Birthday Party, Toy Car, and Valentine's Day

Emma was invited to a birthday party for a little girl in her primary class. It was fun! They had a bbq, bounce house, pinata, and face painting! A real, professional face painter! There were several kids that had gotten their faces done of different animals (ie: bears, lions, butterflies, etc). Emma gets up there and the lady asked her what she wanted. She said "a pink flower." The lady then said, "Do you want it on your cheek?" Emma said, "I want a pink flower all over!" So, this is what she got! She was SOOOOOOOO sad that night when I gave her a shower and it came off!
Brock is getting to the point where he's standing and walking along furniture. We got this little car when Michael was starting to walk, and he was walking within a week! Brock isn't as advanced, but I didn't figure he would be. He still likes it as long as we remind him we have it. He doesn't usually go to it by himself to play with it! He doesn't sit on it for long, either. He'd rather walk around with it.

I was spoiled this year for Valentines! I found this strand of pearls at work and thought it would be perfect for the dress I got for Ron's brother's wedding. However, when I tried them on I wasn't sure if they would be long enough, so I kinda forgot about them until Valentines morning, Ron came in with a box and when I opened it, there they were! Even if I don't wear them to the wedding, I'm SO glad I have REAL pearls!!

Long Overdue Date!!

After we got back from Washington, Ron had that next week off work and I kept telling him we should do something. We finally decided that on Friday, we would use our pass to Universal Studios that we bought last summer and go, just the two of us! It had been too long since we had been on a date, so I was pretty stoked! My dad graciously accepted our request to watch the kiddos for us. We had a GREAT time! We left a little later than we wanted, but had a nice leisure drive down to LA. It was nice to not have to rush. The park was only open until 6, but it was plenty of time to do just about everything.
I have to explain the above picture. No, it's not just a picture of me. Ron HATES water rides! Even on hot days. He doesn't like to walk around with wet clothes all day. I actually convinced him to ride the Jurassic Park ride, which is a water ride that gets you pretty dang wet! While in line, Ron saw an Asian man in line a couple rows behind us and joked that it was Jackie Chan and asked me to take his picture and posed really dumb. Then, as we moved along, there was an African American (to be politically correct) guy and he said it was Kobe Bryant and to take his picture, and he posed really dumb again. Then, as we're standing there waiting for our raft, I looked at the "control booth" where the guys were running the ride and this white guy was wearing a beanie and had a beard/mustache, so I joked and said that it was Zac Brown. So, he took my picture! I know, we're nerds!

When we were heading to Jurassic Park, we saw these people setting up cameras and whatnot like they were going to be filming. When we got off the ride we saw Mario Lopez!! (or AC Slater for all you Saved by the Bell fans!) They filmed a little and then walked right by us! No, I didn't reach out and try to grab his clothing, but it was still pretty neat to see someone you grew up watching on TV in real life! (Anyone else notice that celebrities seem smaller in real life?)

As we were leaving, we ran into one of my favorite people, Lucille Ball!! She was packing up her cab with John Wayne's footprints and waiting for her girlfriend, Ethel, so they could go on a road trip! :o)

The biggest Rice Krispies Treat I've ever seen!!

In front of the sign!

We left the studios and walked up and down University City Walk for a little bit. Ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe', did a little shopping including the Skechers store where we both bought a pair of shoes, but the ones I bought were too small, since they were the only ones left, and then took them to another mall by the Kodak theater so I could exchange them for the right size. After doing that, we thought we would check out Ripley's Believe it or Not. It was pretty interesting. They had this wax model of this lady with VERY large lips! Apparently she had several men interested in her and had several proposals of marriage. She did get married to one of them. Anyway, we had a BLAST! It's so nice to get away, just the two of us and have some real grown-up time! I hope we can do it again, soon!!

Washington Bound!

In January, we made a trip to the Tri-Cities to celebrate the return of my cousin Chris from his 2 year mission to Brazil! We loaded up the van with our things and my parents' things and headed out. I was able to fit all three kids in the back, my dad and I sat in the middle, and Ron and my mom sat in the front. We had food lined down the middle of the seats and the DVD player was set! We had quite the system while on the trip for when the kids needed snacks or a potty break! Since Michael was gone from school for 7 days, he got a study packet to work on. I just assumed it was going to be like his regular homework packet, but I was wrong! It was more! (I can't wait for future trips in higher grades!) Before the trip, I let the kids pick out movies they wanted to watch during the drive. I would let Michael pick a movie to watch, and when that was over, Emma got to pick and watch a movie and Michael did some homework. When he was done, then he picked the next movie and so on. We drove to Medford, OR that Monday, checked into the hotel, got some dinner, and headed to bed. We got 2 rooms that were adjoining and had one kid sleep in my parents room so that they would go to sleep faster. We got up the next morning and headed out. We got in around dinner time and had a yummy homemade meal! (a nice change from all the fast food!) My uncle (who had flown to Brazil the week before) and cousin weren't coming in until the next day, so we were able to relax a little before all the fun began! We left for the airport and waited! Finally we saw them come around the corner! It was awesome! He looked the same, just more grown up! The above picture is the morning after we got there. My aunt and uncle were kind enough to give up the master bedroom for our family, and Emma (who moves in her sleep....A LOT!) was barely in her sleeping area! Below is Chris with Michael and Brock! (Emma didn't want her picture taken!)
Emma and Brock playing in the doll house!

My uncle took Michael on a motorcycle ride. His first ever! He was excited to go, but the look on his face says otherwise....

My mom went next!

That Saturday afternoon, we did sealings at the Temple! It was nice to be able to attend the temple with my husband! Especially to do sealings! It doesn't happen very often, unfortunately, so I try to soak up as much of it as I can.

Sunday, Chris spoke in church and my Uncle Bob, Uncle David and my dad sang a trio. Brock was pretty sleepy, so I ended up sitting in the mother's lounge for all of Sacrament. I'm not complaining, though! It was SOOOO relaxing! the room was dark, I was the only one in there for a little while, but it stayed quite. Brock fell asleep and I dozed a little myself. Of course, it didn't help that the lady who spoke before Chris took FOREVER and left him with only 5 minutes to speak!! We were pretty bummed, but I secretly enjoyed not wrestling with children to be quite! :o) We left the next day to head to Medford and stayed at the same hotel. We made a pit stop at the mall in Portland to pick up some shoes that they had for Ron. We ended up staying there for like 3 hours just letting the kids play while the grown ups took turns shopping! After a good nights sleep, we were back on the road again. It seemed like we would never get home! I knew it was going to be a long trip, but it seemed to take longer than it should have! We had a great trip with our family! I'm glad we were able to make it to celebrate this occasion with Chris! We are so proud of him and the success he had during his mission. We are grateful for his saftey and his return home! The below picture is of Brock's make-shift crib. We didn't pack a crib for the sake of packing light (we borrowed one when we got to WA), so when we stopped at the hotel, I put pillows down on the ground, put towels on top of that, and then blankets on top of that. He slept great, and so did we!

I Love This Boy!

Just like a kid to love the box more than the contents!

At church. Look how handsome he is!

Love those big eyes!

Brock is VERY mobile now and is getting into everything. I usually bring him in our room in the morning for a bottle and when he's done he wants to check everything out. Even daddy's ear! :o)

Gotta love a "sleeping in the high chair" baby! :o)
After bath one day, I was putting lotion on him and gave him a mini mohawk! (It's barely visible, but it's there!)

Knotts Merry Farm 2011

We made our annual trip to Knotts again this year, but this year my parents treated the whole family as our Christmas present. We had a good time. We stayed 2 nights in a decent motel and went to the park one day. The kids had fun up until the Wild West Stunt show. My kids are terrified of loud noises! Michael has a fear of popping balloons, so the gun shots made it unbearable for him. and since he was scared and crying, Emma started in so we ended up leaving. They have seen the show before, but they just couldn't take it this year, I guess. Other than that, we had a blast!

Hilarious!

Michael came home with a paper saying when his class was going to Santa's Secret shop. I didn't know how much money to send him with and I probably sent too much, but I wanted to make sure he had enough. He has so many cousins, so I just made a list of all his cousins he would be seeing for Christmas and just had him buy for them. He had 9 people to buy for so I sent him with $30 (I know, I know! It was a lot! It's my first time!) He did buy for everyone on his list and also came home with 3 extra presents all labeled "To: Michael From: Michael". I laughed!!

Cute Kids, Christmas Jammies and Rice Crispies Treats

I love this picture! ^

Here are the kiddos in their traditional Christmas jammies. I like to get Christmas themed jammies for the kids to open Christmas Eve so they will have them the next morning, but I was VERY disappointed this year and could NOT find anything for Michael! If there was anything, I didnt like it (like the skulls with Christmas lights, or the bull dogs with antlers!). I finally just broke down and bought him Mario pajama pants!
I'm not much of a "baker" so the kids made rice crispy treats for santa this year with fun shapes. SOOO much faster than decorating cookies! Although, I bought green and red colored marshmallows, but that didn't turn out as well as I thought, so I probably wont do that again, or I will just use one color. The colors just blended together and almost looked grey.