California dreamin'...

So... we are moving. Again. This time to Riverside, California.

Well, at least that is the plan for the moment.

We have known this for a couple of weeks, but I was waiting to post something about it until we had told the boys. Brian called Austin last night, and he is driving from St. George to Vegas with Taylor and Michael as we speak. So I guess that makes me in the clear to announce it!

How do I feel about this? Well, I am excited, and nervous. I HATE packing and unpacking. And moving is expensive! But, I also get restless really fast, so a change of scenery is exciting. I have LOVED Vegas. Much more than I ever thought that I would. I will miss a lot of things here. I LOVE the heat (yes, Cali is hot... but it isn't the same), my house, my pool, my friends, and the girls' school (it is awesome!). But there is no work here right now. And there are things that I will love about California. Our good friends James and Rhonda are living there, and I will be happy to live closer to them. They are such great people. And the BEACH. We will only be 1/2 hour away. I will be there every day, all day, all summer! Okay, maybe not that much, but a lot. Enough that all 6 of my kids will be professional surfers! And Disneyland. I LOVE Disneyland! We will have to get annual passes!

In other news, my brother, Doug, and my sister in law, Rhonda, and there SUPER adorable kids, Jack and Mireya, are moving to Montana. Rhonda kind of stole my thunder by announcing their move first (thanks Rhonda! lol!) But they are moving sooner - in April - so that is okay! I know they will love Montana! I just hope that they know that I will be kidnapping Mireya (and Jack in a year or so) to take to Disneyland if they don't come and visit us!

Oh and P.S. A few people have asked me about Russia... Brian and I were seriously considering going to go to Russia, so Brian could be a plumber for the US embassy in Moscow. We really considered it. We really kind of wanted to do it. But it was a two year contract, and we ultimately decided that it was too far away from family for to long. It is and idea that we might revisit in the future, when our children are grown.

P.P.S. I hope everyone knows that they are welcome to come and visit and stay with us in California. We love visitors!!!

Report Cards

The girls got their report cards last week. Ady got straight A's and Alysa got all A's except for one B. Alysa was really upset over her B. She was only 1% away from an A. Brian and I are really proud of both of them!!! They have both worked really hard!

St. Patricks Day / Anniversary

Every year, we have a tradition of building Leprechaun traps the night before St. Patrick's day. This year was no different. The girls worked hard on Monday night making a trap that they were sure would catch a leprechaun. They believe that if they can catch one, he will grant them each 3 wishes. They are so funny about it. They get so excited, it's almost like Christmas eve. Unfortunately, they didn't catch one this year. But he did leave them each a bag full of treats - and they were happy enough with that.

This is a picture of the trap - not exactly sure how it is suppose to work!

St. Patrick's day was our anniversary. EIGHT years! I can't believe that we have been married this long! I don't think that I am that old! We didn't do anything to exciting, since we are trying to save up some money. But, we did go out to dinner at TGI Fridays. I am officially in love with their green bean fries. They sound weird, but they are the greatest thing ever. We left our kids with some friends, so it was just the two of us. It was really nice to get out alone together! We talked and reminisced over the last eight years. We have had a lot of really good memories. Life has definitely been good to us! I am just grateful everyday for Brian, and our kids. As cheesy as it sounds, we are more in love now than we have ever been. I am just so happy that we have created this wonderful life together!

Friday, James and Rhonda and their kids Bailey and Asher stayed the night at our house. They are in the process of moving back to Riverside. It was their five year anniversary so we helped them celebrate by going to eat at the California casino. I love James and Rhonda, and am very grateful to have them as our friends!

The girls have been begging me to buy Twilight for the last week. They wanted to go to Walmart Friday at midnight to buy it, when they were having the release party. I refused to do that! So Saturday, we loaded up the van and went to Walmart and bought Twilight and some snacks. We came home and had a Twilight party. As of today, I think they have watched Twilight 20 times. I think that I am suffering from Twilight overkill after reading the books, seeing it in the theatre twice (I took my niece, Kelsey, to the midnight premier for her birthday and saw it with Brian, Austin, and the girls over Thanksgiving in Gunnison), and now having had it on the TV non - stop the last few days. The DVD might end up mysteriously missing for a while! Ady and Brylee are all about Edward, and Alysa is team Jacob. It's funny to listen to their arguments in their characters defense. They actually have some good points! Maybe I have some future debaters? I can only hope! :)

California

We made a super fast trip to Riverside California this weekend. Brian needed to go down and meet with some people about some future plumbing projects in the Riverside area. It was mostly business, so we didn't do anything to exciting.

We left early Saturday afternoon, and made to to our friends James and Rhonda's house around 5 o'clock that evening. That night, James and Rhonda, Rhonda's dad Rick and wife Kim, a bunch of their friends, and us went to see Kim's son's band (he's the drummer) play in a little club in Corona. Their band was really good! We had alot of fun. We went out to eat after, then we slept and James and Rhonda's new house in Riverside.

The kids had fun playing with Rhonda's son Baily and her niece Kaylyn. While we went to the club, we had a couple of girls come over to the house and babysit. They watched movies, and all camped out in the living room.

The next morning, James and Rhonda went to church and Brian was talking business. So I cleaned up our stuff, and kept and eye on the kids. James and Rhonda live on the Golf Course, and the kids had a hard time resisting playing on all the grass! They did find a little "hideout" up the road, where they caught some snails. They were really disappointed when we wouldn't let them bring them home.

On the way home, we stopped off somewhere along the way - not even sure where- and visited the Early Man Archaeological Site. It wasn't to impressive. But it gave us all a change to get out of the truck, hike around, and stretch our legs before getting back on the road for the second half of the journey.

Finally, we made it home around 5 o'clock. We feel like we now need a weekend to rest after all of the driving this weekend! But, it was a good trip. We really enjoy getting to see James and Rhonda and Rick and Kim. We miss living close to them! But, if the economy continues the way it has been going, we will most likely be moving to Riverside in June. I really hate moving, but it is a nice area and I think it would be a fun new adventure! I am a little worried about the traffic there. However, on the positive side, we will be living about a half hour away from the beach and Disneyland and Sea World - and we would have a southern California resident discount! No plans set in stone yet - we will just have to wait and see what happens. It is still comforting to know that with as slow as work as been here in Vegas, that we have other options. It takes ALOT of stress off my shoulders!

Oh - and I forgot my camera. Of course. So all I have is a couple of really crappy cell phone pictures.

Undeveloped Film

While cleaning out some things, I came across the underwater camera that we bought when we went to Hawaii - 2 years ago! It still had film in it! The pictures didn't turn out all that great, probably because the film had been sitting for 2 years, but there was a few good shots of some fish and sea turtles that we saw when we went snorkeling. It was a fun surprise!

Cabin Fever

This last few weeks, I have had a serious case of cabin fever. The weather has been nicer, but I don't really appreciate good weather until it is really HOT! I am longing for the shorts and swimming season! I really want to get to the time when we can sit out late at night with the misters on and take a spontaneous swim! I have taken Brylee and Scarlett (the little girl I tend during the week) to the park a few times, but it has done little to relieve my "winter blues".

This last weekend Taylor and Michael came to see us. Brian picked them up Friday, and had to work Saturday. Normally, he arranges his schedule to where he won't have to work when he has our boys. But the way they economy has been going, we have decided that he will take any work that he can get. Wrok is getting slow, and we are both getting worried. I was a little ornery on Saturday (okay, maybe more than a little) because I had already been cooped up with kids all week. I also blame it on the "cabin fever". It doesn't help when the boys and girls are super hyper and running around everywhere. I know that they are just excited and happy to see each other - and kids get all goofy when they are out of their routine, but it was really driving me crazy! Brian got home, and I went to get my nails done. He took the kids to Sonic to get ice cream. The little break was good for me, but it made me feel really guilty about being so grumpy. When I got home, I apologized to the kids for being ornery, then we had a really enjoyable night.

We promised the kids that they could go swimming on Sunday. Brian turned the pool heater on early, then later, went to clean his truck. When he got back, they got into the pool. Ady and Alysa jumped right in. Taylor and Michael were a bit hesitant because it was so cold. But eventually they got in and were swimming all over too. Brylee would only get in if Brian did. So, he put on his swimming suit and jumped in. He is a nicer parent than I am. It was WAY to cold for me!!!

Late Sunday afternoon Brian took the boys home to their mom's house. We all hugged them goodbye as usual, but as soon as they left, Ady started to cry. She said that she didn't want them to go home yet, and that she had, had so much fun with them over the weekend. They had played together, and they had taught her to throw a football. It's really hard to explain to kids all this complex adult stuff! I did tell her though, that next time we came we would be having a Birthday party for Michael (March 13) and that she could help me pick out his presents and his cake. That seemed to make her feel a little better.

Overall, it was a good weekend. Everything seems to get easier as the kids get older. Now if I could just get Alysa to clean her room, life would be perfect!!!

Joe Jonas Update

If you haven't read the "Joe Jonas and Backwards Day post" - read that first!!!

After hearing Alysa and her Joe Jonas dilemma, Brian came up with a great joke! He came home from work that day and told Alysa that he had a service call to the radio station that day (Brian owns his own plumbing business - call us if you need a plumber work is getting scarce) and that while he was there, he saw Joe Jonas. Alysa nearly died. It was really hard for him to tell her that he was just kidding because she was so excited!!!