Life in the fast lane

Part 2 Holiday Vacation

2012-02-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Ellison Family Time

The day after Christmas we headed up to Midway for a few days to have some Ellison family time. We enjoyed breakfast together, swimming, sledding and bonding with everyone.

Since I was 30 weeks pregnant I opted to stay inside the lodge while everyone went sledding. Beckam only wanted to sled for a few runs and then decided that staying in the lodge with hot chocolate, a fireplace and his mommy was much more cozy and fun - w are two peas in a pod.

Salt Lake City

We enjoyed some family time at Temple square in Salt Lake. I grew up going to see the temple lights and now that I am an adult I REFUSE to go see them. It is always way too cold , too crowded and just more Christmas lights. Yes Bah Humbug, but the horrible memories of cold, snow, and crowds just to go see lights, never sat well with my style. I did tell Jared I would be more than happy to go during the day since he really wanted to take our kids.

Both the kids loved waiting to take TRAX downtown. Jandi remembers living in England very well and she felt like she was right back there waiting in London to ride the underground. Although it was not an underground she still loved it.

Beckam does not remember England since he was only 20 months, but waited in anticipation since it was like a train.

We ate lunch at the JS building and enjoyed walking around the temple when it was not crowded. Jandi loved seeing all the brides when they came out of the temple.

I do remember as a child always going to Deseret Book and being able to pick out some special "Sunday Toys." (see I have some great memories of Salt Lake). So we have kept up the tradition since we now live out of state and let the kids pick out a special "Sunday Toy and some new books."

FRIENDS

Since we have moved away almost 2 years ago, there are sooooo many friends we always want to see when we come to visit Utah. Unfortunately we never seem to have enough time to fit everyone in.

We did see the Acrees and the kids all spent the night at their home. They exchanged Christmas presents and I have a big hunch....that they stayed up WAY too late.

Beckam was in sure delight being with his best buddy Avery. We don't know how these two boys are so connected since they were only 2 when we moved away, but they both love each other and always want to visit more often - like everyday. Their birthdays are only 3 days apart so I have a feeling they bonded before coming to earth and talked to each other when they were in their mommies tummies since we lived next door to each other. I also think they bonded a lot since they spent so much time together sine the day we arrived home from the hospital. From nursing at the same time with their mommies in the backyard, to taking their first steps together.

These two kiddos are a funny pair. They have a LOVE/HATE relationship. They too have known each other for a LONG time. When we moved in our home, they became instant friends at a year of age since their mommies became instant friends. Jandi is good to play BOY toys with Jack, but now that they are getting older, they also get bothered by each other. We know they truly have a secret crush on each other. They are funny and say things to each other like "fine I am not going to marry you when I grow up, and I am not your boyfriends anymore" when they are mad.

The Acree's also came up to the Sandy house to hang out for the night. We played games and went swimming in the spa.

We also visited with the Acrees and went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks together.

We don't have any pictures but the kids also got to visit with their best girls Ally, Abbie, and Tessa right before we headed back to California.

Skiing

Jared has always been a skier and loves to ski; however, being older and having a family doesn't allow for the time that it used to. Now he gets to thoroughly enjoy taking his kids skiing and teaching them something he truly enjoys. He and the kids make special memories together when on the hill on their special date.

Daddy and Jandi also decided to do a little shopping at the resort, and spoiled themselves with a new helmet, goggles, and hats at Alta.

1st time on Ski's. This was Beckams first year up on ski's. He seemed to enjoy it.

He insisted and told dad he wanted to build a snowman. They designed this snowman and Beckam also insisted the snowman have a tie.

We had a great time and enjoyed the snow...haha. We were ready to come home after 2 weeks of cold to a warmer California. We also were anxious because my parents were finally arriving home 7 days after we got home.

Holiday Recap

2012-01-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

My life has been upside down since Thanksgiving. I have hardly had a moment to breath, so now I am finally getting back on track. I figure since I only have 6 weeks before we have a new little life in our arms, I better get my fill of routine - since that will be ending for a little while. I am not very good at being off routine and off of my "normal" everyday life.

It's begining to look like Christmas in CALIFORNIA...

This was taken at Jandi's Gymnastics. She is great at gym and loves to be the center of attention with her amazing splits that she has been doing since 2 years of age. Silly little girl.

School Performances...

The first grade class also put on a Gingerbread event for the parents. Jandi was so excited to be picked to say a special solo part and even invited her church teacher Sister Smith. Jandi loves Sister Smith and has really grown close to her during the last few years.

Mrs. Hauks first grade class room 10

Beckam was just cute sitting with Jack the dog and watching TV. Such a boy with his t-shirt off and a dog laying next to him.

Beckam had his pre-school Christmas performance and was a good little singer. Although he is so shy he tends to be less nervous at performing than Jandi at that age.

Steimle Family Party...

We had our Steimle family Christmas dinner on the usual Monday before Christmas. That has been a tradition since I was little. We celebrated at my Aunt Kris's home and enjoyed a fun white elephant gift exchange.

The little girls loved playing outside and enjoyed running around with their cousins.

Uncle Paul and my sister in law Gina

Uncle Mike and my brother Quinton

Beckam and Hobie enjoyed playing "boy" toys without the girls.

The Coveted Top Gun Gift...

White Elephant gifts are always a good laugh. Of course Beckam doesn't understand what a white elephant gift is, and was not a happy camper when he received a used DVD of Charlotte's Web. When the adults exchanged gifts, there was a coveted prize. It was a Top Gun model airplane that had a Top Gun hat and was all still in the original box. We knew there was only one way to make a crying, unhappy, sad boy happy. Once Jared stole the gift and showed Beckam he was all smiles. He LOVES airplanes and comes by it very naturally; it runs in our Steimle family to love planes. My Grandpa had his pilots license and a plane. My dad has his pilots license and had a plane growing up which we all flew in and loved. My brother Myles now has his license! Beckam only didn't understand that models take a long time build and wanted to build it that night even though it was 10:00pm and we had no model glue.

We started a tradition of the kids decorating their own tree this year; I am too much of a perfectionist, and can't let them help me with the big tree. We decided a few years ago to buy them an ornament each year that represented their personality for the past year. This year Jandi received a girl soccer player since she fell in love with soccer, really improved and scored 11 goals in one game. Beckam has become a "true boy" and is obsessed with Star Wars, so he received a couple different star wars figurines.

Getting ready for Christmas Vacation...

We were all packed and ready to go on vacation to Utah. Jandi had school end late this year and her last day was on December 23rd. She had a big 1st grade arts and crafts day filled with plenty of Christmas cheer. I was helping that day and we enjoyed the day together. (Although I was stressing to get out of town a few hours later.)

Jared was working hard at cleaning the house since my parents would be arriving home from their 2 year mission in Guatemala when we got home from Christmas Vacation.

After school we packed ourselves in our car (very TIGHTLY since we had all of our Christmas that had to come along with us....) We made a quick stop at Costco and hit the road for Vegas for the night.

The kids have always loved staying at a hotel, and since we do so often, they know what to expect when they arrive (e.g., complimentary treats or a concierge lounge). Since it was very late when we arrived, they had to suffer with McDonald's. (poor kids don't, you feel so bad for them)

After finally arriving in Utah on December 24th, we had a lot to get done before Christmas. Beside the normal unpacking and buying food for the next couple of weeks we had to put up a tree, head down to the Ellison Christmas Eve Party and stay up way too late to finish wrapping.

After a fun party with all the extended Ellison family, we went to Jared's parents to open a few presents.

Beckam only had 1 very large and special gift from Grandma and Grandpa; however, he didn't seem to mind or even notice that it was only 1 since it stood taller than he was.

The kids were obviously very happy with new toys they had been wanting. Beckam with his "MAN HOUSE" and not a pink doll house of his sisters to play with any longer. Jandi was thrilled with her easy bake oven she had been wanting for a long time.

Christmas Morning...

After a LONG night of the final touches on Christmas Eve, Jandi headed to bed after leaving her reindeer food, cookies, milk, and a special note to Santa. She was very concerned he needed to know how to get to our cabin, and not our home back in California.

Jandi had been begging us to sleep on the couch Christmas Eve so she could catch Santa. Being that Santa had a lot to get done, we told her to sleep in her bed and when we finished watching TV and hanging out, we would bring her down to sleep on the couch.
As we finished our "TV" Jared headed up to pick her up and bring her down. Our little plan was to wake her up and have him say goodnight, and "OH MY GOSH Santa had already come....we must have missed him because we feel asleep watching TV"
Little did she know I was in hiding and as he told her this little story, she heard something outside. Jandi and Daddy heard Santa's sleigh bells leaving our house! I came downstairs for water and she was so thrilled with magic in her eyes to tell me what she had just witnessed. We were so glad to be able to do this since she had started not believing last year, and we have tried to keep the magic alive for another year or so if possible.

This was what she had woken up to at 3:00am! Beckam's gifts on one side of the couch

Jandi had her gifts on the other side of the couch.

After a few hours of sleep we were woken up at 7:00am to open gifts. We really wanted to sleep longer but of course the routine is....mom and dad always wake up right?

Jandi was very happy with her new "BOY" polly pocket Santa had brought with real boy polly clothes and all. Not even a prince, just a normal boy! Bendaroos, Paper Jams, Lite Sprites, Justin Beiber items, sewing machine, clothes, clothes for her bunny from Build a Bear, games and more.

Beckam was so fun to watch. He literally was shaking with excitement to open his gifts. He was ripping off the paper and was shaking as if he were sitting outside in 32 degree weather. He got to open all of his new star wars figurines (he didn't have CP3 (C-3PO, Obi won Kinkobi (Kenobi) , oda (Yoda), darth vader, etc.) He also received a much wanted Jack Sparrow Barbie, fighter airplanes to go along with his battle ship, trains, games, Star Wars flying ship, and LEGOS! He has recently discovered lego's and decided he LOVES them.

After a breakfast prepared by Jared of dutch babies, OJ, Bacon, and toast, Jandi could hardly wait to set up her oven and sewing machine. She worked right away to prepare some delicious cupcakes.

Jared and I had spent till afternoon building their new toys when we finally were able to exchange gifts for each other. Jared was happy when he received a much needed new feather pillow, old fashioned popcorn popper, watch, clothes, TWEEZERS and other things! I was a lucky lucky woman to receive a new diaper bag/purse that was VERY nice, lighted magnifying mirror, watch, books, frosting decorating pen and of course...TWEEZERS! I also loved all of my stocking items like red sour cherry balls! Thanks Jared.

Beckam was a darling boy on Christmas with tons of smiles and excitement. He wore his coveted Top Gun hat all morning. Jandi was sweet to watch as she shared lots of her toys and was interested in what her brother had recieved. After Jared and I talked about our day together we decided it was really our best Christmas we had ever had together. There was something magical to the day with our family, and we enjoyed the special time together more than we ever had before. Although we felt very complete as a family, it will be fun to add a sister to Christmas 2012, and know she will only bring more joy to our family and memories together. We feel so very blessed and grateful to have 2 great kids who adore each other, and are such best friends in a way we had only hoped for. It was a day of much love for each other and realizing and talking about the most important thing....how we were happy, together, and our kids knew they were loved by not only us and each other, but by Christ as well.

Thankful season

2011-11-27T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is the time of year we seem to especially remember the things we are thankful for. Our Holidays were kicked off with Jandi's soccer season ending. She played amazing and although she is the smallest on the team she was the oldest and only one in first grade. Her best game was when she scored 10 goals!

I am thankful for pictures like this that capture her friends and moments in her life. I am also thankful my children love each other so much. He always seems to be on the sidelines of her pictures holding hands.hands.

She is much more brave than I was and loves soccer and is willing to try new things like sports...I only did the really girls things like dance.

We had a very fun and enjoyable week together having something planned everyday.

The kids had this whole week of school off so we have a lot up our sleeves. First off, Gingerbread houses. We headed to the store and purchased candy to decorate with. In years past I have always bought the candy but they both loved to be a part of the whole process.

We enjoyed lots of Christmas movies together on TV and loved being able to be lazy and have no place to hurry off. Beckam especially loved having Jandi around to play.

We went to my sister in laws home for Thanksgiving. We loved being with fun company and most of all loved the TURKEY dinner. YUM. (This was an especially great night for Jared who is now fond of celiac disease.)
Thank you Shultz family for hosting and inviting us to come along with everyone. We loved hearing Myles tell stories that are unforgettable and everyone sharing information on their iphones while eating dinner.

We all relaxed and shopped while the kids played until late that night. Beckam finally crashed on the floor on my lap around 9pm! Beckam and cousin Archer

Beckam and cousin Rock have a new found love for one another. They both realized they are old enough to play together. Unlce Myles was kind to let them watch Kid History shows on his ipad.

We also went to see Puss in Boots. It was an ok movie for me but the kids really enjoyed it!

We decided to go to the mall and shop. Even with all of the people and anxiety we had a fun time. We saw the "real" Santa and Jandi told me she asked him if she could pull on his beard to make sure it was real. He of course said YES and she was so excited! Beckam now keeps telling everyone I saw the REAL Santa.

Back to school and activities. Christmas shopping is all done since I HATE the crowds and now we can look forward to Christmas Vacation together in Utah...Hint hint MYLES!

School Award

2011-11-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

Jandi received an award in the first out of three award assemblies. She was so excited and felt very special and important. She is a GREAT student and loves to learn and loves her 1st grade teacher Mrs. Hauk. She very attentive and listens well during class. Last year she received her award for being a RADICAL READER, this year she got it for READING COMPREHENSION! Funny how she obviously has two different teachers but both notice what a good little reader she is.

Notice she is the smallest one in this picture and only 2 girls out of boys.

???

2011-11-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

Is it a BOY or a GIRL???

Wednesday morning we took the kids to find out who was growing inside of my belly. I have said from the beginning that I felt it was a girl by the strong resemblance of my pregnancy with Jandi. Face breaking out, not wanting ANY sweets, craving lots of fruits, veggies, pickles, salt, and random fast food like McDonald's hash browns. This child also has been my most active child. Jandi was very active but this child kicks, punches, and rolls all day! After a LONG miserable 5 months of being sick (which just for the record I threw up today and I am over 20 weeks...) we gave our tech 2 manila envelopes that looked the exact same. The only way to tell the difference was by a little B or G I had previously marked on the tab. After all was done she handed 1 envelope to Jandi and Beckam to open. We went outside and the rest is history for now...

Its a GIRL!

This has also been my smallest pregnancy. The baby is growing at a perfect size gestational age. This has been a BIG concern of mine with regards to my last pregnancy and being diagnosed with IUGR (Intra-uterine growth restriction). I feel like a stuffed Turkey but everyone seems to be very quick to inform me that I do not look 5 months prego. Of course that is nice to hear but me and my body are very tired and exhausted with this crazy little girl.

We loved the picture of her hand waving to us...or so the kids think. I think this is an insight to her personality being that mot babies keep their hands in fists. She also opened her mouth a few times which was very cool to see on an ultrasound. This funny baby turned 3 separate times during the ultrasound and the tech could not believe how ACTIVE she was. I have obviously known and stated that many times but it was nice to have someone acknowledge that since know one else can feel her as of yet.

Jandi is thrilled with the outcome and Beckam seems to think I have a strawberry in my belly and not a girl.

Halloween

2011-11-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have really enjoyed making their costumes but being pregnant and not feeling up to speed I did semi-homade costumes this year. Jandi had decided to be angel way back in August. Beckam continued to change his mind from Darth Vader to Storm Trooper and even a witch. Once my brain was thinking I quickly told him he could be a little devil. Luckily he agreed and loved his pitchfork and horns. The two looked really cute together and really loved being together for Halloween activities. The are best friends and enjoy each other's company all the time. I couldn't ask for any better blessing than to have my children truly love and enjoy each other.

2011

2010

I had a lot of people ask how I stuck his horns on. I knew a headband wouldn't last so I found hair barrettes that worked perfectly. With his Long hair and red hair dye you could not even see the barrette.

This year seemed to be the never ending Halloween from ...

It was super fun but we had definitely had enough of the parties by Monday. It started the week before with Beckam's school party, Friday church party, Saturday friends party, Sunday family and pumpkin carving, Monday LOTS of school parties again, carnival and trick or treating.

I had not even thought of a mustache until Beckam said mom, we need to get a mustache because that's what devils wear. So I went to the store and bought make-up. One day I was getting ready and Beckam came walking in and was very proud to show me that he had gotten into the his Halloween make-up and drew his own mustache. He did a pretty good job considering he has never put make-up on before.

We also had an early Halloween dinner. We had my Gourmet Group over and we hosted a spooky crepe theme. It was very fun and the kids loved having a party and eating spooky food. The swamp juice is made in our home every Halloween. The kids still think it is fun to have spiders, ants, flys and more all over and in the food and I am shocked every year when they act as if it is something new.

Shrek the Musical

2011-11-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

My parents have season tickets every year to the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Since they are straight off of Broadway we feel very lucky to have seen see Mary Poppins and now Shrek. The actors and actresses are amazing and I don't know if any "normal" play will every compare. My mom's good friend gave us tickets to see Shrek the Musical and I was very hesitant to take Jandi. Shrek the movie has a lot of inappropriate jokes that she does not understand...as of yet. I dread the day when she ask me what one of the jokes means. I knew since this was a musical they can sometimes be even worse but I went for it and hoped for the best!

It was truly a GREAT musical. Very kid friendly and very funny. They tend to go late into the evening and Jandi has a hard time staying awake past 11pm but she lasted all the way through on this. She loves feeling special, dressed up and on a date with mom. She also wanted to walk around before it started and was amazed at how high the seats go up, why people would even come to a play if they have to sit so far up and as to why were so lucky to be 10 rows away from the stage.

Her favorite part is the intermission with snacks and people hustling about. She always gets a sprite and chips.

2011-11-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

After 5 years of working at Ernst and Young Jared became a manager and then quite. We had enough of all the hardships with working for a big 4 firm and so we made a career move. One of the good things was he had a week and a half off of work until he started his new job at Alvarez and Marcel. We decided to let the kids take a day off of school and soccer practice and go to Disneyland. It was a pretty quite day which we always love and most of all they had decorated for Halloween. I love Halloween at Disneyland because all the villains come out. We played and had a lot of fun but I could be with the villains characters all day, watching their expressions and how they interact with the character to the guest.

Beckam really wasn't sure about all these mean guys but did enjoy seeing them.

Of course we had to go on the Haunted Mansion that was transformed into the Nightmare before Christmas. We love that ride but I could go on it at Halloween all day and observe all the details of the short term decorations.

After a fun week with dad home and helping a lot I missed him once he returned. He is enjoying his new career and it seems to be something that will benefit our family for the better.

Kids pictures

2011-10-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

This summer we had a dear friend take some photos of our kids. You can never have too many precious photos of your kids as they grow and capture their innocence. They turned out great and we really wanted to catch some expressions that our kids make often. Working with Kaelene was great and the kids loved her!!! Here is a sneak peak.

Birthday Party

2011-09-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

Since Jandi's birthday was a super filled day we decided to wait to have her party a couple weeks after school started.

Every year I let the kids pick out their own cake. Jandi wasn't set on any great idea until we found this awesome one on a friends blog. It was a wooden block with a wooden dowel. I decided to make it look more like Rapunzel's tower with green moss and a tower at the top along with the Rapunzel Polly Pocket and if you can't guess a lot of sprinkled donuts. The kids all loved the donut verses a cake and Jandi was thrilled with the outcome. (if anyone needs the block and dowel let me know. We started coming up with great Halloween ideas and a graveyard with donuts for a party!)

We started off the morning with having the kids make their own tshirts with fabric markers. They all signed a special shirt for Jandi so she can remember all the friends that care about her.

Beckam started off at 9:45 in the spa and waiting for kids to arrive. He was very excited about a party, but I think he thought it was for him.

We had 12 kids come and 3 of Jandi's best "boy" friends. One of which jumped out of the spa and was posing above so we can't see his pose.

After swimming we headed down to have water balloons fights on the lawn. Notice the worker who had just blown all the grass and was probably so bummed when he saw we were going to make a big mess with the balloons.

After attempting to keep dry Jared told all the kids they could TRY to catch him and throw them at him.

They ended up being successful and even poured the bucket with water from the balloons on him. Good sport and Jandi LOVED her dad being so fun.

By the end of the party Beckam had enough swimming and decided to be a pirate for the rest of the day.

They each got their good bags along with pizza lunch to take home.

Jandi was thrilled with the day and loved that everyone cared about her.

First Grade and lot's of Disneyland

2011-09-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that Jandi did receive her HUGE 1st grade chocolate chip cookie on the first day of school. With first day of school, birthday, and Disneyland all in one day, I forgot to take a picture. Here is her last year cookie. Beckam was so excited and wanted his cookie too, but I told him not until he starts public school.

After we picked Jandi up from school we headed down to Disneyland to meet some family. We had a blast and a week later we played "hooky" and went to Disneyland again. All of our cousins didn't start school yet so it was a great opportunity to be at D-land with almost all of the family.

Jandi loves that she is big enough to finally go on Star Wars!

The little cousins all LOVE the older cousins and want to be with them all the time.

Beckam has a few favorite rides, one of his most favorite is Monsters Inc.

Jandi and Piper found Cinderella as soon as they entered the park.

Soon after they had to take a picture with Aurora. I love how happy they all look to be together and have fun as cousins.

Disneyland AGAIN!

Every Year for the last few years we like to take 1 day out of the year and go to Disneyland like a tourist. Buy the churros, eat at Disneyland vs. our homemade peanut butter and jelly, buy a prize at the end of the night...the whole works. The rest of the year is low key since we have a pass and "clearly" go often. Since Jared would have Labor Day off, we decided to go down to Anaheim on Sunday and stay at the Marriott and then enjoy a good VIP breakfast and off to Disney we would go. Jared's mother decided to fly down and join us last minute, and we had a lot of fun!

All kids love hotel rooms and these two were very happy and filled with excitement.

Jandi and Beckam are pretty lucky kids and get treated extremely well when we stay at the Marriott. Because of Jared's status of staying there so much they deliver ice cream and soda to our room before we check in. Once we open the door, the kids are thrilled and act as if it is the first time that has ever happened to them. My only fear is that we are raising them to think this is "normal". When we have stayed in a hotel that was not quite as nice, Jandi didn't understand why we didn't have a nicer room and some "goodies".

Grandma came to our room shortly after we arrived, and we went to Downtown Disney to walk around. The kids got hungry and since we didn't want to wait for dinner downtown at the Rainforest Cafe for 2 hours, we decided to go out and ended up at Bubba Gumps.

The kids thought it was a fun experience other than being overly hungry at 8pm! I am lucky and have kids who eat shrimp and fish. (I think because I have never said it was gross and have always fed it to them since they were young.)

The following day we had a nice breakfast in the concierge lounge and then headed out to Disney for the day. We enjoyed both parks and enjoyed having Grandma Janet hang out with us too. We had a fun time and the kids loved their new Star Wars figures and Build a Bear clothes.

First day of school and BIRTHDAY

2011-08-31T15:38:00.000-07:00

Jandi's Birthday fell on the same day of school. Unfortunately Jared was going to be out of town on the first day of school which also meant her birthday. We decided to celebrate the night before and she had NO complaints about that. She woke up to presents in the morning.

She had a few request this year and one was the Shirley Temple movies from my mom. She must have an old soul!

She was thrilled with her mini pillow pet, her projector fashion set, BOY polly pockets,movies, umbrella, and the Our generation closet. Along with balloons filled with $40 hard cash so she could buy what she wants. She loves having her own money and even recently had two lemonade stands as well recycles so she can earn money. Her last recycling drop off gave her $20! (maybe I should take up that hobby.)

That evening she got to choose anywhere to go to dinner. We were hoping it was not...MCDONALDS and luckily it was not. She choice Panda Express.

1st GRADE! We are used to being at school all day since last year was full days as well. She was very excited to finally be on the big 1st grade playground eat in the cafeteria with the 2 &3rd graders. She came home telling me she felt SO BIG.

We were so happy to get a good teacher this year, compared to last! After school was went down to Disneyland. It was the first day we So.cal residents could use our passes since June! We were thrilled and don't normally go without dland for more than a month or two! We met up with my brother Myles and kids. It was so fun and I was glad she felt special.

Summer ends and School begins

2011-08-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

FINALLY, this has been the longest summer of my life. Being sick with two kids home ALL day makes for a mom who could hardly wait for school to start!

Dress Up

Beckam has absolutely loved dressing up this summer. It has been fun watching him get into characters of batman, spiderman, darth vadar, iron man, and of course, Captain Jack Sparrow. I fondly remember our good friend Jack dressing up as a little boy and thinking, it must only be his cute personality to do this. I have learned that ALL boys seem to fall into this superhero dress up thing. What gets me even more is how he knows who the heck these people are and the things they say. Beckam has frequently told us "I SUMMON YOU" and he has never even seen iron man the movie?

Baby

I am still feeling sick but seem to slowly be getting better. The doc still has me on my kemo meds which I am so thankful for. I am now 3 months and the baby is the size of a lemon. We heard the heart beat which made it all the more real for me.

This was my few last pictures of being this when the baby was the size of a ritz bite size cracker.

Jandi's Birthday

6 YEARS AGO... I was given this amazing child of God to raise.

Dear Jandi,

You are a very animated little girl with many talents and ideas in your head. You have a big creative flare and enjoys organizing. You love to talk to us with deep conversation and learn about new things like how a pool is built and works. You love to keep every little treasure, paper, rock and clutter. Much is often thrown out without her knowing...Did my mom do that when I was little too? You always dilly dally like your dad and it drives me crazy! You are wise beyond your years and pick up on talents easily. You are very respectful but demand respect, even if it is an adult. You are very logical and think things through. You like to be the a leader and has many opinions. You love math and and are a star reader. You have always been a social butterfly and never run out of things to say. You are very confident. You love learning about the gospel and have a strong little testimony. You are a great big sister and an extremely helpful daughter. You are very loving and are concerned about how others feel. You have great manners. You thrive on attention from anyone.

We love our little girl with her big smiles and snuggles. You are growing up so fast and we love having you in our family. You have brightened our lives as well as many others you know. You have literally traveled the world with us and have always been our brave and adventurous child.

We know you are growing into a great little woman and look forward to what entertainment and laughter you will provide us with in the years to come. Happy Birthday baby girl!

Can you guess...

2011-08-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

#3 Due March 17th 2012

I am 9 weeks and can't wait till I am 12! I have been severely sick with this pregnancy which has not been typical for me. I normally am the "typical" pregnant woman in the first 3 months. This first trimester has had me loosing weight and not able to even get off of the bed for 3 weeks. They finally put me on some meds for Kemo patients to help and they are the best thing ever created. I still get sick if I don't take my meds but as long as I take them in the morning they don't wear off until about 6pm. I have had lots of nice people offering to take my kids and help.

I was starting to feel sooooo guilty not letting them do anything since it is summer and being couped up in a house ALL day with a sick mother is NOT fun. I finally had to tell the kids so they would understand why I was so sick. When I told them Jandi was beaming from ear to ear. Her response later that day was the following...

Mom, If this baby is a boy I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE CARE OF IT, it is Beckam's turn and I am TIRED of taking care of babies. If it is a girl I will help BUT Beckam has to help to since he hasn't had a turn helping yet.

Beckam was so excited and surprisingly understood. His response was, MOM ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Is there REALLY a BABY in your tummy.

They both have been sweet and Jandi has been a great helper. Holding my hand to help me walk down the stars, getting me bags to throw up in, getting me pillows to rest my feet on and most importantly letting me sleep in the mornings.

Beckam and Jandi have both been rubbing my tummy and talking to the baby. Jandi has been so kind to tell me every single day, sometimes multiple times a day how my tummy is getting SO big. Thank you!

Since Beckam was born with complications I have now considered a high risk pregnancy hence the 8 week ultrasound. We are hoping for the best and the little heart beat was 160 bpm. Amazing it can beat so fast.

Summer Tidbits 2

2011-08-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

Swim lessons officially ended and by the end of two weeks Beckam was very confident in his swimming abilities. All of the little kids are so adorable jumping off of the diving board and being brave. We are so proud of him accomplishing a big height for his little body.

Swimming lesson certificates and Candy!

After learning about missionaries in church we found Jandi dressed like this. She had turned one of her t-shirts inside out so it was all white, added Beckam's tie and put her tag from church on. She also made sure she had black pants...jeggings. Behind her was her apartment she had made.

We asked to see it inside and this is what we found...She said she needed the fan because their apartment had no AC! Typical.

She looks like a true missionary with a more than happy attitude next to her investigator. He apparently is still thinking about joining the LDS church with his dress apparel. Maybe he was a Chip and Dale's dancer?

And lots of time playing at the beach.

Summer tidbits

2011-07-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

Summer time activities...

URGENT CARE AGAIN

He had a high temp that I couldn't not get to break for 3 days. By the third day I was starting to get worried because of our situation last time. I took him to the after hours clinic and shortly after arriving he started to jolt which was my big clue, he was going to have a seizure again. Even though we were at the clinic with lots of doctors around I still was shaking and nervous for him. They rushed him back and gave him lots of water and medicine. Luckily he didn't have one but was a little dazed for about 30 minutes. I really hope he outgrows this thing soon because that sad face kills my heart!

DINNER WITH FAMILY
We went to a family loved restaurant North woods with (GG) Great Grandma and got to visit with out cousins the Blackburns. We haven't seen them in a long time and their kids were so well behaved and adorable! I wish they lived closer so we could see them more. We really enjoyed visiting with Kris and David and laughed at the pictures hung all over the restaurant.

SWIM LESSONS
Jandi is a great swimmer and was doing it for the sake of something to do! Beckam on the other hand desperately needed to learn to swim. He has been very afraid of the water and was very excited to swim until about 10 minutes into the lesson. After about 2 days of crying he has learned to swim and is doing a great job. Most importantly his confidence was built up and he loves the water now.

LEMONADE STANDS

We had a blast selling lemonade with our friends. I am not sure if we sold more or drank more. We enjoyed making money to donate to our friends church.

SPECIAL DATE NIGHTS
I took Jandi on a date and we went to the OC performing Arts to see Mary Poppins. We went to dinner at her choice...McDonald's, I chose to pass this dinner up. She loved the play and felt special being with just mommy. She did a great job at staying awake until about the last 15 minutes. She missed seeing Mary fly but she said she didn't mind.

IMAGINATION

Jandi has a HUGE HUGE HUGE imagination and has loved the freedom this summer. She doesn't get as much time to use it doing the school year so she has made up for it this summer. This was a quick picture she drew of a space ship, and a planet with aliens.

Utah Vacation

2011-07-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

I grew up going to Utah as one of many family trips. It was always fun to be in that atmosphere. Utah has a particular "fresh" air smell to it and I knew the smell well as a child. Since moving away we enjoy going back to Utah to vacation with our children and make fun traditions and memories. We had a few friends think it was odd to move away and come back to visit but below you will see some great things of why we love Utah.

Did I already mention the fresh air smell, oh yes I did! I can't get enough of the Mountain smell and even when we lived there I could always smell the freshness. We started our week off with great friends up to my parents second home to visit. Their home/our vacation home is nestled in the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. We love to have our friends come swim while we are surrounded by the quietness and mountains.

Best buddy, Michelle. So sad I don't live next door to her but so glad we remain amazing friends.

Vacation time anywhere is always good. Everyone is so at ease, relaxed and ready to enjoy each other's company. I especially love my vacations when my children want to dote on me and give me a facial and scratch my arms with a hair comb. (It actually was a good massage.)

Daddy also isn't this silly when we are at home!

You can't get this kind of nature in the middle of LA! Our kids couldn't believe they saw a baby moose this close to them.

We went up to Snowbird for the day and enjoyed their summer activities. We saw many people in swimsuits skiing as the slopes were still open until July 4th! This was the second year we had been up there for skiing on the 4th. We bought an all day pass and started out with the bungee jumping on the trampolines. The workers were so nice to help Beckam learn to flip and have fun as well.

Jandi of course needed no help because she is a lot like her father, good at everything and can pick things up quickly. She was flipping and doing splits in the air within seconds.

We then headed up to their rock climbing wall and enjoyed trying to encourage Jandi to reach higher. We had a sack lunch and enjoyed the mountains we were in on a sunny and hot day.

The kids enjoyed the "SANDY house" with the real deer on the wall that Dad shot many years ago. They love the history of the home and the family memories the Steimle family has created there.

We went on a short hike in the mountains across the street from us. It's normally a 20 minute hike, but with 4 little legs tagging along it was about a extra 45 minute hike. I wasn't sure Beckam would hike the whole way but he did and hardly complained. We did have a short potty break and as many know Beckam loves to pee in the wilderness when I will allow it.

Once we reached the lake at the top we had foil dinners that I had made at home since there were no fire pits. The kids thought it was so cool to eat by a lake out of foil with ducks quaking to feed them too!

The kids loved getting dirty and had fun together in the cool evening air.

We tried to get a fish but unfortunately we never got one, It taught Jandi and Beckam a good lesson of what fishing is all about...the waiting game.

When we left the sun was setting and people were lighting off fireworks in the city. We had a gorgeous view of Salt Lake and although it was a few days before the 4th we still enjoyed watching the fireworks in the mountains.

My little love bug is always giving me kisses and hugs like this. He will just randomly walk up and give my hand, arm, leg, cheek or lips a good soft kiss and tell me he loves me. Nothing sweeter than his small hands holding my cheeks and I'm so grateful for camera's to get a great shot of his sweet personality.

As if my kids didn't get enough energy out on the hike they still wanted to be silly in the pictures.

For the 4th of July we went to the annual Little Cottonwood parade. We love the small cheesy parade and the kids loved getting bags of candy and going to the cheesy carnival after. We then headed to our friends, the Whipperman's for swimming. We were great friends with the Whipperman's and Romero's when we lived in Sandy and love to rekindle our old friendships. Jandi loved swimming in the pool, diving off the rocks, and sliding down the pool slide. She also loved making new friends and have a fun BBQ. Beckam loved the beach entry into the pool and enjoyed swimming in the warm spa.

That evening we went down to Sandy to watch Fireworks and after lit our own fireworks in the expo parking lot.

We love park city and the tranquil environment. We loved shopping at the outlets and it was perfect cool weather to shop till yo drop!

We also got a thrill from going to the home town carnivals. Practically every city in Utah during the summer months has a carnival. We enjoyed being with family and letting the kids ride, ride, ride. We also had some good laughs when it started pouring down rain and thunder in the middle of the outdoor carnival. We all run for cover under the game booths and most of the family left. The party people (Grandma Janet and I) decided to stick it out a bit longer and ended up staying and playing after it cleared up. Thank you Grandma for taking us to get a toy and ice cream after!

We also went to our favorite restaurant in Cottonwood. Lone Star Taqueria. Jared and I used to go here when we were first married and when mainly locals went there. Now it as been on the Food Network, Diners, Drive In's and Dives with Guy Fieri

Go here to see more

http://fliiby.com/file/257354/p8bpbh072y.html

It is so good and has this funny old look to it with old Charis and a very old station wagon filled with stickers all over. Our kids loved it.

We loved our two weeks with friends. We saw a few others but didn't have pictures. There were many many more friends we didn't get to see but enjoyed the company of the few we did. We enjoyed shopping at Deseret book, seeing family, and watching the JUSTIN BEIBER movie with DAD. Although we love taking family trips to Hawaii and other places, Utah is a top favorite and we always go back!

Gautemala Finale!

2011-06-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

We flew up to Tikal to see the ruins. It was about a 45 minute flight and once we landed it was like stepping out into an oven at 350 degrees. It was so hot and humid. We then drove about 45 minutes up to the ruins. I didn't know how we were going to hike and look at ruins in this weather but we did. This tree was so unique and only about 10 minutes into our hike. This also was the tree I said, OK I have seen enough ready to leave. My mom worded it best, imagine sitting in your car when it is 100 degrees outside, no AC, and putting a pot of boiling water and steam next to you. I am glad we got to visit and learn but next time I'll hopefully plan my trip around the weather.

As we continued on our hike we came to this as the first ruin. It was so beautiful but more importantly not even fully uncovered.

All of the ruins were surrounded by trees and wildlife. Breathtaking.

When we finished the hike we stopped and ate dinner and drove down to our hotel. It was a hidden little hotel but we were all thankful for the AC!

The next day we drove into town and shopped. We went on a boat ride on the lake which we could have stayed on all day just for the little amount of breeze it gave us. I was actually very surprise I look decent in this photo because I was literally dripping sweat from every pore of my body. The locals are very used to the weather but said it was even a tad hot for them.

My mo had brought along these scarfs that you put into water and they stay wet and keep you cool. We had worn them the day before on our hike and again this day but I am a little grossed out to wear them since they were probably full of all of our sweat. Unfortunately when you are hot you don't care! I was ready to rip off my clothes and turn that town into a nudest colony at that point.

We took the boat over too a small zoo and saw a few animals. Most of them were as hot as we were and hiding in the little shade they had.

This pig was NOT fond of me and we had a misunderstanding. He had to set me straight and scared me so bad I fell backwards on the tush! Luckily I don't get too embarrassed and laughed.

We then came across a monkey who was more than friendly. He was somehow let out of his cage and could smell my dad's pockets full of peanuts a mile away. We enjoyed feeding him as he followed us on the rest of our walk.

Goodbye Guatemala! Till we meet again, You were more than we expected and a treasure in our hearts! You provided a great vacation with our parents with special memories we will never forget.

Guatemala Part 3

2011-06-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

Jared has become so cultured in food over the last 10 years! He and my dad ordered ceviche, I wanted no part to do with that.

We headed up to Lake Atitalan and made a stop by hotel before we checked in. We decided to go on a zip line. It was a short hike but in very humid weather seemed FOREVER! We got to the top and enjoyed swinging from one side to another. Our view of the lake and our hotel was amazing.

When we finished this hotel was waiting for us! It was so pretty and looked over at the indigenous city we were going the following day.

This was the view of the hotel looking up towards the mountain we came down.

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The following day we took a boat over to the city and got in a toot toot. We loved driving around on the motorcycle/car/taxi and enjoyed learning about some of the history of Atitlan.

This is wear all of the local women go to wash their clothes while their husbands go out on the lake to fish in a canoe type of boat.

It is very typical to see men carrying very heavy and large loads of wood. They walk with the wood hanging from their head to their home for heat. Who knows how long their walks are but even a mile with this pile would be horrible! What strong men and what grateful families they must have.

This man is carrying some sort of bamboo carpet. I cant even imagine how heavy that must be and I will tell ya, he was no strapping young man, he was definitely an elder.

At one of our stops we had little children surround our toot toot. As they were talking to us we learned they had recently suffered an earthquake in their village. They were darling children who were camera shy and only wanted us to take their picture if we gave them money. Go Figure, they learn young to make a dollar.

2011-05-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Mom and I shopping in the Mercado. What an interesting place to shop.

After shopping all day we went to our hotel for the night. This hotel was amazing! It used to be a Montessori and now had been remodeled into a hotel. This was outside of our room. Each little room had a fireplace and a small patio. It was very quite with all of the fountains and parrots in the back ground.

We enjoyed a wonderful candlelight dinner with my mom and dad. The Chef is very well recognized and has won many awards as well as been noted in Chef's magazine and Travel and Leisure. This was just our salad and it was soooo amazing I could have cried.

This was looking up to our rooms.

We took a walk around the grounds and walked up to their cholatier. It was such a small little store hidden in the hotel and reminded me of one of my favorite movies... Chocolate.

As soon as we bought our chocolate it started pouring for about 20 minutes. We ran for cover in this beautiful church behind our rooms. These old ruins are now used for events and weddings. It was so peaceful to sit under the canopy with white drapes, greenery, and ruins surrounding us as we listened to the pouring rain.

Can you believe this has been turned in a hotel that we got to enjoy with the best people in the world. I am so thrilled my mom had a relaxing and unexpected Mothers day with these views. The following morning we had a great Mothers Day buffet before we headed off to Atitlan.

Sitting outside our room on the patio.

In the evening this place gets turned into a dream. They light everything with candles and it is the most romantic and charming place I think there is in the world. I kept wondering how long it took to light candles all over the hotel, including hallways, doors, restaurant, ect.

Our Trip to Guatemala

2011-05-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

We started planning our trip to Guatemala 6 months before we left. It was our plan to surprise my mom for Mothers Day. We started planning the details with my Dad and were trying to keep this big secret a "BIG secret". We quickly learned that in order to keep it a secret you CAN NOT tell a single person. Luckily May 6th came and we boarded our midnight flight in anticipation that Mom had NO CLUE we would be ringing her door bell in a few hours. We arrived at the airport and my Dad had arranged for a driver take us to where my parents are serving as MTC president for the LDS church. We arrived and put our suitcases away and headed up to her apartment. Since my dad was fully aware of our arrival and made sure to have her answer the door.

This man is their office manager and helped arrange all of the plans behind my moms back. She had actually emailed me the night we left and said she was going to be gone with a friend for 3 days and had a hair appointment when she got back into town so wouldn't be around for the following week. Little did she know that she was NOT going anywhere expect with us and definitely did NOT have a hair appointment that week.

So sad this picture is blurry but since we were shaking with such excitement I don't think we had a steady hand. My mom held this face for a good 5 minutes. She was so confused and shocked as she had thought we were coming to visit with our kids in July. (WRONG!!)

As we talked later that morning we had asked her thoughts on our surprise arrival and she had thought she lost track of 2 months time. She didn't realize all of the planning that had gone on behind the scene.

We spent Saturday afternoon touring Guatemala City and were struggling to stay awake because we were exhausted. We then spent the night in the MTC where they have a very nice guest apartment. Sunday was Mothers Day and we were privileged enough to be able to go to church with the missionaries. It was so cute to watch them gather in the hall and wait for the "President" to come down and walk across the street. Off they headed 2 by 2 like little ducklings with their Mother and Father duck close behind and the Guards with guns VERY close behind. Every building or office has hired guards 24 hours a day to make sure it is safe. They stand with their nice uniforms and guns and keep a very close eye on my parents safety. They even have code names, Eagle 1 and Eagle 2. We were hoping they would watch us closely too and figured they would call us little eagle 1 and 2 but it was clear the only people they were most concerned about was my parents.

It was a true joy hanging out to see my parents lifestyle in the MTC and eat the with the Missionaries in their cafeteria. (Which quite honestly is good food.) Jared got to talk in church to the missionaries and even talked later that night in a class with my dad. It was fun for him to be able to reminisce on his mission.

It is so humbling to see my parents serve in such an honored calling of the church. It makes me so proud of them that they are willing to leave their "life" in California and to serve the Lord. (Especially since they didn't ask to do this, they were asked by the church.) You can see the eyes of the missionaries looking at them with such respect and love. I don't know of a better experience than to see how 19 year old boys view your parents as wonderful people and with so much honor and respect.

The following day we woke up and drove up to a city called Antigua. It was gorgeous weather and we started off eating at this fun little restaurant that was located inside of an old colonial courtyard. As we walked on the cobblestone sidewalk and entered through two old large wooden doors we were not expecting to see such a wonderful view inside.

While we ate a wonderful breakfast we could smell the homemade tortillas being made by the woman in the corner. All of their tortillas are a blue/grey thick and small but good.

We enjoyed much overdue conversations over breakfast and enjoyed not having any agenda to hurry off to.

These were sites we enjoyed as we walked through the courtyard.

My dad and Jared fell in love with this beautiful vine that hangs down and grows orange and yellow flowers downward.

It is very typical to see Guatemalan women walking with a large wrapped up cloth and their personal belongings inside such as their grocery's. They start learning how to balance them around 8 years old and as they get older their bags get larger as well.

We loved all the colors on their walls as well as the woman trying to sell us items for a "good deal" I laughed when I saw this picture as I was clearly trying to ignore them.

My Dad had won the game for spotting WALDO! We laughed about this couple as we have never seen more of a tourist than them. (He stands out more than I do so why aren't the ladies hustling him to buy things?)

Inside one of the stores to buy the kids souvenirs. Guatemalans are know for their very bright and colorful items as well as textiles.

It was such a charming city and very quaint to see that even in the year 2011 they still had old horse drawn carriages from colonial times on the pebble roads.

More of those colored walls. I had to laugh again because I feel like this looks like a postcard with my hair blowing in the wind and a man on a bike.

We chatted with a lady who was trying to sell us items and asked her all about how heavy their bags were, when they start carrying them, and if they get tired or are use to it.

This can give you an idea of how large her bag was.

Here is another woman who balanced this basket on her head all while carrying a baby in a sling on her back and another child not shown holding her hand. A breeze right?

My dad took us to this amazing McDonalds. On the outside it had a green cover because it was being remodeled and Jared and I were expecting a normal McDonalds but Dad said this was the nicest McDonalds he had ever seen or been to. He was RIGHT! The inside looked like a very nice dinner restaurant with candles and as we walked outside to eat we had no idea we would be walking into a gorgeous courtyard again.

This view of the courtyard amazed me as it was green, lush, quite, and even had very old architecture in the background along with Ronald himself.

It also had private little booths with padded seats to sit under with the vines.

It was so fun to run into some Sister missionaries as we were walking to McDonalds. Both these sisters had been in the MTC with my parents and it was fun to now see them hard it work. Dad treated them to lunch and they were thrilled to eat with the President and wife again.

This was the little conservatory in McDonalds where we ate at.

Small children work after school to help earn money for their family. On average most families make enough money to live for one day. What a valuable lesson this young boy is learning at age 7 to be able to help his family and not be playing on the Wii. I do not agree with child labor but this is clearly not child labor, i is a lesson of learning to work for what you need to survive.

He was absolutely adorable and at this point I had wished for Jandi to be with us so she could see all that she has, and to be grateful for being able to do all the things she does after school. That thought only lasted for 5 minutes until we moved on to our next adventure.

He had originally asked to shine my dad's shoes for $10 consolas which is about $1.50 US dollars. Apparently that is a high price for a shoe shine so he then lowered it to $3 consolas. We asked him who made more money his Father working in the market across the street or him? He laughed and said his father!

Continued...

Beckam Turns 3

2011-05-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

Beckam had a birthday on May 6th and turned 3 years old. Since we were going to be gone on his real birthday we had to celebrate it a week early. He loved turning 3 and had been anticipating his birthday for months and had been practicing holding 3 fingers up. (It's hard to hold that pinky finger down tight!)

This is a very blurry picture but I made him his cake. He had been asking for his HAPPY CAKE for weeks and had a hard time deciding between pirate and star wars. He finally settled with the pirate theme. The white sticks are candles and were light like cannon balls.

This is his true personality...shy! The only people in the room singing were me, Jared and Jandi but it true shyish style he had to warm up to all the attention. This boy does not like to be center of attention. He is so LOW hey that when he has new clothes and we get excited for him he insistent on not wearing them since he has too much attention on his new clothes he is wearing.

Beckam had many new boy toys and was was thrilled for his star wars bubble bath! He also got a new space ship, big bouncy ball, play dough, and bike.

He also had seen this boat and would not let me leave the store without purchasing it for his future birthday.

His biggest prized present was a huge battleship. He absolutely loves these Imaginext toys and now has the pirate ship, space ship, and battle ship and planes. The only problem is all of them are HUGE and take up so much space.

Jandi was such a sweetheart and made Beckam a cake with goldfish, bananas, and raisins and then froze the whole plate. She was so proud.

Easter

2011-05-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

We went to our local city egg hunt and enjoyed a nice afternoon.

Can you tell that all the other children ages 0-2 are still at the outer skirts while Beckam ran straight for the middle. He knew exactly what to do

Sunday afternoon we had family over for a Sunday dinner and egg hunt. (L to R) Great Grandma, Aunt Kris, and cousins.

After 20 minutes of the older cousins not finding the golden egg and not really searching very well we let the younger kids try. Gannon found it within 2 minutes! $40 later the older kids were a little bummed.

Since Gannon had already found 1 golden egg the only two youngsters left in the younger golden egg race were Jandi and Beckam. After Jandi looked for a while we helped guide her to the right spot and she won $20

The evening ended with desserts and wii games. What a fun afternoon with family.

Spring Break in Utah

2011-04-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a last minute trip to Utah for Spring Break. After Beckam's little seizure I think Jared could feel I just needed time away to not think about what happened and to be with good ol friends. Jared flew me and the kids off and enjoyed a quite week at home while we got to stay with our best friends the Acrees. We are lucky enough to have kids the same ages who have been best friends since they were born. Thank you Acrees for letting us enjoy a fun week with you! We love you to death and miss you TONS!

Beckam always loves to go on the planes and thinks it is so fascinating. Jandi and Beckam are both amazing travelers and after flying alone to England last year I really think they can fly anywhere alone with me.

One of our first stops was a favorite place to eat called Taco Amigo. Jack fell in love with me and said he loved my hair. He just wanted to keep touching my hair and wrestling with me all week. Jandi and Jack got along great and we loved watching him do Tae Kwan Do. Jack and Jandi were adorable with each other all week and talked very seriously about "living in California but before they moved they had to find a home first and then get married!" I love hearing of their future plans even though it will most likely not happen in 15 years.

Beckam was thrilled to be with with his buddy Avery. These two get along very well and were coincidentally born 4 days apart from each other. They have shared laterally lots of time together since birth since their mothers lived next door to each other and were best friends when they were born.

We also enjoyed the aquarium and going to the best indoor pool at the rec center with a lots of water slides, toys, and water guns.

Michelle planned a girls night out with our other friend Lisa. We went shopping at the mall and had fun trying on clothes. We loved that Lisa not only "bought" something but something out of her norm! We also enjoyed a late dinner at Olive Garden.

I had a fun night and met up with my brother's family who was visiting from California as well. We ate dinner at Cafe rio and all my nieces and nephew wanted me "aunt Karene" to take them shopping verses going to the movie with their mom and dad. I packed in my car Sharlan, Teanna, Bricelynn, Tristene, and my 1 handsome nephew Skyler. I felt young that night but looking at the picture... and the driver, I look like the old Aunt.

I embarrassed all the kids and made them take a picture with the Easter Bunny.

One night we had a pajama party! We ordered pizza and made Carmel popcorn. We let the little kids destroy the downstairs with toys and the girls enjoyed girl talk upstairs.

We ended our last night with a fun time at Ikea & Incredible Pizza! The 3 adults had been talking with an English accent throughout the day and when it was time to go to Ikea I had a brilliant idea. I gave a dare to speak with our accents the entire time at the store. It was pretty funny that our kids didn't question us and people would look at us in awe. We heard many little comments of "look they really are English" after talking with customer service. We laughed way too hard and I almost peed my pants when Colby talked to an employee extremely loud and even told her where we were from and asked if they cut the fabric in meters or yards???
Incredible Pizza was just that... incredible to be able to feed your kids as much and often as their little hearts desire and enjoy arcade games. The bummer is the dinky prizes at the end. We hurried home to put the kids to bed and the adults enjoyed a late night movie.

It was a great sping break and we wish Jared could have joined us!

Birthday Weekend

2011-04-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Weekend Wrap up!

It was a little late birthday because we had to find a babysitter to watch our kids but we finally got a weekend away. Jared had his 31st birthday in March and one of my gifts was a weekend getaway. We chose Las Vegas for the excitement. We knew there was a lot to do there and plenty of people to watch since we both are people watchers.

Thank you to the Maturos and a great Uncle Quint for helping with the kids.

We ate at the famous Margaritaville. We ate up on the balcony looking over Las Vegas and we were shocked at how many rooms were actually in Las Vegas. 148,935 to be exact!

I ordered the Volcano Nachos and I must say, look at them, they look like a volcano! We enjoyed great food and laughed a lot over what you would call a "juice head" who literally growled at me when I was leaving the bathroom without my hubby on my arm. Who does that?

This was AFTER eating as much as I possibly could and it didn't even make a dent.

We loved walking around and seeing fun stores and had lots of fun in the Sweet Factory.

Jared and I made a Bucket List for Las Vegas and one of the things on the list was to eat at a buffet. This is not a typical thing HE or I would go for so we decided if we were going to do it, do it big. We ate at the Gourmet Aria Buffet. So cool! We wanted great food and TONS to eat plus after seeing a gelato shop at every corner in Aria we were craving it.

Jared headed straight for the Crab legs.

Our Lobster was not the best but sure looked amazing

Another bucket list was to get a ton of desserts all at once and try each one together. Each one was so different and so incredibly detailed. We thought it was so interesting that we were the youngest in the restaurant and figured everyone else who was young was either drunk or goin clubbin.

Our favorite was definitely the Raspberry Cheesecake with Pistachios.

This was our second trip to the sweet factory and I absolutely wanted to sink my teeth into the cold cupcake. If only it was real.

We had lots of long walks on the Boulevard with plenty to see and plenty to laugh together.

We ran across the boulevard as quick as possible to see what he ambulances and Police on Horse were all about.

We were puzzled by the same 60 year old bleach blond, too much laying our wrinkly skin lady asked us two nights in a row if we wanted show tickets and other unmentionable things.

Never figured out why our hotel Marriott advertises "on the strip" but is really a block off the strip?

Laughed at an incredibly waisted gay man who got kicked out of a gay bar and went from complete rage, tears, and femininity of a woman in a matter of 1 minute.

911 call

2011-03-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday Jared ran a 1/2 marathon in Agoura Hills. I am lucky enough to have a husband who let's me sleep in every Saturday morning but since he was gone at 5am, I got up with the kids who for a strange reason woke up extra early at 6am. We headed to the Donut Man and I went back to bed on the couch while they watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua and played. Beckam was very normal and even jumped off of couches until about 2 hours later when he said he was sick. I tried to ignore him, but he kept telling me so I checked his temp and he had low grade fever, maybe max 100.

I gave the kids a bath and ran a few errands. We came home to eat lunch and Beckam was so tired. I was holding him while he rested his head on my shoulder and made lunch for Jandi. He did a jolt but I figured he was just falling asleep. I got ready to walk him upstairs to bed and noticed his eyes were closed and he jolted about 2 more times. As we were almost to the top of the stairs his limp body fell over and I was cradling him. I started to talk to him and had no clue how he could be asleep soooo quickly when literally 2 minutes prior he was talking to me. I quickly realized he was not in a deep sleep but was lifeless. He had no body control, his eyes were rolled in the back of his precious small head and his lips were blue. While I continued to cradle him FEAR set in. I had no clue what was going on and needed help ASAP! If you are anything like me I always misplace my cell phone and I was not in any position to let my child lay by himself while I tried to remember where my cell phone was to call 911. I ran outside knowing many people would be out since it was Saturday. I screamed bloody murder repeatedly to call 911. I ran down the driveway and our sweet Gardner called 911. The poor guy doesn't speak English very well, so he handed me the cell phone, while I was still holding my child. I literally was so shaken thinking I was loosing my baby boy and had no clue why he was dying - and dying in my arms nontheless. He had started to drool and the edges of his lips were purple. Still on the phone and needing help I asked him to go get our neighbor Lee. Lee quickly came out and took Beckam from my arms while I proceeded to talk to the dispatcher. She let me know this was very common with a fever and he was having a seizure. She asked me to take his clothes off and being a frightened mother I ripped them off and didn't care where they landed or what happened to them. We laid him on a soft chair in Lee's home on his side so he wouldn't choke and waited for him to react and slowly try to become alert. There soon were 3 police cars and 2 ambulances at our house. I was asked to grab a diaper bag for the hospital and all I could think of grabbing was toys to comfort him when he was coherent. We quickly got in the ambulance and drove away with me on the gurney holding my innocent little baby and Jandi.

Unfortunately Jared was still not at home and I could not reach him on his phone. Once we arrived at the hospital Jared had come home and was rushing to the hospital to be with us. Once we were at the hospital Beckam had woken up and thought it was really cool that he rode in an ambulance. He was still very groggy and was falling in and out of sleep.

We looked over and realized he was definitely a boy with his sleeping position. He does that often and it cracks us up.

Jandi was so sweet and I was lucky she even had jammies on. After her bath she only wanted to wear her robe and almost wore it to the hospital had I not asked her to change before this all took place. (I can just imagine a mother on Saturday morning with no make-up and I am sure looked pretty awful, a son who was only in underwear due to hospital orders, and a daughter in a bath robe, can I say white trash) Jandi was starving and said she didn't even get a bite of lunch when I ran out the door screaming. Since I was not really thinking I didn't think to bring my wallet and Jared also didn't bring his wallet so the hospital gave the kids a popsicle and apple juice to help tide them over until we got back home.

He was given some meds and told it was due to his fever. We were not too impressed with the ER and we're waiting to see his physician on Monday. I am now a paranoid mother who goes into auto pilot at any jolty move from him or our poor friends son who fell and hit his head on the ground but was only horsing around. I guess that is what happens when you feel that close to loosing your child. Even with Beckam being born early and struggling to hang on for life in the NICU and Jandi fainting 3 times I have never had the fear I now have.

After seeing the Dr. on Monday morning they took some blood for testing and are sending us to a pediatric Neurologist to rule everything out. He is now back to his funny self, I am the crazy one!

We also went after the blood test to visit the Cat in the Hat at our local bookstore. He was so excited to see the cat because he had just watched the movie on TV.

St. Pattys day, Grandma, and awards

2011-03-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

My favorite new thing in my new iphone Jared bought my for my Valentines gift! I love it and the kids and I love taking random pictures.

St. Patty's Day

This is one of my favorite Holidays because it is all fun, easy, simple and not at all commercialized as well as I am a tad Irish so I need to pay some respect.

The kids woke up early and didn't even notice their finger nails so I scolded Jandi and asked her why she had painted her nails green and used a marker to color her hand. She quickly realized it was our little leprechaun and had fun running to find surprises.

Beckam thought Jandi had painted his toe nail and was not too happy until he realized it was our Leprechaun.

The kids loved their pots of gold and even got a real dollar. They had glow sticks, necklaces. green gum, pony tail holders, and play dough

They were too excited to eat Lucky charms since we only eat that horrible cereal once a year!

Jandi was sooooo excited to not have to wear green clothes and got to wear green bows, nails and hand stamped instead.

We had rainbow pancakes for lunch with sprinkles. I don't think I have EVER seen my kids eat so much. The colors must have made them want to keep eating. No kidding, they ate so many they didn't ask for an afternoon snack. That's BIG!

We had a fun dinner with homemade pizza factory bread sticks, green fettuccine Alfredo, a slice of corn beef since I am the only one who likes it and strawberries. Jandi kept commenting on how good dinner was that I was such a cool mom and do so much for them, so I guess all the fun paid off. I always appreciate when my kids are grateful and recognize what I do for them.

A visit from Grandma Janet

We started off showing up at the airport and Saturday and Jandi had to guess who we were going to pick up. She was thrilled when it was Grandma Janet. We headed to Huntington Beach and had lunch and then went home. That night we got a sitter and the adults went out to Pasadena for Jared's birthday dinner. Jared chose to eat at an Italian restaurant that he and I ate at when we were dating.

On Monday we headed to McDonald's for breakfast on the road and headed to Disneyland. I thought it would be a great to go but it ended up being one of the most busiest days ever! Since we go often we are not used to people and and crowds. It was a fun day since we were with good company. We had fun on as many rides as we could get in, eating, eating, and eating and of course new prizes!

Beckam loves his pirates and carried his gun all day. He had a sword too but the gun was never out of his hand.

Jandi loved having another adult with us so she could ride on all of the BIG rides. Her favorites include, bug thunder railroad, Splash Mountain, space Mt. Matterhorn, Soar'n over CA, and of course Tower of Terror. Most of the times we go it is just the 3 of us so she was a lucky girl that day.

Tuesday was Jared's birthday and since we didn't really focus on him since Grandma was in town we last minute ran to get a birthday donut. We had one of those weird days and ran out of time to do very much for him. We did go out to dinner and blew out a candle on the donut.

Grandma had never been to the Famous Donut Man in Glendora and for those who don't know if was featured last summer on the food network and we even found on the Elvis would stop on Route 66 to grab a donut from the donut man. Now grandma can say she has walked where Elvis walked.

AWARD!
Jandi got an award at school and didn't know she was going to get it so was super excited when she saw me at school.

I was a little nervous her award would be for something silly like good citizenship. Every kid gets an award throughout the year so they have some that are just laughable. Luckily her award was for being a Reading Machine. She loves to have me read to her but is already at a first grade level when she reads. Jandi has always been ahead of her grade academically and we are so proud of her hard work. She tells us that she wants to work hard so she can go to a good college and get a good job and be President of the United States. What a great goal to work towards, keep it up Jandi girl!

Beckam's little buddy, Robert.

What we have been up to....

2011-02-19T20:35:00.000-08:00

Thinking Bee

My parent's home has a very LARGE bees nest.

Luckily no one has been stung except for Beckam. He seems to be allergic and gets stung all the time, about 7 times in the last 9 months. This particular time was right after the bee sting and it got worse in the following days. I felt bad because he started wearing his shoes all day long, even going to bed. After about a week he was stung again on the bottom of his foot. I have finally convinced him after about a month of his shoes that his socks are special and they will protect him. We have now pulled out the Bee Movie and he his favorite line to repeat is "thinking bee" he loves the movie but is not a fan of the real bees.

Jandi was such a good comforter to him. He is such an easygoing kid that he cheered up quickly and loved cuddling and watching a movie with Jandi.

Mr. Jack Bauer

We are taking care of my parent's dog Mr. Jack Bauer while they are away as MTC presidents. We love Jack and he is a very smart, fluffy, cuddly, loveable dog. He loves to jump from the kids beds throughout the night and make sure he has equal time with both. He was nice enough to let Beckam rest his feet on his back and snore next to him.

Business Woman!

Jandi has been begging for a wooden art set for months with chalk, crayons, water colors and the works. After explaining that she needed to save her own money she had a brilliant idea. She truly believes she is an amazing artist and that if she made an art studio that people could come buy her art work. She had a receipt book and listed her artwork from .25, .50 or $1.oo. If you were lucky you might get a free portrait added in.

She took all of her artwork and put them into a portfolio to her Great Grandma's 92 birthday and decided she would sell to all of her family. Little did she know she would be competing with two other cousins selling girl scout cookies. She was very happy to come home with $4.00! She was proud of her earnings and hoped that everyone would take her artwork home and display in a frame.... (Just hope she doesn't ask next time she visits your home)

She finally earned $14.00 with her sales and allowance and bought her art set. She loves to use the watercolors and I was surprised when she shared so nicely with Beckam. She is very particular with her colors getting mixed but nicely showed him how to not mix them up and was so patient.

She owes a big thanks to Grandma and Grandpa D. who bought plenty over skype!

Goodbye Layla

Jandi's first and beloved pet hamster, Layla passed away. It was horrible to break the news to your 5 year old that her pet died. After many tears, holding her dead body, and more tears she cried herself to sleep with mommy holding her. We had a lot of conversation about Layla being in Heaven and that she would one day, see her again. She asked and wanted to know lots of times how long until Layla came back to earth again. She had thought she couldn't ever have another pet since Layla would return one day so I had to explain that there is enough room and love for numerous pets and listed all of my past pets.
The next day she had school and had a very rough day. She came home and told me when everyone asked what was wrong she couldn't talk and would just start to cry. It broke my heart that I couldn't be there for her and let her stay home from school but she had to learn that life moves on.

She started to feel better once she got home and we got to bury her. She said her tearful goodbye and let Layla know how much she loved her, that she was the best pet she has ever had, (only had) that she would be with her again and she was so sorry that she died.
She covered her up and took lots of time looking at her and was very concerned about her having enough food and water. She also wanted to bury her home but I had to explain her home was in heaven and she was probably on her running wheel running as fast as she could.

She made her burial very beautiful with leaves, flowers and 1 lemon to mark her spot.

Once all was done she had a smile on her face knowing that she was running fast in heaven and she would always be able to visit her burial site under Grandma D's lemon tree.

Happy Valentimes Day!

Valentimes is the way Jandi says Valentine! My sweeties love many things.. here a their current loves at the moment.

Jandi is a great student! She knows all of her homework and is well above her kinder years. Her teacher's reports say she has been ready for first grade since October! She loves to learn. She had made Jared and I so many notes and cards to tell us she loves us. She loves playing on the playground but wishes she could play with the first graders. She is super sweet and loves to be with her friends and learn. She really wants to learn math and tells me that counting is not the same as adding and subtracting which is "real" math. She loves wearing dresses, jeans and pants are not her! Such BIG battle to get them on her that it's not even worth the argument. She loves jeggings though! She loves to have her Grandma D. read stories to her on skype. She loves doing make overs on you and playing Makeup, hair and nails. She loves learning to do her hair and is very good at her ponytails and doesn't get the rubber band are snarled in her hair anymore. She loves to be with her family and loves our surprise dates. She loves to go to dinner every other week with her GG (Great Grandma) and is lucky enough to know her. She loves to dance and is very good at freestyle and funk so beware if you play wii with her! She loves to wrestle with her dad, I mean hard core wrestle. She loves to crack eggs and cook with her mom. She loves to make crafts and draw. She loves to jump rope. She loves animals and is very tender towards them. She loves Disneyland and can never get enough of Tower of Terror, Matterhorn, or Space Mountain. She loves her Heavenly Father and loves her Book of Mormon. We love Jandi and her cute quirks, outgoing personality, sweet, kind, smart, funny, and sunshine girl!

Every kid loves parties at school and Jandi loved having her brother come to eat valentine snacks at school with her. She feels so special to show off her little brother and what a great and kind big sister she is. Beckam loves to go to school and feels like a big kid! He loves his playgroups and his friends. He absolutely loves the park and could stay and play all day. He loves to make people happy and will do anything please them. He loves to play anything with Jandi just to make her happy, barbies, house, pet shops ect. He loves Mr. Jack Bauer and always gives him kisses and hugs. He loves to be kind and share with people, even strangers. He loves to watch Mickey Mouse, Little Einsteins, Monsters Inc. and Pirates of the Caribbean. He loves to be warm and unfortunately is always cold. He loves to ask mommy if she is ok every time I lit the fireplace and say ahhh when the gas and flames fly out at me. He loves peanut sandwiches (pb&j). He loves going to dinner often with his GG (great grandma) and he loves his Uncle Paul and Aunt Kris. He loves anything with pirates, pirates figurines, pirates swords, pirates blankets, pillow, clothes, toothbrushes ect. He loves the itouch. He loves to skype with his grandma and grandpa D. The best part of all he always tells me how much he loves things like cookies, milk, Disneyland, walks and says "Mommy love"...and fills in the blank. We love Beckam and his sweet, tender, sensitive, caring and very boy side he brings to our family. We love how much he loves life and is happy to be in the world and with people.

2011-01-24T14:52:00.001-08:00

We had so much fun in Utah and loved having special time together as a family. We seems to always miss one kid in our family photo???

These two cousins love being twins and the crazy part is they almost look like twins

Rocky was a good sport and hung out with his little cousin Beckam even though they are 4 years apart. They are starting to enjoy each other with boy toys. Rock was extra cute with Beckam when he showed him all of his star wars toys and walked him through the Star wars dictionary together on the floor while they thought no on was watching....of course the moms saw because after all we have eyes behind our heads right?

Christmas Vacation

2010-12-27T19:13:00.000-08:00

We did not start our vacation off with a million lights on our home but did start off by driving 12 hours to Utah. We stopped along the way at the McDonald's train station and finished that leg in Vegas.

We stayed at the Marriott and walked around at the M&M store, played arcade games, the Coke Store and saw the Coke Polar bear, ate our most expensive Subway sandwich ever! We loved watching the David Copperfield Lions in their habitat. It was so cool to have a lion so close and only have glass separating you. We were all fascinated and watched their big paws and head look right into Jandi's eyes.
The next day we started leg 2. We didn't make any major stops as we just wanted to our home. We did make a quick stop to see best friend Jack, Michelle, and Colby. When we arrived there was no snow but the next day brought non stop snow with lots of fun and plowing.
We started off Monday with a big BANG or should I say SPLASH! Beckam and Jandi were outside playing in the snow sledding. Jared had been keeping and eye on them and was in the garage. I was in the house and was getting ready when I saw my two kids finish sledding and walk towards the house. I had a feeling that I should keep and eye on them (not that I normally don't but Jandi is pretty responsible) I saw them by the frozen covered pool and Jandi was kicking fresh snow into the ice on the pool. I then thought, If I have to run out and jump in the cold water to save someone I will not be happy is the water is freezing and I just got ready! Within seconds I watched Beckam walk straight into the pool, in the deep end. I ran down the stairs and outside as fast as I could screaming for Jared all the way. Jared was about 5 steps ahead of me and we ran as we heard Jandi yelling a bloody murder screaming "Beckam, NO" Jared jumped into the pool in his snow clothes and grab Beckam out. Poor kid was so cold and in shock that he wasn't even crying just cold, purple, and staring at us. We ripped his clothes off and Jared warmed him up next to his skin. Beckam was so cute was he was sad and just kept telling us in third person (which he does often) Beckam, fall, pool. He still didn't have a great day as we was cold all day and got two shots at the Doctor. My sweet boy started this macho thing where he holds back his tears, has a bright red face and tries not to cry if other people are around. Of course, since the nurse was in the room he was being brave and did the whole macho cry.
We went on the North Pole Express in Heber on Tuesday and had fun eating dinner at a restaurant with a clown. Beckam had fun being a mean Pirate and chasing his all of his girl cousins while Jandi had fun being Santa Clause.

We enjoyed having fun with my brother Quint and his daughter Lexis. Thank you Lexi for helping with Christmas wrapping and babysitting the kids.
Jared had a brothers day and went skiing with Quint while I had the kids and let Jandi have her buddy Jack spend the night. We had fun with friends and ate too much at Taco Amigo!

Jandi was invited to spend the night at her other best friends house. She loves Ally and Abbi and was so excited to spend quality time with her girls.
Jandi also had a special date with daddy on the hill, the skill hill that is. She graduated from using the edgey wedgy and had a fun day skiing with Jared.

Christmas Eve and morning brought lots of fun but I'll save that post for later.

Christmas Eve, Day, and New Years

2010-12-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

We always start off Christmas Eve by opening 1 gift, new PJ's. Jandi received some cute new owl Jammie's while Beckam had his pirate Jammie's. If you are wondering by now, yes he is obsessed with pirates and watches Pirates of the Caribbean all the time. We went to the Ellison Christmas Eve party which is always so fun.We started with good food, family talents. Jared and I had the idea to have his family do the 12 days of Christmas. It was really fun and cute. Jared's line was, 4 hours stuck in LA traffic, Karene, hopefully not 5 more years in a recession (while holding up my credit cards) and Jandi said 8,000 trips to Disneyland. The rest of his family filled in the other parts and we loved that we got a "real" laugh from every one's family this year, which is a first! Then we had our white elephant exchange. This is always fun and the Ellison's always bring some pretty risque things which surprises us. One year we even got a plush Viagra pill. This year I got some boxer shorts that said, I'm too sexy for my shorts. Someone really wanted them so exchanged me for some goldfish. I thought that it was perfect as I could just feed the crackers to my kids. WRONG, not unless I wanted to feed them REAL goldfish, ahhhhhh. I quickly got rid of those swimming fish and ended up with lotion. Jared got some cashews and the kids had fun little toys. We then headed back to Grandma Janet's for presents. Jandi got her Wii that she had been asking for. We played the wii at grandmas and headed home late enough for the kids to fall fast asleep in the car.
Christmas morning brought lots of smiles, laughter, Christmas music, presents and fun. Beckam was the first up and was shocked that Santa came and ate his cookies and the reindeer even ate the cheese and left teeth marks in it. Beckam was quickly followed by Jandi and Jared.
Jandi received everything she wanted which was the Just Dance wii game, real makeup and real makeup (not the fake Vaseline kind) makeup brushes,a scarf, a pillow pet, a real camera and lots of other things like clothes, shoes, and lots of accessories.
Beckam received lots of pirate figurines, a pirate pillow, a pirate blanket, pirates clothes...do you see a pattern? His most prized possession was his Thomas the Train battery operated train set. He had asked Santa for this all month long. After opening \that his other things like clothes, remote control car, movies, games didn't mean a thing to him.
Jared's most prized possession was his air hog! Go figure!
Karene's most prized possession was her 5 years of journaling on a blog printed off into a large book and an itouch.
After 2 hours of opening presents we made cream cheese french toast. We had fun playing and enjoying our new things all morning and ended the night with Christmas dinner. Chicken Cordon Blue with Cranberry Apricot sauce, Not so plain Green Beans, and Funeral Potatoes. So delicious and had great company with my niece Sharlan and her husband Michael, and my other niece Teanna.
After having full tummies we tried to work of some calories by playing Just Dance wii. The winner of most calories burned was definitely Teanna!

This has been one of our best vacations ever, full of fun, friends, family, and relaxing together as a family.

It seems to be an unexpected and unplanned tradition to be with my brother Myles and his family for New Years Eve. We always set the clock forward and make the kids think it is MIDNIGHT when it really is only 9:00pm. We seems to bring in the new year with party favors, buzzers, pots and pans and of course Martinellis!

We were lucky enough to have my niece Teanna join us for a little bit New Years Eve before we did her hair and make-up and she was off to party!

This kid could not get enough Martinelli"s to drink.

This just happened to be one of the coldest nights. I forget exactly how cold but I know it was only 5 degrees during the day so I can only imagine the night.

Thanksgiving in a nutshell

2010-11-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

Jandi had great soccer coaches and a team. This was the end of the season party at Round Table Pizza. She loved her trophy and had so much fun!

Jandi had the whole week of Thanksgiving off so we headed to Santa Monica Pier with some friends to enjoy the day. The kids loved the BIG macaroni and cheese.

Although we live in sunny CA it has recently been cold. Brrrr

Thanksgiving was fun and relaxing. It was at my house and we really had a huge feast, more than you know.

Aunt Kris

Jared is not a huge "Thanksgiving" fan. Actually if it was up to him the holiday we would probably not have this holiday. He sure looked extra happy to eat!

We had our cousin Piper over for a sleepover. The girls loved pretending to be twins with their matching jammies that Grandma D. gave them.

We also got tickets to see Yo Gabba Gabba live. It was so fun and amazing to be there with the kids. They loved every minute of it and we loved looking like DJ Lance. My sister in laws brother Scott in the creator of the show. We are so proud if him for such an achievement to have a dream show in Nick Jr. and create a fun show for our kids to dance and create imagination.

We also got to see the Aquabats perform since they are part of Yo Gabba Gabba. How fun it was to sing " A cool pool party"

Beckam was in shock most of the time that he was really seeing his idols on stage. He loves mickey but Gabba was one of his first 5 words. He enjoyed putting his hands up, dancing, clapping, and most of all watching with amazement.

We went backstage to the meet and greet. We had so much fun seeing Miles. If you remember he was on America's got Talent with another boy. Their group is called Future Funk. Jandi felt so special meeting what she called a STAR! She also loved that he was a great dancer and was only 5 like her.

We also saw a lot of other stars. There were so many shows at the Nokia center that weekend and we didn't see all, but a lot. Way cool just to see them up close.

Lou Diamond Phillips sat right next to us. Jared swears his wife smiled and gave him a wink...

Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters

Nicole Richie

Gwen Stefani

Gilles Marini
Jack Black sat in back of us
Jessica Alba

We just felt famous knowing Mr. Scott Schultz! Great week!

Did I forget to mention...

2010-11-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot to mention a HUGE milestone in Beckam's life...Potty Trained Completed!

Beckam was completely potty trained in August, He has even been so good as to not wetting during nap time and through the night. I was so surprised he picked it up so quick and was only 2 years and 4 months old! They always say boys are harder and take longer but he was really a cinch. I was not thrilled when I heard his little feet walking to my room and heard him say in a soft voice "mommy at 5:00am!" I quickly changed my attitude when he said Potty! I took him and not only did he wake himself up to go, he held it since 7pm the night before and had a dry diaper. He was so cute to go back to bed with a sippy of chocolate milk. Trust me when I say, I know horrible for the teeth at night. I had bad teeth due to this but since he only had a couple hours left of sleep I figured it would be ok.

He loves his new Yo Gabba Gabba undies, especially since we are related to the famous creator of the show!

Beckam was also so proud of his tower he was building. I was cleaning the house when he kept asking me to come look.

If you look closely you can see how it evolves.( 1 tower and a draw bridge)

2 towers

Starting his third tower

Jandi wanted to take a picture of her outfit for her Grandma D. She was wearing her Guatemala dress with her new Guatemala necklace and purse to put into her new Guatemala frame! ( She comes up with these types of poses all the time, I just say ready and she strikes a pose.)

Halloween Buckets

2010-11-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

This was my favorite part of their costume, the buckets. I just grabbed the McDonald's buckets we had leftover and my creativity with the extra fabric was just flowing. I had many people ask to take pictures of not only their costumes but the buckets!!! One even collected owls and their child's nickname was "owl."

For Grandma and Grandpa in Guatemala

2010-11-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Presenting "(only a clip from...The Littlest Pumpkin"

The littlest pumpkin played by Jandi Ellison age 5

The girls next to her were feeling like big girl helpers and felt the need to help with her lines, although she knew the all by heart.

Halloween revealed

2010-11-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

HooHoo!!

This year I let Jandi pick between two costumes, A cupcake or owl. Little did we know that the "owl" would be such a trend setter for this Halloween season. The both loved their costumes love to watch as the slowly transformed from fabric to owls. I didn't have a pattern so I just snipped here and but there and Ta Da! We even had a little friend of Jandi's ask what that machine was.... a sewing machine. You would have that I was form the ice ages with her questions and puzzled look at what I was doing with that?

We went to our Trunk or Treat and had a great time. Jandi was asked to be the Littlest Pumpkin for the play. She loved it and had all of her parts memorized. Beckam enjoyed the games and chips on the chili.

I was so tired of a boring car but also did not want to to a LOT of decor since it takes time to set up and tear down. I thought about it and below is what I came up with.

You can't see into the car, we had a mini strobe light with haunted music attached, a bowl of dry ice, and potions in jars with bugs. Apparently it was the hit of the night. If you can't tell Jared is in our family picture, he is the one with the bloody hand over Jandi. That is how he gave out the candy was through a whole in the bag.

We also enjoyed looking like a model and body builder mom and dad.On Sunday evening we invited a few families over for a spaghetti dinner, spooky drinks, and of course a movie on the lawn! Ya for warm California weather. After we went trick or treating to a few homes and enjoyed a fun night.

Long time no post

2010-10-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

It seems like forever since I have posted. We have been so busy and I have a lot to catch up on.

29... Yup, I am celebrating my last year in my twenties. I can not believe I will be 30 in less than 1 year!

(FYI, I never take pictures of myself so this is from a while back)

My wonderful Ex-sister in law offered to take my kiddos overnight for a birthday present! I was so excited and you can obviously tell what a great ex sister in law she is!!! Jared had a great surprise to take me to the Sheraton and we could go to Disneyland without kids.

We go to d-land a lot since it is only 20 minutes away BUT we never seem to go without children. Jandi is so fun to go on roller coasters since she now hit the height limit but we get stuck with Beckam.

I enjoyed being at our hotel as Jared always puts us up in the nicest! We ate dinner at one of our favorite places downtown Disney, Nappolini. We also shopped at the Quicksilver store and of course went on fabulous rides. I felt so rejuvenated and ready to conquer to world with a night away. Plus sleeping in and no children running and asking for breakfast always helps. One thing I can not STAND is waking to the alarm of voices!!! I like to take a few minutes and enjoy my warm bed before I jump out and start my busy days.

Unfortunately Jared didn't get to sleep in because he was up at 5:30am and headed off here...

Catalina Island.

He has never been over to the island and was excited to go with his brother in laws and nephew. They sailed over on my Dad's boat and enjoyed Saturday through Monday on a Boys R&R.

This is not the boat they sailed on, haha this is what they call "whitey" a small boat that takes them back and forth to the island. Can you imagine the waves if they sailed this, It would be like Tom Hanks in Cast away.

These are what they ate for dinner every night.

8 Years! We celebrated our 8 year anniversary. We have become amazing people and only through each other it could have happened.

Then...

and now

Beckam has officially become a BIG BOY. He got potty trained before he was 2 1/2 and was so easy. I heard boys were hard but he has been keeping up the good work for 2 months. He has been keeping us laughing and is still as sweet as ever. He created this outfit which are oven mitts.

(pre-potty picture)

Jandi started her first SOCCER SEASON. She started in August and has been loving it. Since it rarely gets too cold down here (except for lately)we are still playing for a few more weeks. She loves it.
She is a little scared of hurting someone or herself with the ball so normally stays a tad behind everyone. She tells me she likes it better than Ballet.

The parents have just been a little confused as to why the kids receive a GOODY BAG at the end of every game. When we were kids our goody was the half time oranges, Now it's Silly bands with tons of treats and a juice box. Some have even gone as far as McDonald's McMuffin and OJ.

We had some extra bodies in the kids beds...can you guess who it is?
ALLY AND ABBI, NONE OTHER THAN HER TWO BESTIES! We had the Johnson family come to visit and spend the night. The girls were inseparable and are truly, sisters. $50 later we ordered way too much pizza, talked way too late, and started the morning too early with a soccer game.

The girls enjoyed swimming all afternoon and continued to eat the Pizza.
We picked oranges and lemons from the back yard and even had a special date to get ice cream.

(Halloween Bracelt with candy)
We started Halloween activities and were elected to be in the "offical sticker club" with the Acree's. The kids enjoyed a Halloween activity from (their other best friends) Jack and Avery.

(Did you notice, We CUT Beckam's hair?)
We had to get rid of our turtle Seymore but replaced the pond with 4 new turtles which Jandi named...Ally, Abbi, Jack and Beckam named 1, Avery!

We carved our pumpkins and figured it would be fine 5 days early. Woops we no longer live in frigid temps in Utah where the pumpkins stay good for a while. The next day it was 70 degrees after being in the 60's for a week, hence our pumpkins are completly withered and we still have 3 more days until Halloween night. Live and Learn about new temps.

(I changed this recipe to taste a little better than the typical muddy looking soup mix. Check out my recipe blog for a newer version.)

We ate our traditional Dinner in a pumpkin Halloween dinner. I changed this recipe to taste a little better than the typical muddy looking soup mix. Check out my recipe blog for a newer version.

We also made spooky carmal apples with some freinds. I will give a hint that the kids costumes are something decorated on the apples? Can you guess?

We also are lucky enough to live close to GG (Great Grandma) We often go to lunch and dinner and were lucky enough to go with a group of Uncle Dave, Ryder, Aunt Kris, Jared, Beckam and me. After lunch we went back to grandma's place to watch Larry Steimle (a relative) play his uqelelie.
Until next week when the Halloween fun has ended and Thanks start to begin.

Our busy life

2010-09-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

Since school started it has been extremely busy. I thought I would be getting a nice 5 and a half hour break...WRONG. It is a break from one kid but time to run around like crazy getting everything done before she comes home. We then come home for Beckam's nap and Jandi's quite time. We have homework and reading 20 minutes, which of course means Beckam wants his own reading time too. Clean up rooms for the next day, dinner, and bath. On Tuesday and Thursday we have soccer practice. Monday and Thursday morning Beckam has a movement class and a play group. Of course Jandi tries to fit friends in there somewhere and that is just our routine stuff, forget about church, grocery shopping, cleaning and other activities that seem to pop up every week. It is so much easier taking just 1 kid somewhere but, as for busy.... I must now carry a calender with me at all times or I forget what we are doing. Here is a glimpse of what we have been up to.

We went to Disneyland for memorial day. It was not nearly as crowded as we thought and we all enjoyed Jared being with us. He doesn't go as much as we do with our passes and has been working a lot lately so we enjoy every minute with our handsome Daddy.

Jandi reached the required height limit for most rides which is good and bad. Now she can go on Tower of Tower, Star Wars, Space Mt. Spash Mt. and more. The only problem is Beckam is not nearly tall enough. One of us stays behind and one goes with Jandi. Beckam drug Dad to toon town to see Mickey while we were on Matterhorn.

Jandi's favorite ride is by far Tower or Tower and insists that her night terrors she was having came from the ride but regardless, continues to ride it

Beckam gave up his Binki's back in July to Goofy. He was absolutely terrified of all characters until I made him walk them up to Goofy and he put them in his pocket. Since then all Beckam talks about is Goofy. He loves to go up and see the characters. Thanks goof for changing this little guys heart towards you and all the other characters.

Jandi celebrated her 5th birthday back in August but I gave her a gift of going with her cousin and Aunt to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood to see the premier of Tinkerbell and the great fairy rescue. She felt very special to see it before the rest of the world. El Capitan is where they show premiers for movies so we saw all the famous people in pictures mounted on the wall that had been there. It is also a very fancy play house theater so it felt very real and made the girls feel like a special princess.

Jandi has lots of school activities that go on. This particular one was t-shirt day. Everyone wore their favorite t-shirts to school and talked about them throughout the week. She is learning a lot of new things and making new friend but misses her best friend of all...ALLY! Could you guess? She tells her teacher Ms. Golden about Ally often and draws many pictures of them together. Luckily school has been an easy adjustment as she had one of the most tender, sweet spirited pre-school teacher, Ms. Tecia. She cared for Jandi and all of her kids as her own. She loved each child for their own unique personality and traits and also taught them A LOT! Most of Jandi's school work is review, Math, science, reading, & writing. I am shocked at how many kids are learning how to write and learn the alphabet while Jandi is...reading. I don't know another teacher who would truly care for each child as much as Tecia and that means more to mean than any smarts.

Thank you do much for your hard work, patience, and time with teaching Ms. Tecia, we love you and miss you!
Her favorite t-shirt was her Littlest Pet shop shirt.

I have been in a gourmet cooking group for years and love it. I was asked to be in this group where we live and I took my mom's spot. We decided to do a "southern" theme for our turn. We had it in my mom's conservatory and dressed it up with Flowers, canned peaches and most of all a great southern meal.

I will post the recipes on my recipe blog soon. It was absolutely delicious with Pulled pork sandwiches, succotash, peanut cole slaw, black eyed peas and rice, squash casserole, apples, biscuits, Vanilla Lemonade and of course Grits! I love the company of these women who have know me since I was born. Some of the younger girls in the group are my age and we grew up together which is fun too.

Jandi was lucky enough to have her best cousin Piper come over for the day and spend the night. These tow girls are so cute and funny together and I am so grateful she is close with her cousins and can grow up with many fun memories. We laughed when to girls got out of the tub and had the same toothbrush, Blood sisters!

Summer Ends

2010-08-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Summer has ended, although now moving to CA the heat is still blazing. I am sad to leave the careless days, friends, BBQ's, trips, lots of swimming, the smell of tanned body's and beach weather, family and weddings. Yet, I am all too excited to have only 1 child at home for most of the day since my precious spunky 5 year old is now in kindergarten.

This is a good friend who had a wedding. We had so much fun dancing and enjoyed her reception. Congrats MILLIE! A new friend from church Brenna. She is 8 but keeps Jandi lots of company.

Jandi turned 5! She spent the weekend at my brothers home and had her typical oatmeal breakfast but her good Aunt Holly put a special birthday candle it it. Since the next day was school we just stayed at home, relaxed, had birthday cupcake and opened presents.

(Don't mind the Christmas dress she is wearing in August.)

KINDERGARTEN! I can not believe my little precious girl is old enough to be in school. She apparently got an amazing teacher, Mrs. Golden and has 1 friend from church in her class. The one friend happens to be the only friend in her church CTR 4/5 class since there are only 2 kids, Jandi and Issac. It was an answer to my prayer that she knew someone and out of 4 kindergarten classes the chances were slim.

We started a tradition of receiving a special BIG cookie for our BIG girl on her first day of school. She was totally surprised after eating breakfast and loved that it was made just for her. I didn't have enough room to spell out kindergarten.

It was a fun morning getting her dressed, hair curled, new outfit on and out the door. She told me as we were driving through lots of cars and kids to school, "mom I am not scared, I will be just fine." I am so glad she loved it and I can't wait for even more freedom when she has all day school in 1 week. 8:00 - 1:30 Yahoo!
At the end of every school day we made another tradition of the 3's. Since I do not always get a lot of information regarding her day I simply ask the question, tell me your 3's.

1. One good thing

2. One bad thing

3. One thing you learned

These question usually end up being lots of information of what happened.

She also started soccer and has really enjoyed getting all of her wiggles out on her tiny team on Kangaroos. She was not thrilled with the "boy" colors of red and black until I told her that they were lady bug colors.

Truly Amazing Man

2010-08-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

WOW, I have been going through a little rough patch recently and wanted to give thanks to... my hubby. He is such an amazing guy. I am in awe that he is mine and I get to keep him everyday of my life. He is so awesome and realized my little hardships so decided it would be a good idea to take our little rugrats and go away. I don't mean for a couple hours or even a day, I mean 5 days! Not even 5 days away, 5 days OUT OF STATE!!!

I was so ecstatic but didn't think it would actually happen, not on his end, just something would get in the way. Well, this wonderful Saturday morning started off with waking up a little too early for my liking, 4:45am but for good reason. I was getting my kiddos dressed to head for the airport. As we drove on the freeway I was so excited to have some good alone time, hence my children no stop talking at 5am in the car while dark outside and my eyelids falling. I couldn't help but laugh when Jandi would talk, talk, talk, and then Beckam would very quietly talk, talk, talk. Chitter chatter for 30 minutes and I said the best good bye ever. Jandi was crying and telling me she would miss me and I was the best mom ever. (Geez, I am not dying!) Beckam had no clue that within minutes his mommy would be out of sight for a long time.

It was amazing to drive home in complete silence, stop at a few garage sales, (sorry Jared I had to, I had no kids!) Come home, exercise with zero interruptions, children at my foot as I try not to step on them, and then sit down at my desk and catch up on lots!

I don't know very many men who would take their 2 kids for 5 days and out of state. I look forward to rejuvenating by myself and really.... silence is golden!

Thank you thank you thank you Jared!!!

2010-08-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

We recently enjoyed our good friends coming to visit us again. It was so fun to go to Disneyland beach and mainly just have some good company.

As you can tell this very sad face did something very naughty. I can not express how many times I have said that "we do not ever cut our own hair, we always go to cookie cutters." I have explained to Jandi since she could talk at 18 months and till I am blue in the face that it is so horrible and we would never want to do that.... My worst nightmare came true!

I had given her scissors and told her and a friend to go outside and pick flowers all around Grandma's gardens and we would make a fun bouquet. When I went to check on their progress I turned to find her hair a little awkward. I wasn't sure at first what had happened, I thought my vision may had been blurred and I quickly realized, NO she had done it.

We had a big talk about responsibility, since she is normally so responsible I was shocked. We then hurried and called the nearest salon since we do not have a cookie cutters. I then told her no more scissors and I had to take a picture. She DID NOT want a picture but I told her it was part of the consequence.

Luckily my little doll must have some hidden talent because she had really almost cute a perfect swoop. She has one little very short spot right in the middle but after fixing the swoop it looks normal and not that my child did the big NO!

I also received a new calling in our church. I am the Relief Society Secretary. I am a little overwhelmed but I know I can organize with my OCD behaviors or organizing.

3 more weeks till school starts and I am so nervous to send my baby girl to big girl Kindergarten. We have all day kindergarten in CA so it not only is a new change for her but a BIG one to be away from Jandi from 8 am till 2:00, Yikes.

Sometimes you just have to laugh at the moments

2010-07-06T14:37:00.001-07:00

We had a great 4th and started our day off wearing our Red, White, and Blue. There is something so fun about the 4th and getting festive and wearing those colors. Thank you you to our ancestors who immigrated and fought for our freedom and my children's freedom today!

We then went to visit GG (great grandma) at her Assisted living home. We had lunch with her and enjoyed lots of conversation while all of her friends loved the entertainment of lively children running around. I was just a little nervous they might knock someone over or kick a walker over. Oh my, what a scene that would be! I feel so grateful that my kids get to know their GG. I was never old enough to remember mine but this GG is 91 and going strong.
We then headed back to play in the pool and wait for family and friends to arrive for a BBQ.
We invited my brother Myles and Nanette over with their kids. We also had some of Nanette's family come along. This is Nan's sister Amber with her kids Lilly and Porter.
The older kids swam their hearts out, had a water balloon fight, fireworks, and fell asleep watching a movie.
From Right to Left. Piper, Ruby, Porter, Rocky, Eliza, and Jandi. We were missing Beckam, Lulu and Lilly since they were a little afraid of the water balloons.

Of course, the 4th Popsicles.
Jared did all of the BBQing and we had delish food that everyone brought!

We also caught Beckam doing something.... Not really, it is a fountain but looked so funny and real.

I continue to have people ask how my kids are adjusting. They are very happy to be with family and are doing great but have little meltdowns. Jandi and Beckam have both had a hard time sleeping. Jandi started having night terrors and Beckam wakes up around 5:30 am. I think we are getting Beckam fixed since I just walk him back to bed and he doesn't think it is worth getting up. If you have any ideas for Jandi, pass them along.

Here is a glimpse of a meltdown by Jandi. The other day Jared walked in the door to our little girl bursting in tears and saying...frittles died. Jared was not thinking and thought, Oh no Layla died. Wait...who is frittles? Jandi has always had little imaginary friends that tag along and this time is was her imaginary snail. That's right. She had gotten one of those little capsule sponges you put into water. It happened to be a red snail that she had names frittles. She had walked to the stairs to find frittles ripped into pieces and spread all over the ground. She had told me she found his head and was sobbing. I had no idea this stupid little sponge meant so much to her. I wonder what conversations may have gone on between them while I was not around. We ended up having a little funeral outside and she buried him with leaves. So if you are still wondering how things are going...good but we have some meltdowns every week. This is our cute little hamster, Layla. We are so glad that this one did not pass. Although, Jandi did decided to dress her into some barbie clothes and we we not too sure if she was choking. We quickly took her picture and got her out of her barbie dress.

We went down to a place in Irvine called Pretend city. It was fun and the kids could have stayed all day. I loved all their paintings on the walls.

Beckam loved the water and boat play and kept walking us back to play with them again.
Jandi enjoyed stamping her time card and running to the ATM to get Pretend city cash. Here she was being a Dr. and opened me up on the table to fix my insides. I hope she got payed big bucks for that surgery.
Jandi re=created a party we went to for the 4th and tried sleeping under a blanket that she had made into a tent. 30 minutes after we walked out of the room we went back to check and we found her snuggled up to Beckam in his bed. Beckam falls asleep reading Thomas almost every night. Apparently her tent on the ground was not where she slept. I love these AWWWWW moments.

I made Jared's favorite salad for the 4th and posted the recipe on my gourmet food blog. www.gourmetinmyslippers.blogspot.com

Summertime

2010-06-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Summertime always has lots of things to do. It seems like a ride that doesn't end; full of exciting things, adventures, fun, family, and friends.

We started off moving to California by having our really good friends the Acress come to visit for 1 week. We had so much fun enjoying Disneyland and lots of laughter. Pictures soon to come.

We have already spent 4 days at the beach and being that we have only been here 5 weeks, it is a lot; we love the beach!

We enjoyed wathcing my niece Teanna graduate from high school. We are so proud of her and she has worked so hard to get to this point in her life. We had a fun BBQ and enjoyed the California sun rays in the bleachers! Couldn't complain when it is what I have wanted since uh....forever! If you can't tell I am the one on the far right in black, the one next to me is my other niece. I know, I know, pretty much twin sisters.

This cute little guy had his 2nd birthday! He actually had it way back in May but with the move, weddings, and my mom coming home for a quick trip from Guatemala it was put on the back burner. He turned 2 years old on May 6th. He has the sweetest little personality and is growing so much! In traditional style here are my 2 favorite things about Beckam.

1. He is so loving. He loves to be cuddled and is a big mamma's boy and I love his tender heart!
2. He is so easy going and ready to go anywhere. He will just be happy doing any thing as long as he is NOT by himself.

We attended my great friend Millie's wedding. I have known this girl since we were 5 years old, in Daisies together, then brownies and girls scouts. Went to rival Jr. High's and then attended all of High school together. We use to play in the motor home, played American girl dolls forever, make up stories about our future, went to E.F.Y and Education week together, went on blind dates, and lots of laughs and lots of good tears, had many disagreements and many agreements. I love her and I am so happy that she has found a great guy to love and cherish her! Congrats sweet girl!

This little girl attended her first year of Bible school. This is a new concept coming from Utah but pretty normal in other states. We signed her up at the Church of the Open Door. She went for 5 days for 3 1/2 hours everyday. She learned about Jesus, sang very cute Jesus/Bible songs, taught us how to make a cross with our hands and use gestures like praise and God in her music and had fun playing with kids her age. Personally, I was a little selfish and thoroughly enjoyed the 3 1/2 hours of daycare. $20 dollars is the cheapest babysitter I have ever had for 17 1/2 hours! Look at her cute Bible school shirt she got!

We also had our first earthquake. It was just a little rumble but was enough to get me out of my chair. I jumped up and Jared was shocked that I moved so quick since he didn't move an inch. I explained that when you grow up with earthquakes you tend to jump quick because you never know if it is going to be big!

Life has been great!

Food blog

2010-06-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

I updated my food blog since I have had a few minutes to breath! Yeah for Sherry Chicken.