Guess what came in the mail today!!

It's a pastry mat!! I'm way excited. Now I can make Laurie's Dinner Rolls without having to roll it out on the back of a cookie sheet. It's awesome!! I think I have to go and make some right now so I can test out my new toy!

Cellphone Pictures

Here are the pictures I mentioned long, long ago that I had on my phone from when Shelly came to visit.

This is what Shelly did basically the entire first day she was here. She was a little tired. 

 Brushing Aunt Gran-ma's hair

These next few are from when we went to Park Discovery which is a cool park with lots to do and fun stuff to climb on. The first day we went we spent over an hour there. 

Shelly did a good job walking across this, I was impressed.

I introduced Shelly to the joys of the tire swing. 

Too bad I got tired way before she was ready to be done. She didn't want off!

I didn't even know that she knew how to hopscotch.

This one isn't from Shelly's visit - it's not even in Utah - but I thought you would enjoy seeing the complete transformation of Doug into the Grinch.

Pictures!

Here are some pics from home.

Shelly and Jason found my sunglasses and wanted to play with them, but I grabbed their plastic, less breakable ones for them to wear instead. Then we had a photo shoot:

Jason loves to have me put the sunglasses on him, then he takes them off two seconds later...

The beginning of the transformation of Doug's beard to green for Seussical.

 

Mom going to town spraying his beard

 

Cleaning up afterwards

Without the flash - the color is better this way

Doug checking out the transformation

Jason chillin' on the L of California at Disneyland

Waiting for Rach and Shelly to come back from where ever they went...

 

He really does love getting his picture taken....just not in this picture

Vacation in Irvine Part 2

Well, I'm a slacker! I've been back in Cedar for a few days and have yet to tell ya about the rest of my trip home. I'm repenting of that now. So here we go!

The rest of Saturday was spent blogging.... literally. Once I was done posting my last entry, Rach put me to work on her blog. There are about 30 new posts on her blog now. I did almost half of them, Rach did a fourth and she stole the rest from Cindy and me. It was crazy! Saturday night, I went to the school to help Mom and Dad with the snack table at Seussical. Mom had signed up her, Dad, and Matt to work it, but Matt and Sabrina were late getting here from Provo, so I went in his place. Turns out I didn't really need to be there. There wasn't even enough people buying things before the musical for one person to stay busy. But I had fun spending time with Mom and Dad. I don't get much alone time with them and I treasure any that I can get. I headed back home once the musical started, luckily Matt and Sabrina made it in time to watch it. The rest of the night was spent with the fam at home talking and laughing :)

Sunday was Mother's Day. My plan was to go to Dad's ward (the 30+ singles ward) for Sacrament then to the Ranch Branch (the young single ward) for the rest of church. They both meet at 1 pm so it was the perfect plan. Well, it was until I woke up at 7:30. I tried to go back to sleep, but gave up around 8. I headed downstairs to help with getting the kids ready for church at 9. After sending everyone off, I sat around trying to think of what to do with myself until 1. For those who know me, they know that I hate having to sit around waiting to go somewhere. That's why I'm always early to things, I get tired of waiting at home. Which is why I ended up getting ready early and heading to the family ward, just in time for the Mother's Day brunch they have every year during the last two hours of church. Since I was early, I saved seats for Mom, Rach, and Sabrina. It was a great meeting and I'm glad I went to spend some time with Mom on her day. 

After the brunch, I had an hour to kill until it was time to head to Dad's Sacrament. It was a good thing that Mandy Jo was also there, so we spent that time catching up and talking about boys. Mandy Jo had to give a talk in the Ranch Branch, so I had to try to find a way to watch Dad in action as Bishop and still see Mandy Jo give her talk. So my master plan came into action! I went to both Sacraments. Basically, I ran back and forth between the two. It all worked out and I got some exercise in as well. Oh! Cute story time!! Somehow Dad knew that Mandy Jo was giving a talk. I was in his ward for the first little bit and during the sacrament song, he came down off the podium and told me that i had to make sure to not miss her talk. It was so cute of him and made me love him all the more. I have the best parents!!!

I headed home after sacrament cuz I had been there long enough and I was ready to be gone. When Mom and Dad came home from church we called Nate in Argentina. We got to talk to him for an hour or so. It was wonderful to get to hear his voice and chat with him. I'm excited that he's coming home in just two months!!

Monday morning Sabrina came over to get her purse that she had left at the house the day before. I convinced her to stay for a bit and hang out. We headed to Target for a quick shopping trip cuz Matt and Sabrina have nothing in their apartment and Rach wanted to find a tire tube for her bike. After Target it was time to head to Google to have lunch with Dad and Matt. I love going to Google, it's so fun and they have great food. Since Monday was my last day at home, that night we played games - though I must admit that I was so tired and cranky that I don't know why they wanted me around. 

I came back to Cedar on Tuesday. Since then I have sat around and done nothing except sleep. Well.... and get roped into teaching Gospel Principles on Sunday and I just found out that the class I was going to be taking this summer is cancelled. Now I have to figure out what to do. I need that class to graduate and I'm trying to get into it for the fall semester, but I have to have my advisor sign me up. And the only time it's given is when I'm already signed up for a class, luckily that class is an elective so I can just change to a different class. But if I wanted to I could take that class in the spring and just stay here another semester and graduate in May instead. And since that summer class is cancelled I now need to figure out what I'm going to do during the summer cuz the reason I was staying in Cedar was to take this class. I just don't know what to do! I had a plan and it all went up in smoke. Now I have some thinking to do. Wish me luck!

Vacation in Irvine

I am half way through my week in sunny CA.  It has been adventuresome to say the least. Even just getting home from the airport was an adventure. Rachel came and picked me up, but she was low on gas and traffic was horrible. So we made it a few exits before getting off. I was kinda hungry, which meant we had to stop for food as well. But then Rach saw a beauty supply store that we had to check out. Doug is playing the Grinch in Seussical the Musical and he needed something to dye his beard green. Luckily, they had just what we needed. Then we went to El Pollo Loco and ate some food, then to the gas station to fill up. So about an hour after initial pick up we finally got back on the road and headed home. The traffic had cleared up so it was an uneventful drive back. 

The next day, Wednesday, Shelly came into my room at 5:40 am telling me it was time to get up. I told her other wise and sent her back to her room. Unfortunately, Doug was up getting ready for seminary and Shelly tried to convince him that he needed to turn on a movie for her. Since that was specifically what I had told her was not going to happen, I had to step in and practically carry her to bed. She freaked out on me and started screaming her head off. I figured that she would be quieter and actually stay in the room if I was in there as well. So I grabbed a pillow and blanket and laid in front of the door. I told Shelly and Jason (he was awake by this time, but stuck in his crib) that I would let them out when it was morning, which I decided would be at 6:30 cuz that's when both hands are on the 6, which is easiest for them to understand. Once it was morning, I "woke up" from my spot guarding the door and we went downstairs to eat some food. Later that morning Rach and I took the kids to the Castle Park....for close to two hours. It was a lot of fun, but boy were we tired by the end of it. When we got home, we put a movie on and the kids fell asleep on the couches watching. I had laid down to take a nap as well and Jason came and joined me. I'm sad I don't have a picture of it :( It was cute!! When I woke up it was time to get ready to go to Philly's for dinner (I freaking L-O-V-E Philly's!!!! If ever you are visiting CA and you haven't gone there, you must. It is just stinkin' delicious!!). 

After dinner Mom and I headed to Seussical to watch Doug. But we had to leave at intermission because we had to be at Disneyland. We were one of the lucky few that got to volunteer to work a cast party during after-hours. Mom knows the guy in charge and she volunteered herself and me to work it. The cast members and guests were in groups of 4 roped together and they went from place to place Amazing Race style (they were given a clue to find the right place and then they had to perform an act or answer a question at that station). Our station was a poetry audition. We gave them lines they had to recite and we critiqued them Simon Cowell style. Then when they were done we gave them a sticker and sent them on their way. It was a lot of fun and the best part was that we got to be on Main Street when there was no one else around - as evidenced by this picture:

Cool huh? :D

Mom and I didn't get home until almost 1 am. Since I didn't want a repeat of the morning before, especially since it would have meant very little sleep for me, I locked my door. I slept until almost 10. Thursday was spent at home, mostly doing nothing. Though when the kids got stir crazy being stuck inside, I sent them out to the backyard and grabbed some Otter Pops to bribe them to be happy :) Later that night Mom and I headed back to Seussical to watch the rest of it. It was a lot fun and quite the change from the last few years where they have done dark and dreary musicals. 

Friday Rach, the kids, and I (notice how it's usually us that does something....Everyone else is too busy with other things to have anytime for me) went to Disneyland. We went to Brother Bear Park in California Adventure to let the kids run around and wear themselves out so that we could go shopping without having to chase down kids. It was rather brilliant and worked really well, too well in fact. Both Rach and I were exhausted afterwards, but not so much that we couldn't go shopping :) Rach got some more Mr. Potato Head stuff (I love to look at the new Disney stuff they have for Mr. Potato Head. It's soo cool!) and two Mickey light-sabers. The kids loved the light-sabers and we kept having to threaten to take them away if they hit anyone with them. Friday night was my date night. Mandy Jo has a boyfriend that she's pretty serious about and she wanted me to meet him. So we decided that we would double-date, which turned into a big group date with four couples. Guess who my date was.... Nope sorry, that's wrong. It was her little brother Stephen (who is Doug's age by the way. He's heading off on his mission next year.... Talk about robbing the cradle with this date! ;) ) It was a crazy fun time. We went to Stonefire Grill and then we went Christmas Caroling. Yep you read right! We went Christmas Caroling in May. It rocked. Too bad most of the houses we went to were empty, but we had fun signing for the people that were lucky enough to be home :) 

And with that, we make it to today, Saturday. Well, first of all I must let you know that last night before heading off to bed Rach informed me that I would be in charge of the kids in the morning. I said ok and prepared to be woken up at a crazy hour. Which I was. 5:45 am, my door cracked open. I rolled over and told Shelly and Jason to come on in. I told them that it wasn't morning, but they could stay in my room if they laid down quietly. If they couldn't do that then it was back to their room. Surprisingly, they lasted for almost 5 minutes :) Then I couldn't handle the fighting anymore and I literally dragged Shelly out of my room - once in the hall, she walked - I carried Jason. I took them back to their beds and made them stay there until the hands were both on the 6. Then we came downstairs for some food and then I turned on WordWorld and promptly fell asleep while the kids contently watched the show. I woke up when the show ended and Shelly asked to watch more, then I fell asleep again. I didn't fully wake up until about 10. Since then I have eaten a lot of food, fought Jason with the light-sabors, told Dad to get out of the house to go ref a soccer game, and written this blog. Quite the productive day! :)

Oh! I almost forgot! Last night I was a guest blogger on Mom's blog and Rach is in the process of putting pictures on her computer so that I can be her guest blogger. I must be popular or something..... most likely it's the something.... :) Stay tuned for the next half of my crazy adventures here at home!!

Becca gets her Masters!!

Becca graduated from SUU today with her Masters in Education. She was a part of the largest graduating class from SUU. President Thomas S. Monson was the commencement speaker and so there were a lot of people there. I didn't get any pictures of Monson, my camera doesn't work well that far away, but Becca got lucky and was on the front row in a perfect picture taking spot. So she has pictures, bug her for some :) I finally decided to take pictures at the diploma ceremony for the School of Education. 

Here's the whole group graduating in Education. I knew a lot more people than I thought I would. I was surprised. 

Close up picture. Can you see Becca? She's the one in black...

Cindy had to leave for the diploma ceremony where she was speaking, but Shelly didn't want her to leave, so she followed her for a bit.

Walking along with Grandpa and Grammy

Sister pictures!

Please ignore the fact that I am in jeans and not dressed up.... They're dark, so it works right? ;)

Shelly comes to Cedar

Cindy went to Cali for a conference and brought Shelly back with her for a week long visit. It wasn't until half way through that I remembered to break out the camera, so for more pictures and a better description of the day-to-day happenings I refer you to Cindy's blog. 

Having Shelly here was crazy, fun, hectic, and very tiring! It was finals week for me and I had quite the time juggling watching Shelly and getting things ready for finals. Luckily, I only had one test that I had to take. In one class I had to show up but we had already taken the test last week and if we showed up for the final day we got 4 extra points added to our score. And since I'm all for free points, I went to the final. I ended up taking Shelly with me (she was actually really excited to go to school and did a good job of sitting quietly and drawing a picture of the snacks I forgot to bring). In another class I had a take home final that I worked on while Shelly took a 5 hour nap (I was quite surprised she slept that long, but I wasn't complaining!). For my other classes we didn't have to meet. When I had to be somewhere that Shelly couldn't go, I just left her with Cindy. It worked out very well for all of us. 

Shelly and I had fun going to the park, watching Curious George over and over again (the same two episodes I should add), playing with water, going to Cindy's office, meeting my friends at the ward FHE, taking naps, having a picnic, and just about anything else that came to her mind that I was willing to do.

Here's a hodgepodge of pictures from the week. I have a few more on my phone, but I don't feel like going to the effort of getting them on here right now, maybe later :) Enjoy!!

I graduated from Institute!!!! 

(and, yes, I did steal this from Cindy's blog, incase you were wondering)

Shelly with her drawings of Cindy, herself, me, and her snacks that she drew when in class with me.

She's just too cute in this picture!

Water time!

We went to McDonald's with Cindy for dinner one night. Shelly had more fun running around than actually eating anything.

The silly girl just couldn't help but get into trouble.

Cindy decided that as long as she was stuck, she should drop some balls on her.

Me and Shelly walking to campus 

(notice her backpack, it was the keeper of the snacks)

Becca convinced Shelly to hug a tree, but Shelly had to hug the tree down low because there were pokies higher up, her words not mine.

We headed to the bookstore to find a SUU sweater and monkey for Becca (she needed something to show off where she got her Master's Degree)

On the way home from the bookstore, Shelly got a sliver in her hand. We went to the campus health clinic to get it out. Too bad we didn't know that Shelly would freakout on us. We finally just decided to hold the girl down to get it out. In the end Shelly got a band-aid and a smiley face sticker for being "brave".

Cindy and Shelly showing off Shelly's band-aid

(I'm not sure what's with the look on Shelly's face....)

I think that Shelly enjoyed staying here. She didn't once ask about going home or her family until Mom and Dad came to take her back home and then she just wanted to get in the car! Even if she didn't like it here, I had fun having her and getting to show her off to friends :)

My best friend's wedding....reception

My friend Amy Ipson got married on April 23rd to Nathan Nielson for time and all eternity. I wasn't able to go to the temple (stupid school!), but I did make it to the reception. I hung out with Amy's family, acted crazy, took pictures, and had a ton of fun. 

I loved this fountain, it was a nice way to make the hall look more like a reception than a basketball court. 

Taking pictures while chillin'

Beth (Amy's 15 yr old sister)

Camille (Amy's 13 yr old sister)

Camille and I sitting at the sign in book greeting guests

Amy with her brothers and new hubby

Me and Amy

Time to cut the cake!

Cooties!!!

Camille and Beth were talking trash about how they were going to catch the bouquet, so I decided to take them on

Me being victorious!! (well, mostly)

The bouquet came apart, so I really only got part of it. Camille and Beth fought over the other part. But I still think that I won :D

Amy and the sisters

Heading off 

I am glad I was able to go to the reception. I love Amy and her family. I'm happy for her and Nathan.