Anyone for a game of catch....up?

OK, so it's true. The older your kids are the busier life becomes. Eventually I'll have to catch up my posts with the Pine Wood Derby, band concerts, primary activites and dance recitals that have happened. But for today I had to post about my garden. Emma helped Gary plant it and then she was in charge of watering. She did it for one of her YW value projects. For the last six weeks we've been reaping the benefits.

This is the last of the squash. We had summer squash, zucchini and pat-a-pan which were amazing sauted in olive oil and butter sprinkled with salt and pepper. I picked the tomato this morning. It was one of the prettiest I've seen.

These are about how many tomatoes I pick every other day. They are so wonderful. We've enjoyed them in BLT's, sandwiches and hamburgers. Or just cut with salt and pepper. This is probably my favorite thing about summer. This weekend we are going to shade the tomatos and see how long we can keep them going. I will definately miss them when they're gone.

Ghost Town

A couple of weeks ago our school had a Spring Carnival. In the past this has always happened in October and has had a Halloween theme, but this year they moved it to May and went with a country theme. It's always been a tradition to have a cake decorating contest and Andrew came home excited to do this. I told him we needed to come up with a cowboy idea and this is what he thought of...

Last year Katie made a cake called ghost mountain and Andrew decided to do the same idea but turn it into a ghost town. This kid amazes me. He is so creative and always hilarious. He decorated this all by himself and won second place.

California Weekend

So we (Kami, her daughter Lauren and I) headed out Thursday afternoon. Our flight was delayed so we spent an extra hour waiting at the airport. When we finally got to L.A. it was almost 8:00pm. Carly was waiting for us and then Melody picked us all up. At her house we had fruit kabobs, coconut shrimp and a basil smoothie (that was a first). Then we snacked on these cute little cakes while we did manicures and pedicures.

Friday morning we slept in and were lazy all morning. Then Melody gave us a cooking demonstration of Island Pork Tenderloin with Coconut Mango Rice. It was unbelievable. Yum! Next we headed to the beach where we laid out for a few hours. Of course after that we got in some shopping. Kami tried on a pair of $300.00 shoes. Crazy! I found a great cookbook called bigfatcookies. I can't wait to try some of the recipes.

That night we headed to a restaurant that David's (my brother-in-law) first councelor owns. He bought it for his mom. She cooks Salvadorian food. We had papusas and a salad with yuca root and beef (my favorite) and a yummy fruit drink. That night I watched Mama Mia for the first time. It was funny.

Saturday morning we headed out for the Revlon Run at 5:20am. Once again this was so much fun. Their big stars were Miley Cyrus, Christina Applegate and Michael Bolton. We also saw Fran Drysher, Carrie Ann Inaba and Derric Huff (both from Dancing with the Stars), Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives) and Diedra Hall (Days of Our Lives). There were a few others I recognized but don't know their names.
Here we are after the race down in the Collesium. This is where we saw Michael Bolton perform. He was amazing. You'll notice in this picture Melody is wearing her earpiece (so official). She is in charge of the VIP booth which is why we get to do this in the first place.
Of course we spent a few more hours shopping. Then we went back home and just laughed for a long time. We finished off the awesome pork and rice and headed back to the airport.
I love doing this each year because when I get back home I remember that I like these cute kids of mine. They had adorable cards and presents for me for Mother's Day. And of course, chocolate.
Hey Melody, thanks again for the great weekend. I can't wait until next year.

Happy Birthday Boys!

I thought that after the trek my life would slow down some, but it seems busier than ever. Last week we celebrated two birthdays. Nathan turned four and Gary turned...well let's just say he got a year older.

After I finished decorating his cake he wanted to take a picture. I know there are more than four candles on the cake but we decided the race track needed lights.
After he blew out the candles he asked if he could race the cars. Of course he is the last child so I said "whatever you want cutie".

This is one of his favorite presents, a Lightning McQueen hat from his brothers and sisters. You'd think he would outgrow his Cars obsession by now but he still loves them more than ever.

And then here is my other birthday boy. I can't believe he is getting so old. We celebrated our 14th anniversary a few weeks ago. Have we really been married that long? Seems like yesterday we were footloose and child free. I can definately say it's been a long road, but also a very happy one.

I also have to give a shout out to Nathan's birthday buddy, Michael. Hope your finals are going well. Can't wait to see you and your family.

Two Busy Weekends

Saturday, February 28th we started at our Stake Baptisms. Andrew was asked to play a piano duet for the musical number. I am so proud of this kid. He chose 'I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus' and we practiced a lot that week. At the baptism he did a great job. He said he was a little nervous but the song sounded wonderful. (All that hard work is finally paying off)

Here we are after it was all over.

Then Gary and Andrew headed out for Monster Trucks. This is the second year they have gone with our friends the Owens and the Johnsons. They said it was super fun. Andrew's favorite truck is Blue Thunder. The other kids and I went to my niece Sarah's baptism. Luckily she was the first of the ten kids to get baptized. My brother took Katie and Nathan to the dinner and Emma and I came back to watch the Young Women Conference. Her first one. It was great.

Last weekend we drove up to Salt Lake and went to conference. This was the first time Emma and Andrew have been. We had tickets to the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions. It was amazing to sit and talk with our kids about the prophet and apostles. They both said they loved it but I think Andrew had more fun when we went shopping with Melody and Carly while Gary was at the Priesthood session.

In back of the Salt Lake Temple. We walked through the two visitor centers and looked inside the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall.

And now I am frantically preparing for our next busy weekend. Gary and I were asked to be a pa and ma on our Stakes Pioneer Trek which starts tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures to share from that, maybe we'll even be smiling in some of them.

I Just Can't Wait!

Gary called me this afternoon to say he'd ordered my plane ticket to L.A. The past few years Gary's sister Kami and I have flown down to LA to spend a weekend with his other sister Melody. It is so much fun and I am so looking forward to this years trip.

Here we are last year at the Revlon Run. We worked the VIP booth. It was crazy fun. We got to meet some famous people, eat tons of food and go home with a lot of free samples and t-shirts. It was so much fun we are doing it again this year. (The gorgeous blond girl is my niece Carly)

The day before the run we went to Newport Beach and shopped. We had to take a picture holding our gilatos (my first time ever trying one). They were so yummy! We always eat well on these trips.

Two years ago we went to Solvang. It is a little Dutch community with great shopping. I know this picture didn't turn out but I loved the little windmill in the background.

Of course we had to take a picture surrounded by all our shopping treasures and then e-mail it home to our husbands.



The best part of the whole trip is Melody's hospitality. She tells us we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. Even if that's nothing. We've relaxed on the beach, done pedicures and laughed until I thought my checks would fall off. I can't wait to board that plane and do it again!

Springtime Flowers

I walked out my front door the other day and this was what I saw.

My iris' had bloomed.

I love the color of these plants.

And I love this time of year when everything seems so much brighter and more colorful. Gary always takes such good care of our yard. This last weekend he planted our garden. I can't wait, fresh tomatos, summer squash and zucchini.