Sunday

Ahhh- the sound of silence. ALL my children are sleeping- I can post in complete peace!

Yesterday my big boy Tyler gave his first talk in Primary! He's the more reserved of the 2 boys and he wasn't very excited to do it at first. As he was whining and crying about it, I wondered, "Oh no, how do I handle this? Do I be sweet and say okay you don't have to do it or do I put my foot down and make it happen?" Well, knowing my son, I decided to put my foot down and be sweet. So I persisted and he finally gave in and he did a wonderful job. What would you have done? Is it bad that I bribed him, just a little? I just can't believe I have a child old enough to be giving talks! I am so proud of my little man.

My sister and her husband came to church with us to watch Ty and then they came over afterwards for dinner. We had chicken caesar sandwiches, pasta salad, watermelon and corn on the cob. It was a yummy summer dinner! Auntie and Uncle Matt teach my kids all kinds of crazy stuff. Whenever the boys are with them and then come home, they say the funniest things. Then I'll say who taught you that, I don't even know why I ask anymore because the answer is always, "Auntie." Yesterday we were blowing raspberries and taking pictures of it. It was pretty funny!




We finished the night with some delicious dessert. It is this yummy chocolate, caramel bar thingy that is quite scrumptious. You must try it! Here is the recipe. It was a nice Sunday and days like this remind me why we moved back to S. California, I love being close to my family!!
The boys picked some apples while I was making dinner.Now Tyler keeps bugging me to make apple pie, I hate apple pie!

An Addison sandwich!

I have an announcement. . .

No- I'm not pregnant. Geez people!

pinkberry is officially coming to Mira Loma- our neck of the woods. In the words of Glenda from Wicked "I couldn't be happier!" Check pinkberry.com to find out if you will be as happy as me!

I'm in Love!

I really am! I love this little guy. He was such a great shopping/errand buddy today. I left Tyler and Addison home with Jessica (our neighbor who is our favorite babysitter, in fact I could do a whole post just about her, in fact I think I will!!) Aaron and I are trying to take the kids out one at a time, to spend some alone time with them. It was Jake's turn. I took Jake to get his collarbone X-rayed, just to make sure it's healing properly. For those those don't know since it was pre-blogging days, he broke it a few months back. Then we headed out to Montclair Plaza to Gymboree- it's Gymbuck time! He was a little angel while I shopped, the TV they have there didn't hurt! In fact another Mom came up to me and told me what sweet little boy I have because he offered his bag of Wetzel bites (pretzels) to the little boys who came and sat with him. Then we went to Macy's, Baby Gap (he saw this hat and loved it, couldn't resist!) and ended with a trip to Disney Store for a special present because he filled his chart with stickers (this week the boys are learning the letter "E"). This boy says the funniest things and I just love his enthusiasm and excitement for life. He's excited about every day, no matter what we're doing. He was so fun and I loved spending the morning with him!

I'm it!

I got tagged...and now....TAG, you are it!

4 jobs I have had:
1. Nanny for little Chi Wei Chin
2. Hogi Yogi
3. 2nd grade teacher
4. Reading Specialist

4 movies I could watch over and over again:
1. The Holiday
2. My Fair Lady
3. Pay it Forward
4. Finding Nemo

4 places I have lived:
1. SJC, CA
2. Detroit, MI
3. Rexburg, ID
4. Windsor, CA

4 favorite tv shows:
1. Prison Break
2. 24
3. Bachelor (I'm embarassed, but I do enjoy it!)
4. Jon and Kate Plus 8, Little People, Big World
(TLC)

4 of my favorite places I have been:
1. Maui, Hawaii
2. Sacred Grove- New York
3. Palm Springs
4. in my parents family room, playing games with my fam

4 favorite foods:
1. Karmel Sutra Ice cream
2. My mom's cinnamon rolls
3. Tomato Basil Spaghttini at CPK
4. Sushi at Ken's (Rancho Cucamonga)

4 websites I check daily:
1. Hotmail
2. various blogs
3. wellsfargo.com
4. weather.com

4 favorite hobbies:
1. Blogging
2. Shopping
3. Reading
4. Baking with my kids

4 places I would rather be:
1. Maui, Hawaii (Hyatt Regency)
2. at the beach
3. Palm Springs with the Fam (one more month and I will be!)(thanks for that one Ani)
4. massage and sushi (with Aaron)

4 friends I would like to TAG--YOU'RE IT!!
1. Brooke
2. Pricilla
3. Julia
4. Jenn

Family Vacation: Part I

I don't have all the pictures from our vacation, my camera battery died and my in-laws are going to send me the rest of the pictures on CD. So this is all I have for now. But there are certain people, I won't name names, who are very impatient for a new post.

We had a great time! We spent a week at Bear Lake, on the border of UT and ID. Addie and I ended up flying out on Tuesday morning (I got the flu, too, so we had to wait until then.) We met up with everyone on Tuesday night. We spent all our time at the lake. Aaron's uncle just bought a boat, so we had so much fun playing out on the boat. The kids played so hard, all day. They were up at 8 and didn't get to bed until 10 or 11 each night. Despite our very earnest attempts to leave Addie behind in CA, she did really well and had just as much fun as the boys. The kids loved meeting (2nd) cousins. All the kids got along really well, so that made it extra fun. We had such a great time, we ended up staying 2 extra days! One night we went to pizza and to a cute little play called "A Pirate's Life" at the Pickleville Playhouse. Each night one of the families was in charge of dinner and then we just sat outside and visited while the kids played. Then once all the kids were in bed, the older cousins and aunts/uncles reconvened for games. We left Bear Lake on Saturday and headed to Provo.

We went straight to BYU and took the kids to the campus and went to the bookstore. We are in heaven there and picked out all our BYU apparel for the 2007 football season- there are 3 games in our area this year! You can bet Aaron's already got every gamed planned out! He took the boys to the new football facility and I kept shopping. Then we visited our friends, the Wendt's, who live in Pleasant Grove. We were neighbors in our married ward at BYU. We stayed at Aaron's uncle's house in Draper that night. They have an amazing house, 7 bedrooms, awesome pool- it was so fun to stay there and we even got a good night's sleep! (The first one since leaving home.) The next day we packed up and after breakfast at IHOP, we started our trek home.

Oh my gosh, it was the most intense drive of my life! There was always at least one child that needed a snack, a drink, a potty break, a blanket or just some attention. I thought I would never see our off-ramp, "Haven Ave." Those blessed words finally came at 11:30 that night.

Hooray for family vacations/family reunions- double hooray for being back home safe and sound!

The boys on one of many potty stops on their way to Utah.

Launching water balloons

Nana and Addie playing in the sand.

Addie found some snacks and made a run for it!

Jake and Anna Sophia

Girl Cousins!
Madelyn, Anna Sophia, me, Katelyn, Kiely

A night on the town!



Uncle Lee and Jake driving the boat.

Tyler (he looks so mad!), Jacob and Dustin


More pictures to follow!!

PS- For the record, Addison Beth WILL NOT be going on anymore family vacations that involve an excess of 2 hours of driving. You think I'm joking?? I'm not, trust me. That drive has scarred me for a very long time. The girl seriously screamed (not yelled, but ear-piercing shrieks) every 4-5 minutes the whole way home. Yes, she's cute, but oh my, she can scream like no other!

Bear With Me

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Bye Boys

And they're off.

After considerable deliberation last night and all morning, we decided that the boys should go on ahead, while good ol' mom stays behind with the sick baby. Problem is, we're not exactly sure that Addison really is sick. So I'm going to sit it out today and hopefully (cross your fingers) she's fine in the morning we can fly to SLC and meet up with the caravan that's on their way to the lake. If she is sick, then we'll wait for a couple days and hopefully join in on the fun at some undetermined date later this week. Hopefully, there will be no new posts from me until I am reporting on our fun filled vacation, next week.