April Fools!!!

I always say I'm going to do something funny on April Fools day and I never do, so this year I did this:

It did get me a few phone calls from neighbors, but I think the crazy snow storm was the biggest joke of the day.

Let's not forget Tanner's valiant efforts though. He created this piece of work on Gavin's bedroom door late the night before April 1st.

He was so excited about this and had been telling JL and I about it for days. He had seen this done on America's Funniest Videos. I am happy to report that the Seran Wrap worked and Gavin came up laughing about it.

Have YOU Ever Wanted Somthing So Bad???

Tanner had a field trip for cub scouts to go roller skating a few weeks back. Unfortunately we were out of town and he missed it. He was quickly reminded about this when we went to Pack Meeting and all of the boys got their roller skating loop but him. He started to cry. I FELT SO BAD!!! So I told him that we would all go the next day.

Now, we've been to Classic a handful of times, but my kids have never roller skated. They always take their scooters and they are happy with that. But I told Tanner that in order for him to earn his loop, he would have to skate and not scooter. He was good with that.

I was a little skeptical because I know that skating takes some serious coordination. I was pep talking him on the way over because I knew that he wouldn't be able to just run off and skate on his first attempt. I told him that I would help him and stay with him. I turned the other kids loose with their scooters, and Tanner and I began to skate.

He fell over and over and was landing in positions that would have killed me. He kept saying, "For crying out loud." But every time he fell, he would get himself back up and try again. I kept encouraging him and telling him that I was happy that he was not giving up.

During this falling stage, I decided that it might be wise for me to take off my roller skates, because more than once, when Tanner would start to fall, he would grab my shirt or pants. I didn't want to take a tumble myself. I sat down on the bench and was unlacing my skates, and I turned to look at Tanner (sitting on the bench next to me) and he had his arms folded, his eyes closed and his head bowed. I KNEW he was saying a prayer. And I had to turn my head away to keep from crying. I thought it was so sweet!

I didn't say anything to him about it at that moment. We went back and practiced some more. He fell, got back up and just kept trying. After a while, he became more and more comfortable. He started getting braver and going faster. He told me he wanted to stay until he could go off of the jumps!!! At that point, I asked him if he had said a prayer. He told me that he had. I asked him what he said. He told me that he asked Heavenly Father to help him be able to learn to skate and that he wouldn't get hurt.

By the end of the night, Tanner was doing awesome!! He did not want to leave the place!!! The other kids were more than ready to go. We had been there for over 2 hours! I was so proud of him for NOT giving up, for doing something that was hard, and for teaching me that it's okay to pray ANYWHERE!!!

It was one of those awesome parenting days when you realize that all the lessons you're TRYING to teach your kids, may actually be working!

Bienvenido a Miami!

JL was asked to go on a last minute trip to Miami for 2 weeks, and since the kids were off track, I got to go on a last minute trip too!

I started my trip out in Ponte Verdra Beach where my aunt and uncle live. They moved there a few years ago and I haven't had a chance to see their new house. I flew into Jacksonville, FL and was greeted by my fabulous Aunt Tracy.

They have the most beautiful guest suite at their home. She even had mints and told me that she did evening turn down for her guests!!

I spent a few days with them and we had such a great time hanging out and seeing the sights! Tracy took me shopping at all her favorite beach boutiques. We attended afternoon tea at a local restaurant, did more shopping, and had the yummiest Gelato at a little place near the beach.

We also spent a day at the beach. When we first got to the beach, the tide was low, so we looked for shark teeth. I had never done it before and was surprised to find some of my own!!

It took a bit of getting use to, but it was a lot of fun. We relaxed, read magazines and I even took a little jog along the beach. I wish I could do that more often!!

Did I mention that I love the ocean?

After several fun filled days of Ponte Verdra, I headed south (on a tiny prop plane) to Miami. Unfortunately for me, my feet got very sunburned at the beach the day before, and my feet were very swolen for the plane ride to Miami. My shoes didn't fit very well and I was very uncomfortable walking through the airport! I was happy to find JL waiting for me in Miami. That airport was the craziest, bussiest airport I have ever been through. It was insane!

JL took me to our hotel....a nice hotel in a very nice part of Miami called Coral Gables. He was able to score a sweet room upgrade so we had a nice 2 story suite with a great view of the city and the Atlantic Ocean.

We saw all kinds of fun dream cars parked at our hotel. I just happened to have my camera with me to get this Ferrari, but we saw a few Lamborghinis and a Lotus to name a few. Our little Mazda rental looked great parked next to them!

Saturday, we got up early and drove to Key Largo....about an hour away. It was a beautiful drive. We had scheduled a snorkling trip. The water around Key Largo was SO clear!!

The boat took us about 9 miles off the coast of Key Largo to some beautiful reefs. We saw some really cool things.....

a nurse shark (he was a lot bigger than this looks...probably about 6 feet), and notice the barracuda in the background.

More Barracuda. But the most surprising of all the underwater surprises was....

Jesus. Yup, the underwater statue, "Christ of the Abyss". Very interesting.


Don't know the species of these strange creatures, but I'd stay far, far away!

On our way home from Key Largo, we saw a beautiful rainbow. First just a little piece coming out of the clouds, but before long, we saw the entire thing.

Sunday, we drove across the state to the Gulf side to visit with my cousin Matt and his family in Cape Coral. On the way, as we were driving along I75, we passed through Alligator Alley. It was crazy...we saw hundreds of alligators in and around the canals along the side of the freeway. I was completely amazed, and spent the rest of the drive looking for them.

We had such a fun time with the Hoffmans. They fed us a great dinner and it was nice to see them....it had been a long time since Matt and I hung out. (So long in fact, that I have never met his wife or kids)

The trip was so good for me. I loved spending time with JL and my relatives. I THINK JL enjoyed having me there for a long weekend so he didn't just sit in his hotel and do homework. It was exciting to see a part of the country that we've never been to before. I hated coming home without JL, knowing I had to go home alone and face the real world (and the snow). But I came home to happy kids! (Gavin told me that he couldn't remember what JL looked like.) Thanks again to my family and friends for helping me so I could go!!

(Having fun with the mirror on the ceiling of the elevator)

I can't wait for his next business trip...as long as I get to go too!!

MY Exciting Run....

I've been trying to get back into running again and I had a 4 mile run planned for the day. I got my kids off to school today and took Ellie to playgroup. I was running a few minutes late, so I parked my car in my friends driveway and started my run from there.

As I began my run, I noticed a few cop cars driving around. Not a big deal. As I came to a new neighborthood, I noticed one in the entrance. As I got close to the local high school, I noticed one parked by a pathway into the neighborhood. Each direction I turned, there were cop cars. The officers were sitting in their cars, so I really didn't think about it much. I was running in a big circle, and was planning to end up back in my neighborhood.

As I ran down 4800 W. I saw more and more cops. EVERY entrance/exit into this neighborhood was blocked off by a cop. As I got closer to home, I came to a cop who was standing outside his truck with an assault rifle in his hands. I took off my IPOD and asked him if I was safe to be running there. He said, "No, you need to run the other way." That's all he said. So I crossed the busy street to the other side and headed back towards my house. I noticed people watching out their windows, probably trying to find out what was going on. I figured it must be on the news, so I stopped at my neighbor Kristie's house and asked her if she knew. (MY car, keys, etc. were at the playgroup house) She said she'd watch the news to find out.

I got back to playgroup and we looked online to find out that there was a suicidal man wandering the neighborhood with a gun. All the schools in the area were on lockdown. The school my kids go to was one of them. It was almost time for Sydnee to get out of Kindergarten, so we called the school to find out what to do. THey said they would call us when the lockdown ended.

Sydnee got an extra half hour of school today. She came home scared and said they had to turn their lights out and lock the door to their classroom because there was a bad guy out there. She kept asking me how I knew if they got him. What if there is another one, etc. I finally reassured her that they had him.

So now I'm wondering, why didn't any of the other 30 cops I passed tell me I was in danger. All I know is that my usually mudane run turned into a memorable one!!

This is the truck I ran past. There wasn't as much action
going on when I talked to the officer though!


The aerial view where I was in danger! Just kidding...

Our Trip ....

OK, I added some slideshow pictures from our trip, and I kept getting errors, so I had to separate them from the text. Dang computers!

Vegas

Knott's Berry Farm

Our Trip

We took a family vacation that was full of surprises for the kids. All we told them was that we were going to St. George because dad had to work there. They thought we were leaving on Saturday. JL and I packed up everything on Thursday and woke the kids up EARLY Friday morning and told them to get dressed and get in the van. That was their first surprise. They were so excited to miss a day of school. We drove to St. George where JL worked for the day. The kids and I spent the day hanging out with our friends the Redfearns. We had a great time. After JL finished his work, we went back to our hotel and went swimming. The kids love swimming, and honestly, that's all they cared about.

The next morning, we packed up and told them to get in the van again. We drove to Vegas. They have never been to Vegas before, just driven through it. When we got there, we told them that we were going to stay for a night and check things out. That was their second surprise. At that point, they started asking if we were going swimming. It was SO cold there. And very rainy. That was our surprise. WE've never been cold in Vegas!! We tried as best we could to see some cool things there. The kids had a good time. Unfortunately for them, it was way too cold to swim and the pool was not heated. They weren't too happy about that.

The next morning, we woke them up again and told them to get in the van. (are you sensing a pattern??) They thought our trip was over and we were driving home. We were really driving to Anaheim. On our way to Vegas we had started playing the license plate game (trying to find a license plate from all 50 states). Once we were in CA, Gavin made the comment, "This game is dumb, there are only California License Plates around here!!" We kept thinking the kids would catch on, but they didn't. Ellie asked over and over, "Where are we going next?" We would just say, "We're driving."

It wasn't until we passed the Science Center in Santa Ana that Tanner realized where we were. He got all kinds of excited, and said, "We went there last time we went to Disneyland!!" I asked the kids if they wanted to go to Disneyland again, and of course, you can guess what the answer was.

So the next morning, we got up and went to Disneyland...the place they had been telling us that "all their friends get to go, and not them..."

The first day it rained a ton and we had to leave to go buy ponchos. The whole park was sold out of them and apparently the whole city too. We went to 3 different WalMarts and a Target trying to track the things down. They sort of became like an insurance policy, because by the time we found some and went back, we didn't need them. And the rest of the trip was beautiful!! We had a fantastic time.

We also planned a day at Knott's Berry Farm. We were lucky to have Uncle Jason and Aunt Noelle fly in and play with us for the day. (Ah, the benefits of working for the Airlines!) The kids LOVED having them with us. (And so did JL and I!) I would guess that there were probably 200 people in the park that day and we walked on to most every ride. We could have stayed on the rides too, because there wasn't anyone waiting! It was great. That park is full of great roller coasters and we had a lot of fun. JL had to leave at one point and get some Dramamine....we aren't as young as we feel, apparently!

Tanner also wanted to go on the water coaster (can't remember what it was called). Jason and I were the only ones dumb enough to say yes. It was fun, but the whole time we were climbing to the top, I kept wondering what I had agreed to. Notice in the picture that there was only one other crazy person on the ride with us.

Overall, we had a great trip. Unfortunately, my grandma passed away while we were gone. We hurried home instead of stopping to stay with our friends in St. George. It was good to be home, and by driving straight through, we missed a big storm.

The kids are already talking about the "next time" and JL and I are talking about how we're going to Hawaii without them! :)

My Husband...

gave me flowers for my birthday, and this is most certainly something worth blogging about. (It doesn't happen very often!)But they were beautiful, and I am grateful for having a great hubby!!

Family Pictures

Here are just a few of the family pictures we had taken:

Good Things Utah

My mom and my sisters and I had a great time at "Good Things Utah" back in January. I love being with my family and I am lucky to have an awesome mom, 2 wonderful sisters and 3 fantastic sister in laws. Love you guys!!

Trying to Catch Up

Sydnee's Dance Recital


Sydnee did such a great job at her dance recital in December. Unfortunately, our camera was broken at the time, so we borrowed my sister's camera. We thought we recorded her dance, but it didn't work right. So, all we have are these cute picture of her smiling after she was done!



Santa @ Family Party
We still didn't have our camera...but Krista was so nice to take pictures of the kids with Santa at the Smith Family Christmas Party.


(Is it acceptable to put up pictures from BEFORE Christmas in February??)

I'm Alive!

Just wanted those of you who keep giving me a hard time about not updating to know, that I am still alive. I will do some serious blog updating this weekend. Don't get too excited though, because our camera was getting fixed and we didn't have it for the whole month of December. (We don't have 1 single picture of the kids on Christmas. How sad!)

Early Present from a Total Stranger!!

Lucky me! I got an early Christmas from a total stranger....STREP THROAT!!! Arrrgggh! I don't know where I got it because none of my kids are sick....yet.

I woke up with a sore throat yesterday and was able to control it during the day with a little Advil. But last night, I was up all night with the most painful sore throat I can ever remember. I was miserable. I didn't sleep much and I wanted to cry all night. So early this morning, I headed straight for the Insta Care. I really didn't think it was strep, but on the off chance it was, I wanted to get started on antibiotics so I wouldn't be sick on Christmas.

As soon as the Dr. came into the room and confirmed my positive results, I remember the drink that JL and EVERY ONE OF MY KIDS shared with me at the movie yesterday!!!! Oh, I am dreading the next few days....

I was just telling somebody over the weekend how I NEVER get sick. I obviously jinxed myself.