February -March 2011

February was cold and dreary and COLD! We had lots of rain and occasionally some wet snow. Since Dillon was 18 months old, we've lived in warm climates - no snow at all. It was a big deal for them. They enjoyed it while it lasted.




Here's a lovely shot of James grilling in the pouring rain... in his jammies.... using Charlie's Buzz Lightyear umbrella. CLASSY!



For the Scout Blue and Gold banquet, each family was supposed to donate a cake to be auctioned off. James and Dillon did a YODA cake. It sold very quickly and we hear it was delicious! We also made some yoda cookies for fun.





Dillon's basketball season was short, but sweet. He improved a lot over the total of 8 games they actually played. What was super awesome was that James was able to make all but one of the games! We love having him around more!!




In the beginning of March, we were lucky to be able to escape the wet for a few days and head back to CA. The kids had their first real airplane flight. Here's the boys in the Captain's chairs!




What do you think was first on our list of "To do's?" DISNEYLAND!..... of course.



My Mom and Doug, Dave and Amy, and Nate and his girlfriend joined us for one of the very best Disney days ever! We were able to see and do everything on our list all in one day without completely wearing ourselves out....













.....well not the adults, anyway.....




The next day was BEACH day. We went to Huntington Beach and made our best attempt at soaking in as much Vitamin D as possible!!

The boys were supposed to head out that night to Vegas for their annual trip to watch the USU Aggies play in the WAC Championship, but by that point, Dillon had a temperature of 102 and an ear ache. So they delayed long enough to get him some antibiotics for what turned out to be a double ear infection that took 2 weeks to combat!

While the boys had their fun, Annie and I headed South to visit friends in Oceanside. It was a wonderful day - Annie still talks daily about her "playdate with her California friends." What was great for me was getting the chance to visit my dear friend Kami and have some much needed "girl time!"




Pictures from the Boy's trip:

First stop - FOOD! The Hofbreuhaus to be exact.




YUMMMM!


There's not a lot for a handful of Mormon boys ages 6 to 46 to do in Vegas, so they hit the OUTDOOR WORLD store..... for several HOURS! Lots to do there for a few wannabe outdoorsmen - specifically two doctors, one law student, and a couple of crazy kids!

Scary!!
Watch out SHAWNO!!

At the hotel, they swam and played Legos and what's a trip to Vegas without paying tribute to "The King?!?"






The Games themselves were, of course, the purpose and highlight of the trip. The Aggies cleaned house and took the title of WAC CHAMPIONS, just like we knew they could.










A couple of weeks ago, Aunt Haley and her fiance Adrian came for a short visit. We loved having them and showing them around the area. We took them to Poulsbo where we mostly ate whatever yumminess we could find! Here's Charlie at Shuy's Bakery where after a couple of hours of good behavior, he earned himself a "smiley face" cookie. The kids nicknamed Adrian Toby, which has totally stuck. Toby has at LEAST as much energy as them, so they get along really well.






Our February ultrasound revealed that baby #4 was a boy, and that his kidneys were somewhat too big - what they call "Pylectasis." We recently had a very specialized ultrasound where, thankfully, we could see the problem was somewhat resolving on its own. He's doing really well and, of course, we are all just dying to meet him! The kids love to feel his kicks and talk and sing to him daily. Daddy and I are keeping his name a secret until the little guy shows up in all his glory.... kind of as a one last surprise thing. Can't wait! Just 12 more weeks.

Annie - practicing her smile for preschool picture day!

Since the last post, Annabelle has conquered the potty! She was EASY PEASY! She woke up at 6:30 one morning and said she needed to go potty. She hasn't worn a diaper during the daytime since! After 8 1/2 years of having at least one child in diapers, its a bit surreal!



Her big reward was a tiara to go with her Cinderella dress!

Charles has been perfecting some of his Lego masterpieces and insisting that I photograph them for the contest he's going to win. I really know nothing about any contest, but I am more than happy to take pictures of his creations. He'd seriously spend his entire day doing this if I let him!





Dillon's baseball season ended. It was an awesome season- SO MUCH FUN for the kids and the families. They boys were inspiring in the way that they came from losing every single game to winning every single game! They had a blast and I'm so sad he won't be on the AA Giants team again next year. :( He's gotten to be so close with these other kids and especially the coaches. They're all so great to him. The last game of the season, Dillon pitched the last inning and struck 2 kids out! Coach told him that he had saved him as their "secret weapon!" So cute.



Last year (May of '09) we went and stayed in the Paradise Pier hotel at Disneyland and had the best time ever, so we knew we were going to try and do it again this year. We weren't able to stay for as long, but we did stay at the actual Disney hotel which was super fun and its really the best time of year to go. It wasn't busy at all and we had WAY TOO MUCH FUN! Especially with Annabelle potty trained and tall enough to go on Matterhorn! Its sooooooooo crazy how fast my kids are growing up. Here are the highlights:













In early May, uncle Dustin came to visit. We did our first big day at the beach and it was GREAT! Since then we've spent many days there. We decided to spend as much time there as possible since this is our last Summer in paradise! Anyway James, uncle Dustin and the boys made a sea turtle out of sand!









While the boys were away at the Father/ Son campout, grandma Melody came down to have a girl's night out with Annie and me! We had so much fun going to the beach, eating Tai food, reading bedtime stories and watching chick flicks.








Here are some fun photos of when Haley came to visit with her boyfriend Adrian and his daughters - Nicole, Emily, and Julieta. The boys thought Adrian looked like a character from the last Chipmonks movie - Toby..... and much to his joy, the name stuck. If you ask them who Adrian is, they'll have no idea!








Charlie graduated from Preschool today! He was so proud of himself and what a great year he had. LOTS and lots of progress. He's really looking forward to kindergarten. His preschool teacher asked me if I teach him math at home. I don't, of course! She said he like to get into the school-age children's bins and do the first grade math problems! He must get that from James!





Dillon was in the school play "Rumpus in the Rainforest." He was an army ant. We got to go see the last performance. He was too cute!






WARNING: I am about to post about a thousand cute pictures from the dress-rehearsal of Annie's first dance recital! It took me forever to decide which photos out of the millions NOT to post! SOoooooo cute.










Here she is drying the tears of another little girl who was having a hard time enjoying all the glitz and glamour!




The actual recital is tomorrow night but they won't allow any cameras there. We had to PAY, of course, to have someone else take photos. I guess its good, though, because James is on call and I won't have any free hands anyway!

Speaking of James - he only has TWO MORE call shifts before he's done with residency FOREVER!! Its been quite a ride. As challenging as its been I think I'm really going to miss these years. I guess part of that is the fear of the unknown.... We found out his ship will be out to sea most of August and September, so that will also be a new adventure- one I'm not so much looking forward to. :(

I have this thing with taking pictures of the kids sleeping. I always get a little excited to check on them before I go to bed because they so often are sleeping in the wierdest positions. Especially Charlie. So I'll sign-off this post with the latest: