Sara Turned 3

This post is long overdue. Better late than never. July 25th

Sara turned 3 years old.

You know, I remember my 3rd birthday like it was yesterday. I can not believe that Sara is 3! She is getting too big too fast. Literally. Size wise, Sara is almost as big as Travis. She is maybe 1.5 inches shorter than him and just 1 lb. lighter than him. Sara is a girly-girl. She loves make-up and brushing her hair (or my hair). She loves ballet and gymnastics. She loves to go shopping and always wants to go to the mall. When we go into stores that have both toys she can play with and clothes, she goes right to the clothes and pick out outfits and says "look mom, this is so cute..." (I have to admit I LOVE it!!) Princesses are her favorite, especially Sleeping Beauty. For her princess party, she got to go to Downtown Disney and pick out her favorite princess dress to wear to her princess party. Sara loves to eat. Macaroni & cheese is her favorite. She would eat it for every meal if I would let her. Sara is a little mommy and a busy-body. She is also very helpful (maybe too helpful sometimes!). She can be very sweet, but also has a mean streak. Travis gets battle wounds quite often. She has mastered rolling her eyes at me already. Sara is very independent and thinks that she can do everything by herself (especially if it has to do with climbing up high to get something). She likes to watch her favorite movie or show over and over. Last month it was Tarzan and this month it is Caillou. Her brother is her best friend. She loves her daddy very very much and can get whatever she wants from him. We love Sara very much and are so glad that she is in our family.

The princesses posed for pictures after they got their nails done and some lip gloss on...

The princesses danced and played games and made crowns...

All the princesses helped open presents (don't forget that prince). Cinderella made a special appearance too...

The birthday princess tried out her new scooter after the party and wanted to go to Rubios for dinner afterwards.

Who Would Have Thought...

I can not believe that Leah is over 7 months old. Where has the time gone? She is growing up too quick! She just got her first tooth (and it is a sharp little thing!). There have been no miracles with Leah's hip. There has been no change, but it takes time for it to reshape. At Leah's last doctor's appointment, we were told that we should take off her brace a few hours a day so that she will not be super physically delayed. She loves her freedom. The moment I take off that brace is just wiggles her legs and gets a huge smile on her face. Well, last weekend she was not wearing her brace. I sat her down, and she can SIT UP! Then Jay was watching her and she ROLLED all the way across the loft! Then when she lays on her back she SCOOCHES across the floor! Maybe she isn't going to be that far behind!!

A Little Get-Away

On Friday, Jay & I headed to Newport Beach for a little weekend get away. My parents took Travis and Sara, but being that Leah has yet to take a bottle, we took her with us. We stayed at the Newport Marriott Villas. They were really nice. It would have been a great place with the kids. We had a 2 bedroom and it was almost 1300 sf. Leah made the vacation a little difficult. We couldn't get a babysitter who could drive to the hotel (prom night on Sat.) so we did not even go out without Leah. She is at the fun stage where she just wants to be held and she will only sleep in a crib, not the stroller. I swear, every time we went to eat, right when we got the food, she started crying. We came home a night early because Jay wanted to watch the Laker game at home rather than on the little tv in our room. Thanks mom & dad for giving me a break from the kids!

Happy Birthday Jay!

On May 21st, Jay turned 32. He was in Las Vegas for work, but came home that afternoon so that we could celebrate with him. We did not go out because Jay just wanted to eat some pizza and watch his Lakers. I guess that is a perfect birthday to him! Travis and Sara are always so excited when Jay gets home from business trips (ok, I am too!!). They just can't get enough of their daddy.
On Saturday night, we went out to dinner to Riptide with some of our friends to celebrate Jay's birthday. We had a wonderful time! We are so lucky to have such great friends!The Eks & Larges
The Walkers & Wallins
The Wilsons & Abi's brother & sister in law

Happy Birthday Jay! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband.

I love you!!

Mean Mom

You know, I am not the nicest mom. When my kids fall and scrape their knee or bump their head, I say "you're ok". When they are scared of going on a ride at Disneyland, I make them go on it anyway (and I might hold their arms up too!). If they don't want to jump off the diving board, I will throw them in. Like I said I am not very nice.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Disneyland with Abi and her kids. It was fun because Abi watched the younger kids while I took Travis and Taylor on a couple of "real" rides. Well, I took them on Tower of Terror. Neither of them had been on it before, so they had no idea what they had gotten themselves into. While on the ride, I looked over at my son's face and just saw the most frightened look in his eyes that I could ever imagine and I actually felt bad...really bad. It really surprised me that I didn't think or say "suck it up...you're fine, you're fine".

You know, I am not quite sure why I am like that. I hope that someday my kids don't remember me as the "mean mom".

Taylor and Travis right before going on Tower of Terror

All the kids

ps...Travis and I were on an elevator the other day and I told him that we were on the Tower of Terror and the doors were going to open up and then we would drop. He said that he knew we were not, but then he grabbed onto the bar just in case. Now it is our joke every time we are on an elevator.

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom & Dad

April 10th was my parents' 50th Anniversary. 50 years...that is a long long time! We surprised my parents by having a little family party for them. The great surprise was that our whole family was there (except for my nephew K-Neal and niece Stephanie). The surprise started out by my sister Cheryl and her family showed up at my parents house from Utah. Then a little bit later my brother Clint and his family showed up from Arizona. Then Joe and Abi showed up unexpectedly. Jay & I showed up and then my sister JC and her family came over. It was so great to be together as a family!! On the first night we were all together I insisted that we take some siblings pictures. Good thing I did, because we were going to take a family picture on Sunday, but it didn't happen. At least we have this:

Clint, JC, me, Cheryl & Joe

This past week...

Lately, I have not been very good at keeping up with new posts. I haven't been spending much time at the computer--enough to look at other people's blogs, but not enough time to do a new one. I feel like I am so "far behind". Well, I finally downloaded some pictures tonight...

I had to get a picture of the kids before church.

It is so hard getting a cute one of all of them!!
On Monday night we went up to Long Beach to Jay's parents house for dinner and some swimming. The kids had a fantastic time! They are little fish. Travis is getting really good at swimming. I hope that Sara will learn to swim this summer too.

I took these pictures of Leah while the kids were swimming. I think that they are just adorable (if I do say so myself!)
This picture is just a typical Leah face. She doesn't smile much, especially for the camera. I love this little face though. Sometimes she seems a little bit serious to me.