Girl's Weekend

After we spending all day at Disneyland with the kiddos, it was time for a girl's weekend. We left the next day and headed to...Las Vegas! Now don't get the wrong idea, we went to a Time Out For Women!!

We got there early in hopes that we could get good seats. (no assigned seats) Shannon was the only one that had been to one of these before, and warned us that these cute mormon women can get pretty vicious when it comes to getting the seats they want. She told us that when the doors opened, we needed to be ready to run! No joke, we had to sprint!! Sounds so lame, I know, but I wasn't about to waste the time we had waited to be in the front of the line to let some crazy ladies out run me and take a better seat! Maybe that's just my competitive side coming out..it was kind of fun though!

Here we are waiting outside the Cashman Center...

The first night we were entertained by Jason Deere and his band. He wrote all the music for the "Joseph" and "Trek" albums. They were great, and even nicer in person. We were able to talk with them, take pictures, and they were signing every ones CD's.

With Jason...

Then we headed off to the Stratosphere, where they have a great 50's restaurant called Roxy's Diner where the waiters entertain you while you eat. We've made it a tradition to go when we are in Vegas.

The next day we woke up very early, trying to get at the front of the line again, and despite being there much later than we planned, we were still able to get great seats. We we entertained by Hilary Weeks. She is amazing. I thinks she should leave her music gig and become a stand up comic, she really is so hilarious!! We were also lucky to have Virginia Hinckley Pierce speak to us too. One of the ladies that were supposed to speak was sick, so she filled in. Kind of ironic, this conference was originally scheduled for February, but was rescheduled due to the passing of the Prophet. She was great and so friendly.

Even though the conference was canceled in Feb, we still went to Vegas since we had already booked our stay. We all laughed as Shannon devoured as many peanut butter treats as she could. (Her son is allergic to peanuts) Well, shortly after that trip we discovered that Porter has the same allergy, and I have since realized her torture. I must say that after months of no peanut paraphernalia in the house, the highlight of the trip, for me at least, was to have as many of these as I could.....

Disneyland

I love Disneyland. We go there quite a bit with our passes, but this visit was extra special. My sister Shannon was in town from Arizona, so I got to with my mom and both my sisters. They both brought their little ones, who are still free, so it worked out nice to have a small group. It was not crowded at all so that made waiting in lines not too bad.

Both my boys love Autopia. Ethan especially. He loves to crash into the center, and laughs hysterically. He would probably stay there all day if I let him. Ethan wanted to drive with Grandma, so I got to drive with Porter.

All the kids with Grandma: my boys, Amy's Emily, and Shannon's Deegan and Ashlyn.

*get a good look at how nice my mom looks.....

...Because it didn't last long! We decided to go on Splash Mountain because it was so hot. Shannon and Mom went first and got soaked!! Amy and I went next and got only a few drops on us! Amy and I thought it was pretty funny....they didn't think so! This pic was taken before Amy and I went, they are probably smiling thinking that we are about to suffer the same fate!

Cute cousins

Had to go on Dumbo of course!!

The kids absolutely loved the carousel. We went on it 3 times, and they would have gone more if they could. Their faces would just light up. Somehow I missed a pic of Deegan. :(

It was such a fun Day!!

I've been tagged!!

There needs to be 5 answers for each question. So here it goes:

What was I doing 10 years ago?
1. Still living with my parents....gimme a break, I was only 19!
2. Living the single life, looking for the perfect guy!
3. Hanging out 'til the wee hours in the morning playing cards with friends. I can remember a few times we played all night and went home in the morning...wish I still had that kind of endurance!!
4.Working at Desert Cities Dialysis. I had to be there at 2:45am!! I worked 12 hr. shifts, M,W,F. Not a good combo when you're at work that early and then up all night with friends!!
5.Finding myself

What are 5 things on my To-Do list today?
1. Laundry
2. Clean the bathrooms...my favorite :)
3. Love on my boys, Daddy included.
4. Blog
5. Relax!!!!

What are my 5 favorite snacks?
1. Reeses peanut butter cups. I crave these even more now that I can't have them...Porter's allergic, such torture! :(
2. Take 5 candy bar
3. Sour patch kids
4. Ice cream
5. Almost anything salty...to follow up all the sweet!

What 5 things would I do if I was a millionaire?
1. Pay off our house
2. Take my ENTIRE family on vacation
3. Travel with Hubby...Italy here we come!!
4. Save some for college and missions
5. Donate to charity

5 Places I have lived:
1. Yorba Linda, Ca
2. Ontario, Ca
3. Apple Valley, Ca
4. Riverside, Ca
5. Moreno Valley, Ca
-now back in Riverside

5 Jobs I have had:
1. Denny's- hostess
2. Denny's -waitress
3. Desert Cities Dialysis- reuse technician... something so gross, you don't want to know what it means.
4. Davita Dialysis- patient care technician
5. Mommy!!

I"m not going to tag anyone, so you can all relax!! :)

Momma's Boys

I am such a lucky mommy. My boys love to bring me flowers. When the boys go outside they scavange our yard for them. Usually they bring me the little yellow ones that pop up in the grass. Our neighbors have ground cover on their slope that have flowers, and somehow every once in a while we have a patch show up in our yard. The boys love to find these "big ones" and bring them to me. Yesterday they kept bringing me a bunch, and I didn't think much of it. Then last night while I was tucking Ethan in bed he confessed to pulling them from the neighbor's yard. We had a long talk after that, but it's hard too be upset with a face like this...

Mexican Riviera

We just got back from our cruise. We went with our friends, Eric and Laura and their adorable twin boys, and everyone had a great time. I must say, it is the only way to vacation with kids!! They have a fantastic camp carnival that the kids can go to when you want some time to relax, and the kids just loved it. As soon as the kids would turn the corner and see "funship freddy" on the wall, they would run as fast as they could to get there. Although with Ethan I don't know what he liked better, the camp or his bunk bed. The first thing he did when we got to our room was climb up and didn't want to get down. He would ask us when it was time for bed and tell us he needed to go "rest" in his bed. Quite the change from our regular bedtime battle.

The first few days we were at sea. We were told that we were close to a tropical storm, and we could definately feel the boat rocking more than usual. We were able to check out the ship, take the kids swimming, and just hang out. It was so nice to go to dinner without the kids, knowing they were having a great time too.

Every night when we came back to our room they had their signature towel animal and a schedule of the next days activities. This night the kids camp left cookies for the kids too. They were so excited to find them, but not so happy when we told them they couldn't eat them before bed.

The kids spent a lot of time at the camp, but don't feel bad for them, does this look like the face of a kid who's not having a good time?!


On Wednesday we made it to Puerta Vallarta. We were so happy that the storm hadn't caught up to us and it was a beautiful day. We were all surprised at how tropical it was. It was so pretty there, it is definately a place I would like to go back and be able to spend more time. We hopped on a catamaran and they took us to a private beach called Las Caletas. I would recommend it to anyone going there. Here's a pic of Laura and I on the way there.


The excursion was all inclusive, food, drink, snorkeling, and kayaking. The service was incredible! They even had hammocks tied between palm trees...isn't that how everyone imagines paradise?!

Back on the catamaran, leaving paradise.

When we got back the kids were happy to see us, and the elephant on the bed.

Porter crashed and Ethan was being so sweet. He started piling all kinds of stuff on him: the butterfly he colored, blankets, and even his favorite bear.

The next day we arrived in Mazatlan, and the storm finally caught up to us. We had wanted to take the kids with us to explore the city, but it was pouring rain. Most people got off the boat only to turn around and get back on. But we decided we were up for an adventure and boy did we get one!! We wanted to go to the real city and not just the tourist area so we told our cab driver to take us the the mall! :) The streets were flooded in some places at least a foot deep. Well, when the cab stopped it was not at the mall, but at the "golden zone" where all the tourists go to buy jewelry. He told us because of the rain this is where he had to drop us off, and told us the mall was only four blocks away. What we soon realized (after getting out and paying him of course) was that he was probably getting paid more to drop us off at this place. So we started walking in the rain hoping we were going the right way.

None of us knew Rob was taking this pic, but it shows just how flooded the streets were.

It was interesting trying to find our way around the flooded streets. Rob had pointed out the water bubbling out of the sewers in the middle of the street so we REALLY didn't want to get our feet more wet than we had to. We had to do some fence hopping to avoid some really flooded spots, I felt like an illegal trying to sneak across the border. I was soaking wet by this time.

After finally finding the mall, Rob convinced us that if we wanted the real city life experience that we should take the bus back. We figured that it would cost us 50 cents each and we knew it would take us where we needed to go, instead of 15 dollars like the cab that took us to the wrong place. Let me say that was one wild ride, and actually a highlight of the trip. The bus drivers are CRAZY! We almost got into some very close accidents, and he was driving so fast through the flooded streets that we saw a tidal wave of water soak some poor chico. It was so funny...I mean, really sad. :) We were all laughing only to look up and see that the driver was laughing as hard as we were.

Here we are on the bus...

We ended up finding this great family owned restaurant not far from the ship. Good authentic food, and a Fanta always makes you feel better after a crazy day!

On Friday we were in Cabo San Lucas. We were happy to see that the skies had cleared and we would only be getting wet if we wanted to! :) We haggled a good price with some water taxi company to take us to Lover's beach. When we told the driver (not the same guy) how much we were going to pay him, he pretty much held us hostage on his boat just off the beach until we settled on a new price...what's up with these taxi drivers?! And all this with Rob there speaking Spanish. I can't imagine how they must swindle the people that don't speak the language. The beach was beautiful, there were butterflies EVERYWHERE!! It was like out of a fairytale. Rob asked a local about the butterflies and he said that he'd never seen it like this and that is was probably a result of the storm that had just come through.

After we left the beach we went walking through the marina area that had lots of shops and restaurants. After some more great authentic food, we headed back to the ship.

Our view from our window...not bad!

Saturday was another day at sea. We were paged that morning to let us know that my sweet little Porter was banned from camp for being a bully. We were warned the night before that he had was pushing kids and he only had one more chance. Poor kid, but it was nice to spend the last day hanging out with the little guy. The food on a cruise is amazing, every day the menu is different. Well, at lunch I ordered the italian antipasto appetizer thinking it was going to be meats and cheeses, but I was in for a surprise... Rob said that he heard me scream, and thought there was a rat on the table, close enough for me. Can you see the worry on Ethan's face too?

This is what was put in front of me....

If you can't tell, that's a little octopus on my plate....no thank you!! Rob actually ate some of this purely to gross me out.

The boys got a present from the ladies at camp carnival the last night, the picture says it all...it was a fantastic trip.

I almost forgot to mention the funniest thing that happened when we got home. Ethan walked into his room to take a nap and says "Hey, they didn't make my bed!" I think the kids were a little too spoiled on this trip!

Bon Voyage

Tomorrow we are finally leaving for our vacation!!! We booked our vacation months ago, and it seemed like it was never going to get here. I have spent my morning packing, and to say the least the kids are excited. They have been wearing these around all morning...

So we will be gone for the next week, and then I'll be back to tell you all about it!

Also, I wanted to congratulate my brother . He will be graduating from the Sheriff's Academy this week while we're gone. Sorry we couldn't make it. I am so proud of you Brent!!

Red Soup

Ethan has discovered a new favorite food. Usually when I ask him what he wants to eat he'll request "red soup". I am amazed at how much of this stuff he can put down. The best part of his new love is the silence that occurs while he and Porter concentrate on slurping it from their spoons! Rob has shown them how to drink it from the bowl too, and they get a kick out of the "mustaches" they get.

The only downside is that the meal usually ends like this...