Quick Trip

We took a quick trip this weekend. Our friends from California were -maybe- going to be in Southern CA for Thanksgiving. I had a bright idea that maybe we would meet them there. I called Alice and explained my scheme... Let's meet, but not tell the kids! I knew our kids would love to see them, not to mention how much I would love to see them! She explained that they weren't sure if they were going to be able to go or not, because of Lance's work. Well, Thanksgiving day they still didn't know if they would make it. David had Friday off so we had a very small window of opportunity to do this. Friday I get a text from Alice that they were going and would be leaving around noon. I got the text at 12:30. I called and Lance was not home yet so they had not left yet. I had to convince David that we needed to go (we had basically decided that there was no way we could do it since we had not heard from them). I pled my case to David and he looked at me and said, "there is no way..." I explained that we have done far crazier things - like going for a sunday drive and ending up in Oregon!!! He just said, "if you have already made up your mind, why are you asking me?" "I just need to hear you say yes!" Sounded reasonable to me. Well, I quickly packed an overnight bag, texted Alice and told her we would meet them there.
We told the kids we were going to the bank. See, our bank is 40 minutes away in a little town called Superior. Or 40 minutes the other direction in Tolleson. The kids threw a fit! "I don't wanna go to the bank! Do I have to go? Can't I stay here?" We told them no and they were all pretty mad. We left on our adventure. It wasn't too long that they figured out we weren't going to the bank. Then they all started speculating where we were going. When we crossed the River into California they got very excited. "Are we going to Disneyland? Are we going to Fairfield?" It was hard not telling them. We finally made it to Whittier, got a hotel room and headed out for dinner. We asked to sit way in the back of the restaurant. We waited... Finally the Elders walked in and the kids flipped out! The noise level went way up! They were so excited to see each other. It was so awesome. We ate dinner and then went to bed. The next day we met up with them and hung out at 'Grandma Alice's' and then went to the movies - we saw Igore. After the movie we went to the park and played. Then it was time for goodbye. :(
It was such a fun adventure! We got home 20 minutes before David had to go in to work for the night. Some might think we are crazy, but we don't. It was so much fun seeing them and spending time with them. We miss them so much, and we don't know when we will have the opportunity to see them again. Their son, Phillip leaves on his mission next month and we weren't able to go back for his farewell last Sunday, so it was nice that we had the opportunity to see him before he leaves. We missed seeing Sarah, who was with her school on a trip to perform in a parade in So Cal. All in all, it was a very fun trip and well worth the time!


All of us

Elizabeth & Amanda

Christina & Carolyn

Michael & Carolyn

Michael & Phillip

Determined...

So, some of you know this already, but when we lived in California, we did not have cable. Which translates to... we basically had NO TV. Which I was really ok with. I was never home to watch it, and well, David never complained, so it was just fine. If we pointed the antena in the right direction we could get PBS pretty clear and sometimes ABC would come in just a little fuzzy. Anyway, when we moved here we (I) got talked into bundling the phone, internet AND cable. Of course when you bundle you get a 'great' deal, right? Well, needless to say, the kids are loving all the 'kid' channels (If I NEVER see another Spongebob show again it will be too soon!!!!!!) and David and Michael are really enjoying Dicovery channel, History channel and all the others like them. Now, I said I was never home before, well I am always home now, and I am LOVING HGTV!!! Yep, I am addicted!! I watch way too much of it (according to my sweet husband). So with this in mind, I have decided that it is time for me to try my hand at decorating. Something I have never really done before. David decorated our home in CA and did a pretty good job at it. But with our roles being reversed, I have decided to give it a whirl. So, what am I doing? I am painting the entire house! Yes, I have lost my mind, but I really want to do this. I am DETERMINED to get it done and to make our house more 'homey'. I know we will need to start replacing our furniture soon, so why not make the whole house what I want? Yes, it is a rental, but they said we could paint a neutral color. So, I am! I have bought fabric to make valances for the windows, I have gallons of paint, and I have a long list of other projects I want to tackle. So, maybe I will post pictures as I finish these projects, but I have to ask that you not expect much!!!! I may have had a business in the 'crafty' world of Scrapbooking, but a 12x12 page is much easier to design than an entire room!!! So, I may make some mistakes, but that is ok. I am trying something new, and I am LOVING it!!! Hope this determination lasts through the entire project!!!

Nostalgia 2

I finally found some pictures of one of the things I miss most about living in California. I absolutely loved going to the coast to visit the tidepools!!! We would take off on a Sunday afternoon and head for the coast. The kids loved climbing out on the rocks to find all kids of sealife. We had two favorite places to find creatures. Rockaway Beach in Pacifica had the most starfish, sea urchins, sea anemone, coral and so much more! But, Pebble Beach (not THE Pebble Beach where they play golf, a different Pebble Beach), just north of Santa Cruz, was the most fun because there are lots of rocks you can walk out on to find sea creatures. The rocks are slippery, and you have to sometimes watch out for waves crashing into you, if you go out too far, but climbing around on the rocks is just so much fun! The weather is very unpredictable. In Fairfield, where we lived, it could be 80 degrees and beautiful. But, when you get to the coast, it could be cloudy, overcast and 50 degrees! Which is what happened to us on the day these pictures were taken. We took some of our employees with us. It is something we had talked about doing for a long time, and we were finally able to find a date that they could go with us. It was Father's Day of this year.






At Pebble Beach, you could climb out as far as the seals. They would jump in the water if you got too close. But on this day, they were pretty sleepy and we got some great pictures of them.


Another thing I really miss are my Girls!! These are a few of our employee's. THE BEST employee's and FRIENDS ever!! I miss them soooo much! I miss hanging out with them, scrappin' with them, telling them what to do... hee hee! They were truly the very best girls I could have asked for. We share so many wonderful memories. Scrapbooking just won't be the same without them there to laugh with and share all our jokes together! Love you guys!!!

Desperately seeking sleep...

How does this happen?? I think it has been established that David works nights. He goes in around 11pm and gets home -lately- around noon the next day. (Don't get me wrong, we are happy he has a job, I am not complaining...) So last night he is getting ready to leave and Ryan starts crying. I look at David and say 'Here we go...' You see, Ryan has this thing where he is TERRIFIED of the dark and being alone in his room. He wakes up at least 2 times each night crying. When David is working -and when he's not, come to think of it...- I end up with he and Tyler in bed with me every night. So I am sure this is the start to another long night. I had NO IDEA what kind of long night I was in for. I don't rush to him, I want to see if he will work it out on his own. Next thing I know, he is by my side throwing up. Great! He continues to do this every 10-15 minutes until about 3:30am. (don't feel sorry for me yet.) At about 2:45, I hear someone in the bathroom. Oh, it's Michael throwing up! What? both of them??? Oh no, as I am helping Michael I hear a faint 'mom...' Amanda then informs me her tummy hurts. No way!!! Eventually she ends up throwing up too. At this point, all the lights are on in the house, Tyler is running around thinking it is morning, and Christina is looking for a place to sleep that she doesn't have to hear all the 'noise'. I start laundry. I figure I'm up, I may as well get a jump on the many loads I will ineveitably need to do. It was 4:42 when I finally got to lay down. Not for long... At 5:15 Tyler starts throwing up too! Can you believe this? Does this kind of thing happen?? I have had a total of -maybe- an hour of sleep all night, and now I have 4 kids home sick. All of whom are asking for a drink of water. So, here I am, it's 11:30am, and I am exhausted. David is home and the kids are starting to fall asleep one by one. I am hoping to get a little shut eye soon! So, stay away from our house! You don't want whatever bug we have.

Boys and their bikes

So Michael and Dan have been hanging out quite a bit - everyday to be exact - for the last week or so. Now don't get me wrong, I think it's great! I love that they get along so well and have so much in common. Their latest 'adventure' has been really fun to watch. I have a front row seat, as it is in my front yard! Dan and Michael have the same ramps, and one day I open the front door to discover that they have brought Dan's ramps over and combined to two sets to make one big set. They have put them out in the middle of the court and are making circles as they 'jump the ramps' with their bikes. Of course I grab my camera and start taking pictures, LOTS of pictures! They were having so much fun. It was just the two of them...

Then, the next day I open the front door to find there are now 4 of them. Sam, Dan's brother and Kevin from down the street joined the fun. Dan and Michael quickly ask me to get the camera and take more pictures. I am happy to do so!

Then, the next day, I open the front door to find there are TONS of kids out there! Two of the kids I had never seen before! At this point they inform me that they have organized a 'BMX club'. As I take group pictures, they want pics of the whole club, the scooter club, the jr. club, etc. Didn't know they had so many clubs. Then they inform me the name of their club is TMFZ - which stands for Total Mature Freak-Z. (This is the same name Michael wanted for his 'band') I just think it is so cool that they are having so much fun with it. It has been fun to watch them as they perform their tricks. I am not sure the neighbors in the court love it as much as I do, but it gets all of us out of the house. Just 2 days ago we had 16 or more kids all out in the court playing!

I just LOVE this! You see, I have been complaining for years (10 or more to be exact) about how kids don't play outside anymore! Everywhere we lived we never saw kids outside playing. In our last house, back in CA, we wondered if there were even any kids in the entire subdivision. Our kids were always out playing - we didn't have cable or a game system, so they hated being cooped up insied, they loved being outside! There were even times that I had thought maybe kids just didn't play outside anymore. I would talk to people at church and -kinda- complain about how when I was a kid, we played outside and why don't kids play outside anymore??? It seemed that it was just a normal thing that kids didn't go outside. I dreamed of finding a place where kids play outside, walk to school, neighbors know each other, people are friendly and that there would be more LDS families close by. Once again, I am reminded that the spirit brought us to Arizona, and to this neighborhood! I am so grateful...

Amanda turns 6

Ok, so I am a couple days behind... Amanda turned 6 on Sunday!! Funny, I went out late Saturday night to buy a cake mix, I bought a pink one. I thought she would just love the pink cake - pink is, of course one of her favorite colors! I thought a pink and brown combo would be perfect! So after church, Michael pulls out the cake mix and asks if he can help make the cake. Amanda see's the pink cake and immediately informs me she 'hates that kind of cake! I like Chocolate, mom.' So, I pull a chocolate cake mix out of the pantry and start making her 'favorite' cake. She helped decorate the top of the cake with the decorating icing. We had some friends over to help us celebrate, I think she loved opening the presents most.

Happy Birthday Boo!

It's over...

Halloween may be over, but the insane sugar rush is not! Does anyone else find the whole Halloween thing a little odd??? I mean as a kid it is the BEST time ever - dress up in a cool costume and get TONS of candy!!!!! But as an adult, you go buy tons of candy (12 bags for me this year!!!) and hope it all gets handed out so you are not tempted to eat any of the leftovers - cuz you know you only buy the stuff you would want to eat should there be any leftovers!! Then you send your kids out to have their fun and BAM! Now you have 12 bags of candy again! Or more, depending on how many kids you have, in my case it feels like 30 bags!!! Now don't get me wrong, I do love the idea of having many choices of candy bars and sweets to 'steal' from my kids! But the constant begging for more candy from my kids is a little much! I take their candy away after they are done sorting, trading and eating until they are sick. But the next day is always a tough day. All they want is candy and when they are told no (at 6:30 in the morning!!!), they throw these insane fits, throwing themselves on the floor, kicking and screaming and crying. 'But I want more candy!!!' So, how long does it take to come down from this sugar high? Not sure, still there... Hopefully we come down soon!

Oh, I think I want a Butterfinger... What's your favorite???