Sick Day

My girls looked like this yesterday



They had fevers and felt miserable, so we watched "Anne of Green Gables" and layed around all day. (Have you watched that show lately....it is a great one!)

So I kept them home from school today, even though they wanted to go. I just wanted to be sure they weren't contagious.

I found this when I walked down the hall...



And found them doing this....



Just organizing ALL of their books alphabetically! (seriously?)

Then I found her doing this without being asked.....



Finally! She has had a hard time learning to "love" to read. I think we have made it over the hump. (it was a difficult hump I might add)

I think I like these type of sick days. (That is until they started teasing and bugging each other a few minutes ago. But hey, 8 hours of happiness is pretty good.)

U2 in Vegas

Brandon and I got away for three days...no kids!

I still can't believe it!

And it was fantastic!

I seem to forget how much fun we have together when we are not worrying about kids... (how to get them to all of their activities, homework, cleaning the house, cooking food, telling them to "be nice" to each other - 1 million times a day, getting them all in bed (man that is a chore sometimes)).

We really do have a lot to talk about, laugh at each other, have the same interests (except maybe the shopping)...no wonder we got married - we really do love to be together!



On night one we went to the trendy TAO Restaurant (this is supposedly where all the celebrities hang out - we didn't see any though - however it was 5:00 when we went to dinner), saw the broadway musical"Jersey Boys", and ate a gigantic brownie sundae at Serendipity. Pure heaven I tell you.



Day two we met our great friends the Bowmans and Robisons for the most delicious breakfast at The Wynn Hotel, shopping, and the highlight of our trip.......



the U2 concert!

Amazing I tell you! Black Eyed Peas was the opening act - and I would have been happy going home after that.

Brandon and I had floor tickets - which means we were in the middle of a sea of people. Most of these people were a little tipsy which made it even more entertaining! We were about 10 feet from the front of the stage - and seriously packed in like sardines. I did figure out that I am not necessarily claustrophobic. Because if I was I would have lasted all of 10 minutes.



U2 was incredible - playing for 2 1/2 hours straight. Our feet and backs hurt so badly by the end of the night....but it was so worth every ache and pain.

Day three was spent recovering from the late night before....by sleeping in until 10am. Can you believe that? I don't think we have slept that late for 12 years! (I really like sleeping in) A little more shopping - and then the flight home.

We arrived home to find extremely happy kids thanks to my sister and our great babysitters - Kalli and Josh. I was so happy to see my kids - and especially happy to squish my little Ava's cheeks once again!

I think we need to do these long weekends a little more often...now if only we had endless money and babysitters to accomodate :)

Jaicee is 9...and oh yeah - school started!

Our Jaicee turned nine.

She was thrilled.

Birthdays are so fun when you are a kid!



She loved her "long nails", Liv doll, jacket, and especially Miley Cyrus concert tickets.



What is a birthday without a PJ Party with 15 other girls? Glitter toes, necklaces, and "ninja" game were all a hit.

Jaicee we love you. You are a sweet girl - who thinks of others. You love to sing and dance, make any sort of craft or project, paint your nails, take care of your sisters, play soccer, tumble and cartwheel all over the house, make up "plays" with Halle as your co-star, laugh and be goofy.

You bring us joy!


And, oh yeah....school did start around here. I am just late posting about it. This is the last year Kason will be at school with the girls. I am not happy about this :(

Kason in the big 6th grade, Jaicee in 3rd, Halle in 1st, and Braden in preschool two days a week. I only have two kids at home all day long. That hasn't happened for a while.

I think I like it. For now anyway!

Final Summer Wrap Up

Wow...such a fun summer - that I am still trying to catch up in September. Just a few final pictures of the joyous days of summer.



I was able to take a girls trip to Vegas for a dance convention. Three straight days of taking class from amazing choreographers/teachers was so fabulous. The way my muscles felt after those three days, however, was not so fabulous.

I did come to a realization moment while there.... I LOVE DANCING! I don't dance anymore for anyone but myself. I am not there to impress, or be the best in the room....I am only there to let my soul rejoice in dance. And, I did just that! It was so therapuetic.

We had great fun dancing, drinking frozen hot chocolates from "Serendipity", shopping, seeing "KA", running into a club to dance to Michael Jackson, and "girl talk" until the wee hours of the night.



We took a trip to Lagoon. The kids love this place. And Kason loved going on the "skycoaster".



And, lastly we went to the County Fair. Pony rides (Ava loved it), holding tarantulas and scorpions (all my kids loved that), and petting lots of animals.

Whew....summer wrap up done! Guess it is officially time for fall....

Vacation Heaven

I have discovered my favorite family vacation spot.....the beach!

In August we took the kids to Newport Beach.

We have never been on just a "beach trip". We usually go to Disneyland - and hit the beach for a day.

This time we decided - no Disneyland - just the beach.

It was heavenly!

We did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING....except sleep in, swim, and play at the beach.

Perfect I tell you!

I wasn't so sure if my kids could be entertained all day long at the beach. They seem so high maintenance at times - and always need to be "going".

I was so wrong.



We had to drag them home from the beach - literally!



They dug, boogie boarded, searched for crabs (they had incredible tide pools), built sand castles, and did it all over again and again.



Brandon took all of the little kids boogie boarding on his back!



We even went to an Angels game - and made it through the entire game - including the fireworks! (After the first inning - I was sure we would never make it past the 4th inning....lots of hot dogs, cotton candy, slushies, and treats were the trick)



Went shopping at Fashion Island, rode the ferris wheel at Balboa Island, swam a ton - and relished in relaxation!

Favorite memories:

Kason: Looking for Ferrari's!

Jaicee: Finding crabs in the tide pools

Halle: Seeing the dogs at the pet store (funny huh...they were so cute!)

Braden: Playing at the beach

Ava: Filling my diaper up with LOTS of sand

Brandon: Boogie boarding with the kids on my back

Shalice: Sitting on a beach chair while watching my kids happily entertain themselves!


















Best vacation ever!

Lessons Learned While Camping

Being in a family with all girls - I never went camping much. I love the mountains, and we would always go up for dinner or maybe a night of camping. And, I always went to "YW girls camp". But I haven't taken my own family camping for an extended period of time.

Well, we did that this summer.

Here are a few important things I learned during that 5 days:

1. Not only do you have to pack your whole house (like I normally do when going on a vacation with 5 kids), but you also have to pack your entire KITCHEN!

2. Running water and electricity are huge necessities of life - especially when you have the stomach flu!

3. Having the stomach flu the first day of the camping experience makes you want to pack up and go home. (Especially when the only toilet is a disgusting out house down the path).



4. Having a country club within 5 miles where you can go swimming, golf, and take a shower is a life saver!



5. Even kids in this generation like to "boon-doggle"!





6. Eating "smores" and "woof-its" are the highlight



7. Singing around the campfire is the best way to fall asleep!



8. A 14 month old that wants to crawl and eat bugs is only fun for the first two days, then it is a little exhausting.



9. Hunting squirrels and having "air-soft gun" wars are a boy's heaven

10. Cleaning up after 2 sick kids in the middle of the night in a trailer is not simple (refer to #2)



11. Teaching your three year old how to shoot a bow and arrow is serious stuff!



12. Dinners never taste as good as when prepared over an open fire!



13. Kids really can have "the time of their lives" for five days straight in the great outdoors. No video games, TV, or ipods in sight!

14. There is nothing like looking at the stars at night - no city lights to disturb the brilliance!



15. Camping is SO MUCH WORK - but LOTS OF FUN! (I think once a year is good, however)

St. George

I have seriously got to get caught up on this summer. We had so much fun - I haven't had time to record it.

In between Bear Lake trips we made our way to St. George. We love St. George in the winter....and we always have to go once in the summer so that we can live at the pool. (That is all you can do when it is 110 degrees).




We swam, ate at In-N-Out (Ava was so hungry she was eating the table - so sanitary!), went to see High School Musical 2 at Tuacahn, golfed, and swam some more.