Relieved...

Tyler said I have to blog about this, because it was so stressful for me.

Awhile ago we checked out a bunch of books at the library- one of them was the dumbest book I have ever read. The book was torn in multiple places, had food stains, and coloring all over it, and I honestly can't believe it was even published. We read it one time, and then put it at the bottom of the pile.

When the books were almost due I grabbed the checkout receipt, counted the books, and made sure we had them all- yep, all 13! We get to the library and I recount all the books-they had been sliding around on the drive, so I wanted to be sure I got them all. Again, all 13 were there.

We walk in, drop them in the bin, and get on with our day.

A few days later we get an email about a book needing to be renewed or returned- it was THAT book, the dumb one! I called the library and told them it must be a mistake. They acted like I was lying of course, and said they would look for it once a week for six weeks, and if it wasn't there by then we would have to pay for it. I was so mad. I KNEW I had brought it in. I was not about to replace the nasty old book with a brand new one, plus pay a restocking fee when I knew it had to be there. Tyler and I went back multiple times during the six weeks to look for it and could never find it. I was able to re- enter it as a claim so they would look for 6 more weeks-that was a couple of weeks ago. I stopped looking for it because it was just making me so mad. We stopped going to the library too.

Nathan has been begging to go, so we went today. Tyler logged on to his account and it said there were no books out, but he had late fees on the "lost" book. I went to where the book belonged and there it was. I went up to the desk and demanded(ok, asked politely) for them to waive the fees, since the book has been there the entire time. The girl at the desk was the one who looks for the books, and she said she just looked a few days ago and it wasn't on the shelf.

I don't know how it got back there, but I am sure glad it did! From now on we are getting all our books checked back in at the front desk...

California!!!

Trip Recap=Long Post...Feel free to just look at the pics.

We just got home from our much needed vacation!

We have been on lots of trips since we got married, but really none of them have just been our little family. We had been planning this trip for a long time. It was fun, but the weather could have been better, it is the end of April for Pete's Sake!

Sunday after church we headed to Vegas, and stayed with family. Monday we got up and headed to Cali. Tyler's Gma lives there, so we went to see her for the day. It was SO beautiful there. It was on the cool side, but everything is just so green, and she hadn't even been watering. It was so nice to see her, and Tyler's aunt, who was there helping her out. This was the best picture we got:

(notice Gma's hand on Nathan's neck- I think it startled him!)

Ava loved picking the oranges- she LOVES oranges!

After visiting we went to our hotel. I was a little nervous for it. I had booked a hotel right across from Disney, but then last minute I found one a tiny bit further, and over $100 less. So I switched. I had read some bad reviews, but Tyler said that only people that have a terrible experience leave those. If they enjoyed the place there is usually no reason to comment... Our room was nonrefundable too - which made me more nervous. We got there and it was perfect!

The room was fancier then I expected (less then $50/night with fees), but small. It was fine since we had stuff going on all day and were only going to be there while sleeping. The food was yummy there too! Oh AND we had a great view of the Fireworks, so we could just watch from right outside our room!

Tuesday we ate, got ready and walked to Disneyland. The walk was not bad at all. The weather was super nice. The lines were short. We got to do pretty much everything we wanted to do. Nathan LOVED watching the Jedi Training. We went 2 times trying to get picked, but it didn't happen. It was so hard to see Nathan getting bummed about it, so we didn't try anymore. There were so many other fun things, that I don't think he even cared after that. He thought Splash Mountain was "Awesome", and just had a great day. It's A Small World was our first ride and Ava was in a daze! She had so much fun too. We were getting tired, and trying to figure out what to do so we hopped on the train that goes around the park. We left our stroller at the station. Seriously like two minutes after we left it started pouring! By the time we got back to the stroller it was soaked. We put on our ponchos, and played for a while longer before heading back to the hotel. We didn't see any of the characters, but that was ok. And luckily Ava isn't into princesses yet so we skipped all that too. On the way back to the hotel I almost died multiple times... Flipflops and wet sidewalks DON'T MIX! We were so glad the rain didn't start until we were almost done.

P.S. Don't mind my awesome hair in the Disney pics...humidity and my hair are not friends...

On Wednesday we were supposed to go to the beach, picnic, have ice cream, get tan, etc. IT WAS FREEZING! We drove to Newport Beach, parked right on the beach, and froze. Nathan was so cold and in tears begging to get back in the car. We flew his awesome new kite (Thanks Uncle Josh and Aunt Sarah!) for a few minutes then ran to the car to turn on the heater. Tyler said it was the easiest flying ever. He just let go of the kite and it took off. Tyler was awesome and looked up a Plan B before we left the hotel. I didn't even think to do that. When is it ever freezing and super windy in California, in the middle of April? Anyway we ate our picnic in the car, and drove up to USC to go to the California ScienCenter. This place was HUGE and there was so much to do. We lifted a truck, were in a virtual video game, got to pet sea creatures, were in a simulated earthquake, saw a 50ft body, A REAL Egyptian mummy(no pics were allowed of it), rode on a camel(fake one), and so may other things! We paid $8 for parking and everything at the center was free. We stayed there all day. The kids loved all of it. We got pizza and 1.5 Quarts of Dryer's heaven and headed back to the hotel. We (almost) polished this off:

(All but one bowl. The kids loved it.)

It was a really fun trip, and very much needed. I hope that we can go back soon- when it is warm. I was so sad that I didn't get to wear my new super cute swimsuit! I am crossing my fingers for Mexico next year! No worries about freezing there...

We figure we walked about 10 miles between the two days, just in case you were wondering.

Update & Easter

OK I know we are horrible bloggers! I have not been in a bloggy mood lately. Plus, by the time I get a chance to sit down at the computer, I am too tired, or have too many things to do. I hate long posts, so I really am sorry!

March went by way too fast. We had a good month with lots of family birthdays, our anniversary, and a few days of warm weather. The kids are anxious to get outside so I hope it warms up for good soon. Nathan asks me everyday if he can wear shorts yet. It hasn't been that warm yet, but we did get a semi-nice day last week and decided to go hike the Sugarloaf. Ava had loads of fun laying in the dirt, she LOVES the dirt.

(Nathan requested that Tyler match with him)

Soccer started 3 weeks ago, and it has been really fun to see Nathan on the field. He loves getting out there, and we are so glad he is having fun and learning to be a good sport. He is looking forward to getting registered for Kindergarten too.

(first game- hottest day of the year so far)

I had seriously considered homeschool, and it is still not completely out of the question. We couldn't find the kind of preschool program we wanted while in Henderson(they were all either just daycare, or cost and arm and a leg), so I just got some books and started doing lessons with him and then put him in community center classes to get some social activities in. He reads and writes really well, and knows some math too. I am a little worried he will be bored at school since he already knows so much, but I think he will really enjoy being with the other children because he is so outgoing. I still plan on supplementing the educational stuff at home too. I guess the plan is to try out Kindergarten and then we will go from there.

Oh, last weekend while at his cousin's birthday party he got a little roughed up. He and Tyler were walking back to the house. Some neighbor girls were riding around outside near them, the boys turned around to come back and the one girl ran right into Nathan. The way Tyler described it, it sounded like the girl would have run them over from behind (possibly knocking Tyler on top of Nathan) if they hadn't turned around. He still isn't sure why she was riding so dang close to them. Aggravating. Anyway Nathan took the hit in his knee and cheek- he had a huge welt on his face, only about an inch from his eye, and still has a HUGE bruise on his knee. It could have been way worse, but I was still upset. Luckily there were just bruises, not cuts.

On to Easter...The kids were so excited for Easter. Yesterday we had the annual Easter Egg Hunt here in my parent's community. I didn't know if Ava would know what to do. I helped her put the first few eggs in her basket, and then she knew exactly what to do. She got way more eggs then the other kids in her age group. Nathan got lots of loot too. It was over within minutes, but that was ok because I needed to finish my conference time cinnamon rolls before it started. We dyed eggs between sessions, and Nathan loved the camouflage kit I got for them to use. He couldn't wait to go to bed last night so that he could see if the Easter Bunny hid eggs...I think he knew that Mommy and Daddy bought the goodies for his basket. The kids woke up early and we hunted for eggs before having our usual Sunday breakfast of pancakes and eggs. Having conference on Easter kept the weekend pretty low key. We had lots of fun and LOTS of yummy food. I think I had the best turkey I have ever eaten tonight...Mmmmm!

We mostly took video of the kids today with their Eater goodies so you can see the cinnamon rolls I made instead...


(these were SOO GOOD!)

I will try and update more often to avoid such long posts, but no promises. I am pretty sure I will be posting pics of the kids in their new Easter dressy clothes next week.