We made it!

With a little convincing from Jenn and in turn me convincing Dave, we decided spur of the moment to head to California for spring break. It turned out great! We stayed with Todd & Jenn and the cousins all got to play with each other. Cade was a little outnumbered by girls but nothing he wasn't used to. We took off on a Tuesday night at 8pm. We were planning on staying in Las Vegas but Dave was feelin' it so he kept a driving. We timed it perfect for hitting morning rush hour in CA. Apparently rush hour has improved since so many people have lost jobs. (Beware lots of pics coming your way)
Our first day we spent at the beach with weather in the 80's. We thought this was great coming from snow and wind. It was so great that most everyone got sunburned! Our cousins are Claire, Madison, and Anna.

Claire Bear is such the poser! These 2 girls had fun together. I only heard Valerie run from Claire once or twice saying, "she is going to pull my hair!"

After the beach we met up with Todd. He had special keys to some property they own from work. We had 3 big pools and a hot tub mostly to ourselves. We couldn't resist grillin up some dogs for dinner.

Disneyland was the favorite of the little kids while Cade and Ashley loved California Adventure. We had perfect weather and our own personal guide, Jenn & Madison. Madison was able to give us a play by play on all the rides.
Valerie's favorite ride was the tea cups. She also loves Tinkerbell and was so excited to see her flying over the castle at the night firework show. I don't know what it is about Disneyland but you sure leave there feeling magical!

Valerie was so excited to see Mickey Mouse. She kept talking about how she loved him and kept asking everybody, "where is Micky Mouse?" So of course we had to stay in line forever to see him. When we got up to see him she got scared and started pulling back in my arms.

Breaking for treats. Who doesn't love cotton candy and frozen lemonade? Even for 5 bucks a piece.


Jenn was quite the woman handling the baby crew while we all went on rides. We were all glad to see her sister Michelle come later in the day. One more pair of hands!

California Adventure

The Aladdin Show. We had to work hard to fight the crowds to make it to this one! We even ditched our strollers and started running. Thankfully no one got lost in the commotion.






Cade and Ashley loved the tower of terror ride and talked me into going on it all day long. I don't like heights so they had me pretty worked up. It was actually better than I thought. They also loved the roller coasters. Hailey loved the soarin ride. She was able to provide me with all the details on that ride. Mikayla was such a good sport and would go anywhere.

Eating dinner at Bad to the Bone. It was very tasty. Cade enjoyed his own rack of ribs. He is starting to eat more which we can feel in the pocketbook.


Our kids love Clair Bear. They must have taken 40 pics of just her. Anything from eating crackers to sleeping.

The drive home was not as exciting as the drive down. We did break it up and sleep in Las Vegas on the way home. We returned home through a snowstorm and ended up where we started. Snow on the ground and wind all around!

Cade's red eyes explain it all. Lots of play and little sleep! Actually this was one of the most relaxing, non stressing vacations we have had. Maybe because it wasn't planned? We can't forget the great hosts we had either! Thanks Todd and Jenn and family. We had a blast.

Please take me to the mall!

My friend found this letter Ashley had written. I don't know if it was for a school assignment or if her and her friend were just having fun. Either way, I loved it.

Dear nice, pretty, beautiful, kind, loving mother,

Please take me to the mall. I won't ask for new clothes anymore. It will make me really happy. I'll say I love you every morning and night. Grandma lives by the mall so we can sleep there. Will you please take me to the mall?

Yours truly, Ashley

So yes, I did take her and Mikayla for an afternoon out at the mall. We shopped, talked, and ate pretzels. The girls had a great time trying on clothes and posing.

Chalk up another year for DAVE!

Happy Birthday to the greatest husband and father eva!

Dave is not one for pictures, parties, or goodies (unless it is chocolate) so we had a quiet little family get together with homemade peanut butter cups. Hailey wanted Dave to have a piniata but made it clear that none of Dad's friends could take a wack at it - only her Dad. He is really not one for presents either but we did surprise him with season 1 of Battlestar Galactica. (He doesn't watch much TV but he loves this show).

Dave, I think you are amazing. I love that you are patient and even tempered which helps to mellow out my highs and lows. I love that you like to pamper me each Sunday by cooking dinner and doing dishes. I love that you always make time for the family. I love to watch you interact with the kids as you are their hero. I love that you are so witty. You have great one liners that make everyone laugh or stop and think. I love that you are a man of faith. I love that you know what is important in life and help me to keep on the right track. I love you. Hope you had a good day.

Sunshine Shirley turns 7

Since Mikayla was a little girl Dave has called her "Sunshine." She is such a sweetie and makes everyone around her happy. For her 7th birthday Dave got her a necklace with a sun on it. She wears it non-stop (although not in this picture). I thought it was so sweet that Dave did this all on his own. What a good idea. I was relieved it wasn't a surprise animal. Last time he did a surprise gift on his own we ended up with a bunny. Not that I don't love the bunny I just didn't want to start potty training a dog.

Things I love about Mikayla:
Her smile.
Her compassion for other people.
When she makes me love notes and pictures.
Watching her be so kind to her sisters.
Letting Valerie crawl in bed with her during the night.
Listening to her sing to her ipod when she thinks no one is watching her.
Her desire to do good.

Although Mikayla did not have a sleepover party, I couldn't resist making this cake. I thought it turned out adorable. Thanks Tasha for the idea and pointers! I actually got the cake out of the pan without it falling into pieces!



Mikayla has been dying to get her ears pierced again! She watches Ashley match her earrings to her outfit every morning and couldn't wait to do it for herself. Mel took her to the salon and shot her. She was brave and beaming again from ear to ear. Hopefully we will have better luck this time without them getting infected.


Mikayla had some crazy fun girls over after school for games, crafts, and a piniata. It snowed terribly bad that day (February 26th) so we ended up doing to piniata in the garage. I am happy to report no one got injured and everyone had plenty of sugar. We topped off the party by loading up the sugar filled girls and eating pizza at Al's pizza. Happy Birthday Mikalya! We love you.

Cade on Rails!

Cade and I just finished our Tuesday snowboarding trips. It was a great chance for us to spend time together. He loved it because he got to miss school and I loved it because I got to spend one on one time with my only son. I did notice that the one day his school class came up he didn't really want me hanging around. That only lasted a couple hours and then he came and found me and was ready to torture me so more by challenging me to do jumps, rails, and boxes.

How would it be to be a kid with good knees and no fear?

I like this pic because Cade is in the background cheering me on! I am a definite newbie but having fun at it!

Let's just say I was the oldest one in our class including our instructor. Our instructor was 1 year younger than me but acted 17. Cade loved him because of his tricks. I liked it when we were able to go through the trees in the fresh powder!


This jump is actually bigger than it looks! I know because I crashed a few times and had a hard time getting out of bed the next morning.

PANIC!

Steph and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Thursday started out as it usually does, too early. My internet had been down for a few days. I thought it was my modem but soon learned I had been cut off! Instead of going to the gym, (I was all dressed) I called Qwest. TWO hours later plus a million transfers I finally hung up the phone with my bill knocked down from 300 dollars a month to what it should be and a promise my internet would be back up and running.

This experience already caused me to be near tears but then I got a phone call from work. I had been having a problem with my schedule and now I heard it was final that if I was going to continue working I would have to work 12 hour shifts. For the past 8 years, I have been lucky enough to split shifts making it possible for me to still carry out all my motherly responsibilities in a day and go to work 1 day a week.

I told Dave when he came home for lunch it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He said, "what? it is only noon!"

Well, things did get worse, way WORSE!

I was watching my friends 2 kids in my home and I LOST the 3 year old. I still have anxiety thinking about it and could start crying at any moment. I was changing my clothes (since I still had my work out clothes on even though I was unable to go work out) and I heard the door open and close. I threw on some pj bottoms and ran out the door looking for the boy. He must have ran one way and I another because I couldn't find him. In fact, I never did find him, the POLICE did! We had the whole neighborhood searching. He was lost for 20 minutes. Those were the longest 20 minutes of my life! Talk about hysterical! That is the worst feeling ever! He was found on a busy road running and happy as ever. I spent the rest of the day crying and thankful. The 2 good things I can take out of this experience was 1)He was found and safe and 2)I do know that Heavenly Father answers my prayers.

A couple hours later, one of my daughter's accidently locked Valerie in the car while it was running. After borrowing a neighbors car to go track down Dave and get keys, I was able to get her out safe. In fact, she didn't even know because she took a nap. I decided I needed to go home and go to bed so this day would end!

And that is my story of the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! (I guess it was actually good though because nobody got hurt)

He Loves Me

I came home from work Wednesday to find a dozen roses from my sweetie! I love getting flowers when there is no specific occassion! After all, it was 3 days before Valentines. Maybe it had something to do with Dave planning on being gone on a snowmobiling trip with the Young Men for 3 days and not returning until Valentine's day? Whatever the reason I was excited. Dave, I love you and think you are the greatest!