did not want me at all. Haha. I looked at my legs and they were looking kind of red, so I pulled out the sunscreen and resprayed myself and all my kids. Then I put on my jacket because I did not want to get my shoulders burnt because that stinks when you have kids. You can't pick them up, etc. because your shoulders hurt.

Well guess what? My intuition was a good one because we got FRIED. Lexi, who almost never gets burned got so red. Dillan was immensely burned he was blistered before we even got back to the hotel. My legs were roasted! They were so red and swollen, and the next day I started getting sick, nauseated, and was super dehydrated. I did not take pictures of my legs, but I should have. Ouch. 3 days later and they are FINALLY starting to feel a little bit better. Barely.

The best part of the day was just getting to see Juli and her sweet kids. I couldn't believe how grown up Rocco is getting. He is just so big and talking so well! Zeegan was as cute as ever. I loved it. She was funny, her little personality was crazy funny!

More tomorrow...duhm duhm duhm

Our Vacation of Mishaps--Part one! Yankee Game

2011-06-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we just got back from a vacation, and some of it was great, and some of it not so much. I decided to break it into parts so I could properly explain why our trip kind of stunk...

First we got on the road kind of LATE. We left our house about 4:30, and headed out. Said our prayer for the road, got headphones plugged in, movies on, etc. Earlier that day we got an oil change, and they suggested we change our serpentine belt (for $75 of course, even though we had a spare belt in the car). Fred said he would do it in 5 minutes if we wanted to stop by his shop on the way. So we did. Only, we did not know this, the belt we had (that was in the car) was the wrong size. So it took closer to three hours to get on, because it took that long to figure out that it was the wrong size. We got in to Vegas at about 2 in the morning, and we were so tired, but we were also dealing with kids who had slept several hours in the car and were HYPER!

The next morning was great because the kids got to go play at the pool and Brett let me sleep in. I made some lunch, and we headed out of Anaheim. Anaheim was pretty fun. We got in about 4:30, and relaxed for a little bit before taking a cab over to Angel's stadium for the game. We wanted to go early for batting practice and stuff.

If you look, my camera did not do justice to how close we were to CC Sabathia, and Nick Swisher, etc. We were 4 rows up, field seats. Loved them!

I wore my Yankee's shirt, but Brett did not come prepared, which surprised me! A Yankee game was on his bucket list, so I figured he would wear his jacket and hat! Nope! And we needed jackets, it was FREEZING!

Look it is Nick Swisher! He was so nice, we would yell his name, and he would totally turn around and wave. It was awesome! I loved seeing Derek Jeter (Derrick's name sake), and A-Rod (Lexi's namesake) for real!

The Yankees lost the game we went to, and won the other 2 when they played the Angels. Jorge Posada hit a great double during our game, and the guy sitting right next to us got the ball. I asked him if I could get a pic for the blog. He thought it was pretty funny!

There were two guys behind us that have been friends for like 30 years, one is a big Angel's fan and the other a huge Yankee fan, so it was really fun to listen to them. The people in our area were a lot of fun. We had the old guys take our picture, this was at the end of the game, and we were so cold. haha

That was our Yankee game experience. Karla stayed with the kids in the condo, and did a great job with them. It is so nice to have a great sitter so we could rest assured that everything was good with the kids while we went and played.

If only we knew what would happen the next day... duhm duhm duhm...

Princess Lexi Tea Party!

2011-05-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

Today we had Lexi's 5th Birthday Party! It was at Thanksgiving Point, and we had a Princess Tea Party theme. It turned out so cute. Here are some of the highlights!

We had guest Princesses come, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty!

My friend Alisha who owns Cravings-alishascupcakes made these adorable crown cupcakes for the girls, then my mom made a cake, and the pastry chef at Brett's work made some other cupcakes for me (I thought they were going to be mini, but he did full size, which was great too!)

The Cake Grandma made! I bought the candles at Target!

The pink cupcakes made by Thanksgiving Point!

The purple crown cupcakes made by Alisha! Yum!

We had a candy station for the girls to take home some "Royal Goodies!"

We had personalized name crowns for each girl on their chairs for the tea party!

We had cute tea pots with hot chocoalte, and a pitcher of lemonade!

We had it in the gallery at Thanksgiving Point, which was the perfect size for all the activities and food. The girls loved it, and it made clean up fast and easy!

We had a pink chocolate fountain because Lexi is such a girly girl. We also served croissants, cheese cubes, and an assortment of adorable petite fours (again thanks to the pastry chef at TP)!

The girls loved the guest Princesses!

For the party favors I got tea cups and filled them with a necklace, ring, and princess notebook key chain! They turned out so cute!

I had so much fun planning this party and seeing all the little Princesses come decked out for the party. I hope Lexi will remember how much we love her. She has been such a fun addition to our family, and is totally a little Princess.

My Pirate Friend Dav(in)id

2011-05-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

This is David! He is one of the friends that you never stop being friends with. He lived with us a year ago for a few months, and then joined the Navy. Dillan thought that meant being a pirate. Lexi always called him Davin. Well...he came into town last weekend, so we had to get together and enjoy some of our favorite things together. We talked about the books we have been reading, we talked about Pride and Prejudice. We ate crab at Red Lobster. We played games with some friends. We had ice cream. And we talked, and talked, and talked some more. It was so much fun! Now he is back to CA and I am once again without my buddy!

Look at what a cute couple we are!!!

Joys of Childhood #3--Mess making

2011-05-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

This is what is left of the cube of butter I got out for making German pancakes! Thanks Derrick. (It is hard to see how much is in his hair because his hair is white, but it is a lot, I would say it is evenly distributed half on the head, half in the hands.)

The joys of Childhood #2--Pony Rides

2011-05-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

Pony rides... is there anything more exciting to a kid?

The joys of Childhood #1-- Bike Riding

2011-05-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Learning to ride bikes...

I have decided to do a series of blog posts on the joys of childhood, and try to get some fun photos of my kids doing the things kids enjoy most.

This week I have just been loving being a Mom, which is not necessarily a first for me, but is often hidden under the stress of being a mom. I think it helps that I have decided to try and simplify things around here, activities, meals, schedules, etc. Anyway, here is the first photo. We grabbed the kids bikes and stuck them in the back of the car, then let them ride everywhere we went last week, parks, neighbors, even at Thanksgiving Point. Dillan has graduated from training wheels, and Lexi is still a nervous nelly! haha

(This is not a photography project, just a reminder to me to help my kids enjoy the pleasures of childhood, so while I love any comments or suggestions you have on my photos, please know this is all for fun!)

The day for Mothers

2011-05-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

I have two of the greatest moms in the world. In order to celebrate them we went to the Thanksgiving Point Harvest brunch, which was incredibly delicious.

Five things I love about my moms:

1. My mom raised me to be who I am today(which is pretty awesome!), and my mother in law raised my amazing husband who is courteous and kind, resourceful, and everything I want in a spouse.

2. Their humor. I love hearing them laugh, and try and share a silly story each time I see them just to hear it. They both find joy in life, and share it freely.

3. Their faith. They both have such great faith and a love of God, which I can see in their actions.

4. Their creativity. My two moms are creative in very different ways from one another, and both amazing at what they do.

5. Their love. Being a mom takes sacrifice, patience, love, kindness, flexibility, fortitude, foresight, wisdom, and oh so much more. Without love for their kids, we never would have survived. So thank you!

me and my mom

My mother in law and I

I have the best husband and children. They were great to me for Mother's Day. The kids made cards for me, and gave me little gifts they made at school. Dillan wrote me a little letter, which was very cute. They wanted to make a big breakfast for me, but we have church at 9, so it was difficult. Brett got me a lens for my camera, a tray of delicious little pastries and petite fours, and this beautiful flower arrangement. Then they all went downstairs and cleaned up Dillan and Lexi's rooms. We had a nice dinner, and the kids let me nap! Seriously, a nice day!

My cheap office makeover!

2011-05-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

My office is in that teeny tiny room in the upstairs of our house. I have been trying to figure out forever what I want to do with it, but haven't wanted to spend money. I finally figure some things out, and now it is just about done. I love it. I started by painting two of the walls. I may have gone a little over board with the color, but I wanted something bright. So, I have a blue wall and a yellow wall, and left the other two white. Color is good for creativity. Then I was stuck. I tried rearranging furniture, etc. Nothing looked right. Then I decided to take my desk and small bookshelf, which were different colors of wood, and both pretty ugly, and painted them. I LOVE how they turned out, and I ended up sticking the shelf on top of the desk like a hutch, creating more space in the room. LOVE! I will try and round up some before pictures, but the turquoise color turned out great. I put a stain over the top to tone it down some.

I had two old shelves in my garage, both ugly, so I painted and stained both of them as well. I also got some pictures turned into canvases of my three sweeties. I think it turned out pretty cute.

I love birds, and found this great picture, and this cute little ceramic bird, so I decided to use them. I got a few other things too, but no picture, sorry. This is by the door, and conveniently holds unsightly office supplies. I bought the little cabinet at the DI for $5, and put some paint to it as well. I had purchased a little hutch thing for this spot, but when I saw the cabinet for $5, I returned the hutch I spent $80 on and decided a little elbow grease was worth the savings. I was right! I also took some old picture frames and painted them to match some of the accent colors.

My favorite part is that I couldn't find curtains I liked that went with the ideas I had, so I bought a fabric shower curtain, and had my mother-in-law cut it and sew it into two panels for me to be curtains! Yay for inexpensive spruce ups!

Sleepover!

2011-05-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

I get asked on a weekly basis if we are planning to have any more children. My standard answer is, "No, at least not right now." I have so much on my plate that the rigors of pregnancy and an infant are not only overwhelming to me, but seemingly impossible. I do however, enjoy the occasional baby. This weekend we had a fun little sleepover with my niece. She is one. She also doesn't like me much, so I was a little worried that we might have a weekend of tears, from both of us. Haha. Anyway, we had a great time. She fussed some, but for the most part was a delight. It was certainly difficult to manage an extra child who needed so much attention while still doing everything else we had planned, but it was great. We started out with a bit of a late night. My kids were so excited that she was over that it was hard to get everyone settled down for bed. She wanted to be held, so we cuddled, and eventually she fell asleep. The next morning I left her with my other sister for a bit while I did a Mother's Day thing, then picked her up and we went to the REAL SL soccer game. She loved the shaved ice. It was HOT! Then back to our town for a recreational soccer game, Dillan's last one. She loved that, playing with all the kids on the side lines. Then back to Salt Lake. It was a long day, but we managed. Here are some silly pictures of her eating her breakfast!

Completely Hilarious Day!

2011-05-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

My kids were hilarious today! Seriously so funny. I felt like I laughed all day:

Dillan had to get 2 immunizations. After getting them I told him he could have a reward. He asked for a remote control truck he saw at Toys R Us. I told him it was too expensive (Costs about $140), and he says, "Isn't my pain worth at least that much?" Hahahaha, I said, "How about all you can eat ice cream and toppings at Baskin Robbins and a dollar at the Dollar Store?" Deal!

At dinner we had ribs. Lexi and Dillan were complaining about the bones, so I showed them what part of the pig it is, the ribs. This lead to a whole conversation about the meat we eat. A dinner guest asked if we like lamb. I replied, "No, but I am fond of duck." Dillan then said, "I am fond of Hamster." Haha, of course we all started to laugh, and I said, "Hamster?" He was like, "Ya, the stuff bacon is made of." Lol, I guess he assumed since Ham and Bacon are made of the same thing and Hamster does have Ham in it. Logic!

Ok, so we are driving and we drive past some skateboarders. They had their shirts unbuttoned, and Dillan says, "Gross, I just saw that guy's belly hair." Haha, needless to say I laughed hard, but it gets even better. I then commented how belly hair is almost as gross as back and butt hair. Dillan then says, "I have never seen butt hair before." Then Lexi says, "If you have butt hair, do you have to shave it?"

Even Derrick was funny today! I remember laughing, but can't remember any specifics.

GNO!

2011-04-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

What every girl needs is a GNO. We prefer to bowl for our nights out. We got a good game in tonight, some yummy pizza, and then... the power went out! Someone hit a power pole nearby, and the power was still out when we left. So, they gave us a coupon thing to come again another night. Yay for another night of bowling with the girls!

Nathalie

Sarah

Amanda

Casey

Katie

Soccer Stud

2011-04-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Soccer...it is crazy. Today Dillan got in a fight with another kid. The other kid had been bad mouthing Dillan's team the whole time, and when Dillan kicked the ball out of bounds, the kid told Dillan he sucked, so Dillan went after him. I yelled at him to stop, and pulled him off the field. Then I felt bad because the coach did not see it, and I worried that he thought I was usurping, but I wasn't. Boys fight. I know, but boo! Lexi doesn't care at all, and Dillan is "fully invested".

Lexi and her Daddy!

It was cold!

Popsicles

2011-04-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

Yum! I love popsicles

I love to share...

Ouch still eating, but major brain freeze!

Life's little updates

2011-04-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

It has been a bit since I have been on here. I got home from our fabulous trip, was jet lagged, then got a tonsil infection which has pretty much killed me. Still hanging on with congestion, but my tonsils feel a lot better.

Lex and Dillan are playing soccer, and it is TIME CONSUMING. I had no idea how much a few hours a week really ends up feeling like. Not to mention getting ready to go, bundled up, chairs in car, snacks, etc. is just a pain.

Easter is almost here, and my dang kids found my stash, so even though I got prepared over a month ago it looks like I have to start over. Is 6,4,and 2 too young to know the EB is not real???

I am dying for another trip, and I am thinking of putting one together. I am thinking a tour of all the chocolate factories in Europe..think Lindt, Cadbury, Ritter Sport, etc. Anyone interested? This is not a joke, if I can get a group together I will book everything.

Work has been killing me. Still love it, but Derrick has been NEEDY so sitting in front of the computer and accomplishing anything is a joke. This post has already taken forever because I have gotten up to make waffles twice, changed a diaper, put on two pairs of shoes, changed some soccer cleats to the right feet, got one kid without pants out of the car, got pants on him, charged my camera battery, opened the door, told the neighbors the kids couldn't play... and I am sure some other stuff I have forgotten.

I am feeling overwhelmed, and I had to cancel my Easter Eggstravaganza because I just couldn't fit it in, and that makes me sad as I look forward to it all year, but really...life goes on. It is just one of those days, and rather than sit on my bed and cry in self pity because I am tired, my laundry needs doing, and I have an ever growing to-do list, I am venting blog style. My current favorite way to release steam. But alas, that must come to an end because if I don't walk out the door soon we will miss the all important 4 year old girls battling it out in the cold to kick a ball at a goalee-less net.

Hmm, should I even post this? Probably not!

Painted Furniture

2011-04-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

So while we were on our cruise I met this amazing lady named Melanie. And she gave me her blog address, and so I visited it, and now I find myself on it all day long. She paints furniture, old ugly pieces, and breaths new life into them with paint and elbow grease. It has me all excited to give it a try, but I am waiting for when I have some time to dedicate to it because if I start and don't finish I will kick myself big time. Can't wait to try it. So, if any of you have old ugly wood furniture you are throwing out, throw it my way. I am going to need some practice before I touch the newer stuff in my house. Who knew color could be so fun?

Our Trip to the Mediterranean!

2011-04-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

Our trip was amazing. I have included a bunch of the photos, and a little description of what we did each day. This is a long post, hope you enjoy it!

Day one: The flight, it was long but we were excited to be on our way! Unfortunately we were delayed in SLC for over an hour. We barely made our connection flight in Chicago. The gate was already closed, but fortunately they let us on the plane. The bad news was that Brett's luggage did not make the connection. So, when we got to Italy we had to file for lost luggage. Luckily he had two days worth of stuff in my bag and our toiletries were in my bag too.

Day Two: Savona Italy and Monaco

We all met up the next morning in one of the rooms on the ship to get with our tour group and go to Monte Carlo. The day before we had signed up for what bus we would ride. I got put in charge of checking in the red bus. I loved it because it meant I got to learn everyone's names, and they all got to know me too. It made the trip a lot more fun.

We had a great guide and she told us all about Savona, and the local culture. Then, we got to Monaco, the richest country in the world. We watched the changing of the guard, saw the cathedral where Grace Kelly was married. We ate a delicious lunch. We shopped. We went to the botanical gardens. Great first day, we went to Italy, France, and Monaco that day.

The changing of the guards.

The castle.

The botanical gardens.

The mayor or governor's house.

Day Three: Ship day.

Day Four: Olympia, Greece
This was our favorite day. We went to the museum and ruins in Olympia. We got to see the first stadium, the place where the torch is lit each Olympics, the various statues and monuments. We learned that there were only 16 cheaters in the 1200 years of the Olympics, and they put statues of them by the arch to go into the stadium.

These are the ruins of the original training area for the Olympic games.

Brett and I running the length of the first Olympic stadium. There were two finish lines, one for women and one for men.

This is in front of the broken columns of Zeus's temple.

These were our lovely travel companions, Mavis, Marilyn, and Suzanne. This is Zeus's temple, or what is left of it.

The statue of Nike in the museum.

We thought this was funny, it made us think of the cell phone commercial, "Can you hear me now?"

This is the arch to get into the stadium.

This is in front of the colums of Hera's temple.

Luckily Brett's luggage was delivered to our ship that day! yay he gets clothes!

Day Five: Sea Day

Day Six: Haifa, Isreal

We had an amazing day. We went to the mount of beattitudes where the sermon on the mount was given. We had a lovely view of the sea of Galilee. We then visited Capernaum and saw the house of Peter, the White synagogue, and some of the places Jesus walked. We then had lunch at a lovely little place, where we ate Peterfish, the fish in the sea of Galilee. Then we went to the Sea and took a boat ride, where we got to meditate, remember the miracles of walking on the water, hear some lovely music and see the areas surrounding where Jesus taught.

Yummy pitas at lunch.

In the gardens on the Mount of Beatitudes.

The White Synagogue where Jesus taught.

We got our fish for lunch, head and tail on! Yum. It tasted like Tilapia.

They gave us hats for the day because it was so sunny. Here we are on the sea of Galilee.

This was the boat we road on.

Here we are standing on the bow of the ship, looking out at the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding towns.

Day Six: Jerusalem

On this day we went to Jerusalem. It was crazy busy, crowded, and dirty. However, it was amazing to go and see the all of these extremely religious sites. We started at the Mount of Olives, where we looked out at the city. We then walked down the hill toward the Garden of Gethsemane. There are 12 remaining olive trees that predate Christ. Next to it is the Church of all Nations. Then we took the bus up to the city, and went to the wailing wall or Western Wall. We had about 20 minutes there before we left to go up to Temple Mount. The line was long, but then we went to Temple Mount to see the Dome of the Rock building, which houses the rock where Abraham went to sacrifice his son, it is owned by the Muslims. Our guide talked about the area at the time of Christ, and showed us the places. We then walked through the old city, it was crazy, small little alleys, dirty city, trash everywhere. We walked down the Via Delrosa, and then got lunch and went to an olive shop to get nativities, etc. From there we went to the site of Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. It was the prettiest part of the city as it is owned by Christians (the British) and it is clean and peaceful. We saw the place Christ was crucified, and the tomb that it is believed he was housed in before he rose from the dead. What an awesome day!

Mount of Olives. you can see the Dome of the Rock behind, as well as a cemetery, and other big parts of the city.

This is in the Garden of Gethsemane.

This is the Wailing Wall where the Jews pray for a temple to be built on the Mount.

Up on Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock behind us.

The streets in the old city, super narrow, crowded, and full of shop keepers.

Golgotha, the area that looks like a skull, where Christ was crucified.

This is us entering the tomb.

The all too appropriate sign on the door of the tomb.

The empty tomb.

Day Seven: Day at sea.

Day Eight: Izmir, Turkey

This day was one of the most surprising and best days we had. We went to Ephesus, where Paul served his mission, and saw the ruins of that huge, modern city. The city had running water, advertising (pictured below), a public latrine area, a huge library with a double wall system to keep the scrolls from being ruined by humidity, the largest amphitheater in the ancient world, and so much more. It was incredible. After visiting Ephesus we went to the Temple of St. John, and saw where he was baptised, his tomb, a castle, and more. Then we had lunch in this beautiful location, followed by a tour of how they make Turkish rugs and tapestries starting with the silk worms, and then all the way to the weaving.

This was an advertisement etched into the ground, pointing men toward the brothel.

Sitting in the huge amphitheater.

We had a beautiful lunch in Turkey, very yummy!

Here we are sitting on the public latrines. There was running water below them, but it was very public, no stalls.

This is in an alcove at the Celcus library in Ephesus

This is us in front of the temple ruins.

This is the supposed sight of the tomb of the apostle John.

We had lots of time here and saw everything quickly so we had fun taking silly pictures.

Day Nine: Athens
We took a bus tour of the city, then visited Mars Hill, where Paul taught the people of the unknown God, then to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon, then to the Acropolis museum which houses much of what they found on the site, and then we had time to shop, dine, etc. It was freezing cold that day, but the sights were amazing, huge, and a little surreal.

This is at the Olymic stadium, all made of marble!

This is on the top of Mars Hill.

One of the more famous ruins on the Acropolis.

The Parthenon.

Me freezing my butt off.

Day ten: Sea Day

Day Eleven: Off the Boat, we got to Rome.

This was so amazing. We got back to the port at Civitavecchia, and then hopped on a bus to Rome. We were dropped off in downtown at the Piazza Navona, and met up with my great friend from high school, and her husband Ashly and Mark Olsen. We spent two days in Rome, it was so fun to have Ashley and Mark there. I will describe the days with the pictures. I could seriously do a whole post just on Rome, well each day, but I am trying to keep it short and to the point.

So we met up in the Piazza Navona, but it was a blind meet up, I called and left them a message, and we had all kinds of miscommunication because of the plan changing too often. However, we made it work, and we all met up and it was so exciting to see them. We kept laughing at the craziness of meeting in Rome. Who would have thought. We then did a walking tour that day before heading back to the hotel. We went to the Panteon, Trevi Fountains, Spanish Steps, and the Piazza Poppolo.

This is a view of the amazing dome at the Pantheon.

Here are Ashley and Mark outside the Pantheon.

A cool statue thing in the fountain outside the Pantheon.

In front of Bernini's fountain in Navona.

In the Piazza Poppolo.

All of us in front of a huge olbilesque.

That night we got food at a grocery store and had a picnic in the hotel lobby, talked, reminisced, and had soooo much fun just hanging out! We made all kinds of plans to travel together in the future, which I am sure we will.

Day Two of Rome was the last day of our trip. We met up early in the morning and headed to the Vatican. We went to the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basillica, then St. Peter's Square. We had a break for lunch, then went to the Colosseum, and Roman Forum. We then headed back to the hotel, hung out for a little bit then hopped the metro to go back down town. We went back to the Trevi Fountain and threw in our coins to wish ourselves back to Rome, then had some yummy dinner, and enjoyed downtown. Then we parted ways at the Metro, they went one way to catch their flight, and we went the other to get back to our hotel. We left our chocolate in their backpack. Haha.

In the Basillica of St. Peter.

Having lunch in St. Peter's Square.

At the Colosseum.

Awe, what a cute couple!

So fun to meet friends in Rome.

Hadrian's arch, and the Colosseum.

All four of us in the Roman Forum.

Leaving the Forum.

Some of the other great friends from our tour group! We played cards on ship days.

The four of us enjoying the history of Rome.

We had such an awesome trip. It was full of ruins, and history, art, fun, and friends. We missed our kids, and were so excited to see them when we got home. Now back to real life.

Contests

2011-03-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

very now and then I will enter a contest! Just did, for Oopsy Daisy Photography! Hope I win.
cravings-alishascupcakes.blogspot.com
www.oopsydaisyphotos.com

Check it out!