Marathon Post!

I have been wanting to post these pictures for a month and haven't had the time, so I am going to do them all at once. It is a huge post, so be warned!


T got the "Coyote of the Month" award and was so proud! It was so cute because when all the kids walked into the room, he saw us there he knew he was getting an award & he couldn't stop smiling. He has the best kindergarten teacher ever, we love Mrs. Moore! He absolutely loves going to school! He loves to learn and is always writing stories and leaving notes all over the house. My favorite was last week for S's birthday - he wrote her a card all by himself and it said "Happy birthday. 9 roxks. You are mi besd sisr." It was so sweet, I loved it. I love him!

He finished up his basketball season and had so much fun. He loves to play basketball. He especially loves it because dad is the coach! He loves his time spent with dad!




Pete's brother Jim turned 50 and his wife Diane surprised him with a trip to Monterey. We met them there for a couple of days and had a wonderful time! It was great spending time with them, and you cant help but enjoy the surroundings. I remember it being beautiful, but actually it is amazing. I could have stayed and taken pictures of everything in view, it was all incredible.

This is the oldest working lighthouse on the west coast. I loved it! It was so pretty.



This is the sign on the beach we walked on in Carmel - it would be enough to keep me out of the water - but not Jim!

This is Jim DIVING into the huge waves on the same beach as the death sign!

This is my very favorite picture from our trip. It summarizes the entire trip! Jim loves the water and I think he could have sat there the entire time. I am so glad he got to come and we got to share his big birthday with him! We love him.

This is Pete's heaven. One day he will play golf here and he will be content!

For Christmas one of my presents was to go and see Dana Carvey! I have loved him since I was in junior high (so, a long time). It ended up being even better than I expected. He came to a little venue here in town where you sit down at tables and eat and listen. We got to sit at the table right in front of the stage, it was actually attached to it. We were so close to him, we were in the spotlights! It was so much fun and we had a blast. He was working on material for an HBO special he is shooting soon, so it was cool to hear new stuff. He makes me laugh just looking at him!

This is how I have been finding H lately. She is really starting to love reading. Her new favorite books are...Pinkalicious, Fancy Nancy and anything from the movie Enchanted. Can you tell what kind of a girl she is? She loves anything pink, sparkly, frilly and princesses. She makes me happy.

Over spring break my mom, sister and I took all the kids to the little zoo in town. They had a great time! They love this zoo because it is always filled with roaming chickens and peacocks they can chase. Here they are in their cheesiest pose!

Riding on the train - it was really fun for the little ones!





I love my close ups!

S just finished up her second round of indoor soccer. She has such a great time playing with all her friends. She is so lucky because she has found an amazing team. They have been together for 3 full seasons now and they just click. They are sweet to each other and enjoy playing together, it is so fun to watch them. She has learned a lot too and has a great time playing different positions, a couple of the games she played defender, mid field and forward all in one game!



We met one of my best friends at the park over break and the kids got to play. H loves to play with Lindsay, aren't they cute! They are going to be in pre-school together next fall, I cant believe it!

T got this cape from a wonderful friend and was so excited. He wore it all day & even to the park, I loved it. How great to be able to play pretend and have so much fun, I hope he can keep doing that for a long time.



You can't really tell, but T has a real doozy of a fat lip in this picture! He and Pete were playing catch and the ball went over his glove and smacked him in the mouth. I felt so bad for him! He is a really funny little guy too, he has always been aware of how he looks. Ever since he was two he has been telling me how to do his hair. So, when he woke up and knew it was our church's easter egg hunt and his lip was still really fat he was nervous to go. So funny!

My mom puts together an amazing Easter egg hunt for all the grandkids every year. This year she outdid herself and spoiled them rotten! They left her house looking like it was Christmas! They played in the backyard and had so much fun together. He is a picture of all of them right before the hunt!









This Easter was extra special because it was also my mom's birthday! We found the stats for having Easter this early in the year and it was something like - it hasn't been this early for 90 years and wont be this early again for another 200 years. So it was kind of cool for her. Doesn't she look beautiful!

Don't let their sweet faces fool you. When they get together they are Trouble! It is so great for me to see them all together, I love it. They are the cutest girls. Macie just turned 3, H is 3 in May and Olivia is 3 in December. They are going to love each other forever!



Our dipped strawberries and bunny cupcakes!



S class at school raised steelhead to release back into the river. Here she is with her "fish" right before she let it go. The best thing was a couple of days later when she told me she missed the fish in her classroom. I asked her why she missed them and she told me she missed her favorite fish - it had a "scrunched face and it used to stare at me" she said. Then she told me she was lucky because she got to release her favorite one into the river. O.K., did you see that fish in her cup? There were a hundred of them in a bucket and the teachers were passing them out! I am so glad she got her favorite with the scrunched face!



S had a sleep over for her birthday. She invited just a couple of friends and they came with their "American girl" dolls to play. I thought they would want to do a couple of cool activities I planned, but this is what they looked like the entire night. My sister bought her the game Mall Madness for her birthday and it was a huge hit! They played it over and over the whole night. Thanks Angie, love you!

Here they are in the morning with their dolls!

S decided she didn't want any cake for her birthday, but she wanted a "huge creampuff" instead!

This is Pete's new toy, he is so happy. I can't remember seeing him as happy as he was when he drove it home. He is a huge car guy, so I am glad he finally got a fun one. It is much better to drive than the 2 minivans we have in the garage - so not cool. Now at least we can pretend to be young and cool! I think he looks pretty hot in it!



T is our Guitar Hero! He really rocks, he just made it to medium level!

He cracks me up when he plays, he tries to hot-dog and dance at the same time!

Happy Birthday Miss S!

I can't believe she is 9 today. She is such a great girl and I am so proud to be her mom. She is sweet, thoughtful, smart, funny and talented. She has the best heart and a really strong spirit! She is a beautiful little girl inside and out! We love her so much.

Tag #2

My friend Rebecca tagged me so long ago for this fun idea. I think this is great, here it is...

Whenever Oprah does her ‘Favorite Things’ show, I am always curious about the things she chooses and why. The best part of her ‘Favorite Things’ show is that she shares them with others! Well, the other day I thought to myself, “I don’t have to be Oprah to have ‘Favorite Things’. I started to think about the day to day things that I have or use that bring me some form of enjoyment. I thought it would be interesting to find out the ‘Favorite Things’ of my friends and family too. So here it goes…If money were not an issue and you wanted to load up a basket of your most ‘Favorite Things’ and give it to your friends, what would you choose and why? During your day to day life, are there things that you use each day that make you smile or feel good? Is there something that you look forward to everyday? It can be something simple, like the type of pen you use or something big like the type of car you drive. I will list my ‘Things’ and then I will tag a few of you to do the same thing. Here they are in no particular order...

1. Victoria Secret Vanilla Lace lotion - I love this lotion. I have been wearing it since I was a senior in high school. I never get tired of it and it makes me feel good.




2. My Nikkon D80 SLR camera - I LOVE this camera. I cant imagine not having it. I drag it around everywhere and love to play with it. It is my hobby and my obsession.



3. My Macbook Pro - it goes hand in hand with my camera. What can I say, Pete spoiled me! He has figured out I am happy when I have an outlet, and I love my new computer. It has great programs that work with my pictures and I can take it anywhere!




4. Oil of Olay Complete lotion with 30spf - I use this everyday! I started using this years ago and I love it. It has Zinc Oxide, which is the most important ingredient in sunscreen (according to my dermatologist!)



5. Invisible Glass cleaner - well, it can be any foamy aerosol glass cleaner. They are amazing! They make anything look nice. I am constantly using it on everything - windows, mirrors, fixtures, and it makes my tile counters look so good!



6. My elliptical machine - I am always swearing by this machine. I LOVE it! I hate to run, so this works great for me. The trick is Interval training!



7. I.N.C. clothing line - If I could go on a shopping spree, it would definitely be in this department at Macy's. I love the way the clothes look and the way they fit. It is totally my style.


8. Bare essentials mineral makeup - I have never been a real makeup girl (except lipstick, I love lipstick!). I like it, I just have never learned the correct way to use it. But this year, maybe because of my rising age, I felt the need for a little foundation. My sister-in-law told me about this mineral makeup and I love it. Not too much, but it makes you feel great!



9. Crystal lite - YUM! I have always loved water, but now I love it even more! You can get it in big packs at Costco!



Those are some of my favs... now its time for Nikki, Heidi, Lisa and Raimi to tell me theirs!

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Tag #1

I got tagged 2 times this week! The first one was from my sister-in-law Nikki. The rules are to answer the questions, tag 5 more people and leave them a post asking them to do it too! So, here it goes...

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? It is crazy, that seems like a lifetime ago. I was a newlywed, finishing my degree in broadcasting at BYU and getting ready to go work for the summer in Los Angeles with Pete. It was a really fun time. We were living in a little duplex across the street from the hospital in Provo & we loved it! We had a great married ward and met some awesome people (right, Becca!)

2. 5 things on my to-do list today? Today is Saturday, so it is my slower day! I need to clean the house (in case a realtor comes through) - get T ready for his basketball game - pack up the kids things ( they are going to spend the night at grandma and grandpa's tomorrow) - make dinner - pack myself ( we are going away for a night!).

3. What snacks do I enjoy? O.k. anyone who knows me understands how hard this question is for me. It is like asking me to pick a favorite song - totally impossible. I love food! If I could indulge myself and have whatever I liked the list would go on forever. I love good bread, my chocolate cake, chips and salsa, popcorn, fudge pops, french fries, a good sub sandwich, any mexican dish .....

4. What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire? Buy a home we could live in forever, invest in real estate in my favorite places, divy out to family, and make our "job" doing service all over the world - that would be amazing!!

5. 3 bad habits? I stay up way too late, I am not very good at getting back to people by email and forget to check somedays, and I procrastinate.

6. 5 places I've lived? Roseville, Ca - Gaithersburg, Md - Provo, Ut - Santa Clara, Ca - Woodland Hills, Ca -

7. 5 jobs I've had? C'est Bon European Bakery - Rocklin Dental Center - Hewlett Packard - KBYU TV - Eclipse Marketing

8. 5 things people dont know about me? I put sunscreen on my face everyday, my mom taught me that! - I actually have quite a bit of gray hair starting to come in. I haven't dyed or plucked yet - except the crazy ones right in my part! - People think this is gross, but it is sooo good. I like to eat Ruffles with vanilla ice cream, another thing my mom taught me. - I HAVE to have the car full of food when I go on a roadtrip. My parents always packed tons for us when we went somewhere, so now when I am in the car for too long I want to snack! - Everyone always thinks that since I take about a thousand pics a month that I am a huge scrapbooker. The truth is, I haven't scrapbooked in about 8 years. I dont have the time, place or patience and I always end up not liking what I did. I am more of a digital scrapper. - **Bonus** I actually got a little excited when the rumors about NKOTB reuniting came out. Huge fan!

O.K. My turn to tag, I pick Stephanie T., Stephanie J., Becca, Julianne and Laurie. Love you guys!

Becca, I am working on yours next!!!

My date with H

I am finally feeling a little better - last week was been a bad one in our house. Pete and I got whatever has been going around. I actually lost my voice for 2 days, it was so weird! My kids thought it was great, they kept asking me to scream as loud as I could because no sound would come out. I'm sure they enjoyed their little break from having to listen to me!

By the end of the week, I was ready to get out of the house. Luckily, I have a little girl who LOVES to do anything away from home. She cracks me up, everyday when we are getting dressed she asks me where we are going today. She loves to go to the store, to eat, to take a walk, anywhere! So, we took off on Friday and took a walk around the "downtown" area. We had so much fun, she is a great date. We had to leave early though because a crazy lady was following us around and calling me a mom with a "problem" for taking pictures!










She saw this dress in the window from across the street. When we got to it she stood there and then started singing and twirled like a ballerina!



We stopped at a little bakery and got some heart cookies, with sprinkles! She was happy.

I'm so cool.

I dont know why, but I am a clutz. Seriously, Pete makes fun of me because I am always hitting my head on things. I think I have a depth perception problem. I can't tell how close things are to my head. I have more stories about me hitting my head on things... the cleaning box at the gas station, the railing on a house boat, cabinets, car doors, and sorry to say many more. I even knocked myself out about a year ago on my van door, luckily I had buckled in the kids already!

Today I was at T's class helping them celebrate the 100th day of school, I went to take a picture of them and the camera strap went right into my eye. His teacher told all the kids to look at us and say thanks right when I was doubled over and had make-up streaming down my face. Only me, I am so cool.

Yesterday I took S to dance and she was doing her warm-ups across the floor when she slipped and face planted in front of everyone. She was embarrassed, but luckily was able to laugh it off. Like mother, like daughter?

1st Tooth!!

T lost his first tooth tonight! He is so happy - not only to get out the tooth that has been hurting for a while - but he is so excited for the tooth fairy. It was funny, we caught H running away with his tooth and he said "I cant loose it, cause then I wont get money or sparkles." Then he looked at me and told me the sparkles mean "good luck." He is so cute. I wonder if he will get to sleep?



Here he is before the tooth came out. It was soo loose and sticking up so far! I put my finger underneath it and popped it out with one try. He didn't even know it happened until a couple seconds later he couldn't feel it anymore!



And here he is after! Dont you love how we make them smile for the tooth shots. I am always telling him to smile "normal" and then tonight I'm going "dont smile normal, I can't see your tooth, smile with your mouth open!" Poor guy, good thing he is happy tonight and super cute!