Lucky Us

We went to Sea World today with some friends. 9 kids and 4 adults--what were we thinking? But we had a great time and everyone behaved very well and we had perfect Sea World weather. On the 25 minute drive to Sea World from our house, I was thinking about how lucky we are to live in a place where there are so many activities and adventures right here at our fingertips. Who knows how long we will be living here, so we just have to take advantage of it all now--and according to Mark, we are!

Move over Romeo!!

I want to tell ya, after 8 years of marriage the romance is still very much alive here folks! Most husbands shower their wives with the traditional, dare I say--sometimes overdone- chocolates, roses, or perfumes for their anniversaries. Ha! But not my honey bunches! This year Mark added a "romantic" twist to celebrating our anniversary. He really out did himself I tell ya! Instead of all those silly traditional anniversary gifts, that eventually end up in the trash sooner or later, Mark wanted me to have a memorable day and instead showered me with bottles of cough syrup, snotty tissues and extra strength tylenol. That's right--he was sick for our anniversary!! It all started out with him complaining about a pain in his chest and difficulty breathing--fast forward a couple of hours, he goes to InstaCare and discovers he has a high fever and get this---pneumonia!!! (In July!!! In San Diego?! ) So there went our plans for our fun, romantic anniversary weekend down the drain. Not the most thrilling way to celebrate eight blissful years of marriage... We did order dinner in (which later I got sick from) and after putting the girls to bed (after 9 pm), watched a movie (only half though--that's all we could last for) and then headed to bed (in separate rooms of the house. He had pneumonia remember?? )So--jealous yet?? I told you we still had it!! But seriously, Mark is getting better and we have now exchanged gifts and have plans further on in the week to celebrate. Happy 8th Anniversary sweetie--I still love you anyway!

8 Years...

This weekend we celebrated our 8th anniversary.

A lot has happened over the last 8 years:

8 Moves (Provo basement apt, Granada Hills, Provo house, Ogden, Aliso Viejo, Trabuco Canyon, Scripps Ranch (San Diego), and Rancho Bernardo(San Diego)) - I think we are part gypsy. We can't seem to stay in one place too long. I think there is something exciting about moving to new places and getting to know the area and make friends there.

2 BYU Graduates - Go Cougars! Part of the love for BYU certainly revolves around our meeting there, dating, and our continued education after marriage.

2 Adorable Girls - Our girls are our lives...our house has been taken over by pink and toys!

Vacations (Hawaii, Mexico, Italy (for Alicia), Newport, Palm Desert, Lake Powell, Las Vegas, Utah, and others) - We love getting away from work and the grind of life!

KPMG - Orange County & San Diego

Club Paradise

One of my favorite movies growing up was a comedy called Club Paradise. This show didn't reach the cult following of Better Off Dead or The Princess Bride, but it was a great show with Robin Williams, Rick Moranis, Jimmy Cliff, Twiggy, etc. If you have never seen it, you probably need to rent it some weekend.




When we started the blog and were trying to think of a name, somehow Club Paradise came up. In addition to being one of my favorite shows, it was also the movie Alicia and I watched on our first date in Provo. As a double meaning, we felt that Club Paradise also reflected living in San Diego with our girls.

Be Careful....don't mistype our blog and go to clubparadise.com. I'm not sure the site content as our internet filter blocks it for adult content.

Mommy or Nanny??

I love taking my girls shopping. For the most part they are very well behaved and can last for hours and hours with very little bribbing or complaining. But, I especially love all the comments we get from fellow shoppers when we are out and about. There are my favorites--"Your girls are so adorable" or "they are so well behaved!" or "Look at their big beautiful blue eyes!" or "Where did she get her red hair from?" People have even given my girls little treats like lollipops or money. But my favorite comment came the other day while we were at Target. A women approached us and exclaimed "These girls are gorgeous! Are you their nanny?" When I told her no, she said "Oh! But you are WAY too young to be their mommy!" (She really did emphasize the way part) Ahhh!!! So sweet! On the whole, my girls are angels, but I think there are some days that I do wish I was only their nanny. Maybe next time Ellie is throwing a fit in the cart because I wouldn't let her get yet another My Little Pony, (I know, I am a mean mom because she only has 16 ponies), when someone approaches and asks me if I'm their nanny they will get a resounding YES!!!

Pool Princess

It's official. As of last Friday, Ellie has passed beginning swim lessons with flying colors. Everyday was a struggle gettting her there, but once she got in the pool, it was hard to get her out. She loves the water!

Shift Happens

I'm not sure I completely believe what some are speculating about globalization of the world and our economies, but I saw the following slide deck during a recent training and thought it was interesting. Some feedback about the slide deck calls it an attempt to establish socialism, but there are certain shifts occurring that we should at least consider.

glumbert.com - Shift Happens

The Beehive State

For 2 whole weeks, we got to visit good old Utah. Our niece was getting married--so we couldn't possibly miss that! We also figured if we were going to make the 12+ hour drive (each way!) with 2 little girls, that we were going to make the trek out there worthwhile and turn it into a family vacation. We had a great time! Mark golfed and golfed AND golfed (so what's new?), but surprisingly, Alicia didn't get a whole lot of shopping in this time. But we did take the girls to Cherry Hill, Fred's Gym, grandma's farm, the Dinosaur Park, Hogle zoo, BYU, the Kaysville parade, bowling and of course our niece's wedding! We played TONS with cousins, swam almost everyday, ate at all our favorite Utah restaurants, visited with lots of old friends, saw Transformers, had a couple of BBQs and swimming parties and just had a fabulous visit with our families. We loved being with family and friends, but boy was it HOT out there!!! Below are some pictures from the trip.

Our happy little family

We went out to Grandma Connie's farm in Harrisville on one of the mornings there. Ellie and Maddy loved petting the animals and had a super time riding around on the four wheeler.

Of course we had to stop and visit one of our old stomping grounds--BYU! It was kind of weird walking around campus with TWO kids in tow. The Creamery ice cream was as good as we remembered and Ellie sang the Cougar fight song for the rest of the afternoon! She says she wants to be a Cougar when she grows up--do you think we are brainwashing our children??

I Can Fly!

While in Utah, Ellie went to our sister-in-law's brother's gym and got to be harnessed in this bungee thingy and was bounced all around. She loved it and said she was "flying just like DUMBO!"

All American Girls

These were some of my favorite pics of the girls from the 4th of July. We had such a blast going out to breakfast, watching the Kaysville parade, swimming, BBQ-ing and setting off our own fireworks.