Disneyland -February 2011

We decided not to renew our season passes this year so we needed to go use them one last time. Our nephew Kavin had just celebrated his 10th birthday so we invited him to come along with us. He and Luke are best buds and have so much fun together, so we were all happy he joined us. We even got a hotel room right across the street from Disneyland this trip, just so we could make the most out of our days there. This ended up being a life saver since I ended up being pretty sick the entire trip. I was able to walk back in the middle of the day for naps. It was also great to be able to run back when it rained too.

This was our first night there. It was too late to go into the park so we went to Downtown Disney and ate at the ESPN zone and did our shopping at the souvenir shop.

The kids still talk about how good the food was and how much fun they had there.

Chloe and her silly faces.

The kids and Darren on Screamin'. I don't think they can even tell you how many times they rode it.

Cole just loves riding the horsies.

The weather was pretty crummy. Which was good and bad- Look how empty the place was.

Handsome boys.

Cole was all about showing me new tricks and then making me take pictures of them. He is one silly boy.

Luke and me on Autopia.

Showing off his driver's license.

We got rained out the last day. It actually worked out well. We were able to rest and I was able to get into a Dr. also. (once again, so glad for good insurance that allowed me to do that)

A Disney trip would not be complete without a visit to the beach and Ruby's for lunch. It was chilly but the kids really enjoyed it.

The girls and I were also able to go for pedicures after the beach. It was a great way to end a busy trip. Of course I started feeling better the day we got home. So glad Darren was able to pick up the slack for me while we were there.

Donuts for Dad

Our school has an annual Donuts for Dad activity. The kids were so excited about it that even though Darren had worked all night, and I had to be there at 7 am, he still came and even got Chloe ready and put her hair in a ponytail.

Sick kids

February is always a tough month for us. All of us but Luke have some pretty nasty allergies. So, as usual we all had our turns with nasty sinus and ear infections, and even some bronchitis.
Luckily, the kids got well right before our trip to Disneyland... I wasn't as lucky and was sick on vacation.
This was the only 15 seconds he actually held the mask on himself. The other 100 treatments took one of us holding him down. It was miserable.

Thank goodness Chloe is such a pro at this. I love her eyes.

I've said it before, and will say it again, I am so so grateful for our wonderful health insurance. Don't know what we'd do without it!

Girl Scout Cookies

Oh my.... What can I say about cookie season this year?? First of all, I was wondering why I only have one picture. Then I remembered the craziness and stress of it all, and now I know why we have one pic.
It's been long enough for me to recover so I will just say that we have learned a lot for next year. We will be having a cookie manager. haha
Darren just loves gs cookies- I lost count of exactly how many boxes we purchased. I'm so glad we have supportive families, friends and church members to have helped us out.
The girls worked so hard and I think had a great time as well. We were able to put about $800 into our troop account from the sales, which I think is pretty darn good for a first year troop. We have already gotten to go to Disney on Ice and Lion King with that money, and are having our awards night at Cici's and are going to the Circus in June as well.

Tater Tots field trip to Cici's Pizza

In February (at least I think it was in Feb, or maybe the end of January haha) Chloe's class took a field trip to Cici's Pizza. This is one of our favorite places to eat, so of course I had to tag along.
(pics posted backwards)

Here's the gang- (minus Evan)
They made us so many pizza's, we all got to take some home. So yummy!

Eating the yummy pizzas they made

"C" for Chloe

This mixer is awesome!!

We got to go into the kitchen and see how everything is made and stored. It was very interesting. It would be nice to have a huge mixer and a super fast oven like they do.

St. George Half Marathon

In January my friend Jessica told me about this race that her and Joann were planning on running(in a week and a half) They were making it a girls trip and staying at our friend Jana's house who has recently moved there. I hadn't really been training for anything, but it sounded like so much fun and D had just changed his schedule and would be home that weekend. So I got the OK from D, signed up and paid, and then oh yeah made sure I could run 10 miles that weekend. I had heard that this was great race to get a PR, so I was pretty excited.
We left Friday afternoon hoping to have enough time to play a little. Had plenty of time to get our race packets and got Jana and all had a carb filled dinner. Hit up Target afterwards to get any last minute items. We stayed up chatting way to late- that always happens before a race. It was just so fun to catch up though. That was when I realized I left my phone arm band at home. It actually fell out of my bag and I didn't know. We had to run to Target before the race even started. I hated paying full price for a new band too! It actually was really nice and I needed a new one, so it was all good.
It was pretty chilly so we stayed inside as long as possible before getting to the start line.



Jessica, me and Joann getting ready to run!
We weaseled our way to as close to the front as possible when they started us.
I was feeling good and the course was pretty good to start out.

We passed Jana's street early on in the race. She and her family were there to cheer us on and take a few pics. It was so cool to have someone cheering us on!
I was keeping great time. I had a few miles under 8 minutes even!!

Can you see me? Jana took this one from her parent's balcony. Cool huh?

I was a little skeptical about looping for a few miles at the end of the race. I hate running the same area I just was. It was also the most incline of the whole race as well.

But, it all worked out and I finished in 1:51!!!! I had slowed down a little towards the end so I was nervous, but couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the clock!!

I quickly found out that I exerted myself to the extreme. I almost fell over once I stopped, I needed food fast!!

They had a great spread for us, the best of any race I've ever done. This was also the cheapest race I've ever run.

I got to see Jessica finish but we missed Joann come in.. We hung out for a bit to see our official times.

We don't look too bad for just running 13.1 miles...

We went back to the house to shower and get pretty. Then went off to lunch and did some shopping at the outlet mall. We were tired and sore, but it was so nice to hang out without the kiddies. Got home around dinner time.

Found this at my door. Cute kids! D had the house clean and dinner ready for me! I call this weekend a complete success!!

Can't wait to do it again!

January '11 primary activity

Back in October I accepted a calling as the second counselor in primary. Of course it's the counselor over scouts and I just so happened to take on Riley's girl scout troop and took a position on the PTA board... That's how I do it I guess, all or nothing!
The end of the year was crazy busy with everything, but we really wanted to have an awesome activity early in the year to introduce the new theme and for the kids and teachers to get to know each other.
The 2011 theme is - I KNOW THE SCRIPTURES ARE TRUE
We are so excited for the kids to get to learn more about the scriptures!
There was a tent for each class- (some had two classes) They had a little sack breakfast together and colored some scripture book marks and put jewels on a little treasure chest we got them.
our CTR 6 class

Luke's Valiant 9 class - he was missing several friends

Valiant 10 &11- love these big kids- they are so great!

Cole was able to come and participate since D is now Chloe's CTR 4 teacher. Cole totally snuck off with the sunbeams and totally fit in. Most of his friends are in there so he had no clue that it wasn't really his class.

King Benjamin (brother Jensen) made an appearance. I think he did a great job at getting the kids' attention. Cole was so excited- he kept telling us that is was Jesus.

I am so grateful for this new calling. I have always loved the primary and serving in it, but this has brought so many blessings into our home. It is a lot of work but worth it when you see the kids grow week to week. I love the other women I serve with. We work together so well, and manage to have a little fun as well.