Big Events

The month of May has been highlited with some big events...well, not all of them are necessarily "big", but rather fun!
Ben went to china for the first week: Maybe not classified as "big", but the events that took place while he was gone were big. Brooke got the flu the first night he was gone, thankfully it didn't spread through all of us. We went to the Aquarium-always a very fun event! We participated in Mormon Helping Hands- a statewide day of volunteering in California, and by the way, the parks look awesome, and it was a lot of fun! But the biggest event while he was gone is that I bought a MINIVAN! I would have never imagined in all my life how excited, elated, and giddy I would be to drive a 6 year old used minivan. But man alive, after driving my Mazda with 3 kids for the last 8 months. A minivan is the way to go. And what is even better, is that it was under our budget of what we had set and now we can put in the new cement in our backyard!! Woohoo! Thankfully my dad was around and he helped me check it all out on carfax and he came and talked to the guy with me and test drove it!! I love it. It is an 04 Dodge Grand Caravan! I love the space, love that I can take other kids for people, love that I can have a double stroller in the back and still go grocery shopping or have my bag of volleyballs. Love it! Love it! It was a Big Event!
We went to Disneyland the second week of May. Ben found $9.00 ticket from Oakland to Long Beach! So we flew down early tuesday morning, and came home wednesday evening! We all have season passes and it was so much fun! Brooke is at a perfect age. She is still totally into the magical part of it and loves the characters and the kid rides. And she also LOVES the big rides. Her favorite lately is space mountain, tower of terror and screamin'! Livy is fun too, but for different reasons. She is very apprehensive about the characters, does not like big rides at all, and is scared of any dark ride.(Which is kind of fun if you are holding her, becasue she just snuggles right into your chest and burrys her eyes. But for some reason she still likes to go on those rides.) I think my most fun thing this time was hanging out with Calvin and Livy and Jackson on Winnie the Pooh while everyone went on Splash Mountain. They loved it. We went again, and again and again. And it was just enjoyable to watch them skip together and hold hands running up the line and getting so excited! I really tried to capture some of those little moments this time and take in the joy in the simple! It was a fun trip with lots of fun and lots of fun stories. Krystal and I flew home by ourselves with all the kids, that was an adventure. really funny story, calvin "credit card" a guy with his new sword while waiting in line for Splash mountain. Krystal said- the guy wouldn't even turn his back again after that. He said-kind joking,"Of all the places you could have hit me with that sword. In my leg, in my back, in the arm...but you had to hit me there". On the flight home Livy fell head first over the chair into the aisle on the airplane-luckily krystal caught her by the neck. Oh it was fun!
Another big event is that Jackson's tear duct has cleared up-at least for the last four days!! This is a HUGE event. I am going in next week to get all the information to have a surgery done. It is so clogged. And after many trials of antibiotics, creams, drops, homeopathic things, lavender, constantly rubbing it, etc. it has cleared up for now. The last thing I tried-recommendation from my sister- is cutting onions and having him really close. We'll see if it lasts!
Decorating the kids bedrooms. For those of you that know the true me, this is a big event. I have come to accept the fact that I am not good at decorating. I love to do it, or I should say I love to think about decorating, and what I want or think would look good, and I like looking for decorations- but the acutal part of putting things on the walls, rearranging, etc. I just don't seem to get around to it. And if it weren't for some great friends, Melanie and Brittany, my walls would still be totally bare. So, I have only lived in my house for a year and a half and it is actually starting to come together. And Ben cleaned out and rearranged the laundry room. And that along with the decoration were very big events.
We had two Bridal Showers-Carly's (my soon to be sister-in-law) and my best friend from high school.
Brooke had her first open house-I absolutely love her pre-school. They do some much imagination/creativity projects. Tons of singing and learning through play. Next year academics will be stressed so much (already in kindergarten) that i am really trying to promote and enjoy more creativity and art at home as well.
I resigned as the Head Volleyball Coach at Washington High school. Now that is a huge Event. (It actually happened the end of April, but we will include it in may.) It was a hard, sad and good thing. One i have been contemplating and thinking about for a long time. It was hard becasue I love it, and I really love some of the girls I was coaching, and this next season I had the most potential and natural talent that I had ever had. But it was good becasue it is the right thing for our family. Good because I am not stressing about the season already...it closed a chapter in my life, and that is always a little bit hard, even if it is the right thing.
The Lombards came to dinner. Lori, Jeannine (their two daughters) and I were teammates at FAU and Lori and I lived together for three years. We always had dinner at their house, about 2o minutes away from school. I went there a few times when we were evacuated from our apartments for hurricanes. It was so fun to see them. It mad me miss Lori, stacey and celena even more.
Some big events still to come this month: Gualala!!! And Ben's 30th Birthday!!
It's been a good month-it has just gone by too fast.