Weekend in Arizona

We decided to take a last minute trip to Phoenix to visit our good friends and my sister. We drove up Thursday night pretty late. The kids slept most of the time which was nice. Friday morning the kids were so excited when they woke up in this new house and had new friends and toys to play with. We hung out for a while and then went to this indoor amusement park called "Jeepers". The kids had so much fun!

I gave Max juice for the first time and as you can see, he spit up most of it. I think we'll just stick to water and milk from now on!

Jake, Hayden, Nathan and Brynley (Zac and Max didn't ride this ride).

I think we spent all of our tokens on skee ball. Even Max got in on the action!

They had this big climber/slide thing that the kids could climb up in. Max would climb up all by himself and slide down this big slide. What a big boy!

After Jeepers we drove to the temple and let the kids walk around the grounds and through the visitor's center. It's a really cool temple- different from the norm.

The boys were really cute when they saw the Kristus statue. They kept saying, "Hi, Jesus" and "Bye, Jesus!"

That night Molly made us a delicious dinner and then we all went swimming. I forgot to take pictures, but the kids thought it was really fun to swim while it was dark outside.

Saturday morning we got up and packed and got ready to go. Before we left Hayden had this great idea to decorate pizza boxes. Here they are showing off their finished masterpieces!

Molly and I taught school together in Utah and became fast friends. She is so easy to talk to- I think we talked nonstop the entire weekend! Their house is beautiful and they were such good hosts. We'll definitely be visiting them again!

We then left their house and drove to visit Becky. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures but it was so fun to see her! I hope that she and Zac end up living in California when he's done with school so that we can hang out all the time!

We then drove home Saturday night and got home pretty late. It was a quick trip, but was a lot of fun. We're sorry to all of our friends we didn't get a chance to visit. We'll have to make a trip out again soon and plan on staying a little longer!

Mama Mia!

Jon and I went to go see Mama Mia! last night at the Pantages Theater in LA. I always love going to that theater because it is so pretty inside. Unfortunately you can't take any pictures, but it is really cool. Before the play we ate at The Stinking Rose restaurant. We ate at the one in San Francisco when we were there a while ago and were so excited when we discovered that there is one in Los Angeles as well.

These are pictures from inside the restaurant. We love the atmosphere and the food is SO GOOD!

After dinner we headed over to the theater. Mama Mia! was playing in Las Vegas the whole time we lived there and we never went to see it. I was really excited when I found out that it was playing down here. Jon served his mission in Sweden and so he's always felt like he has a special connection with Abba!!! Some of the humor was a little risque, but it was a really fun play!

Jon learned his lesson at the Laker game to just ask someone to take our picture instead of trying to do it ourselves! I think he'll be much happier with these pictures!!!

The rest of the weekend I was at Youth Conference and Jon was home with the boys. Today I was at the combined youth testimony meeting and so Jon had to get the boys ready and take them to church by himself. He gets home and I notice that this is what he dressed Max in for church. SHORTS with a long sleeved shirt, sweater vest and socks (rolled down, you might notice)! Really? That is so not cute. Fortunately Max can wear anything and make it look cute! I won't even get started on what the house looked like when I got home... I'm just really grateful that Jon was willing to take over while I was gone this weekend!

Happy Easter!

I must admit that I'm kind of glad that Easter is over! Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, but a little more stressful than usual this year. I had to speak in Sacrament Meeting which always makes me so nervous. I spoke on the Resurrection and when all is said and done, it really did help me feel the spirit and remember why we celebrate Easter. I then taught Young Womens which wasn't a big deal, but just one more thing to have to prepare for. Then after church we had my whole family over for Easter dinner. Thankfully everyone helped bring food so all I had to do was the ham and the dessert. It was a little tight having 30 people in our house, but luckily it was such a nice day that the kids played outside most of the time. When Jon and I finally got everything cleaned up and sat down at about 9:00 last night, we were both exhausted!

Nathan had an Easter party at Preschool before Spring Break and he came home wearing these cute bunny ears! For some reason he wouldn't let me take a picture unless he had something on his head- funny kid!

During Spring Break we went to the beach, went bowling, ate at Islands (love it!), watched the horse show down in San Juan Capistrano and played with cousins. Here are the boys decorating Easter sugar cookies with some of their cousins!

We dyed Easter eggs Saturday night. Jake and Nathan had a lot of fun this year writing on their eggs and picking what colors they wanted to use.

Jake was a little better this year at not 'throwing' the eggs in the cups. We had a lot less broken eggs this time around!

Max pretty much just watched from a few feet back since he kept trying to grab the table cloth and pull it off. I really didn't want 8 cups of egg dye spilling all over the floor- sorry, Max!

So proud of their finished eggs!

Easter morning the boys came down and were more than excited to see that the Easter Bunny had left them baskets full of candy and had hidden eggs all over the house for them to find.

Max wanted nothing to do with his bunny ears. Maybe he didn't like that they were pink in the middle!

Nathan was even more excited when he discovered that there was candy in all of the eggs he was finding- the Easter Bunny rocks!

One of these days we'll actually get ready in enough time BEFORE church and take our pictures. Max was so tired after church that he wanted nothing to do with pictures.

Our colors were a little bright this year, but I think it turned out okay. I always love Jake in any shade of blue!

Nathan was handsome in green and of course with his hands in his pockets!

Max just wanted to go to sleep.

Here are all of the kids waiting to go out for the big Easter egg hunt.

Every kid was supposed to find 12 eggs which means we had about 200 eggs hidden in our backyard!

Max was happy with just one egg, which meant that Jake and Nate could get even more- just what they need- more candy!

I hope that everyone had a very

Happy Easter!

The Walking Wounded

So we've had sort of a rough week around here in the injury department. A week ago Jake was running around the backyard and somehow ran right into the patio cover pole causing him to have a huge scrape and goose egg on his forehead. Then a few days later Nathan was running around the house and ran right into a door knob causing him to have a huge bruise and goose egg on his forehead.

Then Monday night Nathan and Jake were playing in the backyard when we heard them start screaming at each other. We then saw them run into the house and up the stairs and then we heard a huge crash followed by Jake screaming and crying. We went running up there and apparently Nathan was mad at Jake so he chased him upstairs and pushed him into the corner of the wall causing the back of his head to split open. So we cleaned up all of the blood and the wound and then Jon super glued it back together. I really think Jake's teachers are going to turn us in soon if he doesn't stop showing up to school with a new injury everyday! It's so embarrassing.

On Wednesday Nathan was at my mom's house while I was at the doctor's with Jake. My mom called and told me that Nathan fell off of her tall bar stool right on his chin and split it open. So I finished my appointment with Jake and then dropped him off with my mom and picked up Nathan. I took him to Urgent Care where they put six stitches in his chin. Nathan did such a good job holding still and letting the doctor put the stitches in. I was so glad that we didn't have to go to the ER to do it. I must admit I was a little grossed out watching the procedure. I could never handle being a nurse!

Nathan had to wear a huge band-aid over the wound for the first couple days. He had Spring pictures at preschool the next day which I'm sure are going to turn out really cute with his bruised forehead and the band-aid on his chin!

I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that in almost six years of crazy boys running around the house we have only had one head split open up until now. Let's stop with the injury streak now, boys. I can't handle any more blood!

Happy Birthday, Max!

Max turned 1 year old today. I really can't believe a year has gone by since Jon and I walked down the sidewalk of Mission Hospital so excited that Max was finally going to be born. Max really has been a mellow, happy, good-sleeping baby for which I am really grateful for. He is crawling, pulling himself up to standing, cruising around furniture, clapping, waving, babbling, drinking out of a straw and sippy cup, sleeping through the night and throwing a ball.

One thing I love about Max is his contagious smile. He smiles at people everywhere we go and they always smile back at him. His dimples are the cutest!

The day started out with the traditional balloon throwing in his crib. He's our first one year old not to cry when we filled his crib with big balloons- he loved it!

The rest of the festivities took place tonight after Jon got home. We ate dinner and then opened presents. It took Max a little while to get the hang of ripping the wrapping paper off, but luckily his older brothers were right there to help him!

He got an inflatable ball pit and 300 balls to put in it. He's really into balls right now so I thought this would be a fun gift.

Despite the serious look on his face, he really did like it. I think Jake and Nate might have liked it a little more! The funny thing is that they had almost the same one when they were little (I'm sure this looks familiar to all of our Vegas friends)!

Clearly one of my few talents does not include cake decorating. I know how to make things taste good, not look good! Anyway, we did a baseball cake to go along with the whole ball theme. What? You don't think jelly beans go with baseballs? Come on now! I really should hire my sister-in-law, Bethany to decorate all of my kids cakes from now on. (I have no idea what my hand is doing in this picture!)

Max was a little apprehensive at first with the cake. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to eat it. But finally he dove in did a great job making a mess.

Nothing beats jelly bean droll! And yes, we did give him a bath after this!

Seriously now, enough pictures Mom and Dad!

I really do love this kid and I'm so glad that he is part of our family.

Happy 1st Birthday, Max-a-Moose!!!