Soccer Mom

It's official. I have entered the world of the mini-van driving soccer mom. I just registered Logan today for soccer. He is soooo excited! He will be playing micro soccer, which is for four year olds. We get to spend 6 Saturdays starting Sep.6th, on the soccer field. I wasn't sure I would be too thrilled about this, since I am sooo not into sports, and honestly know nothing about soccer, other than you kick the ball into the goal, and can't use your hands. That's about it. You would think I would know more about it after having brothers and nephews all play, as well as a few friends in HS who played as well. What kind of a mom am I? Hopefully after this 6 week season is over, I will have picked up a thing or two. Anyway...I am actually getting a bit excited about it! I think it must be the proud mother who is thrilled to watch her little dude starting to do big boy things.Ok, I am sure I will be a bit emotional too. I am such a baby. My little guy will be starting pre-school and soccer all in the same week. Wow! I can't believe how fast he is growing up!

Since I don't have any pictures of my soccer boy yet, I thought I would share a few pix of the kidlets for fun. This one is of Logan, aka wagonmaster, taking his sister for a ride in a covered wagon. This was at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Visitor Center in Independence Missouri. We went there a few weeks ago when Tony's brother Andy and his wife Alicia were here visiting.



I love this one of Avery! She's like "Hey...get me out of here you crazy driver! If I lose my binky you are in big trouble mister!"



And this one is so cute too. Just the kidlets out on the deck enjoying a popsicle on a hot summer day!Notice the super cute bib on Avery? It's my SIL Jody's design! I seriously LOVE her bibs...they are the best! I recently gave some bibs and matching burp cloths to a friend for her baby shower, and another girl there said they were like "a scrapbook page on a bib!" So cute! I think she is working on getting an actual site up to sell her bibs, and other fun things, so I will for sure share the link when I get the info!

Perfect Angels

So, this morning I watched my friend Hillary's kids while she was at an appointment. Last night I had actually tidied up before our Home Teachers came, so the house was in good shape this morning. I have a Relief Society group tomorrow night, so I was hoping to keep it as tidy as possible until then. Of course, it isn't easy, or expected for things to remain tidy with 6 kids ages 6,4,4,3,18 mos, and 17 months around. Naturally, the living room and dining room (aka toy rooom) were strewn with toys.

Hillary called when she was on her way home, so I very excitedly called all the little children to hurry and help me put away the toys before she got here. I was amazed when there were children running around putting things away as fast as they could. It was great! I told them they were such good helpers, that I wanted them to come over all the time to help me clean up!

Anyway...I thought it would be surprising for her when she got there to see the house so tidy. Usually, I don't care too much when they make a mess, since most of the time it is that way to start, so they are simply re-arranging the mess, rather than creating it. So, I had a funny idea. I told the kidlets that it would be so funny if they all went and sat on the couch as good as could be for when their mom came. That way it would look like they had been the perfect little angels the whole time...ha ha! Actually, they were very good anyway. So they thought it was a good idea too and dutifully lined up on the couch to wait for their mom with big smiles on their faces. It was the cutest thing ever!

So, this is what greeted Hillary when she finally got there.Cute, huh?

Summary

I really need to get back in the habit of blogging! I am soooo behind!

So, I thought I would just give a brief overview of what's been going on round here lately!

1.A few weeks ago we had a surprise visit from our good friends from Indiana...Gigi and Craig, and their little people that are the same ages as our little people! Logan and Logan are about 2 weeks apart, and Avery and Bergen are a week apart.It was such a fu surprise and we had a great time! It made me so sad that we can't get together more often.Thanks for pro-longing your travel time to stay with us!

2.Only a few days after their visit, we were lucky enough to get more company! Tony's brother Andy and his wife Alicia came to visit for the week-end. We had so much fun having them here, and the kids loved their Aunt and Uncle being here to play with! Logan was so sad when it was time for them to leave, becuase he wanted them to live with us.

3.Last week, I had the good news (to me) that some good friends here in my ward weren't going to be moving after all. Even though they really wanted to go, they felt it wasn't right at this time, so they are staying. As selfish as it may sound, I am very glad they are staying!

4.My friend Hillary(see #3) and I went to see Mamma Mia! It was so much fun, and a really great, happy-feeling movie! I have had the songs in my head ever since (even dear, sweet Pierce, in all his effort!) There were only a few downers, when there were some things they had to throw in, that of course didn't need to be there. I don't know why they ruin such good things like that. If it wasn't there, absolutely no one would miss it. I really don't think people would leave the theater saying, "You know...that was such a a great movie, but it would have been much better with "this" thrown in, or if so and so were to do "this", or if they said "this". Nope...no one would have ever known it was there. It does nothing to add anything to the story, there is no point of it at all. That's really disappointing to me. But, anyway, it was still a fun movie overall.

5.Friday night I went to a "Twilight" party, and then a few of us went to the midnight release party for "Breaking Dawn" at Border's. I got home around 1:30 a.m. and stayed up until about 4 a.m. reading. I basically read all day Saturday, and finished up the book Sunday night. My eyes are tired!

6.Sunday was Avery's first official day in nursery! I have taken her in the past two Sunday's to get her used to it, and Tony and I took turns staying in there with her. Yesterday, we were subbing in Logan's sunbeam class, so we couldn't stay. I stayed for the first hour, and then snuck out to go be in class with Tony. She was perfectly fine! Yippee!

7. I made a pretty tasty recipe for dinner Sunday night. Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas. I thought they had a really good flavor, and were definitely different than the usual.

I have my enrichment night coming up this week, so once that is over, hopefully I will be able to get caught up again!

CG Reunion Day 3 and 4

So, after staying up late talking and laughing our heads off, we again took our time getting up and gettig ready to go. We had a yummy breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches (aka egg mcmuffins, although without the mc, cause we aren't McDonalds...but you know what I mean)and cantaloupe. We left our cute little room smelling like bacon, which wafted after us down the halls!

We started our day going to the Park City Mountain Resort.After wandering around the shops (well, mostly one shop), we decided to go on the scenic chairlift ride. It is an hour long ride round trip, so we made sure to get sunscreened up first! While it wasn't as adventurous or exciting as the Alpine Slide, or Alpine Coaster rides that they had, we really enjoyed it. It was fun to see all the beautiful scenery, especially the snow that was still in patches here and there...in June! We had a good time talking, since that's what we do best! It was especially an adventure to keep from losing our shoes! A few of us took off our flip flops so they would't fall off our feet while dangling in the air! We tried to take some pictures of ourselves while up there, and it was fun.It was a little scary trying to lean and not fall off! We even got to smile for a picture half-way up the mountain! See it HERE!





On our way back down the chairlift, we saw a mom and a cute little blond boy riding up on the other side. We all had to comment that the little dude reminded us of our kids and made us miss them!

After we got off the chairlift, we went and had some lunch, and then went and used our Coldstone giftcards for dessert! Yum! Our next stop was Main Street, where we walked around and looked at the shops before we all finally decided we had all our energy sucked out of us, and headed back to the hotel. We got back aroud 5, and almost promptly all fell asleep on the King sized bed! We had a nice little snooze, and then made ourselves a yummy dinner of "favorite pasta", garlic bread and salad. So now our room smells like lingering bacon, and garlic as well! Nice!


(Gina and Heidi all snuggled up for nap time!)


(dinnertime with chef Marisa!)

Gina, Heidi and Marisa decided to go check out the pool, and I stayed behind to try and read. My eyes were too tired to read though, so I popped in my new "girly movie" Some Kind of Wonderful and started to watch it. The rest of the girls came back soon after because the pool was filled with kids. we all finished watching the movie together, while snacking on leftover fondue and other treats. we again ended our night staying up until after 1 talking our heads off. It's kind of funny cause we actually got a noise complaint!

Around midnight or so, Heidi decided she wanted a treat other than what we had in the room. Gina opted to go with her in search of a vending machine. We were all laughing our heads off since they were in their pj's, and Heidi told Gina she looked like Ronald McDonald (her hair was a bit wild and crazy after air drying from her after swim shower). I gave Gina my pink Life is Good hat, and off they went in search of goodies. Not long later, they came back from their adventure, cracking up at their behavior that was reminiscent of what 2 18 year olds would be doing late at night in a hotel, and not 31 year olds!I won't go in to the details, but needless to say, we were all laughing hysterically once they returned! After a while we had calmed down, and were all lounging on the bed chatting away when the phone rang. It was 12:30 at night! We were a bit confused as to who would be calling so late. Gina answered and was informed by the night desk clerk, that he had had a noise complaint, and could we keep it down. Yes sir! Ha ha! How embarrassing! But what a great story!


(Gina and Ronald McDonald hair...sorry G!)

The next morning was check-out time, and we were all getting sad about our festivities coming to an end. We again had our breakfast of leftover cantaloupe and bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. While all crammed into the elevator to go out to the car, a family got in with us. One of them made a comment that it smelled like bacon. Ha ha! I wonder how long it took for the bacon smell to go away! I bet whoever had our room next walked in and thought "hmmm...it smells like bacon in here" Funny!


(Gina and Heidi)


Before we left town to head back to SLC, we stopped at World Market to look around. Then we went back to Heidi's parents house to go our seperate ways. We couldn't end there though, so Nina (Heidi's mom) suggested a place for us to go for lunch called "Plates and Palates". It was a cute little shop that sold kitchen items and then they had some tables and chairs and you could order lunch too! It was pretty filled up, but we were able to get a seat pretty soo, and had a nice lunch together to end our time.


Marisa, Gina and I all opted to go to Spoon Me one more time before we had to leave. That stuff is soooo good! Once we had our fix, Marisa headed up to Idaho Falls to get her kids, and I caught a ride with Gina down to Cedar City.She dropped me off at my brother's house in Enoch, where I was waiting for Tony and the kids to meet me.

What fun times we had! We really have to do this again, and soon, and regularly. It was so needed, and I am again so lucky to have such lifelong friends. I love you gals! Thanks for the fun times!

CG Reunion Day 2

I have gotten so out of the habit of blogging! At this rate I am never going to catch up!

CG Reunion Day 2

Monday morning, we took our time getting up and getting ready. We had Heidi's mom's famous Finnish pancakes for breakfast! Yum! After eating and chatting for a while, we decided to make our plans for the day and get going.

Our first stop was the Shade Clothing store in Centerville, where I got myself a really cute swimsuit. After that, we stopped at the Gateway in SLC to browse around and have lunch. Gina was having a pregnant woman craving for Thai food, so we ate at a really yummy restaurant called Thaifoon. I have to admit I have never really had Thai food before, and it was sooooooo good! I might be a fan now. We all shared a yummy appetizer of lettuce wraps, and then again shared a dish called orange peel chicken, and beef lo mein. It was all super delicious, and very filling. It was funny, because we were all wearing our scrabble tile necklaces, and the waitress noticed them. She said " what's with the necklaces...are you all sisters or something?" We do not look anything alike...we ranged from tall Gina to tiny Heidi, with Marisa and I heightwise somewhere in between.We got a good laugh from that and then enthusiastically told her our adventure for the next few days.

After we left Gateway, Heidi directed us to a super yummy place for dessert. We went to a place called Spoon Me for frozen yogurt...the likes of which I have never tasted before. I grew up in So. Cal mind you, and frozen yogurt is there, what frozen custard is to the midwest. I love the stuff. Anyway...it was so good, and very refreshing! It was a bit tart and tangy like real yogurt, but still sweet. I got the natural flavor and chose granola, strawberries and milk chocolate chips for my toppings. I am still craving the stuff, and am really sad I can't get it where I live. Sniff..sniff. Anyone want to open a franchise in KC?

After leaving Spoon Me, we finally headed up to Park City. We checked in to our hotel...the Westgate Resort, and then went to get some dinner. We ended up going to Ruby Tuesdays to hit up their salad bar. Heidi, our High School Musical afficionado, kindly informed us AFTER we left, that "Martha" from HS musical, was eating dinner at a table near us. Fun stuff for a celebrity sighting!

We then wandered around the outlets for a bit, and then headed to Smith's grocery store to get some stuff for soome of our meals for the next two days, as well as some fun snacks. We also stopped by Redbox to get a movie to watch. We rented 27 dresses. I hadn't seen it before, and it was pretty cute. We went back to our hotel and watched the movie while gorging ourselves on chocolate fondue. Yum!

Of course, we stayed up until about 2 a.m. chatting again. Good times!

And on a non vacation note...HERE is something exciting for all you Twilight fans!



Enjoy!

CG Reunion!

Earlier this year, I went through a really rough patch. I felt the desire to "get away" from things that were occurring in my life, and I really felt the need to be around friends and people who knew me and loved me.


(Gina, Heidi, Kerry, Marisa- EFY 1994, the summer before our senior year of HS)


I was talking to my longest friend Heidi,and we both were expressing the desire to have a girl's get-away.I had 3 very dear friends in High School. We were a little group that were all members of the church...we went to seminary together, school together, church dances and events together, sang together,went to EFY together, etc. We had our fair share of drama as well. Nevertheless, we have all stayed intertwined in each other's lives since then.Gina married Marisa's older brother, so they are family now. Marisa and I went to BYU together, and interestingly enough, both ended up in Indiana at Purdue together and in the same ward!It was so much fun to tell people that we had been friends in HS, and that Marisa was one of my bridesmaids.Heidi and I have been friends since we were about 1 year old, and I try to make a point of visiting her at least once a year when I am out her way, even if it is only a brief meeting for lunch or whatever.

Heidi and I started planning and emailed Gina and Marisa to see if they would be up for having a CG (California Girl) Reunion. I was already planning to be in Blanding, UT for round-up time, and Marisa was going to be in Idaho Falls for a wedding. Heidi and Gina are already in Utah, so we decided to make Park City our reunion place.

Like I already mentioned, I have kept in touch with Heidi, and have been able to see her at least once a year for the last little while. Marisa and I haven't seen each other in the two years since we both moved away from Indiana, but have kept in touch via blogs and emails. I couldn't remember exactly when I saw Gina last, but I really think it was at Marisa's wedding 8 years ago. While we have exchanged Christmas cards, and I have heard updates about her from Marisa, I haven't talked to her otherwise. I was a little worried that things would be a bit awkward between us since it had been so long.

My worries were for nothing! It was like no time had passed at all! Except for the fact that I have 2 kids, and she is expecting her 5th, and everything else that has happened to us in the past 8 years. It was great. We all had such a great time, and it was so much fun to reminisce about old times,stay up late chatting and laughing our heads off! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, and it felt so good.I love those girls! I don't think I realized how fortunate I was to have them as friends before, but I sure do now. It is so nice to have that kind of "history" with someone...let alone more than someone. While talking one night I brought up the point about how incredibly different each one of us was, but that it didn't matter. We all love and appreciate each other for who we are.It would be interesting to know if we were to meet now as adults, if we would be friends or not. I would hope we would be.

So...now that I have rambled on long enough about our history, I guess I will begin with day 1 of our reunion.

CG Reunion Day 1

We all agreed to begin our reunion by meeting at Heidi's parents house (they live in Utah now, and not California anymore.) It was Father's Day, so Gina and I "crashed" Heidi's dad's Father's Day dinner. It was Heidi and her husband Tom and their two kids, Heidi's parents, and Gina and I. Marisa showed up later on. Then the festivities really began! We tried to watch some videos from HS, and began reminiscing about things. We had also come up with a fun activity so we took care of that. We had a bag swap. We took the letters that spell out "CG REUNION" and assigned each person a few letters. We then had to find something to go with our letters to put in our bag. We were to get 4 of each item, and then once together, we had all the items put in the bags, and we traded bags. It was so much fun to see what we all chose and recieved! This is what we got:

C- CD of songs that reminded us of HS
G- gloss (lipgloss) and a Girlie movie (Some Kind of Wonderful)
R- ring (little CTR rings)
E- Eat! (set of cookbooks)
U- something Unique for U! (cool scrabble tile necklace pendants)
N- notebooks (decorated in cute paper with matching pens)
I- ice cream! ($5 Cold Stone gift card)
O- "Oh my stars!" (This is Heidi's phrase of choice) (cute envelope decorated with stars, saying Oh my Stars, and a little CTR anklet that was a star pendant)
N- Nutty Bars (this was a favorite snack item back in the day)

We finally headed up for bed around 12:30. Marisa and I were sharing a room, and Heidi and Gina were sharing a room. Marisa and I chatted for a bit, and then decided to hit the hay. A little while later, the door to our room flew open, and Heidi asks what we are doing...and then noticing that it is dark and quiet, asks if we are asleep. I say no, not yet. She says she is telling Gina the "Prom Story" and I immediately jump out of bed to go join in on this conversation! Marisa opted to stay in bed. The prom story is one of those "dramas" I mentioned earlier, and a story for another time. Needless to say, it's a good one! we stayed up until about 3, when I decided to head to bed. In the morning I found out that Heidi and Gina stayed up another hour talking. At least Marisa got a decent night's sleep!

That's how our first day began. I will post pictures and more of the rest of our trip next!

Blanding Fun

Blanding

Friday afternoon we loaded up and went camping up on the Bear's Ears where Tony's brother Kenny moves his cows in the summer.It is a really pretty place, and we always have fun and enjoy our time up there when we go. We always see deer, and they almost have no fear! They just come up real close to the camp. We also see plenty of these roaming around.



Tony's parents are currently serving their mission in Benin (West Africa) so their trailor was available for our use. I think I have gotten spoiled! Camping is sooooo nice when you have a comfy bed, a flushing toilet, and a place to get out of the bugs and heat...or cold!

Anyway...we were teamed up with Tony's sister Jody for dinner Friday night. We had barbecue chicken in dutch ovens, baked beans, salad, and rolls, with brownies for dessert. Suzie made the brownies! It was a tasty dinner! Even Avery thought so!




Aunt Alicia (A-lee-see-a)feeding Aves her brownie. I think she had about 3!


I think all Logan ate was the roll...and not even very much of it!Picky little guy!


Avery spent some time getting better acquainted with her relatives.

Avery getting some attention from Aunt Suzie!



Uncle Andy tried hard to win her over, and did a farily good job, as long as mom wasn't around!



I think Avery's favorite person was Brielle! She loves pretty girls! She just laughed and laughed and "flirted" at Brielle and her friends...it was so funny!



Here's my cute Logan!


I love these next pictures, becauase it was one of those happy parent moments! Avery and Logan were sitting in these little camp chairs for the longest time sharing their snacks. It was so cute! Avery would put some of her snacks in the little cup holder in between them for Logan to share. And Logan was content eating them that way, and wasn't getting grabby or greedy and trying to get the whole bag from her. They were getting along so well, and it made this mommy proud!





I ended up leaving the next day with Jody to catch a ride up to Pleasant Grove, and Tony stayed in Blanding with the kids for 4 1/2 more days. I took the camera with me, so he didn't get any pictures. He wouldn't have taken any even if I had left him the camera though, so it's ok.

More to come!