Cabo San Lucas

I haven't been keeping up on my blog lately! Tis the season for busy, busy days and nights! So many fun things happening! This year we decided to take the whole family to Cabo San Lucas for a fun Thanksgiving vacation. What a blast! I will admit, there was NO relaxing by the side of the pool reading a good book and getting massages at the spa.... not with 3 little ones to entertain, but it was still so much fun! My dad and 4 of my brothers and sisters went over with us and my kids loved having everyone there. We did tons of fun activities like, parasailing, glass bottom boat to Lover's Beach, waverunners & ATVs. If you ask Ella what her favorite part of the trip was, she'll say, "when the man drove us in the cart to our room." (They drive in golf carts to rooms all over the resort.) We celebrated Thanksgiving at "Pepes Restaurant" with tacos al pastor. So yummy! We did have a delicious traditional turkey dinner on Sunday with all the family.... and after tacos and quesadillas all week, that really hit the spot! I love Cabo..... can't wait to go back!

Logan played so cute in the sand

waverunners were a blast!

We walked along the beach enjoying the sunrise one morning

Logan's not too sure about this guy!

Ella with her margarita in Mexico!

Watching the sunset with daddy

Having grandpa with us was the best!

Smoothies at the pool were one of our favorite things!

The whole group parasailing

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth....

So I can wish you a Merry Christmas!! We've had lots of fun making Avery say, "sassafrass" and "peaches" and "silly Sally sipped some soup." I can't believe how many teeth she is losing. She is about ready to lose her 6th tooth and she is only 5. I think because my kids get their teeth at 3 months, they lose their teeth early too. She is loving all the coins she is getting from the tooth fairy. Everytime she puts a tooth in her tooth box, she will end up in our room at 5 am super excited to show us that the tooth fairy came. Maybe we should have the tooth fairy start coming during the day so we can get some sleep.

Shoe Fetish Anyone?

I could not stop laughing when I walked into my bedroom to find Avery and Ella thigh deep (Ella literally) in my boots. This is what I have been seeing everyday for the past couple weeks. My girls love shoes and I can't keep them out of my closet! I don't know how they can even walk in those things! I had to stop Avery from doing the catwalk down the stairs the other day. Girls will be girls.... and who doesn't love a good pair of shoes?

I've Been Tagged....

Okay, I am the worst at this stuff. I always have good intentions of doing these fun games, but never get around to it. I love reading them on other blogs, but writing them is another story. I was tagged by 2 different people so here goes the first....

Four jobs I've had:
1. Orthodontic Assistant
2. Sundance Resort shuttle driver
3. lifeguard
4. Polynesian Cultural Center (BYU Hawaii)

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. The Notebook
2. Pride and Predjudice
3. The Bourne movies
4. Sound of Music

Four places I have lived:
1. Laguna Niguel, CA
2. Provo, UT
3. Laie, Hawaii
4. Malaga Spain

Four favorite TV shows:
1. The Bachelor (I know...I just like the drama of the silly girls)
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Oprah
4. Funniest Home Videos

Four places I've been:
1. Mexico
2. Australia
3. New Zealand
4. Fiji (#'s 2,3,4 with my soccer team)

Four favorite foods:
1. a juicy steak
2. fish
3. sandwiches (good ones like paninis)
4. yummy salads that have lots of crunchy candied nuts, pears etc....


Four websites I visit daily:
1. msn
2. sometimes Disney for my kids
3. Blogspot
4. Yahoo Home

Four places I'd rather be:
1. My bed
2. Hawaii
3. getting a massage and pedicure
4. at a hair salon getting a scalp massage, haircut and style


Four blog buddies I want to tag:
1. Katie
2. Summer
3. Kimberly
4. Jaime

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Well, we did it again, we bought passes for Disneyland. Man.... talk about raking in the cash, Disneyland makes so much money! I have to admit, when I heard the total for 4 So. California passes plus parking, Ughhhh....it hurt! I made Darren promise to take one 1/2 day off every month so we can get lots of use out of these things! It was pretty easy to go alone when I had 1 and then 2 little ones, but now with 3, I don't think I can do it alone. I know I'm a big whimp.... all of you with 4 and 5 kids are saying "what's the big deal!" I would do it if I was with someone else I knew and we could help each other with the tram and the stroller. Gotta love getting all the kids out of the stroller everytime you get on that tram! I do miss those days of walking straight from the car to the entrance. So, we are once again heading to "The Happiest Place on Earth...." Anyone want to come?

Halloween Fun!

Avery as Gabriella from High School Musical

Ella as Tinkerbell

Logan the Lion

The Phantom of the Opera and Christine

What a fun week full of Halloween Festivities! From our ward Trunk or Treat, to our Family Party on Monday night with all of the cousins, we have been hitting the parties! The girls had a blast carving pumpkins and especially trick or treating! Ella asked for a piece of candy to eat after the 1st house, (I think she would have been content to trick or treat to 2 houses and go home with her handful.) Avery loved to stand outside on the porch and pass out candy. We would hear her every few minutes say, "here comes more kids mom!" Logan was a little trooper to wear his costume....oh about 5 times in the past week. We had lots of fun..... and I'm tired!

Time for Shopping.....

The holidays are just around the corner and it's that time of year for shopping!! I wanted to put a plug in for my cousin McKenzie's business "Kenzie's Corner." I have lots of her super cute boards for holiday boutiques and for all of my friends who need a Christmas/wedding/anytime gift. I will have lots to choose from throughout the holidays and she can personalize anything. She also makes great wall clocks for your home in 2 different sizes. She is getting her website up and running in the next month or so but if you want to go check her out it's: kenziescorner.com. Here are some pictures of just a few.

Goldilocks

Many of you know how badly Ella has wanted LONG hair ever since she was born. Everyday she would put the neck of her shirts or nightgowns around her head and walk around all day saying, "look mommy, I have big hair." The poor girl.... I thought for sure her hair would start growing by now. She looks at her sister Avery's long locks everyday and she'll say, "when I turn 5 I will have long hair like Avery." I wish I could help it grow! So, this past Sunday I went to get the girls in the car for church, and this is what I found. Ella was ready to go with her beautiful golden (and we're talkin GOLDEN) long hair.



She found this wig in the dress up clothes from Halloween.


Here's one of many pictures with the shirt on the head.

Fall Fun at the Pumpkin Patch!

I love the fall! There is nothing better than the crisp cool air, getting to wear your favorite pair of jeans and comfort foods like warm apple crisp and pumpkin bread! I especially love going to the pumpkin patch with my family to kick off this fun time of year. We met Darren after work on Friday and got there right at sunset when the lighting for pictures is PERFECT! My kids were too excited to sit too long for pictures, but I did get a few. The girls went on a few rides, jumped in the bounce house and rode a pony. Logan mostly tried to eat the sawdust on the ground whenever he could get a fistful. We went over to Ruby's for dinner and the kids loved the balloon guy who came to our table and made Avery a butterfly hat and Ella a heart wand. I love nights like these, when your kids have a great time, nobody has a meltdown, and as a parent you feel like......it was all worth it!

Papa's Birthday

How many cousins can we fit on the couch for a picture, and how many will have a meltdown at the same time? This was our attempt at a picture on grandpa's birthday with all of his grandkids. I know it is definitely not going into a frame displayed in the house, but just the fact that they are all in one place is pretty amazing. We all went to dad's for his 57th birthday bash. We ordered Stonefire Grill for dinner and Marie Calendar pies for dessert. At this point, we are all about "easy" with a group the size of ours! The cousins had so much fun together as always and we enjoyed visiting with all of the siblings. Now that my brother Casey moved back from Utah, we are all here, living within 20 minutes of each other. Let the holiday parties begin! We all had lots of fun at dad's birthday, WE LOVE YOU DAD!

Thumb Sucker!

What the heck?? Logan is 8 months old and just started sucking his thumb! I have to say it is pretty cute how he sucks one hand and plays with his little ear with the other. I thought we weren't going to have to worry about pacifiers or thumbs with him but I was proven wrong! I would much rather have him sucking on a pacifier because you can get rid of those! So now I have 2 little thumb suckers. Ella does it all the time and I have told her if she keeps sucking her thumb it will make her teeth crooked. In her prayers the other night she said, "please help me not to suck my thumb anymore." I had to laugh! I should take a picture of both of them together with a thumb in their mouth. O-well, I worked as an orthodontic assistant for years and most ALL kids will have to have braces anyway...so bring em on!

Putting The Pieces Together

So I have decided that my girls have their daddy's love for puzzles. Since Darren was Ella's age he has loved them. Every Christmas since he can remember his family would buy a new Christmas puzzle and put it together throughout the holidays. His mom would glue the puzzle to cardboard when they were done and every Christmas she brings them out again. It is such a great tradition! So, since my girls LOVE doing puzzles, it has become my favorite activity right around the "making dinner" time of day so I can have them busy while I'm in the kitchen! They were so cute yesterday at the table, I had to take some pictures.

Playgroup Pals

Sending Avery off every morning to kindergarten really makes it hard on the little sister who thinks she should go too. Thank goodness for playgroup! Ella gets to go 2 times a week to play with her friends Kai, Ethan & Isabella. They were so funny last week at my house that I had to snap some pictures of these little cuties. I sometimes feel bad that I don't have more "boy toys" for Ethan and Kai to play with but it's pretty funny how hard they will fight to push a baby stroller. Luckily, I have 3 strollers and a grocery cart! The biggest hit was Logan's ball popper baby toy. All 4 of them were squealing with excitement as the balls popped like popcorn all over the livingroom. They are so much fun!!

Girls Weekend

Yes! It was all about "the ladies" this weekend. My cousin Summer rounded up all the sisters and cousins to head out for a mini getaway. We all met up at our hotel in Dana Point and went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Then we went back to our hotel and got in our comfy clothes and sat around talking and talking. We all brought one of "our favorite things" to share with everyone. That was really fun! We were in heaven with homemade pumpkin bread, Sees Candy, more chocolate and chocolate chip cookies! Talk about throwing your diet out the window this weekend! We all slept in, a novelty none of us mothers can ever enjoy, and then went to lunch on the beach! We spent the rest of the day shopping and ended with a casual dinner at Corner Bakery. We decided to make it an annual event.... I'm thinking every few months would be good! Thanks girls, I had a blast!

Benjamin's 6th Birthday

My kids had a blast on Tuesday at their cousin Benjamin's birthday party. We all went to Boomers where the kids got wrist bands to ride the kiddie rides as many times as they wanted. What a great place to go that is easy, but your kids feel like they are almost at Disneyland! The arcade was fun for the kids too, but I have to say I love that Chuck E Cheese only charges 1 token for each game or ride. They had so much fun with all of their cousins and Ben's friends! Happy Birthday Benjamin!!

Date Night at the Padre Game

With 3 little ones we don't get to go out on long date nights like we used to. It is usually dinner or a fast bite and then a movie etc. Well, Saturday was a nice long, fun date with Darren. His granddad has season tickets to the Padre games and gave them to us this past weekend. My sister came over to babysit and we actually headed out at about 5:00 (that's pretty darn early for us.) We thought it would be fun to go somewhere nice to eat downtown near the stadium and then walk over to the game. It was already 25 minutes until the game started and here we are just sitting down to dinner. I know Darren was wishing we were sitting in our seats already watching them warm up with a hot dog, nachos and a drink. What a sweet husband to take me out to a nice restaurant and miss the first inning. I felt bad though because The Padres were playing the Giants and we missed Barry Bonds play since they took him out after the 1st inning. Darren wanted to see him knock one out of the park. (All those steroids help!) No, we had fun though, and we even got a free Padre baseball cap! Thanks for the tickets granddad!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

My sweet friends took me out to dinner Thursday night for my birthday and a fun, "girls night out." We ate at CPK and then headed over to the movies to see Hairspray. We must have been the last people to see this movie because we had the whole theater to ourselves. It was an entertaining movie that made you want to tap your toes to the music. We'll have to do girls night out more often! Thanks girls!

Congratulations Derek and Katie!

Last Sunday our family had a birthday dinner for me and Ella at my sister's house. Right before it was time to have cake and ice cream my brother Derek came in with 2 platters full of pink and blue frosted cupcakes. All of the kids thought we just had more treats for the birthday, but we all knew! They are having their 1st baby!!!! Congratulations Katie and Derek! My brother Brandon's wife Kim, will have their baby 3 weeks earlier. How fun! These 2 new babies will be #12 and 13 and there are still 6 of my siblings not married! Where are we going to have Sunday dinners when there isn't any more room at the house?