Thursday, March 25, 2010

Spring Break 2010 - or the longest blog post ever!


What a great Spring Break we had. It took about a month convincing Andy that we had to make the drive up to Utah. He doesn't love road trips - especially long ones but in the end I think he was glad that we did it! I have missed Utah and just wanted to go and eat at some of our favorite restaurants, shop, go to BYU, and see friends and family.

Before we headed up to Utah, we spent a few days in Scottsdale with Andy's parents who were here for a medical conference. We went out (Andy and I) with Sharon and Henry to a very posh Steakhouse call Mastro's Steakhouse. It was divine - and spending time with the two of them without kids doesn't happen often enough!

The next day we took the kids to their resort for some swimming and dinner. Being March13th and all, it was a bit cold outside - even though the pool was heated, it was still freezing! Zac was happy to be wrapped in his towel for a portion of the time! This resort had some great water slides which I didn't get any pictures of but that's where the kids spent most of their time! After swimming we had a great dinner at one of the restaurants on sight. My kids love hotels so this is always a fun novelty!
(Not sure how I missed Hayden in the pictures I took. He was kind of off swimming on his own most of the time - meeting new friends.)

The next day we were off to St. George where we stayed a night and then headed up North to Utah Valley. We drove through Orem in perfect time for dinner at our favorite restaurant from the college days - Tucano's! Yum, that place rocks! It is a Brazilian steak house where they bring the meats around and cut it onto your plate for you. Zc was diggin it, he held up his plate every time a new guy came by. (Sorry, left the cameras in the car!) We then headed up to Salt Lake where we spent the week with Andy's oldest Brother David, his wife Ashley and their cute boy Noah.

Tuesday we went to a great indoor swimming facility. Andy forced Zac on the water slide a few times - he came down with a look of horror on his face both times until eventually he was dragging Andy out of the pool to take him over and over again!


Later that night we had a great dinner and invited Uncle Chris to come over - I think he has officially become the kids favorite Uncle! He is so good with them and he has the energy to run and play and throw them around, it's been really fun for them to get to know him better.

Playing after dinner

Wednesday we spent the day in Park City - shopping most of the time. I think we spent almost 4 hours at the outlet mall, it still amazes me that the kids lasted that long! We had dinner on Main Street and watch some skiing. Hayden thought we were watching the winter Olympics!

The next day we headed down to Orem/Provo. We stopped for lunch at our other favorite restaurant - Wallaby's. For anyone who lives in the area and hasn't been there - seriously, you have to go! It is the best pulled pork and mashed potatoes you will ever have. The BBQ sauce is amazing, we come home with a bottle of it every time. Zac was in a particularly bad mood, he had been up all night with a fever but we made the best of it anyway!

Zac was pretty much only happy when standing by the fish tank!


We then took the kids to the BYU campus. I remember as a student there I would see families bringing their kids to show them around and show them how they met, etc. - I thought they were so lame! Well, we became one of those cheesy families and I'm proud of it! Hayden is totally set on going to BYU - he asked us which classes he would take in each building - it was cute. Most importantly though, the whole family came away with new BYU shirts, including a jersey which Hayden proceeded to wear for 3 days!


BYU Campus from a 4 year olds perspective

LAter that afternoon we headed to Alpine to visit with some of our very good friends who moved from Gilbert last year. Following that visit we spent the evening in LEhi with some of Andy's friends from high school. There were 8 adults and I think at least 20 kids. Jeremy and Kelly were very kind to open their house to such chaos - it was so much fun, we had a hard time dragging the kids away!

Friday was our day to ride Trax into Salt Lake and go to Temple Square. The kids were beyond thrilled as it started to snow while waiting for the train!
Zac looks a little weirded out here on the train but he sobbed when we had to get off!


That is snow in Zac's hair, not dandruff!

You can't see it but we are standing in the snow as well!

After touring the Beehive hose and walking around the temple and visitor's centers we headed to the Tabernacle to see the old pipe organ. Hayden was fascinated by it and was wondering exactly how the sound gets fro the Organ and out the pipes.



Ah, sibling love... This is Hayden's half-hearted attempt to hug his sister after she gave him her roll from the Lion House!

The kids kept taking the camera - Hayden was excited to take some shots of the temple and got this great one!

Brynley on the other hand took 5 pictures of the window washers!

All toasty and ready to get on the train so he can go have a nap before family pictures!

The family pictures will be included in another post, on another day!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

A conversation with Hayden...


Last night while making dinner, Hayden says to my Aunt - "I have a photographic memory you know."
I freak out a little and ask, "Who told you that? Did Dad tell you that?" He responded with "No."
"Did you hear Dad and I talking about that?" He responds "No."
"What is a photographic memory Hayden?" He answers, "It's when you see something or read something once and then you can always remember it and it stays in your brain like a camera."
I bit later when it was just he and I, I wanted to investigate a little further so I asked him again.
"Hayden did someone tell you that you have a photographic memory?"
This was his response: "No Mom, I'm just reading a book about a child detective named Cam Jansen, but her real name isn't cam, it's Jenny. People call her Cam because she is like a human camera accept there is no film in her brain, just her memory. And so I was thinking that my brain is somewhat like Cam's brain because I can remember everything."
"Oh, yep, I suppose you're right!"
I worry a little about him going around telling people he is super smart with a photographic memory - you know, those were the kids who got made fun of growing up! But, we have known for a very long time that he has a great memory - for instance, he can look at his spelling words one time and always get 100% on his spelling tests. The only time he missed any was when he forgot to write two of the words down because he wasn't paying attention! I pray every day that his talents will lead him to do great things... you just never know...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

Brynley is 4 today! She has been waiting for months to be 4 so this day couldn't come soon enough! I absolutely adore this little girl and feel lucky to be her mom. She is the sweetest thing in the world and has such a tender heart - just last night I had gone to my room for some rest and had just gotten frustrated with Hayden and Brynley. A few hours later she came to me with tears in her eyes and a super sad face saying, "I am so sorry mama" as a tear rolled down her cheek. She does this any time she feels like she has been naughty or done something wrong - she genuinely feels heartache over it- such an endearing quality. Brynley always wants to make her older brother happy - even if it means giving him whatever candy or treat she has, she just loves making others happy.

She is stinker sometimes of course and I will probably be a very stubborn teenager - I can already see it! I love all her little faces and nuances - she literally melts my heart on a daily basis.

We celebrated Bryn's birthday on Sunday night with a family dinner (which consisted of our family and Meredith's family - my dad called in sick). She had a great time with her cousins!

She loved her presents - from the Simpsons she got a ton of girlie art supplies and from Hayden a Ponyville set. Zac got her a Fancy Nancy game and we got her a new bike and bicycle helmet.

Her face was priceless when she saw Andy turn the corner with her new bike!

The kids all took a turn riding around the island on her bike. Zac and Kate were hilarious as they spent the whole time chasing whoever was on the bike.

The cutest party guest!

Zac and Kate kind of stole the show for a bit as they played ring around the rosie. They were beyond cute!

Brynley with her cake

The next morning was Brynley's friend birthday party - the theme - Tinkerbell!

As the girls arrived we had some balloons for them to play with, here's a few pictures of some of the girls playing.



Each girl had a Tinkerbell coloring page with Tinkerbell crayons - the pictures later got sprinkled with pixie dust!

After the girls were done coloring we went on a treasure hunt outside! There were balloons hidden everywhere with clues inside - each girl took a turn popping a balloon with a magic wand. At the end was a treasure box filled with gold and sparkling beads!
This shows some of the girls making bracelets with the bead they found!

After bracelets were done it was present time! Brynley was quite spoiled and got a ton of Tinkerbell, Polly Pocket, and Dora stuff along with makeup and a fur real pet!

The girls were so cute helping her open her gifts

This was the cutest, sweetest bunch of girls ever! Including Brynley we had 10 3 and 4 year old girls at the party and it was so much fun! Little girls parties are WAY easier and better than little boy parties! They were so cute and listened so well - I loved it!

This picture shows all but two of the little girls

The Tinkerbell gift bags given to each of the girls when they left

Love you Brynley!

I think one of her best presents was finding out today that she is going to have a baby sister!

Friday, January 22, 2010

A day on the lake

Aunt Shelly and Uncle Joe were in town last week and we decided that we really wanted to do something fun and different - so we headed to the lake! Meredith found out about this steamboat that takes you on a tour of Canyon Lake - the kids were really excited about being able to go on a real boat!
Andy getting everyone situated in their life jackets

Shelly and Joe with all the nieces and nephews except Lindsay - not sure where she went!

Zac mostly hated his life jacket but was happy as long as he had popcorn!

The only picture of our family - Meredith took it and said it looked great so she didn't take another one. Oh well, who cares that Andy looks mad about something!

Begging for more popcorn...

The four big kids - they all had a blast!

A little scenery in the background



Uncle Joe and Brynley

After the boat ride we headed a little further East to a small "town" called Tortilla Flats for a late lunch. The walls of the restaurant are covered in 1 dollar bills, I should have taken a picture but I forgot. People just leave 1 dollar bills to be stapled to the walls and ceiling - it is estimated that there are over 150 thousand bills on the walls! And this is after a fire burned the place to the ground in 1987!! The kids got a kick out of it.

Hayden and Brynley outside of the restaurant

This was definitely a fun adventure for a Saturday and we will probably do it again sometime!

That was one tough cupcake!

I made some cupcakes a few weeks ago and left a few of them unfrosted. I sort of forgot about them for a few days and Hayden asked if he and Bryn could frost and eat two of the cupcakes. Sure - although I was pretty sure they may not be too good - they had been sitting on the counter uncovered for two days!
Not two minutes later, Hayden comes running into the office to tell me that upon biting into his cupcake, his tooth came out! He was ecstatic as he as been anxious to lose another tooth for quite some time! Enjoy the bloody picture!

One last holiday post!

I know January is almost over but I wanted to get this post up - better late than never I guess! We always love visiting the Mesa, Arizona Temple Lights during the holidays. We almost ran out of time this year as life got extremely busy but we managed to get to the Temple on New Year's Eve.
The Mesa Arizona Temple

A quick picture with the kids!

Andy gets in on the action

Hayden and Brynley were so excited to see the Star of Bethlehem at the Manger scene

Zac and Daddy

Some more of the lights
This was a great New Year's Activity to do with the family - Dinner out, Temple Lights, Hot Chocolate and a movie! We are looking forward to a fun filled New Year!