Emmy's Dream Weekend

It was great, we were blessed and protected, but I still can't believe I took three teenagers to a concert on sunset Blvd in West Hollywood.:) Emmy brought her friend Andrew and Trace with us down to LA to see the grandparents and to see Yellowcard in concert. Emmy is so obsessed with Yellow card I thought it would be a real treat to see them in concert and we were able to get VIP tickets at the House of Blues.  We had a great trip don, no traffic on the 5 and we made in in 7 hours. I usually make it in much longer than that. Grandma and Grandpa were such wonderful hosts like always. We watched a little conference, listened to the kids play the piano and did a lot of hanging out. It makes me happy we were able to do it, but I have no idea where I got the energy from, hehe. he concert was great, it got a little rambunctious near the end, but we sat outside and it was nice to sit after hours of standing and signing the songs. I missed my boys: Brian, Spencer, and Joseph, but it was so fun to make a quick trip. I'm excited to see the rest of Conference and my folks when they come up to visit soon. We love time with the family and making memories to last a lifetime!

Brian's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Brian. We had a fun time at home with our busy kiddos. I thought cleaning, organizing, and cooking would be great presents for Brian on his day. We had yummy tacos, fresh veggies from my garden and Slouhouse and Brian had a giant éclair  which he nicely shared. We played a few games and some guitar hero. We watched a movie together and it was relaxing. Well, relaxing as it can be with all the chaos of four kiddos.:) Brian had a great dinner at Rah Rah's early for his birthday and we got souvenirs from my folks just in time for his Birthday too. I'm glad Brian had a good day and that we are together trying to teach and have fun . Emmy was acting out Madagascar for us by the big TV. We caught her doing a lion's roar. I love to see Emmy so smiley. She is getting less shy being in speech and debate and having to speak and teach in church occasionally.

A Little Bit of Fun Times Here and There

A little bit of quality time together sure can make our days brighter. We have loved spending time with Rah Rah while she is in town. Celia loves her "Night before Halloween" book and her lalaloopsey mini dolls to appease her while she waits for the return of her other dolls. Celia was Star of the Week this last week and made a cute poster, shared her favorite toy, and a book in class. It is good she had that positive time going on since she was pulling cards left and right for behavior. We will be having a meeting about that, but catching her and rewarding her for when she does great has worked well. Celia loved reading her 3D Zoo book with Brian the other morning and she loves to engage us in her imaginary play all the time.

  Emmy and I got to go out to a candle party and run errands last night. It was a nice time. Joseph and Emmy dressed up as pirates and went an spoke like a pirate at Krispy Kreme to get a free dozen donuts. The hot light was on so the glazed donuts melted in out mouths. I mainly like that Joe and Emmy are getting along and had fun going to the mall together too. They attend joint YMYW activities together on Wednesdays. I hope this helps Emmy to have the sibling near her age to run around with that she has always hoped for. Spence had the day off yesterday so we took it easy and tried not to scratch too much, allergies are in full bloom right now for us. Today we are going to a Kennedy Jenks end of summer work party at a park. Thunderstorms are on the weather forecast, so it should be awesome and interesting!

Appreciating Color

I've loved my garden this year and am happy when I see things grow well out here in Westpark. A succulent plant my friend Irene gave me bloomed this year. I love the pink and green combinations. I went to photograph the plant and found a few insects out in nature I saw a lizard running towards me too which made me squeal and jump. I'm excited for fall, the colors are so wonderful to see and the warmth of a blanket or jacket and the cool breeze is so pleasing. We got an ultra plush navy blanket from Costco last date night. I believe I will not see it again. Emmy has confiscated it and sleeps with it nightly. She is a sucker for something super soft. I also was color matching and got Emmy a new necklace and earrings to wear to match her homecoming dress. That kind of shopping is fun for me.:)

Family Time and Couches

It was a pretty special opportunity to take Emmy and Joseph to the Sacramento temple with us for Stake Temple day on Labor Day. It was Joseph's first time and Emmy said he was all smiles doing baptisms. I had some family names and it was very special remembering them and doing their work there. Brian and I did sealings and felt great about it. It makes me want to go back and do more. The stake Relief Society president was in our sealing session and told me after that was very special, and it was. I was so moved by the presence I felt there and the knowledge that families can be together forever and we can know and do things for our ancestors.

My folks celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary yesterday. There are having a great time on a cruise and were in Iceland on the day. The cute bench with the waterfalls to watch seems like a great anniversary spot! I'm glad they have been great parents to me and that they've made it this long, hehe.  I feel grateful they have taught and lived the gospel for me all of their lives. Emmy and I are counting down the days until we visit them in October and see her favorite band, Yellowcard in concert.

Also, over Labor day weekend, we got new couches! I love that we have a set a long couch and a loveseat. Even though we got them from some ward members that didn't want to move them to their new house they fit great in our house! They are my style and colors I like. The family has been liking hanging out on them and I'm glad we have more seating for when family comes to visit.~

Happy Happy

The end of August has been great. I'm very pleased with the watermelon I have growing and my Japanese eggplant. I made an omelet this morning with the zucchini I grew and I use the tomatoes almost daily. I've love to shop and have date nights with Bri, Emmy, and Joseph. We went to see Pacific Rim on Tuesday night. It was a little scary for me since I used to have nightmares of giant monsters storming down the hill to my court accompanied by water and Tsunami like waves! I was being adult about it and only squeezed Brian's hand for comfort a couple times.  Bri and I went to Jac
k's Urban eats with a few couple and watched Disco night at the fountains. It was a fun concert , loved the weather, conversation, and frozen yogurt after.


Spence did get a crack on his IPAD screen this week, but I am sending it in to get fixed from our warranty and so it didn't put a damper on my happiness. We were fortunate enough to receive some couches people we know in the ward are getting rid of. They are purple and so comfortable. I'm pretty happy about it.:) The couches are one of those things I thought would be nice, but wasn't even looking at them to get. Now, we have a great sitting area for visitors and for family prayer and family home evening. I love to hear about the kids day, listen to them play their musical instruments, and read from the church magazines We have The friend, Ensign and New Era. We have hymn books on a table in there too. Singing songs and playing board games with the family make me happy too. I'm looking forward to playing a game about rescuing people from house fires and we would work together to make it happen. There are fires around our area, it makes for beautiful sunsets. Im always trying to find the positive and count my blessings to be happy happy!

Our Anniversary and Chama

We have this way of saying Chama in our family. It is quite raspy and loud. Who wants to go to CHAMMMA? Brian will say and the rest of us say Chama. It is silly, but we love the beautiful ride there. We always see deer and animals. I saw over 20 elk grazing on the hillside. Even with my super zoom lens, it was still so far. It was exciting to see four bucks hanging around in a meadow although only three cooperated for me for the picture. Culmbres and Toltec railroad runs through the mountains to Chama. It truly is a scenic route. I love the national forest there and that we go from Colorado to New Mexico in our visit to Chama. Also, we visit the family dollar that the kids love.

Brian and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary while in Colorado. We went to the Great Sand dunes. The stream was dried up so we filled and refilled our water bottles and tried making a sand castle. I liked covering my feet in the sand and the kids ended up making a hole in the sand to find wet, cooler sand. Joseph made sand angels and Celia wanted to go back day after day.  We tried making our way up the Zapata falls trail, but the road was being worked on and the rocks were huge. We got stuck in our mini van on the trail for a little bit then headed back. It made me laugh and smile to be bouncing around and getting stuck. We'll have to go back in a 4x4 another time! Joseph was all about gift shops and loved the arrowheads he got. The sand was great sensory for Spencer and pizza hut in Alamosa tasted pretty good after a long day on the sand. being together and having a great day made for a wonderful celebration for our anniversary. Bri and and I played games after the kids went to sleep and I think I won.:)