California trip part 2

The next few days were filled with the beach, Huntington beach, and Balboa island. Balboa island was a blast and will go there again. While there we saw dolphins, 3 of them. It made Taryn's trip who really wanted to get in the water with them.

This was the ferry to the island. It was a fun ride there. A very cold and wet ride on the way home.

Jacob had fun playing in the sand, then jumping in them like it was a pile of leaves. He also made sand angles.

We spent our time in Hollywood one day, went to the walk of fame, and to the temple. But what really overshadowed the whole trip was the ride home. It took almost 3 hours to get back to Anaheim. I had such a bad head ache by the time we got there. Never again.

As we were heading home, we decided to stay in Livermore for the night. There was a surprise party planned for a friend that night, and I made in time. I'm so glad I did. I got to spend a lot of time with all my wonderful friends. We had a wonderful dinner, and played boccie ball. It was fun. Then we spent time at the Bills house after so the kids could play. They had a lot of fun with plastic cups and playing cards.

In this picture, Julie, Me, Rebecca, and Gywnne.

This is the kids playing with the cups.

And this is proof of us going on vacation. Welcome home! I had sand everywhere!

California trip part 1

I think our whole trip revolved around going to Livermore to see our friends that we miss so much. We waited to leave till Saturday morning just so the girls would be able to spend the whole afternoon with friends. Most of Jacobs friends have moved away, but he got to see Sarah, with bangs. (That was one of the first things he noticed)

Here are the girls with some of their friends. We went to our old ward on Sunday. Taryn was sick so she stayed in the hotel. Poor girl, she was throwing up all day. The car ride to LA was not fun for her.

Luckily Taryn felt better on Monday. Good thing too, we had bought tickets for Disneyland for Monday. We ran through both parks to get it all in. I didn't want to go a second day. None of the kids really like to ride the rides, we did convince (manipulate) Lauren into going on California Screamin'. She said she liked it but didn't want to go on it again. As the bad parents we are, and we did the same thing 6 years ago with Taryn and Lauren, we tricked Jacob into going on some rides he would not have chosen for himself. The tower of Terror. He didn't cry, but he was terrified. Another kid ruined.

Bree is still to young to enjoy too much, and being the youngest she will probably never go back, cause that's just the way it is with the youngest. At least I got a picture of her as proof that she went once.

These next two pictures were taken towards the end of the night, and Jacob had had enough. He didn't want to be in anymore pictures. Overall the kids had a good time, and we spent a small fortune. Sorry kids, there will be a delay on your braces.

On Tuesday the kids, ALL of them, got to spend the day at the office with their dad. Thanks to everyone else in the office that helped take care of them, brought them lunch, went to the store to get wipes, and a sippy cup. The kids were well behaved as far as I know. They were troopers
and were very patient, all they wanted to do was go back to the hotel and swim.

Stay tuned for part two, when I get around to it.

Happy birthday Lauren, again.

This picture was taken 2004, the last time we went to Disneyland. We will be back there next week. You love the water and to swim, but sand is not your favorite thing to touch. The waves kind of scared you a little.

Lauren played softball when we lived in Livermore. She could hardly hold up the bat, but loves to play all sports, but I think she found her sport: soccer. She looks forward to playing in the spring. I don't look forward to being in the rain.

This picture sums up our last trip to Disneyland. Lauren was in awe of seeing all the princesses, but this was by far the best reaction. They had such a great time on this trip. Now it's Jacobs turn to be amazed, but I don't think this can be beat.

Lauren I hope you have a great day.

You have so much in this world to look forward too, and a lot you are going to say goodbye to this year. Last year of elementary school, last year of primary. Last year of not babysitting. I almost have 2 kids to choose from for babysitting.

You are a great helper to me at home, and are almost very willing to do anything. Although I am starting to get a little attitude from you every once in a while.

Happy Birthday Lauren

Picasa wouldn't let me put all the pictures on the same post, so this will be broken up into 2 posts. These pictures are what Lauren is to me. When I look back these are times I remember. Sorry about the quality, most of these were taken before distal cameras, so they were scanned from scrapbooks.

Lauren was born on Feb. 1st. at 1:30 in the afternoon. She took her sweet time getting here. She was 10 days overdue, and my doctor decided it would be best to induce labor. You broke my tail bone in the process. I was only in the hospital 24 hrs, and I asked to go home. You were a pretty good baby. At the time I thought you cried a lot, compared to Taryn, but after having a real colic baby, you just wanted attention. Everyone loved you and wanted to hold you. I loved to put you in clothing so that you and Taryn matched.

You have always loved bugs. You would want to keep the Roley poly's as pets, but didn't understand why they died. You would just go find some more. You could spend hours outside with them.

This is one of my favorite pictures of you. Your eyes are so big. You were about 16 months old and loved to be outside with your sister. Bree looks a lot like you.

This picture was taken at Aunt Melissa's high school graduation in 2004. Uncle Aaron was in the Marines, and was on leave. You have always loved him so much. He's a great uncle!

Lauren's Birthday part 1

I'm saying part one because family could not come to her party she had last night. I would have had to pay a pretty penny for any extra bodies there. I rented a room at a motel, the Super 8, go figure, because they have an indoor pool with a water slide. then the girls stayed the night at the motel with Lauren.

As you can see from the picture, Laurens favorite color is purple. And Lauren loves watermelon. It's hard to find a watermelon in January in Medford! That was the first thing gone.

Lauren's party was a surprise. She was tipped of by a well meaning friend, but Lauren didn't know when or where it was. I had her aunt Melissa take her to her favorite restaurant, Mongolian BBQ, then to bowling before she was brought to the motel. When she got there all the girls yelled surprise. And Lauren was.

Lauren only got 3 candles blown out the first try.

After eating pizza, opening presents and eating cupcakes, it was time for swimming.
The girls only swam for an hour and a half. I so did not get my moneys worth. Oh well they did have fun.

After swimming, it was more eating, Then french braiding every ones hair, a game of Apples to Apples, jumping on the bed, and singing to music, then to bed before midnight. Amazing.

This was the last of sleepovers for lauren. When my kids turn 11, there are no more sleepovers at friends houses. So I hope she enjoyed it.

Next is the family party on Monday night. Lauren has requested ribs for dinner, so I'm glad it's an easy crock pot meal.

I love days like these.

Days like this don't come very often, but I love them. Bree woke up around 5:30 in the morning, I changed her and gave her milk and we sat on the couch watching the news. Bree went back to bed around 6:30. She has been sick, so she sleeps more. My day started off early, it was hard since I played tough volleyball till 9 the night before. When I wake up that early I get so much stuff done. The girls were gone by 8, by 8:15 I had taken a shower, done 2 loads of laundry, dishwasher emptied and loaded again, dinner in the crock pot. The hardest part of my day is deciding what to make for dinner. I don't like cooking, and Wednesday nights are busy with activity days and mutual, and to top it off, it's youth temple night so we need to be at the stake center by 5:45.
The tv has been off all day, not even Jacob has asked to watch any before school. So here I sit at the computer at 2:15, house mostly clean, (just toys around), 3 kids at school, one baby down for a nap, dinner cooking, and I already redid did my itunes play lists.
I went to LA for part of the week last week and had a wonderful, relaxing time. Thanks to my in laws who watched the kids so I could go. I had Good company, and yes I was with Tom, good food and fun. We went to Disneyland, first time without kids. We went on all the rids our kids won't go on when we come back next week. I got a sweet deal on a 2 room suite next to the park, with free parking and breakfast. Some other things we will do while there is go to the beach, go to Hollywood, per Taryns request. She thinks she will see famous stars everywhere. I understand the LA temple has a new visitors center, so we will check that out. and I want to go to the Griffith Observatory. I have never been to one, and the best part is that it is free. I don't know how relaxing this vacation this will be, but it will be fun. Can't wait to drive with 4 kids that far by my self. We will be stopping in Livermore on the way down, but I'm going to make the trip back in one shot. We'll see.

resolutions

I have never been one to make, let alone keep New Years resolutions. I'm not going to start now either, but I do want to make me a better person in the coming year, so I have decided to come up with a word of the year that I want to strive too. I have also made some goals also, but I won't kick myself if I don't keep them.
My word of the year is content. I need to be happy and satisfied with what I have. Not that I don't appreciate everything we have, and I know we are very lucky to have what we do. I have many conversations with my kids (Taryn) about what is really important in life, and just because someone has a large house or new cars doesn't make them happier. Those conversations are usually when she says we need a new car because our cd player no longer works.
Me being content with my life does not stem for material things, though a bigger house would be nice, I like knowing we can afford the one I have. We moved last year from the Bay Area, and I have had a really hard time with that. I have things I love here, but I feel like I'm missing the more important things there. My friendships were the best I have ever had when I lived there. I don't feel like I have made the same kind of connections here. I have family that I count on, but not the friendships that I want. I have a great calling in my ward and I love the young women, But I'm not involved with relief society all that much, I do try though. My kids go to 3 different school, but I'm not as involved as I want to be there, I play volleyball a few times a week, but don't have the connection with any of women that they do with each other. I have asked myself why I have such a hard time making friends. What I have come up with is I'm pretty introverted, I like my comfort bubble, and I think I come off as being cold.
I think basically this last year I have been waiting for what I had in Livermore, and it's not going to be like that. This year I will try harder at being a good friend, getting out of my comfort zone, and realizing that this is my home, so I better be happy with it.
My other goals for the year is attending the temple at least once a month. This is very doable since I live a mile from the temple.
I want to start an in home business. This is mainly for the tax deduction. My sister in law wants my to do scrapbooks for all her kids. I might start a that up.
I want to get our money under control more. Cut way down on spending. It's kind of hard when you have 2 households in 2 states.
So here is to 2011. Hopefully this is going to be a great year!