A quick photo shoot

I made this tutu the other day for Brooklyn and since she loved wearing it and I love things that are so so girly, I threw a flower in her hair, and pearls around her neck and we took some pictures. I thought they turned out pretty cute. She was mad by the end because she wanted to swing, but tutus don't fit into baby swings!

Staying busy=Staying sane

Or maybe not... Anyways, we have been busy lately and it makes the time pass by faster because it is much more fun and pleasant to have the kids out and about! So Friday Micah started swim lessons at the house. My mom won the lessons at a church auction from a girl in our ward. Micah is already doing better and has several more lessons to go. In the meantime, Brooklyn kept herself busy in all the pool toys!


Later that day, we met up with some friends from our play group at the Marine Wildlife Sanctuary in Laguna Canyon. We got to see the sea lions and seals (which I finally figured out how to tell the difference). They swam and played, were fed and trained. The best part is that it is absolutely free. We just brought some change to donate!


Saturday was CRAZY busy and I was spent, but I couldn't pass up taking the kids to Pioneer Day! Micah loved playing the games and winning candy. I loved the snow cones. I had three! It was way too hot though and had to sit down because I was feeling dizzy. I'm just glad I didn't pass out!
Fun weekend, but exhausting for sure. I was looking forward to Sunday. As a kid I would dread having to keep the sabbath day holy because that meant no shopping, no sports, and not play time. Now I love that I have an excuse to have a quiet day without spending a dime or having to run around town to different activities. It helps me recoup from the last week and gear up for the week ahead. I love Sundays now!

Lessons learned

As a mom, I am always learning. My poor kids have to deal with my trial and error tactics most of the time. I think that is the way most of motherhood is though. Really, how many of us got an instruction manual with our kids? Even the best of advice from the most experienced mother just may not work for you and your baby. So again, I think most of us learn that way, or at least I would like to think so. Anyways, in the last few days I have learned a couple of lessons I would like share, so you won't have to learn the hard way. Basically, I am telling you the stove is hot because I just burnt my hand!

Lesson 1: Do NOT let your three year old drink Activia. It doesn't matter how much you think it might be like Dannimal yogurt drinks, it's not. The drink is designed to help regulate constipated people. If your kid is already regular, the results are unpleasant.

Lesson 2: Do NOT feed your one year old a Fiber One bar. It's not a granola bar. It's just not. It doesn't matter how much they seem to enjoy them. That label that says it has 35% of your daily fiber is calculated for adults, which means it like 2000% for a one year old. Of course this will happen on a day when your diapers and wipes are taken out of the diaper bag.

Lesson 3: A Target bag makes a great liner on a drive home to prevent an leakage from a "regular" one year old.

I think I will leave it at that.

Summer is spelled BONFIRE

Last night we went and joined many friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like to for a bonfire down at Capo Beach. We had a lot of fun roasting hot dogs and making smores.
Micah ate TWO hot dogs and then tried a smore, but didn't like the smores. What? Who doesn't like smores? Must be the same kid that doesn't like PB&Js, pizza, mac and cheese, tacos and pretty much every kid food.
He also got into camping mode quickly and decided to pee outside, of the bathrooms that is.
Brooklyn pretty much got down and dirty right away. This girl was sandy and wet, oh and a bit cranky. She still loves the camera though, so she can be in the middle of a fit and stop to smile! By the end of the night, she was naked, which is always a sign of a good party! Thanks friends!

A getaway

Well, before we left, we had to make sure the kids were left in good hands and have transportation to get them to and from, so this is what we did:



Just joking, we left them with my parents for the night and she got to ride in a car seat rather than a metal basket. Poor thing!


Well, we decided to head off to Huntington Beach for the night. Chad had never been there. He had driven through, but hadn't stopped and spent time in the area. We got a room at the Hyatt Regency, so we headed up and realized that we had brought a party with us.


We had arrived just in time for the Hurley US Open, so the place was packed! I have to say though, that this wasn't the first time this has happened to us though. on our second anniversary we headed to San Diego and it was just in time for Comic Con. That made for a really strange crowd of people! Anyways, this was a much better mix of people. Very laid back. Well, we checked in to the hotel and headed out for a nice sushi dinner (Chad's was cooked chicken of course) and ended the night with a short walk down the beach. The next morning we checked out, but before I did, I had to pick up a little momento from the gift shop. As you walk in the hotel, you get the most delicious tropical smell that draws you in. For those of you that are local, it is just like walking into Tammy Bahama's.

I bought the candle they were burning. It is called Lanai by Archipelago Botanicals. Now my room smells delicious! Anyways, we walked around Main Street for a while and then we headed home, but not without grabbing a child free lunch at TK Burger!

We had a nice time, but I felt a little nervous about being out and about. I think that it must be because I am so used to my routine and being in familiar surroundings, that I was feeling out of my element. This means I am going to have to get out and about more often and learning how to be more flexible with my day to day routine. So it looks like I am going to be expanding my horizons. If I let that uneasiness take over, I will be making my world smaller for me and my kids. Time to toughen up and get out!

5

5 moves
2 kids
and 5 years later...

We're still going strong... Love you Chad, for time and all eternity!

Life's a beach

This weekend was busy busy busy. Ghee and Papa popped into town, so we got to spend time with them. Then on Sunday, we celebrated Shelby, Brett and dad's birthdays since they are all in the same week. So, today we decided to play and enjoy the beach. We headed down to Aliso Creek with Shelby and Cody and the kids loved it!

They are such great cousins. They help me wrangle this wild one!

My self portrait, sort of.
These two play great together!
So do these two.
My beach babe.
He was trying to dry his nose off in the sand!
Look at those thighs...keep doing those squats ladies...
The end of a fun sandy day.

Slacker

So I have been the biggest slacker of a blog and the truth is, nothing all that huge or wonderful is going on. Things are just kind of even keel here, which is great. I like things a little on the boring side sometimes. I am not a fan of drama. Anyways, we have been busy with the fun of summer days. We spend days at the park, in the pool and enjoying the company of friends. I would have pictures of it, but the camera needs a new battery, so in the mean time you can imagine it all in your mind.

In other news, I started an etsy store. My seller name is spoilmykids in case you want to look me up. You can tell I'm a newbie since I don't have a cute little banner and whatnot. I'm working on it. For those of you not familiar with etsy.com, it is a great website filled with homemade crafts and customizable items. There is just about everything you can imagine on there. I love it! Once you get on there, prepare yourself to spend a couple of hours just cruising the website.

As for the househunt....I am beyond frustrated. We have seen SO many places and they are either in disrepair that is beyond our budget to fix or they are great and we get instantly outbid. You would not believe the holes we have seen. One was literally filled with mold and cobwebs! See below for an example of what I am talking about:


We started to look outside of OC and at places like Oceanside and Temecula, but then returned to our senses and knew it just wouldn't be right for us. How many people do you know that move out there and then return? Pretty much all of them. We will just have to bite the bullet and find something close by and if we don't find it soon, we will go back to renting and continue to house hunt. I am hoping the right place just pops up in our faces and we can nab it! For right now, we will be here at my parents' house if you need us.

A Classic Fourth

We had a low key fourth this year. We had a few friends over for a BBQ and swimming and just got to relax and enjoy each other company.


The kids looked adorable all dressed up in patriotic colors and they played great with each other.


Micah a Luke are buddies and like to be doing the same thing all the time. So, when Micah had to go potty and grandma didn't want him walking inside, he headed for the nearest planter. Luke wasn't going to be left out, so he quickly runs up and pulls his shorts down as fast as he can and joins in!
The best part is Micah finding out that they have the same "equipment." Can you tell he has a sister?
...and to be extra safe, we hired Duke to be our lifeguard. I think he did a pretty good job!

Mother of the Year

This year's award won't be going to me! For a while I thought I had a chance at it after successfully collecting a stool sample from Brooklyn with only a few dry heaves. Gross! Anyways, the award will allude me this year because of two major reasons. Number one: A mother of the year never ever forgets to sunscreen her kids. Whoops!

We had friends over and we were playing in the backyard. I knew I hadn't put sunscreen on, but I kept thinking to myself that I would bring them in as soon as I saw any color on them. Well, it turns out that sometimes that color doesn't show up until you go inside. That is when they kind of pink up. Poor Micah got pretty burnt. Brooklyn didn't get it too bad, but they were both troopers. I have been keeping them covered in aloe and gave them Motrin for the night. Poor kids!

On to reason number two: A mother of the year never takes her eyes off her kids. Not even for a second! Well, I did. As we were out at Trader Joe's stocking up on the usually needs of toddlers, I stopped at the back to try a sample of the food they were making that day. I had just gotten my food and a plastic fork when I hear the sample lady saying "Oh oh oh." I look behind me to see Micah climbing on the side of the cart and it was slowly starting to tip over. I quickly grab for the handle as Brooklyn leaned forward and something snapped. Well, I caught the cart in time and Micah got down, but as I grabbed for the handle, the plastic fork I was holding scratched my poor Brooklyns face so hard it snapped one of the tines off! I thought I had stabbed her in the eye for a second and was freaking out. Luckily, there was just a little blood and a lot of tears. Now she is pretty scratched up!

Well, in efforts to redeem myself and maybe go for second place, we went to Boomers! This place will take every penny you have as it is rotting under your feet, but it didn't matter. Micah and Brooklyn had a blast. They LOVED that place!

We played at the arcade for a while, then got some food and headed out for a round of golf.

We had to leave before Micah could get a chance to drive the go karts since it was nap time and he was not too happy about that. He whined for a while and then got quiet. Then he asked us "Is cheese crackers vegetables?" I laughed and told him "No. If they were, there would be a lot more healthy people." I thought it was an odd question and then I realized why he had asked it. When we left we told him he couldn't drive the go karts because he wasn't big enough yet. I told him he needed to eat his vegetables to grow a couple of inches. He is such a good boy. Always trying to do what he is told (especially if there is a fun reward involved)!

And the winners are...

...Susan, Melissa and Casey! I couldn't just go with one winner, so I went with three. Good ol' random.org drew the winners for me. If you didn't win this time, don't worry about it. I am going to do another one in a few weeks, so keep a look out for it. Congrats to the winners! If you won, please send me an e-mail and let me know which prize you want and your address so I can send them off. Thanks!