Kennedy & Regan

Did the makers of Dino Bites know they would provide such meal time fun? Kennedy has a cute little friend Regan. Their names match and they play SO well together.


As they were eating yesterday they decided it would be fun to take the dino's for a fly through the air. Good times with fun food!


Kennedy was playing so quietly with her princess characters I just had to take a picture.



Then out of nowhere MacKenzie came along and knocked them down! And took off running in the process.

Grayson Goes Snorkeling

Our sweet little boy was up 1,000 times last night with breathing problems. We pulled out the humidifier... still not breathing great... opened the freezer, let him soak in the cool moist air... didn't work. This morning when he was STILL having problems we decided to take him to the Dr. which means Urgent Care. Out in the Twilight Zone, which is where we live, the doctor offices only schedule appointments a month head of time. For example a few weeks ago Justin and I were sick and were not getting better so we called the dr.'s office. I asked the nurse if we can come in the morning or the afternoon.

Nurse: Oh, we don't have any openings today, but we can get you in May 7th.
Me: Oh, okay I'll just stop being sick now and then reschedule to be sick in one month!
Nurse: Okay so you want to schedule it then?
Me: Are you kidding me! How do sick people get better?
Nurse: Well that's what Urgent Care is for.
Me: Ummm... I thought that was for people without insurance on the weekends...

Anyway before I took Grayson to U.C. Justin gave him a blessing.

While in U.C. the Pediatrician called me back saying they wanted to see Grayson right away! So we went and....


he got a breathing treatment! Immediately following his breathing was SO much better. So now we have a nebulizer that he snorkels on every 4 hours. Sad that he seems to have asthma, but so glad to have medication for it.



Meanwhile look who found the formula!!! Those little stinkers dumped a can of formula on the kitchen floor and proceeded to dance in it until I realized what was happening!

Seriously... play with your toys! Isn't that what they're for?

Last week

Dad and Pennie stopped by our house on the way to Utah. We fed them some yummy bar-b-que hamburgers and visited for a little bit until they had to keep going. Everyone on your way to Utah, you are always welcomed to visit and eat!


The girls LOVED seeing their grandparents, but Bella (the dog) was the most exciting visitor for Kennedy. The 2 of them share the same energy level:)


And this was a stake RS morning for my friend Kristen's old stake in San Bernardino... that's us with Pres. Hinckley's daughter Virgina! Talk about church celebrities. I usually don't bug them for pictures, but come on... I had to put just one picture on the blog!

I know someone crafty!

I am so amazed by all the fancy things my friend Summer can do! Years ago she started creating vinyl letters, which are HUGE now, and she started a blog which is where I got the idea to blog. And now... she has a web store called "A Tres Chic Boutique". I just got an email from her saying it was open and asking to put it on my blog so she could get a little more traffic... so I did AND I bought something already because she has necklaces on there that I've been wanting, but never go to the store for. Fantastic prices! I encourgae everyone to give her site a look and tell me what you think. Click on the picture to the right!

... a rose by any other name...

Hopefully I smell good too. I'm unique, but not the only one with my name:)

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 128 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Prayers

I am the Enrichment Leader. I was called about 2 months ago. In the past, enrichments were far and few between and numbers were counted on 2 hands or less. As I was set apart I remember specifically being counseled that I would spend time on my knees asking for the Lords help in this new calling.

I kneeled to pray that night. I asked the Lord to help me know what to do and to be an instrument in His hands to help the sisters come closer to Him through socializing together. I asked for 30-40 sisters to come to our first enrichment night that was quickly approaching.

One Sunday the teacher in Relief Society finished her lesson 20 minutes early! I thought it was my golden opportunity to question the sisters and get feed back. I wanted to know what they envisioned happening at enrichment and what they never wanted to do again... it turned into an all out brawl! I got some good ideas and I got sisters complaining very loudly as to how bad the enrichment has been in the past! I couldn't believe my ears, however in the midst of all of it one sister whom I had not seen before offered her husband to teach a self defense class.

I called that sister and came to find out it was the first time in 9 months that she had attended Relief Society! What were the chances that all this fell together...

Long story short, I just got back from enrichment tonight. 40 sisters showed up to our Asian themed potluck and learn self defense!!! The night was a total success and as I was driving home I couldn't help but be grateful to my Heavenly Father for how well His enrichment meeting went tonight. Decorations were beautiful, food was fantastic and the lesson was phenomenal!

So a little prayer, a little faith and any thing's possible.

Katelyn's getting hitched!

Katelyn is my sister-in-law and she is in love with a young man, who I have not offically met in person, named Dan. They got engaged a few weeks ago and we are so excited! Here's a picture of the 2 of them, don't they have "the look"?



I stole these pictures from her facebook page which explains why they are so little. This is Kennedy going with her and the 2 grandmas to check out wedding dresses. I think Kennedy is taking after me just a little bit. Before children I LOVED being in pictures. Am I vain? Don't know... I just thought it was fun. I know I'm in thousands of graduation and wedding pictures "casually" in the background, or planned, hmmm.



Back to Katelyn, I was so excited to hear she met Mr. Wonderful. I just think it's fun to see others get married especially when they are so happy! The sad part is... Dan is over in the war! Can you imagine being engaged long distance?!!! We love you Katelyn!

Where's the head?

Here's Kennedy's fish. Another guy, more professional than us, actually caught it and let Kennedy reel it in. Don't worry... Justin can catch fish, just not that day. Here's the headless fish. Kennedy said, "Oh, his head ran away!"


She ate over half the fish!!! We couldn't believe it. You couldn't get me to eat it unless I had to. I didn't have to :) Note the pool in the background. I cannot wait for summer! I want to go swimming! And I want my kids to be SO exhausted from swimming all day that they take long leisurely naps in the late afternoons.




This came in the mail... Justin's new sleeping bag! It's a -20* bag that sleeps up to 6'6". My husband, for those who haven't met him, is 6'3". A regular joe sleeping bag is on the short side, not so comfy at night time, at least for him. If it were me and I had a short sleeping bag I'd cut a whole in bottom and stick my feet out. I can't handle my feet being under the covers. After watching the Discovery Channel I know now that I was an otter in my previous life:) They stick their "feet" out of the water to regulate their body temperature.

This is for Julia...

When she came to visit we discussed kitchen sponges. Here's the deal.

1. Buy them from Costco- they are so much cheaper and they will last for a LONG time.
2. Don't let them sit in the sink full of yucky water and food! That totally makes them smell!!! Rinse and SQUEEZE them out after use!
3. Yeast and flour... totally stick to your sponge and it pretty much has to be thrown away after cleaning up dough. So be careful.
4. To make your money last even longer Julia introduced me to cutting them in half.

So here's to cutting my sponges in half!



Another thing my sister enjoys is Ikea! Justin and I just went to the West Covina store last week and got all kinds of fun new things. An activity table and stools for the girls, a dresser for the TV, kid plates and cutlery, glasses, WAY oversized night light for Kennedy and... dinner plates for $0.59 a piece! They were not the plates I HAD to have if I could choose from any, but for $0.59... I got 15!


On a sad note... my clock is offically broken. Julia and I went shopping in Arizona what, 2 years ago? Anyway I found this clock for $29.99 and wanted it so bad, but then thought I'd pass. Lucky for me Julia was there and said, "would you just get the stupid clock. You know you like it." So I did and have been VERY satisfied with it, until it broke. I've used 2 new batteries in one week and the time is never correct. So farewell to my favorite clock :( I hope to replace you with a fancy Ballard Designs model :) click here

Middle Name

I've been tagged by Kendra...

These are the rules: You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don’t have a middle name, just use your maiden name. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.

Keen
Apt
Treasure
Elementary

I now tag Rebecca, Julia, Laura, and Benjamin. Click on their names to see their blogs.

Uncle Jordan & Auntie Heidi

The COOLEST adventure for Kennedy and myself took place a few weeks ago when Uncle Jordan & I met half way between our houses to drop off Kennedy for 4 days! Kennedy is good at being the oldest child, but has never been the only child... she had a blast!!!


Uncle Jordan lived with Justin and I for a few months after he got home from his mission in Finland. We were renting a house with a basement at the time and Jordan got the entire space to himself... unless I needed to watch TV:) Anyway Kennedy was about 14 months old and finally learned to walk at that time. She was quick about getting downstairs to see Jordan and watch Baby Einstein. She has a special bond with her "favorite" uncle and equally LOVES her Auntie Heidi.


They live in Ventura as Jordan is finishing school and Heidi is working as a Hygienist. Aren't we all a little jealous of beautiful Ventura at times:) As I was half way there I wanted to go too!


After so much fun, when it was time to come home she did NOT want to leave. When Justin and I showed up to get her, Kennedy was screaming and wouldn't get out of Jordan & Heidi's car! On our drive home she screamed in protest for a good 15 minutes before she was calm enough to say, "I don't want to go home, I want to go with Jordan and Heidi!"


While Kennedy was gone I noticed little to no screaming from MacKenzie or Grayson and couldn't believe the difference one child makes... So thanks Jordan and Heidi! I guess we just have a screaming quota in this family. Kennedy was making up for the lack of it on our ride home:)

Nowhere-land

We live in a quiet neighborhood in the middle of nowhere. For miles and miles dirt, sand and joshua trees happily place themselves along old route 66... then you see it! This small community build around 2 man made lakes. In my teenage years I secretly wondered what it would be like to live in "nowhere". It's awesome!!! However in my imaginations I didn't see people driving golf carts along the streets.

Justin and I finally got our association cards and fishing supplies which means we can now go fishing, golfing, use the club house and attend the parks without getting kicked out. Immediately after getting our cards he took the girls fishing. They were SO excited to open and use their fishing rod!

Kennedy was a little more excited about the night crawlers! (Remember that Benjamin)

I fed the baby and ended up taking Grayson and MacKenzie home to take naps.