Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Party in the USA

This is the video we made of Camryn's 7th Birthday Party. I could get her talent show act to download. She sang "Party in the USA". It was cute.



Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Burger That Changed MY Life

Saturday, May 22, 2010

My brother ,Bo, is obsessed with the burgers at Sammy's, a little hole -in-the-wall place on Tropicana. Dave and I went there and despite the questionable cleanliness, we liked it. The Chipoltle burger was good, but now I've had better.

Last night we went to dinner at Bachi Burger with two other couples from our ward. It is located at Windmill and Bermuda. Where Sammy's put a lot of stuff on the burger to make it good, this burger was just good on it's own. I had a Ronin Burger (minus caramelized onions) and Dave had a Steak burger. I highly recommend this - especially to my family - like a taste test, between Sammy's and Bachi. Bachi was like Sammy's, but WAY better (and clean).

Yes, Bo this entire post is for you - try it - you may convert!

Friday, May 21, 2010

No Slushee Facials Here

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Thursday was Alexis' end of the year Choir Concert.

They did a good job, but the concert was long - really long, with lots of thanking everyone, giving awards, and just general talking between songs. At a choir concert - just sing! Alexis signed up for choir next year too, so then she will get to wear those awesome long, black skirts and green, shiny, baggy tops. That should make the whole thing a little more entertaining.

Birthday Girl

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Tuesday was Camryn's 7th birthday. She wanted to take treats for her class at school and to her Hollywood Kids class. Hollywood Kids are putting on a production of Beauty and the Beast next month, so when we saw these chocolate molds we wanted to make them. The molds actually coat Oreo cookies. The rose ones went to Hollywood Kids and the other flowers went to school.

I ordered Camryn's gift from Amazon and it came in this ginormous box. I wrapped up the box in comic paper, so Cam could open it, because really, how many times in life will she get to open a present this big. (I qualified for free shipping - thank goodness. Really how much do you think they would have charged me?)

Still unwrapping!

Finally, she got to the gift. A blue student sized guitar. No, she doesn't know how to play and no, we are not getting her lessons at this time. She just really wanted it and not knowing how to play will not stop her from strumming her loudest at 6:30 in the morning. Besides, "What would Jerry do?" "He would play, man, he would play." (lines from Runaway Bride)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Cowboy Up!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

When Seth returned from Father and Sons, he rested up a bit, dressed up a bit, and headed to a birthday party. The party was for Jordan on his t-ball team and was held at McKee Ranch. When the guests arrived, they were given pails of carrots to feed the horses. Seth was too scared so I fed most of them or he threw the carrots into their stalls.

There were a lot of fun things to play on, including a merry-go-round and this really cool tire swing. Riding this swings was Seth's favorite part of the whole party.

Next the kids took turns riding this pony. Seth hopped right on and enjoyed the ride. Dinner was served. The kids were called over by one of those triangles. There were lots of good things to eat including hot dogs, fried chicken, and watermelon.

After dinner was a hay ride. This little trailer was attached to a tractor and the kids were driven around a large yard. One of the tires broke and that made for a bumpy ride. Notice none of the other kids were dressed up. I love that Seth took the Cowboy theme seriously - I suggested he wear his boots, but the rest of his outfit was all him.

The party ended with the kids trying out using a lasso, a game of musical chairs, and a sheet cake with lots of plastic cowboy toys on top (I could have cried - an awesome party deserved an awesome cake). This was one of the coolest parties any of my kids have been to. Seth loved his day as a real cowboy.

While the Boys are Away

Friday, May 14, 2010

The boys headed off to the father and Son Camp Out on Friday afternoon. We started out boyless festivities by taking Alexis to the doctor for a shot. A mistake had been made when she was a baby and they had given her some of her shots too close together. They had to be redone or she wouldn't be able to return to school. It only took them 7 years for them to find the mistake!

Then I let the girls pick where we would go to dinner. They chose IHOP. Alexis loves pancakes and Camryn is quickly learning that you can order chicken nuggets almost anywhere. They girls were actually getting along and we had a nice time.


We got back home just in time. I went to see Letter to Juliet with Chris and her girls, Mom, and Grandma. Andrea came with me and left her little girl for Alexis to babysit. It worked out great because Alexis needed the money. The movie was really cute - but the last scene just oozed with cheesiness!


When I got home, Alexis headed to bed and Camryn and I watched The Tooth Fairy and ate some of her favorite movie snacks - popcorn, licorice, and lemon slushees.

Alexis and I got up about 3:00 in the AM to get her off on her school Disneyland trip. Luckily the Haycocks picked her up, so I didn't have to get Camyrn up to take Lex to the school. Alexis got back late Saturday night. She chattered about her trip all day Sunday, so I think she had a good time.

Wet N' Wild

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Thursday was Water Day at preschool. The weather here has been pretty cool, so I was a little worried. We went ahead. We started by drawing with chalks on the driveway, then played a few games with water balloons. We sang some of our favorite preschool songs and when the song ended whoever was holding the balloon got to throw it at someone. When everyone had a turn, we had a water balloon fight.

We decided to have Popsicles before everyone got too wet and cold. Here are the boys!

Then the main event - the Slip n' Slide! The kids actually played for a long time, even though it was SO COLD!

When they started to turn blue, we went inside and had hot cocoa with marshmallows, a first for preschool water day. When the kids were defrosted it was time to go. Water day is definitely everyone's favorite preschool day.

Monday, May 10, 2010

It's Not Easy Being Blue

Saturday, May 8th

On Saturday, Alexis had the 6th graders over for a movie night. First they tried to play a game. They were supposed to take pictures of as many blue things (because they people in the movie are blue) as possible in 10 minutes. There were some technical difficulties, and the boys pics didn't show up. Then they watched Avatar, which is almost 3 hours long.

Alexis and I decided to come up with some blue snacks, to keep the blue theme going. We found two flavors of blue Hawaiian Punch, made blue Jello Jigglers, and made a blue cake (white cake dye blue, with a blueberry sauce on top, and dyed blue whipped cream on top of that.) The kids seemed to have fun, but got a little bored of the movie by the end. It's great to have a good group of kids for Lex to hang out with.


Captain Field Day

Friday, May 7, 2010

About a month ago, Camryn was named Field Day Co-Captain. We have been hearing all about it ever since. On Friday, Field Day finally arrived. I was one of the parent volunteers. The teachers were assigned to man certain stations, so it was up to the parents to get the class to each event. The kids were crazy excited, so it was a little hard keeping them all together, but we made it through the day without losing anyone.

The kids loved all the water events. Usually, Field Day in May would be wicked hot, but there was just enough breeze that it was cold when the kids were wet.


I loved Cam's face in this picture! Camryn was a great co-captain. There was a girl in her group that needed a little extra help getting to where she needed to be, being shown how to play the games, and to be led back when she started to wander off. Camryn stayed right by her and helped her the whole morning. I asked Cam if her teacher had told her to help the other girl. She said, No but she knew that the girl would need help. How sweet is she! It is nice to be reminded that you have good kids once in a while.

Field Day ended with watching the 5th graders run a relay race while enjoying a refreshing Big Stick. It was a fun day, and while we got slightly pink we didn't get burned like we usually do!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Our "Staycation"

One of the few things Dave asked for for his birthday was a "staycation" - a weekend at home alone, just the two of us. We did this for a weekend last summer and really enjoyed it. Friday morning, the girls went off to school and Seth went to spend the day with friends, so we had 2 whole days together. We got a ClearPlay DVD player, which magically edits movies, making Rated R movies more like PG 13. So we rented some movies and stocked up on snacks and settled into bed. Dave had bought a giant TV off Craig's list the week before.

We did not clear our schedules as well this time. I had to run a Primary Activity Day Friday afternoon (which was fun and went really well). After the activity the kids went off for sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's or the cousins (Alexis is too cool for the grandparents). After watching another movie, we were a little restless so we headed to Marie Callendar's for PIE. We love the Lemon Meringue.

The next morning Dave had to clean the church, so I went to Seth's T Ball game - good thing I did. He caught the ball with his head and needed Mom to make it better. I hurried back to my in-house vacation, but Dave slept a lot and it got a little boring.

For dinner we went to Sammy's on Tropicana. My brother has been talking about it non-stop for weeks- it "changed his life". The Chipotle burger was delicious. The food was good and greasily gross at the same time, especially after eating so much junk food all weekend.

The weekend off was nice - it was a good reminder for us to schedule more alone time. Now, if I can just find a spot on the calendar for that!