Major FAUX PAS!

So, this morning was Jason's department's Halloween party. They did it at 9 in the morning going Laser Tagging. So, not only was I disappointed in that (because what pregnant woman wants to laser tag...and get up that early to do it!!) but I had a little problem in the costume area. Last year, we went bowling and there were TONS of people dressed up...I was not one of them. I just had on a Witch's hat just trying to be festive and come to find out that there was an actual contest! So, I was pretty mad at Jason for not telling me about that. So this month I have been talking ALL MONTH about my costume. My sister did the game "Operation" last year and it was soooo cute. So I decided that I wanted to do that this year. I've been gathering everything to make it and get it ready. And I added a little cut out of a baby to pin in the right place since I'm pregnant. Jason even helped me cut it out and pin it on the night before. We pull up and I can see through the window that NOBODY is dressed up!! I start freaking out about how he didn't tell me not to dress up and I felt like Carol in the episode of the Office when she shows up dressed up as a Cheerleader to a Diwali celebration...remember that? Anyway, I make him go inside and see how many people are dressed up before I will go in thinking to myself "what am I going to do? I don't have any other clothes on and I could just take off the pieces but then I just look like a big, fat, pink marshmallow in these pink sweats and that's not a very good color to say that I wore it for laser tagging!!!" He comes out and says that he asked and there were other people dressed up...like 4! "Even Julie is dressed up in a football jersey," he says. Okay ladies, she was dressed up in a UTAH football jersey for the game immediately after the party!!!! I told him in my most severe voice, "THAT IS NOT A COSTUME!!!! THAT IS FOR THE GAME!!!" He kept pointing out all the other guys wearing football jerseys. I could have killed him! I'm the only dork sitting there feeling like a complete idiot and to top it all off there was NO CONTEST this year!! So I didn't even win a prize for my troubles! He keeps saying that he never told me to dress up and I keep telling him that he never told me not to dress up because nobody else was. He defends himself by saying it was a halloween party and he just assumed that people would dress up and I defend myself by saying that you should never assume anything because it makes an ass out of you and me. Only this time I was the bigger ass! (and not just because I'm pregnant either!) Now I know why he kept refusing to dress up as well!!!! I didn't get a picture of my costume before I took it off in a mad rage, but here is the picture of my sister from last year. I've actually entered it into the Parents Magazine Best Homemade Halloween Costume Contest. Anyway, that was my fun morning today. I think I'm more upset over the fact that I didn't win a prize!!

The Monster Mash

Enjoy our family's way of giving you a friendly greeting to wish you happy trick-or-treating! This may be the only time you'll get to see Jason gettin' Jiggy Wid It! If you have your volume on you will want to push the pause button on the playlist on the right hand side of my blog to mute the music that will come on. Enjoy! (and no, that is not chin hair on me...it's Nathan's hair from the photo I cropped that from. I promise!!)

Conference Weekend

We had a great Conference weekend. Friday night Jason's mom took the kids and gave us her tickets to see BYU play USU and it was a great game! A win-win situation for me being a BYU fan and sort of a USU alma mater (I only went one year and no! I am not a "true aggie!") so I could cheer for both teams and be happy. It was a great game with perfect weather. Saturday we enjoyed staying home and watching conference. We got a few things done around the house but mostly we just enjoyed doing nothing for a change. Saturday night my sister in-law Kristy and I took the kids to see Ice Age 3 at the dollar theater. The kids loved it. I thought it was cute myself. Nathan loved the part with the baby...of course that was at the very end and his treats and juice had run out waaay before that, but he was pretty good considering he's a year old. After, the kids and I came home and while we waited for Jason to come home I popped some homemade poppies and we broke out the Halloween videos. Sunday we had our traditional waffle breakfast. I only make waffles twice a year-during conference. The kids love it and it's a special tradition that my parents started when I was young. We listened to conference the best we could with 3 young whipper snappers. The kids colored, we put Nate down for a nap and then listened intently when the prophet spoke. I love Conference! It's a spiritual energizer for me! Then we had a simple lunch of leftover homemade Minestrone soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and geared up for the next session. This time I had a few conference games for the girls to play. They really enjoyed them but needless to say, Jason and I did not hear too much of the afternoon session. When the prophet came on we again listened intently and talked to the girls afterward about what we learned in conference. Because of the rain we didn't take our drive through AF canyon to look at the leaves, but that's ok. Maybe we'll do it for a FHE one night. After Conference we headed out to the in-laws for dinner and fun with the family. Phew! That's a lot for three days!! Today, Maddie didn't have school for Teacher Prep Day or whatever it is and so we went to my mom's house for an early birthday lunch for her. We had grilled KFC (she picked it) and watched some of our favorite old halloween movies. It was a fun time to just be with my mom and sister Krista. The girls had fun playing with their cousins and Nate had fun getting into everything!! Time to get back to the daily grind though. I've been a little under the weather this past week so I hope I have the energy to teach preschool this week. And piano lessons to...oh, just thinking about all of that makes me tired! Well, guess I better go catch a few Z's to last me the week.

It's A.....

Well, today was the big day-the ultrasound! But first, a little story. So, the other day we asked the girls what they wanted or what they thought the new baby was going to be. They both wanted a baby sister. Jason said "Well, what if it's a baby boy?" Emma said that she would cry and throw a fit. Today we took Maddie with us because she has never been present for the Ultra Sound and Emma came to Nathan's. The Ultrasonographer asked if we wanted to know. I told her that I wasn't planning on it but both Jason and Maddie wanted to know. She told me that she could just tell them and not me. I said it didn't matter I would give in and find out. So she turned to Maddie and said "you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?" Maddie said "I already know, it's a girl!" So, was she right....?

In case you can't read that it says I'M A GIRL! So, yes we are having a girl. Jason and I were really hoping for a boy and I have to admit that I was shocked. The first time for me! The honest truth though is that I was secretly hoping for twins so that I didn't have to do this whole pregnancy thing again but I guess the Lord has other plans. So far he's made this pregnancy pretty bareable. Probably so that I will do this again and complete our family down the road. Anyway, my pregnancy was very similar to Nathan's so I thought it would be a boy but I couldn't really count on that feeling. It didn't sit right with me. But a girl didn't sit right either so then I thought maybe both. So, the truth about my sixth sense-had no clue what it was going to be! So this was actually fun for me to go and not have any idea whatsoever what the gender was before hand because with the other 3 I knew right when I was pregnant what it was going to be. So, here's the rest of the US pics if you care about that. The due date still stands at Feb.15th. Jason informed me today that this is during the winter olympics. Nathan was born during the summer olympics. So, that should be fun. She was really scrunched up in a ball in there and kicked her feet a lot. Her arms were right up by her head and she would peek out from behind them every so often so we could see her face. Her name will be Olivia and we are excited to get ready to welcome her!

Wanna Bet?

I have my 20 week Ultrasound in a week and so I'm starting the poll. Boy or Girl? Cast your votes. I'm not letting any information leak about what I think. Good Luck!

5 Years of Eternal Bliss!

I didn't forget, I just got busy! Jason and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on 09/09/09! We've been together 6 and it seems like a lot longer than that. We've had many trials and road blocks that not every couple has to deal with (like a baby on your dates) but it has helped us grow tremendously! Just a little synopsis on the last 6 years. Dating-dealing with a divorce and having a little person to think about while on dates. First year anniversary-had baby Emma 4 days before our anniversary so not very romantic but very exciting! Maddie started her seizures this year and so we also had that trauma to deal with. Got worse as the year went on and we added a second job (for the both of us) into the mix to try and pay for the medical bills that were piling up. We had tremendous help from family and friends and people who wanted to remain anonymous. 2nd Anniversary has been my favorite so far. Maddie was adopted and sealed to Jason on the exact day of our anniversary and it was a wonderful moment. The girls looked so angelic in their white dresses. Em was just barely a year and wasn't quite sure what to make of the funny looking people in the weird clothes smiling at her and talking to her. She didn't like me in my temple clothing! Then we went to the BYU football game with my parents after that and had a fun day. A month or two later we moved to American Fork and struggled with work and a little bit of depression on my part. All that's better now-thank you. 3rd Anniversary-Jason surprised me by booking a special room at the Castle Creek Inn. I've always wanted to go there. We went over conference weekend and had a nice relaxing weekend. We bought a house and moved again but this time only a few blocks. Can't say that I've enjoyed being home owners with all of the fix-it stuff we've had to do, but it's nice to be someplace permanent...for now! (sorry, not a very good pic but it's the only one I could find) 4th Anniversary-had our son Nathan a month before and so once again, not very romantic. But we did go to dinner and had a nice night. Actually, I think I made dinner that night...yes I did. I made his favorite and we still had a nice night. Which brings us to the 5th Anniversary-Every year we go and do sealings on our anniversary if it's on a day that we can do that. So, we spent two hours at the temple giving other couples and families the opportunity for the same joy and bliss that we enjoy by being an Eternal Family. And because our sealer was a little long winded and we didn't feel like we could just get up and leave, we ordered take-out from one of our favorite restuarants, picked up the kids, popped in a movie that really wasn't worth seeing and ate our dinner together on the couch. Hey, I didn't have to cook it and it was silent while I ate instead of the kids yelling for more or saying they don't like what we're having or Nate yelling at us and we can't understand what he wants and then he chucks his food and- well- you get the point. We still live in the same house-not by choice on my part-and we are expecting El Numero Quatro as we are lovingly referring to the new baby that we are anxiously awaiting. And thus sums up the romance and lives of Jason and Cara Childs. The best part is we don't fight, or argue, or ignore one another and we truly are happy and in love with each other and our children. Of course, now that I've said that we'll have a big argument tonight and someone will end up sleeping on the couch! I LOVE YOU J! YOU ARE THE BEST! THANKS FOR MAKIN IT FUN!

Emma's Birthday

I'm a terrible mother! I didn't post anything about Emma's birthday. It lasted several days and I'm still recovering from it. We have preschool at our house twice a week, so rather than throw a "friends" party (which I don't do until they are 5 anyway, but all of her other friends have been doing parties) I decided since we'd have everybody there anyway we'd just do a little more "party" things. The girls were given crowns to decorate and the boys were given shields to play with (as the prince or the knight). Then we played a Disney bingo game and decorated cupcakes. I gave the girls some princess rings and the boys toy cars as favors. She seemed to have fun. We took her out to dinner that night-her choice was Golden Corral so that she could have a little bit of everything. She DID NOT want anybody coming to sing to her at the restaurant. This was two days before her birthday. The day before her birthday I tried to make special for her, but we ended up going to Swiss Days with my sister in-law and her boy that is three days older than Emma. We had the family over that night for cake and ice cream and she hit the jackpot with presents. Baby dolls, dance outfits, baseball with mitt, bat and tee, a game, lipgloss, clothes and a princess tent complete with sleeping bag, flashlight and compass. We tried to set up the tent in the living room for the girls to have a "sleepover" but it wouldn't stand up and then broke right in the middle of one of the poles. So now I need to try and return it. The day of her birthday her best friend had her own princess birthday party because her birthday was the following day (sunday) so Emma went there all confused about whose birthday it actually was. She had a lot of fun though. She's 4, she still doesn't know WHEN her birthday is, just that she had a party and presents.

Her cake, by the way, was a complete disaster. I had this great recipe for a cheesecake poundcake that I wanted to do and I even added strawberries to it which are Em's favorite. I went to great lengths to make this stupid cake be the best ever...and it totally flopped! Em wanted me to make her a barbie dress cake. This is the cake with the actual barbie doll stuck in the top of the cake and then you decorate it to look like the dress. Anyway, I made this cake for her two year birthday but she wanted it again. The cake that year didn't look right because the Barbie doll was a little too small. So this year I had the right size, made my own buttercream frosting and had everything ready. the cake wouldn't come out of the bowl despite my tricks and then when it did finally start to come out it started to run, the center wasn't cooked all the way through! Blast that homemade recipe! This all happened about 10 minutes before family was supposed to arrive. I grabbed the card and handed it to Jason and said, "go buy her a cake." They came back with kind of a lame one because the bakery had closed already. Anyway, I had made another cake that wasn't a frosting cake because I know the adults don't really like all the sugar and my parents are weight watcher gurus and I wanted them to have something. So I made this really yummy fruit layer cake...well, I was told it was yummy, I didn't actually get to taste it. I had the sugar cake and in fact (if you tell Emma this I will deny it) I ate the whole thing by myself over the course of two days. What? I'm pregnant ok? It's what the baby wanted! So, this fruit cake tasted better than it looked because to me it looked like it was going to fall over. All the pics will be in the slide show as soon as I get that up.

Well, Emma I hope you had a memorable 4th birthday because I certainly won't forget it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!

Back to School

Maddie headed back to school yesterday!!! She is in first grade and you would think that me having my oldest in school full time would be cause for tears.....WRONG!!! I was doing back-flips all the way back to the car after I dropped her off. She was very ready to be back in school. I enjoyed a nice peaceful day. I actually cleaned both bathrooms today and it only took me 10 minutes. Usually it takes me all day to get those done because I have to stop every 30 seconds to break up a fight or deal with a screaming 3 year old who's been punched by her sister. Seriously I didn't know what to do with myself. I cleaned, did dishes, did several loads of laundry-folded and put away!- went visiting teaching, phew! and then it was time to pick up Maddie. She had a good first day. At least I consider it a good first day because I wasn't called by the teacher or the principal. I couldn't really get a whole lot out of her, you know how kids are. Her teacher is OBSESSED with M&M's and the whole room was decked out. So, naturally she came home with an M&M game to play. I'm actually going to play it at my next enrichment meeting (did I tell you that I'm in the RS Presidency?!?) and it's the one where you pick a color and then you answer a question that corresponds with that color. The teacher had questions like, what was your favorite part of the day, what story did you read, how do you like your teacher, etc. So when we came to the "what was your favorite part of the day" I totally expected her to say lunch or recess. She surprised me by saying that singing time was her favorite today. Wow! At this school they actually have a singing/art/PE and Health class. They do singing and art for part of the week and PE and Health the other. They go into a separate class and have a different teacher for this. This was just one of the many reasons why I switched her to this school. Anyway, I was glad to hear that her mind had already been broadened on the first day. She says that she likes her teacher and she loved having lunch at school. She's a little upset that she doesn't get hot lunch for a few days, but enjoys taking it to school and eating it there. All in all a pretty good day for me and her. I hope this school works out better for her. She seems to like it already and first impressions are a big thing for her. As soon as we met her teacher at back to school night, I knew we had a winner. I could tell that this teacher was going to be the perfect thing for Maddie. I'm so glad I followed my Mother's Intuition and switched her over. Even though I got a lot of flack about it from friends and family there's one thing that to do this day still remains in my favor....NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A MOTHER'S INTUITION!! Ok, I'm fine. School was a good day today and I know that it will be the whole year! GOOD JOB MADS! I'M PROUD OF YOU!

Nathan's 1st Birthday

Well, my little baby boy is no longer a baby. He turned a year old on Wednesday and I have been sniffing about it ever since. Time has gone by so fast for me with this little guy! It's a tradition in our family to go to the zoo on the first birthday. So, of course his birthday was the hottest day this week, but we still had fun. Actually it wasn't too bad. We had lots of water and a nice breeze to keep us cool. Nathan got a new outfit for his birthday that was special for the zoo. It had zoo animals on it. He hated being in the stroller and wearing his hat. But if he could walk around then he didn't mind the hat so much. The zoo also had a few new babies. We didn't get to see the baby elephant, seeing as how it was just born a few days ago, but we did get to see video feed of it. The baby giraffe was so dang cute taking a nap. The momma giraffe was ever watchful of her baby. The baby snow leopard was also napping right along his mother. He looked so cuddly I wanted to pick him up and hug him. The kids had a fun time. This is the first time we've gone to the zoo this year. Jason's nephews came along, as well as, Nic, Justin, Kristy and my mom. Thanks for coming guys! Kristy bought the kids tickets to ride on the carousel and Justin hopped alongside his son Ashton. I think they both enjoyed their first time on the carousel. After the zoo we endured a loooonnnngggg hot ride home and got ready for everybody to come over for pizza and rootbeer floats. Yummy! He loves bats and baseballs right now. We gave him a bat that is like one at Grandma Childs' house that he loves to play with and then Grandma and Grandpa Childs gave him a mini-bat, ball and glove. My parents gave him a rider/pusher thing that he loves to push around the house and outside. He also got a fun toy with a hammer (that his sisters have claimed as theirs), some much needed shoes and some things from the zoo (like a squeaky frog that his sisters have also claimed). Of course there's the clothes too. He had a pretty good haul this year! Before the cake, Emma entertained us with a little karaoke song. She did a great job and I'm very proud of her for doing it front of all those people. Then came the cake...I don't know how it happened but somehow Nathan has developed his father's phobia for cake. He would not touch that thing! When we tried to give him a bite of frosting he pulled away from it. Once we gave him a fork then he dove right in! He was covered from head to toe in chocolate cake. And then he rubbed his hands on his face and smeared it around. The girls and I have enjoyed finishing it off for him. Even last night we were at our Ward Carnival and Jason was trying to give him a bite of cupcake and he kept pulling back. He did not want to touch the cupcake. Such strange goings on! All in all it was a very fun day. I was totally wiped out the next day and I'm still trying to catch up from all the energy I used up that day. He had his one year appointment today and he is 19.8 pounds and 30.5 inches!! He's in the 75th percentile in his height and only 10th in his weight. Jason is very proud that his son is so tall and hopes that he'll continue that way for the basketball court!

Well my little Nathan Bruce- Happy Birthday!!

HP #6

I saw the new Harry Potter movie the night before it came out and I had a hard time with it at first. I like to read the books before I see the movies so that I remember what goes on...but I think that I do more damage that way. I was so mad at some things that they didn't put in and somethings that they did put in that weren't in the book and I was so frustrated by the end that I didn't know what to think. I really liked it, but man was I on a high horse about it. After I had cooled off for a day I woke up the next morning and thought "that actually was a really good movie." It was very funny and I'm glad that it had so much humor in it. I felt that they spent a little too much time on the whole Ron and Lavender and Hermione love triangle, when they could have spent that time on other things. The part where the death eaters blow up the Weasley's house was really cool...but not in the book. I was very disappointed that they didn't do the battle at the end in Hogwarts. Jason read an article in which the director was asked about that and he said that he didn't put it in this movie because there's another one in the 7th movie...Well, so what? Put them both in!!! They are both really important, I think, and these movies need a little action! Anyway, I hope they put Dumbledore's Funeral at the start of the 7th movie or I'll be really ticked off! I'm a little anxious about the 7th movies. They left so much out of the 6th that sets up the 7th. It'll be interesting to see what they do with it. One thing is for dang sure though, I am NOT going to read the 7th book before I see the movie!

The Secret's Out

Ok, well, I've learned my lesson the hard way...a 6 year old cannot keep a secret. On Father's Day Jason found out that he is the proud poppa of "El Numero Cuatro" as we are lovingly calling it. The girls were given very specific instructions that they were not to tell anyone until we heard the heartbeat. My three year old kept this secret better than the older one. But now we've heard the heartbeat so I can post it up. Yes, we are expecting and I am unofficially due on Feb. 15, which means that I will probably have the baby on Valentines Day. My children like to be born on holidays. We are not for sure on the dates yet and hopefully we'll find out more at the next appointment. So, there you are. Was this planned? Of course!...just not as soon as it happened. But we are very excited and we can't wait to welcome our new little one. PS-we are having a little issue with our internet provider. They cut our internet when we told them to cut our phone-lovely. So, until I get that back you will have to endure the outdated background and music. Sorry! On a happier note though, my house is much cleaner now that I don't spend every spare second on the computer!

4th of July

Well, another holiday has come and gone. This year was really fun for me. Jason had the day off on Friday so he went fishing with his dad. I think Jason caught two fish and his Dad caught one, but hey, that's better than nothing. I took the girls to Provo's Colonial Days. They have reenactments of the signing of the Declaration, a short tour through the printing press that printed the first Book of Mormon and Gutenburgh Bible, as well as, the first Deseret News. I learned a lot of things there that were really neat. I want to go back and do the 2 hour tour, but not with my kids. They could barely handle the 15 minute tour. It was really hot outside but they had a lot of fun activities to do. They had people dressed up from the Revolutionary War Era and when you walk up to the print shop they have several different flags from that time period. My favorite one (besides the first American Flag) was the one that had a snake cut into pieces that said "Join or Die." England and France and a few other European countries used to send their prisoners and slaves and "Vermin" basically to the "America's" for punishment. They were exiled from their country and sent to ours. So, Benjamin Franklin wrote an article in his newspaper that said we should return the favor and send these black snakes ( I think they were) to the Kings and Parliament of these countries. And so they did. I can't remember what the Join or Die was...I want to say that it meant that those who came from these countries had to take up arms with us and fight their people for our freedom or be killed. They had to join our side or die! Anyway, I thought that was a funny story. What's sad and hopeful at the same time is that we still get the very poor and destitute who try to make their way into our country looking for a better life. Some make it and some don't. And while I understand that we need to be careful about who comes here and what they do, we need to understand that the majority of those who come are looking for freedom from their different bondages and are we not the land of the free? Isn't this how our country was founded in the first place? The pilgrims left England to escape their Tyrant King who dictated how they lived, what they said, who and what and how they worshipped. Speaking of that, they had a replica of the Mayflower II and the girls signed their name on the registry. There was a big long thing to read on that registry but the girls wouldn't let me read it. They wanted to move on to the next thing. They had games to play that were played during that time, food to sample, we watched a few women actually spinning wool into thread, Abe Lincoln came out and gave a nice speech, they had chalk art and the girls tried their hand at that. In fact, we were admiring a chalk art picture of Betsy Ross and a few people were walking right across it! I said, "hey, that's not nice." So, when a man walked back across it Maddie said "Hey! Don't walk across the picture. It's rude!" The guy apologized and said he didn't even notice it. I bought a Declaration of Independence for a few dollars that I helped print on a real printing press and plan to do a nice patriotic display. As I sat and thought about who in my family has served their country I was amazed that I have a few. We ended our fun with a cup of homemade raspberry lemonade and the girls each bought a small American Flag that they bugged me to get. I really enjoyed it and I think the girls did too. When we got home I left Jason and the kids at his mother's house and headed out with his mom, sister and sister in-law to Sundance for a Patriotic performance by the Utah Symphony. I love the Symphony and there is nothing better than nature and music together. Sundance was beautiful! The weather was perfect and the program was phenomenal. The first half was a tribute to the 40th Anniversary of landing on the moon so they chose "spacey" music. They opened with Star Wars which I love! They also played to songs that were written after the planets. This English composer wrote 7 symphonies about the planets...he left out Earth and Pluto. We heard Mars and Jupiter. I'm pretty sure I was the only one in the audience who had ever heard these before because I had to listen to them for a music class in college. Robert Redford came in a while after it started and sat in the next section over from us. I tried to get a picture of him but he was sitting right next to the railing. The second half they played a march by John Philip Sousa and "Johnny comes Marching" (the ants go marching one by one hurrah! hurrah!) Then they played a medley of Big Band, Swing, 40's music. I love that music!!! I was so excited and had to really refrain myself from standing up and dancing. Then they went back to the patriotic music and played all of the songs for the different divisions of the armed forces. I love that part. Everyone stands up when their respective division is being played and it's nice to honor those who have served our country. They ended with Stars and Stripes Forever. I keep forgetting that I have a three-hand (well actually it's a six hand- three people) piano version of that song. I want my 2 sisters in-law and I to play it. I forget about it until the day of the 4th when it's too late to start it. Oh well, maybe I'll remember it for next year. I'm sure my sister in-law Kristy doesn't ever want to go to the symphony with me again because I hum along, play along if it's a song I've played on the violin or piano before, and I conduct along as well. What can I say? I love music! So, that finally brings us to the 4th. Jason went hiking in the morning with his dad and brother. His dad has this camera that takes pictures when it senses motion and they had retrieved it a day or two before to take the pictures off of it. They had pictures of deer, elk, bear, coyote, and even a bobcat. So, they were putting it back to take more pictures. If I understand it correctly, this helps them know about their hunting spots for hunting season. When he came home we loaded the kids in the car and headed out to a park that we go to every year with my extended Newbold family. We picked up Subway on the way and enjoyed it at the park. We have a water fight every year, but it wasn't as "wet" this year without my uncle Bryce who had to work this year. We play water balloon volleyball and other board/card games. The guys play a couple rounds of horseshoes. My dad came and got me and told me I had to get a picture of this. Jason had thrown a double ringer! My dad was so proud of him that I guess he thought it was scrap/blog worthy. It's in the slide show. Way to go Babe! When I got there to take the picture my uncle Jeff had knocked one of Jason's off (turd!) but they put it back for the picture because actually the game was already over. My dad and Jason won. The girls enjoyed playing on the playground with their dad and swinging. Nathan was a stinker and wouldn't take a nap. He's walking now and so he just wanted to explore. He was still cute though. We headed back to Jason's mom's house to have a BBQ and see his grandma. Then we skeedaddled on outta there to head to Murray park to meet up with my family and watch the "big fireworks." This is the first year we have done this. We felt the girls were finally ready for it. They loved it!!! Maddie was in 7th heaven and every single one of them was her favorite. Emma, of course, liked the pink ones. Nate wasn't sure what to make of them at first, but then decided that there were far too many other interesting things around him than fireworks. He didn't really care about them towards the end. I was worried and thought he might be a little deaf because the noise didn't seem to bother him. Remember that part in Mr. Holland's Opus when the firetrucks are going by and the little boy is sleeping through them and that's how they find out he's deaf? Well, I know that Nathan is not deaf but I was sure wondering. Afterwards we made the trek back home and scanned the radio stations for some patriotic music. It was so funny because I heard about three songs that were played at the symphony, one of which was Jupiter! Anyway, it was a fun filled day and I'm so grateful to live in a free country, be surrounded by family and friends and feel a sense of unity with everyone in the nation for at least one day. Happy Birthday America!

Going Exclusive

My friend sent me an e-mail that said her blog and another friends' blog had been hit by people they didn't know and pictures of their kids were being downloaded. I haven't quite figured out yet how to check that on my blog but decided I wasn't going to take any chances. Sorry for the incovenience. I'm also thinking about deleting the other blogs listed on the side so that random people don't blog stalk others who don't want that. It's sad that there are people out there who don't respect other people's privacy. We need a new plague. One that would just wipe out those naughty people like that!! Sorry, that wasn't nice. Anyway, thanks for coming to check out the blog and enjoy your stay!

Dance, Dance and more Dance

Last night Emma had her dance recital. She was so cute. Despite that fact that we had a little tiara malfunction she did an awesome job. In the video you can hear me telling her that it's ok leave it alone! She wouldn't let me pin it down so that was a lesson learned the hard way. She takes dance just over at our Rec Center with another little friend that we babysit once or twice a week. Her name is Avery and she's the little blonde girl next to Emma. The pictures of them actually dancing are from their rehearsal that they did right before the recital. I should have done the video on that one. There wasn't any technical difficulties. Oh well, she'll always remember it now! Grandpa and Grandma Newby, Kayla and Landon and Macin came to support her, as well as, Grandma Childs. They danced to the song "Where were you on our wedding day?" by Billy Joel I think. This was the first year that they had actual dancer costumes. In the past the teacher has gone to Kohl's or some place like that and bought little dresses or outfits. I almost prefer that because then she can wear them again to church. I don't think she'll be wearing this costume to church, but it sure is cute! I also got several videos of the girls dancing to the music of the other dances. Em sure can move. Grandpa Newby was also showing off some of his moves. It looks like we've got another little guy with happy feet! He does this cute little jig that is so funny. I'm glad I finally got it on video. I know his dad won't let me put him in dance so I have to enjoy it while I can (and while it's cute.) Afterwards we went to JCW's for some delicious burgers, onion rings and shakes. OMG they have the absolute BEST Banana shakes!! They taste like a banana cream pie and they are so flavorful. Their onion rings are the best too. It was a fun night and I'm very proud of Emma. She will be moving on up in the dance world. We are going to a professional studio in the fall. I bought her first pair of "real" ballet shoes this past weekend and we'll be getting tap shoes soon. She seems to really like it and is pretty good at it so I can't wait to see what she does in her new dance. I decided to take the summer off for swimming lessons and such so we'll see if she can wait until the fall. Good Job Emmy!

Father's Day

Father's Day was a very busy day for us. We have late church and so in order to see both sides of the family we decided to go to the early morning church with my parents. That means we had to get up at 6:15 to shower and get everybody ready to leave in time. I hate mornings!! The girls and I made breakfast for Jason- Banana Nut Bread cereal. He loves it and it was all we had time for. Then we gave him our gifts. I made him a Father's Day bragbook that he could take to work. The pictures are in the slide show and they are not doctored up or anything. It took me a long time to get them done and I didn't have time to go back and fix things. We also gave him his favorite after shave, a movie and one of his favorite treats-banana chips. Then we quickly packed up and headed off to church. Church was very nice. I always enjoy visiting my parents ward and seeing all of my friends there. I taught the music in primary when I lived in that ward and it's so amazing to me to see all of my little primary kids all grown-up. Some of them are in the youth programs now and I can't believe that so much time has gone by! The primary didn't sing which made me sad but that's ok. After church we had a delicious meal of grilled pork loin, salad, asparagus and herb potatoes. Banana splits for dessert and tons of games and fun concluded our day at my dad's. My parents gave Jason some golf things. Apparently his game is really bad and he needs all the help he can get. Just kidding!! They gave him a box of balls, a really nice glove and a range finder. He's excited to get back on to the course and try out his new things. Afterwards we headed over to his parents house to see his dad and have dessert. The kids had so much fun playing this new Curious George game. I've seen it at Walmart or Target and I've wanted to buy it. The kids loved it so much that they made me play it 6 or 7 times with them. We went outside for popsicles and ice cream and pretty soon we had this horendous wind storm. Did that stop the kids from playing backyard baseball? No Way! Maddie is getting pretty good at hitting the ball and Em keeps working at it too. Jason's mom gave him some much needed socks. She said that everytime she sees him he has holes in the bottom of his socks. It drives me crazy that he wears his socks down to mere threads before getting out a new pair. He does have new socks...and now he has more which I'm grateful for. So, not much going on. Just spending the day with family which is my favorite thing to do. I think Jason had a pretty good day as well. I know that he would have been much happier on the couch with sports on tv, but he was a good sport and spent it with family.

Happy Father's Day J!!

Summer Stampede

Two saturdays ago we went to the Utah Kids Club Summer Stampede at Wheeler Farm. The kids had such a fun time and it was an all day event! I volunteered to help at the ticket booth early in the morning and then the first few hours it started. So Jason came with all the kids and did a few of the shows until I was done at lunch time. Emma had her friend Avery with her and Maddie invited her friend Julianna to come along. We brought a picnic lunch so we took a break and ate and then afterwards went over to the Creamie booth and enjoyed a free creamie. The girls love playing on the bounce houses and slides so we went and spent some time there. They had a Karate demonstration there and Maddie was once again selected to go up and break a board. This time she got to keep it! I was at the ticket booth and Jason didn't have the camera so there are no pictures of that. There was just a ton of stuff to do there. Face painting, coloring, origami, squirt gun tag (it was supposed to be laser tag but the lasers don't work in the sunlight), plus all the hundreds of booths they have there of different vendors. My sister in-law and her two boys joined us later in the afternoon. The girls got princess crowns and wands and balloon animals. I was really surprised that Emma got her face painted. She usually doesn't like to do that. Her wand had a pink rose on it so that's what she wanted on her face. Maddie wanted a rainbow. I was really disappointed in the face painters. I could have done a better job with my eyes closed and I can't even draw stick figures with my eyes open! They weren't the ones we thought they were. The one we wanted we didn't find until the very end. But that's ok because it washed right off in the tub that night. My favorite part was watching Maddie hold the yellow albino snake. She was so brave and thought it was really cool. Then she amazed me even further and held the tarantula!! The snake I could do the tarantula?....NEVER! It was really funny because the two boys wouldn't go anywhere near the snake and spider. Nathan enjoyed the little bits of free time he had out of the stroller. Walking around with dad and crawling in the grass. I tried to only put a few pictures of all the fun things we did. So enjoy them in the slide show. Maybe next time you'll join us won't you?

New Moon Trailer

I just saw a trailer for the movie New Moon and I am all kinds of excited again!!! It will probably still be cheesy but I don't care. The special effects are SO MUCH BETTER than Twilight. I saw Jacob transform into a wolf....freaking amazing! Jacob looks really hot in the movie too. Nice and trim. I can't wait to go to it before everyone else sees it (hee hee!) Oh and by the way this is my 100th post. So happy 100th post to me!! Man, I sure do talk a lot don't I!

Last Day of School

Maddie with her Teacher Mrs. Dow

Last week was the end of school for Maddie. (Sniff! Sniff!) She has graduated from Kindergarten and given a certificate to advance to 1st grade. I was really put-out that they didn't do a graduation for the kids but oh well. I'm sure she doesn't care. They do have a Dance Festival the day before the last day and Maddie did such a good job! She got a little confused but got right back into it. She worked so hard to perfect some of those dance steps and showed us everyday *step, behind, step, kick!* Good job Moopsie!!

On the last day of school I had a lot of fun things planned. But first, do you ever have those moments where things just aren't going quite like you wanted and you say to yourself "if one more thing happens today I am going to blow-up!!"? Well, I had one of those days. The entire month of May was filled with careful planning on my part and other people calling me at the last second to change those plans, and of course THEY couldn't change THEIR plans I had to change MINE! Well, I had had enough and thursdsay night was just the last straw for me. I went home after choir and blew-up to Jason and wrote a nasty e-mail (that I never sent) and thought that I had it all out. I was still fuming when I woke up though. So, I had planned to make Maddie's teacher a watch for her Teacher Appreciation Gift, but the lady who had my watch face conveniently forgot to bring it to me. So I decided that I would give it to her on the last day. Well, she still didn't get it to me so I went over there and caught her by surprise and got it. I can't make the watch band without the face. So, Friday morning I hurried up and finished making two watch bands and quickly made a card that said "To a Child Love is spelled T-I-M-E" and thanked her teacher for giving so much of it to Maddie. Each bead on the band had a special meaning and so I wrote that down for her as well. Then I made her a fun orange one for summer. So, then I jumped in the shower and got myself clean just in time to jump out and go pick up Maddie and give the gift (keep in mind that my hair is still wet and I have no make-up on.) Then it was off to take Emma and Avery to dance class. Then Maddie and I headed home to quickly make our lunches to take to my mother in-laws work. We were going to go there for a picnic and feed the ducks and play on the playground. Maddie and I had a really fun time working together and she was so excited. I'm just about to head out the door to pick up Emma and Avery when the phone rings. I shouldn't have answered it because I would just barely make it there as it was, but I glanced at it and saw that it was my mother in-law. So I answered it. Apparently nobody else had made a sack lunch (even though I had made phone calls and told Liz the night before that this was what I was doing) and so they wanted to go to McDonald's and so could I put my lunches in the fridge and meet them at McyD's. Well, now it's not a huge deal to open the fridge and put 4 lunch sacks in it and close the door and be on my merry way...but it was the principle of the thing. I asked if they could just bring their lunch and picnic with us, but there was talk of the girls feeling left out, blah, blah, blah, in the end, I threw the lunches in the fridge with upset tears in my eyes and lead-footed it to pick up Emma and Avery now 5-10 minutes late. I kept telling myself that it was no big deal, but there was that little voice that kept telling me that it was okay to be mad and throw a fit because it happened again! It was ok to be upset because I could have spent that time doing my hair and make-up rather than making lunches that I had specially gone grocery shopping for the day before! (and at Walmart no less!) I had everything planned and somebody at the last second wanted me to make it more accomodating for them. I tried to be happy with a smile on my face for the kids so that I didn't ruin their fun, but things had been boiling for too long and now they were boiling over. Needless to say that I was not in a good mood that afternoon and I tried not to speak to anybody for fear that I would bite their heads off and just tried to get through lunch. Of course it wasn't Liz's fault that I was in a bad mood. She didn't do anything wrong. Like I said, I shouldn't have answered the phone and then none of this would have happened. Or, I could have just not thrown a fit. It just happened to be the wrong time and place to throw a wrench (however small) into the works.

After lunch I had already invited my sister in-law and her two boys to come over and swim on the slip and slide. I didn't think that she would want to come after the way I behaved, but she did come and I was so glad that she did. Kristy and I are more like sisters than sisters in-law. We can talk to each other about our moods and our day and not feel bad. We can vent and help each other get through the emotions and then we're done and feel tons better. We had a great afternoon watching the kids play. Apparently there's more than one way to slip and slide. Watch the video and you'll see.

Avery-just run across it (the first few times she crawled all the way down but then she just started running instead.)

Tyler-run all the way and then slide into home!

Zack-be a man and slide on your tummy!

Emma-prepare yourself by getting into a diving position and just go for it. (she would start back at the tree-take a deep breath-start running and stop as soon as she got to the slide and then take another deep breath and go into a diving stance and then slide)

Maddie was at her BFF Julianna's house having a swimming party. When I picked her up Jason and I were supposed to go to the temple and Kristy was going to watch the kids, but time had eluded me and I wasn't ready to go. So Kristy and I decided to take the kids to see the new movie "UP" in 3D. We had such a fun time. That is a really cute movie and has a lot of funny parts in it. Maddie gets really sensitive when animals are getting captured or hurt and had a hard time in a few spots. I won't spoil it for you but it was really tender. The kids loved it and I can't wait to see it again. Jason had some guy time with his brother Todd and Nathan watching the basketball game. Despite my poor behavior during lunch (sorry everybody! But if you only knew...) it turned out to be a pretty good day. Now on to summer fun!

Call in the Reserves!

A few weeks ago we planted our garden. We planted some plants and some seeds. I took a lot of pictures but I am still having trouble with my computer transferring my pics. Anyway, we decided to take a picture of the whole garden but it looks really nice! We both said, 'well, if we don't grow anything at least it looks nice.' Last week I was out weeding the garden and watering it and I found...some shoots coming up! My onions, lettuce, peas, beans and spinach are growing!!! You don't really fully understand what this means to me. This is my first garden and I thought for sure the only thing I'd be able to grow were weeds. I'm still learning a lot and I hope that we actually have a harvest this year. A lot of my plants are doing well and growing too. So, yesterday I had one of those most embarrassing and shameful moments of my life! It was Memorial Day and so I had to get up early to go perform with the Lehi Chorale at our Memorial Day Presentation. This year they honored women veterans which I thought was really neat. Anyway, Jason's dad and brother were going to come over and help him dig trenches around the house to hook up this new blasted irrigation system that our city put in. That way you have the culinary water for your house and the irrigated water for your yard. Anyway, I get home and see that there is a parade of cars in front of my house and Jason's ENTIRE FAMILY is out there weeding my front yard and helping Jason dig. Ok, seriously, I was SOOOOO grateful...but I haven't weeded for like a month or more. I've been pretty good about the beds right in front of my door, but horrible with the other larger bed. I hyperventilate just looking at it! But even the beds right in front my house haven't been done for a month (maybe a little bit longer). I felt terrible that they came and spent their holiday morning working in my yard because I'm too busy (and lazy if truth be told) to do it. Our lawn is mostly dead as well because we didn't have a lawn mower until about a week ago and we haven't been able to turn on the sprinklers because we had to hook this whole thing up first. The sad part is that my house is just as bad as my weeds-overgrown and out of control! I nearly lost control of the tears right then and there. I was talking to Jason about it after everyone had left and I told him how grateful I was to them for doing that but how horrible it made me feel. He said, 'oh well, on the bright side it's done.' And I said, ya, but on the other side, now I have to keep it up! I sat there after they were gone and pretty much the whole day and thought, what do I do exactly all day that my house and the weeds could get so bad? I won't list them all here but I realized that I am actually pretty busy and hopefully things will slow down once school is out. But I'm sure I'll find something else to fill up that time! Anyway, if any of Jason's family are reading this THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mommy Bookworms

Just wanted to let you know that I started posting on my Mommy Bookworms blog again. I was trying to do all that stuff on Goodreads, but it takes way too much time. So, I'm back on that blog. Check it out if you like to read or if you're looking for something to read this summer. I also post children's book on there as well so if you need something new for your kids to read or to read with your children take a gander. P.S. I was at the store last night looking at the magazines while waiting in line and on the cover of one was Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Gotta admit...he's not that good looking and I'm starting to lose my love of the movies. I hope when the movie is actually out that it will change my mind. I think I like him better as Cedric Diggory to be brutally honest with ya. He looks...scruffy looking and...I don't know...just doesn't look good to me. *Sigh* I know there are better things to worry about. Well, back to my reading!

DAY 6: The Adventure comes to an end!

Well, here we are on the last day. (sniff! sniff!) We've had such a fun time I really hate to see it end. The kids have been so good and it's really been nice to spend time with just them and not worry about work and school and other things going on. We had a real bonding moment with our kids. Even Jason commented on how much fun he had! I don't know about you, but packing up to head home is worse than packing to leave. I'm so worried that we are going to leave something behind. Check out was at 11:30 but we wanted to get an early start on the day. We had to leave at around 4 to get to the airport so we wanted to cram as much as we could into our last day. Today we are going to the California Adventure Park. We had a lot more fun than I thought we would. We went to all the shows. First we went on the Monsters Inc. ride. Such a cute ride. We saw the Disney Playhouse show and that was awesome! So much fun for the kids. We went to the Muppet 3D show. I love those 3D things. I had to leave a little early because Nathan was soooo tired but just wouldn't turn it in. So I took him outside because he was crying and by the time everyone came out (which was like 5 minutes later) he was zonked. We saw the Aladdin show. That was fun, but a really long one. The Genie was trying to be funny...but not. You know how they are. Disney is really cheesey sometimes! We stopped for lunch and had some yummy hot dogs with lots of stuff on them. What else did we do?....Oh! We went to Bug's Life and that was fun. Their 3D show was kind of scary for the kids because it gets really dark and then they hit you with bees and such. It's just air but it feels real. During one of the "scary" moments I looked over to where Maddie was sitting next to me and she wasn't there! I kept feeling around for her and finally found her ducking for cover on the floor. It was so funny. I really wish I could have taken a picture of that! They have some really cute rides for the kids in the Bug's Life area. The kids liked the rollercoaster and bumper cars. Then it was time to start heading back. I had to pick up some hats that were being printed for me over at Disneyland so we needed to make our way over there and then load up for the airport. Like I said, we didn't have a lot of time today. We went to the gift shops so the girls could get their souvenires. Maddie chose a really fun Ariel locket and Emma chose a Cinderella locket. Ok, so now the REAL fun begins! Loading up the car was quite the chore. We didn't factor in how many pieces of luggage we had PLUS the stroller. So we all had to share our leg room with suitcases and such. The drive was fun to the airport. We got to do a little site seeing while we were at it. The Long Beach Airport is really small and kind of po-dunk if you ask me. The kids had to help with the luggage and car seats. Emma decided that she could help best by screaming and crying about it the whole time. I think that things might not have been so stressful if she hadn't been throwing a fit. But she's got such a high pitch ear piercing scream and cry that just really hurts your head. So, that's how it began. There were no employees there to help us get into the right line and they weren't marked very well. There were two very nice gentlemen who helped us with our luggage but when it was our turn to go to the counter the lady informed me (quite rudely) that we were in the wrong line. So I kind of snapped back that this was our first time here at this airport and that there was nobody here to help us. Most of the people there were in our line anyway so we figured there was really only one line. Anyway, after that she was very sweet to me. Turns out that one of the employees just up and left. I overheard the lady talking to someone else about it. Nathan started to get fussy because it was time for him to eat and he was tired. So, we had two screaming children, a truckload of luggage and the two of us trying to get it all situated. We finally got all the luggage checked but the kids were still crying. Then came the security. Man oh Man what a hassle. They took my bottle of sunscreen that we forgot to pack in the suitcase because we had it with us at the park and said that it was too big. She told me I could go back and check it or throw it away. I told her to just throw it away because I'm not that desperate for sunscreen to go and check it! Then we had to all strip down again and the girls had on a lot of jewelry at this point. I had to fold down the stroller and strip Nathan, go through, then set the stroller back up and gather all of our stuff and try to get us to the terminal. Fortunately I'm a wiz at the stroller and can do it one handed! Anyway, Emma is still crying all through this and so is Nathan. We get over to the "terminal", it really looks like a waiting room with a little cafeteria and the girls of course tell me that they are hungry. We sit down and I whip out some minnie mouse cookies that I had secretly bought for them and then they were quiet. While I was trying to get Nathan's bottle ready a man came up to me and said that if it was alright with me he had gone ahead and purchased suckers for the girls. I almost burst into tears at that moment. I told him he was so sweet and gave him many thank you's. The girls loved their suckers. So, Maddie had her balloon with her that we told her could not go on the plane, but we let her carry it as far as it could go. Then another meltdown because she didn't want to let it fly away and she didn't want to pop it either. So I suggested that maybe we could let the air out of it and save the pink mickey balloon in the middle to blow up later. Ok, so mom's know that you say things to get them to just do what you want. Jason kind of gave me this look like "you can't be serious. There is no way we are going to blow this thing up again." I gave him the look that said "just do it and I will deal with it later." So, being the awesome father that he is, he took care of it and you could still tell that it was a mickey balloon when he was finished with it. She gladly took it and stuck it in her bag. Phew! Another crisis averted. Thankfully one of the employees came over to me and helped me get the stroller checked and then we were one of the first ones on the plane. We flew Jet Blue home and I have to tell you, I REALLY liked them. Each seat has their own t.v. and they give you the whole can of soda instead of just the cup and they had a bunch of different snacks to choose from. The girls thought they were so special. And guess who was sitting behind me? The nice gentlemen and his friend who bought the girls the suckers. The kids behaved themselves on the plane and we had a smooth ride home...until the turbulance hit. It was pretty bad. Well, we were coming home to a nice big rain storm! Anyway some of the drinks spilled because the flight attendants weren't able to get to everyone with the trash bags soon enough but the girls did really well during it. The lady behind us was kind of freaking out and I had a hard time keeping my giggles quiet. All in all, the experience with Jet Blue was really good. AAHHH, HOME! We landed and got our stroller which was wet from the rain but not too bad. We got our luggage...except for Nathan's bag. A few other people were missing bags as well. We flagged down an employee and he went off to find someone to help us because the baggage claim office was closed. As he went down the hallway I happened to notice that something opened up on the wall and out came a bag and the employee went over to get it. It was our bag! Phew! The other people were wigging out and asking us where we found our bag and I told them and set the pack of wolves onto the poor employee. Grandma Childs came to get us and we headed home. With only one more stop...McDonalds. We were starving! So we ate, unpacked a little and went to bed. We were so happy to finally be home and sleep in our own beds and dream about all the fun we had. I can't wait to go again in two years for Emma's birthday! **FYI-Maddie did ask me for about a week after we got home to blow up her mickey balloon. I went through the motions of trying to blow it up and then Jason tried and then we had Maddie try, but in the end, we couldn't do it (surprise, surprise). She was a little disappointed but I told her we could hang it up on her wall if she wanted to. Here we are a month later and she's forgotten all about it.**

DAY 5:

Today we went to the beach. We slept in and had donuts and juice for breakfast. Yummy! We rented a car from Enterprise and so they came and picked up Jason and he came back with a nice little car. We got in our suits, packed our gear and headed off to the beach. Of course, today was one of the colder, windier days in California, but what do you expect? We went to a grocery store and grabbed some things for lunch. We had coupons for sandwiches at Subway and so we grabbed drinks and chips and some fruit. After lunch we went out to the ocean and dipped our toes in. The water was freezing and the wind blowing didn't help things much. Maddie was so excited to FINALLY be at the beach. She's been telling people for years that we were going to the beach. The girls ran in...and then ran back as fast as they could. Maddie enjoyed playing in the ocean until she tripped or got caught in a wave and it "started to carry me away." I asked her if dad saved her and she said no, she saved herself. After that, it was a little while until she would go back in the water. Jason loves the beach! He had a lot of fun playing in the ocean. He made me watch him "tear into the water" several times. I taught the girls how to look for good seashells and we had so much doing that. Everyone agrees that the best shell was found by mom. I found a shell that was still intact and had the clam still inside. We brought home a lot of shells and some sand. I taught Maddie how to play Hari Kari. It's a game my dad made up when we went to Hawaii with my Madrigal group in high school. You kneel down and then when the waves slam against your back you have to try and stay up. It is so much fun and I play it everytime we go to the ocean. It's fun, but man it's a killer on your knees. Sometimes that water is so strong that it throws you and slams you down. I've walked away with many a bump and bruise courtesy of the big blue! Maddie really enjoyed that. I helped her get over her fears of the ocean. Of course, the whole time I'm telling her not to be afraid I am secretly screaming inside. I am so afraid of sharks being there in the ocean that it's almost paralyzing. Thanks a lot JAWS! It didn't help that Jason put the fear of God into the girls the night before. He was trying to teach them not to go off by themselves so that they didn't get caught in the waves and ended up scaring them to tears. I gently tried to tell him that there was a much nicer way of telling them that rather than telling them that they'd get carried out to sea and lost forever or drown. He thought that it was a teaching moment. I agreed, just could have used a better teacher! Little Bud loved the sand. He didn't quite like the water as much. It was too cold for his tootsies. But he had fun in the sand kicking his feet and picking it up and throwing it. He liked to walk in the sand and play with the towels. After a little while we decided to head back. So I took Maddie to the bathroom while Jason and Emma cleaned up and on the way she said, "Well mom, this was a pretty great day!" I was so glad to hear her say that. We headed for home and the kids decided that they wanted to go swimming in the pool. So, they all went swimming and I took pictures and just sat for a minute. After swimming we got dressed and headed out to dinner. Tonight we ate at the famous In and Out restaurant. According to Jason, Californians will fight people to the death about these burgers being the best in the whole wide world. Personally...it's just another burger to me. Supposedly we are getting one out here in American Fork...yippee-can't wait! (that was said sarcastically, by the way.) I don't know, we had to go eat there because you can't go to California without at least going there once. Ok, so I went, now what? I don't feel any different. Maybe a little fatter from eating grease on a bun with onions but other than that? I'll take my McDouble any day! The shakes and fries were good though. After dinner we took Maddie to the Build-A-Bear at Downtown Disney. Her aunts gave her a gift card for there and so we went and spent it wisely. She chose a dog to build instead of a bear. She picked out a heart and a sound. So now when you press it's paw it says "I love you." She helped stuff it and then she had to fluff it and give it a "bath." Then we had to dress it. She picked out a Princess Jasmine outfit. Of course we had to have the complete ensemble with crown and shoes to match. Then we picked out a name and registered it. Guess what she named it? Yep-Jasmine. I decided to make it a different spelling and spelled it J A ### Y N. She's got such an imagination...except when it comes to naming things. I was really surprised when she didn't name it Seashell because that's been the name for everything else lately. Anyway, we got it registered and they gave her a birth certificate and a house for her and she's loved that thing ever since. Emma has already decided what she is going to make for her birthday- a ballerina bear. I think that's only because she didn't see the Cinderella outfits. Anyway, she had a really fun time and is so proud of her Jasmyn dog. Thanks Aunt Nic and Aunt Amy for such a great birthday present! After that we made the walk back to the hotel. We stopped and took pictures by the fountain. My kids love water. Maddie is part Mermaid and so she has to get her fix every once in a while and play in water-no matter where it is. The girls danced to some Peruvian music and then we headed home for a good night's rest. Tomorrow is our last day and we will be heading home. I'm sad. It's been a fun trip but all things must come to an end I guess. Well, see you next time for the conclusion to our adventure. And let me tell you...it was a doosie!

DAY 4:

Well, here we are to day 4 of our wonderful adventure! We are heading back over to Disneyland today. We got up early so we could be there as soon as it opened. We went on all of the rides that we weren't able to go on on Monday. First up, the Peter Pan ride. There was a two hour wait the entire day on Monday and so we decided to go on that ride first. It's a fun ride but I'm still puzzled about why it's so popular that there is a two hour wait! We went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Pinocchio, Snow White and of course the Carousel again. We went on the Casey Jr. Train ride and walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle. Nathan fell asleep and so Jason and the girls went on the teacups and the Alice in Wonderland ride again while I sat with the wee lad. Then we headed over to Toon town to be there when it opened. While we waited, Jason and the girls went on Small World again. Then we went to Toon town and saw Minnie, Mickey and Pluto. We went on the rides there and Maddie loved Gadget's Roller Coaster. We spent some time there and then headed to get some lunch. That was quite the ordeal! There was some false advertising and we were very disappointed. They had said that there was a Round-up BBQ and so we walked clear to the other end of the park to find it. Turns out that it's a Character thing and it's like $100 bucks to do it. I'm not paying that for BBQ-sorry! So we went to the Hungry Bear restaurant and had some sandwiches and such and relaxed a little. Then we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride and saw Pooh and Tigger. Emma is scared of those kinds of characters and so it was just Maddie and I. Then Maddie got a little to silly and hit Pooh Bear on the head. She thinks that because she is 6 now she can jump really high and touch people's shoulders. So, she was showing Pooh that she could jump really high and hit him on the head. I got upset with her because I asked her to stop doing that. So, then she was upset the rest of the time and didn't cooperate for pictures. But I LOVE Pooh and Tigger and so I got my pictures taken with them. Jason and Maddie went on the Indiana Jones ride together. While I waited with Emma we saw Princess Jasmine!! Oh Emma was in heaven. Now she had seen all of the princesses and the best part for Emma was that Maddie didn't get to see Jasmine. The kids went through Tarzan's tree house and then we headed back over to Tomorrowland. We killed a little bit of time while we waited for a show to start on went on the Mark Twain boat ride. We did the "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" 3D show and went on Buzz Lightyear again. We wanted to go on Space Mountain but the kids were getting tired and we wanted to get a good seat for the parade that was starting soon. So we headed off to find a seat and get a snack. I had to go buy Nathan another hat because his was either stolen or fell out. We came out of Sleeping Beauty's castle and his hat was no longer on the stroller. Sad :( So I left Jason with the kids for a few minutes and ran to get him another hat with his name on it and of course found a few other things for him too- a ball and a baby mickey that has a pull string binky that plays music and has embroidered on his little tushy "My first Mickey." AAWWW cute! Anyway, I headed back, got the kids a pretzel and we waited for the parade. It was a dance parade of some kind and so it had some fun music and dancers. We couldn't see very well, but we sure enjoyed watching Emma dance! That little girl loves to dance! She could not stand still without tapping her toe or waving her arms. I took several videos of her. I've included a little snippet for you to enjoy. After the parade we decided it was getting kind of late and we wanted to go get dinner. By now we have gone on all the rides that we wanted to go on and we saw all of the shows that there was to see and we were pretty tired on our feet! We headed over to Downtown Disney and hit the dinner rush. We wanted to go to the Rainforest Cafe but it was too long of a wait for our tummies. So we went to the ESPN ZONE restaurant for Jason. He was pretty happy being in his element with food and sports games. I think there were 12 or so large t.v.'s there each with a different sports game on. HEAVEN! After that it was back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day at......Found out tomorrow (or whenever I get it up!)

Happy Mother's Day

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=rvqMppmHJ0yCCZIolxOaYTExNzQ0NDEy&referred_by=15798312-74_xsyx&p=moveon Check this out! My friend Heather sent this to me for Mother's Day. What a sweetie. Of course it's not true, but it certainly made my day and made me feel worth something as a mom. Thanks Heather and Happy Mother's Day to you too! HAPPY MOTHER's DAY TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL MOTHERS!

DAY 3:

Our last post left the Childs Family resting after a fun-filled day at Disneyland. What new adventure awaits them today? Tuesday morning we woke up bright and early to catch our tour bus heading to SEAWORLD!!! I love Sea World and Maddie loves animals and water and so I thought the combination of the two would be the perfect thing. The bus ride was long and before we knew it all three of the kids had conked out. In the pictures you'll see them all asleep on the bus. I even fell asleep. Our bus driver pointed things out to us at the beginning of the trip and then as we got closer to San Diego he said that he wanted to point out "a very beautiful building that looks like a castle. The temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints." The San Diego temple is so beautiful and we quickly woke up the kids so they could see it. My girls literally Love to see the Temple. I thought it was really neat that our tour guide would make a special point of making sure we saw that. So, we arrive at Sea World and we look at our map and show times and make our plan of what we're going to do. First stop, the seals and sea lions. Before we went and grabbed our seats for the show we fed the seals and sea lions. Maddie was not paying attention and the very first fish she tried to feed she put up and over the glass wall. A seagull came out of nowhere and snatched it right out of her hand. It really freaked her out and she got a little upset. We showed her the little hand holes that they have for to slip the fish in so the gulls don't get them. She loved feeding the animals. The show was pretty good. They did a t.v. show theme and had the Iron Chefs and Dancing with the Stars and a Law and Order kind of a thing and a few others that I can't remember right now. The big pink blob that you see in some of the pictures is a walrus and boy is that thing unpleasant to look at. At first I thought it was a Manatee it was so huge! The little otter was so cute and mischievous. He even had a little stage fright...so adorable. When we asked the girls which one they liked the best, of course Emma said she liked the pink one. Next was Shamu. My favorite. They are such beautiful animals but still strike a little fear in the pit of your stomach. There were a few dolphins in the show and they are so amazing to watch. Maddie started getting a little upset because she wanted to go down and touch the animals. I had made the mistake of telling the girls that you could touch and pet the dolphins because I remember doing that on my last trip to San Diego about 10 years ago. I even have pictures of it. But, apparently they don't have that anymore. If you want to get up close and personal with the dolphins you have to pay through the nose to do it. Which I was more than willing to do for Maddie because I knew how much she loves animals, but the times they had available conflicted with other shows and things going on. Anyway, I tried to explain to her that we weren't allowed to do that anymore. Sure enough, as soon as I get her calmed down, they show a little boy that they had selected from the audience to go do and touch Shamu. That started the tears rolling again because she wanted to that and wondered when it would be her turn. I was trying not to get too upset with her because I knew her little heart wanted nothing more than to just sit and swim with these graceful animals, but she sure wasn't giving up on her whining about it! We took a break and had some lunch. The kids got souvenir Shamu lunch pails. Then off to the other shows. We pet the stingrays. Emma was a little chicken about it and Mads could never get her hands down far enough into the water. Jason helped her a little and she was a little scared at first, but then just loved it. I admit that I was freaking out inside about their barbed tails. Jason could tell and reminded me that they were probably de-barbed, but ever since the Crocodile guy died from that I can't get it out of my mind. We touched some starfish and held a few of them and saw some pretty large sea turtles. We found a few flocks of flamingoes and I took a few pictures of Em doing her best flamingo impression. We went and saw the penguins and manatees and all the aquariums and the sharks. OOOO, they scare me! Had an ice cream treat break and then headed off to see the dolphins. Back to the crying about touching the dolphins again. We sat on the very front row and yep, got soaked. It was so much fun! I didn't get very good pictures though because I kept hiding my camera so that it wouldn't get wet. I'd bring it back out as fast as I could, snap the picture and then hide it again. I don't think the Em enjoyed getting wet though. They had a new show this year. Amazing pets or something like that. They had these dogs and cats and pigs and birds and you named it trained and do a little show for us. It was pretty amazing. They told us that all the animals they trained were all adopted from a shelter or found on the streets. They let the kids come up afterwards and pet some of the animals. FINALLY!!! Maddie could touch an animal. Too bad it had to be a dog and pig, but hey, she was happy! I'm pretty sure we saw all that there was to see. They don't have their really cool shows in the off season but we still had a pretty packed and fun day. Maddie was given birthday money from her great-grandma Redd and so she wanted to buy a necklace. She chose a purple jeweled starfish necklace that broke about 10 minutes later. She was playing with Nathan and it got caught on the stroller and snagged. I've since fixed it but sadly, there are no pictures of it. I let the girls choose their souvenirs. Emma chose a pink dolphin that was attached to a large twisty sucker, and Maddie chose a large stuffed Shamu. Emma lovingly refers to her dolphin as her "pink Shampoo." Maddie's favorite show was Shamu and she has been in love with that thing ever since. In one of the pictures I took of her with her Shamu he is doing a "trick." We headed home on the bus and saw the temple one last time. We had the bus drop us off a little bit before our hotel so we could grab a bite to eat at IHOP's and then headed home. It was such a fun day and I'm glad we decided to take a day out for Sea World. The girls have loved it and hung up their postcards we bought in their room. I'm so thankful that my children have such a love for these amazing animals that Heavenly Father has created. Madalynn reminds us to love all of Heavenly Father's creatures...except spiders. So off to bed to catch some sleep before we wake up and head off to.... WHERE WILL THE CHILDS FAMILY GO NEXT? Find out tomorrow when we return to the CHILDS FAMILY ADVENTURE! The pictures of us standing in front of the Mickey statue were taken in front of our hotel while we were waiting for the bus to come.

DAY 2:

When we left the Childs Family, they had a pretty crazy adventure at the airport. They had just retired for the evening to get up early to go to....Da Da Da DAAAAA DISNEYLAND!!! Today is Madalynn's 6th Birthday! We began our day with a walk to IHOP for breakfast. Their stuffed french toast is to die for! Maddie enjoyed 5 pancakes with each different kind of syrup and Emma loved her cheese eggs. Jason and I got the same thing but differently flavored. Then we headed to our destination for the day, Disneyland. When you go to Disneyland on your birthday they have a few options for you, one of which is that you get in free. We decided to go with the gift card for her so that she could buy whatever she wanted. They gave her a pin that said it was her birthday and all day long people wished her a Happy Birthday. It really made her feel special. When we got there the Disneyland Marching Band (or whatever they are called) put on a little show for us and that was fun. Then we headed off to the rides. First up, the Carousel. This was Emma's favorite ride. We rode on the teacups, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Storybook Ride, pretty much everything there. I took the girls on the Matterhorn and I couldn't tell from the screaming if they liked it or not. Maddie sat in front and Emma and I sat in back. Emma kept saying Stop! Stop! I don't want to be on this ride! At the end it slows down and you dip into a little bit of water and that's when Emma goes "WEEE." Maddie did not like the two monsters that were there. I had forgotten about them. But she really loved that it went fast and later asked to go on it again. We stopped off at the Mad Hatter to get our hats. I was adamant that the kids were getting hats with their names on them. After a few tears and fits we had finally decided what we wanted. Maddie chose the princess Minnie ears. I wanted Emma to get that too, but she just wanted the crown that was on them and not the ears. She ended up deciding on a Princess Cap that came with some cute sunglasses. I selected a bucket hat for Nathan that says "My First Mickey Hat" and I look horrible in hats but wanted one anyway. So I chose the Princess bucket hat. The day we went to Disneyland it was like 103 degrees and it was almost unbearable. I wanted the girls to wear hats so that their little heads didn't get burned. Maddie wore her ears for a while and then wore my hat the rest of the time. Jason was a party pooper and didn't get a hat. I should have forced him like I did the kids, but he's a big boy and can choose for himself. If he doesn't want to participate with the family that's his choice...but I'm going to keep rubbing it in for the rest of his life! They just recently opened up Small World again and it is very nice. I don't know if it is longer than it used to be, but they did such a nice job restoring it and adding new things. We ate lunch and had the best corndogs ever! One of the guys that Jason works with told us that we HAVE to try their corndogs. You get them on Mainstreet from a little car that looks like a fire engine. They are verrrrryyyy gooooood! I like that they give you a choice of either potato chips or apple slices. We got both and shared. They have a nice mother's room there now and so I took care of Nathan there, out of the heat. It was refreshing. Then off to more rides. Maddie and I went on Star Tours and she loved it so much that she went and got her dad and went on it again. When she came back she asked me if I saw her spaceship leave. I told her that I did but that I was glad she was back now. The Buzz Lightyear ride is fun. For those who don't know about it you have little laser guns and you're on a mission to defeat ZURG (Buzz's father hee hee). They have targets all around and you shoot the lasers and you can move your car around and such. Well, I didn't know that we were actually keeping score and I had Nathan with me so I didn't do as well as I could have the first time. The second time I sent Nathan with Jason and still didn't do so well. It was still fun and Maddie loved shooting the bad guys. Emma preferred to just spin the car. The Nemo ride is fun and we only waited about 25 minutes for it. It's so amazing what these imagineers come up with! Maddie was so excited to see Bruce the Shark and Emma wanted to find Dori. Nathan enjoyed looking out of the window and climbing around. Jason took the girls to Autotopia to drive the cars. I love that Disney does a rider exchange for those of us who have small children who can't go on the rides. If it was a ride that both Jason and I wanted to go on then one of us would go and the other one waited and then they let you just switch riders and you don't have to wait in line again. In the case of driving the cars they let Jason and the girls switch drivers without waiting in line again. So Maddie got to drive first and then they just went into a different car and Emma got to drive next. I stayed behind and fed Nathan and enjoyed being off my feet for a few minutes. By now it's time to go to dinner. We are having dinner with the Princesses at Ariel's Grotto and that is at the California Adventure Park. So we walked across the way and waited our turn to see Ariel. I don't have the pictures of Ariel up because I paid for the ones that they took and I have to scan those in and my computer runs really slow if I have my printer/scanner on and then I have to restart the computer....so I'll post those later. I thought Emma was going to faint as excited as she was to see Ariel. She was just bustin out the seams with each new princess she saw. The restaurant is decorated in a Sea motif, of course, and the booths that we sat in look like a big seashell. Shortly after we sat down someone was being sung Happy Birthday and Maddie started to cry. I told her that there were a lot of people here today who had a birthday and that when it was her turn she would get sung to as well. We ordered our food and boy was it delicious! Maddie ordered the Sea Shells and Cheese and Emma chose the tri-tip beef or something like that. I had the Spinach and mushroom pasta and Jason ordered the tri-tip beef that Emma had, but in a larger portion of course. Their beef was so good and very tender. The girls also got souvenir cups with a Tinkerbell light on it and thought they were queens! The appetizer is a four-tiered plate that has jello squares with fruit in it on the first plate, various veggies on the second plate, more veggies and some spicy cheese balls on the third, and a really yummy salad on the bottom plate. The dressing was so good. It was some kind of vinaigrette that was so light I didn't even know the lettuce had dressing on it. They gave the girls some crowns to decorate with stickers and they had fun doing that. While we waited for our entrees the Herald came out to announce the arrival of the princesses. He started to read his scroll and announced that there was a family here celebrating a very special day and he called our family up and everyone gave a toast to Maddie for her birthday. Then we got to read the scroll and announce the first princess...BELLE! The girls were so excited and I think Jason was excited to because Belle is his favorite. He is a little disappointed that he didn't get his picture taken with her. My camera is so crappy sometimes and I was so worried that it wasn't going to work with Belle there that I didn't even think about Jason being with his princess. Sorry Honey! After that we went back to our table and Belle came and signed the girls books and got her picture taken again and headed off to the next table. One by one the princesses were announced and came to our table for autographs and pictures and they each wished Maddie a happy birthday. Cinderella is Emma's favorite and she told the princess that. Ariel is Maddie's. We also saw Snow White (whose voice was REALLY annoying-and on purpose!) and my personal favorite Sleeping Beauty. Emma was disappointed that Jasmine didn't come. After dinner came the desserts. The table on the other side of us had a birthday and then one other table had a birthday right after that and Maddie was starting to get a little frustrated. Everybody was getting a little brownie with a candle in it...but not my princess. I had ordered a very special cake for her. When it was finally her turn they brought out a pink jewelry box with a hand mirror. Inside the box was a cake with Ariel and three Mickey Ear balloons. They sang Happy Birthday and then she blew out her candles and dug right into the cake. So, I didn't get a picture of it :( Jason and I enjoyed a platter of chocolate everything. Well, I enjoyed the huge piece of double fudge brownie and the chocolate molten lava cake. He enjoyed the raspberry tartlets. There was also a large conk shell made purely out of white chocolate that looked to pretty to eat. But Maddie saw to that an gnawed on it the rest of the night. After that we headed back to Disneyland to see if we could get on some of the more busier rides. We also thought that there was supposed to be a fireworks show, but they only did that on the weekends. The paper we had said that it was a daily thing but apparently that was only for the week of Spring Break. We did see the fireworks from our hotel the night before but I wanted to see the show. So we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion (the girls did better than I thought they would on that) and something else but I can't remember. Sometimes the best time for the more popular rides is at night. I told the girls that they could choose 1 souvenir each day and so we went to buy those. Maddie also had her gift card to use. Emma chose a PINK Minnie doll and Maddie chose a balloon with a pink Mickey Balloon inside of it. Trust me, she only got that because it was her birthday! With her gift card Maddie chose a Belle music box, some little princess dolls and a baby Duchess cat wrapped in a blanket. After we had all our stuff we headed home to the hotel. I can't remember how Emma ended up in the stroller but she fell asleep on the way home. Maddie told me that she had a pretty good birthday and I am very glad that we were able to celebrate it at Disneyland. Of course, Emmie had a little bit of a hard time because Maddie got to buy more things than she did. But we told Em that we would come here for her birthday and she is very excited about that. She's already decided what she's going to buy with her gift card. I asked Jason if we could come back for my 30th next year and he said no :( ( I told you he's a party pooper!) Ahhh, another fun day done and four more to go. We needed to get to bed because we had a really early morning to go to....TO BE CONTINUED! Find out where the Crazy Childs Family goes to next! The slide show is of the swimming pictures that I forgot to put in yesterday and our day at disneyland and Ariel's Grotto. I can only fit 50 pictures in the slideshow so consider yourselves lucky because there are WAY more pictures than that. Until tomorrow...