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.

Disneyland in June

I have a lot to catch up on in the last few weeks, so most of our events will tell the stories in the pictures. The girls and I went to disneyland the first week of June with our good friends and neighbors, Stephanie and Kora. It was so fun. A very quick trip, we left tuesday afternoon and drove back thursday evening. It was Stephanie's birthday on wed. so she got in free. We were quite the sight, with two very pregnant ladies (stephanie is due the 1st week of July) and three little girls! We stayed at our friends Tina's house and luckily she was able to meet us later in the day to take Brooke on all the big rides. Brooke absolutely loves roller coasters. And since neither Stephanie and I could go on them, Tina was a life saver. We got to spend a few hours with Noelle and the kids thursday morning at a park and the beach. We miss those guys so much. Diego and Brooke picked up right where they left off and had a blast in the water and playing. And Isabella and Livy played in the sand together.

It was a very fun road trip with a few hiccups (poopy diapers not even two hours into the trip, all the girls crying at once smashed in the little mazda, etc...). But we had a miracle on the way back and all three girls slept at the same time for over an hour!!

Livy still doesn't like the rides, but she loved climbing on everything.

Thanks Stephanie for asking us to go!! It was a great trip!

Bear Country, Brooke loves all the characters and Livy can't stand them.

All tired out!

Brooke and Tina on Splash mountain. Brooke begged to go again and again, and again....

Livy's "cheese" smile. THis is where she was happiest. Climbing, not riding.

We told them Brooke was 7 so she could go by herself. (Hey she is tall for her age.)

Starting off the day on the Tram. Livy clung so tightly to my neck even on the tram that I couldn't breathe.

Good ole' Minnie

Diego and Brooke at the Beach

Lovin' the sand

At a rest stop on the way back. We just let them run!!

February

Brooke absolutely loved seeing every character and wanted to talk to and hug all of them. Unlike Livia who was deathly afraid of all of them.

Livia loves to chew on her tongue. She definitely gets this from Punka. This is when we were waiting for everyone on bugs like. Livia was content just running around the bench I was sitting on and climbing on everything. But she never wanted to go on a ride. Hopefully that will change!

After our great adventures in Costa Rica, we got home and two days later both the girls got the flu. Welcome home MOM!!! After they were feeling better, the girls and I headed to Disneyland with my mom, Amber and Calvin! We had such a great time. Too bad we all get car sick and the DVD player didn't work in my uncle's car we borrowed and Livia is just not a car seat traveler....So needless to say, the drive down to LA was an adventure in itself. I will post pictures when I can figure out why my computer keeps saying bad error when I upload pictures.

Brooke had such a great time. Her favorite ride was space mountain. And she keeps talking about when she will be able to ride Screamin' at California Adventure. Brooke is a thrill seeker, and I thought Livia would be too since she is such a climber and gets into everything, but, on the contrary, she really didn't like any rides. Even when I was holding her on my lap. Her whole body would tense up and she would bury her face into my chest. It was a really fun trip. Thanks Tina for letting us crash your place!