Adventures!

Its hard living so far away from family, so we love when they come out to visit us in California. Kenny's parents arrived in town Monday night from Colorado and we have had a great time with them here. Its always nice to have extra hands to help with the boys. We have had many fun adventures, like spending a day in Palm Springs and hiking around "Fish Head Rock!"

Our day in Palm Springs started at the Children's Discovery Museum. The boys had fun showing grandma and grandpa their favorite exhibits.



After playing at the museum, we went to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. This was a new adventure for all of us and even though Grandma & Drew were a little hesitant, we all loved it. The tram consists of a 360-degree view of the valley and the San Jacinto Mountains as you are lifted 2 1/2 miles up to the top of the mountain. You start from 2,643 feet in elevation and rise to 8,516 feet. Once at the top, there is hiking, restaurants, and camping. We ate dinner up there and came down in the dark. The view was breathe taking and the city lights at night were extraordinary!





Our latest adventure started when Ian left with Grandpa to go on a walk. They came back into the house a few minutes later and Ian was trying to convince grandpa to get in the car and drive to see the fish rock. He asked me where that was and I had no clue what Ian was taking about. He was trying very hard to give me directions on how to get there, "You go by the castle, turn this way, go a long way, and climb up." He was moving his little hand this way and that as he was explaining. He then told me that Grandad, my father, took him. Well that was back in September, when Kenny and I were in Florida, so a call to my dad was in order. My dad explained that he took the boys south of town out to climb around on the big rocks. They hiked up to a big rock that they thought looked like a big fish with its mouth wide open. They named the rock, "Fish Head Rock!" My dad gave me better directions and Kelly, Drew, Ian, & I went out to find this rock. It was interesting to be led by a 4 & 5 year-old on a hike, but luckily Drew has a great memory and he took us all the way up to "Fish Head Rock."





I love Kenny's parents dearly and am so glad for the time we have had to spend together. I feel extremely lucky to have married into such a wonderful family. I will have more to post soon about the rest of their stay here!

A Great Day....

Kenny had off of work on Wednesday, so we scheduled our first "baby appointment" for that day. He loves going to our appointments and has been to almost every child's monthly and weekly appointment. He has become pretty buddy, buddy with our current Dr., Dr. Yoo, who has delivered both Ian and Owen. I have had c-sections with all my boys. During the birth of Ian, I was getting the cloth draped across me so that I can't see them as they cut me open, and Kenny was standing up looking over the cloth. The nurse politely asked him to sit down beside me and Dr. Yoo responded, "NO...he Doctor, he watch!" Kenny then proceeded to give me a play by play of what was being cut inside of me, so much for the doting husband stroking my forehead telling me everything is going to be fine. He loves surgery and even jokes with his co-workers that he might just take me to the clinic to deliver the baby himself! He does have an ultrasound machine at work that I'm sure we will get some use out of. He has already taken my friends Crissa and Melina down there, laid them down on some hairy dog blanket, and tried to tell them the sex of their babies. He has been correct so far...we will see how he does on his own baby.

Here's our first peek of our new baby! When I showed Ian the picture he in a worried tone responded, "It looks like a rock." Grandad suggested that we call him, "Rocky!"

So after our appointment we took the boys 15 minutes up in the mountains to Oak Valley to play in the snow and have lunch. We had fun building a snowman, making snow angels, and having a snow ball fight.


This is our snowman Frosty. His life ended tragically after Ian knocked his body and head off. Drew was VERY Upset!
After playing in the snow we went to a country restaurant for some good old home cooking. Owen and I shared hot apple cider.

I love when Kenny is home with us. We had such an enjoyable day!

Valentine Sweetheart!

My husband is truly amazing and I love him more and more each day! We celebrated our 8th Valentines Day together and it was by far the best one yet. He continues to keep surprises in our marriage and to think of me before himself. So yesterday morning, I woke up early and made him homemade buttermilk biscuits (in the shape of hearts), with sausage and gravy. I served it with fresh strawberries and his favorite V8 Juice. The way to my husband's heart is through his stomach! What does he do for me?....He surprises me with tickets to a Martina McBride concert! He informs me of this just as we are getting off the exit!!!! He told me he was taking me out to the Cheesecake Factory down in the desert and forgot what exit it was, but that he printed out directions, he flips on a light and hands me the tickets. I started screaming with excitement and immediately called my sister Carmin and parents to tell them the great news!

Martina McBride is by far my all time favorite musician. I first fell in love with her music when I was a young girl in middle school and watched her video, "Its Independence Day" on CMT. I have since then attended 5 of her concerts and danced my first dance with Kenny, as husband and wife to "There You Are." My parents bought me and three friends tickets to a Martina McBride concert for my 13th birthday. That was also probably one of the best birthdays I can remember. While living in Manhattan, KS attending KSU, I also had the opportunity to attend three concerts. Two were at the Country Stampede, which is where a lot of country singers come and perform, while people camp and party for a week. I went with Kenny to one of those. My fourth concert I went to was extremely special because my sister Carmin surprised me with tickets for her and I. It was right before I was leaving to go Nanny in Connecticut, so she got them simply because she too is an amazing person. It was this concert that I actually got to hold (literally) Martina McBrides hand! My sister and I snuck past security guards and were standing right in front of the stage, she bent down to shake my hand and I grabbed it and yelled, "I LOVE YOU!" My sister thought I looked like a crazy psycho stalker! Martina did not venture over to our side of the stage as much after that. Carmin thought I probably scared her. So my 5th concert will be known as a Valentines surprise from my thoughtful and loving husband. I cherish him so much and feel so blessed to have him as my true love! I have to stop because he will already be upset by how I've gushed about him! So thank you family for making such special memories for me! I love you all. XOXO

Hooray for Presidents!

Drew performed today, along with the rest of his kindergarden class in a patriotic program celebrating our Presidents. I was so proud of him for going up with the rest of his class, singing all the words, and performing in front of a large crowd of people. It brought tears to my eyes and I cannot explain the happiness I felt standing there watching him. He continues to amaze me!

The world is a better place....

YEAH for me!!!!! A new Pottery Barn Outlet store opened 45 minutes away from my house and I am so excited! Those of you who know me well, know my obsession with the store. Darcy and I had fun today strolling through the store and envisioning how great the furniture would look in our houses. Unfortunately, I did not think to bring a truck or I would have come home with a dresser to match the boys bunk beds and a desk chair. I also fell in love with a leather couch and girl bedding (hopefully I will have to go back for that). Kenny HATES to shop and I actually consider myself lucky. I have gently pushed the Pottery Barn Catalog in front of him over the years and slowly but surely he has started responding, "Go ahead and just order it." Music to my ears! This way I get exactly what I am looking for and we don't have to go from store to store looking. I think he is a little nervous about the proximity of the store to us, but I know he will soon appreciate the closeness when it comes time to buy Owen a bed and we won't have to pay all the extra handling fees. This is just another great reason for people to come visit us!

* Laura I looked for the bedding, but I had no luck...sorry :(

" I don't love it!"

Drew loves to color and draw pictures. However, he gets frustrated if he tries to draw something and it doesn't come out like he envisions it. Lately he has been asking me to draw him pictures, so that he can then color them in. I CAN NOT draw. I have never been good at drawing, unlike my talented sister Carmin and brother Adam who can draw anything. So yesterday Drew came home with a picture he colored at church and told me that I needed to draw Jesus for him. I tried my best to depict our Savior on a piece of paper and his response, "I don't love it, it kinda looks like Mary." He is very critical of my work!

So today Drew was looking through our Hawaii pictures and saw a picture of him holding a macaw. He started begging me to draw him a macaw and I just kept putting him off. Finally he yelled, "I'm getting so angry that someone is NOT drawing me a macaw!" So I did my best to please my son and this is the finished product. He actually liked my macaw!

I told you I was bad!
So now I am on the look out for a book that teaches young children to draw. You know the ones that show you shape by shape what to do. If anyone knows where to get one please let me know.