the day that didn't turn out the best

We went to our friend Saxon's birthday party this morning. It was fun, and my kids LOVE Saxon. He is in their preschool group.

While we were there Tyson got called into the hospital, so we left early.
Hey, that's ok, we still had fun!

We went home, and read this book. It is one of my all time favorites.


I decided to take the kids to the Great Park where the big orange balloon is because they were having a SNOW day to kick off the opening of the new ice skating rink.

The park brought in SNOW from the mountain to build snowmen in, sled in, and have snowball fights in.

The advertisements for it looked amazing. I am picturing a WINTER WONDERLAND, no people (because no one is ever at the park), and fun!

Did I mention it was FREE?

What could be better?

So we pack up and leave. Can I just tell you that EVERY Southern California resident had the same idea. They came in hordes of over dressed (dare I say, heat exhausted) children and adults outfitted in snow get up for a blizzard. I mean, we are talkin' moon boots, ski bibs, and mittens.

They had toboggans, sleds, and cameras.

We waited in line to get into the park for 30 minutes.
(Winter Wonderland still going through my head)

We walked at least a mile (before we realized they had a shuttle) from our car to the snow.
(Winter Wonderland still dancing in my mind)


We get to the SNOW. There are TWO small areas of snow. Both are hidden by a million people trying to make a snowman or go sledding. You couldn't even SEE the snow.
It was ridiculous.

The part of snow we could get on was muddy from melting and mixing with the dirt.
(The exact reason I hated living in Utah, melting, sloshing snow.)

We turned around and left.

On the walk back to the car, we saw a piece of snow.
The twins stepped in it, and we called it a day.

Not every adventure can be LOADS of fun, but every adventure has memories, and this one definitely was MEMORABLE!

random happenings

I have been super busy! I love it, but it is good to have most of it over with...

It is my turn to teach preschool again. We did the 5 senses this week.

We made a texture book, played hide and seek by only using our ears, we read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and The Seven Blind Mice, we learned about the number 5, sang songs like head, shoulders, knees and toes, and the only picture I got out of the whole week was this picture of our Color Walk nature findings...

Each kid got a baggie with a color in it. We went on a walk and found all the things we could of those certain colors. Idea found here

I have been really busy with YW things...

For our Virtue Walk my friend and I made this banner:

And stitching all the "scripture journal" labels for the girls journals for our Book of Mormon in a weekend.

The twins have been really busy with their imagination:

Doing the waltz...

Pretending to be dogs and cats...

I have also been crafting for Valentines Day and St. Patrick's Day. I will have to put up an entire post of just the things I have made in the last couple of weeks.
happy friday!

all about the love

We had FHE tonight because Tyson got home late on Monday.

We had a lovely meal on our new Valentines plates...
(Italian Beef sandwiches and zucchini fries, which I don't think I would make again)


We talked about love...

and we made Valentines for our families...

Cutting...

Coloring...

Finished products:

The favorites:
(This year we tried to personalize..)
For my dad the Chemical Engineer:
Yes it says, "This Bunsen Burner has a beaker full of burning love for you."

For my goofy sil:
I found this phrase online. I was not witty enough to come up with it on my own. :)

To the newly marrieds:
Inside it says, "I choo choose you!"

For the law student:
Yes, it really says that, and we mean it with all the love we can muster. :)

Happy soon to be month of love!

"jumpoline"

My SIL got a trampoline for Christmas.

My kids love it.

Berkleigh calls it the jump-o-line.

It's my favorite thing she says right now.

Rainy Days

Pretty much all the rain for a year was saved up and dumped on Southern California this week.

It was (who am I kidding, IS) pretty bad.

Check it out for yourself...

(pic from one of Tyson's friends album on facebook)

So we have spent basically every waking minute in the house!

Here are some of our rainy day activities:

We read Cloudy with a Change of Meatballs before nap...

then we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (best movie ever!) after nap...

Then we created a little town ourselves, and had a pretend spaghetti rain storm on them that we made out of play dough.

I was in charge of building the city...

Berkleigh was in charge of creating the meatballs...

Merrick was in charge of creating the spaghetti...

And then we wreaked havoc on the little people town...

Play dough meatballs and spaghetti were everywhere!
Another day we did some fun art projects that their Aunt Jen and Uncle Chris sent them for Christmas. (Thanks guys! You know I like this kind of stuff!)

We had a couple play dates at friends house to keep out of the rain...

We had indoor picnics with neighbors, and my friend Kristy and I tried to defeat Bowser on the original Mario via the Wii. We get so close, and then we psych ourselves out. :) Hasn't happened yet, but it will my friends, it will.

Oh, and when you don't have anywhere to go, you have more time to make yummy breakfasts, like these rainbow pancakes. The twins had fun helping, and we all enjoyed eating them!

And last but not least, I got to have a cozy night in with my sweetheart with take out and Project Runway, before he gets on a plane tomorrow to the mountains for a little snowboard time with his sister.


And today, we went to see Princess and the Frog at the dollar theater. I can't get enough of that movie! If you haven't seen it... see it! It is worth it!
The rain continues, and so will the fun...

a typical thursday

We rode our bikes to the park...

Merrick practiced the curly Q ladder thing...

He was so determined...

...and happy when he accomplished it.


We climbed through tunnels...

The city fluffed the sand, and there were tire tracks everywhere, so the twins decided to play trains...

The day also included a recycling trip, and icecream with our earnings!

Happy Thursday!

jumping rope

Berkleigh and Merrick got jump ropes in the stockings for Christmas. Usually they are used as fishing poles, but today I tried to teach them the "real" way to use a jump rope.

Here is Berkleigh's attempt...
She never did get it over her head or under her feet.
(Can you believe how much hair she has? She looks like Cousin It in these pictures.)

imagination

Merrick and Berkleigh have crazy imaginations... I love watching them play, and I love buying them toys that require imagination...

Here they are caught in the act:

Merrick fishing in his "boat":
(notice the "oars", "fishing pole", and fish in the water)

Caught a shark!

Merrick hard at work with his work boots, hard hat, and diaper (thank goodness, we don't want YMCA):

Berkleigh plays in her new doll house all day long.

Cinderella is usually getting her beauty sleep...


Snow White must be the fat one cause she is ALWAYS on the treadmill... and when she is on the tread mill she doesn't wear her dress... just her "simming suit".

And where would Ariel be but in the bathtub...
When Ariel has a dress on instead of her fins, she can be found BBQing...
And where would Prince Charming be?
Watching TV of course....
(I don't know where she gets this, cause we don't have a tv to ever sit in front of...)
Note: I don't love the "Princess things"... but these ones were cute, and the only dolls I could find that fit the size of this dollhouse.)
Keep imagining little ones! I love it!