Things I love

I was prompted to do this post by my friend Kate and so here it is. I don't usually do these kind of "share about myself" type posts and tell you all my thoughts and feelings. However, I love the fact that other people do, I am just not very good at putting my thoughts and feelings into coherent sentences. But here it goes.

#1 - Shopping - I love to shop! And luckily for my husband, I love to window shop. Although the fact that I don't buy things has more to do with my inability to make a decision than the money. I could stroll up and down all the aisles of every store I go into. I do not get to do this very often since my children are usually with me. They of course, minimize the shopping fun. And since I love shopping so much, I frequently push my luck too far and try to go down just one more aisle when I should have been heading home for a nap, or lunch or the bathroom. It is almost like I am physically unable to not look at one more thing. I was recently shopping with my MIL who is a get in, get what you need and get out kind of shopper, and I think she was silently cursing me as we walked down yet another aisle where there was nothing we needed.

#2 - Sleeping - I love going to sleep. Snuggling down in the covers, thinking about the wonderful dreams to come, giving a big sigh and sinking down further into the pillow. As with my previous love, children have greatly diminished my enjoyment of this pasttime. My husband is very gracious and usually lets me sleep in on the weekends as long as I don't have to nurse a baby. Another aspect of sleeping I love is camping naps. Taking a nap in a warm tent is heaven. And just a little tidbit, my best nap ever was on the floor of Jim Laxson's (my youth pastor) old maroon suburban type vehicle on the way home from Waterski Camp in highschool. I think the floor was just metal and I was really warm and lulled to sleep by the vibrations and the smell of gasoline. I know it doesn't sound glamorous but I woke up from that nap thinking, "That was the best nap I ever had."

#3 - Candy/Chocolate/Desserts - Love 'em! I can never have too much. I have heard people say "No thanks, I had a candy bar earlier this week so I think I will pass." !!!!! If I haven't had something sweet in the last hour I am up for some more! One of my childhood fantasies was to be an adult and able to buy candy at any point in time. Luckily Ben does not really like desserts or I would be baking stuff all the time.

#4 - Pictures - I really enjoy photography and taking pictures but mostly I like looking at them. When I was younger I would look through my yearbooks several times until I knew the names of almost everyone at my school. I love People magazine not for the Hollywood gossip (although it is entertaining) but to look at all the pictures. I always watch America's next top Model because I enjoy seeing how the models are transformed into these amazing pictures. My taste in art is always more toward the realistic side and I love black and white pictures.

#5 - Reading - Every since I was young I loved to read. I read every Sweet Valley High and Babysitter's Club book out there. I am a really fast reader and have been know to read a book in a day. I have read so many books that I often check out the same book twice at the library because they changed the cover design or I just plain forgot I read it. Since I could sit on the couch and read my days away, I try to limit the amount of books I get now. And since I pretty much just read Christian fiction, almost no non-fiction, I can't justify it as a learning experience. (Although I have learned that if you start dating a non-Christian, they will always become one by the end of the book so you can get married.)

#6 - Roller coasters/Amusement park rides - This one is newly discovered when we went to Disneyland and I had the chance to actually go on one.

#7 - Wyatt and his 3 year old verbal skills. I love listening to him talk because is so so gosh darned cute!! He says four like "por" as in "por favor" and off with "ss" instead of "ff". "I turned the light osss." How cute! There are lots more and I need to write them all down before he learns how to speak correctly.

#8 - Logan and the proud look he gets on his face when his pulls himself up on something. Even if I help him, he still lights up when he is standing on his feet.

#9 - Noelle and her exact mimicking of my tone of voice and word choices when she interacts with her brothers. "Oh, Wyatt, did you fall down? Here, let me help you up. There now are you okay?" and other such things. Love it. Although the flip side is hearing the bad things come out just as perfectly mimicked. Also I love that the other day she said to Wyatt when he called her Noelle "I wish you wouldn't call me Noelle, I like Sissy better."

#10 - I love the fact that I am finally done with this list. I already had to save a draft and come back later to work on it a few times. SHeesh!! All this personal blogging just isn't' worth it.

But hope you all enjoyed it.

By the way, for those of you that don't know, Logan and I are driving my sister out to her new job in Chicago this Friday. So send up many prayers for us along the way for safe driving, finding hotels easily, a happy baby (who happens to have a cold right now) and good relationship for the sisters. Five days in a car together could be dangerous!

I'll post pictures of the trip when we get back.

Kindred Spirit

So it is midnight and I am still sitting here on the computer looking at blogs and YouTube. Shame on me!!!
But I did find this great post on someone's blog. It perfectly describes my feelings which I can never seem to do very well. Maybe I should just start reading other people's blogs and then repost their words onto my blog, changing names when necessary.
Well I guess I will force myself out of the chair and off to bed. So if I seem sleepy at church tomorrow, you all know why!

Que pasa?

The other day Noelle and I were looking at her autograph book from Disneyland and she noticed that I had written her name, address and phone number in the front of the book. She asked why I did that and I said "So if we lose it, the person who finds it can call us and give it back." "Okay," she said. and then, looking concerned "but what if they speak Spanish?"

California Trip - Day 5-8

Thursday we went to a water park then drove down to Escondido to stay with Ben's uncle. Friday we went to Seaworld which was pretty much what I remembered from last time we were there 7 years ago. We actually got to sleep in on Saturday and just went to a wildlife park a few minutes from where we were and spent a few hours there. It was miserably hot again and there was tons of walking. I was so worn out from all the activity and heat that I literally melted down. I was so glad to get back to the house where we had a BBQ with Ben's cousins and their kids. Sunday we loaded up and made one last stop at In-n-Out Burgers (YUMMY!) and then drove to the airport in San Diego. When we got to our gate we discovered our flight was overbooked and I persuaded Ben to go for the free tickets and fly home later. (My parents had dropped our car off at the airport earlier in the day so no one was waiting to pick us up.)We spent a few hours in the airport and then got a flight home and 4 free tickets anywhere Alaska flies. Hawaii here we come!!!
So our vacation was a success. Noelle will have memories to last a lifetime. Wyatt may have a few vague memories and Logan will have some pictures to look at. We can't wait to go back in 5 years and do it again!

Here is the album for the rest of the pictures.

Like father like son

My mother in law took this picture at her house. Wyatt is watching a movie on the portable DVD player and Ben is doing whatever on his laptop. Wyatt loves the DVD player and can put in a DVD and start it by himself.

Vacation Update

I was trying to get the kids to sit still for a picture. This actually turned out okay but it was a fluke. they would not sit still and Ben hates helping me take portraits of the kids. This is why we go to JCPenney's and pay the big bucks. The kids listen to the photographer and sit where they are told and smile nice. (most of the time) Whenever I try to get them to pose for pictures, it doesn't work. And actually I am just referring to Wyatt of course. Noelle will smile and pose for any picture anywhere.
















I have updated my vacation posts. It didn't post on top, so to speak, so it is after the one of Noelle and the princesses. So don't forget to go back and look at it.

Just like Daddy

I forgot to post these pictures a couple months ago. Wyatt wanted to help daddy mow the lawn so he got his boots and his earplugs and his lawn mower. I think this is so cute because I have memories of my little brother following my dad around with his toy mower while he was mowing the lawn too.

"hatching" eggs

Noelle is helping me peel eggs for potato salad, or "hatching" them as she calls it. "Mommy, can I help you hatch those eggs?"

The Boys new room

I kept meaning to take a picture of their new room but kept forgetting. Blue isn't it? The color is a little bold but I love it. I also love the initials on the wall. The idea came to me as I was laying in bed, as all good ideas do. The W could use a little more adjusting to make it perfect but it will do for now.

California Trip - still to come

Sorry I have not had time to post anything else. I know you all are dying for pictures so I will post a few and write more later. These are of Noelle from her Princess Lunch where she got to meet the princess and get pictures and autographs. She LOVED it!!!! Well worth the $20 for a hot dog and mac and chesse for her and $30 fish and chips for me. Since Noelle was dressed up as Aurura (sleeping Beauty) she got some more attention from her and they twirled their dresses together! What more could a little princess want?

California Trip - Day 2-4

I forgot to add this picture at the end of yesterday. Wyatt was kind of tired. :) He is not quite big enough for a booster but we took it on our trip for easier portability. Sorry about that neck, kiddo.

Disneyland and California Adventure
First off, I must say, I do not recommend visiting these two parks without a minimum of 5 days. Squeezing it all in with 14 people in 2 and a half days was CRAZY!!!
Since most of you are familiar with Disneyland I won't go into details about what we did. We waited in lots of lines and paid too much for food and got the kids and backpacks and water and sunscreen ect, in and out of the stroller 15 times a day.
But we had a great time. The kids LOVED all the rides they went on, even if they were temporarily scared (ie. Pirates of the Caribbean) Noelle went on roller coasters and lots of rides I thought she might be scared on but she loved them. She really enjoyed the Soaring over California ride where you sit in a seat and they raise all the rows up to be looking over a big screen and they play a movie like you are flying over California. They use wind and the seats move to make it really feel like you are flying. Noelle's eye were wide the whole time and she loved it! It was really fun to see the kids enjoy all of the rides so much. Wyatt was unable to do a few more things and I was disappointed because I think he would have enjoyed the bigger rides even more than Noelle. He did get scared at the 3-D shows and kept a grip on my arm the whole time. They also really enjoyed meeting all the characters and getting pictures with them.

Well I decided to just make a web album instead of loading all the pictures on my page.
so you can find the album here.
I took hardly any pictures because we were rushing through there pretty fast day to day and there was all the juggling of the babies and miscellaneous things, I couldn't balance pulling out a camera all the time. I never did get a family picture of the 5 of us which is a bummer. But we did take a lot of video so we will have that to go back and look at too.

California Trip - Day 1

So our first day started out waking up at 4 am to catch our 6:50 flight. We dressed the kids in their clothes the night before and carried them out to the car but they inevitably woke up at the airport. Things went very smoothly getting through the airport, on the plane and out of the airport. We rented 2 Toyota Sienna minivans (which I am now in love with by the way) and headed out to our first stop at Knott's Berry Farm.
It was hot hot hot!!! After leaving our lame weather around here lately, 93 degrees was a bit of an adjustment. We were hot, tired and overwhelmed at the park for a while and once we got the lay of the land we were just hot and tired. There were lots of rides for the kids and they had a great time. Wyatt and Noelle loved all the rides, especially the car ones. I had to go on most of the rides with Wyatt and it was really fun to see him get all excited and do his cackle laugh of glee.




For dinner we ate at the Fried Chicken Restaurant (don't remember the name) which was delicious. Definately a highlight of the day. Mostly because it was somewhat air conditioned and we arrived at our table with large glasses of ice water waiting for us. We downed those in about a minute. We stayed at the park until around 9pm. Then went to our hotel and crashed.