Merry Christmas!!!

Easter in Los Angeles

We packed up our suitcases and headed to sunny LA. The kids were good on the plane and no one received a full body search at the airport so our trip started off on a good note. We stayed at Grandma Dorothys and we had such a great time. Our first day there, we went to the Skirball Center which has a Noah's Ark exhibit. We met my Aunt Marie and my cousins and their kids there. The kids had a great time! Later that night we had a pre-easter experience with all the fam at my grandma's. We ordered Tito's and had a Easter egg hunt for the kids and the adults.

The following day we went to Redondo Beach. The girls had a GREAT time even though it was a little windy. After the beach, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Bartlings.

For Easter, the girls went on a walk to find the Easter Bunny but to no avail. He did stop by the house and hide the eggs they had dyed. He also left a Easter basket from Sees, a stuffed animal, and bracelet for them.

Our last day there, grandma took the girls over to Toys R Us and let them pick out a toy and yes they all picked something to do with Pokemon.

Our trip was so much fun and it was so nice to spend time with family!

Wow. She's back, but will she unpack, just give her some slack, she's on the attack.

Since my last post we have done nothing but sit around the house. :)

This past week we did stand up and leave the house. We went to California for Easter and I will post pictures when I unpack my camera. If I had some motivation, I would do that now but I don't.

Vegas with the Ladies

My Aunt Marie thought it would be a fun idea for some of the ladies in our fam to go to Time Out for Women in Las Vegas. It turned out that she was right!!!
The trip started with my cousin Annie driving down from Utah State to pick me up for an amazing road trip to Vegas. We had so much fun talking, laughing, and more laughing! We met up with my Aunt, my cousin Chelsea and cousin-in-laws Kelda and Stacy. We stayed at the Grand Chateau which was amazing minus the "eggpoop" odor. It was taken care of by the hotel engineer though so we had no more issues. That night, we made a Ross run and went to dinner at a Brazilian Steak house. AMAZING! When we came back to the hotel, Chelsea and I hit the hot tub and we had it all to our selves minus the guy that really wanted to turn on the bubbles for us. The hot tub was on the roof of the hotel so we had an awesome view of all of Vegas.

Saturday morning went went to Time Out for Women. It's a conference put on by Deseret Book where they have 5 keynote speakers and a LDS musical group. We heard from Linda Eyre/Shawni Pothier which was on Parenting, Brad Wilcox which was on the Atonement, Jill Manning which was on Pornography, Kris Belcher which was on trying to find humor in our trials, and Mariama Kallon which was on her life story in Africa. We also heard music from Mercy River. I was really touched by all of the talks and I was crying like a big baby but so was Kelda so it was alright. ;) Marie was nice enough to let us all purchase the book of our choice and I picked The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox.
Later that night we went to a fabulous Italian restaurant at the Venetian and then to the Blue Man Group. The Blue Man Group was really good and Chelsea even got a close up "dance" by one of the guys. I was sitting by Stacy and she was cracking me up the whole time. I really had such a good time!
Thanks so much Marie and ladies for such a memorable trip. Love you all!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Every year we have a tradition of going to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. We go on a fun little hay ride to the pumpkin patch. This year the weather was really nice which made it much more enjoyable. The girls picked out some really cute pumpkins and they loved the hay ride! After the hay ride, we went over to the farmer's market and then to look at all the farm animals. What a fun night!

Broken Thumb

It feels so good to catch up on my posts! So in the beginning of September, I bought a bike trailer for MJ to go in. We finally went on a family bike ride. We have been going at least once a week and it's SO fun. One week though, Eva had a little accident. Ian was talking to Eva which distracted her enough to not see the parked car right in front of her. When she finally saw it, she swerved really hard and fell down. She complained of her left thumb hurting really bad but we thought it was just bruised or sprained. The next day I took her to the doc just to make sure. He took x-rays and sure enough it was broken. Luckily she didn't have to wear a cast and she wore a splint on her thumb for three weeks. The day we knew it had healed was the day she played her DS for a couple of hours!!!

Note: Picture coming shortly

Eva's B-day

Eva turned 8! This year she wanted to have her party at Classic Fun Center. The girls know that their 8th birthday is the last year I do something "big" for their bday. It's a place that has numerous moon bounces, a Pirates Cove, and Skating. She got a lot of fun gifts like zoobles, zhu zhu pets, jewelery box, build a bear, nail polish and candy. She had such a great time with all of her friends!

Eva's Baptism

Eva's baptism weekend was great. Becca's fam, Holly's fam, Garth and Kelsey, my dad, and my mom were there for Eva's baptism. Friday Night we hung out here and had some yummy food. Saturday morning was Eva's baptism. In the last month, I really felt that the spirit was preparing her for this special day. She really did have a special glow to her. Anyway for the actual program she was baptized with another girl. Uncle Garth gave a talk on baptism and it was really great. The moment Eva was actually baptized she said she wanted to get baptized again because she felt so good. After all the anticipation, the actual ordinance happened quite fast. Summer made the comment, "Is that it??" It was quite funny. After she got ready, Ian confirmed her with the holy ghost. That was a very special moment for all of us.

Later that day we came back and had a luncheon and played some guitar hero. We then went to Cherry Hill and played some mini golf and different games there. It was a great time.

On Sunday, the Bishop invited Eva to the stand to announce that she was the newest member of the ward. She was all smiles and then he said she was welcome to stay on the stand for the rest of the fast and testimony meeting. Without any encouragement, Eva went up and bore her testimony. She proceeded to say, "I don't really know why I got baptized but I DO know that it felt right in my heart." She then sat down. It was very touching to me and taught me a lesson. Sometimes we think that we have to wait to get up and share our testimony when we can relate to a inspiring story or something along those lines. She just went up and shared what was in her heart even though in was so simple. I love moments like that!

Note: I forgot to take a picture of Eva in her dress. That would've been nice.

Catching Up

I'm getting there! Eva's baptism pics are coming soon!

California

California was a blast! We started off our trip by heading down to San Diego. We went to Sea World and had a great time. The weather was great and the girls loved seeing the shows and the animals. Our fav show was the dolphin show and the cirque de whatever it's called show. The girls also got to feed and pet the dolphins. As we were sitting through one of the shows, MJ was sitting on my lap and peed right through her diaper and onto my clothes. Luckily there was a water ride and I washed right up.
After San Diego we headed up to LA to see my grandma, dad, and Marie and Allen's crew. We had a wonderful celebration at the park with a taco wagon, moonbounce, volleyball, and a cake for the July birthdays. Marissa's favorite part was hanging out with Grandma Dorothy in her wheelchair! The next morning we played some more volleyball then went over to the park. Later that night we had a wonderful night with dancing, yummy food, games and great company. The following day Cam and Kelda blessed Izzy and then we went to Chris and Stacy's for lunch and swimming. While we were out in Camarillo I also go to see my friend Christine. It was great catching up with her.
The next day we headed to my moms. The girls had a great time hanging out with Grandpa Barney, Great Godma, and Auntie J. We hope to go out to Cali again soon!