The Zobrist Zoo

Christmas Eve

2010-02-10T12:40:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve Santa and Mrs. Clause come for visit. All of the children look forward to seeing them every year.

Everyone takes turns sitting on Santa's lap and putting in last minute gift requests.

Mrs. Claus tells the best stories. We all enjoy listening and singing along. She hands out candy canes too. The Zobrist Family Christmas Eve celebration is a wonderful tradition. All though it can get pretty crazy with so many people (some years we've had about 50), it just wouldn't seem like Christmas Eve without it.

The Germ Show

2010-02-03T21:48:00.000-08:00

I guess since her hospital stay I have stressed germs a little too much. This is a video that I saw when I downloaded pictures from Gracie's camera. I never know what I'm gonna find when I look through the pictures and videos she takes.

Cousin's Only

2010-01-28T17:15:00.000-08:00

The kids, with some help from Aaron, made this fort in the trees behind my parent's house. It became a little clubhouse for the kids and I was told that only cousins were allowed in the clubhouse. It sure beats a fort made out of blankets in the family room.

Candy Land cake

2010-01-28T17:04:00.000-08:00

While Grandpa, Aaron, Crew, and Gracie were at the museum looking for the pigeon John Silver, we made a special treat. Grammy, me, Layla, Braelynn, and Brielle baked a cake and decorated it with all kinds of candy to make a Candy Land cake. Of course the kids had a fabulous time creating and eating it. But we left the cake out overnight and my Grandma Rae, who now lives with my parents because she has Alzheimer's and dementia, must have forgot that she had already had a piece about a dozen times because when we woke in the morning the cake was eaten. The kids were disappointed that they didn't get to eat more cake but I can't say that I missed the sugar rush that would've followed.

National Air Force Museum

2010-01-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

In school Crew read a story about John Silver, a pigeon, who delivered messages for the military. The story told about this pigeon's bravery. Even though he had several bullet wounds and his leg was hanging on by one ligament, John Silver flew the 25 miles to deliver his important message and ended up saving many lives. The story mentioned that John Silver was on display at the National Air Force Museum. When Crew found out we were going to Ohio, he wanted to go to the museum so he could see this pigeon.

Don't all kids want to be astronauts when they grow up? I know I did but I also wanted to be a cowgirl too. Maybe I should've stuck with one of those. Crew and Gracie have always been really interested in the solar system. Sometimes I think I might go crazy if I have to hear any more facts about outer space or anything in it!

Crew's turn in the hospital

2010-01-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well the first day in Ohio we spent in the E.R. Crew was playing around down stairs with his cousins, doing who knows what, when we heard major screaming and he came running upstairs. He had a major gash in his leg and the skin was shoved up behind the wound. It was so disgusting; his fat layer was hanging out. Mom took us to the Quick Care closest to us but because we were out of town the lady there wasn't sure if they accepted our insurance and the wait looked long. We headed over to the E.R. and I'm glad we did. They were great there. We hardly waited at all and everyone was so nice. Crew got popsicles and a stuffed Stinger (the mascot for the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team). However, only about half of his stitches made it a week. I just couldn't get him to take it easy. At least I've had a lot of practice with this sort of thing and knew just what to do: steri strips and super glue.

Gracie in the hospital

2010-01-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

I was really hoping that Gracie would be discharged in time to go to Ohio but she wasn't well enough. I ended up going with Crew and Layla as planned and Aaron stayed with Gracie and came later. At least we were together on Thanksgiving Day. The doctors believe that it was asthma but because she has never been hospitalized before they were hesitant to make that diagnosis so for now she has reactive airway disease. We now give her medication everyday and have a nebulizer with plenty of albuterol. She is doing great and was such a sweetie throughout the whole ordeal.

Mother of the Year .... or not

2010-01-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

My wonderful husband got plane tickets for us to go home to Ohio for Thanksgiving and I was so excited!!!! Since my kids always get sick whenever I go home, I decided to take them to the pediatrician and get them some allergy medicine before. While we were there getting prescriptions for all three kiddies, Gracie's oxygen test was so bad they re-did it 3 times and tried different machines. The doctor gave her a breathing treatment immediately and then re-tested it was still extremely low. So we were sent to the emergency room. Three steroid shots and 2 breathing treatments later her oxygen level had gone up from 77 to 80 (below 92 is bad) but that was still really low and so Gracie had to stay in the hospital. I didn't even know that she was having difficulty breathing. She never complained or acted any differently than normal. If I didn't take her in for Zyrtec, who knows how bad she would have gotten before I noticed something was wrong. So once again I am out of the running for Mother of the Year..... maybe next year?

Family Camp-out

2010-01-12T19:50:00.001-08:00

We loaded up the motorcycles, camping supplies, and lots of treats and headed for the sand dunes. It was so nice to be together without any interruptions. We had a bonfire, made s'mores, and set off a bunch of fireworks at night and rode motorcycles, played in the sand, read and told stories, and hiked up Big Dune during the day. It was quite an amazing trip. I don't think I will ever hike up a sand dune again though.

Halloween in Mexico

2010-01-12T19:14:00.000-08:00

In Nevada school is out for Halloween, o.k. not really, it's for Nevada Day (the day Nevada became a state). So we decided to head to the beach house for the long weekend. I was a little concerned about the kids missing out on trick-or-treating so Gigi came up with a great plan. I bought a bunch of candy and we were going to go through the neighborhood and give it to the residents and tell them that our kids were going to come by trick-or-treating. Turns out that they already do trick-or-treating. Outside the gated community, they set up tables and everyone comes by dressed up with treat bags open begging for candy. What did we do with all the extra candy? The Halloween Goblin came and left it hidden around the courtyard. The kids had a blast looking for the candy.

The kids designed their own pumpkins (Thanks dad for doing all the carving), we made some spider treats, and ate so much candy I was worried someone was going to go into insulin shock or maybe even a coma. As you can see the girls were pretty intrigued by their Jack-o-Lanterns. I think it was my favorite Halloween ever!

Happy Halloween!

2010-01-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

I love Halloween and its not just for the candy. I love the costumes too! This year I really enjoyed the wigs. Layla's made me laugh every time I saw her in it. I kept making her try it on just so I could laugh.

At the school's Fall Festival the girls got to make these little masks which was definitely one of the highlights of the night for them. They also had an amazing balloon artist there and lots of games, candy, and prizes. It was really fun!

Costume Parade

2010-01-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

The elementary school had a costume parade so the girls and I went down to see Crew and his friends walking in the parade.

I think its kinda funny that he, dressed up as a clone tropper, walked in front of Darth Vader. It's probably only of interest to me because I am constantly bombarded by Star Wars. Crew is pretty obsessed and is constantly telling me stories or involved in some intricate imaginative game revolving around Star Wars.

Halloween playgroup

2010-01-12T18:30:00.000-08:00

We have a fun playgoup in our ward and for Halloween we had a special activity for Halloween. Layla was so excited to do Halloween crafts. She adores craft time and is constantly asking to do crafts. She got to paint, glue, and eat candy so she was in heaven.

Halloween cupcakes

2010-01-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

Gracie loves to bake and so we often look at the Bakerella blog together. When she saw these cupcakes she just had to make them for her class Halloween party. She did a good job baking and decorating, I only helped a little. Her classmates loved them. Gracie was so proud.

Autumn.... sort of

2010-01-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

I heard that the leaves up Lee Canyon had changed color. So we drove the hour up there because it was supposed to be beautiful and I really miss the fall leaves. I was disappointed there were like maybe 50 trees that were all aspens so they were just yellow. It was a nice bright yellow but only yellow.... no red, no orange, no maroon, nothing but yellow and barely that. I guess I should appreciate what I can get.

The kids still had fun having a picnic, hiking around, and playing in the leaves (probably because they didn't know what they were missing)!

Gracie's black eye

2009-12-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

We have always known that Crew has a hard head but here is the proof. They were playing on the slide and one was going up the other going down, there was a collision and this was the result

It was bruised all the way to her hairline. It was the worst black eye I've ever seen. I wish I could've gotten more pictures but this one from my phone is the only one she would consent to. Poor girl. Who would want a bunch of pictures of her black eye? It did get worse before it got better. Luckily her teacher was very understanding and let her wear sunglasses at school for a week while it was at its worst and she was still self conscious about it.

Dress-up

2009-12-07T09:41:00.001-08:00

I was working at my computer when the girls came in dressed like this .....

Layla said, "Don't we look beautiful!?" Gracie wanted me to take a picture. So here is the visual definition of beautiful, at least for my 5 and 3 year old.

Canopy Craft Project

2009-12-07T09:35:00.001-08:00

We made 2 canopies: one for the girls and one for Crew. Crew's is made with Muslin instead of purple tule and doesn't have the pink butterfly clothes pins. They were cheap and easy and the kids have played with them a lot! I've been really pleased with how much they have enjoyed them. It's always nice when you make something and they actually like it.

To be a kid again ....

2009-12-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

when you are so tired that you could fall asleep upside down, you can!

Lied Discovery Museum

2009-12-07T09:20:00.003-08:00

This summer the Library had a reading program and one of the rewards were free tickets to the Lied Discovery Museum. I had heard a lot of really good things about this kids museum so I was pretty excited. We were not disappointed. The museum was great! The kids really loved it. They got so excited about the exhibits and there were quite a few that were really fun. We are even contemplating a membership.

Back To School

2009-12-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

Crew started 2nd grade this year. He still looks forward to the first day of school. I wonder how long that will last.

His teacher this year is Miss Perone. I really like her and so does Crew. She is so organized!
Gracie has been waiting to start school for years. She was so excited! Our kindergarten is half-day which I like but Gracie was disappointed she can't go full day and even more disappointed that she doesn't eat lunch at school.

Gracie's teacher this year is Mr. Buono. He has been teaching kindergarten or preschool for 20 years. He is the most patient person ever.

Layla gets to go to preschool this year too. She absolutely loves it. She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11:30 but she wishes she went everyday. It was really hard for me the first few days to have the house so quiet and lonely without any kids but it didn't take long for me to get used to it.

Her preschool teacher is Melinda a friend of mine from our ward. She is amazing and so fun! Now we have to play "Miss Melinda" with Layla all the time. Whenever I make Layla mad or sad she always says she wants Miss Melinda.

My Photo shoot

2009-12-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

Jamie decided to shoot some pictures of me too. I was kinda nervous because I hate getting my picture taken, but it was fun to have her do my hair and makeup and I got to eat some ice cream too.

Gracie's photo shoot

2009-11-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law Jamie had a wonderful idea to use the dance recital costumes for a photo shoot while we were in Canada. Here are some of my favorites. It was so hard to choose. Jamie is truly the most talented person I know. She can do anything and it always turns out amazing.

Horseback Riding, Yee-haw!

2009-11-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

This year instead of going to the Alpine Stables, we went riding with our friend Bruce Johnson. It was really fun to go some new places and as always it was wonderful. After the ride we had a picnic lunch in a grove of trees. Southern Alberta is so beautiful. We did have a little bit more excitement than usual. Crew's horse took off and he was yelling, "I don't think this is supposed to happen!" as he galloped pass. Luckily Bruce caught up to him on his horse and got control of the situation. At the top of this hill as we were looking out over the amazing landscape, Aaron's horse rolled over. He had to jump off so that he wasn't crushed. It was so strange. It was definitely more entertaining than trail riding in Waterton.

Hiking in Canada

2009-10-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

Part of Waterton Lake is in Canada and part is in the U.S. Here is the border. The kids always like to be the first to see the line when we are out boating on the lake.

There's a nice easy little hike along the border that we took the kids on. This year, since Emma and Rex didn't come up, we had to find another little boy, Josh, for Crew to play with.
This year the border guards insisted on passports to cross into the States at Goats Haunt so instead of going on the hike to the swinging bridge and rainbow falls, we hung out at this outdoor lodge. Here's a silly face picture. We really do have a bunch of crazy kids.

Happy Birthday America!

2009-10-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

We heard about this free 4th of July party from our good friend Omar and so we decided to go. There were so many people there. It was crazy! I always enjoy fireworks so I had a good time.

Layla waved this little flag they were handing out the whole time the fireworks were going. She was so excited.
You may be wondering why Gracie wasn't with us. She went ahead to Canada with Papa, Gigi, and Karly.
Here's a picture from Gracie's camera at the entrance to Waterton, where we stay every summer. Don't worry she didn't miss out on fireworks. There is this little town in Canada that has the most amazing fireworks show that I have ever seen called "Thunder in the Valley". You are right underneath them, it's so loud and they are raining down on you. Truly awesome! Definitely worth going to if you happen to be in southern Alberta mid July.

Dance Recital

2009-10-27T14:33:00.001-07:00

The twentieth of June Gracie had her first dance recital. Alice in Wonderland was the theme and her class danced to the "Golden Afternoon". She had a lot of fun dancing with her cousin Lily. Gracie was so excited to perform. It was fun to see her dance. I was so proud of her, she did such a good job! We were not allowed to photograph or video tape the recital but here are our lovely dancers after the show. Gracie was ecstatic about her flowers and now she wants flowers for everything she does.

Rockin the Mohawk

2009-06-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Crew decided that if he was going to have a mohawk it might as well be red. We had some red gell stuff that Aaron and Crew used to spike their hair up when they went to the Phoenix Coyotes Hockey games and it worked great for his mohawk too. He has really enjoyed his new hairdo. It kinda is a fun summer hair cut!

He even asked if I could take a picture of his hair to put on the blog. Kids now live in a totally different world.

Summer Mohawk??

2009-06-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

It was time to do the traditional summer buzz but this year Crew refused. He was in desperate need of a hair cut and wouldn't even consent to that. Some how during church Aaron convinced Crew to let me cut his hair with one condition. He wanted a mohawk. Well I guess that is mostly a buzz and so Crew, the tough negotiator, won.... for awhile at least.

Our Ballerina

2009-06-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

Gracie has been taking a dance class and totally loving it. While we were waiting for her class professional picture session, she was warming up with some poses she thought the photographer might like. I had to get some snap shots of that. Her first dance recital is Saturday and she is so excited. She had me download the song so she can practice her dance at home. All the practice has paid off, during her class today she did very well. I am looking forward to her performance too.

Update

2009-06-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

So Crew finally got the 2nd pin out of his arm (last tuesday, I'm a little behind on the blogging). It looked so nasty. The skin was growing outside his arm up on the pin. It looked kinda like a tumor, maybe. When the pin came out, it bled a lot. The nurse ended up having to put on some silver nitrate, or something like that, to cauterize it. Then they wrapped it up and put on a new cast. Crew has quite a cast collection now: white, green, blue, and now red. Hopefully this will be the last cast; all that's left is black and then he will only have pink and purple to choose from. This cast is a short one so he can use his elbow again. The other casts have been almost to his shoulder. His elbow has been a little stiff and sore but he is so excited to use it again. I did catch him sticking a spoon, a ruler, and pencil (not all at the same time) down his cast to scratch his arm though. It must feel nice to be able to after weeks of no scratching.

Crew's First Grade Awards Assembly

2009-06-16T17:18:00.001-07:00

Crew had to miss a lot of school toward the end of the year due to doctor appointments for his broken arm and he was really worried that he was going to fail 1st grade. It didn't help that we got a letter from the school discussing his absences. He was so relieved when he got his Certificate of Promotion. He also got an award for the Accelerated Reader program and "A" Honor Roll. I recorded the ceremony but I barely know how to use our camera so I can't put the little poem they recited or song they sung on the blog. You will just have to imagine how adorable it was. Way to go Cruzzer, you're in 2nd grade now!

Gracie's Preschool Graduation

2009-06-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of how hard Gracie has worked to graduate; all the projects, test, and papers she has diligently done. Really, her graduation ceremony was cute but I find it kinda humorous that there are ceremonies and certificates for preschool. She does love to perform and had a great time singing all the songs and helping the kids around her to execute all the moves right. She is so ready for kindergarten and can't wait to go to school everyday. I am so glad that our school still has half day kindergarten.

Mrs Pike, Gracie, and Miss Sarah. They are such amazing teachers. They were so fabulous and did so many wonderful things with the kids throughout the year.
Our new graduate with the certificate to prove it. Layla could barely wait to get on the stage! We had to get a picture with the proud siblings too.

2 week check up

2009-05-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we had to go back to Dr Yu and see how Crew was healing and make sure that the pin sites weren't infected. Crew's cast was cut off and we got more x-rays. His bones are healing well and surprisingly fast. Finally some good news. The pin sites are doing fine too.

Crew was intrigued by seeing the pins sticking out of his arm and he couldn't stop looking at them. I had to snap a few pictures on my phone; how often do you get to see pins sticking out of your child's arm? I am hoping this is the only time.

Father and Sons/Girl's night out

2009-05-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

This year during father and sons our ward hosted an activity for the girls. I had so much fun with Gracie and Layla. We made our own lipgloss which was a huge hit with Layla who has a major lipgloss obsession. We also decorated flip flops. I did have to help tie on the ribbons but the girls did the rest and had a blast gluing on pom-poms and jewels. We even got to roast our own hot dogs. I think Gracie's favorite part was swimming in her clothes with her friend Paige. I didn't realize that there was a pool there and so came unprepared. But not having swimsuits didn't hold my girls back. I do wish that I had brought my camera to get some pictures of all the fun. But Gracie wanted to make sure that everyone got to see her amazing flip flops. She is so proud that she decorated them herself.

No surprise that at father and sons Crew caught a creature. That boy finds pets everywhere he goes. Aaron emailed this picture to me from his phone. This little pet toad didn't get a name though because he was only a pet for one night. I guess Crew has some pet protocols.

Bedhead!

2009-05-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Poor Layla has the worst bedhead that I have ever seen. These pictures just don't capture what a mess her hair is every morning. I hope that it is a bad hair phase that she will outgrow.

We are so LUCKY ......

2009-05-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

to have such a fabulous family. To help Cruzzer feel better about the whole broken arm situation, Aunt Katie and Aunt Karly made him this awesome poster with treats included. Although the candy has already been enjoyed he still has the poster hanging up in his room. Katie also made him a crayon roll that he has really enjoyed using with the cool Star Wars activity book Grannybird gave him. Gigi has given him some awesome Lego sets that he has been sitting still to do and Grammy also sent him a package with some fun things to keep him busy. Aunt Kerry sent him some fun Ed Emberly books too. Thanks to all of you for the love and support. I appreciate the help. It hasn't been easy to keep him occupied so his arm can heal.

It's Hard to Pin Down Crew

2009-05-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

We went in to get Crew's cast on Tuesday but his bones had shifted and rotated. Dr. Yu, the orthopedic surgeon, was very surprised with this outcome. I guess I didn't keep Crew mellow enough, also apparently with the severity of Crew's break and the amount of swelling he had, it is common to have shifting. That is part of the reason we had to wait so long to get a cast. The rotation however is just a fluke. So once again we left the office with NO CAST! Instead we had an appointment for surgery. Dr. Yu made an incision on the inside of his wrist and moved the bones and put in some pins to hold the big bone in place (you would think by now I could remember which bone was the Radius and which was the Ulna, but I can't) . The little bone seemed to be stable enough that they didn't have to pin it at all. After the surgery he finally got a cast. They just put a cast right over the pins. He has been in some pain but doing pretty good. We have a follow up appointment May 19th where Dr. Yu will cut off this cast and look at the pins and then re-cast. I am hoping that the pins will come out then but that will only happen if Crew is a very fast healer so I guess we will see. I had no idea that a broken arm could be such a hassle

Good Bye Splint, Hello Cast!

2009-05-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Crew's arm was too swollen to put a cast on so he had to have a splint instead. He ended up having the splint on for 2 1/2 weeks but now it is finally time to go in a get a real cast. I am excited for him to get a cast with more protection. It has been really stressful trying to limit his activity. Crew wants a green cast if not green then blue, if they are out of blue then red and if there isn't any red then yellow. He has everything all planned out.

Our First Broken Bones

2009-04-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

The long anticipated event has finally occurred; Crew broke something. I always say if you are going to do something you should do it well and Crew followed that advice. He broke both bones in his arm about an inch above his wrist and they were offset about an inch. What finally did him in? He was playing tag at recess. While on the slide he decided it would be better to jump off than be tagged and so he did. He wasn't tagged but he broke his arm. I got the call from the school nurse while Gracie was in dance class. The nurse said, "I am not a Dr. so I can't say but your son broke his arm and you need to come pick him up." When I got to the school Crew was amazingly pale and in a lot of pain. I was not prepared to see his arm looking so freaky. I was sure it was broken too. His wrist was off center and hanging down really weird and massively swollen. It really grossed me out.

Here is what his arm looked like when he tried to lay it flat on the exam table. There is something definitely wrong!
Here is one of the x-rays. That bottom bone had to be yanked back in place to meet up with the wrist and you can't really see from this picture how off center the top bone is. I was sure glad that Aaron was there for the resetting process since I couldn't even look at his wrist without feeling sick. Aaron is the emergency room parent. I don't know when I became so queazy, but I sure don't handle medical issues very well. Friday he will get his cast and hopefully things will only get better after that! Gigi took him to Target today to get him something to do with only one hand. He of course got a Lego set and is doing amazingly well putting it together with one hand. We also had to pick up some elastic waistband shorts. He can't button his pants with one hand and it's not cool when you're 7 to have your mom help you when you go to the bathroom.

Anderson Dairy revisited

2009-04-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know what our obsession with Anderson Dairy is? Although, it might have something to do with their ice cream. While Daddy was golfing with Richard (which was probably the highlight of his trip) the rest of us headed to the dairy. Gracie has been so excited to take Grammy to Anderson Dairy because when Grammy was a little girl she lived on a farm and because we like the ice cream they give you. The tour was fun for the kids but getting their picture taken was not.

Hoover Dam

2009-04-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

For my sister's Spring Break she and my parents came out for a visit. We were so excited to see them since it's been over 7 months. One of the things we did while they were here was go on the Hoover Dam tour. We were planning on going on Monday but dad was a little jet lagged from Japan and we decided to go to Mesquite to visit some family instead. Our much anticipated tour was rescheduled till Wednesday. I have been to Vegas many times and have now lived here for over a year and have not been on the tour yet; I don't know why.

Here we are with the generators that create the hydro-electric power. It was amazing how many they had and how gigantic they were. Crew was so inspired that after we got home he built a replica out of Legos. It was pretty impressive until Layla, in one of her tantrums, destroyed it.

Crew was also pretty intrigued by the construction of the freeway overpass. Finally they are building a road across the canyon so traffic doesn't have to go over the dam. I can't tell you the number of hours we have waisted waiting in traffic crawling across the dam in only two lanes and stopping for pedestrians all the time.
By the end of the trip though, we were all ready to go home. Thanks Dad! It was really amazing!

Decorating Eggs

2009-04-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know where the weird tradition of decorating eggs came from, but kids love it. Our kids enjoyed it even more so this year because they got to decorate with their cousins.

Here are Crew and Rex with their eggs. Crew named the egg in his left hand George Washington.
All the kids got a little crazy and forgot that they were supposed to be decorating the eggs!
Here are Gracie's eggs, a lot of sparkles (which you can't really see in this picture), pink and purple .... basically what I would expect from Gracie

The Springs Preserve

2009-04-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

One of my kid's favorite places to go in Vegas is the Springs Preserve. It has walking trails and desert animals plus hands-on museum exhibits. We were there over spring break and so many cacti were blooming. The kids thought it was so beautiful.

Egg Hunt

2009-04-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

What could be more fun than searching for eggs full of candy with friends. We have a really fun playgroup and we all got together for an Easter Egg Hunt.

May the Force Be With You

2009-04-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

Crew is the proud owner of the only bearded dragon that is also a Jedi. I came in his room and this is what I found; Skooter with a light saber.

Happy Anniversary!

2009-04-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

April 2nd was our 10th anniversary. In one way I cant believe that it's already been 10 but sometimes it seems like we have been together forever. Well we made it through the first 10; lets see what the next 10 bring.

My Lego Maniac

2009-04-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Crew is turning 7 on April 16th. I can't believe he is that old already. My mom is definately right; the days are long but the years are short. Since he is obsessed with and addicted to Legos, that is the theme he chose for his birthday party. I am not surprised. It has been fun to plan his party together. I hope all goes well and he enjoys it as much as his Webkinz party last year that he is still talking about.

Brittany's Bridal Shower

2009-04-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

Brittany Benson is getting hitched and we were really excited to celebrate with her at the bridal shower. Gracie loves going to bridal and baby showers, she thinks they are so fun. While Brittany was opening her presents Gracie kept saying "Oooh!' and getting so excited. She even liked the lingerie, even though she doesn't know what it is for, she can appreciate how cute it is. When the shower hat was done, Gracie could hardly wait to get it on her head. She is already asking who is getting married next. Thankfully we have Cami's to look forward to.

Crew's Award

2009-03-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

Crew was so excited that he got all "A"s and got to go to the "A" Honor Roll assembly. He believes that he is the smartest kid in his class (well he and Maya) and now he feels he has proof. Crew kept reminding me about the assembly so I would be there to see him get his certificate and sign the Honor Roll poster. Crew was even more excited that Papa and Dad got to come too. I didn't tell him before that they were coming so it was a surprise. Another good surprise was In n Out gave a free cheeseburger coupon too which means we are going to have to eat there soon. Yummy! As if I needed any more reasons. Already Crew keeps asking me when do we get to go to In n Out for his celebration.

Little Monkeys

2009-03-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

Every day as we walk home from school we pass these trees that are blossoming and the kids love to climb them. The trees smell so good and are so pretty. I am glad that I took a picture of my little monkeys in the tree because the trees have already lost almost all of their blossoms. For once I got around to doing something before it was too late. Yipee!

Family Fun

2009-03-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

For some fun, we headed out toward the red rocks. Gigi had told us that there were some petroglyphs up here and we just had to check them out. We hiked around, up, and all over these red group of rocks. We had a blast just hanging out and exploring.

There were a lot of petroglyphs on this rock and the kids got a real kick on being able to touch them and think about what they meant and why the indians might have drawn them.

Crew of course thought that these were lizards and had to have his picture taken with them.
Gracie thought that the indians drew this picture of a snake because maybe a snake was coming.
Layla really liked the petroglyph of mickey mouse but was concerned because he didn't have any eyes.
It doesn't seem to matter where we are, my kids love to play in the dirt!

You Can Do It, We Can Help...

2009-03-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

The first Saturday of each month the Home Depot has a free kids workshop. The month of March the kids made a race track. It's a pretty fun activity for a Saturday morning. The Home Depot gives each kid a kit and provides glue and a hammer for your little craftsman to build with. You can see Crew's race track on his desk. The kids have had fun playing with their cars and tracks and they are really proud that they build it.

The Bike-n-Bang!

2009-03-16T20:46:00.001-07:00

What could be more fun than heading out to the desert with bikes, guns, food, and family?

Notice Layla's huge smile. She was in love with the bikes. Little Layla couldn't get enough of them. There are more pictures of her to come.
Look at Gigi go! How many grandmas do you know that just hop on a bike and ride off into the desert? We are so lucky to have such a fun grandma to show us how its done and how to live life.
Crew let Gracie take his 50 for a ride. I wasn't sure how she'd handle the bike but she did great. I was totally impressed.
C-man couldn't wait to get on his bike and head out.

Layla was in heaven on the bikes! It was hard to get her off. She kept wanting Aaron to take her for a ride. Her cousin, Lily, didn't want to be left out of the fun. No we didn't let Layla take them for a spin (even though she really wanted to). These two were just sitting on it and pretending.

Gigi and the girls enjoyed playing in the dirt and building all kinds of desert masterpieces.
I don't know why Gracie climbed on top of the trailer but I am not surprised. I guess I should be asking why wouldn't she climb on top of the trailer.
Aaron had to try out his new gun he got for his birthday. The "judge's" performance was satisfactory. This is what happens when you shoot a milk jug full of water with a 410 shotgun. Pure entertainment and enjoyment!
I have found the gun that I am in love with; the Walther p 22. My father-in-law got this gun for my mother-in-law for Valentines Day. He told me when Aaron really loves me as much as he loves Angie then maybe Aaron will buy me a gun like that for Valentines Day too. Hopefully Aaron decides to love me that much next V-day or maybe by my birthday.

Crew had to have his turn too. He is already trying to decide what gun he wants. Sorry buddy you're gonna have to wait a few more years. Maybe he will be pacified with an airsoft gun in the meantime.

The kids had fun collecting the shotgun shells. Gracie said it looked kinda like confetti. So here is a picture of some of the confetti at our party! I asked the kids what we could do to make it more fun next time (I am always looking for ways to improve). Crew wants to be able to shoot more. He said the other boys (Papa, Aaron, and Jake) got to shoot more than him and thats not fair. Gracie said we need to stay the night and have a campfire and make smores. So looks like we will be having a bike-n-bang camp-out. I am sure that it will be just as fun.

Family Hike

2009-03-10T15:52:00.001-07:00

Gigi found this really neat hiking trail and since we are always looking for something fun to do as a family, we all loaded up and headed out. This trail used to be a railroad that carried supplies out to Hoover Damn when it was under construction. The tracks have since been removed and now it is a nice and flat trail. We had such an enjoyable time. I am already looking forward to revisiting this hike.

Of course my kids found the only stairs on the whole hike, which weren't even actually on the hike.
Crew walking with Papa (of course they are ahead of everyone else) and Gracie holding hands with her Gigi.
Layla hitching a ride (mostly because she was so slow and had to look at way too many rocks)

After Crew climbed the side of the mountain Layla had to try but with much less success and many more tears.
Here is the highlight of the trail. There are 5 tunnels that were blasted out of the mountain for the supply trains to travel through.

Gracie really wanted Aaron to carry her back to the car. This is the result of Aaron telling her no. It couldn't be considered a true family outing without Gracie having a meltdown. With this one she did not disappoint.

2009-03-06T17:26:00.001-08:00

Terra
&
Aaron

90% Compatible

♥ Terra and Aaron have been romantically-together for a long time. That alone demonstrates a degree of compatibility. Similar personality descriptions are a plus. Their shared faith will help form a bond between them. They both abstain from drinking, so that helps compatibility. The fact that Aaron is a big sports fan could be divisive, in terms of how the couple spends their time. The two share similar political beliefs, though. However, their astrological signs are not in harmony. They share a favorite season, and that is good. And their views on children are similar. Overall, Terra and Aaron are highly compatible. They are capable of having a beautiful relationship together. ♥

Take the Dating Compatibility Test

I am always worried that if we were to do one of those online dating things that we would never be matched up, that we would fail the compatibility test, and so maybe we shouldn't have gotten married. I was so relieved to take this test and see that we are compatible at least mostly.

Anderson Dairy

2009-03-06T16:42:00.003-08:00

A girl from my ward set up a tour of Anderson Dairy. It was neat to see all the machines and watch them bottle milk, creamers, and make ice cream. The girls really enjoyed it especially the free ice cream you get at the end. We enjoyed it so much we even went a second time, this time without Gracie, she was at preschool.
Here's the group. Thanks to Melinda (the girl in pink and glasses to the left of me) for setting this all up. It was fabulous!

OUCH!

2009-03-06T16:05:00.003-08:00

While we were in Mexico, there was one day that was kind of stormy. We still couldn't stay away from the beach. There was a bit of a storm surge and so the waves were really huge. Crew was trying to beat the waves and lost. They came in too strong and fast and took him down. His legs got cut up on the rocks. I was really nervous because he was under the water and there were lots of big rocks around and I didn't know what was happening under there. I was relieved when he surfaced and only had a scratched up and bloody leg. It could've have been so much worse. After that we called it a day and headed back up to the house to have some smores.

Happy Presidents Day!

2009-03-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

There is no better place to celebrate president's day than on a Mexican beach.

My little marine biologist had to climb up here to check out what creatures were in the tide pools
Well Aaron couldn't let Crew have all the fun!
Here are my cute little beach bunnies
and the kids playing in the sand!

a sand dollar

2009-03-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

Layla was so excited to find her first sand dollar (and I was so excited to get a picture of it). She's just not as fast as Crew and Gracie who always find them first.

California Adventure

2009-03-04T21:21:00.001-08:00

You can't go to California Adventure and not get pictures on the letters. Unfortunately for Gracie, there is no "G" in California so she chose "R" because thats the next letter in her name.

The kids thought climbing on the letters was pretty fun but not quite as fun as going on the rides inside. I was glad because I was kind of worried that they would say that was one of their favorite parts. They did mention it, but Crews favorite was the water raft ride and Gracie just couldn't decide between the High School Muscial show, the new Toy Story ride and the Bugs Life rides. Aaron's favorite was the new Toy Story ride, mine the California Screamin' roller coaster, and Layla liked the Toy Story ride too, at least that's what she said, but I think she really enjoyed driving the bumper cars in Bugs Life land.

Minnie and Pluto

2009-03-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

The Girls loved to hang out with Minnie. I could hardly get Layla and Grace to leave her. However, I had to beg Crew to get in the picture (and he would not sit near her).

Although Layla loved Minnie and Mickey (the older two missed Mickey they were busy riding rides), she would have nothing to do with Pluto. I was surprised because she loves dogs. I can't walk past a dog without her petting it, letting it lick her, and trying to lick it back. She said "I don't like Pluto! OK!" and refused to get anywhere near him.

Little Layla

2009-03-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

Layla was too short to ride a lot of the rides in California Adventure so I got to cruise around the park with her. We had fun!

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

This is what Crew gave me for my Valentines present. What more could a mother ask for than one of a kind sand dollars decorated just for her?

Our Little Princess

2009-02-19T14:09:00.001-08:00

Layla had to keep herself entertained while she waited her turn for face painting

face painting

2009-02-19T13:54:00.003-08:00

Part of the princess experience involved going to the princess boutique and getting their face painted. It was so cute and the girls enjoyed it so much!

The face painting was so much fun! It is always something that I thought would be fun to do and since some of my sister-in-laws agreed; my amazing and supportive mother-in-law went out and bought some face paint. Here are my first experiments in face painting. It was just as much fun as I imagined and the kids enjoyed it too. I'm sure as I get better it will only be more fun.

Layla
Crew
Gracie
Gracie

Princess time

2009-02-19T13:48:00.001-08:00

Last month when we went to Disneyland, visiting with the princesses was a major highlight. The girls just couldn't get enough of the princesses. Thanks Jake for waiting in line to make it all possible. Although next time maybe I'll remember to get the autograph book. Gracie wanted a book for the princesses to sign and I totally forgot. Ooops! At least she'll have some pictures of the event.

Shh

2009-02-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

You know you are tired when you fall asleep on a slab of granite. Poor Layla just wore herself out.

Puzzeling

2009-02-10T19:08:00.001-08:00

Crew has picked up a new hobby. He loves doing puzzles. Since he also loves lizards, I thought this puzzle would be perfect. Sometimes I am right and Crew totally loves it.

Since he slightly obsessed with lizards he actually knew what kind of lizard it was. I only remember it was some kind of gecko.
I am only slightly disappointed that it didn't take him as long to complete as I had hoped. I really thought this puzzle would buy me a lot more time to get things done.

LOVE

2009-02-09T11:09:00.003-08:00

Over the holidays I got to go to my first Cirque du Soleil show. Love is based on music from the Beatles and it was amazing. I cannot wait to go to another Cirque show and there are so many to choose from in Vegas.

New Year's wish

2009-02-09T11:02:00.003-08:00

I know I'm a little late with the New Year post but better late than never. We started what I hope will be a new New Year tradition. Everybody wrote down a wish and then we attached them to a balloon and set the balloon free. Gracie wished to meet Troy and Gabriella from HSM and is still bugging me about when that is going to happen. I guess she doesn't quite get the concept of wishing. Crew's wish is a little more likely to come true but probably only once, even though he wished very hard.

sorry there is no picture of Gracie's wish she was a little squirrelly.

Do I look fabulous or what?

2009-02-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

Only a five year old would ask that while wearing this outfit. She thought she looked so good she asked me to take this picture.

BFF 4ever

2009-01-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

Gracie got the best Christmas present ever from her cousin Emma, a best friends necklace. Don't you love their matching HSM pjs too. Every night that Gracie wears hers now she says "I bet Emma is wearing hers tonight too"

And what's the first thing best friends must do together? Get a pedicure

Emma's toes Gracie's toes

Have you see two girls enjoying a pedi more than these two? The rest of us got quite a kick out of watching them. I only wish I had a video camera.

Frosty

2009-01-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

As promised here is Crew's finished work. We were totally sad when his little guy melted.

Sometimes I Really Love My Kids

2009-01-14T17:03:00.001-08:00

and sometimes they love me too!
I came downstairs one day and this is what Crew had written for me. I had to take a picture to document it. Gracie decided to leave me a message later that day too. I wish I could remember what I had done to get such great love notes.

A White Christmas ... Almost

2009-01-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

It snowed in Vegas. It's kind of funny because just a few days previous we had taken the kids to Town Center mall to see "snow". They do a fake snow so kids can come and see some snow and then the real thing came. I was so excited. Right away we had to bundle up and get out and play because who knew how long it would last. Crew undertook building a snow man all by himself and when I find my camera you'll actually see the completed work. We even actually had a snow day. It was fabulous.

Our Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney with Care...

2009-01-14T16:21:00.000-08:00

except for Gracie's. She kept playing with hers and of course lost it and we still haven't found it. These were a last minute rather intense Christmas project I took on this year. My sister-in-law Katie found this website with these amazing stocking kits. It comes with everything you need except for polyfill, all you have to do is hand-sew everything. I thought that they were adorable and couldn't pass up the chance to make something really special for my kids. However they were more work than I realized and with one major setback (Layla cut Crew's stocking up with scissors so I had to redo it) I barely got them done in time for the BIG night.

Layla's stocking

Gracie's stocking

Crew's stocking
I really wanted to get cute pictures with each kid holding their stocking but since I couldn't get all three (seriously Gracie where is your stocking?) I guess I will have to wait 'till next year, hopefully we will have found the missing one by then. I really don't want to have to sew a whole new one. And in case you're wondering I did embroider the proper names for each child's stocking so you don't have to worry that Crew's stocking says Brad. Layla's stocking isn't labeled Buddy either.

Dear Bloggers

2008-12-14T19:02:00.000-08:00

Instead of a Dear Abby in the newspaper, I am asking all you fellow bloggers for advice. Gracie has a serious hair twirling problem. I can't find a solution to help her quit. As you can tell her hair is suffering. She has major hair loss on the twirling side. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. (Disregard the crazy bangs. That is from a unrelated hair cutting incident)

What happens when your 1st grader is mad at you?

2008-12-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Shopping

2008-12-03T21:07:00.000-08:00

I had to take a picture of my boys looking through the Lego catalog working on their Christmas wish lists.

Sharing

2008-12-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

I cut up some apples for the kids to snack on while we were playing outside. After running around together a bit we came back for more and a bird was sitting on the apple eating it. Layla said look mom we are sharing our apples with the birdies, birdies like apples too.

My kids....

2008-12-01T14:09:00.001-08:00

I wonder what they are thinking ........

On our way home from preschool, Gracie told me that she had corn stuck up her nose. In class they did a project where they took corn cobs and rolled them in paint and then rolled them on paper. Anything involving paint Gracie totally loves but apparently some of the dried kernels fell off her ear and they just needed to be in her nose instead. I was worried because they were dry and I didn't want them expanding in her moist nose. After a lot of hard blowing and serious praying they came out.
Crew was complaining of pain and Gracie said"maybe it's hurting because of the silver thing you ate" Don't swallow things that you aren't supposed to and your stomach won't hurt. I tried to figure out what it was that he had swallowed. When Aaron came home from work Crew was still complaining. Aaron thought maybe it could be a battery. After looking at lots of pictures online of button batteries we found one that Crew identified as what he had swallowed. Aaron called poison control to see what they had to say. I had no idea swallowing a battery was so dangerous. We had to take him to the ER immediately. After two hours batteries start to corrode and start burning the esophagus either by the acid leaking out causing chemical burns or the electrical current causing electrical burns. The plan was to knock him out and go down with a scope and tongs and pull out the battery. The anesthesiologist had finished explaining to Crew what was going on and Aaron was finishing up all the paper work. Just before the Dr. put the needle into Crew's IV he told the Dr he felt like he was going to throw up. The Dr. said that is a common feeling when you have something stuck inside. Crew started throwing up and miraculously puked out the battery. The Dr. didn't even know what to do. He said this has never happened before I guess we will do an x-ray again. We were so relieved that he didn't need surgery. They still had to keep him over night for observation and insure there were no complications or infection.
Here's the battery on the right. It was lodged behind his heart in his esophagus. In the x-ray he looked like Iron Man. So now Crew has a new nick name to add to the list. When he swallowed the battery it was shiny and you could even see the words on it. After about 4 hours inside it was almost completely black. He was sore for awhile and couldn't eat much but thankfully he was fully recovered in time to enjoy a fabulous Thanksgiving feast.

Aviation Nation

2008-12-01T13:28:00.000-08:00

For Veterans Day we celebrated by going to Aviation Nation. It's the biggest air show in the world (ok maybe not). It was so awesome that Crew couldn't even take his eyes off the action long enough to get his picture taken. What would an air show be without the Thunderbirds, which were completely unbelievable!

Our Air Force is Amazing

2008-12-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

I just have to say that I am totally impressed with our military and am sure proud of them.

The things these pilots can do is astonishing. Most of the things I saw I would have never believed planes could do or pilots. I really can't figure out why I have never been to an air show before.
My favorite plane in the air show. It was so awesome!

C 5 Galaxy

2008-12-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

I don't know what this little expression means but it sure is cute
Here we are inside this huge airplane. Crew was totally fascinated to learn that tanks and hummers are flown around in these
Of course this one is from Wright-Patt where my dad happens to work.

Pumpkin toss

2008-12-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

We had to play pumpkin toss on Halloween. With no school for Nevada Day, we had fun doing lots of Halloween activities. This was one of the kids favorite. We made little ghost and threw them in the pumpkin. Crew happened to get his ghosts to go through both eyes on his first and second toss. I couldn't believe it! He was pretty excited too.

The Harvest Carnival

2008-12-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Crew's school had a fun little carnival and he was so excited to go. We had a fun time playing the games and running around on the playground too. Crew and Gracie went through the haunted house with Aaron and maybe that wasn't the best idea. Both the kids were pretty spooked afterward. Gracie was really scared for several days and kept saying "Haunted houses are just people playing dress up and pretending huh mom"

Layla didn't want to stop playing and let me get a picture of her

Gracie won the cake walk and this is the cake she picked. I wasn't expecting her to pick this one. We had so many Halloween treats that we ended up just throwing the cake away after taking the spiders and bugs off of course.

It's Halloween!

2008-10-28T10:43:00.001-07:00

I really love Halloween! Nothing says it's Halloween more than carving pumpkins.

The kids had fun picking out their pumpkins at the store and helping to design their pumpkin, however, the actual work fell to the parents and grandparents. Thanks Papa for carving Crew's pumpkin. Crew refused to clean the guts out of his pumpkin. He couldn't handle the slimy goo at all. He really loves his pumpkin though. Last night as I was tucking him in bed he told me he has the best pumpkin ever! Gracie at least helped clean h ers out. Thanks for doing all the rest Gigi. I got to carve out mine and Layla 's. For Layla's, we had to make her pumpkin just say "No" since that is her favorite phrase right now and her pumpkin needed a grumpy face too.

Fall is also the perfect time to enjoy some carmel apples. For our family home evening treat we had to make some. No one enjoys treats more than Layla. (p.s. I used a double boiler for the first time and can I say I am totally in love. It made making carmel apples the easiest.)

Hauted Harvest

2008-10-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Springs Preserve hosted a Haunted Harvest event that we were really excited to attend. We got to dress up in our costumes and head down to the Preserve to hear Halloween stories, walk on spooky trails, color some Halloween pictures, dance to a live band, and of course go trick or treating. It was a perfect evening. We all had a great time! I am already looking forward to next year.

Baby Betsy

2008-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Betsy's long awaited arrival happened on Wed. Oct. 22. Jamie is the best sister -in- law ever, and not just because she always does a fabulous job on my hair. She let me come to her delivery. It was the most amazing experience of my life. I still can't stop thinking about how incredible it was. Jamie did a fabulous job with her baby too, Betsy is adorable. I totally love babies and so do my kids. They could hardly wait to go to the hospital and see their new cousin.

Layla was much more into the baby than I anticipated which meant we had to keep her away from Betsy. She loved feeding the baby. All the way home she kept saying she wanted her Betsy.
Gracie is pretty motherly. She was the most attentive and had to hold the baby as soon as we got there. She did a really good job with Betsy. I was afraid we weren't ever going to get her out of the hospital. Gracie loves babies and already talks about when she gets bigger and has babies.
Crew was pretty amazed at how small Betsy was. He couldn't believe that at one point he was that small. He was also pretty interested in all the buttons on the bed and how everything in the hospital room worked.

We didn't get to stay as long as Gracie and I would have liked but we did get to play with the Purel dispensers a lot.

Skooter

2008-10-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Crew finally got his Lizard (over a month ago). He is totally in love. I am proud of what a good pet owner he has been too.

It cracks me up how they are looking at each other and then they both look at the camera at the same time. They are soul mates.

2008-09-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Who could have taken 98 photos on my phone?

soccer mom

2008-09-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Well it is official, I have reached true mom status. I have 3 kids, am almost 30, have a mini van, and now I have kids in soccer. Gracie is really excited about soccer but not for the reasons that one might think. She is on an all girl team (she didn't want to play with any boys) and she and the girls like to chat and play a little soccer on the side. I did manage to get some pictures of them playing soccer.

Gracie was really excited when she scored a goal in practice and immediately ran over to her coach to give him a high five.

We are hoping that soccer gives Crew an outlet for his competitive nature. He loves it. He even got to play goalie the second half in his first game this past Saturday, which he was really excited about. Since then all we have heard is "remember in my game when .... "
I am liking soccer because it wears them out a bit. These kids have too much energy. Even though it is time consuming to go to 3 practices a week and 2 games on saturday, I am actually quite pleased with our soccer experience so far. I couldn't ask for better coaches either. I really love both of their coaches and attribute much of our satisfaction to having such great men coaching my kids.

Oh so Pretty

2008-09-16T14:51:00.001-07:00

Layla was very proud of herself for putting on lipsmackers all by herself. We have a ways to go if she wants to be a makeup artist when she grows up.

First Day of School

2008-09-08T15:48:00.001-07:00

I know I'm a little late with the back to school photo but better late than never. Here is Crew on his first day of 1st grade. Now he goes to school all day. I really miss him. I can't believe how old he is already. As my wise mother says, "The days are long but the years are short."

How old are you?

2008-09-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

If you ask Layla how old she is, this is what you get. She can't figure out how to hold up two fingers on one hand. That's a highly overrated skill anyway.

Layla is 2!

2008-09-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

Layla is really excited about her cupcakes!

Layla had 2 parties for turning 2. We had one in Utah while we were visiting my family. They were dropping off my sister Kelly at BYU. I don't have any pictures of it though because I am a negligent parent. I didn't bring my camera because I forgot it in Mexico (thanks Karly for bringing it back for me) and I didn't remember to have Aaron bring his. Hopefully my mom has some of those on her blog. I'll have to check. We had a really cute cake with Hello Kitty on it and of course presents. These pictures are from our little celebration in Vegas. Karly made some cupcakes and a really fabulous homemade chocolate icing or frosting, I don't know what the difference is. Layla really appreciated the cupcakes and so did the rest of us.

My Girls

2008-09-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know if the sand tastes better in Mexico but both of my girls said it does and they kept eating it. I don't even know what to say.

Fun in the Sun Mexican Style

2008-08-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Who can resist a day at the beach?

and after a day at the beach who doesn't want to curl up and go to sleep in the closet

8 week body challenge

2008-08-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

For anybody who is in a rut like me maybe this can help. My friend Meghan, who used to be a personal trainer and graduated in exercise science, is doing an exercise and eating plan and hosting a blog to provide support. So if you want to join up check it out at www.8weekbodychallenge.blogspot.com. Good luck everyone!