Spring Break

This year for spring break we started out in San Diego. We got in at 12:45am, so when we finally got up the next day it was lunch time and we found Phils BBQ which was ok, nothing great, except for their dessert, which hands down was worth it to go they had the best Whoopie Pies. Next time we will skip the food and just get dessert:)

After lunch we went to Sea World - my favorite place in California. I love Disneyland, but my favorite is Sea World.

First stop was the seals. We bought some gross fish so that Jake could feed them. He fed a couple of them, but he also fed a bird when he snatched one out of Jakes hand - so cool....

This was the cutest seal, it just kept begging for fish.

The shark tunnel is always kind of creepy ... Sharks swimming over you and hoping the glass doesn't break:)

We had the most amaing seats for the Shamu show, Big Jake was the second one into the stadium and got the seats right at the kick out where the whales come out of the water. It was so funny, even though Jake knew the whales came out right in front of us he was watching the television screen so when the whale came out in front of us, he jumped a mile:) Jacob and I couldn't stop laughing...

After seeing the Shamu show countless times over the years, it is still an amazing show and we all love it.

After leaving Sea World, we drove down by the beach trying to find someplace to eat and we saw a line in front of this little hole in the wall, so we stood with them:) and we were glad we did. They had the best burgers and fries ever, and so many options, it was a tiny and a little rough, but sooo worth it.

The next day, we were off to the zoo... Always love the zoo, but we did walk what seemed like for miles.

It was another fun day in California, the weather was perfect we were able to see all the animals, and we survived all the tourists:)

After a couple of days in San Diego we were on to Newport beach where we stayed in a beach house with Jakes sister and her family and his mom and dad....

This is the best way to do California, never realized how much I love the beach till we stayed in a beach house.....

We had such a great trip, loved the beach, zoo and Sea World and spent a lot of time with Jakes family, watching our Neice Jenny play in her vollyball tournaments, where her team took gold-I never realized how much fun vollyball is to watch till we watched her play, it was so cool. Jacob never wanted to leave, any second we were home he was out on the beach looking for whatever he could find, and that was a lot of jelly fish and shells. Cant wait to go back.

My Birthday

This year my birthday fell on a Wednesday, so it was a normal day. Got a few things done, went to lunch with Tammie at El Charro like we do every Wednesday, and got a little bit of cleaning done. Then Jake came home from work because we were suppose to go to dinner with the kids. He asked me if I would go upstairs so that he could wrap my present. So I did, and when I was allowed downstairs again, the house smelled wonderful and I asked Jake what he was cooking. But getting down the stairs, I saw that there was food, all over the counters-he had picked up Texas Roadhouse (my favorite)..

I was shocked:) I couldn't figure out what it was all for, then the doorbell rang and in came the cutest cake, made by my friend Mandy-I was so excited, I love her cakes.... Jake had invited all my family and our friends the Clarks over for a party for me! He had thought of everything. It was so fun and thoughtful, he had been planning this for weeks:) And on top of all that, he got me exactly what I had been wanting, a new Coach purse, and some new sunglasses. He is so sweet to go to all that trouble for my birthday. It was a great day:)

Skiing At Sunrise

This is the 50 Chicken McNuggets that Jake and Jacob thought they could eat:) I think in all they ate 10 total.

Playing Poker for candy - Jake won, but he shared his candy:)


Jacob ready for the top of the mountain.

Jake and I freezing our faces off, it was snowing and whipping us in the face.

At the top of the mountain, it was so pretty up there. Snow everywhere. It was such a nice day. There was hardly anyone there so the slopes were pretty empty. It was such a fun trip, I was the first to get worn out after skiing for several hours so I went inside the "Lodge" to get warm and get some food, pretty soon big Jake joined me. Jacob just wouldn't get tired, but eventually he came in - only because he was starving. We will definately have to do it again, soon...

Temple Christmas Lights

I know this pic. is sideways and blurry, once I down loaded it I couldn't figure out how to turn it, and its blurry because I had to get it before I got ran over by the oncoming crowds :)

I can't believe Christmas is only in 5 days, where has the time gone? We finally went to see the lights at the temple after talking about going for what seems like weeks. But soon we found out that that was the place to be tonight :) it was packed. Although it was very crowded, it was the perfect night to go. Great weather and everyone was happy to be there, of course before we went we had to stop at QT for some hot chocolate-that really warmed us up. Im so glad that my kids haven't decided that they are too old to go look at Christmas lights with their parents (knock on wood), we all had such a good time together, and the lights seem to get better every year.

Lindsays New Home

Waiting in line to get the keys to her new home.

This is "Home" for the next 9 months.


Ready to unpack and make her new home hers.



I know this happened back in August, but I have been so slow about getting my blog updated, but I didn't want to over look such an important milestone in our lives.

Lindsay was really looking forward to being on her own, and we were excited for her, but I was also dreading it, I won't lie I shed a lot of tears, but with Lindsay so happy I tried not to let her see how sad I was. My firt born was moving out... I knew she was ready and it made it a little easier that she is still pretty close.

Her and I had a lot of fun shopping for days trying to make sure that we had everything that she would need, not that we couldn't get it later, but we wanted her to be able to get totally settled and be able to do her own thing.

It was nothing how I thought it would be. We pulled up and some students unloaded our car and told us that all of her things would be in her room within the hour... how cool is that. So we went and parked and had to walk through all of the areas where she gets her student id, her room keys, her mailbox key and finds out how things work. By the time we got to her room, her stuff was there. Her roomate Shelby was already there and totally settled in, so we talked to her for a little bit, while I made Lindsays bed (can't quite quit being mom). Lindsay was ready for us to leave so that she can get settled and to check out the place, so it was time to say goodbye. You would have thought that we were leaving her in Alaska as opposed to Tempe, by the tears that I shed. It was just sad leaving her, on her own, knowing that she is an adult and is out of the house, and shes going to do her own thing, I'm going to constantly worry - but I know she is ready.

Of course I made it known to her that she still has a room at our house and that she can come home anytime she wants. It had taken a while, but she is finally taking us up on that:)

Painting

Whenever I ask my kids what they would like to do with me, it is always "Lets go paint pottery." The first time we went Jake was 9 months old and Lindsay was 6. She loved it and he had no idea what was going on, but he did end up with paint all over his hands and feet.

Since then we have tried to go at least once a year, but as they have gotten older, they want to go a lot more often, i think we have gone 3 times this year already.

We always stop at Sonic and get sodas to take with us, because we take so long. Then we get there and have to figure out what to paint, and what colors to use. Then we sit down and paint. It is always fun to make something and look at how their personalities have changed in what they like over the years, , but my favorite part is the time that we spend together we are usually there 2 or 3 hours and i get my kids undivided time, and they get mine. We have had a lot of good conversations over painting, had a lot of serious talks, have just gotten filled in on everything going on in their lives and have laughed a lot:) I love looking around my house at all the memories that we have made together, and I look forward to making lots more.

Braces

So, Jake has been wanting braces forever. We have been taking him to the orthodontist since he was 9 and each time he would ask if he was getting them today. Crazy kid:) But on our last visit our orthodontist finally said his mouth was finally ready, when we are ready to put them on, he was so excited, we made the appointment for about 4 days later. Now he has braces, and he loves it. I will say I was pretty nervous about how he would look, but he looks pretty cute, and he is looking older....dang. What he was really excited about was eating ice cream for the next few days. First stop Jack in the Box for a chocolate shake.. Yum