The Weather Play

Today was our last 1st Grade Weather Play. Calissa was a rain drop and did a fabulous job! Here she is in the back row, 2nd from the left (the short one :). I've just spent (wasted) the last two hours trying to upload video of her song. I guess it'll have to wait for another day!

Calissa waiting for her turn to shine!

After it's over.

Since it was a weather play and I took this picture on Wednesday morning from our backyard, I thought I'd post it here. It was a beautiful rainbow!

Grandma's 85th Birthday!

Happy 85th Birthday Grandma! I was able to fly to Utah for the weekend with my parents for my Grandma Maynard's Surprise 85th Birthday celebration. I'm glad that Travis was able to take the time off work and go it alone for a few days.We had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's in Logan, UT. We flew in on Friday evening and spent the night at Kevin and Kellie's house with Abby and Sam-O. Saturday morning we drove to Logan to get ready for her party. We picked up balloons (that big 85 and a dozen regular balloons). Unfortunately I was the one in the back seat of Kevin's small car with all those balloons. I couldn't even get my seat belt on. My dad said not to worry because I had a lot of padding with all those balloons!
My mom, Grandma, Aunt Teri and Uncle Joe

Lighting the candles on one of the cakes.

Surprise!!!

Uncle Claude and Aunt Teri from Washington

My brother, Kevin (from Layton)

Kevin's wife, Kellie and me

Me and my cousin Cam (who I haven't seen in years!)

It was lots of fun catching up!

My dad and mom

*****

After the party we did a little shopping with my aunt, went out to dinner with some family and then Kellie and my mom and I went to see Twilight at the dollar theatre. I was glad that we saw it, but we all agreed that our husbands are really glad that we didn't make them go!

Sunday, my dad and I went to church with my Grandma and had brunch with Uncle Joe, Uncle Claude, Aunt Teri and Cam. Then we said good bye and drove back to Layton. My dad and I were able to go and visit my dad's parents for several hours and then bring them back to Kevin and Kellie's for dinner.

*****

We flew home on Monday morning. I am glad I was able to spend some quality time with my Grandma and other family. Those memories will stay with me for a long time. My weekend without my family responsibilities wore me out! I didn't get enough sleep. So ... I'm glad I'm home now and can get back to a normal schedule. The kids said they missed me, but I think they were just excited that they had homemade cookies waiting for them when they got home from school yesterday!

Happy 38th Travis!

Happy Birthday Travis! Here is his cake of choice at Sunday dinner at my parents' house. Tina and my mom put on 3 and 8 candles for his 38 years. I was trying to see the 3 and 8, but they just put on 11 randomly! Lasagna, salad bar, garlic bread and eclair cake ... yummy!Blowing out the candles. (I just counted and there are 12 candles ... who was in charge?) There goes your 3 and 8 theory! No wonder Travis had a hard time blowing them all out ... you put an extra one on!

Travis' birthday was on the 16th. He was hoping to go golfing with my brother Andrew, but it rained and rained and rained. Instead, we cleaned the kids' rooms, went shopping for new clothes and other assorted things, took the family to Elephant Bar for dinner and played Five Crowns with the kids and my parents at my mom and dad's house. Probably not his ideal birthday, but I think he had an OK day. He got some new shirts, ties and pants from us and new ski poles and a golfing book from his parents.

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I am so lucky to be married to such a wonderful man. He is patient, kind, righteous, obedient, doesn't get mad when I nag him, cooks breakfast almost every morning after seminary, does the dishes almost every night after dinner, coaches the kids' sports teams, doesn't ever complain (unlike me :), is happy with whatever we do for dinner, picks up bread from the store for me once or twice a week to go with dinner, is my best friend!!! Hope you had a great birthday Trav. I love you and the kids do too!

Parker's First Dance

I can't believe that Parker is old enough to go to church dances. Since he turned 12 he gets to go to two dances each year. He was excited to go. Travis said I should show him how to dance before he went so just in case he got asked he would know what to do. So ... Wednesday afternoon we went into Calissa's room and turned on the HSM3 music and I tried to show him how to dance. He was soooo embarrassed and wanted nothing to do with me. Then, we turned it on a slow song and I showed him where to put his hands. He was even more embarrassed then. I told him that if he didn't ask someone to dance that he'd be grounded for a week. (I was kidding ... mostly!) He showered and got ready to go.

I think he was nervous, but he's a brave, try anything kid and went.

Here's him when he got home at 9:20 ish. He had a great time, danced with 4 girls (he asked one and the other three asked him). He also won a gift card to Jamba Juice. Can't get much better than that. He's growing up!

(He's not terribly thrilled I blogged about this .... he said, "Mom, just don't embarrass me!")

Pismo Beach

We were able to get away last weekend and head to Pismo Beach for three days. We try to go a couple of times a year and seem to go this weekend (the last 3 years). If only it was an hour closer!Here's a picture of the crazy children .

Here's the view from our room ... beautiful!

The waves were really big this trip and the tide was way in and then way out. It was unusual. I went walking with my dad two of the mornings and barely made it down the beach to his hotel because the tide was in so far! Here is a picture of one of the boogie boarders. As the waves crashed into the pier the entire pier would shake. It was amazing!

Saturday we walked on the beach, pier and downtown, swam in the pool and went to a late lunch. After that we played a few games with my parents at their hotel and then went to the Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville. Every time we go we're reminded of how much we love it! The kids really enjoyed it too. Parker said it should of had a "rating" but Travis and I thought it was mostly PG. We're glad our kids are a little sheltered!

Family on the pier.

The pelican. It was huge and it's beak area was so colorful and beautiful!

Our crazy children in the freezing water!!!

Conner and Parker exploring on Sunday. We were able to go to church in San Luis Obispo and have some lunch, walk on the beach (the tide was way out) and spend some fun time together as a family. We had carmel apples for dinner that night. (Yummy and somewhat nutritious)

Calissa happy getting dirty!

Happy in the pool!

Belly flop! Calissa is definitely the best at belly flops. She is the bravest of the three. The kids had the pool to themselves almost the entire trip. The pool temp is in the high 80's so even though it was cold outside, they were nice and warm in the pool! Travis and I enjoyed the hot tub!

Conner's belly flop.

Parker's belly flop. He's not so brave (or dumb) ... he knows it's going to hurt! The kids wanted to swim one last time on Monday morning before we came home and it was freezing cold and raining outside, but we said "OK" because we're such wonderful parents! As we sat huddled up watching the kids and freezing we overheard Calissa say to the boys, "Let's play Martin Luther King ... you know Martin ... Luther." Travis and I laughed and laughed, the boys just ignored her. I guess we should tell her it's called Marco Polo?

Curly Hair?

I haven't posted for a while but have a few cute pictures of Calissa to share. She has straight straight hair ... not one bit of curl to it. I decided to buy some curlers and put them in on Sunday night. She did pretty well sleeping with them in and only lost one or two under the covers during the night. Here's what it looked like before she went to bed.And here's Sunday morning before we went to church. We did it again on Tuesday night and it looked better on Wednesday (all the curlers stayed in that night). Her teacher, friends and parents all told her how cute her hair looked. She was pretty excited.