Yo, Ho, Yo, Ho, A Pirates Life For Me

So my mom had the idea to take the kids to Pirate Island for lunch on her day off. She had never been before, but had heard it was a lot of fun for kids. We had no idea what to expect. But when we arrived, there was a HUGE pirate ship in front. My kids were SO excited before they even walked in. Then, in the lobby area there was a pool of water with a skeleton & treasure. They were sold. . . this was the coolest place ever!

This was the funnest place ever! So much better that Chuckie Cheese! Everything was all decked out in pirate stuff. It was dark, there was thunder & lightning & stars. . . huge pirate ships were everywhere. . . even the waiters & waitresses were dressed up as pirates. We were seated right next to a little play area so the kids could play the entire time we waited for our food. . . a parents dream.

The food was fabulous. I had a really great salad & the kids loved their little Pirate kid's meals. Mom had an awesome lava cake to share with all of us & some Pirate Potato Chips (thick cut homemade potato chips) dipped in ranch. We were all over those. They were awesome! And the decorations all around us kept us occupied. I loved the pirate theme.

The girls each got 6 tokens each to spend how they wished in the skull island fun zone. Cadence loves the whack a mole games & Lorien liked the little frog that knocked people over with it's tongue. They also each gave me a token to play at the shooting arcade (to get them 15 tickets off one token). Cadence was so amazed: "Wow Mom! I didn't know you could shoot a gun like that!" She has a new found respect for her momma!

While Cadence & Lorien were busy "spending" their tokens, Taya kept sneaking back to our table to lick Mimi's dessert plate. She was hilarious! She seriously thought we didn't see her & that she was totally getting away with it. I must admit though. . . it was one awesome lava cake.

Korbyn's favorite games were skee ball & the basketball hoops. He's got a pretty good arm for a little 2 year old. What a cutie.

The kids turned in all their tickets (a HUGE grand total of 60. . .20 each when split between them) & they got a ring, 7 tootsie rolls, & 1 pirate tatoo. Hooray for dinky door prizes (ha ha ha)! But really, we had a great time! What a fun place. We'll definitely be back.

Provo Splash Pad

Cari & I decided to take the kiddos over to the Provo Splash Pad & Pool last Thursday for some fun & wet cousin play time. It was SO MUCH FUN. The area was really nice because the kids could play & we could stay a safe distance from them without them feeling like we were hovering mommies. I'm amazed at how much my kids are enjoying getting their faces wet. . . something that used to terrify them. Cari & I enjoyed our mommy chat time while the kids splashed around until they were completely worn out. What a fun afternoon!

Happy Birthday To Me! The big 2-9!

Tuesday was my actual 29th birthday. Hooray! Mamoo made me green chili burro's for my birthday dinner (which is my favorite). Then I got to open my birthday presents.

Nancy sent me this Cold Stone / Jelly Belly ice cream treat & Korbyn thought it was a real ice cream. He kept licking the plastic cover over & over again. It was hilarious!

I got lots of fun things. Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts. I had a great birthday.

My sweetheart sent me flowers, chocolates, & a teddy bear for my birthday. I miss him SO much. Thank you Trekkie for loving me from so far away. I miss you.

After presents we went to Cold Stone for dessert. I'll eat ice cream over cake any day. I wanted Cold Stone for my "cake"! I got peach ice cream with peaches inside. It was SO good. The girls were fascinated with all the different flavors & mix ins. They thought that was the coolest place ever.

4th of July Parade & Birthday Lunch

Monday morning, my mom got up at 3:30 so she could go stake out a good place to sit for the parade. We all arrived at about 8 am & we were SO grateful to her for doing that for us. The kids were SO excited. Bladen was happy eating his "breakfast" in a bag, & the girls were dancing in the street as the pre-parade passed us. The kids looked so adorable all together. Even Korbyn was getting in on the fun.

Dad ran & got us a HUGE piece of chocolate cake for my mom, & of course she shared it with everyone. Taya liked it the most.

This was the first time that Taya & Korbyn actually started "hanging" out together. Korbyn has really enjoyed being with his 2 older cousins, but Taya has kept to herself. The parade really brought them together. It's so fun having cousins the same age. They were SO cute. They were holding hands, dancing in the street, & even hugging one another. It was such a precious moment.

My one & only nephew: Korbyn. Isn't he just the cutest thing in the world? Now we just need to get him to like me. He still screams "GO AWAY" when I get near him. Little stinker. He knows how much I want that hug! He's playing me.

All the kids' favorite thing in the parade was the giant George balloon. I love the big balloons in the parade. They are so much fun for the kids.

And like tradition, after the parade we headed to my favorite Mexican restaurant: Los Hermanos for my birthday lunch. It was fabulous as usual. Dad got his yummy margarita & Cadence & Lorien helped him drink it. We ate enough chips & fresh salsa to bust a gut, had a fabulous lunch, & then ended with a silly "Happy Birthday" song for me partnered with the best fried ice cream in the world. Happy birthday to me! Mmmmm.

Stadium of Fire

For my birthday, my mom & dad surprised me with Stadium of Fire tickets. Well, it was my mom's ticket, but once she learned I was going to be in UT on the 3rd she knew she wanted to get me a ticket. But since Carrie Underwood was headlining, everything was completely sold out. So, my mom being the wonderful woman that she is, gave me her ticket. On top of that, she stayed home with my 4 little ones so that I could get out & enjoy the night without them. It was a little piece of heaven. So we went with my dad (I was his date) & my brother Justin & his wife Cari. Talk about a ton of fun!

(Did I mention how much I've missed my little brother?)

The show was great. They had the largest Eagle Court of Honor in history (it was the Boy Scouts 100th year this year), 5 pianists playing at the same time, some amazing violinists, the Osmonds 2nd Generation singing harmonies, & finally, Carrie Underwood. I have never heard any of her songs before so it was fun to hear them for the first time. Cari knew every word to every song so it was fun watching her sing along.

And at 10:00 on the nose, they started the pyro show! As always, it was amazing! However, this year was the first year that they shot some fireworks from the stadium floor & 2 fireworks misfired & hit people in the audience. Several people were rushed out of the stadium by a medical team. THAT was pretty scary & sad, but the fireworks that actually made it up into the air were GORGEOUS!

After it was over, we all went to a malt shop & got yummy milkshakes, & then went home. I had a blast!

Build a Bear Workshop

So Saturday we took all the kiddos to Build-a-Bear workshop. Mimi & Baba wanted to surprise them with special friends for them to love while they are here in UT. I have never seen my girls SO excited.

First they get to pick out their bears. Taya picked an adorable multi-colored bear called "Bubblegum Ice Cream Bear." Lorien picked an adorable pink & orange bear, & Cadence got herself a sweet little bunny. The first step in building a bear is stuffing her. They all got to hook their bears up to the stuffing machine & watched as the stuffing filled their new friend as they pushed on the stuffing pedal. Once their friend was all soft & fluffy, they got to take a heart, kiss it, make a wish, & put it inside their bears to make them come alive.

Then they had fun new friends who were ALIVE! The girls couldn't stop loving their new stuffed toys. They LOVE them.

Next we took our bears over to the bathtub & washed them really well. The girls got a kick out of that. Then they each brushed their new friend's fur until it was just right!

My adorable nephew, Korbyn came with us too. He has a stuffed dog from there already, so Mimi & Baba had him bring his dog with him. This kid LOVES iCarly. It cracks me up. He knows the entire theme song & dances every time it comes on. Well, much to my brother's dismay, Mimi & Baba had the lady open up his doggy & put the iCarly theme song in it's hand so that whenever Korbyn pushes his hand, it sings his favorite song! LOVE IT!

After the bears are all washed & brushed, it's time to dress them up. Korbyn picked out a cute little Buzz Lightyear costume for his doggy. Lorien put a Princess Tiana (Princess & the Frog) costume for her little bear. Taya picked out a Cinderella dress, & Cadence loved the Hawaiian Luau outfit. All the animals looked absolutely adorable.

Finally, the girls named their new friends. . . Taya named hers "Bear" (original, I know), Lorien's became "Leia", & Cadence named her little bunny "Sugar" because she looks like brown sugar. Thank you Mimi & Baba for such a fun morning. My kiddos LOVE their new special friends & will keep these memories forever.

Come on, We're goin' on a plane ride. . .

Date: June 30th, 2010

A 28 hour day consisting of:

14 hours flying time,

7 hour layover,

4 hours driving time,

3 hours of customs, baggage, & other miscellaneous things,

4 children under the age of 7,

& one exhausted momma

I still can't believe I actually survived the day. We woke up SO early, got ready & finished the final packing, then drove 2 1/2 hours to the Frankfurt airport. (Might I add that we had to fill up on gas on the economy which cost us $120.00. . . I'm SO happy to be in the good ole' US of A where gas is affordable.) Trek took us as far as he could go & then waited patiently behind as we went through security. Everything went well until we hit the passport kiosk. They seriously almost made us miss our plane because we didn't have a Germany stamp in our passport. They wanted to know why. I told them that Germany has never stamped our passports. Seriously. . . we've flown to the states once for Christmas & they didn't stamp them. We've been all over Europe & the only place that has EVER stamped them was England. Well, he figured out we were military & he told me I couldn't fly to the states without ID cards for the kids. STUPID. The military doesn't issue cards for the kids until they are 10. Well, we found back & forth (IN GERMAN) almost making us late for our flight. He took me to another dude that spoke English & that guy apologized & called the guy giving me a hard time an idiot. =0)

So we RAN to our plane & made it just as it was boarding. We were all in one row. . . me & the little ones next to the window, & Cadence & Lorien in the middle section across from us. I about died when I looked around. No TV's, No movies, NOTHING for my kids to do. Ugh. Luckily I had thought in advance & planned for this situation just in case. Inside the kids' backpacks were 10 new toys/books/etc. labeled with numbers. Each hour & a half they got to take the next toy out & play with it. For their first toys, the older girls got new barbies & Taya got a baby doll. They loved them.

They played for about an hour while we got snacks & drinks. Then they fed us a fabulous lunch. The kids got kids meals so they were happy & my meal was pretty good too. After that I was a sneaky mommy & gave each of the kids a small dose of Benedryl. (I know. . . bad mom. . . I just wanted the flight to go quickly for them too.) Well, it kicked in about 45 minutes later & I was cracking up watching all 4 of them falling asleep at the exact same time.

I was on top of the world. I had managed to put 4 kids to sleep without any trouble at all. Hooray for me! But right in the middle of my celebration (aka 15 minutes later), Bladen woke up happy & HYPER! OH NO YOU DON'T! I couldn't believe it. He was WIDE AWAKE! But here's the kicker. . . all 4 kids woke up within a half hour of falling asleep, & they stayed awake for the entire flight. Yup. . . talk about a LONG flight. They at least had their "toys." And the stewardess gave Cadence a "Sorry" game to play so she was happy. But I was SUPER glad when we landed at LAX.

So, we landed, went through customs in the front of the line (nobody wanted to sit & listen to kids cry, so they let us go first), & got our baggage. A nice little family saw all of us & very nicely helped me load up my baggage cart. Their teenage son helped me out into LAX with my stuff (4 carseats, a double stroller, a huge suitcase, 3 backpacks, a purse, & a large carryon bag). Opa, Oma, & Tarrish SHOULD be waiting for me. . . or NOT! I looked around & couldn't see them anywhere. I started to panic. After about 15 minutes of wandering around, I made my way to a pay phone & tried to call dad. Nobody answered on his cell, so I called Tarrish. (By the way, that dumb pay phone charged me $7 for the call to dad & $8 for the call to Tarrish. . . stupid pay phones!) They were in the wrong terminal. The mom of the family helping me let me borrow her cell phone so I ran outside & started running towards the other end of the airport & then Tarrish got outside & started running in my direction. After about 10 minutes we finally met up. THANK HEAVENS. I was terrified. Once we were all together I felt good & safe again. We made our way to the Delta terminal & then we sat down for In-n-Out Burger & snacks. Bladen ate HALF an In-n-Out Burger. SERIOUSLY!

It was SO nice visiting with Oma & Auntie Tarrish. Opa ended up having to go to work at the last minute, so he wasn't able to join us. . . but we had a blast.

Oma & Tarrish had all sorts of fun snacks & presents for the girls. Bladen got a cute Dr. Suess character stuffed animal. He loved that thing.

Then, after 6 hours, I went back through security & got on our next flight to UT. That plane was delayed & the kids were really getting tired at this point. Taya & Bladen screamed the entire 2 hour flight. I felt SO bad for the people sitting around us. Cadence made a friend with the woman sitting next to her. She was the sweetest woman. She played Sorry with her & bought her ice cream. Cadence loved having an "adult" friend. By the time we made it to Salt Lake & to my parents, I seriously wanted to die! The world was spinning & I felt like I had some sort of vertigo. We had been awake for 28 hours & it was finally hitting me. We drove the hour & a half to my brother's house (I had to meet my nephew for the first time, of course), & then home. You'd think I'd sleep like a baby, but no, Bladen got up at 4 am wanting to play. And so the jet-lag begins. But boy are we glad to be in the good ole' US of A again. HOORAY!!