May Memories

May has been a busy month full of sweet & FUN memories. Here is Jake & I at his preschool "Mothers Day Tea". He is such a sweet boy. So thrilled to show me the gifts that he made.
Lindsey got an Academics award at school. Allison just loved getting to visit "Dee Dee" at school. We're so proud of Lindsey!

Lindsey turned 7 on May 22nd! We had a "mock" sleepover. It is the way to go! All the fun of a sleepover but none of the drama. The tramp of course was the biggest hit. We had all the girls come in their PJ's, had pizza, decorated cupcakes, watched a movie with popcorn, painted nails & did a little craft. All the girls left by 9pm. A definite success & super fun.
Lindsey's cake... the colors of the girls new bedroom makeover...more pictures later! Almost finished with it.

Nice Loren! All of the girls had a little fun with the icing. Loren was my special "helper" for the night. She wanted "in" on the gift bags :)

Quincey, Aubrey & Eden. Super silly & best buddies of Lindsey!


a close up

Allison turned 2 on May 13th. I can't believe it. This was her favorite gift. She can almost count to 20 & loves to point out all the colors & objects she knows. She is such a cutie & has 3 tutors daily teaching her new things to say & do.

Loved those cupcakes!

Jakes's preschool graduation. Here are his two best buddies, Riley & Reece. I can't believe Jake goes to Kindergarten this fall!

Jake with his two preschool teachers, Miss Rose & Miss Glena. They were amazing!

One of my favorite pictures.--just took it today in the backyard. Lindsey still absolutely LOVES to be with Allie every chance she get's & Allie loves her SO much! So sweet together.
Jake had is final T-ball game of the season. Jake has had a busy month! Here is Jake with Coach Mick (our really close friend) getting his first ever trophy. BJ was the assistant coach this year.
The Dodgers.

Up to bat. He can hit that ball every time! Maybe next year he'll keep the helmet on as he rounds the bases. So funny. He'll hit the ball, start running, realize he doesn't want the helmet on, stop half way to 1st base, throw the helmet back to home plate then continue running.

Way to go Jake!

Hope you all are wonderful & winding down a little like we are. School is out in 2 more weeks. Yay! Have a great week!

10 Years!

We left this little face (yes, those are Mr. Potato head glasses!) & three of her siblings for seven days (something we haven't done in 7 or 8 years) to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. We've never gotten away for more than a day or two so this was a big deal! 10 years!

Flu & cold season hit our home hard this year. It was only the day before we left that Allie (who got hit with both the flu & a cold--which resulted in asthma issues of course) was finally keeping fluids & food down. She was a sick little girl. It just broke my heart & I was a nut case to say the least. My AMAZING mom flew from Hawaii to watch the kids. Knowing she is a nurse & has had 5 kids helped with my anxiety. It's enough to get through the routine, homework, activities, etc. etc. of four children without having sickness on top of it! Besides Allie missing her mom & still recovering (and doing lot's of treatments/meds), Jake got the flu a few days later & then my Mom caught the cold! Mom, you are the greatest! We love you & we owe you SO BIG! We had a wonderful time & wish the kids would have been healthy! Thank you, thank you for doing this for us! Here are some pics from our trip. We cruised along the Mexican Riviera...to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, & Puerto Vallarta.
Our favorite destination...Cabo. Someday we'll come back to spend more time here! Beautiful!

The beach in Cabo...ahhhhhhhh!


Okay...this is probably why it was our favorite destination---MI CASA--perhaps the best Mexican food we have EVER eaten...and we eat a lot of Mexican food! We wanted to find an authentic Mexican Restaurant & found it. So nice that BJ could use his Spanish & get in with the locals to lead us to this place for lunch! So good! We'll come back to Cabo just to eat here again.
Isn't it adorable?
Oh yeah!

A view off a museum terrace in Mazatlan. We did a walking "historical" tour for our excursion in Mazatlan.
Coast of Mazatlan
Mazatlan... streets in the "Old Town"

A Mexican couple we met on our tour (Spanish speaking only). Lot's of translating for me. We met several really great couples & families on our trip.
An opera house built in the 1800's. Mazatlan.
The Catholic Cathedral in Mazatlan.
Here we are on our actual anniversary on the ship. Happy couple!

Here is a view of Yelapa--our excursion when we ported in Puerto Vallarta. Yelapa is a small fishing village only accessible by boat. We got to go snorkeling, kayaking & then hike up to a little waterfall & then lounge on the beach. A really fun day. The only downfall...seeing way to many people get super drunk!
Yelapa
A humble home in Yelapa. Yelapa only got electricity 2 years ago!
Such a cutie!

The waterfall we "hiked" to in Yelapa :)
Oh I love tropical views!

SO HUGE! We sailed on Princess cruises & we still can't believe how huge our ship was!
Out of order...but here is Mazatlan on our walking tour of the monuments
Mazatlan view

1st formal night on the ship...a Sunday...we decided to attend a Jewish Passover service. A great experience. We met a wonderful family & we exchanged lot's of information on eachother's religions.
Such a cute family!

What a sunset & what a great escape with my favorite person with benefits! :) Thank you sweetie. To hold hands for seven days & do anything we wanted to do...was WONDERFUL!!!Now we're back to reality & fast! Everyone is healthy though! Yahoo!

Thanks again Mom!

Our Miracle drug & lot's of catch up...

We're on the mend over here. Since my last blog everyone else in the family got sick--with a nasty chest cough. Thank goodness Allison didn't catch it this round. I may have got it the worst...and I've still got it. I haven't coughed this much or so hard for a few years! I had to include this picture of Allie though from a few weeks ago. I still can't get over how easy it was to give her treatments. She's so fascinated with cartoons right now because she has figured out so many words & loves to point out all she knows. She is a big girl! Well, I promised to share with you all our miracle drug from my last blog...which WORKS!...so here it is:
Sambucol. You won't find it in a pharmacy. Only in a vitamin/natural/holistic/health foods type store. With two children with asthma, flared by virus induced respiratory infections I was determined to find something to help. Asthma is scary. I'm a nurse & have been trained in drug therapies. I never looked into herbs or holistic type therapies until recently. But, I'm hooked. For a year I've given Sambucol to my kids when I first notice they are coming down with a cold. What it has done for us is it decreases the symptoms & the length of the cold...it "nips" it by boosting their immunity. By doing this it has prevented their colds to get bad enough to trigger a asthma attack. They'll cough and have drainage but NOTHING like before. So, there you have it. Try it & see if it helps. It's safe enough for infants, just divide the dose accordingly. I get the adult strength & divide up the dose for my kids so that it will last longer. It has been a great blessing for us...to be asthma flare free for a year is pretty good!

Now for some catch up! Allie had a blast finding eggs this year at Easter time. Here she is with Tabitha & Lindsey at our ward Easter party.
She is now addicted to "cannee". She seems to find all the kids hiding places for their baskets & runs to find me and say, "mmmmm yummy cannee!". Oh boy! I don't have a picture of it but on Easter Loren, Lindsey & Jake "hid" some hardboiled & plastic eggs in the backyard for Allison. It was so cute to see them so excited to help her hunt. She was in heaven!
Loren had her Hawaiian dance class recital. It's her second class. She LOVES it! Her favorite is the poi balls. She can hold the poi balls with one hand & do the "butterfly". Pretty tricky!
So sweet. My Loren is growing up too fast!
All the girls

Jake just had his 1st ever T-ball game this weekend! He couldn't be happier to be in his new cleats, baseball pants, shirt & hat. Ever since T-ball began two weeks ago with the team mtg & practice he has worn his hat daily. Today at the game he was seen dancing in the outfield! :) His Dad is an asst. coach & out there with him so he is in heaven.

All the sisters watching Jake at the game. Go Jake!!
Besides dancing Jake was focused too & getting those balls & making some big hits. Pretty fun.

Lastly, I did it. I've joined the big 3-0 club. 30 years old!!

Everyone has asked me if I was ready to turn 30 & I say YES! I've been excited to turn 30 if you can believe it! I've got 4 kids! I've earned 30! :) I had a great birthday. I was very spoiled by my sweet friends & family. I had a great surprise from two of my best buddies (thank you Mique & Tara for kidnapping me!!), plenty of GFM (guilt free money) & gift cards to spend (thank you to my awesome family & friends!) & an amazing husband who threw me a party (thank you honey! You're the best!). Thank you everyone for making my birthday so great. Now I just need to get rid of this cough!