April Adventures

It's time for the Easter post!!

We had a busy April. Caden did a couple of spring break day camps with his cousins. On Easter weekend, my mom and my cousin Jill and her family and her mom, my dear Aunt Cathy came for a quick visit. We ate and laughed and reminisced. Thanks for stopping by, guys! The Easter Bunny was good to the kids this year.


Decorating eggs

While we were in a decorating mood, we finally finished our last gingerbread house from Christmas. I put it up on the counter to harden up, and went upstairs. Soon I noticed how very quiet the house was. I snuck back down, and peeked around the corner to find Caden and Soleil standing on stools whispering to each other and picking the candy off of the gingerbread house. This is them "getting caught."

I love Caden's face, but I'm a little nervous that Soleil isn't fazed at all by being caught.

Caden showing off some of his Easter wares.

Why does my 2 year old have more toned arms than I do?? She doesn't even care about toned arms!!

Still...how cute is she??

Trying for a Easter pix with Grannie. Soleil is all attitude already - heaven help me!

My mom's friend Penny and her 2 daughters came down from Canada to defrost for their spring break. We played at the beach and Legoland, and laughed at how quickly those Canucks got sun-burned here in sunny SoCal. And it's always good when my mom comes to visit!

The last weekend of April I flew to Austin to watch my little sister in her last high school drill team recital. It was so much fun to see...I'm so proud of my youngest sis!! Of course I forgot my camera, so Melissa - email me some photos!! It was a quick trip, but it was fun to just be daughter and sister, and leave the parenting to Scott for the weekend. Thanks, honey!! I love you!!

As soon as I find the camera, I'll post about May.

Feb and March

February was filled with valentines, playdates, meetings, and errands. It feels so long ago, I can hardly remember it. This is why I blog!

Soleil ready for her school's Valentine's party. I didn't get a pix of Caden before school, and there is no use taking one after school.

Caden finished his latest sports class. He loved it, and is counting down the days till the next one starts.

Running the football obstacle course.

A lazy Saturday morning spent popping bubble wrap. We are easily entertained.

As for March, we seemed to keep busy. Scott and I went with Ross and Maria to the Rascal Flatts concert. Mock me if you will, but I love their music! They aren't as cute as some of the NKOTB boys, but I do like their music a little better. (I know, blasphemy from a NKOTB fan) And of course I forgot my camera.

We had a free plane companion ticket burning a hole in our pocket, so we ran up to Utah for a long weekend. My youngest 2 cousins on my mom's side were sealed to their mom and stepdad, so most of the family was in town for that. It was a really cool experience. And thanks to Stormie, Star, and Russ for watching the kids during the sealing.

At the Mt. Timp Temple. Special thanks to Dusty for a pretty cute pix.

We had 3 different families and lots of friends to see, so we were constantly on the go during this trip. We were exhausted by the time we got home, but it was great to see all those that we were able to. Sorry to those that we didn't make it to. (Sara, Soleil and Scott both had colds, so we weren't infecting your babies if you read this before I get a chance to call you!)

My bro Dusty arranged to play in BYU's Guitars Unplugged that weekend, (out of like 75 bands that tried out, his was one of the 15 that got in) so we got to go cheer him on there. (Now you know you are getting old when the college kids look young!) He wrote the song that he and 2 friends played and he sang lead vocals. It was really cool!

Dusty is in the green turtleneck on the left. The drummer, John, is invisible, and Naomi, in black on the right, is ripping the violin.

Scott took Caden skiing for the first time at Sundance. He LOVED it! By the end of his lesson, he was skiing the main hill. I see lots of trips to Utah in our future, that or Big Bear.

My BFF Jenna lives in Orem, so I got to spend an afternoon with her. I love you, Jenna!

Caden and Matthew hamming for the camera.

Caden with David and Michelle. Yes, that is Cafe Rio all over the table. Yum, yum!!

Thanks to David and Michelle for hanging out with us one nite. It was fun to chat and catch up. I love you guys! We also saw Scott's bro, Brent and his family on Brent's birthday. The kids played and the adults ate. My idea of a good time. Thanks for the yummy dinner and extra-yummy Nothing Bundt cake, Kierstin! And last, but not least, thanks for lunching with us, Chanel. Even though it was brief, it was still great to see you and your cute, tiny baby belly and catch up. Next time we FOR SURE will go shopping too! I'm still sad we ran out of time!

Love to all you Utahans! See you next time!

January in Review

I wish I had more time to post great entries filled with humor and happiness. But I like television too much, so that's what I've been doing lately at nite instead of blogging. With American Idol finally getting interesting, and the new show Lie To Me (have you seen it? It's brillant!), and of course my old favorite stand-bys NCIS and The Office, I've been way too busy (and exhausted by 8pm) vegging than blogging. Plus, it's easier eating snicker doodle cookies while watching tv rather than typing.

That said, I have a lot to post about. The most important is, we finally have family here! After 5 1/2 years of pleading and begging, we finally convinced Scott's bro Ross, his wife Maria, and their 3 kids to move to San Diego from Atlanta. Ross is working with Scott. They ended up 8 houses down from ours. All the kids love going back and forth. I love having family nearby. It's been so fun!!

So to further celebrate, Scott's parents came out for a week visit. We had them running back and forth between our house and Maria's house all week. We all went up to Disneyland for a day, and met up with Scott's other bro and family there. It was a rainy day, but it was great for Disneyland. We didn't have to wait at all for the rides. Caden rode Thunder Mtn (his favorite - it's a train!) 5 times. Definitely worth the rain and the poncho purchases.

Soleil met Princess Jasmine for the first time. She was completely enthralled with her - or scared. You decide.

We completely filled up the "Small World" boat.

Grandma and Grandpa finally resting while little Carly slept. Those ponchos seriously came in handy!

Caden and Drew hamming it up for the camera. These 2 guys love playing together.

My dad and stepmom also dashed in for a quick visit. Jill and I unintentionally ended up gardening for hours - she has an incredible green thumb! My yard looks so much better! Thank you for always helping me with my house and yard! I love you!

The only pix I got during their quick visit - taken at 7am as they were leaving for the airport. Yes, my dad's eyes are, in fact, open.

December

Since it's almost Feb, it's time I posted about December activities and Christmas. Right on time for my behind-a-month post.
Caden had his first school program. Granted it was a preschool program, but I was beaming like the proud parent that I am. He was so cute! The whole class sat up on bleachers and sang their songs and recited their memorized lines that the preacher is brainwashing them with. It was great!

Caden's friends, Chaz (behind Caden) and Alex (next to Caden) make this picture great. I love their faces.

Our Santa picture for 2008. Soleil is screaming and hiding in my shoulder. Caden looks bored. We'll try again next year.

Christmas morning with her new shoes. At 2, this girl is all shoes. Hopefully we'll end up in the same size when she's older cause I have my eye on those Sleeping Beauty shoes.

Caden in his new Batman costume with his new scooter and sunglasses. Santa certainly set him up for lookin' good in 2009!

The Botanical Gardens - very pretty at night.

The Gardens even have free marshmallow roasting. That was Soleil's favorite part.

My family came down for the week between Christmas and New Years. We had lots of fun with them. We did Disneyland, and for the first time, Cali Adventure. Meaning for the first time, we stayed in a hotel up there and did 2 days of parks. It was a lot of fun! Having lots of aunts, uncles, and grandparents to help with the kids, or hold them while I go on a ride made it even more fun! Thanks for coming! We love you!

My mom and Caden in Cali Adventure. Mr Potato Head actually spoke to Caden!

My bro Dusty watching the parade with Soleil. To be 2 and carried around everywhere again. Ahh...

Because my feet are killing me!

The gang at Cali Adventure minus Scott and Soleil.

Target

I love Target. For those of us that are high-class, we call it Tar-ja'. I find some reason to go to Tar-ja' at least once a week. Out of mascara? Off to Tar-ja'. Soleil blasted through the last box of diapers? I shall dash to Tar-ja'! In need of a cheap popcorn fix? Tar-ja', here I come! So I was at Target (I have tired of typing Tar-ja'. too much work, so it's back to Target) a couple of days ago. Soleil and I were weaving our way round the store, her sitting in the bottom of the cart eating the cheap popcorn while somehow pulling everything within arm's reach off the shelves, when a stranger asked me where the laundry detergent is. Now, I am a friendly person, and I know Target well, so I explained where the detergent was located and sent the stranger on their happy way. A few minutes later, another customer asked me where the garden hoses were. Having just perused Target's gardening section myself, again I explained the general location to the stranger, and off she went. For the third time in about 10 minutes, another person asked me the location of a product. I couldn't figure it out! Maybe I am spending too much time in Target...Do I really look like I know the entire store that well? I'm sure Scott would not be happy to hear that!
Until it hit me. I was wearing a red shirt and khakis, the uniform of Target employees. I grabbed Soleil out of the cart and ran home to change.

Child-less shopping

Lately I have neglected my blog, just barely journaling our activities but not much else. So right now I'm going to put my Christmas post on hold for a little day-in-the-life-of-Sunshine story.
Disclaimer* If you are male or under 18, read at your own risk.
Wednesday mornings both kids are in school for a blessed 3 hours. I save up non-kid-friendly errands for Wednesdays and go crazy for those 3 hours. It's a good time. I was in Nordie's yesterday with a gift card burning a hole in my pocket and found myself in the "sleepwear" department. A good non-kid-friendly errand, buying bras, plus who wants to try on bras with a kid screaming at you trying to escape the dressing room while you are half nekkid? It was time for a new one. Now I've had a "fitting" before that consisted of the tape measure going over the shirt, but before I knew it, Carrie* (whose name has been changed to protect the innocent), had me down to my bra and undergarment. For you Mo's reading, you know what undergarment I'm talking about. Unfortunately I had on a well-loved undergarment, complete with yucky pits and a bit of leftover lint that wouldn't come out despite my repeated washings. I was in a hurry when I got dressed in the semi-darkness yesterday morning, so I didn't even realize what a yucky (though clean!) undergarment I had chosen until I was under the harsh lights of Nordie's. Now if I lived in Utah, the sales girl probably wouldn't have thought twice about the yucky undergarment, but I'm in Cali, so Carrie did a double take before she composed herself. "Ha, ha", you are thinking to yourself. "Good story, Sunshine." No wait...it gets better. After nursing both my babies, my girls aren't what they used to be. A fact of life I'm sure will naturally rectify itself once I'm done having kids, but in the meantime I just have to deal with the droopiness. (seriously, if you are a male reading this, please stop!) Last year to fill out the Jewish wedding dress (if you are new to my blog, go back to March of '08 for the Jewish wedding dress) I had to get a pair of falsies. I don't ever wear them - they are uncomfortable and sweaty (there's a nice pix for you!), but for some reason, yesterday I stuck them in the bra. It helped the cute shirt hang better....anyways, I find myself in this dressing room with Carrie already wondering about the nasty undergarment when I have to pull these puppies out of my bra so she can get a correct measurement. I turned away from her to plop them into my purse as discreetly as I can, but at this point I'm sure Carrie is really wishing she would have ignored me on the sales floor. After she took my measurement (I'm still the same pre-baby size, how did that happen??) she ran off to find some bras for me to try on. I took this time to take off the yucky undergarment and stuff that into my purse with the falsies, thinking Carrie probably didn't want to look at my lovely yellow armpits any more. I sure didn't. Quick thinking on my part, because she ended up putting every bra on me!! I've never had a fitting like this, where she stood behind me, I put the bra on, and she fastened and adjusted each bra. Thankfully her hands were warm. Must be an employment requirement. But thanks to Carrie, I rediscovered the joys of the push-up! Why, oh why did I abandon you, push-up? You bring me confidence and happiness! To help make Carrie feel better after the weird, yucky undergarment and pair of falsies, and to replenish my push-up-less wardrobe, I bought 4 bras. The girls are back where nature intended, and now I'm off to get new undergarments. Apparently they have a shorter life than bras.

November in a Nutshell

We went to Maryland for Thanksgiving week to celebrate with Scott's family. For the first time since before I have joined the family, we had everyone there for a holiday! It was so much fun! My mother-in-law outdid herself, and we all had a blast. Talk about good food...I haven't dared weigh myself since we got home...since the eating hasn't slowed since. ;-> Caden and Soleil had so much fun with their cousins! And I have almost thawed out. Brr!!


Playing in the leaves. The kids LOVED those leaves!


Seriously, they loved those leaves. 3 acres of leaves!!


What's a Thanksgiving without a little touch football?
That's Caden in the blue sweater with the ball...already a quarterback!


Well, it was supposed to be touch football until the uncles started tackling each other.
I think that's Scott getting tackled by his older bro Brent. Tackled or wrestled....just like old times.


The 3 boy cousins, or should I say the 3 boy superheroes?


Soleil loved playing with Grandma.


Grandpa and Caden's birthdays are a day apart, so they had a joint family birthday party.
Happy Birthday boys!

We went to the Baltimore and Ohio Train Museum on our last day there. ( The B&O Railroad has a square on the Monopoly board if it sounds familiar to you) Caden still loves all things trains, and we all had fun.










Well, we all had fun until it was nap time, right Soleil?

Thanks for a wonderful trip, Barry and Linda! We can't wait for the next family reunion!