Campfire Reflections

Piano Lessons

2011-06-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

Mia has been taking piano lessons from Mammy. She is doing great! And is almost done with the first book.

Emma can't wait until Mia is done with the first book, because she then gets to start taking piano lessons as well.

And I can't wait for Emma to finish the first book because then I get to start taking piano lessons.

Watch out world, pretty soon we will be concert pianists!

New Addition To The Family

2011-06-08T14:29:00.001-07:00

We got a puppy!!! Her name is Sarah. The girls and I love her while Erik tolerates her like he does the cat.
He is a good man that sacrifices a lot so we can be happy and have what we want.

Utah And Idaho Trip

2011-04-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

Better really late than really, really, really, really late, right?

In February made our annual trip to Utah for the Life The Universe And Everything Symposium, affectionately called LTUE. This is were we get to meet author, illustrators, comic book writers, movie makers, screenplay writers, costume makers, photographers, etc. We get to sit and learn from these people who have made in their field, or at least starting to make it. Erik is in heaven when we go.

Every year there are a bunch of different classes going on and a lot that happen at the same time, so Erik has a hard time choosing what ones to go to. In the past the girls and I have gone to a few to take notes for him, this year the girls and I decided that we would sit in on more for him, okay I decided and the girls went a long with it. They are great sports! We also got a digital recorder so I didn't have to worry about taking notes and worry if they were the right ones that Erik would like.

But before we went to LTUE we spent the night at Grandmother Peterson's. We had dinner with her and just talked and visited. The girls played in the snow and got to see the animals and pet the cows.

We then continued on up to Rexburg, Idaho to visit with my brothers Isaac and Vaughn who are attending BYU Idaho. Isaac was staying with Vaughn, his wife Tasha and their four kids. We had not met their two youngest before so this was a fun time to see family. The girls got to see and play in a lot more snow and Mia has decided that, "She knows why we live in California, no snow." After a while we all pretty sick of the snow. We stayed with them for a couple days, and were there on Valentine's Day so the kids gave everyone valentine's and decorated heart cookies.

After that we headed back down to Utah, but before we left Idaho we had to make a stop in Napoleon Dynamite's hometown of Preston. This was an unscheduled stop we didn't realize that our directions would take us through Preston on our way to visit friends in Logan Utah. Erik would have plotted out many things for us to stop and see had he known.

We then stopped and saw the Schofields. They use to be in our ward before we moved to Rialto. They moved around the same time as us, though they went further. I use to visit teach her and the girls loved to come with me so they could play with their dogs. The dogs and girls were reunited and got to have a chance to play. They also have had a beautiful baby girl since they have moved and I am afraid that I monopolized the baby during our stay. And dork that I am forgot to take pictures, they all look great.

We also stopped in Bountiful to visit an old friend of Erik's, Robby Hall. (I can't say his name without wanting to say the whole thing, Robby Hall. Whenever they talk about him they use his full name, so he will forever in my mind be Robby Hall. Even when we were there I had to stop myself, in my head I would complete the whole name though.) I finally got to meet Robby, his wife, and three boys. (They might have been at our reception but lets face it, everyone there were new names and faces so please forgive me for not remembering.) I have heard many storied about Erik and Robby! So it was great to put a face with the name. Again I forgot to take pictures, if the camera is not in my hand I will forget to use it!

We then continued on to Highland, our last stop. We stayed with friends, Lori and Derek White and 5 of their 6 kids, that use to live in Pennsylvania. Lori was in the Young Womens Presidency with my mom when I was in Young Womens and I use to babysit for them. And now I am going to date myself, their oldest son Jason who I babysat just left for his mission! They graciously allowed us to use their beautiful home as a base of operations! They didn't get to see us much, which can be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. You can decide that one. We did have an excellent dinner with them and the girls spent some time playing with their youngest two kids. I didn't get any pictures with them either.

We also got to visit with our friend Frank Livingston, from when we attended BYU. Frank was one of the coolest guys we knew! He and Erik both love movies and would have movie nights. It was at Frank's house that I watched all three original Indiana Jones movies! And the food Frank would make. Mmmm, I get hungry just thinking about it. I did get a picture of Erik and Frank together at Frank's house.

The girls and I went to a playground in Provo while we were there. Don't ask me the name of it we just passed it in the car and decided to get out and play.

We also visited the Museum of Art on BYU campus and got to see the huge exhibit of Christ paintings done by Carl Bloch. This was a awesome exhibit and if you are in the area and get the chance I highly recommend checking it out.

Then there were three days of the symposium. Three days of classes. Some interesting and some not so much, especially for the girls. Did I mention that they are troopers?

We were also able to get a bunch of books signed, Erik if you don't already now is a collector of books and loves to get them signed if possible. The girls even got a comic book signed by Jake Black, I think it was a Batman comic, but it was a month and a half ago.

Mia and Emma both caught a tiny cold, each of them had a day that was the worst but they kept plugging on. We have great girls! They did have books, and paper to draw on, and some toys and such as well as schoolwork in their bags.

One of the days we were in a class that had tables set up so the girls were excited because they could lay their heads down and rest. So they had laid their heads down and the speaker, screenplay writer, MichaelBrent Collins, started his lecture. And looks over and sees the girls with their heads down and makes a comment on how cute they were. And then he looks at Emma and asks her, "Am I boring you?" To which Emma nods her head yes. Everyone laughs and he tells them, "Go ahead and go to sleep. But if anybody else in the class goes to sleep I'm going to throw something at you." Everyone laughs again. Leave it to Emma to tell the truth when someone else would have told a white lie.

Mia, Emma, and I skipped out on some of the classes and went to Carl's Jr to meet up with a Sister Missionary that served in our branch when I was baptized. Sister Montgomery, the boys and I called her Sister Montgomery Moose after some cartoon character. She brought her mission album and we looked at old pictures, reminisced, and I got her caught up on everyone's lives in Slippery Rock Branch. Thanks mom for keeping me updated! Again no pictures!

Mia, Emma, and I were also able to attend an event at the Smith Fieldhouse. They had all the womens sports teams there to meet everyone. And they had little stations set up where the kids could try out different sports. Cosmo, BYU's mascot was there. Mia even caught one of the t-shirts they were flinging into the crowd.

On Sunday we went up to Salt Lake and watched Music and The Spoken Word. Took a tour of the conference Center and visited the two visitor centers on Temple Square. There was a lot of snow and we were even driving and walking in a snowstorm. The girls certainly got to see their fill of snow this trip.

We then stopped at Erik's friend Andy Meisenbacher's, I probably butchered the name I'm a phonetic speller sorry about that! We had a wonderful dinner at Andy's beautiful house with his wife and kids and another old friend of Erik's, Larry I forget his last name and his wife and kids.

We then headed back to Grandmother Peterson's for another visit. Where we again talked and hung out. It was great to see her. We try to split our visits up so we don't wear her out or overwhelm her. We spent the night again and then headed back towards California.

We did pull off in Vegas to drive through the strip and see the casinos but we didn't get out this trip. Then homeward bound.

We made it home safe and sound, just worn out!

A big thank you to the Frosts who took care of the animals and house while we were gone! They even hung up a welcome home banner. Thanks you guys, we love you!

I think I covered everyone and I apologize if I forgot anyone, it was not intentional. There were a ton of people we didn't get to see this trip, we hope we can catch you next year!

Erik's Getting Published!

2011-04-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard yet, Erik is going to be published in an anthology of short stories this fall! Yay, Erik!!!

The name of the book is Monsters And Mormons, and should be coming out in October, just in time for Halloween. All stories in this anthology have to have both monsters and Mormons involved somehow in the story plot. There are a couple bigger name authors whom will have their stories in the book as well. Namely Dan Wells and Eric James Stone.

Erik's story entitled, Bichos, is about a returned missionary who with his new wife have returned to Brazil where he served his mission. (Erik served his mission in Brazil and has a great love for Brazil and the people in Brazil) While the characters are honeymooning they run into some of the monsters from Indian legends from Brazil. That's all I'm going to say. We'll let you know when and how to buy the book so you can read it yourself!

Mia, Emma, and I are so proud of Erik and all the hard work he has put into his writing career! His time and effort has started to pay off.

Haircuts

2011-03-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I need to do a post about our Utah/Idaho trip as well as our trip to Disneyland with the Peterson ensemble but I just had to post this quick one about the girls' haircuts.

I decided that I had put off trimming the girls hair long enough. I pulled out the haircutting stuff and asked Mia what she wanted, usually she chooses as little off as possible, but today she surprised me. She said, "Maybe about shoulder length." Looking at how long her hair was I had Emma run and get a ruler. I showed that if we went a little shorter she could then donate her hair to locks of love, but told her it was totally her choice. I know how much she loves long hair so I didn't think that she would go for that, but to my surprise she said, "Let's do it!" I gave her a couple chances to change her mind but she said no.

And then as soon as I started cutting she said maybe not, but it was really too late. She teared up a little but has since been smiling. She then said, "At least those who don't have hair can have some, and my hair will grow back." She's such a sweet sweet girl.

Then it was Emma's turn and she has always liked short hair and I was the one that told her she should grow it out a little bit so I thought for sure she would jump all over donating her hair. But again I was surprised, she decided she wanted it about shoulder length.

I think that they both look really cute with their new haircuts!

Catch Up Post (I Promise To Do Better This Year)

2011-03-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know I have been a complete slacker about keeping this thing updated. Let's just say once you let a couple things slide it then becomes a huge mountain of catch up.

Instead of trying to individual catch up posts I am doing one big one and hoping I hit most of the highlights and then I promise to do better. I have actually decided to set aside Sunday afternoons to write the blog and letters. So, we'll see how that goes.

The girls had a huge sleepover for their birthday. They invited friends from the old ward, new ward, and homeschool friends! They invited a total of 15 girls, 14 were able to come! At first we didn't think that all the girls would be allowed to spend the night, which was fine with me. In the end though 13 of the 14 girls spent the night! So, we had a total of 15 girls there, counting Mia and Emma, spending the night for their birthday! Things were crazy!

Here are most of the girls posing for a crazy picture. Of course after we took this picture more girls showed up!

We had make your own pizzas for dinner. They had a table full of choices of toppings to put on their pizza. And make your own cupcakes for the cake. They had a table full of candy and sprinkles and icing to decorate the cupcakes however they wanted to.

We had the Wii going in one room, the karaoke machine going in another. Girls sliding down the steps in sleeping bags. Girls drawing, reading, and just having fun. There were girls talking, screaming, shrieking, giggling, and laughing, in just about every corner of the house! Mia and Emma opened presents.We had a pinata in the backyard filled with candy because in case you couldn't tell we weren't hyped up on enough sugar yet!

I finally ended up having to threaten to turn into "mean Marci" if they didn't go to sleep at 4 in the morning! By 4:30 they were all sound asleep!

I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then parents started to come and pick up their sugar filled and tired girls! I was beat!

Emma did get her ears pierced and was able to change them to fun earrings on our anniversary. It wasn't planned, it just worked out to be 8 weeks after we got it done. But we did get a Happy Anniversary after a yell of excitement, "Do you know what day it is? Time for fun earrings! Oh, and Happy Anniversary."

So now both my girly-girls have their ears pierced and get to wear the "fun"earrings. They love to change their earrings to match their outfits. They also love to shop for earrings but that's a whole other story!

Austin left us at the end of October and went back home. Isaac flew in for a week after he got off his mission and Austin and Isaac flew home to PA together. Thanks for the visit, we miss you guys!

Halloween 2010 saw the girls looking cute as could be! We attended our first ward activity in our new Rialto 1st ward. Mia was Spidergirl and Emma was Alice. Erik went as Indiana Jones and I went as a Hick, I know big stretch for me. ;)

Mia as Spidergirl

Erik as Indiana Jones and Emma as Alice from Alice In Wonderland

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Mammy and Grandpa's and to carry on a tradition that the girls wanted to start a few years ago, the girls got to make a fun dessert. This year they made cake balls on a stick and they decorated them to look like turkeys.

Around Christmas time we went and toured a candy story that still makes by hand candycanes.

Preparing the candy with color and flavor. They keep flipping the candy to cool it off so it gets harder.

Stretching the candy. The pulling makes it turn white.

The girls then got to shape their own candy pieces. They didn't choose the usual cane! That's my girls!

While there we also bought chocolate covered bugs to try. Well, Erik, Emma and I tried them. Mia couldn't get pass the fact that they were bugs! They were just chocolate and crunchy!

As part of our Christmas presents from each other and Granny and Pappy, we finally got season passes for Disneyland, so I am sure you will be seeing a lot of Disneyland this year! Here are some of our favorites from the time we got our passes and on!

And no Christmas is complete without telling Santa what you want! So here are the girls with Santa at Rialto 1st Ward's Breakfast With Santa.

Birthday Bash With The Family!

2010-10-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

The girls' birthdays are only 3 weeks apart and I am right smack dab in the middle. So, to make it easier on everyone, okay so I don't know exactly how easy it is on everyone else but it sure is easier on me, we have the family birthday bash on the same day. And then they get to have their party with their friends.

This year, my mom, my dad, Wesley, Jordan, and Austin were able to be here for the party again. Others who came were, Erik's parents, Michelle and Dustin and their kiddos, Ryan (Lizeth and Leilani had something else at her parents), and Nikki (Andy had class that night). Also our dear friends, who might as well be family, Shonna and her kids made it over as well (Andy had a bunch of work to do).

All in all it was a fun evening, I think. Okay, so the girls and I had fun. I hope everyone else did as well!

I made this really cool sunflower cake with Hershey Kisses, yummy! Chocolate!

Thanks everyone who was able to make it and spend some special time with us. And those of you who couldn't, wish you were here! Love ya!

The sunflower cake. Can you say awesome? and easy? The petals are twinkies!

And of course you have to have a cake that says their names! This was thrown together last minute, not my finest.

Family and friends!

Blowing out the candles! They should get their wishes!

Love having everyone over!

Opening of presents, the girls' favorite part. Thanks everyone!

Mia Got Her Ears Pierced!

2010-10-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

We, well mostly Erik but I went along with it, decided that the girls could decide for themselves when they turned eight whether they wanted their ears pierced or not. We figure if they are accountable in God's eyes, we might as well have them start making some choices.

Mia went back and forth between wanting them pierced and not wanting them pierced. She finally decided for sure that she wanted them done, and then we had to figure out a time to do it. I could have just taken her one day to get them done but Erik really wanted to be there for it, so we had to coordinate with his crazy schedule. And then remember to do it some evening when Erik got home from work.

Anyway end of August we finally had the time and memory to do it.

We got there and there was some teenage girl having the cartilage pierced and freaking out so Mia who was already apprehensive about lost it. We told her she didn't have to get it done but she really wanted to. I told her that getting the earlobe pierced was totally different from having the cartilage done. (I had my ears pierced when I was about 8. I finally got the cartilage pierced when I was at BYU, I always wanted that. I really wanted a couple more holes as well. And then the prophet came out with one hole per ear thing so bye bye all other holes and I took out the other.)

Mia was strong though. She gripped my hand for dear life and with tears welling up she tells the guy to do it. After he did the first one she asked, "Was that it? Are we done?" Love you Mia!

She can take them out October 18th, and have the fun earrings!!! She is so excited!

Emma said she didn't want her ears pierced but now that she really looked at all the fun earrings she wants hers done as well. But she promised her friend that she would wait and go with her after her 8th birthday the end of November.

Emma's Birthday and Baptism

2010-10-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

Once again I am playing catch up. Emma had her 8th birthday on August 26 and we had her baptism on her birthday!

When she woke up she got to open her presents, she got a lot of Littlest Pet Shop stuff, her book was even a Littlest Pet Shop book.

My parents and two youngest brothers, Wesley and Jordan, were in town visiting from PA for her baptism. Ian, Angela, Adelia and baby Joseph were also able to make it up from San Diego where Ian is doing his internship at the Naval Medical Hospital in Balboa Park.

For their birthdays they get to pick what their "special" birthday dinner would be. Emma chose homemade pizzas!

Things were crazy that day running from one thing to another trying to get everything done. We were not able to have her birthday cake before we had to leave for her baptism so we had it when we got home.

There were about 71 people there at her baptism! Wow! Thank you everyone who was able to make it. You helped make Emma's special day even more special.

After the baptism we all traipsed back home for cake and ice cream. Emma chose those Cheesecakes from a box, the Jello brand. We love those things at our house!

We also brought home with us friends Rachel, Crystal and Winter as their mom had to leave the baptism early. Mom, Wendy and brother Darian got there shortly after we did so they all joined us for cake and ice cream.

It was a late night getting to bed.

Emma and Erik in their white jumpsuits ready for the baptism.

Emma and Mia making memories.

We are so proud of our accountable girls! ;)

Time for cake! Happy Birthday Emma!

Happy Birthday to Erik!!!!

2010-08-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Erik celebrated his birthday on July 9th. As is tradition in our family he got to choose, the meal and cake and something special to do on his day.

He chose to do an informal 5K fun run and we invited the whole Peterson side of the family. Even the kids participated in this. I think everyone had a good time.

Afterwards we went to Erik's parents for birthday breakfast of a crepe bar. (I think next year it will be easier on me to have it our house instead of carting all the food over to their house.)

And then for birthday cake we had dessert crepes!

Erik loves crepes and unfortunately he hardly ever gets them, so I try to make him crepes around his birthday each year. But this was the first year that we did it as a crepe bar and it went much easier. Usually I try to make up a few different complex gourmet crepe recipes. This year it was just everyday food. Maybe he will actually get crepes more often after this.

We love you Erik!!!

Things I love about Erik:
1. He is the best dad and husband, and is always trying to become better.
2. He has worked at the same job that he doesn't like for the last 10 1/2 years to provide for the girls and I, giving up a lot of things that he wants like school and immersing himself in following his dreams.
3. His sense of humor and general craziness
4. His love of knowledge and learning
5. His ability to set goals and keep at them until they are reached.
6. His writing and imagination
7. How he honors the priesthood he holds
8. He always supports me and all my crazy ideas
9. How he gets so passionate about things
10. We are out of debt, except the house, because of him and the goals he set and going without things he wanted so we can be more financially secure
11. He got us a house of our own, even though he is scared out of his mind about being a homeowner and all the responsibilities that go with that
12. He gets me to open up about things instead of holding them in like I usually do
13. He knows the REAL me and still loves me
14. He is sensitive, loving, and kind
15. He is my best friend and I am so glad that we will be together forever
He's Superman!!!

What Mia loves about Erik:
1. He's kind
2. He's loving
3. He's fun to play with

What Emma loves about Erik:
1. He's funny
2. He's nice
3. He's fun to play with

Fourth Of July Weekend In La Selva Beach

2010-07-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

We went up to visit Erik's Grandma Carole's home in La Selva Beach for the fourth of July weekend. Erik's parents went as well. we all had a great time and a lot of activities packed into such a short amount of time.

Erik, the girls and I slept in a tent in the backyard. The girls had a blast, this was their first time camping. And I was close enough to all the modern conveniences so it worked out well!

Setting up the tent

"Sleeping" in the tent

We drove up to La Selva on Friday, we arrived in that evening and had enough time to put up the tent, eat dinner, visit a little bit with Grandma Carole, Erik's Uncle Ted and Ferd. Then it was time to go to bed. Why does traveling make you so tired even though you are sitting the whole time?
We love La Selva! The weather is great, there is none of that death heat that we get down here in So Cal. You get that small town lifestyle, where everyone knows everyone. La Selva also has a private beach for the residents and their visitors. No fighting for an inch of beach space!
Saturday morning we got up early and tried to help Grandma Carole get ready for the next day's celebrations.

The girls Erik and I went on a walk to the cliffs overlooking the beach. On our way we saw Erik's Aunt Diane in her front yard and stopped to talk with her for a few minutes before we continued on our walk.

We chose to take the scenic route to the cliffs. We felt like we were the only ones there in the "forest."

Love the greeness of it all!

On our way to the beach we stopped tat the park and the girls had a blast playing on the equipment. After leaving there we ran into Mom and Grandma Carole who gave each of the girls a popsicle.

We also stopped into the small corner store that Erik's Uncle Mike and Aunt Diane own there in La Selva.

It was a foggy day and the beach was covered in fog even in the afternoon. Of course I had to get a picture of it.

We then walked back home to Grandma Carole's. And let me tell you, walking down the hill to get to the center of town is a piece of cake but walking up that last hill is another story! But we did it, a few different times that weekend.

We had lunch and then Aunt Diane came up to visit and Uncle Mike soon followed. Dinner plans were made and everyone went their separate ways promising to meet back up in a few hours.

Erik, Mom, Dad, Mia, Emma and I found ourselves at the beach. Where only the girls and I were brave enough to get in the water. Or maybe the word I'm looking for is crazy. The water was frigid!

Yep, that's us!

We then went back to Grandma Carole's to have dinner. Mike, Diane , and Ted soon joined us. We ate pizza, made s'mores, and just sat around the fire telling stories. That is the most time that I have spent with Mike and Diane. Thanks for the fun evening of stories, it was great to get to know you guys better. The girls had a ball making s'mores with you as well and are still talking about it!

S'mores, yummy!

Bedtime then followed after Erik read a chapter of their book around the campfire. Everyone fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows!

Sunday saw us rising early to begin the Independence Day Celebrations!

Erik, Mia, Emma, and I left first so we could catch the end of the pet show. Mom and Dad soon joined us and the girls got their face painted and played on the bounce house.

We then headed over to get seats for the parade. We saw Erik's cousin Tana and her boys in the parade but wouldn't get a chance to talk to them for at least a few more hours.

Waiting for the parade with Mammy and Grandpa

Tana, Woody, and Prescott

We then went and got lunch which was hot dogs, chips, soda, and a cookie! I had the best chocolate brownie cookie. Yummy!

Then the games began. They divide the games according to age groups and the girls fell into different age groups this year. Mia participated in the carrying a peanut in a spoon to your partner and then switching to your partner's spoon, without using your hands. (Because we didn't know anyone there she was paired up with this sweet girl) She also participated in the bubble gum blowing contest.

Emma participated in the run with a balloon between your legs race and the 3-legged race. She was paired up with a sweet little boy.

Emma and her partner won second place in the 3-legged race! Yay Emma!!!! Their secret, as told by Emma is, "You have to go medium. If you go fast you fall and if you go slow you don't make it in time. Medium is the way to go."

Mia won third place in bubble gum blowing contest! Yay Mia!!!! As she was accepting her ribbon she blew the biggest bubble in front of everyone!

We then met up with Tana, Bob, their kids, and friends at the sand castle building contest. Bob's team won first place in the sand building contest! Yay Bob!!!! Is anyone else seeing a pattern of winners here?

The girls and I made a quick stop at the store to get an ice cream treat because I was feeling really light headed. Aunt Diane wouldn't let us pay for our ice creams and the girls were shoving their ice cream at the boy behind the counter because he wasn't ringing it up. And looked at me like I had lost my mind when I told them to go ahead and open it up and that we were leaving. It took some convincing before they realized that it was legal! Thanks Diane for the treats!!!!

We went back up to participate in the games that Uncle Mike heads up. The watermelon eating contest and egg toss! Erik walked back to Grandma Carole's to get the car because I was worn out and drove it back down to pick us up.

The girls had a ton of fun climbing all the trees around La Selva.

We got back to Grandma Carole's in time to join the block party potluck dinner. Where there was a live band, a bounce house, food, and friends! Ted, Tana, Bob, their boys and kids soon joined us.

We all went back to Grandma Carole's where we met Mike and Diane. We had some fun with some fireworks and sparklers.

And then the craziness began. Grandma Carole's neighbors all gathered out on the street with tons and tons of fireworks. And then they started setting them off. There were so many that the girls got bored after a while and asked to go back before they were done!

There was lots more visiting before another late bedtime. This night I think the girls were asleep before their heads hit the pillows!

Monday saw us waking early and packing up to head back home. Back to reality and the heat. Thank you to everyone we had a great time!!! We love you and can't wait till we see you next time.

Playing Catch Up--Austin's Birthday

2010-06-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that my high functioning autistic brother, Austin, is living with us while he does a service mission for our church. We are LDS and boys are requested to serve a two year proselyting or teaching mission. His autism makes it all but impossible for him to serve that kind of mission. But he has always wanted to serve a mission. So, we volunteered for him to stay with us while he fulfilled a service mission.

While he was out here he turned 20!!!! So, we had to throw him a birthday party. Crowds of people that you don't know would make anyone feel unsociable and totally out of their element but this even more magnified when you're autistic. So we had Erik's family and a family that are close friends of ours. These were people that Austin already knew and was semi-comfortable around.

Anyone that knows Austin knows that he loves video games, TV, Computer games, food, Pokemon, and of course Star Wars. So, when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted I wasn't completely surprised when he chose Star Wars. He didn't care what it looked like, just as long as it was Star Wars. So, I got to use my creative side to come up with a cake for him. Most everyone liked it and got the idea, the only one who didn't was my brother Logan, and he doesn't count. (Logan wouldn't have liked it if it would have won a Cake Challenge on Food Network. At first I was upset about what he said but then both Erik and my mom pointed out that nothing would have been good enough. Enough about him)

We want to say a special thank you to everyone who came and showed love and support for Austin. He had a great time, and is already planning next years!

Austin with his cake! Notice how nice of a sister I am to group the candles so close together for him to blow out. Despite my best efforts he blew them all out in one breath way too easily!

Austin opening his presents. He got a couple Gamestop gift cards, a Subway gift card, some clothes, books, video game, and clothes. Yeah, we all know Austin. Thanks everyone for the gifts!

Star Wars--need I say more!!!

Give Away On Our Homeschool Blog

2010-06-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

So, the girls and I made some homemade soap the other day for school. (I posted about on our homeschool blog)

Head on over there and enter for a chance to win one of our creations!!!

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

We want to let all of our family and friends know how much we love them and appreciate everything that you do for us! All the moms, grandmas, aunts, sisters, cousins and friends, we couldn't do what we do without your love and support. (As well as all the dads, grandpas, uncles--we can't forget you guys. Without you we wouldn't be moms!)

Vacation--Part 3, The End

2010-04-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

I know that the last part of our vacation pictures and fun has been a long time coming. (We just moved into our first home!)

The reason why we chose to go to Utah when we did was because there was a Science Fiction/Fantasy Symposium going on at BYU, in Provo, UT. I call it the nerd convention! But while I was there rubbing elbows with famous and not so famous nerds I realized that I am a nerd too! But don't tell anyone, it's our little secret!

The girls and I went to a bunch of different lectures and panels, Erik and Austin attended a bunch more than we did. We attended a class about making jewelry, Science Fiction and Fantasy books for kids and how to incorporate them in the classroom, supporting your creative partner, and a few others. Erik and Austin attended classes on writing believable characters, intriguing plots, and other such writing classes, since that is what Erik wants to do when he grows up. Austin also attended a class about video games, since that is what he would like to do when he grows up.

The girls and I also got the job/privilege of standing in lines to get books signed while the others attended classes. We got a bunch of cool books, I know just what we need more books--just be glad you didn't have to move them all and try to find a place for them all to go.

We got to talk with a bunch of really neat people like, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Jake Black, Howard Taylor, John D. Brown, some of their wives as well as many others. And while they won't remember me from the next crazy person, they will be remembered by us! Jake Black in particular gave way more time than he needed to to answer Erik's questions and concerns about writing and supporting a family on a writer's pay.

One day Erik will be there as a guest speaker/panelist and I will still be the crazy wife but this time I'll be the crazy wife of the famous author!

After our days in Utah we then drove straight through to San Diego so Erik could attend a work meeting there the next day. While he was hard at work Austin, the girls, and I went and played at Balboa Park.

Austin, Mia, and Emma at Temple Square in front of the Salt Lake Temple. Families Are Forever!

Emma and Mia at the Paleontology Museum on the BYU campus in Provo, UT.

On the BYU Campus

Petting the snake at a live animal show at the Bean Museum at BYU

Butterfly Mural made with butterflies at the Bean Museum at BYU

Stuffed African Animal display at the Bean Museum

Mia and Emma by Shasta a female liger. Shasta was born and lived her life at the Hogle Zoo in Utah. A liger is a cross breed between a male lion and a female tiger. A tigon would be a male tiger and a female lion

Austin, Emma, and Mia at Balboa Park in San Diego, CA

Emma and Mia at the Natural History Museum in San Diego, CA

Mia and Emma at the playground in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

Emma, Mia, and Austin at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego, CA

Mia and Emma in the Botanical Garden in San Diego.

Vacation--Part 3 Rubbing Elbows With Great People!

2010-03-09T08:46:00.000-08:00

We saw a lot of great people on our trip and except for Grandmother I did not remember to take any pictures! I am so mad at myself, okay I was mad at myself but now I am just laughing at me because that is so like me!

But I wanted to make a quick mention of them and the fun times we had together. It was a super fast trip and we did not have time to see everyone we wanted to. We are sorry if we missed you this time, hopefully we will catch you next time!

The girls and I went and visited with Jennifer Lomenick and her kids, Mark did make a quick appearance at the end of our visit! It was great to see them again and I realized just how long it has been since they moved. The kids have gotten so big and they all had a great time playing together. Of course Jeremy wasn't thrilled when the girls where playing dress up and singing and dancing but he did get them to put away the froofroo stuff and play baseball. We had a great dinner with them, and Jennifer I need to get that recipe from you. Thanks for a fun afternoon and evening!

We also got to visit with one of Erik's old missionary companions and old roommates at BYU, Will and his wife, Are. He's one of Erik's closest friends from that time, and we try to visit them whenever we make it to Utah, which has not been very often. Erik likes to credit Will for getting us together. I went and proposed to Will on a dare while playing truth and dare. He turned me down, and Erik stepped in! The girls love to hear that story and on the way to Will and Are's Emma told Erik "Daddy make sure you make a joke about mommy proposing to Will." Which of course he did! We didn't get to see their sweet adopted baby girl, as it was late and she was already in bed, but we did to see pictures. Next visit we'll have to go earlier.

The girls and I also met up with some friends of mine that I knew way back when my family and I lived in West Jordan while my dad was going to BYU. Way back in Middle School. Marnee brought her two girls and Elan brought her two boys and we all met at a McDonalds so the kids could play at the play place while us adults caught up on each other lives. It was a really cool play place and I had to try it out as well! I was the only adult, not sure why, but all the kids thought it was a great and I had to go down the slide a zillion times with all the different kids.

We also met up with Erik's cousin, Jared and his wife, Caitlin. I had never met either one. I know, 10 years in the family and I finally meet the last cousin! We took them out to a BBQ place, if anyone knows us we love a great BBQ. And me wanting to make a great impression ordered ribs, yeah not the smartest move I ever made. But I guess they might as well get to know the real me! We had a great evening with them! Thanks for a fun evening!

The last people we visited was a family that I use to babysit for way back in the day when they were living in Grove City, the Whites. They are a great fun loving family and the little guys I use to babysit are now grown up! Boy do I feel old. But not to let my age drag me down, I had a good game of ball/tag with the two youngest boys and my girls! We had a great dinner with them and spent a lovely time catching up with everyone.

Thanks everyone for giving us a lot of great memories of friends and family, even if we have no pictures!!!

Vacation--Part 2 Snow Day

2010-03-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

All the girls wanted to do in Utah was play in the snow! We thought that there would be plenty of snow for us to play in. According to the weather channel we were suppose to be driving through a storm.

When there was no storm while we were driving we were Erik and I were very thankful. But we kept assuring the girls they would get to play in snow.

Thank goodness that Grandmother's house had a patch of snow behind it. Okay. it was more like a crusty ice patch, but to a couple of Cali girls it was snow! There was no other snow our whole trip, sure we saw a couple of small patches of dirty snow along side the road but there was no nice snow to play in.

But the girls took full advantage of the ice, I mean snow, and spent a few hours playing!

Attacking Austin

Snowball fight with Daddy

Get him!

That's my girl!

Did he actually think that he would get away with using his phone when he was suppose to be playing with the girls? Crazy daddy!

Snow cone anyone?

Mia's snow angel!

Emma's snow angel!

Vacation--Part 1 To Grandmother's House We Go

2010-02-23T10:44:00.000-08:00

After organizing and going through all the pictures we took on our trip and going over everything that we had done that short week I decided to break our trip into parts. Making it more reader (and lets be honest Writer) friendly!

We left early Wednesday morning and drove forever. Okay, it only took about 8 hours or so, but it sure felt like forever.

We arrived at Grandmother's Wednesday afternoon and spent that evening chatting and catching up as well as spending the night before our early leave Thursday morning.

The girls loved sleeping upstairs in the twin beds. They did have to switch beds the next time we slept there to make it fair. Gotta love those girls--they even switch bunk beds each night to make it fair!

We went out to dinner with Grandmother and the girls got to ride with Grandmother, the same car and same way Erik did when he was younger.

I have definitely been in the big city for way to long. I forgot that you can travel down a rode at less than 50 MPH! Life in Filmore is definitely much more laid back and slower!

Here are some pictures of our time with Grandmother!

Family! Isn't it great we can be together forever?

Erik and Grandmother catching up on life!

Out to eat

Austin waiting, uh patiently?

Mia and Emma hamming it up at the restaurant

Arriving at the restaurant in style!

Fun At The Bronson Film Cave

2010-01-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

We took Austin to visit the Bronson Film Cave. Here is a short video of the fun!

Disneyland For Christmas

2009-12-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

Once again the girls decided that what they wanted for Christmas was a day at Disneyland! So we ended up having another fun filled day at Disneyland.

The week before it threatened to rain, but luckily the day was a beautiful bright sunny day. And there was hardly any crowds, due to the fact that it was a Wednesday and it had been raining the days leading up to our trip. The longest we had to stand in line was at the Peter Pan ride and Pixie Hollow!

It was fun to take the girls and see what they were excited about this time that they never cared about before. We also had Austin with us and this was his very first time ever at Disneyland.

We also did a few things for the very first time on this trip. We rode the Matterhorn, a first for everyone but Erik, the lines are usually so long for that one that we just skip it but not this time. Emma screamed the whole time and said it was okay while Austin kept his eyes closed the whole time, but Mia and I enjoyed it!

We watched Fantasmic for the first time. I was impressed with the whole show. Disney really knows how to put on a show!

We also went and watched the Jedi Academy. Both girls got picked to be part of the academy! They had a blast!

We also watched the Christmas parade. Well Erik, Austin and the girls watched the parade while I made a run to the car to get the jackets.

One good thing is about going every year is that the girls don't feel the need to get their pictures taken with every character, which means we have more time for rides!

Mia's favorite part about Disneyland this year was "The Matterhorn, Fantasmic, and just everything pretty much!" Emma's favorite part about Disneyland this year was "The fireworks and Fantasmic!"

Austin and the girls!

Us in front of the castle, Thanks Austin for taking the picture!

The castle lit up with Christmas Lights!

Erik and the girls on the bridge on Tom Sawyers Island

Mia fighting Darth Maul!

Emma fighting Darth Maul!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T16:03:00.000-08:00

It's become a tradition to go to Mammy and Grandpa's ward Halloween Party Halloween night. They always have it at the same place, the Ellsworth Ranch, and it's always on Halloween. This year was no exception.

Austin even came with us.

Enjoy the pics!

Austin in his costume. He went as Master Chief from Halo

Mia and Emma in their costumes. Emma is a zebra and Mia is a GI Diva

Austin soaking wet after bobbing for apples.

Austin bobbing for apples.

Mia after eating the marshmallow, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup without using her hands or any utensils.

Mia eating the above mentioned marshmallow.

Emma after eating the marshmallow, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup without using her hands or any utensils.

Emma eating the above mentioned marshmallow.

Emma bobbing for apples.

Mia bobbing for apples.

Mia and Emma eating dinner.

Beach Trip With The Ubers

2009-10-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, you can't have someone come visit you in sunny Cali without taking a trip to the beach. So, when my family came out we all went to the beach.

The whole time they were out here visiting the weather was so hot and sunny. So, we picked a day and went to the beach.

We got there and it was overcast and chilly! Can you believe it? Actually, I can believe it, it's the Uber curse.

And then to top it off, Wesley came out of the ocean covered in hives and itching like crazy. So, we left early, stopped at the drugstore to get some allergy medicine and headed home.

Another eventful fun filled Uber vacation memory!

Here are a few pictures I was able to snap.

Emma

Mia

Erik and Emma playing in the ocean.

Pappy (John), Jordan, Granny (Marta), and Wesley in the ocean.

Mia playing in the ocean

Emma flying a kite--one of Emma's favorite things to do at the beach.

LA County Fair 9/2009

2009-10-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know that September is way past and October is almost over but I wanted to get these fun events documented. So, bear with me as I play catch up in the next few blog posts. I will start putting in recent stuff, I promise!!!

Anyway, every year the girls love to go to the LA County Fair. And because we are homeschoolers we get a chance to get in FREE! What can be better than that?

This year the day that we were going just happened to be the day after my parents and 3 youngest brothers got here to visit. So, they got to come too.

Erik made fun of me saying that he was sure that they flew all the way from small town PA just to visit a fair that's main attraction is farm animals. I told him that they flew all the way from small town PA to see us!

The girls love the farm animals and all the displays. We even got some pictures of the boys, though I had to be sneaky as some of the boys don't like to have their pictures taken. But hey I'm the oldest of 9 kids, I grew up being sneaky! ;)

As part of the Fair's promotions for school kids if they read 6 books they get 9 tickets for rides. So the girls go to ride some rides as well. And all they had to do was read some books and do a book report on it. Easy-peasy, as we are always reading for school!

Here are some pictures of everyone just having fun!

Mia riding the bumper boats!

Emma riding the bumper boats.

The girls doing an obstacle course

The spinning dragon ride--think teacups at Disneyland! I feel slightly sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

The girls got to pet an alligator.

Inside the animatronic dinosaur exhibit.

This is a live parrot they are looking at. It was just sitting there all day, no cage.

And it didn't fly away

Riding the dragon roller coaster. Emma saw this ride when we first got there and told us she wanted to ride it. Once the rides opened and she heard roller coaster she said she didn't want to anymore. But, I kind of talked her into it, and told her that it didn't go really fast and she could always scream when she was on it. So, she decided to go on to "face her fears." Once the ride started she started to scream, and she screamed the whole time. At first we thought she was having fun but she had a look of pure terror on her face. Then I started to worry that someday she would be talking to court appointed psychologist about this day. They got off and both of them had huge smiles on their faces. I asked them if they had fun and they both said yes, and the then Emma added "I gave myself a headache screaming so much!"

Petting the Big White Goat.

Petting the Little Black Calf.

The 3 Little Pigs--Jordan, Wesley, and Austin

One of my sneaky pics of everyone. Jordan is trying to get ahead of the camera, he saw me at the last second but I was faster! Mia walking along looking at things, Wesley and Austin talking to Erik about who knows what. And Emma reading the map getting us to where we need to go.

Granny, Erik, and Wesley sitting down while listening to Jordan and Austin relate some tall tale!

We Love Mia!!!

2009-10-09T10:17:00.001-07:00

After I did the post about Emma I was waiting for Mia's birthday to do one on her. Their birthdays are only 3 weeks apart, so you would think that I could have gotten that done. But my family came out to visit for a week, and then I got sick, and now I've been playing catch up. And I realized I never posted my list of things that i love about Mia around her birthday.

So, here it goes. The things I love about Mia, to list a few are:

1. She is so kind to everyone. She worries more about others than herself.

2. She makes friends with everyone. Everywhere we go she ends up making new friends and is always telling me about the new friends she made.

3. She LOVES books! She is a great reader.

4. She is so smart. As her home school teacher I get to see everything that she knows and learns. She is always thirsting for more knowledge. She also keeps me on my toes with how much she knows, good thing for daddy and google--so I can look smart as well!

5. She is very loyal. She will always stick up for her friends and family.

Erik loves these things about Mia:

1. Kind hearted and sensitive. Never wants to see anyone suffer in any way, no matter who they are.

2. Generous. Shares whatever she can in the pursuit of trying to make others happy.

3. Fun, in a genuinely fun way. She doesn't think anything is fun if it can't be fun for everybody, but she will figure out a way to make it fun for everybody.

4. Loves stories. Likes to read books and watch shows and movies, she really gets into the stories. She thinks a lot about them, really getting into them.

5. Loves to learn. Looks for chances to learn things and gets excited when she finds them.

Emma loves this about Mia:

1. She's always there for me.

2. She's pretty

3. "I love her so much"

Emma's Losing Teeth!

2009-08-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

I know I go weeks without posting and then I end up posting 3 different entries in one day!

Last Monday Emma her top front tooth at a friend's house. Luckily the tooth fairy knew where she was staying that night and ended up visiting her at Becca's house. Becca had lost a tooth that night as well, so they both got a visit from the tooth fairy the same night!

And then Tuesday Emma spent all day trying to get her 2nd top front loose enough so Mammy could pull it out at her house that night. Well, she didn't quite get it loose enough so when Mammy tried it ended up hurting Emma a little bit so she was a little scared that it would hurt again.

So, we came home and then she said when we got home I think I'm ready to let Mammy pull out my tooth I just needed some time to think about it. Crazy girl!

Well, we weren't going to turn around and drive another 15-20 minutes to get there and then another 15-20 minutes to get back home, at this point it was already after their bedtime. So, i told her that daddy could pull out her tooth for her. But daddy said he was afraid he would hurt her.

So I told her to come here and told her to close her eyes, we counted to three and it came right out. It was so loose from her playing with it all day and night that it practically fell out in my hand. So Emma now has another Emma-hole, not just the one in her imagination.

Happy Birthday, Emma--Just A Few Days Late!!!

2009-08-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

Emma turned 7 on the 26th of August! Wow! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing this tiny little bundle of joy home.

There are so many things that I LOVE about Emma. But I will just list a few:

1. Emma is crazy! Just ask her, she'll tell you!

2. She is always making me laugh with something that she is doing. It seems as if her mission in life is to keep everyone entertained.

3. She has a great imagination, for example the Emma-hole that I talked about in an older post. I am going to assume that you all know the story about the Emma-hole so I will not bore you all again, if you want to hear all the details again let me know!

4. She is so smart. As her homeschool teacher I get to see all the new stuff she is learning everyday, and man does she impress me with the things she knows and the questions she asks. I find myself saying a lot that's a great question for your dad or I guess we better look that up online to find out the answer. Thank goodness for google, it helps mommy look smart!

5. The faces that she makes, are just so cute. And every time I think of Emma I picture her with a scrunched up nose, eyes closed, big smile posing for the camera. We have a lot of pictures with the "classic Emma" face.

6. She is so creative. She is always the first one line to do anything artsy/crafty. She loves to create many different projects and masterpieces.

The things that Erik loves about Emma, to list a few.

1. Her fun sense of humor.

2. Her love of animals.

3. Her love of art, coloring, and drawing.

4. Her love of going new places and trying new things.

The things that Mia loves about Emma are.

1. She's funny

2. She's pretty

3. She's always there when I need help

4. "I just love Emma so so much!"

We love you Emma! Thanks for being such a great girl!

Circus!

2009-08-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

We had promised the girls for Christmas two years ago that we would take them to the circus. Well, that first year we couldn't find a circus near us. So when in the second year I found cheap circus tickets for a circus 15-20 minutes from us I jumped on them and bought four tickets six months early!

Then Erik's grandfather passed away and the funeral was being held that same weekend. And the girls and I had been sick and didn't want to get anyone else sick. So, Erik went to the funeral and the girls and I took Mia's best friend Charlotte to the circus.

We attended the Barnum and Bailey Ringling Brothers Circus Musical Spectacular Zing Zang Zoom! There was elephants, zebras, tigers, acrobats, trapeze, dancers, singing, magic, and so much more. We had a great time!

They opened up the floor of the circus an hour early so you could meet some of the people in the circus and see some of the acts pretty close. With so many people crowding a round some of the things we were able to see better from our seats, we were in the 6th row! Good cheap seats, that's a great deal!

The girls decided that they want to run away to the circus. Charlotte wants to be one of the dancers because "they are in the show alot but the don't have to do any dangerous stunts." Emma wants to work with the animals, especially the elephants, because she loves animals. And Mia is having a tough time deciding, she likes all the acrobatic stuff, like the cirque de soleil inspired stunts, but she also likes the dancing, and the ringmaster!

Here are a few pictures that turned out okay. I will be having Erik show me how to put together a video, because we shot a ton of video!

Waiting somewhat patiently in line in the blistering heat!

Sitting in their seats waiting for the show to start

Smiling pretty with the clown

Part of the opening act.

An Update On Emma's Leg

2009-08-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

When Emma was 8 months old the doctors discovered that there was something wrong with the bone in her lower left leg. At first they had no idea what is was and they ran a zillion tests on her. (okay, maybe I am exaggerating just a little bit--but it's not by much)

They had her admitted to the hospital that afternoon and she stayed in the hospital for 8 days. Keep in mind that we had Mia also who was only 19 months old, and she didn't understand why mommy, daddy, and Emma were never around. Thank goodness that she was able to stay at Mammy and Grandpa's while we were at the hospital. Erik would go to work while I was at the hospital with Emma, he would come to the hospital to see us, and then one of us would go pick up Mia take her home to sleep, and then drop her off in the morning, and the cycle would start all over again!

They wanted to keep her in the hospital longer but we were just waiting for test results and she was getting sick being around all the sick kids in the hospital and I had Mia to take care of, so I convinced the doctors to let us go home and that we would come back for whatever else they needed.

While she was in the hospital she had her first bone biopsy. Her biopsy was performed by the best orthopedic doctor at Loma Linda, Dr. Shook. The reason we got him to perform the biopsy was because he was the doctor on call the day she needed her biopsy done.

Anyway, they finally figured out that it was Melanoticneoectodermal tumor of infancy. (Don't mind my spelling of it, just sound it out phonetically! And I'm sure there's suppose to be spaces or hyphens in it as well. Erik knew how to spell it correctly, I don't think I ever knew how to spell it.)

They then did a second biopsy within two months to double check and make sure they were correct in the diagnosis. They were. But because of having the biopsies done so close together she had to have her leg in a cast, just when she was starting to stand and take her first few steps. Melanoticneoectodermal tumor of infancy is a very rare bone disease that has only been seen in a handful of cases, and she was the first to ever have it in the lower leg. It is usually a fast growing tumor that if not operated on immediately and the whole bone removed ends up killing the child by squishing major organs.

Their recommendation to us was amputate her leg. Stop it before it could spread. They sent us to UCLA and allover for 2nd and 3rd opinions. Contacted the Mayo clinic, everything. So, we said okay if this will save her life go ahead and amputate her leg.

Many prayers and much fasting was offered up on this sweet little baby girl's behalf. Her name was on so many temple prayer rolls. Through one of the many Priesthood blessings that she received during this time she was told that she would be able to have full use of both her legs. Talk about WOW!

We went to her doctor's appointment when we were suppose to set up the date for the amputation the doctor surprised us by saying that there was another option. Which was to wait and keep a very close eye on her and here leg. We had to go back weekly, then every other week, then once a month, then every two months, then every four months, then every six months. Until finally we are on yearly visits. The bone has started to self-correct itself, if I remember correctly the technical term is "reorganizing itself."

Well, we just had our yearly visit and all is looking well, it is looking better and better each time we go. Her first x-rays looked as if her bone had been wrapped in gauze and a dog had chewed on it. This last x-ray shows the bone almost completely smooth! Both legs are growing at pretty much the same pace, they both have the same basic bone mass and muscle mass, she doesn't limp or favor her leg, and there is no pain whatsoever!

The doctors are amazed and call her the girl with the miracle leg. They want to write up a paper or two documenting her case so hopefully in the future it will help other families with children with the same thing. UCLA wants to do tests on her original 2 biopsies and see if they can discover something that will help others.

But best of all, she still has both her legs!!!! Now I just have to keep in mind whenever she's running all over the place, climbing and getting into everything that I prayed for her to keep her leg.

We know that it is through the faith, prayers, and priesthood blessings that she is a healthy almost 7 year old girl running around on both legs today! Thank you to everyone who was there for us during that trying time!

Emma's leg today with her scars from the biopsies.

The following pages are from her baby book!

Beach Trip In June

2009-07-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, I fought with the computer enough! And now it is listening to me, somebody should have told the computer it was fighting a losing battle! ;)

Anyway, back at the beginning of June we were graced by a visit from one of my brothers, Kent!

While he was visiting we took a trip to Huntington Beach with Erik's family and had some fun just hanging out with each other, the sand, and the water!

I am going to have Erik put together one of his famous videos when he gets a free minute but for right now here are a few pictures to whet your appetite for the video!

Kent and Mia riding the waves!

Erik and Emma flying a kite

Some of the cousins hard at work

PS If you want a quick, cheap, and easy trick to get sand out of all crevices without hurting use baby powder! That's my tip of the day. And the bonus is that you end up smelling baby powder fresh and your skin feels really soft!

Stupid Computer!!!

2009-06-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is just a rant! But I am seriously ready to throw the computer across the room. I'm not sure that will fix the problem but I KNOW I will feel better!

As some of you know, we have been having some problems with our computer lately. We had to reinstall Windows and the guy who "backed up" our files, lost our files and gave us someone else's! Can you say frustratingly annoying? Because I can!

Anyway, every time we get the computer back it runs slower and slower. Shouldn't it run faster since it has like nothing on it?

I have just spent the last hour trying to get pictures to upload to the blog so I can post about some of the fun we have had the last month. And guess what they still haven't uploaded!

I am going to see if Erik can figure this out for me. The computer always works better for him than me. Like the time I tried to print something, and I spent a good hour trying to get it to print. Unhooking and rehooking up the cables, checking to make sure the paper was right, the print cartridge, everything you can think of. I tell him to see if he can fix it and low and behold it prints for him! Aaaaahhhhh!

Hopefully you will get to hear and see some of our adventures soon!

Free Comic Book Day 2009

2009-05-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time of year again, where our girls dress up, get free stuff, and get their picture taken a lot.

Yes, this weekend was Free Comic Book day, and once again the fine folks at 4 Color Fantasies in Rancho Cucamonga showed us a good time. Not only was Wolverine there with a giant sentinel to take pictures, but tons of other superheroes and Star Wars characters were on hand.

This year, the girls met a few creators as well, including Amy Wolfram, who writes some of their favorite cartoons and who wrote the new Barbie movie, Barbie and the Three Musketeers, and the very talented Todd Nauck who draws, among other things, the very characters the girls were dressed as.

Of course, no Free Comic Book Day would be complete without a visit with Kirk Kushin, who saved Emma from the collapsing bounce house two years ago--he's a genuinely nice guy, and this year he gave Emma a signed copy of his new graphic novel, Super Teen*Topia. Emma couldn't have been more excited, and won't let anybody else read it until she finishes it.

Afterwards, we went down and met Andy and Nikki at Hogi Yogi and spent the rest of the day with them. It couldn't have been more fun.

But hey, all this reading probably feels like homework. Here's the video and the pics.

Quick Little Video

2009-05-01T07:36:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd post this, since I made it. Just re-familiarizing myself with my video editing software for a project I'm working on.

Back In Business- The California ScienCenter

2009-04-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hey, folks. Sorry we've been out, but the computer was in the shop.

Here's the adventure we'd been meaning to blog when the computer first went down.

We took the girls down to the California Science Center in LA--they'd been once before when Uncle Ian and Aunt Angela were in town, and this was their first time back.

This is the truck outside that, believe it or not, the girls are lifting up by pulling on that rope. Yay, science.

This was the giant climbing wall. Yes, my girls are awesome.

Last time we went, the "special exhibit" was about Superheros. That was for Daddy. This time, it was about CSI. That was for Mommy. The girls had a great time, though, looking for clues, analyzing evidence, playing with the black light, and ultimately solving the mystery.

This was an exhibit about "Finding The Perfect Sized Sunglasses For You." Or it was a 3-D movie about fish. I'm a little fuzzy on the details now.

All in all, good times.

Coming soon--pictures of the March Daddy/Daughter Mommy/Daughter dates.

Giveaway

2009-03-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

I thought that this was a super cute idea to keep my crafty spirit going!

Caitlin did this on her blog, and I won (I think, I'm number 3 to comment) so here goes....The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me!

My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your own blog (eventually) and offer the same deal to 5 of your own lucky blog readers.

February Mommy Daughter Date With Mia

2009-03-02T14:07:00.000-08:00

So, while Erik and Emma went to the museum, read about their adventures below, Mia and I decided to get crafty!

Mia told me that she would like to make a covered photo album for Emma's baby pictures. Yes, you read that right for Emma's baby pictures. Mia has one that my mom made for us, and Emma has been asking for years if we could make one for her.

I make so many cute little craft projects that I give away for gifts that I never seem to have the time to finish a project for us. I guess it's the case of the shoemaker's children going without shoes!

Yes, I'm a slacker mom because it still was not done! I did have some scrapbook pages put together for her book being stored with all the other pages that don't have homes. So, hopefully I get some points for that.

Anyway, after we dropped Erik and Emma off at Cal State Mia and I came home to go through the tons of material I have to find the best one for Emma's baby book. We finally decided on one that was white with tiny yellow flowers on it because Emma's favorite color is yellow.

We then ran up to WalMart to get some ribbons and flowers to make it look super cute. We finished it and even got Emma's scrapbook pages put in. So, Emma now has her own baby scrapbook, thanks to Mia!

If we had to wait for me she might have had to wait until she got married!

February Daddy-Daughter Date with Emma

2009-03-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

In February, it was Emma's turn for a Daddy-daughter date, and she chose to go to the same art museum that Miriam had gone to last month.

This time, we got a picture with the Mummy coffin.

These were some ancient games that Emma was excited to get her picture taken with. If you click on the picture, you can see Emma has brought a little green man with her that she is showing around.

Now this may look like I was just excited to take another picture of the ancient rat trap, but really Emma was excited to get a picture of the little green man with the ancient little blue man.

You just have to love Emma.

Our Homeschool Blog

2009-02-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

I just started a new blog about our homeschool. If you would like to see what we are doing in school go check it out at: http://busy-bees-academy.blogspot.com/

Cake Wrecks

2009-02-15T07:18:00.000-08:00

While watching Greg cut Chase's really cute cake yesterday, I was telling him about a blog full of not-so-cute cakes: Cake Wrecks. Decided instead of emailing him I'd post it here and share it with everybody.

Here are some good entries to get a feel for the site:

There are some good cakes on there, too, like this Lego Batman cake or this Super Mario Bros. wedding cake.

Valentine's Party

2009-02-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

Every year one of our home school groups, IEAH, has a Valentine's Party at Chuck E Cheese. Besides having the Valentine's Party we meet together weekly at a local park. We also have a yahoo support group, and whenever one of us needs advice, reassurance, or hears of a great educational idea we contact the rest of the group and let everyone know.

A lot of friendships have been made and solidified at our home school park day! The girls have a ton of friends that they love to see each week. Yeah, we don't have any worry about our kids having enough socialization. Between, park days, dance classes, activities, having friends over, and church we get enough socialization!

Anyway, back to Chuck E Cheese (where a kid can be a kid). To prepare for the day we have to get together our Valentines, this year 61 kids signed up to attend! WOW!!! So, in theme with the Boy Scout motto of always being prepared, we made up about 72 Valentines. I also made up a dessert. (I had had Activity Girls the day before and only had two girls show up. I had made a 9 X 13 pan of Brownies, so I just cut up the rest and took those.

You can get coupons for Chuck E Cheese at their website or in the coupons that come with your Sunday paper. Make sure to also print out a reward chart for each child-that's 10 FREE tokens each! You all know how much I LOVE a good deal!

So, the kids get to spend the day at Chuck E Cheese with their friends and mom gets to hang out with her friends and play some games as well. What can I say, I love Chuck E Cheese! I know, you all are thinking that I am crazy! If the shoe fits wear it, and I wear my crazy shoes proudly!

Here are some pictures from the festivities!

Mia playing a shoot 'em up game. She is definitely her parents' daughter!

Emma playing the catch the bee game!

Mia driving, just a few more years and it will be in a real car! Yikes! Where did the time go?

Emma playing stomp the spider. You can bet I would be stomping a lot harder if they were real spiders, while Emma would be gathering them up as pets. Emma and her animal friends!

Everyone passing out their Valentines--organized chaos!

Mia passing out Valentines!

Emma passing out her Valentines!

Punch Recipe From The Bridal Shower

2009-02-09T16:59:00.000-08:00

For everyone who asked here is the recipe for the punch that I made for the Nikki's Bridal Shower. I really liked it because it wasn't the sickly sweet punch, it had a nice tart yet sweet flavor. I found the recipe by doing a google search for "punch recipes." I got it from the allrecipes.com website.

Here is the original recipe:
2 (6 ounce) cans frozen pink lemonade concentrate
1 (6 ounce) can frozen pineapple juice concentrate
1 gallon cranberry juice
2 liters cranberry ginger ale
4 cups crushed ice

Directions:
In a large punch bowl, mix lemonade concentrate, pineapple juice concentrate and cranberry juice. Add ice and slowly pour in the ginger ale.

Here is what I did differently. I couldn't find any cranberry ginger ale so I just bought regular ginger ale. I was a little mystified by the fact that I couldn't find any ginger ale in a 2 liter bottle at the store I was at, so I ended up getting a 12 pack. (For one recipe use 6 cans, I bought enough to double it but we only ended up needing 1 batch made, so I came home and made the other batch for us)

Instead of just straight cranberry juice I used Cran-Raspberry, because I don't like straight cranberry juice, I like it mixed with another flavor. I also bought lemons and raspberries to float in the top of the punch bowl. Except we didn't end up using a punch bowl, instead we used a really fancy drink dispenser that Nikki's mom had, I did put the lemons and raspberries in the batch I made at home and it was a nice touch.

I'm excited to try new combinations later, like Cran-Grape, Orange-Pineapple instead of straight pineapple, you get the idea.

Michelle, you were asking about a dark red punch, well, we discovered that if you put some food coloring in the punch it turns a deep dark red. As Emma said, "I'm drinking blood now!" So, if you liked the punch we can use this recipe for our Twilight party, or I can look fro a different one, you decide!

PS I read Twilight last night, so I'm ready for New Moon! I finished it in a little over 4 hours, Erik said I was mean to him but he should know better than to try and talk to me while I'm reading! ;) There's a double standard at our house, I can interrupt him whenever I want but he can't interrupt me. It's sad but true, something that I need to work on. Not interrupting him that is, I can still be mean when I get interrupted, right?

Read The Peacegiver Free Online

2009-02-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

Jim Ferrell has written an excellent book for the LDS audience called The Peacegiver. I can't recommend it enough. It deals with relationships that may be stained by hard feelings, blame, or resentment.

You can buy it, of course, but it's also available online, free, at Meridian Magazine.

There's not a real easy way to navigate it on the Meridian website, though, so I thought I'd put a clear, chapter by chapter breakdown here. Then you can bookmark this page and come back to it as you read through the book.

It's by one of the guys responsible for the books Leadership and Self-Deception and The Anatomy of Peace, but it takes those ideas all the way, and puts them in their true context: our relationship with the Savior.

The chapters are short--you could read one every couple of days pretty quickly.

Preface and Chapter One: A Storm in the Soul
Chapter Two: Memories
Chapter Three: Marching to Carmel
Chapter Four: Souls at War
Chapter Five: A Peace Offering
Chapter Six: Atonement
Chapter Seven: Forgiveness
Chapter Eight: The Storm Continues
Chapter Nine: The Cause of the Storm
Chapter Ten: Who We Are
Chapter Eleven: What We Deserve
Chapter Twelve: A Merciful Question
Chapter Thirteen: Mercy in the Balance
Chapter Fourteen: Waiting for an Answer
Chapter Fifteen: The Chains of Sin
Chapter Sixteen: The Storm Renewed
Chapter Seventeen: A Beam of Light
Chapter Eighteen: Chains
Chapter Nineteen: Agency in the Balance
Chapter Twenty: Of Sin
Chapter Twenty-One: Of Repentance
Chapter Twenty-Two: Light in the Darkness
Chapter Twenty-Three: An Agony
Chapter Twenty-Four: Recovery
Chapter Twenty-Five: Covenants
And finally, the Epilogue is here.

GO STEELERS!!

2009-02-02T11:50:00.001-08:00

Okay, I just had to get that out! Steelers won! Yay!!! Six time champs!!!

For all of you who don't already know, I love football--more so if I'm there. There's just something about being there in the stands, the excitement, the energy, you get the picture. I love the Steelers, you can't grow up in the Pittsburgh PA area and not have black and gold running through your veins. ;)

So, we watched the Superbowl yesterday, Erik more for the commercials me for the game. There were some moments when I was a little stressed, quite the nail biter. I yelled, cheered, groaned, and finally celebrated. My girls must have thought that I was truly crazy. But what's new? They always think I'm crazy for some reason or another, and maybe I am.

Anyway, just had to celebrate a little with all my peeps!

Advertising for Michelle!!!

2009-01-22T12:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, for those of you who don't know it, our sister-in-law Michelle is like the best photographer ever. She can even make me look cute! ;)

Seriously, she does a really good job. The feet picture above is hers as well many other photos sprinkled throughout our blogs and anywhere else you find us online. Check out the album "Marci's Girls" on Marci's facebook page. Michelle took all of them!!!

I even had her tackle this humongous task for me of taking pictures of all the Peterson kids and their families so I could scrapbook the pictures for Mom and Dad's Christmas present. The pictures turned out great and the scrapbook was pretty good too, if I do say so myself. I will have to get some pics of it and post them so you can see my genius!

Back on topic. . .focus! No pun intended but it works! My thoughts are allover the place today.

Anywho, Michelle is one of the best. If you live here in the Inland Empire or will be visiting make sure to give her a call to set up your photo shoot! She's so good and really reasonably priced. You will get a killer deal!!!!

Just click on the button the top right of the page. The cutest button in the world because I, Marci Ann Peterson, figured out how to make it. And it only took me a couple of minutes! Yay, me! Okay so Ryan, another awesomely talented family member, designed the logo for Michelle but I put it all together in the button.

If me and my ramblings haven't convinced you yet go check out her website (just click on the button) and take a peak at the great stuff she can do with a camera!

Mommy/Daughter Date

2009-01-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

So, this is a followup to the Daddy/Daughter Date post that Erik made. As Erik said we are taking the time one night a month to spit up and spend quality on on one time with a girl. This month Erik and Mia had fun at the art museum, read the next post to hear all about it.

And Emma and I rented a Wii game from blockbuster. I asked Emma what she wanted to do and she decided that she wanted to play Wii. She gets to play Wii a lot with Erik and with Mia but I don't play it a lot. And honestly Erik and Mia have been hogging Wii time playing Lego Batman, but the game is finally beat so maybe they will share better now. We love you guys just the same, even if you do have trouble sharing! ;) Part of the problem might be that Emma and I have less of an attention span than they do. They can spend hours, and I do mean hours, playing the same level over and over getting all the "stuff" and unlocking all the "stuff" and finding all the secrets. Emma and I get bored way too easily!

Anyway, back to the date. We, Emma and I went to blockbuster and I told her that she could pick out any Wii game in the store to rent. If she wanted to buy one it had to be under $15, I know I'm a big spender! ;) Hey we are trying to save for a house people, so give me a little bit of a break! Well, there was like only one game there for sale that was in our price range and Emma was so not into that game. So, we looked for games to rent.

And Emma chose De Blob! I had never heard of it, but Emma had seen a commercial fro it on TV. So, we rented it and brought it home. It was actually really fun. There are challenges and levels to complete and secret "stuff," one could get totally hooked. I was kind of addicted to it and had to limit how much time I was going to allow myself to play on it. Good news, it goes back Tuesday--bad news, I looked on half.com to see if anyone had a cheaper copy of it. I am so not paying $40 for a used copy! But I might pay $20. . . .

Thanks for the fun date Emma!!!

First Daddy/Daughter Date

2009-01-17T10:22:00.001-08:00

So Marci and I decided that this year, we'd do parent dates--one month, Mia would go with me and Emma would go with her, and then we'd switch the next month.

This month, Mia and I went to Cal State San Bernardino's art museum, where they had a great display called Excavating Egypt. Sure, they had lots of cool stuff like mummy cases and ancient masks, but leave it to Daddy to take a picture of the 6,000 year old rat trap:

In another section, they also had some really cute, really tiny paintings that either weren't put up yet, or were displayed in a rather odd way (with these college art types, you never know).

Afterwards, we headed to the college library, which, since they educate a lot of future teachers there, has an extensive juvenile collection. Those fit me fine, and Mia found some good books too.

Bake Sale!!!

2009-01-15T16:40:00.000-08:00

The girls decided that they needed to earn some money. I guess the $1 they get for the allowance just wasn't enough! Anyway, so I asked them what they suggested. Their first option was that we raise their allowance. Not going to happen anytime soon, sweeties so back to the drawing board.

After much thinking they come with the idea to sell something. Great idea but what? They thought about going through their toys and clothes and sell what they have outgrown or don't play with anymore. They decided that they probably couldn't get much for their old toys and clothes and besides they love giving their old stuff to their cousins and to charity.

More thinking! Then they came up with a great idea. You see once a month at the homeschool park day they have what they call "market day" where you can sell old things, or new things. Things you've made, anything you can come with as long as it's legal. So they came to me and said in their sweetest voices and batting their eyelashes ever so cutely. "Mommy, can we make cookies and brownies to sell at the park? Because you make the best cookies ever!" They really are smart little cookies.

So, we made cookies and brownies. They did help but you know how that goes! We got to the park laden with containers full of Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts, Snickerdoodles, and Double Chocolate Brownies (brownies with chocolate chips). They were sold 1 for $.25 or 6 for $1. Well, we sold every single one, each girl made out with about $12 and mommy got hugs!

Making their sign for the bake sale!

Mia putting the butter in

Mia adding the sugar

Emma adding an egg

Emma mixing it all together!

And if I would have remembered to take my camera to the park I would have gotten pictures of them selling the cookies. I think I did good getting us all there as well as all the baked goods and a table and a couple chairs and. . . you get the picture!

Emma Gets A Visit From The Tooth Fairy!

2009-01-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know Emma, you know that she has been waiting very impatiently for her tooth to fall out so the tooth fairy could visit her. Well, we need not wait any longer!!! Her tooth is out and the tooth fairy has paid her visit!

Do you think that she is excited?

Fun In The Snow!!!

2009-01-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

All Erik asked for for Christmas was a book on places to hike in Southern California. I ended up getting him two books as well as a couple other things. Anyway, there is a really cute and easy hike one of the books up in Crestline. (Which is just up the mountain from us)

So, we decided that we would venture up to Crestline to take this hike. When we were getting ready to leave I told the girls to grab a jacket, knowing that the mountains are always a little cooler than we are down here. They both came out with their winter coats, I almost told them to take them back and just get a light jacket/sweatshirt. We have been having really warm weather down here and I assumed that most of the snow in Crestline would be melted. I was actually hoping that we would be able to find a couple patches of snow for the girls.

I was wrong! There is still a ton of snow up in the mountains!!!! So, our nice leisurely hike turned into playing in the snow. We will have to save the hike for a warmer day. We were not prepared to play in the snow, the girly girls have decreed that we need to go back with gloves so they can make more snowballs to throw at mom and dad!

Girls having fun in the snow!!

Mia walking in the snow.

Emma in the snow

Girls sitting in the snow! Brrrr, cold!!!

Erik and the girly-girls on a rock high above the creek!

Where's My Holiday Spirit?

2008-12-24T08:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas is usually my favorite time of year! I love the excitement, decorating, present buying, present wrapping, baking, and everything else that comes with the holidays! But this year I have been a total Grinch.

Okay, maybe not total as I did still do all the same Christmas activities, but I certainly did not have the same excitement. We put up our Christmas tree, last week mostly so the girls would stop bugging me about it. I feel just terrible!

And this year instead of goody trays I made mini loaves of bread, so I wouldn't eat all the goodies and balloon up again. I was up until 2:00am last night finishing up so Erik could take them around to his stores. It's my own fault, I've had all the ingredients for a week and just kept putting it off.

In the midst of all the holiday preparations my Grandma Uber passed away. She had a stroke the day before Thanksgiving and the doctors didn't think that she would make it through the week. I was heart broken. We have not been out to see everyone in over a year and I wanted to be there one last time to see her and have her see the girls one last time. But finances being what they are we couldn't afford it.

After the week had passed she started to show improvement. SO, I didn't feel the pressing need to get out there . We were hoping that she would hold out until we could make it out next year. A couple of weeks go by and the reports are all good.

And then I got the phone call, she suddenly got worse. She was in so much pain that they had her on so much pain medication that she was pretty much out of it. And then my Grandpa Joe had to make the hard decision to take out her feeding tube and such and let her go. The next afternoon she was gone.

The funeral was yesterday in Pennsylvania and here I am in California trying to get excited about Christmas. I feel like I am just going through the motions. Paste on the smile, give the gifts, wish everyone a Merry Christmas--over and over again.

It's not so much missing the funeral that hurts so much it's missing the last chance to say goodbye. Being LDS I know that she is in a better place. I know that she is surrounded by friends and family that have gone before and I know that she is happy. I know that she can see us, it just hurts so bad that I can't see her.

So, if my smiles seem more fake than real and the Merry Christmas greeting seems empty please understand that I am trying.

We do wish you all a Merry Christmas. May your Christmas be great and the New Year wonderful!

Breakfast With Santa

2008-12-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we had breakfast with Santa for the kids. We had a breakfast of pancakes at 9:00am and then Santa came.

Unfortunately since I am part of the activities committee I had to get there early to set up. But before I could go to the church I had to stop at the store and pick up the orange juice for breakfast. (I didn't have enough room in my fridge to keep it in there until it was time.) And Erik had to go into the office so I had to get the girls up and take them with me. So, on a cold and gloomy Saturday we were up at 5:30am! Can you tell that I'm not a morning person?

Anyway, we had a pretty good turn out and it seemed like everyone had a good time. If you didn't just lie to me and say you did! ;)

The girls knew exactly what to do when it was their turn to sit on Santa's lap. They jumped right up and told him what they wanted. Santa brings our kids one toy each year and then the rest are from mom and dad. It's easier on Santa that way!

Emma asking for a Littlest Pet Shop Gym Playset!

Mia asking for a Barbie.

Okay one more quick story. Emma's Sunday school teacher, Melissa Zendejas got her class each a gift. (Well, Mia's teacher Gayle Sapronetti got her class a gift too but this story is about Emma's gift!) Anyway, part of the gift was a puzzle. Later that evening after church Emma decided that she wanted to do the puzzle. So, they got out the puzzle and started working on it.

While they were working on it I was putting together presents for the ladies I visit teach. They got the puzzle put together and oh no, there was a piece missing! So they searched every where all over the floor, on the table, under things sitting on the table and they couldn't find it!

Then it was time for bed and they still hadn't found the piece. They were so sad! Even Erik couldn't find the piece. I decided to give it a try and I'm looking everywhere, I'm even on my hands and knees under the table!

I then had this horrible thought that maybe I had accidentally put the puzzle piece into the gifts I was making for the ladies I visit teach. I really didn't want to take apart each gift just to find a puzzle piece--I had made the potpourri/light vase thingies--most of you have probably received one as a gift at some point. But being the good mom that I am I pick up the first vase ready to dump it out, and there stuck to the bottom of the vase where I had taken off the price tag was the puzzle piece!!!

Yay!!! So, I call the girls out give them the piece they put it on the puzzle we snap a quick picture and then they are off to bed! Good save, mom. I was able to be a heroine to the girls and I didn't have to dump out and redo each present! Whew!

The completed puzzle!

I got tagged!

2008-12-11T13:58:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I know that Veronica tagged me like, oh ages ago. Being the slacker procrastinator that I am, I am finally doing it today! (You know it's been a long time when you have to go searching through a few pages of old posts on some one's blog to find the questions that you're suppose to answer!) Better late than never, right? Can I alteast get an A for effort?

Anyway, enough of my crazy rambling! Here it is the answers you have all been waiting to see. Hopefully, you weren't holding your breath! Because I'm afraid that we have probably killed brain cells waiting. And some of us don't have many to lose!

8 Things I Like A Whole Lot
1. My family--they have to love me! Thanks everyone! (especially Erik and the girly-girls)
2. Friends--sometimes I wonder why they love me!
3. The Gospel--can you imagine how much more screwed up I'd be? I shudder at the thought!
4. Chocolate covered pretzels--my absolute favorite though I will eat anything chocolate!
5. Cooler weather--I can finally go outside without melting into a puddle!
6. Exercising--some days more than others!
7. My creative spirit--someday I will finish all those projects I've started! ;)
8. Laughter--it's the best medicine! I'd rather laugh than cry!

8 Phrases I say Often
1. "Come on Girly-girls!"
2. "If there's no blood you aren't hurt that bad!"
3. "There is no whining in . . ." (go ahead fill in the blank)
4. " Do you understand what I'm saying?" (or some variation--a lot of time the answer is no)
5. "I love you!"
6. "No, you're crazy!"
7. "I have to learn how to say no!" (usually spoken to myself)
8. "Everything will be fine" (even if I'm only repeating it over and over to myself! Did you notice I talk to myself alot? do I talk to myself because no one listens or because I answer myself faster than anyone else!)

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
1. Go skydiving/hand gliding--imagine me flying! WWWEEEEEE!!!
2. Travel--I know that's a pretty generic answer!
3. Adopt--since I can't have anymore of my own this is the only way I will have a big family.
Well, the only legal way at least!
4. Get a house--yes, we are still renting but one day I will have my own house!
5. Live--I don't want to get old nor do I want to grow up! I do want to live a full life through!
6. Watch my girls grow up into strong, beautiful , and smart women
7. Lose weight--I want to get down to 150 and stay there!!!!
8. Live debt free--debt sucks!

8 Things I've Learned From My Past
1. There are times when you need to speak up
2. There are times when you need to shut up (I'm confused too! I usually end up mixing up
when to do what!)
3. Forgive others
4. Stressing doesn't get anything done--so stop stressing! Easier said than done!
5. Kids will always do what they see not what they hear!
6. My parents deserve a medal--I put them through a lot!
7. Have a plan but always be ready to make a detour!
8. Live life to the fullest!!!

8 Places I'd Love To Visit
1. Pennsylvania--always #1 stop! My family is still there!
2. Anywhere where there is someone to visit--I'm more about the people than the place!
3. China--Erik really wants to go and Mia's got an obsession with anything China
4. Hawaii--doesn't everyone?
5. Europe--wouldn't it be fun to say you've been there?
6. A US History trip--I would love to take the time and visit all the highlights
7. A LDS History Trip--I would love to visit all the LDS points of interest
8. Australia--what can I say I love the accent and I always had a huge crush on The Man From
Snowy River

8 Things I currently Need Or Want
1. A massage daily--you didn't say it had to be realistic!
2. A house--hopefully we will get one in the next couple years
3. A haircut--I really really need one, this isn't a want but a need!
4. Get out of debt and live debt free--almost there!
5. Reach my goal weight--150, oh I would love to be a size 8! I don't think that I have ever been
a size 8 except for when I was so sick. So, I guess I want to be a healthy size 8
6. Be able to visit my family more often--I miss you guys!!!
7. I want to know that I'm a good mom and doing what's best for my kids!
8. I want everyone to know that I appreciate you all so much!!!

I tag--Rachel, Charlyn, Melissa, and Lori!!! I bet the family is really glad that I now have some blogging friends! Now they don't get picked on all the time!

Disneyland Fun!!

2008-12-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

On Friday we went to Disneyland, that was our families' big Christmas present! The girls had a blast, as did Erik and I.

It reminded me of when Erik and I went to Disneyland for our honeymoon. For those of you who don't know, I grew up in Pennsylvania, so I had never been to Disneyland. I had been to lots of amusement parks, I LOVE roller coasters!! So, I assumed that Disneyland would be like the other amusement parks I had attended--lots and lots of roller coasters.

Well, I could not have been more wrong. There are hardly any roller coasters, which works out well for families with young children. I remember being so disappointed with Disneyland that day.

Now that I have kids of my own I understand the magic of Disneyland. So, while my first experience with Disneyland was way below expectations, every other visit has been magical!

Erik's boss had made reservations at the blue Bayou restaurant inside Disneyland for their work Christmas party. The food was great, but no kids allowed at the party. So, Erik's parents made the drive down to Anaheim to pick up the girls and take them home. They went way beyond Grandparent duty that night! Thanks again!

With the new release of the Tinkerbell movie they have a section of the magic kingdom done up as Pixie Hollow. They have it set up so you feel like you have shrunk down to fairy size. Here the girls are inside pixie hollow.

You also get to meet some of the fairies and get your picture taken with them. Here the girls are with Tinkerbell!

And here they are with Rosetta!

This is the girls waiting in line for the Indiana Jones ride. This was their first time as they were finally tall enough to ride. Notice the look on Emma's face that pretty much tells you how she felt about the whole ride, not exactly thrilled.

THE princesses!

On the teacups. I get sick riding them so Erik being the great dad and husband that he is does teacup duty!

This is the first time that we have ever seen Mary Poppins and Bert at Disneyland! We didn't bother getting pictures with characters we had met on previous visits. But since we had never met them and we LOVE the movie we just had to meet them!

Erik and Emma riding the Dumbo ride. The Dumbo ride is still one of Emma's all-time favorites!

I rode with Mia so I had to snap a picture really fast before the ride started!

Here's Erik completely looking completely confused because he can't find the girls. Oh yeah, they're with Mammy and Grandpa!

Family Home Evening

2008-12-02T09:15:00.001-08:00

Okay, you all know about my thankful kick, right? So, since I was lesson for Family Home Evening last night I decided to do a lesson on thankfulness. (For those of you who are not LDS, Family Home Evening--FHE--is a night where you get together as a family, usually having a little lesson, play a game, go somewhere, sing, pray, and best of all have a treat!)

Anyway, for my lesson I decided to steal an idea I saw somewhere, I don't remember where and give it a Marci twist. We made a banner of things that we are thankful for. Everyone got 5 index cards and drew a picture and wrote what it was, everyone also had to put their name and the date on it. I think that we will keep adding to it everyone once in a while to help us remember all we have to be thankful for. We were all suppose to come up with something that was different from everyone else.

Erik, is thankful for bedtime, the Internet, dishwasher, bubbles, and imagination. Mia is thankful for her Dad, Emma, Mom (she's so sweet you could get a toothache), Brandy (the cat), and books. I am thankful for flowers, family, friends, music, and chocolate. Even though I'm trying eat healthy I still have a bag of Hershey kisses in the freezer. That way I can have a couple a day and being frozen they last longer in your mouth! Emma is thankful for Miriam, Elmo, the Temple, comic books, and the Emma-hole.

Side note about the Emma-hole, the Emma-hole is something that Emma herself invented. It is an imaginary place that sounds like a lot of fun, they have everything there, flying cars, Disneyland everyday, a bubble machine, and more. Everything Emma wants happens in the Emma-hole. There is a whole family in the Emma-hole with lots of brothers and sisters for her, can you tell that she wants to come from a big family. There are lots of friends there too, she has a kazillion million friends in there. When she gets mad she goes to the Emma-hole, I think it's because the mom in the Emma-hole is nicer. She has an Emma-hole everywhere she goes, the one here is under Mia's bed where her trundle bed goes during the day! She also has a Emma-hole everywhere she goes, a lot of times it's under the table at a friend's home. She has started a trend, everyone has their own hole. Mia has a Mia-hole, Erik has a Daddy-hole and a Erik-hole, her friends have their own holes--though some are lazy and just go to the Emma-hole ;), and I have a Mommy-hole. When Emma gets mad at me and tells me that she is going to her Emma-hole because the mommy in the Emma-hole is nice, I tell her that's great because the Emma in the mommy-hole doesn't whine!

Anyway, so we have all the cards with the things that we are thankful for strung on a string hanging on our wall. This will hopefully help us remember all our blessings and remind us to show more gratitude and thankfulness to everyone but most especially our Heavenly Father who gave us everything!

Being Thankful For What I Have!

2008-12-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

With the holidays season upon us and Thanksgiving having just passed, I have been giving great thought about what I am thankful for. There are so many blessings that I have that I don't show gratitude for.

The first one is my husband, he always bears the brunts of my bad moods and emotional roller coasters. I can be sweet and nice to everyone, even complete strangers but I unleash all the attitude on him. What a sweetie he is to put up with it all.

The second is my family! My girly-girls, who are just absolutely perfect, maybe I'm just a little biased, but I don't think so! ;) My parents and brothers and their families, even though we don't get to see each other often and some I haven't met--I still love you all! Especially since you are making my bros so happy! And then there's the in-laws! Yes, sometimes they drive me crazy, because we do things SO different. And I'm sure that I drive them even crazier! But I really do love them all! And don't forget those friends that are so near and dear to me that they might as well be related! Even though we aren't related by blood we are definitely related in spirit!

Thirdly all the worldly things I have. A home, food, clothes, presents, books, movies, everything I have! I know that I sometimes get caught up in what I don't have or the things I want or think I need. Like I want a house, not an apartment to live in--but at least it's not a cardboard box. And it really is good enough for us, and it's in a fun little neighborhood. So, why do I complain so much?

Fourth, the church. The knowledge that I have that the church is true, and that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. And all our blessings come from him. That he does truly care about us and knows each one of us. If you really think about that it is truly breathtaking and awe inspiring. He cares about me, flaws and all. And believe me I have my fair share and more of those flaws!

Lastly, my life and my health. For those of you don't know I underwent my second open heart surgery 1 1/2 years ago. I had my first in 1999. Complications due to a misdiagnosis, long story, not so fun! Anyway, the important thing is that I am still here able to enjoy all my blessings!

And though my life is not turning out the way I have planned and replanned it is still going. But why do I tend to focus on the negative instead of the positive? Why do I whine about all the doctor's appointments and medicine. Why do I focus on the fact that I am no longer able to have anymore kids, when I always wanted a houseful, instead of enjoying and being thankful for the ones I have? Why do I moan and complain about the extra weight I put on during those dark depression filled months after the surgery, instead of being grateful that I am out of that dark hateful place and I am able to work on getting the extra weight off?

Anyway, my goal is to try and be more focused on that which I have instead of what I don't. I am going to find 10 things that I am grateful for everyday and recognize all that I do have. So, that's the beginning of my list for today! What about you? What are you thankful for?

Girls Ballet/Tap Class!

2008-11-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

The girls have a Ballet/Tap class every Friday in Rancho Cucamonga. It counts towards their PE curriculum for home school, and the Charter school pays for it! They go to Valverde School of Performing Arts for both dance classes. We love Valverde! The teachers are great, the staff super kind, and the girls learn a ton!

Valverde is across the street from the Victoria Gardens, so if anyone in the area is interested go check them out. They give you 1 FREE lesson so your child can try it out and see if it's a good fit or not. They also use that FREE lesson to make sure that class is not too hard or easy for your child. Did I mention that we love them?

Unfortunately their Holiday recital is on a Sunday this year so we will be unable to attend. Both girls were great about it though. When I told them that it was on Sunday they both looked at me and said, "Oh, so we won't be able to go because that's not a Sunday activity."

Don't you love it when something that you've taught them comes out? I always get so excited and think "Wow! You really were listening!" Don't ask me why I still get so excited. It must be a mom thing!

The girls doing tap with their Ballet/Tap teacher, Miss Yesenia. Her and her husband own Valverde.

Here they are in class practicing their piece for the Holiday recital.

And practicing some more! I got to go in and watch the whole piece they are going to be doing fro the recital! Lucky me! I love it!

At the barre doing their ballet warm-ups.

More warming-up. . .

And more!

Feeding The Ducks

2008-11-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

The girls have their art class every Thursday in Riverside. We leave at 3:00pm and get there at about 3:20, we left one day at 3:15 and were almost late. Their class doesn't start until 4:00. Gotta love California traffic.

So we have been coming up with fun things to do right around the Riverside Art Museum to kill some time. Thank goodness Erik has two offices within 15 minutes of the museum so he is pretty familiar with the area.

Today we went to Fairmont Park to feed the ducks, one of our favorite past times, though we haven't been there in while.

I let the girls pick what spot on the lake they wanted to stop at to feed the ducks. We got out of the car, walked over to the lake and look down. I only see a couple of ducks but I think it's okay we can use half the bread and bring the other half back next week.

No sooner do the girls throw in the first piece of bread then ducks start swarming from all over.

When the girls go back to the bench to get another piece of bread the ducks follow them up out of the lake. The girls climbed on the bench and fed the ducks there. The ducks were so close. And I was in the middle of the ducks trying to snap some pictures without stepping on ducks.

When the bread was all gone, the ducks did not want to leave. So, the girls started yelling "Shoo, the bread is all gone." "Go away , ducks." "We don't have anymore." Not that the ducks were really phased at all!

It was so funny, I was laughing so hard!

Feeding the ducks!

The "stampede" of ducks, that's what the girls called it!

Up close feeding time

If they get any closer they will be on the bench with the girls

Halloween!

2008-11-06T20:35:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know I am late sharing our Halloween pictures. But, better late than never!

Anyway, here are some pictures of the fun at Mammy and Grandpa's Ward Halloween Party!

Mia having to eat whipped cream, a marshmallow, and chocolate sauce off of a plate without using her hands. Go, Mia!

Emma bobbing for apples. This is Emma's favorite game, she will get out a bucket and fill it with water and apples at home to practice!

Erik and the girls in their Halloween costumes. Mia is Silver Mist from the new Tinkerbell movie, Emma is Snow White, and Erik is Jack Bauer from the TV show from 24.

Art On Exhibit

2008-11-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

The girls are so super-dee-duper excited about this! They have a picture from their art class hanging up in the museum.

Granted the pictures are hanging up outside their art classroom, but it still inside the museum and anyone who goes in can see the pictures!

They were talking about symmetrical and asymmetrical paintings. They had to paint either a symmetrical or asymmetrical face!

They are pointing to their painting!

Carving Pumpkins!

2008-10-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

We carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening last night. Mia loved it, so did Emma! Each of the girls had their own pumpkin, so did Erik and I.

We also invited our friend Melody to join us. She loved hearing the girls squealing because it was so squishy. We've "adopted" Melody into our family! Love ya, Melody!

We also toasted the pumpkin seeds. The girls loved the pumpkin seeds, too! I was kinda surprised by how much they liked the seeds.

Mia cleaning out her pumpkin, she cleaned the whole thing with her hands!

Emma cleaning out her pumpkin, I made her use her hands for the picture, the rest of the time she used a spoon!

Erik cleaning out his pumpkin, he used his hands!

Mia carving her pumpkin. I know I bought a pumpkin carving set and I put it in a safe place, it's so safe I still can't find it!

Emma carving her pumpkin. Since I couldn't find the pumpkin carving set we had to make do with regular knifes, which are not as good!

Melody sorting through the pumpkin guts for the seeds!

Erik with his pumpkin, he did a stencil of the Marshmallowy guy from HomeStarRunner.com. Look at his arms they're orange from cleaning out the pumpkin! I thought that there was something wrong with my camera or the Kodak program at first!

Mia and Emma with their pumpkins! Didn't they turn out cute? The girls did it all by themselves, well mostly all by themselves!

Art Class

2008-10-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

This fall the girls have been taking an art class. They attend the art class at the Riverside Art Museum, and their Charter School pays for it!

The art class that they attend is called Kids Open Studio. They go to class each Thursday evening for 1 1/2 hours. The first part the teacher introduces a new painting and concept. She talks about it and then does a real quick demonstration. Then the kids make something using that technique or concept taught.

After they complete that project the kids are then free to use whatever supplies they have to create whatever they want. They have paper, markers, paints, crayons, colored pencils, clay, all kinds of stuff!

The girls love it!

Mia working on a project using markers and paper

Emma made a bowling ball out of clay, they leave the clay there to dry
and then paint them the next week.

Mia's project, she's using the shape markers to make shape designs.

Emma making her bowling set.

Go Ducks!

2008-10-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

While eating at Red Robin last week, I filled out a couple of forms for the girls to be entered into a couple drawings. A couple days after our visit we get a call, Miriam's name had been drawn and she had won FREE tickets to an Anaheim Ducks Hockey Game!

We had never been to a hockey game, so we decided to give it a shot. It was a blast! Watching it on TV doesn't come close to being there in person. And even though we were up way high, we were still able to see everything and follow the game well enough.

Mia had won four tickets, so we all got to go for FREE. We only had to pay for gas and parking. Not bad at all!

We got to go out on the ice and sit in the penalty box to watch the players warm up. We got to see and talk to the guys that run the sound effects, countdown, scoreboard, etc. They showed the girls how it all worked and even let them push the button to test the horn! They even got to see a Stanley Cup ring, Emma even got to wear it!

Family Pic in the Penalty Box

Watching the players warm up

Emma wearing the Stanley Cup Ring, working the equipment

Mia working the equipment.

After we left the ice we had to wait to meet Wild Wing--whoever was in that suit was great! He did a great job playing and communicating with the girls. The girls got to be on the big screen Honda Vision with Wild Wing. They were famous for about a minute!

The girls and Wild Wing!

The girls on the Honda Vision

After their shot at fame, we went up to our seats to enjoy the rest of the game. The girls even got FREE Gatorade and Kettle Corn! The Kettle Corn was really addictive.

The girls sitting in their seats

The girls even got real pucks that were signed by a couple of the players. They also got a Ducks pencil case with some school supplies in it. As home schoolers we can always use school supplies!

The only thing that could have made the night better was if the Ducks had won. They lost by 1 point, but we had a great time!

The rink from our seats

Girls in front of the players seats

Prop 8

2008-10-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

I set up a blog called What's the Truth About Prop 8?, if anybody wants to give it a look-see. Not much on it yet, but I'll add more.

We're coming down to the wire.

Jam-Packed Fun-Filled Day

2008-10-11T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today was Erik's last day of vacation. It has been so fun having him home! So, we woke up this morning wondering what we were going to do with ourselves today.

If any of you know us, we are not that good at making decisions. We joke that we should start deciding what we want to eat for dinner as soon as we finish breakfast, because it will take us that long to decide!

Anyway, we decided to take the girls to the park to play. By the way today was the perfect day to be outside, not too hot and not too cold. We live in California so not too cold is never a problem, but the too hot usually is!

There is a neat little park that was just built not too far from our house that Erik took the girls to one day when I was gone at a meeting and the girls wanted me to go and see it too. So, that's where we went.

We all ran around and played like we were kids again, okay so 2 out of the 4 of us are kids but you know what I mean!

Mia on the monkey bars. She has been practicing and practicing and now

she can go all the way across on the monkey bars! Way to go, Mia!

Emma on the swings. The girls can both pump by

themselves and boy does she go high!

Mia climbing the rock wall. We all had to climb it,

even Erik and I scaled the wall!

Here's Emma on this rope pyramid climbing structure.

It was also very fun, just ask any of us!

Mia hanging upside down. The girls love to pretend they are sloths!

Emma on the slide with her "spacecat."

We play space explorers at this park.

After the park we still didn't have any idea what else to do but we knew we needed gas. So, we made a stop at the gas station. The girls love to help pump the gas!

They are ready to get their driver's license and start doing all my errands for me!

On our way to the gas station Erik's brother Andy called and told us that The Redlands Fires Station by his work was having an open house. So, we decided to stop over there and check it out.

The girls sitting on the front of the firetruck!

Firefighter Emma

Firefighter Mia

Girls with Sparky the Firefighting Dog

After we toured the fire station and did all the fun activities there we went over to Hogi Yogi, where Andy works and had lunch there! Andy was even able to take a break and talk with us while we ate.

Andy even waited on us and made our sandwiches. Excellent sandwiches, Andy, thanks again! The girls had the turkey on white, Mia had cheese on hers while Emma didn't. Erik had the Smoky Turkey with a bunch of veggies and sprouts. I had the BBQ Chicken with lots of jalapenos, Andy is the only person who has ever given me enough jalapenos! Mmmmmm!

After we finished lunch we went to DI to try and get some ideas for Halloween costumes for Erik and I. Erik's mom already got the girls their costumes. Mia is going to be a Fairy and Emma is going to be Snow White. We finally came up with and idea for me but we still have no idea for Erik! Guess we'll have to keep our thinking caps on!

We then stopped over at Erik's parents to say hi. We had a nice time talking to Mom and Dad, the girls haven't had Mammy and Grandpa all to themselves in a long time! Thank goodness we stopped because Erik's Mom reminded us that we were celebrating Veronica's birthday tomorrow. Erik was confused and told me we were doing it Monday when we had FHE, so I was planning on getting the present Monday morning.

When we left there we had to go get Veronica's present. Talk about last minute shopping, they're trying to close up and we're trying to get a present. Hopefully, she like it!

Then home we came and put two not tired girls to bed. And the two tired ones are heading off to bed now!

Tagged By Kristin

2008-10-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I got tagged from Kristin! So, I went to the fourth file to the fourth picture and here it is. . . .It's my dinner from a secret shop that I performed at the beginning of the year. I don't remember which restaurant it was, I wouldn't be able to tell even if I did!

Yes, I am a secret shopper. I am signed up with a few different companies. Some pay better than others, some want more info, and some we get free stuff from. It's kind of fun and it gives us a little pocket change. If anyone is interested in becoming a mystery shopper, let me know as I can hook you up. Just make sure that you never, I mean never, pay to become a mystery shopper!

I now tag. . . .Melissa, Alicia, Raela, and Jennifer! Fourth file, fourth picture.

Hip Hop Dance Class

2008-10-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

The girls have been wanting to take dance classes forever! Because we decided to go through a charter school this year for our home school, the girls get to take their dance class. We opted to use part of our funds for them to take a few classes.

They are taking a Hip Hop Dance class, a Ballet/Tap Combo class, and an Art Class this semester. When it gets close to the end of the semester we will sit down with the girls and decide what they want to keep doing and what they don't and what else they might want to try.

Anyway, the girls have been to two Hip Hop classes and they are loving it! They are learning a routine to Natasha Bedingfield's Pocket Full Of Sunshine. It is so fun to watch all the girls in class as they are learning new steps and practicing old ones.

When they get home from class, Erik and I get a private viewing of what they learned that day. Anytime they show us anything from dance they have to warm-up first. Their teachers must have put enough emphasis on warming-up because won't even show you one step without warming-up!

Their dance teachers both say that the girls are doing very well for this being their first time ever! Lucky girls, guess they didn't get my sense of rhythm. ;)

Next time you see the girls ask them to show you some of their dance moves!

FREE Museum Day!

2008-09-28T23:27:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday was FREE museum day at certain museums across the country. And it was Growing Up Californian at the San Bernardino County Museum. Erik and I had already decided to take the girls to the museum and then we found out about the FREE museum day and lucky for us the San Bernardino County Museum was one on the list! Yay! We are so determined to get out of debt in 6 months so this was an added bonus for us, we ended up saving about $30!

We got to see everything in the few hours that we had to spend there, I had to get back to catch my ride to the Relief Society Broadcast later that evening!

We saw all the stuffed animals, real stuffed animals not toys! We saw all the eggs, Erik and I though that the eggs would be the kind of boring to the girls but, Emma was begging to go see the eggs! Go figure.

We got to see the display on local architecture through the ages, really really interesting to Erik and I, not so much to the girls. Luckily they had blocks for the girls to build their own buildings and pictures to color.

We also got to see the live animals. The girls got to pet the rabbit and see all the different lizards, bugs, and snakes! Have I mentioned how much the girls love animals, any kind of animals?

We also got to attend the Growing Up Californian for FREE! The girls got to learn how it was to grow up as a child when California was first being settled.

They got to take a turn at washing, rinsing, wringing, drying, and ironing clothes. They got to beat rugs and make candles. They got to see and play with some toys from that time period. They made butter and ground up corn into cornmeal.

We all learned alot and had a great time doing it!

Mia washing clothes

Emma wringing out the clothes

Emma hanging up clothes to dry

Mia ironing

Emma beating the rug

Girls making candles

Girls grinding corn into cornmeal

Mia playing with the cup and ball

Emma playing with the hoop and stick

Mia playing with the hoop and stick

Fun At Downtown Disney

2008-09-28T22:52:00.001-07:00

So as if the Fair wasn't enough the next day we decided to take the girls to Downtown Disney. Well, it was kind of a spur of the moment decision.

After they got back from their sleepover they asked what we were doing that day and I said oh, probably nothing. Wrong answer! Then came the can we go to Build A Bear?

Since we didn't have anything else planned until that evening we figured sure why not?

The girls have been saving their money so they could go to Build A Bear! And yes there is a Build A Bear closer, but the one at Downtown Disney is SOOOO big. So, we figured that for their first Build A Bear bought with their own money we would go all out!

I told you it is BIG!

So we all loaded up in the car and off we went.

Our first stop was the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. We love the Rainforest Cafe, though not the prices. We had never eaten at the one there, an the girls had a FREE Kids Meal certificate from the Library Reading Game this summer. So we figured we might as well make a day of it!

Waiting to get seated!

After the Rainforest Cafe we finally got to go to Build A Bear. (The girls were so excited they could barely eat their lunch!) Emma chose the elephant that she named Ella and Mia chose the new Hannah Montana Bear that she named Hannah!

It was so cute watching them be so serious in their choices. We even snuck in some math, they had to make sure that they had enough money to cover what they were buying. Of course they wanted everything, but had to make some hard choices. Overall, I think that they are both very happy!

Girls out front before we go in. Thanks for being so patient with me girls!

Mia stuffing Hannah!

Emma stuffing Ella!

Emma washing Ella

Mia washing Hannah

Fun Day At The Fair

2008-09-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been awhile since we updated the blog! Things have been super crazy busy here!

Anyway, on the 19th of September we went to the LA County Fair with Greg, Beronica, and their kids. Erik was even able to take the day off and come with us! Yay!!! The girls love doing anything, but they love it even more when dad is able to be part of it.

I was able to get us FREE parking passes and FREE admission to the fair through one of the home school groups we belong to. We were able to cover Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, PE, we even managed to squeeze in some Math! I love homeschooling!

We had a great day at the fair walking around with Greg, Beronica and the kids. We visited so many things. I think that the kids favorite part was the the Big Red Barn, not a favorite for the dads who were busy fighting allergies. But they were troopers, there wasn't even any whining!

Dads watching on while the moms and kids play in the petting area!

Petting the goats. . .

and the sheep!

There was even a dress up place at the fair! Of course the kids loved it! What kids don't love to dress up and pretend to be something?

Emma cooking dinner for Daddy.

Notice that she has broccoli and chicken, her favorites!

Cowgirl Mia!

Chase and Savannah playing with the cars.

There were so many fun things for the kids to do and see and touch! They even got to pet a horse at the 4-H booth and pet a snake! The girls love animals so this was quite a treat for them. They would love to live on a farm, though I don't think Erik could handle it with his allergies. I'm sure the girls would rather keep Daddy around than live on a farm!

Petting the snake. The girls have no fear!

The girls petting the horse!

Cousins "riding the range"

New this year for school aged kids was a chance to get FREE ride tickets. They had to read 6 books and do a short book report on each book read and they would get 9 FREE tickets! The girls worked hard and diligently reading and writing! They got their tickets and were so excited. We bought a couple extra tickets so they could each ride two ride. They chose. . .

The carousel and. . .

the tilt a whirl!

All in all we had a great day with tons of fun! But the fun did not end there, the girls went to a friends house for a sleepover and Erik and I had a night to ourselves.

Happy Birthday, Miriam!

2008-09-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

Have a Magical Birthday, Miriam!

Today is Mriam's 7th birthday! Boy do they grow up fast! It seems like just yesterday. . .

Anyway, she has already had a few parties, one with the family, one with her friends and we did our own immediate family party on Saturday because Erik is in Kansas for work this week. This is the first time that he has missed her birthday.

For her "birthday day" she wanted waffles for breakfast and pizza for dinner. She chose angel food cake with whipped topping and strawberries!

She got makeup, a movie, a CD, and the twister pink game. Emma gave her a Polly Pocket. So, she made out pretty good, and she got her presents a few days early!

Mia Keeps Losing Teeth!

2008-09-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

Mia lost two more teeth yesterday! I think the tooth fairy just camps outside her bedroom window now. It saves time that way! ;)

Birthday Slumber Party!

2008-09-12T17:22:00.001-07:00

The girls had their combined birthday slumber party last weekend! They had invited eight friends but only six could make it, and believe me six was plenty!

We made homemade personal pizzas for dinner, everyone got to put whatever toppings they wanted on their pizza. A trick I learned from my mom, having nine kids that all liked different things she's got tons of little tricks like that! Thanks mom!

While they were eating they watched Cinderella III: A Twist In Time.

We rented Disney Princesses for Wii, and the girls had a blast playing that all evening. They all did a really good job of sharing and taking turns. It also helped that we let them get on the Internet and play on Disney.com.

After the girls blew out the candles they opened up their presents. They got some really cool toys and things.

The girls picked just a plain white cake in a heart shape with flowers, but it had to be decorated with yellow and pink icing. Because pink is Mia's favorite color and yellow is Emma's. Well, I cheated I had leftover icing from their cake for the family party on Monday so I used the leftover to ice this cake. We also had cookies and cream ice cream to go with the cake.

Three of the girls had to leave early the next morning because they had soccer games so they actually went to bed at a decent time. We took the TV/VCR into their room and let them vote on a movie to watch while they were "falling asleep." They chose Pochantas.

They were actually all asleep by the time I went to bed. I had to stay up making the rest of the bread into cinnamon rolls for the next morning.

I had to get up early to cook the cinnamon rolls, most of the girls were already awake whispering and playing in the girls' bedroom.

After breakfast they played more Wii and Computer games. Until it was late enough that we could go outside and break open the pinata.

Then it was more playing until moms came to get them. All in all I think everyone had a good time!

Mia and Emma getting ready to blow out the candles!

All the girls that were at the party outside before hitting the pinata.

Mia and Emma chose a Unicorn pinata!

And of course the silly picture! It cracks me up every time I look at it!

Brother, Can You Spare A Video Camera?

2008-09-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Does anybody have a video camera they can lend me? Either a digital video camera or a video camera that connects to the yellow and white A/V cables?

It would be for a couple of weeks.

Mia Lost Another Tooth

2008-09-01T12:19:00.001-07:00

Mia has lost her third tooth! She lost it yesterday while eating breakfast! She was so excited she walked around all day smiling at people.

The tooth fairy came last night and left her a whole dollar!

Girls And Their Clothes

2008-09-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

What is up with girls having soooo many clothes? I definitely include myself in this! I have clothes that I hope to fit back into some day, clothes I wear now, and clothes that I'm keeping just because. Why do we do this? I know that I when I get down to the size I want to be I will then go shopping and get really cute clothes, so why am I still hanging on to the other clothes?

I have decided that I need to simplify my life, I know I make this decision every couple months! Anyway, I am going to go through my closet and get rid of anything that doesn't fit, I don't wear, or is just plain ugly!

I finally was able to go through all the baby clothes that I was keeping from when the girls were babies. What's the point in keeping a ton of baby clothes when you can't have anymore kids? It was hard, all the memories, remembering when the girls were little. And then all the depressing thoughts about not being able to have anymore kids. But I got through it. I kept a small tub of a few special pieces of clothing, but I got rid of the rest!

And you know what, now that it's done I'm ready to attack all of the other things that need to be done. Here's the bad part though, both Erik and I are both pack rats! Yikes! But at least now I'm in purging mode.

Speaking of clothes, my mom got Mia and Emma 2 dresses each for their birthdays. They each wore one of their new dresses to "Mammy's church" for Leilani's baby blessing. The girls looked so cute and Leilani is just a gorgeous little baby!

Christian's Birthday Party!

2008-09-01T11:36:00.001-07:00

Michelle and Dustin had Christian's birthday party at Jumping Jacks. It is a big place that has tons of jumping things inside! And I mean tons. There are mazes, slides, obstacle courses, and of course the big bounce houses. The adults, I mean big boys, liked the one that was set up like a big boxing ring complete with humongous boxing gloves! They had fun beating each other up.

The kids had a good time as well!

Mia having fun coming out of one of the obstacle courses!

Emma coming down the pinball slide!

Chase on the slide!

Christian on the slide!

Happy Birthday, Emma!

2008-08-26T16:48:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday To Our Little Princess, Emma!

Today is our youngest daughter, Emma's 6th birthday! Where does the time go? They grow up so quickly.

I will save the getting sad part of this experience for another day because now is a the day to celebrate! Emma got to pick her birthday breakfast--cinnamon rolls; and her birthday dinner--Baked Chicken Parmesan with corn. She picked chocolate cupcakes for her cake.

Well, I better go finish dinner. I just wanted to say a Happy Birthday to our little princess, Emma!

Water Olympics

2008-08-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

Our Primary had a Water Olympics Activity today! Since one of my callings is Activity Girls Leader, I got to go and help out, and well, play.

I was manning a station today--the Sponge Tic Tac Toe Olympic Event. Bet you didn't know it was an Olympic event! They had me draw a Tic Tac Toe board on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk, and then they had a bucket of water that had 2 different colored sponges in it. The kids then took turns throwing a sponge and seeing if they could get a Tic Tac Toe. It was a lot of fun and hot!

So to liven up my station a little more I started getting the kids wet by wringing out the sponges on top of them. My first group was a couple of older boys and they were trying very hard to be gentlemen, but as Josh said, "I was asking for it!" By the end I was completely soaked, not an inch of me was dry. But hey I was cooler. And all the kids were soaked!

Afterwards, while I was helping to clean up my girls were plotting with their friend Charlotte. They came over and asked when can we have a play date with Charlotte so she can come over and go swimming? I told them we better go find her mom and figure out a day and time. So, we find DeAnn and they ask her and then her and I start to talk about when would be a good time. And all three girls pipe up, "How about right now? Please, please, please!" So as if we weren't wet enough, we came home and went swimming for two hours!

Lots of fun!

Girls with Mia's Sunday School teacher!

Emma doing the sweatpants in water relay! There was a pair of sweatpants in a bucket of water, the kids had to put them on run down and around on the leaders and then run back take off the sweatpants and put them back in the bucket of water for the next kid in line.

Mia doing the sweatpants in water relay!

Mia and her group playing Tic Tac Toe!

Emma and her group playing Tic Tac Toe!

What Has Taken Up So Much Of My Time

2008-08-23T18:16:00.001-07:00

I know that I have not been posting as much these last couple of weeks. I have been busy figuring out what materials to get with our funds from our charter school. I finally have my list and even have it turned in to our Education Specialist (ES). So, that is finally done, one less stress!

After I figured out what materials to get, I then had to sit down and figure out our basic day to day home school schedule. Okay, I didn't have to but I find that I am more organized if I have a basic schedule written down. I did it so that the book work will be done in the morning and funner things and special classes and activities will be after lunch.

The schedule is done. The schedule also had to be flexible, if we decide to do a field trip to the zoo we need to be able to do that! And if we are babysitting, no problem, if the kids are old enough they join us in school. If they are not old enough they play while we do school, granted we do less formal work that day.

But this is one of the things that I enjoy the most about homeschooling, besides being with my kids, is the flexibility!

Mia took her assessment test a couple days ago for the charter school, all kids 2nd grade and up take the assessment test at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. The test scores will help me see what I need to work on with the girls.

I already know that we need to work on Math. We just got our new Math program and I think that it will be much better for the girls learning types. Last years Math program did not mesh well with the girls' learning styles.

They are more like me--hand on learners and visual. None of do well in the lecturing scenario. I know that for myself when someone starts talking and there is nothing for me to do, I fade out to another place and time! The girls are a lot like this. Our new Math program looks to be more interactive.

We also got our new Spelling Program and Handwriting programs already. We will stick with Hooked On Phonics for reading as the girls are doing well with this program. We will be starting Level 3!

Starting in October both girls will be participating in an art class given through the Riverside Art Museum. They will both also be taking a Ballet/Tap dance class as well as a Hip Hop dance class!

School officially starts on Monday the 25th. We are so excited to get started again and excited to start all our new programs. Now we'll just have to wait for the rest of our materials to get here.

Stuff Emma Did This Weekend

2008-08-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

So Emma started a small business this weekend. She got a 2 liter bottle, filled it with water, and then put it on a chair in the hallway with some styrofoam cups. She put a cup out to collect payments (1 cent a glass) and called her new business her "Water Stock."

(Since she knows we're playing the stock market game, she sees the words "stock" and "business" as pretty much the same thing--a way to make money.)

"Good for you, Emma," I told her. "That's the way to make money. Offer something people want at a fair price."

"Yeah," she said. "And a penny, that's easy for people so it's a really good price."

Her Water Stock has been in the hallway all weekend, earning her a few cents here and there.

Today, the two liter bottle ran out of water.

"Hey, Dad," she said. "It looks like my business is all done."

"Well, I'm proud of you for doing it," I said.

"Yeah," she said, "but I'm glad it's done. I didn't want to work forever."

********************

So we're talking with the girls about warm blooded and cold blooded animals.

"Warm blooded animals can make their own heat and keep themselves warm," I say. "Cold blooded animals can't do that."

"Yeah," says Emma. "Because people can rub their hands together real fast to keep warm, but snakes don't have hands so they can't do that."

My Posts On Orson Scott Card's Boot Camp

2008-08-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

I got asked about Boot Camp.

My posts about Boot Camp are all on my other blog.

Here they are:

My post about why I decided to go to Boot Camp.

A short post about the first morning of the writer's class.

Post about the rest of the first day of the writer's class.

A post I made while doing online research for a homework assignment.

Post about the second day of the writer's class.

The third day--the day I spent writing a story of my own.

The fourth day, the first day of the workshop portion, where we talk about everybody's stories.

In a post I didn't write until today, I talk about the rest of the week, and what I felt like I got out of the class and workshop.

And there you have way more than you ever wanted to read about it.

Tagged By The Andy Man (I think).

2008-08-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

i am: a teacher, a storyteller, a father, a husband
i think: about everything way too much
i know: a lot less than I used to think I did
i want: a job that makes me want to wake up early
i have: an amazing family
i wish: more often than I accomplish
i hate: car problems, money problems, and being sunburned
i fear: a lot less than I probably should
i feel: like a kid who's just play-acting he's a grown up
i smell: and I'm embarrassed about it
i crave: fried food way more than sweets
i search: for matching socks
i wonder: where my family will be in five years
i regret: too much to write about
i care: too much about what other people think of me
i always: feel silly doing these little survey things, because I'm so worried about what other people will think of me
i believe: there is usually a solution
i dance: alone
i sing: songs I make up to my kids (and anyone else who will listen)
i don’t always: stay awake through movies any more
i fight: to do things I know I have to do
i write: science fiction and fantasy
i lose: all kinds of stuff whenever I get stressed
i win: once in a while on Smash Bros.
i never: can decide what/where to eat
i listen: to podcasts and audiobooks more than music
i can usually be found: doing something besides whatever I should be doing
i am scared: of cutting off options by making final decisions
i need: to lighten up
i am happy about: my family, my calling, and getting to go to OSC's Boot Camp

Busy Day. . .

2008-08-01T23:38:00.001-07:00

The girls and I had a pretty busy day today, full of lots of fun things!

We started off the day with swimming lessons. Mammy has been giving the girls swimming lessons. The girls are getting pretty good! They are like little fish in the water.

After swimming and getting cleaned up we went to the post office to mail out five books that I had sold on half.com. I will have to go back to the post office tomorrow, I sold one more book and something off of my Ebay store. (My Ebay store is http://stores.ebay.com/Books-Crafts-And-More and my half.com store is http://shops.half.ebay.com/momcrafting4fun. I just started Ebay and I have a ton more stuff to add to it)

We then went shopping for Nikki's birthday present. (Nikki is Erik's youngest brother, Andy's fiancee) I had no idea what to get her but I think that we finally found the perfect gift. You'll have to ask her tomorrow after she opens it!

We then stopped at the mall to do a secret shop ( just another way I make a little extra money.)While we were there we got a pretzel to split and clip on earrings for the girls! They can get their ears pierced when the y turn 8 if they want to. It's their choice. We figure that since they are accountable in the Lord's eyes at 8 they might as well start making choices that will affect them forever then, too.

After we got home the guy came and picked up the chicks. It was sad to see them go.

Then we went to Melody's apartment. Melody is a lady from our ward who just happens to be blind. The girls don't think anything of her being blind to them she's just Melody! We love Melody and have become really close to her in the last few months. She has three parakeets and the girls love to play with them. They got to hold and pet the birdies more tonight than they ever have. Melody actually named two of the birdies after the girly girls, the birds are named Mia and Emmy, and then there is Happy! We took over Schoolhouse Rock to watch and had pizza and brownies! Yummy!!

The girls were so exhausted when we got home. I think that they fell asleep before their heads even hit the pillow!

Mia at the mall

Emma eating the pretzel!

Licking the bowl!

Literally!

Beauty And The Beast

2008-07-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the night that Erik's parents took the girls and I to go see Beauty And The Beast as a play at Riverside Community College. We had a great time and the play was great! The actors did a really good job.

Before we went to see the play we ate at Coco's. Mia had Macaroni and Cheese--she would live on it if I let her and Emma had Spaghetti and "smashed potatoes"--Emma would live on smashed potatoes if I let her! I had the Chicken Alfredo, it was so good. I did really good the rest of the day on eating healthy and except for the chocolate last night I've done really good this week. And hey, chocolate is the MOST important food group!

When we left the play we ran into the girl who played Belle just as she was coming out, so the girls got to have their picture taken with her. It was just a coincidence that we ran into her, we weren't sticking around for the "meet and greet" of the actors because the girls were so tired. Everyone else who was staying, practically everyone who came and watched the play were crowded around the front, and the actors came out the side and then went around to the front. So the girls got to see Belle without the crowds! Lucky girls!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a super fun night!

What I Did. . .

2008-07-31T09:25:00.000-07:00

Okay before the girls get home, I thought I'd drop a quick line about what I finally decided to do last night with my me time.

I went and grabbed some chocolate from the store--can't have Marci-time without it! Went to Blockbuster and rented Fool's Gold, a movie that Erik and the girls had no desire to see. And I got to start watching it before 8:00 at night! What a treat, I usually have to wait till after the girls go to bed and then I still have to see what Erik is going to be doing before I can even think about watching a "Mommy movie."

By the way, I didn't like the movie as much as I was hoping I would. Not enough umph! The story line was not well thought out and put together.

Okay, that's not the problem there was just one story line, and the one thing I have learned from living with a writer is this, to make a really good story you need more than one well developed thought out story lines that you work together to give the story more umph.

The characters were so cliche and no one did anything out of character, another thing I've learned from Erik is that if you want your characters to fade into the background don't have them do anything outside of the norm for that character. It's when the characters do something extraordinary, or out of character, or something, that's when you remember them and fall in love with them! So I didn't fall in love with or connect with any of the characters.

The story and characters never pulled me in, I sat through the movie thinking "so what." I even got up and got a drink and something to munch on without pausing the movie. Not a good sign!

After the movie I started to reread Body For Life For Women. A much more enjoyable time was had while reading, even though I have already read the book 1 1/2 times before. I am so serious about getting in shape and getting healthy and losing all this extra weight and gaining back all my strength and then some!

I would like to be down to 150 and be in a size 8 by the end of the year. I don't think that I have ever been a size 8, all through high school and college I was a size 12-14, except for when I was so super sick and got down to just over 100 pounds. That was not healthy. And since having kids I've been a size 14-16. But no more! I am going to be healthy, fit, and cute!

So, my evening with me, myself, and I was time spent on me! I think that we all need that once in a while. Just like Erik and I need to go out on regular dates, just the two of us. I think I need some me time too!

I Am Alone And I Don't Know What To Do!

2008-07-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

Erik is still at boot camp and learning a lot! Yay, Erik! So, we are still without Daddy.

And now the girls have left me. I still haven't decided to be depressed or excited! ;) The girls were invited to spend the night at one of their friend's house tonight.

So, now I'm confused. . .What do I do with this time alone? I don't think that I have seriously been completely and totally by myself, ever! My family, or roommates, or Erik, or the girls, or someone has always been around. Do I use the time productively and get things done around the house or do I do nothing but spoil myself?

My brain is telling me to use this time productively but the rest of me is saying spoil yourself, when will this ever happen again? (I think the rest of me just might win this battle!)

Being a Single Parent Sucks!

2008-07-29T15:45:00.001-07:00

Okay, Erik has been in San Diego now since Sunday evening. So, for all intents and purposes I am indeed a single parent this week--doing it all myself. I know that I sometimes complain, even if it is just to myself, about Erik not always pulling his own weight and helping out. But, I know totally have a new respect for him and all that he does.

I will say that during the day is the easiest for us, after all Erik is gone during the day at work anyway! But in the evenings the girls start to get more whinny and clingy and bedtimes is the worst! The girls go to bed much better when Erik is here, or at least when they know he will be back that night.

Trying to keep the girls busy and their minds off Daddy being gone we have been doing lots of things. I don't know if it wore the girls out but it sure wore me out!

Yesterday we went grocery shopping and took Melody, a blind lady from our church with us. When we dropped her back off at her place the girls invited her over for dinner and Family Home Evening. Having Family Home Evening without Erik was odd for us, whenever Erik is gone for work he's only gone a couple days so we usually have FHE before he leaves or when he gets back, this week we had to do it by ourselves.

Today Mommy had a doctor's appointment, just a quick prick of the finger to test how thick my blood is and then we were out of there! We then went to the Edwards in Ontario to see the free movie Care Bears 2--the girls really like that movie! Then we came home and ate and cleaned up the house because we had a family coming over to see the chicks and pick up the book and materials from our Eggs and Chicks class that we held last week. Oh, and Mommy had a nap! Of course the girls weren't tired or worn out, just Mommy.

Chicks and Eggs Unit Study

2008-07-21T17:59:00.001-07:00

Erik and I decided that it would be cool for the girls to have a unit study on eggs and chicks. We will be going to The LA Fair again this year and thought that it might be fun to see the process up close and first hand.

There is a guy in our ward at church who sets up units at the local schools where he brings in eggs in a n incubator and all the stuff you will need to take care of the chicks when they hatch. He does all the hard work of turning the eggs and getting them all ready to go, we have the easy part sit back and watch!

Anyway, he brought us our two chicken eggs this morning. Before he came he called and said that he had a couple chicks that had hatched just a couple of days ago and wanted to know if we wanted two extra chicks to start with so we could watch them. Of course we do!

So we have two chicks, well actually, one of the eggs hatched this evening so we have three chicks and one egg. The girls were so excited! All day long it was "Mom come look at this!" and you should have heard the squealing when the chick finally completely hatched!

Erik and the girls spent an hour watching the new chick from when it had just hatched to getting dried and fluffy to moving around and even drinking some water. It is so "awesome," to steal a phrase from Mia!

We are learning a lot! We are also having a few kids over, local homeshoolers, friends, and family to have an activity day/book club later this week. We will be doing activities and reading books about eggs and chicks. Each kid will get an Usborne Book to take home as well as the activities we do! It should be fun!

The girls with the incubator with the eggs!

The 2 chicks--a couple days old

The chick when it was first hatched

The chick just a couple minutes old--notice the difference between the one who is just hatched and the one a couple of days old

The newly hatched chick just an hour old

Our Weekend in LA!

2008-07-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Here we go!

We've promised this video for a while and I finally got around to editing it together.

When Marci's brother Isaac came out for a visit, this is how we spent his last Saturday here.

(Congrats to Isaac, by the by, on getting his mission call to the Mississipi Jackson Mission.)

Tagged by Veronica

2008-07-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I was tagged a while ago but I have just been super busy trying to be Wonder Woman! So, here it goes. . .

i am: complex
i think: about a hundred things at once--especially when I'm trying to fall asleep
i know: that staying home and homeschooling the girls is the right thing for us
i want: to see my side of the family more
i have: a wonderful, loving and understanding husband--thanks Erik
i wish: to get our own home
i hate: not being able to have anymore children
i fear: losing my family
i feel: blessed
i smell: the flowers--at least I'm trying to stop and smell them more
i crave: something sweet and usually chocolaty all the time
i search: for new exciting home school ideas--all the time
i wonder: sometimes if I can make it through the day
i regret: not opening up and letting people get closer to me, see the real me
i care: about my family
i always: am looking for fun stuff to do
i believe: that I'm a good person--it's taken me many years to be able to say that
i dance: with the girls--I would love to take a dance class with Erik sometime, hint hint ;)
i sing: poorly but love to sing
i don't always: get everything done on my to do list--okay like never!
i fight: the depression-daily
i write: less than I want, it's on my to do list!
i lose: the battle aginst clutter
i win: for having the best family and friends ever! Thanks everyone for making me a winner!
i never: ask for help--something I will work on one day, it's on my to do list!
i listen: to Radio Disney when the girls are with me--all the time!
i can usually be found: with my family
i am scared: of rejection and the dark
i need: to be closer to Christ and rely more on Him instead of me
i am happy about: my life--it's a pretty good one!

So I tag Kristin, Lizeth, and Dustin--because we got to get the boys involved too!

Fun Day Playing With Cousins

2008-07-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

Erik's sister's kids have been staying with his parents this last week while Kristin and her husband Monty were in Cancun. I know, we're all a little jealous of them!

Today the girls, my brother Isaac and I went over to play. Veronica, Greg's wife (Greg's one of Erik's brothers) called and asked me to bring over some board games when we came over. Yes, we have a lot of games but we love playing games at our house.

So we took over a bunch for the kids to play. The two biggest hits seemed to be Hullabaloo and Disney Bingo. They all seemed to have a good time playing those two. Another hit was Apples to Apples for kids, the only drawback was that the kids were taking a little bit longer to pick their card to play causing other kids to get bored. We tried to play Zooreka but there were too many kids to really play the game and not everyone was understanding how to play.

The kids all loved seeing each other and being able to play with one another. I also made them all a indoor picnic lunch while they watched Muppet's Treasure Island. I made the mistake of asking them what kind of sandwiches they wanted and ended up being a short order cook--at least they all got something that they wanted to eat!

All in all it was a fun filled but long day!

The cousins all playing Disney Bingo

Kory, Kyle and Tyler playing Bingo

Mia, Emma and Chase playing Bingo

Cousins enjoying a game of Zooreka

Happy Birthday, Erik!

2008-07-09T21:04:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Erik! We love you and hope that you had a great birthday.

Erik's boss generously gave Erik the day off. So what did we do with this special time together? Well, we started off with good intentions of doing something fun but ended up not really doing anything.

We did get Erik in to the eye doctor for an eye exam, it had been two years. He got a pair of prescription sunglasses as well as a new pair of eyeglasses with transition lenses! We already picked up the sunglasses, they were done today but we have to wait for the glasses. They did have to change his prescription, he says that he can really tell a difference. Makes me want to make my eye appointment!

I made Jambalaya for dinner, one of Erik's favorite meals! I put sausage, shrimp and chicken in it this time. Like pretty much everything I make I start off with a recipe or two or sometimes three, combine what I like best about each add my own stuff and somehow come out with something that they tell me tastes good. Only problem is I never know exactly what I did to be able to duplicate the exact same recipe again!

I then made a yellow cake and frosted it with homemade chocolate frosting. Topped that with some pecans and chocolate chips! Yummy! Sweets are always my downfall, and you thought I gained the weight by eating healthy, right? But I am proud of myself I had only 1 piece and it wasn't even a gigantic piece! Both Erik and I have lost weight these last 2 1/2 weeks and we don't want to screw that up!

The girls and Erik getting ready to open the presents!

The shirt the girls made for Erik.

They really wanted to make something for Daddy for his birthday!

Erik modeling the shirt!

The new Wii games--

Zelda Twilight Princess and Super Smash Brothers Brawl!

History of Superman DVD--if you don't know already Erik LOVES Superheros!

Playing the new Wii games!

Did we mention that my brother Isaac is visiting for a couple of weeks?