Monday, September 3, 2012

Seattle

The wedding was on Saturday, we recovered Sunday, and Monday headed to Seattle to play around and then go to the Mariner's game that night! It was Ron's Aunt's birthday, so it was nice to spend it with her!
 

 
We decided that since we both had to be back to work Wednesday, we didn't want to drive the 2 hours back north just to head back south the next day and just started driving! I figured that I would try to make it to Oregon and then get a room. But as I was driving I started feeling ok. I did stop at a hotel in Oregon, but it was going to be really expensive for just a few hours and I didn't want to pay it so I kept driving. I got to California and was done! We stopped, got some snacks, took a potty break and I let Ron drive. We made it to Sacramento and stopped for lunch. After lunch we got back on the road and made it back home by dinner. Not too bad!

The Wedding

Even though June and July were't too eventful, August was a different story! Ron's brother was getting married on the 11th, so we planned a road trip up to Washington. They had been engaged for about a year and asked Michael to be a ring bearer, Emma a flower girl, and Ron a groomsman. We had been collecting all the various clothing and it's been fun helping to "plan" in our own little way! We decided to just go ahead and leave Sunday night when Ron got home from work (around 11:30pm) and drove through the night. We usually like driving at night because the kids sleep and we can get a lot of ground covered before they wake up. The bad part is I'm usually the one who drives. We got the van all loaded up and headed out. The kids slept until we got to Oregon. I set up the DVD player when they got up, but it only worked for 1 movie! So, we stopped at the closest Costco and bought a blu ray/dvd player and hooked up one of the screens. However, Brock couldn't see the TV very well, so he wasn't very happy!
 

By the time we hit Seattle he had had it! We were able to calm him down at various moments, but we knew he wanted to get out of that car! We got in to Bellingham at dinner time and headed to the lake for a much needed break from the van!
 


 
Most of the time we spent up there was helping to get ready for the wedding. Lots of shopping and running errands. The boys did sneak away to play golf a couple of times. Michael even got to go play one of those days! He was stoked!
 

Brock found grandmas Build a Bear that has mini golf clubs. He loved playing with those!
 

We got to hang out with cousin Brody who moved away to Montana almost 2 years ago!
 
 
The day of the wedding, the wedding party girls got to go get their hair/make-up done. Alyssa gave her flower girls a cute little gift of Toms pink sparkly shoes to go with their dress, some cookies and candy, and some bracelets as their gifts. The girls were in heaven!
 


Even though Emma doesn't have much hair, I wanted her to be able to experience the whole "wedding party" celebrations so she got an appointment for her hair, too. I was pretty suprised at what the lady accomplished for not much to work with!
 

The finished product! She bobby pinned her hair off to the side and found some cute crystal flowers that she put in her hair to cover up the bobby pins!
 

 Waiting for pictures.
 
 
 

Right before walking down the aisle. I stayed back with the kids and helped them go out when it was time. Michael, at the last minute, tried to back out, but I gave him a little shove and he was down the aisle! The girls had so much fun throwing petals!
 

The beautiful bride and groom! Ron's grandpa officiated. It was really sweet. The ceremony was beautiful!
 


 
The kids stayed up in the front the whole time and did great! The girls, toward the end, did start hitting each others baskets, but it wasn't too distracting!
We are so happy for Chris & Alyssa and are grateful to have her as part of our family!

Fun With Mr. Potato Head

The kids got out the Mr. Potato Head. I don't think they understand the pieces go on the potato!
 



Boys!

 
 
The boys share a room, but are usually pretty good about falling asleep. Emma is the one that likes to play, but the boys fall asleep fast. This particular night, however, I had heard them laughing when they were supposed to be going to sleep. When I went to check on Michael before we went to bed, he was not in his bed. I looked on the floor, nothing. So I checked out the crib and lo and behold, there he was! I was concerned at first that Brock had been smothered, but after checking to make sure he was breathing, I got Ron and we started snapping pictures! These kids crack me up!

Road Trip!

Ron went up to Washington for a few days in July to visit his family. His plane came in early Sunday morning so the 2 older kids spent the night at my parents so they could go to church and Brock and I headed out to go pick up daddy. He didn't last long on the ride down there.
 

He did, however, enjoy eating his cereal and waiting for daddy in the terminal!
 

Too Adorable!

 
 
I went to go wake him up. I didn't want to. 

Crazy!

 
 
Michael decided to climb into the trash cabinet that has a child lock on it. Weirdo!

Date Night!

The Primary hosted a Daddy/Daughter Dance, but it was on a night that Ron had to work, so grandpa stepped up to the plate! Since Emma was going out, I asked Michael out on a date. Emma and I got all dressed up, make-up on, the whole 9! I dropped her and Brock off at my parents house and she and grandpa went to dinner and then to the dance and then to Rosemary's for dessert. Michael and I went to Juicy Burger for dinner, to the movies to see Pirates: Band of Misfits and then met up with everyone at Rosemary's for ice cream! It was fun to get some one on one time!
 


Happy 4th!!

Our Independence Day celebrations started the night before at the Shafter fireworks show. We claimed our spot at the nearby park and waited for the fun! The kids had so much fun! Everytime one would go off, they would jump up, yell and clap! The show was pretty long, so they only did this for about the first 20 minutes!
 


The kids were exhausted by the end of the night and this is how I found Emma when we got home.
 
 
The next morning was spent at the church for the ward breakfast, then over to my parents house for the usual bbq, homemade ice cream and fireworks!

Summer is Here!

I had tons of plans to have fun this summer, but time got away and we didn't do all I would've liked! However, we did go to one of the local parks for a family fun night where there were water games, food and a water slide. It was pretty fun and we even ran into some friends. The kids had fun!
 



Happy Birthday Ron

 
I'm SOOO behind in my blogging, but I hope to make it up now. Back in June, Ron had a birthday! We kept it pretty low key and invited his grandparents over for dinner and I made his favorite, Chicken Cordon Bleu, and then invited the rest of the family over for a sundae bar. We had ALL KINDS of toppings! It was lots of fun! My mom brought over this GIANT Smith's cookie! It took awhile to eat it!!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Fast and Testimony

Almost every fast and testimony meeting, my kids get up to bare their testimonies. Michael usually does pretty good and doesn't need help, but Emma has a little trouble. She acts really excited about doing it until she gets up to the pulpit. The first time she wouldn't say anything, so I got up and went up there and she started saying it without my help. The next month she froze and the bishop helped her. The next time another woman who was waiting to bare hers helped her.
Today, both kids got up (like usual) and went up to the stand. I looked at Ron and said "Who's going to go up and help Emma when she freezes?" Michael was first and he did a good job. Next came Emma. She got up and just started talking like she knew exactly what to do and it came so easy. Some of the highlights of her testimony were:
"I love my family."
"I love my brother."
"I love my grandma and grandpa."
"I love me."
"I love to have fun."
"I love Christmas and I love presents"
It was so cute and she came back to our seat SO PROUD that she finished it "all by herself!!"

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

So Many Posts!

I just figured out how to publish posts from my phone, so I was able to upload my pics! Sorry for the post overload, but it's so nice to be caught up!!

Emma's First Dance Recital!

Emma just had her first recital at the Harvey Auditorium. She did ballet to the Wee Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite Ballet. She did so good and looked beautiful!! It was fun being on the other end of things! She got flowers from my parents and her daddy! Afterwards, we went to Rosemarys for ice cream!

Floyd Slape Jr

I was telling Ron that we needed to try to get over and see his grandfather who had been sick. Shortly after I mentioned it, we found out he had passed away. We are very sad to see him go, but are so happy that he isn't suffering anymore. He will truly be missed. This is the next best generation picture with his grandma that I got since his grandpa passed

Kinder Graduate!!

Michael graduated from kindergarten!! We are so proud of all the hard work he put in this year!! Good job, Michael!!

Teacher Gift

Michael and I made these flower pencils for his teacher. I got the idea from an email from Disney Family.

This Deserves it's Own Post

While at Universal Studios, we rode the Jurassic Park ride. Michael was dodging things here and there, but I never expected the expression he had in the picture! It was $25.00 for 3 5x7's and it was worth EVERY PENNY!!

Universal Surprise!!

I surprised the 2 older kids with a trip to Universal Studios the week before school got out. I got them up and ready like they were going to school and just kept driving! It was SO fun! We had a GREAT day! No fighting and minimal crying! (Mainly because the kids were scared of some of the rides!) I love my kids!!