Family Ski Day

Dear Blog, I love you but I have no time for you.  Maybe one day I will find more spare time.  Today I am all caught up on my editing sessions so I am going to use my computer time and just go for it!

My favorite day of January was the 2nd.  Lexi's birthday and our family ski trip.  My kids are getting the hang of it and it's a dream come true for me.  They loved their ski class at Kirkwood.  I loved getting to ski with Dave.  We hadn't been together in a long time!  I'm super proud of my kids and cannot wait to take them again.  I was worried because I had told them that I would visit them at lunch, and then I didn't.  I thought when I went to pick them up they would be tired and whiny but we showed up and they were all smiles and "watch me!"  They didn't even want to quit and they'd been going all day.  They had a blast.  I was thrilled.  

One highlight of the day was when Brett and I were at the top.  It was a sharp edge to get onto the hill/cliff and we stood there trying to decide which entrance to take.  He said "follow me" and just went for it.  His ski hit the edge weird and he proceeded to fall and fall and slide and tumble halfway down the mountain, losing a ski and being covered in snow.  As he fell I could hear bits of laughter coming out of him.  I cried I laughed so hard.  Something about seeing someone so helpless is hilarious. I thought to get my phone out and video- I wish I had! Needless to say I did not follow him- I found a better entrance for myself.  Some guy collected Brett's ski and we were off again.  At the bottom we headed right back up!  I love the thrill of a big old steep mountain to conquer and of course my brother is fearless even after a big old spill.

The only downside of a day skiing is a day away from Mack.  I missed my baby boy.  So thankful he could spend the day with his cousin Parker and Grandma and Aunt Emily!

So in love with my kids.

On the way up!  Dying over Landon's turtleneck.  But he was warm- that's all that matters.

Mr. Handsome

Before I sign off- in the past I have posted ski videos and I really wanted to do some more this time.  BUT I've always used my little canon camera.  This time I thought I'd use my cell- well it is harder to film on a cell phone.  The shape isn't right in my hand.  So the only video I have is this short little one by Brett.  And below it, an old funny video of me falling in case you missed it a couple years ago.

OK and one more because I just rediscovered it and I am missing my little kids of the past this week.  Lexi and Logan are trying to be hawaiian fire dancers here (ages 4 and 2.5 probably)...

The Party to End All Parties

Giant bag of movie theatre popcorn hidden under table

The chocolate is splattered a bit in this picture because the door was left open and the wind got it!

When we first told the kids we were moving I quickly told them that they could have a big end of the year/ going away party to say goodbye to their friends.  I obviously made that promise to lessen the blow of the move.  And of course they held me to it, even though they are mostly fine with moving now.

So Thursday, the last day of school, we had the party.  I knew I was in over my head when I let them each invite 10 kids and then we invited a few family friends too... and then everyone started rsvp'ing with YES.  Like, almost every single person came.  We ended up with 35 kids total.

I enlisted the help of Bremily and if it weren't for them, and the two dads that ended up staying, Mack may have gone missing and the house may have burned down, or a child may have died- I don't know.  But it was crazy and loud and wild and my kids owe me big time!

So, this was the plan of attack (and Dave even made a spreadsheet for it):

6:00- 6:45- kids are arriving, have pizza and drinks in the backyard

6:45- explain each station, divide into groups and begin the rotations (each station was approx. 15 min.)

Station 1.  Relay races in the front yard

Station 2.  Photo booth in the garage

Station 3.  Games in the backyard

Station 4.  Chocolate fountain in the kitchen

7:45- fill candy bags and popcorn cups, get blankets and settle on the back lawn

8:00pm- begin the outdoor movie

9:30- party over, kids leave

How hard could it be?

The Photo Booth was FUN!

So that was the plan... and it mostly went as anticipated. The kids were extremely hyper and the bottom line is that 35 kids together in one house/yard is just going to be crazy.  I think it went as well as it could have gone.  They did love the stations and when broken into groups they were more manageable.

My main mistake was the movie choice.  I was looking for something that would hold the attention of 7 year olds and 11 year olds.  So we got, "We Bought a Zoo."  Lots of the kids were excited to see it but some of the kids were loud and that made it hard to hear.  Looking back I think a more action packed film would have been better.

Now some info on the stations- The chocolate fountain was a hit (thanks mom!) and the dipping items included strawberries, rice crispies, pretzels, marshmallows, oreos, pineapple and nilla wafers.  Also, I called our local movie theatre and got them to donate a bag of popcorn for the movie!  It was awesome except that my house smelled of movie theatre popcorn the whole day and it was difficult to refrain.  

We did really simple games and relays but who doesn't love those?  They were easy but fun- egg race, shoe tangle, "clean your room," and tennis ball toss.  

For the photo booth I downloaded free mustache and lips etc. templates from "Oh Happy Day" and cut them out.  I also threw some of our own dress ups in the mix. I wanted to print the pictures that night and send them with the kids but that was asking too much of myself.

Dave borrowed a projector from work but because of a breeze we ended up just taping a large carstock paper to the fence to show the movie on- it worked so well!  I can't wait to do it again (the outdoor movie thing, not the 35 kid party).

After about 30 minutes of the movie we lost them all and it was mass chaos on the trampoline, popcorn everywhere, kids running about.  I'm surprised we managed to keep most of them in the backyard!  They are all really good kids so that helped- no one was being naughty, just excited and having fun.  Another small issue was that Lexi and Logan are only 17 months apart and in 4th and 5th grade so there were some boy/girl teasing/flirting/chasing going on (mostly instigated by the boys and a couple of boy-crazy girls) that added to the madness but we managed it ok.  It gave me a small, scary glimpse into our future teen years though!

My only regret is the amount of pictures.  I never got a large group photo and did not have a second to get any pictures of the games/relays.  Or any kids enjoying the fountain.  Or one of Mack wandering aimlessly, alone, eating popcorn and pizza off the ground.  Oh well.

 I've said it once and I'll say it again- my kids owe me big time!  I've already gotten lots of big thanks from them and even a thank you note from Lexi so that's good.

 And I owe Bremily huge time!  Between Dave and I and Brett and Emily, we each managed a station (and Emily managed the babies too!) and we did it.  I couldn't have done it without them!

Now that it's over... I'm glad I did it.  The kids got to say a final goodbye to their best friends and have some fun memories to hold on to!

La Jolla Adventure

This last week Dave and I went on a small get-away to San Diego to celebrate tax season being over and to rebuild our marriage (only kind of kidding).  We had a nice time and it was good to get away (but not from Mack I missed him so much and it was way too long to leave my one year old).

When we first arrived, the hotel that I had chosen online was a total dump and the type of place you would wake up to see a homeless man sitting on your balcony.  Who cares if it was right on the water it was sick and nasty!  So we checked in, and five minutes later checked out.  Luckily we found a better spot easily (I'm sure because it was a Monday night).

Tuesday we took a very, very long morning walk after breakfast.  I may be a little weird but it was the one thing I wanted to do- go on a long walk along the coast.  It was beautiful and there was even a seal pup birthing spot.  We didn't see any seals being birthed but I could watch seals all day- bouncing in and out of the water, fighting, barking, and the babies being cute.

Moving on.  

We ate at some good spots, we went to the San Diego temple (I had never done a session there, just been to sealing.  It was gorgeous inside- wow!!), rented bikes and explored Coronado, got a couples massage (it was heavenly until the next day when my whole body was a limp noodle), went to a movie, sat on the beach (would have done that more but the weather wasn't totally beach worthy), and did some shopping (I finally got a blazer- something I've been looking for for awhile yay!)

We also sat in the hotel jacuzzi but there were floating bugs so I had to get out. 

Some things we did not do: 

*sleep in (we have reached that age I guess... I just couldn't sleep past 7:30!) 

*pork out (I was determined not to make this oinkfest 2012 and it wasn't... but not because I have amazing self control, it's because I was a little sick to my stomach the whole time)!

*bring my big camera.  For the first time since I got it I did not bring it on vacation.  I figured I didn't need a bunch of pictures of Dave and I, and I wanted to be free of bags or anything heavy- it was nice.

Now for a few photos.  This may be the choppiest blog post ever but I can't think straight most of the time these days so this is all you get.

loved walking on the coast

SD Temple!

Breakfast at the Coffee Cup (divine.  thanks Stacy W)

Dave was excited about the rental car we got

biking Coronado

Meeting Angela from The Office!!

Together alone for an extended period of time- very strange, we had to get used to it

adorable seals

walking=love

Yes, we met Angela from The Office.  Dave and I NEVER meet celebs, and we're not really even into celebs so to see someone walking down the sidewalk in front of us from a tv show that we actually watch, was so fun.  I pointed it out and Dave was brave and said something.  She was very nice and told us she usually just blends in!  She is super tiny and mini-sized in real life.  Afterward Dave and I laughed our heads off at how "star struck" we were!??!  I was tongue tied basically the whole time and Dave said the stupidest stuff like "do you live here?" (at the hotel in Coronado lol!) and, "so where do you film the show?" LOL! Angela was like "um.. LA" and probably in her head "duh."  Also, after we met her Dave sent out the cheesiest tweet to her I almost died.

Now I need to write about some traveling issues I had that have discouraged me from going anywhere for awhile.  I love to travel, I love taking my family on trips and exploring new places.  However, in the last year or so I have become EXTREMELY motion sick.  It is awful!  Almost the entire time from the second the plane took off until it landed back in Oakland I was a little sick to my stomach.  Anytime we drove anywhere I got a headache and was nauseous.  It totally made me not want to do anything and it made me sad!  Is this my life from here on out?  Is it a symptom of age that is going to stop me from living life to the fullest?

On top of that and probably partly because of it, I wasn't able to eat as much as we wanted to.  I was excited to try some new places and lay in bed at night eating everything I try to hide from my kids.  But my belly was FULL the entire time and I hardly ate anything... I felt sick from eating the smallest amount and we even skipped a few meals because of it- how sad is that?  I'm just hoping it was related to the motion sickness thing and that I can fix both problems before I travel again.

Lastly I have come to realize that I may be a teeny bit of a wuss.  Sleeping outside of my own bed doesn't happen easily (I was up all the night the first night), my back hurts when I sit for too long (on the plane, in the rental car), and that massage I got?  Totally wiped me out the next day- I was a zombie walking around with no energy to lift a limb... I couldn't even try on clothes when we went shopping.  What is wrong with me?!

So, those are my problems and I need to figure them out before we travel again.  They didn't ruin the trip, we still had a great time, but they did put a damper on things for me and I just hope Dave isn't thinking "I married a huge baby."

Now to end with my highlights (the whole trip was a highlight but you know):

*the temple

*seeing "Salmon Fishing in Yemen" - I liked it

*playing a get to know you game with Dave one night which was so funny and good

*getting a Sprinkles cupcake (ok 4)

*looking into Dave's beautiful green eyes without any children interrupting us

*hearing from my sis (who watched our kids!!) that Mack was saying "mama mama" all night after we left

*breakfast at the Coffee Cup

*biking Coronado (I love biking!)

The End.

ps thank you Kaley!!  My sister leaves on her mission in a week and I'm so thankful she could bond with our kids for a few days and give us some much needed time off.  I'm going to miss her.

A Little Adventure

Last weekend we went on a little adventure out to our friend's boat house. It was very fun. The kids loved playing in the dirt, water, catching fish, tubing, and running around. There little house is in a quiet spot- very peaceful there- a great little weekend getaway for their family yet not too far from home- isn't that a great idea. We need to get us a place like that. Thanks Websters!