What did I do? I dunno, I just did it!

Before and After...




We had a great weekend in St.George, (I will blog about that later) While we were there we went to visit my good friend and trainer from my mission, Bonnie. She is an amazing stylist, so I asked her to cut my hair. Dave had begged me for a long time to just go short, so I just decided to do it! Just like that. Bonnie started to cut and I am thinking "What the? Am I really chopping off all my hair?" I am still having those moments when I catch my reflection in the mirror and I think; "that's me?"  I am going down the fine line between "cute and sassy" and "frumpy brown helmet hair". But on the whole I like it, it is hard to get used to not having long hair, but it is fun to have a change! And all in all, it is just hair!  Thanks for the new do Bonnie! :)

Conference Camera

Kim and baby Zeke

"watching" Conference

"Light on!" Preston is learning about on and off.

My mom and baby Zeke (ignore the pink blanket, that is my nieces!)

We have so much fun!!

He is always so happy!

Preston checking out baby Madeline.

I always look forward to Conference weekend as a time to be inspired, get things done and to just be with family, I got it all this weekend! We had a great family dinner on Sunday and I got the wonderful surprise of having my bestest friend, Kim and her hubby come up with their new baby. It was great to spend time with them.

We are in the market for a new camera and since Kim just got one we had a great time playing with it! :) Here are some pics, good times!! Thanks, Kimmy-Lou.

Beautiful girlies!

I have been waiting years to finally say that I am an AUNT! I am so excited to have a niece. She was born on Monday Sept.21 at 5AM and weighed in at 6lbs.14oz and 19 inches long. Her name is Madeline Esther. She has lots of black hair that is about an inch long all over her head. She came out already screaming like a banshee! She missed the cute little newborn wimper and skipped to screaming to get what she wants. (they really come out with their own presonalities, don't they?) It made me reminise on when my kids were little and the excitement of meeting someone for the first time. I am still in awe that someting that starts out as 2 cells that you cannot even see, turns into a living, breathing human! Life really is a miracle. She is adorable and I cannot get enough of her. Here are some pics from the hospital and then when she came over on Sunday. Hailey was in a cooperative mood and so I decided to tackle a hair do I have been dying to try. She sat so well and let me braid and then sew the ribbon into her hair. I just really love doing hair. I am not very good at art even though I wish I were, so hair is my creative outlet!

Baking

We have been busy here lately. Dave and Hailey are in school, I am juggling my side jobs amongst Dave's 2 part-time jobs, but we still find time to enjoy baking and to make memories in the kitchen! Yesterday the kids and I made bread with cheese in the middle (it was just as good as it sounds, in case you are wondering) and with the extra dough, at Hailey's request, made a gingerbread man and baked it. She loved it! And the best part is it is healthy! :) There is something invigorating about grinding your own wheat to make bread. We also baked sugar cookies and decorated them. I have decided that the process of making and decorating cookies is what the kids enjoy the most, so I don't feel bad about throwing them all away when we are done. In my quest to be healthy and lose weight, I look at the cost of making the cookies as "entertainment", we pay for things all the time and don't take anything home. So instead of eating all those calories, we make memories!

(Grandma came home from school to enjoy the mess of it all!)

First Day of pre-school

Potty-training hinged on the fact that you have to wear underpants to go to school, she was successful all on the basis of getting the prize! (although having a bit of trouble stopping her play to get to the bathroom about 5 seconds sooner....) she was excited to go to school. We walked down the hill and she was all too eager to walk inside. In fact while I got Preston out of the stroller she opened the first door and went to hang up her backpack, she already knows what to do! She jumped right in and went to play, I had to track her down to tell her goodbye. I thought it would be a good idea to let her know what I would be gone and would be back, but she could have cared less. I hugged and kissed her goodbye, and felt the emotion creeping up my throat. She gave me an obligitory "goodbye mom" and went on her merry way. I didn't get as much done at home as I was hoping while she was away and Preston was napping, but I think I had too lofty of dreams. She chattered about her day, not sure what really happend. Something about eating marshmallows, but it was pretend. And she told her teacher that her baby brother is getting bigger like her, everyday. To which her teacher replied, "That's wonderful!" I am excited to give her this opportunity to learn to make new friends and more about the world outside the 4 small walls of our house. I am glad we are able to ease into it 2 days a week in the afternoons. Today was the first day of realizing that my baby is growing up, it wasn't a very nice feeling...but that is a stage of life and change happens.

Yellow-Fest '09!

(to start off I want to explain the title. Yes, we named our vacation. We went out with the same friends to a Kurt Bestor concert, and we called it Bester-Fest, so Yellow-Fest only seemed appropriate!)

This past weekend Dave and I took one last summer vacation before he started school on Monday. We left the kids home with my parents. It was so nice to just be the 2 of us. We were able to talk without any interruptions! It seems like we will be talking to each other getting into a deep philosophical conversation and then one of the kids will stick a foreign object up their nose, or push the other one, or want a drink...the list goes on! It was nice to start a finish a conversation and most of all to re-connect with each other, to just be us. We went up to Island Park in Idaho with our friends. That was half the fun to just be with them, away from everyday life. We went on a hike in Yellowstone and to see the sites. Then went to the PlayMill Theatre to see our other friend Jessica who was in The Secret Garden.It was a very moving musical, one that makes you think of life and never being able to predict what will happen. It made me miss the kids and I was glad to get up early to be back with them. It was a blast and a wonderful break to be up in the mountains and in nature, all be it the creepy, un-earthly, bubbling nature of Yellowstone! Thanks John and Kate for another fest!

Disneyland!

It has been a whirlwind since we got home from our vacation. Our renters moved out and left us a lot of work that needed to get done. And then comes the task of finding a new renter to fill it so we don't have to cover the mortgage for a house we are not living in! So here is the re-cap of California. We left on Thursday morning, pulled the kids out of bed and went to catch our flight. We got there, in what I thought would be plenty of time. After we did the self check for our luggage (what is with the $15/bag charge?!? OUCH!) We went to the desk to a Delta representative who apparently woke up on the WRONG side of the bed. Our tickets didn't print and she told us it was a computer glitch and to go back to the kiosk and re-print. Well, the kiosk also wanted to charge us for the kid’s car seats, so we didn't input that info into the computer. I am standing there waiting with the kids and she keeps mumbling under her breath: "You are never going to make this flight!" Dave gets back with the tickets and we put our car seats up to check and she tells us we have to get a luggage tag printed off or she cannot check them. She tells us at this point we don't have time to print them off that we are going to miss our flight if we don't RUN now! She told us to take our car seats, with the stroller, 2 kids and 3 carry-ons, run to the other terminal and hope that we can make it on this flight! At this point we are panicked, we know we are on a tight budget for this trip and missing our plane is not in our best interest! We put the car seats on the stroller and RUN. At the security check we get right in thanks to the family line, and we run like mad men down the terminal. We get to our gate, out of breath and sweating! Needless to say we had 20 minutes before the plane took off! The flight went really well, the only extra seat on the plane was next to us, so we had 4 seats across to ourselves. (We are thinking that it pays to sit in the back by the bathroom.) Speaking of the potty I was nervous that Hailey being a new potty trainer would have problems going in strange potties, but it was the opposite! She LOVED it. She went 3 times on the plane in the short hour and a half flight. She kept calling it a silly potty. We flew into the Long Beach Airport (one of the smartest moves) it is a small airport and everything is close. We got our luggage and walked the 50 feet to the car rental. The kids were enamored with the palm trees; Hailey especially loved them because she has them in her Polly Pocket set. We got the rental car, put up our GPS and drove right to the Hotel. At this point I am thinking how well everything is going and how great this is that all of this has gone without a hitch. We get to the Hotel and I go to check us in. Little did I realize it was 10 in the morning, as the lady at the desk related to me--check out isn't until 12 and check in isn't until 3PM!! (Didn't think that one through in all our planning.) This is when one of those mini-miracles comes in...I had called earlier in the week to confirm that we could get a crib for the baby so we wouldn't have to bring one. I just happened to remember the name of the lady who helped me and it just happened to be the same lady who was helping me today. I told her I had talked to her and thanked her for being so courteous to me on the phone. Her tone quickly changed, she clicked a few things on her computer and said I think there is another one that we can put you in that has already been cleaned. Hallelujah! We did Downtown Disney that night and Hailey spiked a fever. She was cold inside the air-conditioned Rain Forrest Cafe, so we bought a souvenir beach towel to cover her. It reminded me that dinner with 2 kids can be really stressful and how much I wished that we would have just done take-out and gone back to the Hotel. Friday we did Disneyland and the kids got up early so we got there before the park opened. We had very little to no wait on all the iconic rides--Peter Pan, tea cups, Alice in Wonderland, Storybook boats--my favorite part was seeing Hailey's face as she recognized the characters on the rides and painted on murals. When we got to the Peter Pan ride she gasped; "There's Michael, John, Wendy and Peter Pan!" I had arranged a lunch with the Princesses for Hailey and me to celebrate her birthday. (at $35 a plate for call ahead reservations we were not going to pay for Dave too! Luckily at 2 Hailey is still free!) Hailey was so tired at this point, she had gotten up early and the fever was back. She laid on me until we went down the stairs and saw Ariel at the bottom. She just lit up! She knew who it was and was gob-smacked that her TV had just come to life! In true Disney fashion the whole lunch was over the top amazing! The princesses were each announced by the Royal Grand Duke himself complete with fanfare. All 5 princesses came to our table and visited with Hailey, we got to take pics and the characters were delightful. They had their role down to a T. Hailey talked to Snow White about the Hi-Ho song and she giggled, as only Snow White does, and said that her 7 little friends sing that to her all the time! The food was amazing and they even came out and sang Happy Birthday to Hailey. They called both of us by name and we never had to tell them anything, they had all the information on a card from the questions I had answered when I called to make reservations. I left thoroughly satisfied! By the time we were done Hailey was so tired she wanted me to carry her back to the Hotel. I had the sling and put her on my back, she fell asleep and her upper body kept falling back because she couldn't hold herself up! I ended up wearing the sling on the front and carrying her from the back of the park and then 2 and 1/2 blocks to our Hotel in the heat of the day. I called Dave and asked if he could come pick us up half-way, but Preston was still asleep. I was grateful for the strength to carry her back. My wonderful hubby had the door propped open with cold water waiting for me! :) We went back to the park and stayed until the parade and fireworks were over.Saturday we went back to the parks and hit everything we could. We did the rider-swap with the kids so Dave and I could go on Soarin' Over California. We both loved it! But were sad that Hailey was 1/2 inch too short! (shouldn've put some pumps on her) The best part of the day was letting the kids play in the water at Flick's Play land. It was hot and such a nice way to cool down. Preston loved the Ferris-wheel and laughed when the car would rock. Our favorite ride was Midway Mania. (The Toy Story one) Mr. Potato head was out front talking to the guests who were waiting in line. We stopped and talked to him. He asked Hailey "What's your favorite toy" She got shy and pointed at him. He told me that my hair was so famous it was wearing sunglasses. (I had put them up on top of my head) I don't think the kids really got the games, but you have a cannon shooter in your car and you play 3-D midway games and it keeps track of your score and percent accuracy. It was the longest wait we had, but well worth it. We had a blast! Hailey loved the Pixar Parade, Disney does a great job!Sunday we did church and the kids were on one! The high point was when Preston escaped and Dave leapt up and over the bench to grab him! We drove to the beach and didn't expect traffic to be awful on Balboa Peninsula. But once we hit the sand and the water the kids were in heaven! Preston loved to mix the water and sand and sit in it. Hailey was happy jumping into the water and having her Dad catch her.
Monday was my day! We went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Kodak Theatre and then (drum roll please) The Container Store! I think that I could spend hours in there! I really love that place. It is all about organization and I always get such great ideas when I go there. I have since gotten home and put all the containers I bought to good use, organized and de-junked parts of the house. I sure wish they had a Container Store here! I was cramming my purchases in our luggage before we got on our flight to head home. About the last half hour of the flight the kids were falling apart, it was bed-time and they were done with vacationing. I was so glad we were on a plane and home was close!
It was a great vacation to just be our little family and Hailey keeps asking if we can do another countdown and go to Disneyland!