110 degree heat

We just returned home from a fantastic family vacation. On this vacation we did not spend a lot of time at theme parks, or even visiting with friends, we mostly just hung out at the pool with the kids, and spent time playing games, and making meals, and being with family. It was an incredible vacation, and extremely enjoyable.

The highlights:

Dillan really got the hang of swimming. He has always been a water baby, but on this trip, with so much time spent at the pools, he overcame a lot of fears, and really applied himself to swimming. He can now swim as far as he wants, and turn around and come back. It was fun to watch him test his limits.

Alexis not knowing a stranger. She made friends with every person she came across at the resort. She would introduce herself, ask where they were from, if they liked to swim, if they knew how to swim as well as she does, and on and on. Within 5 minutes just about everyone she came across fell in love with her. On one evening we went to a street fair in Palm Springs, and a random woman came up to me and asked if I have ever considered modeling her. She said she was so beautiful and had such a great personality that I should really try to cash in on it some how. Haha!

Derrick learning new words, and trying them out constantly. He learned to say all the names of his cousins and aunts, and while he has been able to express his desire to eat for some time now, he honed it to an art. He was very vocal about wanting "breakfasss" and would say "Want eat breakfass" over and over until the pancakes were served. He would also let us know when he was hot, tired, wanted a treat, a "poppopsis" (Popsicle) and the like. Another great moment was when Derrick absolutely fell in love with a little brindle pit bull puppy. He kissed it, hugged it, and decided he wanted to keep it as his own. Fortunately, despite the momentary mutuality of that desire, I came to my senses and remembered how much work a puppy is. Needless to say, we did not come home with a dog.

On the drive home there were probably 15 rainbows, many of them double. I got some great pictures, and will upload them later. It was fun to point them out to the kids, and listen to them exclaim happily over them.

Every day we were there was close to or over 110 degrees. So, the pool became a regular respite from the heat. We went after breakfast, after lunch, and often just before bed. Needless to say the kids slept well. We also saw a few movies. It was fun to take them to Despicable Me. Alexis was very involved in the movie, and came close to crying during a few parts, and laughed during a few. It was fun to see her enjoying the movie more than the treats. Derrick on the other hand just wanted to roam the halls and look at the candy dispensing machines in the lobby.

This will be our only vacation for several months since Dillan starts kindergarten in a few weeks, making it more difficult to just pick up and go, and Brett has to save his vacation time for our big trip next year. But it was well worth the time off and the long, sometimes not so pleasant, drives.

Back to reality though!

Brett is 31

Brett turned 31 this week. It was a fun day. He found out the day before that he could walk without using his crutches. This meant that we could have a great day without being hampered with crutches. We started it off really early and went to Beau's (Brett's friend) house to breakfast. It was really delicious. Then we went home, and had a fun party with lots of friends and family.

Everyone enjoyed playing pool, air hockey, and foosball. Even the kids got really into it.

All the guys enjoyed some time on the game tables, most of the girls were outside watching the kids play in the above ground pool and on the trampoline.

We had some really yummy food. We had a BBQ. Dillan was trying to look cool.

Lexi decided she needed to load up on the chips.

Derrick just loved being outside and being part of all the action. He and grandma had a really nice time.

Becca decided it might be best to be in where it was cool.


The party was nice, but not why I am blogging. I am blogging because I want to list a few of the many reasons I love my husband, and am grateful he is now 31, was born, and is now part of my life.

1. He is the most patient person in the world. Especially with the kids.
2. Brett is seriously funny. Every word out of his mouth is a pun or something witty.
3. He works hard, and always thinks about what he could be doing to provide better, or help me more.
4. He is fun. We never have a boring day.
5. He always wants to play games. No matter what game it is.
6. He reads his scriptures every day, and leads our family spiritually.
7. He is generous with his praise and his love. I always know I am loved and valued.
8. He loves the water...he could swim, play at the beach, snorkel, etc. every day.
9. He gets my crazy, and puts up with it.
10. He is constantly trying to improve, from typing skills to reading, and more.
11. He is not too macho to ask for help.
12. He loves being active, and keeps us active.
13. When I am stressed, he is always thoughtful, bringing home a meal for me, a treat, flowers, or telling me he will watch the kids and I can go out.
14. He is obsessed with Harry Potter.
15. He is accepting and loving of my family, extended family, etc. He thinks of my aunts, grandma, and cousins, as his.
16. He is very open minded and accepting of people's beliefs, even if they don't coincide with his own.
17. He loves treats!
18. Even though he doesn't feel like school is for him, he values education and wants the best for our kids.
19. He is so great with kids, patient, fun, loving, etc.
20. He can pull off a mowhawk.
21. Everyone likes him.
22. He has a fantastic smile.
23. Even though he can be a big baby, even when he was down for his surgeries, he wanted to be helping.
24. He does dishes...without being asked.
25. He lets me put my cold feet on him.
26. He hates snow, and thus understands when I complain about it.
27. He would rather drive a crappy car than have debt.
28. He loves popcorn and soda at movies, and always puts the arm rest up so we can hold hands.
29. He loves sports, but will turn them off to have dinner with the family.
30. His love for people is unconditional.
31. He never leaves the house without kissing me good bye and telling me he loves me. And I love him too.

Feel free to comment on why you love Brett, as I know you all do.

Changes and New Fun Stuff!

After we moved in I never really had a chance to finish up the basement with decorating and stuff. I got the basic ideas for rooms down, but then kind of puttered out on the whole decorating and organizing thing.

Brett has been working on losing some weight, and the deal was if he lost his weight, he could get a pool table. Well, he lost 20 lbs before his surgery (just by cutting out soda and desserts). So, it was only fair that he got one, but we hadn't found one yet. I was looking for one, but couldn't find one that fit my budget and that could be delivered. (We don't exactly have a car that would fit a pool table). I finally found one online and got it, but when it was delivered it was WAY smaller than I was thinking. Haha the description said "slightly" smaller than regulation size. But, when it came, it was like 1/3 smaller, almost even 1/2 the size. Oops. Oh well, Brett loves it and has loved it so far.


Lexi named the balls, and decided that all of the striped ones were parent-less, so she calls them her little babies. Haha. Dillan keeps playing David, and Dillan is not half bad. He almost beat him one of the times they played.

Because the pool table was smaller than we were thinking, we were able to move the air hockey table inside, and can bring the foosball table over. So, the basement is now a game room, with three great toys, I need to get stuff up on the walls still, and maybe some paint for color, but we are excited about the potential. Although, I am not really sure what to do with my furniture that was in there. This lead to the next project.


Because I moved the furniture out of the downstairs family room to make room for the game tables, I put the couch, end table, and rug from that room into the toy room, and moved a few things around. Here is how it all turned out! So cute right!


These are the two toy shelves, and the gigantic train table. The easel is not exactly where I want it, but for now it works. My kids are too spoiled, they have millions of games, books, dress ups, and of course toys, toys, toys!

Here is my cute couch and pillow, red end table, red lamp, and fun pictures. I found these amazing puzzle picture frames in all of the principle colors of the room, so I got them, and put in the cute pictures I had done of the kids in their costumes. I had them taken early this year, but haven't had a chance to get them up yet. Now they are up, which is so fun because they are totally perfect for the toy room.

It is amazing how organizing a room, and getting it exactly how you want it can make such a difference in how you feel in it.

4th of July Weekend!

We started the weekend off with the Real game. We got shirts so we would be in the spirit of the game. It was a fun night. Saturday we just hung out and chilled, and then went to PG to watch the fireworks. Sunday we had dinner with the Yerkes family, and then went straight to dinner with the Simmons family. It was a crazy busy, really fun, family oriented weekend, and I loved it. I totally forgot to take my camera, so no pictures from Saturday and Sunday, but here are the ones from the game.
After the game, Wendi and Betsy took the kids down to the field to watch the Fireworks!


We sat in the KFC section, so it was loud, and everyone was having a blast.

Here's Dillan trying to look cool! haha He is so cute!

Betsy and her cute boys! Wendi got all the little boys Real shirts so that they would feel included!


Wendi and Kristian in their Real shirts. This whole game was Wendi's doing. She wanted the whole fam to go, so she got tickets for everyone for the birthdays for the year.


Of course we had to have our cheesy smiles! We were in our fun REAL jerseys!

Eclipse/Twilight Party!

My friend Nathalie had a Twilight themed birthday party! It was a lot of fun. She did a lot of work to get everything perfect. We had "italiano" and there were some special guests, Jacob and Edward, that we got to take pics with. There was a pinata, and fun goodie bags. Here are a few of the cute pictures!

I got there early, and it was a good thing because there was a lot to do. We got the tables set up and took a fun pic together really quick.


Look how cute these oreos are! You should have tasted them. Delicious.


She was super cute and creative with the drinks. We had sparkling cider at the dinner, but got to take home these cute drinks with special labels, like blood types. The bottom pic is Red Crush, but she wasn't sure if everyone would want soda, so she did some water too. So cute.



These were red (blood) cupcakes, and they had these cute toppers with the faces of the Twilight characters. It was a blast. Loved it!

James' Mission Call

James got his mission call! He was called to the Houston South Mission, Spanish speaking. He had planned to go up the canyon to open his call. He was on his way to the post office to get it, and I called, and asked him if he would please open it in front of the family. He agreed, so we all met up at Kneader's, for yummy french toast, and of course...the exciting news!

It was such an amazing experience to have the family gathered to share in something so momentous for James. We were all smiles and the room was fairly buzzing with excitement.


Mom and Dad were really excited. Dad came with all of his camera gear, and seemed like he was on cloud 9. Mom was thrilled as well. In fact, in the 30 minutes it took to get everyone in the car and to the restaurant they called the family to let them know to come if they could.

Debbie, Dave, and Grandma all came, and shared in the joy of the family!


We are all really excited for James, and hope he has a fantastic mission, that it is a wonderful experience, and one that he comes home from with nothing but good feelings.

Here is a shot of the call itself!

This is the signature of Thomas S Monson, which is pretty dang cool!


Look at him smiling!

Hanging in there!

Today I took a friend rock climbing for her birthday. It was my first time, as well as hers, so we decided to take some experts along with us. James (my brother), and his friend Taylor. They showed us the ropes (every pun intended), and let us climb.



I went first, I started out strong, and felt good, but then I hit a spot where I couldn't find my next area, and then I looked down, and I panicked. I got all shaky, I froze up. I can't believe what a wus I was. I got over it though, and kept on climbing.

This is me almost to the top!



Then Nathalie, my friend, went. She did much better than I did. This is her when she made it up to the top part. Looking happy!



These are the knots James taught us! He used his nice air bending skills to do it, and I used my, "Umm, show me again" skills.


We made it back alive and safely thanks to the oh so generous and ever careful James and Taylor. Poor James was dying at the end because he had to sit at the top in his harness forever, and it was cutting into his legs. I was SLOOOOOOW. haha Nat made it up in less than half the time it took me.


It was a really fun morning, and just what I needed to remind myself to "hang" in there! It is funny how many life lessons rock climbing can be symbolic of. If you just keep going over your obstacles, new hand holds appear. Happy Birthday Nat, thanks James and Taylor for giving us such a fun experience.