There are a few things that I am loving lately.
1. The laser. Thank you to whoever the physicists were that invented the laser and all of it's possibilities (I'm sure Bryce could tell me who they were). Eight years ago I went to New York City and had my eyes lasered (laser eye surgery)! It was a total and complete miracle. Best thing ever! I used to need glasses or contacts, but since that laser day, I have seen perfectly! Awesome.
Now I've experienced the incredible power of the laser again. As you may remember, Scott won me a laser hair removal package for Mother's Day last year. I've had six sessions (that last about 5 minutes each) and now TA DA . . . I never have to shave my armpits again!!! Thank you to the blessed laser for under arm hair removal. Incredible.
2. Central Vacuum. Our house has a central vacuum. I can not express how much I love having a central vacuum. It is the best. I plug it in one spot downstairs and can vacuum the whole entire downstairs. Then I plug it in upstairs and can do the whole upstairs, including the stairs themselves. It works really well, better than any other vacuum I've used. We can also plug it in the garage and vacuum cars.
The very best part though is in the kitchen. I sweep the kitchen, get my pile o' dirt right by the vacuum sucker under the cabinets, flip the kick plate and it all gets sucked right in. No dust pan. Awesome.
3. Dark Chocolate Almonds with Sea Salt & Turbinado Sugar. These are only found at Trader Joe's and it just might be worth a road trip to California to get some more when mine run out (which will be very soon). I love 'em. Seriously. They are so good. Roasted almonds covered in delicious dark chocolate and then sprinkled with sea salt and sugar. What an amazing combination of sweet and a little salty. Yum!
4. Bread Machine. Laura was totally right. I love having a bread machine. Thanks to the Hayes family for giving us their bread machine that they've never used. I haven't used it to bake bread and don't know if I ever will. I like it for the same reason Laura does, it is perfect to dump all your ingredients in for bread or pizza dough and then it mixes it, kneads it and keeps it warm to rise. Last night I made thin wheat crust pizza with mozzarella, tomato and basil. DELICIOUS!
5. Macy's Clearance Sales. Macy's has been having WICKED AWESOME clearance sales. Seriously. Everything is clearanced so low and then you take 20 - 30% off of that. Scott and I both came away with some stylin' new clothes and each item was $4.99. Incredible. We also came away with whining, crying, fit throwing children and huge headaches from keeping them controled in the store too long. I want to go back (without kids), but know I shouldn't step foot in that store. I can't control myself.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
What's Up?
1. My dad came to visit!! My dad comes to meetings in Utah every January and it is always exciting and fun to have him visit (although January is not his favorite time to be here). He stayed with us for 4 days. Brie and Ava loved it and got their fill of grandpa style teasing. Bryce came up and stayed the weekend with us. Tawna and dad toured LDS Business College and got all excited about Tawna going there. Everyone had a great time with dad here.
We met Scott for lunch and went to a new Peruvian restaurant. Dad had his Inca Cola and Papa a la Huacaina. A very happy man.
We took the girls to Cabelas to see the animals and fish. What a cool store!
Tawna and Ava narrowly missed getting eaten by a Polar Bear!
And, of course, the grand finale to every Dad visit - Dad's monthly indulgence in a McDonald's breakfast.
The perfect eating place for Brie and Ava.
2. Brielle and I made snowmen. I wish I was someone who loved going out to play in the snow, but I just don't work myself up to do it too often. We got dumped on last night, so maybe I'll try to go out in it with Brie today. One thing I do like is popcorn. We made popcorn ball snowmen one afternoon for "Mommy and Brie time" during Ava's nap.
3. More three year old trouble. Brielle "drew me a picture" with a ball point pen on the arm of the couch. She was sent to her room and then had her dress ups taken away, but didn't care much. So, I had her sit in "time out" look at and think about what she had done. We scrubbed it and it came off fairly easy. Thank heaven for microfiber.
4. A snow day at playgroup. We really haven't had any snow until today. This was a great snow day. It was sunny and nice, but the kids still had a patch of snow to play with. Jen filled squirt bottles with water and food coloring so the kids could "paint the snow". They loved it! We couldn't pull them away! What a great idea!
5. The Draper Temple open house. The new LDS temple in Draper is finished. This will be our temple. Scott, Tawna and I ushered at the open house one day. It was wonderful! Scott and I were each in a sealing room and Tawna got to be in the celestial room. We loved it. Next assignment is to clean the temple all night on Valentine's night. What a romantic date with 50 other people from the ward, huh?
Last Friday we got to go through the tour of the temple with our good friends, the Lopez family. The night before we went, I was telling Brie that we were going to the temple the next day. She got REALLY excited and yelled, "Am I getting married tomorrow?" When I told her no, she started crying and saying, "But I REALLY want to get married to daddy." She is now mad at me that I already married daddy and she can't.
It was a neat day with Maritza and her family. Brie liked riding the bus up to the temple with Jazlyn and I liked getting to tell Maritza and Jose about our temple and why it is special and important to us. 
We met Scott for lunch and went to a new Peruvian restaurant. Dad had his Inca Cola and Papa a la Huacaina. A very happy man.
We took the girls to Cabelas to see the animals and fish. What a cool store!
Tawna and Ava narrowly missed getting eaten by a Polar Bear!
And, of course, the grand finale to every Dad visit - Dad's monthly indulgence in a McDonald's breakfast.
The perfect eating place for Brie and Ava.
2. Brielle and I made snowmen. I wish I was someone who loved going out to play in the snow, but I just don't work myself up to do it too often. We got dumped on last night, so maybe I'll try to go out in it with Brie today. One thing I do like is popcorn. We made popcorn ball snowmen one afternoon for "Mommy and Brie time" during Ava's nap.
3. More three year old trouble. Brielle "drew me a picture" with a ball point pen on the arm of the couch. She was sent to her room and then had her dress ups taken away, but didn't care much. So, I had her sit in "time out" look at and think about what she had done. We scrubbed it and it came off fairly easy. Thank heaven for microfiber.
4. A snow day at playgroup. We really haven't had any snow until today. This was a great snow day. It was sunny and nice, but the kids still had a patch of snow to play with. Jen filled squirt bottles with water and food coloring so the kids could "paint the snow". They loved it! We couldn't pull them away! What a great idea!
5. The Draper Temple open house. The new LDS temple in Draper is finished. This will be our temple. Scott, Tawna and I ushered at the open house one day. It was wonderful! Scott and I were each in a sealing room and Tawna got to be in the celestial room. We loved it. Next assignment is to clean the temple all night on Valentine's night. What a romantic date with 50 other people from the ward, huh?Last Friday we got to go through the tour of the temple with our good friends, the Lopez family. The night before we went, I was telling Brie that we were going to the temple the next day. She got REALLY excited and yelled, "Am I getting married tomorrow?" When I told her no, she started crying and saying, "But I REALLY want to get married to daddy." She is now mad at me that I already married daddy and she can't.
It was a neat day with Maritza and her family. Brie liked riding the bus up to the temple with Jazlyn and I liked getting to tell Maritza and Jose about our temple and why it is special and important to us. 
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Brie Today
Today started with Brielle's ballet and tap class. We were wondering how I would get her hair into the bun she is supposed to wear with all the short, cut hair in back, but it worked. Brie is LOVE, LOVE, LOVING dance class. She follows the teacher very well. Her only problem is that the room has mirrors on every wall and she sometimes gets REALLY distracted with watching herself shake her hips in the mirror. Hip shaking is not really part of ballet. 
We went directly to get Brie's hair cut/fixed after ballet class. She picked her movie, sat in her car and loved every minute of the experience. Especially when the girl sprayed her hair with glitter to make it "all sparkly" at the end. Ava got to play on the slide during the ordeal, so she loved it too. So, there are lots of snips that are right up to Brie's scalp that couldn't be fixed, but I think the hair cut looks pretty cute. Thankfully, she has curly hair. All the chops she made just kind of blend together in her new A-line hair cut. 
Eating strawberries and cream cheese for lunch! I think she is pretty happy even with her hair so short. We'll see if it takes another 1 1/2 years for it to grow.
We went directly to get Brie's hair cut/fixed after ballet class. She picked her movie, sat in her car and loved every minute of the experience. Especially when the girl sprayed her hair with glitter to make it "all sparkly" at the end. Ava got to play on the slide during the ordeal, so she loved it too. So, there are lots of snips that are right up to Brie's scalp that couldn't be fixed, but I think the hair cut looks pretty cute. Thankfully, she has curly hair. All the chops she made just kind of blend together in her new A-line hair cut. 
Eating strawberries and cream cheese for lunch! I think she is pretty happy even with her hair so short. We'll see if it takes another 1 1/2 years for it to grow.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
TROUBLE
It literally has only been a couple of weeks since Brielle turned three years old. The year of her being two had it's hard times - potty training, cutting out a nap, tantrums, etc. But being three has brought on bigger problems ALREADY.
While still at home in CA, Scott heard a gasp from my mom in the dining room. He ran in to see what she had found and they both stared at a HUGE mural drawn in red crayon on the wall. Brielle explained herself saying, "But Daddy, I just wanted to draw my baby a picture." She got in big trouble. She then had to clean the wall. With a magic eraser and everyone helping her it came off quite easy.
Our New Years Day family picture. (I'm pretty sure this happened while Scott and I went to take showers.)
All clean!
Yesterday I was checking out Ava's major mullet and decided to snip a bit of the long part in back (party part, if you will). I cut it and then took Ava in the kitchen to clean her up. I then heard Brie saying, "Mom, I'm going to look just like Daddy! I want to look just like Daddy!" It didn't register at first and then it clicked. I ran over to see what she had done. Brie held out a full handful of her blonde curly hair. She cut so much off and there wasn't much to begin with. I laughed inside and then was so sad as I saw the damage (and felt horrible because it was kind of my fault). She kept telling me, "It's ok Mommy. I just wanted to be Daddy's best buddy and look just like him." Well, I'll tell you what . . . it will be punishment enough for her when all of her hair gets chopped at Cookie Cutters tomorrow and she looks like a prince! Aahhhh! It will be devastating I'm sure. How sad!
To add to the drama, I had just scheduled Brie's 3 year old picture to be taken this morning. I decided to go ahead with it anyway because you can't tell as much from the front. I just told the lady to avoid shooting her from the side. She was a perfect poser and smiler for her pictures.
Watch for pictures tomorrow of the aftermath of our visit to Cookie Cutters. I think it's going to be VERY short. Curly hair and short hair do not go well together. Just ask me from my afro years, ages 8-14. Not cute.
While still at home in CA, Scott heard a gasp from my mom in the dining room. He ran in to see what she had found and they both stared at a HUGE mural drawn in red crayon on the wall. Brielle explained herself saying, "But Daddy, I just wanted to draw my baby a picture." She got in big trouble. She then had to clean the wall. With a magic eraser and everyone helping her it came off quite easy.
Our New Years Day family picture. (I'm pretty sure this happened while Scott and I went to take showers.)
All clean!
Yesterday I was checking out Ava's major mullet and decided to snip a bit of the long part in back (party part, if you will). I cut it and then took Ava in the kitchen to clean her up. I then heard Brie saying, "Mom, I'm going to look just like Daddy! I want to look just like Daddy!" It didn't register at first and then it clicked. I ran over to see what she had done. Brie held out a full handful of her blonde curly hair. She cut so much off and there wasn't much to begin with. I laughed inside and then was so sad as I saw the damage (and felt horrible because it was kind of my fault). She kept telling me, "It's ok Mommy. I just wanted to be Daddy's best buddy and look just like him." Well, I'll tell you what . . . it will be punishment enough for her when all of her hair gets chopped at Cookie Cutters tomorrow and she looks like a prince! Aahhhh! It will be devastating I'm sure. How sad!
To add to the drama, I had just scheduled Brie's 3 year old picture to be taken this morning. I decided to go ahead with it anyway because you can't tell as much from the front. I just told the lady to avoid shooting her from the side. She was a perfect poser and smiler for her pictures.
Watch for pictures tomorrow of the aftermath of our visit to Cookie Cutters. I think it's going to be VERY short. Curly hair and short hair do not go well together. Just ask me from my afro years, ages 8-14. Not cute.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Playing On La Playa
California is definitely the place to be in December! Scott sometimes thinks it's sad to not have a "white Christmas", but I'll tell you what . . . Christmas in California is the best! You can actually go outside and play with all the new toys.
The day after Christmas we all went to the park with the new bikes and scooters and baby strollers. The guys threw the football, the girls sat and talked, the kids played and Ava chowed on Cheetos.
The girlies taking their new baby dolls on a walk.
And California in December gets even better when you get to go play on the beach! The family went down to Santa Monica. It was gorgeous! The weather was sunny and beautiful. We walked along the 3rd Street Promenade and had lunch.
Ava and Evan (who will never smile for a picture).
Brie walking along 3rd Street with her "Prince Davin".
The fam at Santa Monica beach.
Wave tag!
Brie warming up with a nice spoon from Tawna.
Ava - done with the sand!
Scott and I headed down the Pier (p.s. our wedding night suite overlooked this pier and beach).
Brie and Kea on the pier.
At the end of the pier there were a lot of people sitting or standing looking out to the ocean to watch the sunset. It was beautiful.
This guy starting playing the guitar and singing. He was from Argentina and actually really good. Brie heard the music and just had to shake her booty. She jumped down the stairs and danced and danced to the music. All the people gathered around were watching and some were even filming her. She really shook it! We were told we should have put a hat out to collect some money.
(Sorry, we can't rotate it. Please rotate your head.)
After sunset.
That night we all stayed at a hotel in L.A. It started out well, with a pizza party on the floor, In n' Out burgers, movies for the kids, etc. Scott and I certainly had a rough night with Ava though (walking the halls through the night) and vowed we will not take her to a hotel again.
The next day was a VERY long and frustrating experience at Denny's, then a wonderful experience in the hotel pool and hot tub (for us, not so much Laura), and a visit to the L.A. temple. It was fun to walk around the temple and show Brie where Mommy and Daddy got married. She is now planning her wedding to Daddy when she gets to wear a "big, puffy white dress".
The picture spot the day of our wedding. Now with two little girls added. Crazy how that happened!
The day after Christmas we all went to the park with the new bikes and scooters and baby strollers. The guys threw the football, the girls sat and talked, the kids played and Ava chowed on Cheetos.
The girlies taking their new baby dolls on a walk.
And California in December gets even better when you get to go play on the beach! The family went down to Santa Monica. It was gorgeous! The weather was sunny and beautiful. We walked along the 3rd Street Promenade and had lunch.Ava and Evan (who will never smile for a picture).
Brie walking along 3rd Street with her "Prince Davin".
The fam at Santa Monica beach.
Wave tag!
Brie warming up with a nice spoon from Tawna.
Ava - done with the sand!
Scott and I headed down the Pier (p.s. our wedding night suite overlooked this pier and beach).
Brie and Kea on the pier.
At the end of the pier there were a lot of people sitting or standing looking out to the ocean to watch the sunset. It was beautiful.
This guy starting playing the guitar and singing. He was from Argentina and actually really good. Brie heard the music and just had to shake her booty. She jumped down the stairs and danced and danced to the music. All the people gathered around were watching and some were even filming her. She really shook it! We were told we should have put a hat out to collect some money.(Sorry, we can't rotate it. Please rotate your head.)
That night we all stayed at a hotel in L.A. It started out well, with a pizza party on the floor, In n' Out burgers, movies for the kids, etc. Scott and I certainly had a rough night with Ava though (walking the halls through the night) and vowed we will not take her to a hotel again.
The next day was a VERY long and frustrating experience at Denny's, then a wonderful experience in the hotel pool and hot tub (for us, not so much Laura), and a visit to the L.A. temple. It was fun to walk around the temple and show Brie where Mommy and Daddy got married. She is now planning her wedding to Daddy when she gets to wear a "big, puffy white dress".
The picture spot the day of our wedding. Now with two little girls added. Crazy how that happened!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
A Christmas Birthday
It was a princess birthday, OF COURSE! So, OF COURSE, Brielle dressed up as a princess. She was Sleeping Beauty, Kea dressed up as Belle and Natalie (sister's friend) was nice enough to join in the fun and showed up as Ariel!
I made Brie's favorite for dinner - homemade Macaroni and Cheese. Then it was time for princess cake. Notice the "Happy Birthday Brielle" turned into "Happy Happy Brielle". 
I made Brie's favorite for dinner - homemade Macaroni and Cheese. Then it was time for princess cake. Notice the "Happy Birthday Brielle" turned into "Happy Happy Brielle". 
This is what Ava thought of the present opening. She just sat with this duck in her mouth watching it all unfold. She must be just as shocked and amazed with Brielle's obsession as the rest of us are.
Little Avers even got to dress up. She LOVES wearing the princess slippers.
Happy Happy Birthday Brielle!! We love you!
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