Top Highlights of 2009 California Trip…(No particular order)

1. “Duckies, Mom…Duckies…water…duckies!” I think we heard these words about a thousand times because of the 5 two year olds who LOVED watching the duckies…all day long!


2. Alayna said, “Mom, what did Papi look like when he was not old?”


3. Lazy River tubes no longer cost money…in years past we would have to pay $1 for a tube…not a steep price, but who remembers to bring money to the pool? Not us, so this year it was exciting because they were FREE!


4. La Jolla Beach – It was spectacular the sun was setting. Jared needed to run to the restroom so he said, “Di, your in charge of Jacob in the stroller.” I thought nothing of it so I held on to the stroller. The sun had set and I was standing around with Krista and Angela with their monkeys. As minutes passed we turned around to hear Conner screaming from the bathroom… “Did you know Jacob is running away?” As I held on to the stroller I looked down to find an empty seat! Yeah, little Jake ran off…This was not a surprise because he is so dang fast. But I assumed he was buckled. I was wrong. Thankfully, Grady had the feeling a little kid was missing. So he walked around till he found him at the bathroom. What a blessing. Really, I was just in complete shock that he ran away, that none of us standing there saw him run, and that we found him. Truly he could have run to the ocean, the street, etc. It was truly a miracle. That’s when I am grateful I said my prayers that morning to watch over my kids.


5. Queen B – drum roll…Krista wins the award or title Queen Bee because she some how was finagled her way of not driving, not doing dishes – all week long, getting off the hook for her cooking duties, etc. Really she lucked in so many ways that it became a joke. Some how I cooked her breakfast meal so she could go running! She knows how to work the system.


6. Pat and Oscars…www.breadsticks.com. YUM! It’s a family tradition to go to this restaurant in Temecula. Nothing is better than these breadsticks. Oh, my mouth is drooling just thinking about them!


7. La Presidente…drum roll…Shandra wins this title because all things must pass through her first! Sleeping arrangements, fun activities, and we can’t forget the FOOD. We really need her help, but it was fun to hold her responsible for everything!


8. Last night dinner at Costco…we had spent all week cooking fabulous meals (breakfast, lunch and yes, dinner!) So we decided to take the night off and each spend $10 to pick out a freezer meal or appetizer from Costco…what turned out being a cheap idea quickly added up! You have to love Costco!


9. Sleeping 27 people for one night at my aunt and uncles house in Temecula. Sad to say our family is growing SO big…we had 5 porter cribs filled with the 2 year olds, each room was covered with sleeping bags, air mattresses. Even though the sleeping arrangements are hilarious we have SO much fun spending time with them. We just like to remind them how clean and large their house is with out such a HUGE crowd!


10. What do you do when someone gives you a restaurant recommendation? Well, I think you should turn and run when you hear the words… “Cheap Chinese food in a strip mall!” Let’s just say we have learned our lesson!!


11. If we ever asked any of the kids… “What is your favorite part about the vacation?” You would hear a resounding… “SWIMMING!” All the kids LOVED swimming, day after day!


12. Jacob’s vocabulary taking off…or getting stuck on nothing other than… “Temple, mom…M-roni…Mom, Temple…M-roni Go?” Yeah, he even woke up from sleeping in the car asking for where the “Temple…M-roni” went. He was able to see St. George and San Diego Temples on this trip.


13. Meal time…Oh, where do we even begin on this one. Let’s just say it was fend for your self and don’t get there last or else all the food was gone! Who would have guessed that the five two year olds eat as much as any adult at breakfast time? Krista and I forgot to video tape a meal time…it was loud, noisy, and just plain out hilarious. Let’s just say my parents would retreat to their bedroom to eat because the insanity was off the charts!!!


14. Eating at Baja Fresh…Bring on the Fresh Grilled Mahi Fish Tacos with spicy avocado sauce! YUMMY!!!


15. Ground level vs. 4th floor? It was an emotional discussion but we finally got our sleeping arrangements figured out. Thanks dad for being so calm with your four very emotional girls. It doesn’t help that two of us are pregnant! Or the fact that we had 5 two year olds who could possibly drown in a 5 ft man made lake! Dangerous…I’d say!


16. Meeting Abigail Johnson…It is always so much fun spending time with Johnson and Stevie. But above all meeting their 3 week old little girl. So much fun!


17. Kiddie pool…all the babies took turns being “tipsy” for some reason it just soothed the kids that they couldn’t stand up straight. So each baby was rescued a handful to times from drowning.


18. “Mom, Jakey HOT!” We would hear screams from the back seat when ever even a small amount of sunshine would hit Jake. He did NOT like to be HOT!


19. “Mom..Grandma Lou found me a BOLOGNA shell” Alayna exclaimed… “A what shell?” I said… “A Bologna one!” I think she meant to say an abalone shell.


20. Watching Jacob run wild on the beach. He LOVED the ocean and running into the waves. This kid could have stayed day after day there. He started out clothed and then he’d be naked running in his diaper. The cold water didn’t even phase him. It was adorable.


21. Lunch times…equaled a break from the sunshine…and 5 sleeping toddlers. Oh, it was peaceful time where we got to sit out on the patio and just talk. And eat TONS of treats…the top hit was chocolate covered raisins from Costco.


22. Not sharing our “sleeve”… for those that don’t know what a “sleeve” is it’s an entire sleeve of Oreos. We had to divide the BIG box from Costco so we wouldn’t have to share. We don’t do this well when it comes to Oreos. YUM.


23. A trip to California wouldn’t be complete with out morning and night games of tennis…or “tennie” as Jacob would call it. On this trip I gave up on trying to play tennis…I am so horrible and uncoordinated that it really was torture. So I gave up and watched the food network instead.


24. Day after day wishing I could go running with Jared and Krista. Not fair!


25. 
    
    Loving having cable…Food Network for the ladies…Politics for my mom…and Business channels for my dad and Grady…Sports for Jared… Having cable would really be a treat!
    
    I think that I could go on and on because after so many days of vacation we really had such a great time. (Fam...help me remember other things if I forgot some!) Thanks again Mom and Dad for making this happen so often! What a blessing…we are spoiled to vacation so often and to have such a great family to spend time with! Even though our family continues to grow we realize the changes that need to happen to make next year even better! We can’t wait till our next trip.

The Vacation is Over...

Let's just say the vacation and sunshine might be over but I took enough pictures to help capture every moment! Here's a few to enjoy...until I get everything done (unpacking, etc) and typing the details to document this blessed event! We had a GREAT time...too bad the clouds were grey upon arriving back home.

Indio, California

Indio, California

San Diego, California

Oceanside, California

And that's just the very beginning of a few pictures. You will have to endure a VERY long post, because we had so many great moments, jokes, funny things kids said, etc. I will have to document them all for our memories. A HUGE thanks to my parents for making such wonderful vacations possible! THANK YOU!!!

I think a haircut was needed?

What do you think? Who agrees with me that this little guy has the CRAZIEST hair ever? Well, I know that it's adorable but once it gets SO long there is NOTHING you can do with it. So sadly, I must cut away...good bye Jakey hair!

What a funny kid...

AHH...I warned you he has Wild hair! What is a mother supposed to do with hair like that...no joke it sticks straight up in the air!!!

I don't think he enjoys his "Jakey hair" short! What a funny kid.

We love vacations...and that it's not over!

Good Food...

Good Sunshine...

Good Family!

We are having a GREAT time! I can't tell you how happy I am that we are soaking in the sunshine. I hope the weather is great back at home...because if it's not I will not be returning!!!

Our favorite little guy...

Who wouldn't want a hug from this little guy?

He's our spiritual giant..."Book Normon...Mom!"

Happy 30th Jared!

You may be wondering why we are wearing such strange clothing? Well, since it was Jared's 30th birthday I decided to throw an extra special party. Yes, something Jared dis-likes greatly...costume parties. So Happy Birthday, honey!! He was such a trooper and really had a great time. I decided to go with the 80s theme because Jared appreciated this generation, music, clothing, etc. I instructed the fam to dress the part. It really turned out so much fun. Thanks to friends in the neighborhood who had great costumes for Jared and I we had something to wear. (THANKS!) Later that evening after dinner I had put together a "1980s This is your Life" game. It was hilarious to remember back into the days of..."NOT, SIKE, Rainbow Bright, NKOTB, MASH, Neon, LA Gear, Shoulder pads, Pegged paints, Chicago, UB40, U2, Acid wash, etc." We had many laughs back into the future. If any of you are huge 1980s fans visit this ridiculous website http://www.liketotally80s.com/ this helped me plan all the silly things we did!

Riley showed up in a leisure suit with Jared. So they thought they were pretty HOT!

Work it, Todd!

I knew that Krista and Riley would go to town with their costumes. Thanks for supporting the fun theme.

Brian & Ashley thanks for driving all the way out here on such short notice! We even appreciate the fact you dressed up...way to have 80s gear on hand! I just think Brian should have had a boombox on his shoulder. You guys are great!

We convinced Jared to pose for a ladies picture. So thanks hun for being so understanding. In case you can't figure out who we are all because of such great costumes I will label the picture...Left to right...Angela, Krista, Shandra (yes that's her!), Diana, Ashley and Birthday Boy!
Even the kiddos got to learn about the 1980s...side ponytails, high socks, neon colors, the preppy look, pegged pants, etc. It was great!

This is to remember a great trait of Jared. Only my husband would have an opinion about how I placed candles on his cake. I wanted to put them in an orderly manner, so I decided to do a 6x5 layout on the cake. He came over to have us light the cake and said, "Why didn't you do 3x10?" I just had to laugh...along with my sisters...we just had to say, "That is so Jared!" Only he has an opinion about how candles should be on a birthday cake.

If you're wondering, he did "request" that I move the candles into a 3x10 formation. He did end up explaining his silly request. He wanted to view his three decades that he was blowing out. Yes, it makes sense but it just made for a great memory of my hubby I love so much!

Last night was Jared's official birthday. We were lucky to get Randy & Danette to watch the kiddos so we headed off to our favorite Italian Restaurant. Jared LOVES authentic Italian food. So it really doesn't get much better than Michelangelos Ristorante. We have ended up ordering the SAME dishes for the past few years. It's a whole in the wall place found in a basement but the food is the best. If you go here you have to plan on spending a good 2-3 hours of time from the start of the meal to the finish. It takes forever, but let me tell you it is worth the wait. Every bite is heaven! I can't wait to go back again!!! I'm thankful that Jared has introduced me to the yummy ways to Italian food. No wonder the moment I heard him say, "I served my mission in Rome, Italy I was hooked!" I sure love this guy.

The Draper Temple Open House

My family was so excited to finally have this day come. We felt like everyone has been and we were the last to attend. Now that I've been once with Alayna I can't wait to schedule another time to take her. It really was wonderful.

Miss Alayna Mae was wonderful. This happy smile is purely the result of just being in the House of the Lord. At such a young age our children can experience pure joy and happiness that comes directly from knowing our Savior and the love He has for us. She has been praying lately saying, "I know Jesus and Heavenly Father love me, they know my name." Yes they do.

She was overly smiley and happy. I know that it was because of her experience in the Temple. She was overcome for the beauty in the Temple. She loved the quiet and reverent manner to walk around. This is very unlike her natural personality so I was so pleased to see her attentive disposition and interest in the quietness of the Temple. I was so happy to have her share her feelings later that night. Jared and I were asking her what she enjoyed most about the Temple and she said, "It was soooo beautiful" she later reported that she loved the chandelier in the Celestial room she said, "It was so shiny...like they put sparkly cookies all around it!" I don't know about the cookie thing, but it was small little circles of beautiful shine. Her next favorite room was the Brides room. I know she thinks a lot about Princess' but lately she has come to love Jenny Phillips, Daughter of a King song. She is beginning to recognize that she is in fact a Daughter to our Heavenly Father. Helping her understand that in this room is where she will be able to wear her "princess" bridal dress and marry her "prince" - it was really cute.

She was so fun to pick up and whisper special things about the temple in her ear. She was so attentive and wanting to learn about it. She is very excited to have this experience again in a few months to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I will never forget the feeling I had as they gathered our group into the Sealing Room. My heart was touched by the Spirit that was strong. The sweet couple that shared their testimony of families being together forever was so simple. I appreciated looking down the row to see not only my sisters, parents, brother in laws, nieces, nephews, but to be sitting by my little family. It was a very touching moment to share with Alayna that because we were married here that we will be together forever even when we die.

Here's to document the five little babies of attending the Temple open house together.
(Logan, Sawyer, Jake, Isaac & Kennady)

My cute cookie monsters. Alayna carried her Draper temple brochure around calling it her, "Temple recommend." Jake carried his around saying, "Temple, Jakey, Temple."

My parents and the 9 grand kids...my mom was in heaven having her darling grand kids there!

The trouble continues...

Yes, this is the life of two little guys together. They have reached new heights with climbing, reaching and grabbing. You'd think that Shandra and I would have the whole house kid proof, WRONG! Each day and week brings on a new problem. Their newest found love is running into the bathroom and turning on the water. They jump in the tub with all their clothes on. Safe? I think not! Thankfully, we hear the water running so it gives us a few clues to what they are up too! This has only resulted in more laundry day after day.

Next, adventure! The other day Shandra taught me how to make homemade granola. (FABULOUS) It was so simple and I just had it continuing to dry out on the counter. I thought it was pushed back far enough from the boys reaching their little hands up to the counter. I could just sense that it was going to make a HUGE mess. Well, a day went by and no problems. Then finally the boys were too quite and entertaining themselves too long with out screaming. So I figured something was up. Yes, the boys were UP and the granola was DOWN. It went Everywhere.

Jacob was too busy shoveling hand fulls into his mouth...look at those HUGE cheeks. Do you notice the very large pile of granola by the sink?

Oh, it was the beloved chairs that brought them to the higher level!! Oh, then there's the granola down on the ground. It honestly covered everywhere.

Isaac was too busy picking up handfuls and throwing it, while Jake was eating it! I had to pull out the camera before clean up happened. What was I going to do with all that granola anyways? It made for a fun play time. I just am learning to love all these new boy adventures. Thanks, Jake and Isaac for the new excitement!!! :0)

A little boy...

When my mother used to say..."I just don't know what you do with a boy." I'm finally learning what she is talking about. Let's just say having one girl first and then a little boy I am learning and experiencing first hand the differences. Now, I understand each child is different but my two children couldn't be more different. Since we have lived in the same house since both children were mobile, I feel I have a good memory of how "child proofing" has gone.

This little boy of ours is one little climber. I know I have posted pictures of him in the past climbing on really pretty much every flat surface imaginable. But today he reached a new level. He hauled over his little chair that is his "right hand partner in crime" to his high chair. He some how finagled his way to the top of the tray. Safe? I don't think so. How many times does the tray accidentally just snap off...too many times for me to think this is a bright idea. I had to take a picture. I can't forget how this little guy managed to reach any height in life! (I have had to resort to locking all the chairs away in a room so he can't climb up too high!) If your wondering what he's doing in this picture, it's him showing me his muscles because, yes he ate his dinner!

Next, quirk I just happened to capture. My kids have been born with a funny quirk. I'll try to explain, maybe other mother have heard of it? So, while changing Jake's diaper I grabbed anything within reach to distract him from the fact that yes, I am changing your diaper...so he would sit still. Well i grabbed a winter hat that was out of place as usual. He was distracted but insisted on wearing it. A few hours past, we returned to his room for nap time. He instantly saw the hat and insisted to wear the hat for his nap. I didn't really care, so I let him. He slept with the hat. Night time came, it was time for bed...we just walked in his room and he insisted on finding, yes a hat. He had to sleep with it. I happened to throw the original snow hat away because as you could imagine a little boy left alone with a hat that had a yarn ball on top pulled it all apart. So he found his Hawaii hat. Yes, this is how he fell asleep. Jake said, "nigh-nigh...my hat...on...my hat..." I just think it's hilarious how my kids get hooked on a strange habit. With Alayna it took weeks, months, years to cure her from one random habit. Jake thankfully doesn't remember past a day to have the funny quirk last!

Mornings...

I think our situation might be unique since most of you don't live life with another family. Alayna has had the hardest time adjusting to the fact that our little family lives downstairs. Yes, we live downstairs...we don't live with the cousins upstairs. No matter how much she wishes we did, we don't. This has increasingly become more of a struggle since she learned how to open door knobs...yes it's been about a two year long battle! We tried child proofing the door, but that only worked for 30 seconds until she knocked and her cousins opened the door.

I have found myself in a cycle that is repeating. About 2 years ago Alayna learned how to "escape" from the basement to the upstairs. This would result in me hiking the stairs and chasing her around upstairs and literally hauling her down kicking and screaming. Another kid added to the mix and yes, this pregnant mommy is not just hauling one kid, but two kids down the stairs kicking and screaming. Oh, the joys. If only Shandra and the kids didn't make it such a fun place for them to be!

Now, speaking of the dreaded morning routine...Recently, given the fact that this baby #3 is draining my energy in the morning I have a VERY hard time getting out of bed. I used to have this wonderful personal morning routine, but for the past 5 months I can't shake the groggy pregnancy tiredness. This only frustrates Alayna more (and me!). She's a chipper happy thing most mornings. So having a sleeping mom and brother is the LAST thing she wants to wake up too. She's so nice she doesn't wake me up...but sometimes she does wake her little sleepy brother up (hence the picture above). She just gets up and wants to go straight up stairs. That's a BIG NO NO. So the other day, I just snapped. I couldn't handle the fact that she went up there. I'd had it. It was 7am in the morning the "upstairs" as we call them were still sleeping. I thought I heard a noise and yes, it was her creeping around trying to find a friend to play with. I rolled myself out of bed and gave a 3 1/2 year old (almost 4 year old) a too grown up lecture. I just can't ban her from upstairs? We walk up there to leave? What type of a consequence is there for her to understand, "We do not go upstairs until....." you get the idea. Anyways, I'm hoping the "grown up" lecture will last...she was successful this morning, so one day down...hopefully many more to go! We've tried the sticker chart, candy, bribery, anything...nothing seems to last. This battle will only last as long as we live here, so I really must appreciate every other fabulous part about living here and just accept the fact that I will have one complaint.

Jared's Dream has Come True!!

Thanks to Jared's job we were able to have a fun date night on Friday. We had great seats which made the game even more enjoyable. Also, since I've turned into quite the lover of playing basketball, I must admit watching really good players is very enjoyable. It even helped that the Jazz blew the Oklahoma City out of the water.

Now, this was the HIGHLIGHT of the night. During half time my cramped prego legs needed to stretch so we went to walk laps around the Delta Center. (Boring I know!) Then as we got half way around we stumbled upon the "Half Time Show" set. For those of you who know Jared, you know that he is a HUGE fan of Channel 2 Sports. Jared is posing with one of his all time favorites radio personalities, David James. The funny story goes as follows: We were outside of the television set, trying to get a good picture of Jared with "DJ" in the back ground. I had to try three different times because the camera guy kept standing up right in front of DJ. So I didn't have proof that Jared really saw him. So after taking several pictures, I notice DJ waving his arms for us to come over. We hopped over and headed towards him. He asked us, "Are you trying to get a picture with Thurl Bailey?" We laughed because we didn't even realize that Thurl Bailey was around, except that he had a super long line waiting to get an autograph and pictures with him. Here was poor David James sitting all alone at the desk. I laughed and told him, "No way, you're the one we want, my husband loves you!" At which point Jared and he started laughing and he insisted on us getting a picture with him. It was great, because we were just laughing the rest of the night thinking he sits all alone next to a semi-Utah-famous-star - Thurl Bailey and he gets no attention. But then we came along and made his night!

Jared's dream has finally come true!

A quick getaway...to Midway!

So if you remember last week I watched Shan's kids when they went away for a few days. Well, it was finally our turn to disappear for a few days. Part of Jared's Christmas bonus from his company, was a night stay at the Homestead. We were excited to get a way and try out a new resort. For some reason I was expecting Hawaii? Why, I don't know. Maybe it's because I can only think about sunshine and NO MORE SNOW! Well, was I unprepared for more snow...and COLD. To say it was freezing was an understatement. As Jared and I were walking into our little condo house I yelled, "I would make a lousy pioneer! I am such a softy." I really had had it. So we were excited to get into our condo to turn on the fireplace that the nice lady had upgraded our room with...but then it didn't work!

I apologize if it's inappropriate to post a picture of our bed...but the only reason I took a picture was to remember how we had the worst nights sleep or our entire life. By 6am Jared and I both started laughing, saying how we had woken up at least every hour because it was the most uncomfortable mattress ever!!! Not only was the mattress horrible but the sheets were as stiff as cardboard! I felt like I was stuck and suffocating the whole night. It was just ridiculous. Yeah, so this is me wishing I was in Hawaii! Where it's warm. But Jared was excited they had a hot tub outside where he could relax after the bad nights sleep. He loved the hot tub because it was outside and it is was snowing. He loved it!

Our cold little condo!

The best thing I had to say about the Homestead was our free breakfast vouchers to Fanny's Grill. The food was AWESOME. It's amazing how a real breakfast fills you up...unlike cold cereal that lasts for ten minutes. Maybe it tasted so good because it was free too!

When we checked out of the Homestead we headed off to Park City for a few hours of shopping. We found some great deals for the kids and their winter clothes for next year. I love good deals! We then ate an early dinner at the Baja Cantina, it was tasty. It was fun too, because we saw my old college roommate from Utah State University, Becky. So we chatted and talked until their food came. That was a fun little reunion. After dinner we headed back to Midway to stay in my parents time share. We LOVE Worldmark condos...we know what to expect and we just can't enjoy them enough. It was a great little get-a-way! Thanks Shan for enduring our two little monkey's. We enjoyed our time away!! I think we should do this monthly!!!

Cute kids...

It's fun to watch Alayna develop her skills over time. She refused for the past three years of her life to have any interest in letters or numbers. Because of the fun Letter Factory DVD's that were recommended to us, she has learned them, sounds, etc. So it's been fun to teach her words, to sound out and put together. She recently has taken off with writing her letters. I pretty much can write any word down and she will copy it. I just had to take a picture of her name and Jacob's. It's fun to watch your kids learn!

Oh, just had to post this gappy tooth smile that is so cute. Also look at that natural mow hawk! Seriously, this kid is so cute. Another thing I need to document is Jake...my climber. I love how he is standing on top of the table! This happens all day everyday. He just needs his side kick Isaac to be up there with him. These boys jump and climb EVERYWHERE. I finally was done for the day saving them and removing them from the counter, table, freezer, etc. That I had to lock the chairs in his bedroom. No more climbing. Wrong...Jake tried to push the table over to the counter! He's too strong for his own good. I wish his body and limbs luck in staying safe. In fact I have to take a picture of his most recent black eye. Yes, he was jumping on his new bed and fell off and his eye landed straight into the handle on his dresser. So it looks like he is wearing bring pink eye shadow! What a tough kid.

My kids have no taste...

Thanks to Grandma Denny Jake has this adorable shirt. Jake calls it his, "Isaac shirt." The shirt is cute because it has two pictures of boys. One is of Isaac and the other is Jake. Thanks. The reason I put that my kids have no taste is because they change their clothes multiple times a day. Yes, even my 19 month old little guy is beginning to accessorize himself with random clothes. He has fallen in love with, "A-nah's...inda-rella..lippers" and Grandma Sukers oh so fashionable hats. Good thing he's such a cute kid he can pull it off. I just have to laugh because they make messes day after day pulling out all the clothing, but I love knowing they are just playing and using their imagination!