Amazing Race - Season 2

We had such a fun night!! It was so much fun to plan season 2 of the Amazing Race. The sad thing about it was that we could not invite everyone we wanted to. We had a super fun group and it turned out to be a great night. Hopefully, there will be a season 3 and more new people can be invited. There were a few glitzes throughout the night (like getting yelled at by mall security for running) and trying to do some things in the dark, but I think all in all everyone had fun. Here is a list of those that participated:

Tiff and Ty Watkins (planners)
Nate and Kristen Millecam (planners)
Quinn and Kellie Elzinga (planners)

Holly and Ryan Gibb (Winners)
Jason and Selia Bingham (2nd place)
Ryan and Erin Ferguson (3rd place)
Jim and Chrissy Hamberlin
Brian and Brittanie Hancock
Rob and Melanie Nelson
Lindsay and Owen McRae
Jason and Susan Green
Jake and Tiffany Walker
Tyler and Mary Davis
Shari John and Cori
Ashley and Jay Olson
Pam and Andy Rapier
Jenn and Jason Wells

Thanks everyone for such a fun night!!

Vegas Baby!!

So, 2 Sundays ago I woke up and decided to take the kids and drive to Vegas to visit their cousins and good friends the Brandons.It was a great trip, but a little too short. But, better than nothing. While we were there, we celebrated McKenna's birthday with some pink cupcakes! They were yummy. Happy Birthday Kenna!!

As always, my kids don't think they need to sleep at night so this is what Sabrina looked like on day 2 of our trip. We had been running for 2 days straight. The first night we got there, she didn't go to sleep until midnight and was up at 6:30. We ran around all that day and she didn't get in bed again until about 10pm and was up by 7:30. So, after visiting the Brandons, she was dead to the world on the drive back to my sisters house.

Just a dang cute picture of Caleb sitting in a grass bush!

It was so fun to see our friends the Brandons. We miss them so much. I got to see their new house and hang out and chat with Alisha. Then we went to the park next to her kids school and let the kids run around and play for an hour or so. It was great to watch them be together and having fun. Cole was everywhere of course! He is getting so big.

So, I had the not so brilliant idea to go to the strip on Monday. I realized last time we were there, my kids have never been there and we thought it would be fun to take them to see the "Dancing Waterfall". Well, this day turned into a comedy of errors. Luckily I had just learned at TOFW that "if you can laugh with it, you can live with it." It is a joke to try to get anywhere on the strip with 2 strollers. We got to the Bellagio around noon. We went to the gardens there and that was very cool. There are a few pictures down further. After the gardens, we went out to see the dancing waterfall and discovered that it doesn't start until 3pm. Well, we did not have plans to stay that long. But, we decided to walk down a couple of hotels to the Forum shops to the FAO Swartz toy store. We thought there was a deli on the 3rd floor of the store. After many problems just getting to the shops (carrying strollers up stairs and whatnot), there is no deli in the store. We were all starving and the kids were slowly melting down. They do however have candy bins, so we bought everyone some candy and went in search of something to eat. We FINALLY (an hour later) found a Mexican food place. Sat down and paid WAY TOO much for lunch. Then we headed back to the Bellagio to go home. Only to discover that it was now 3:00 and the waterfalls were just starting. We remembered that we had to go across the bridge and so took an elevator up to the bridge, only we landed on the wrong level, dragged the strollers down a couple flights of stairs and then down a ramp only to end up back on the ground level about 20 feet from the elevator we just took upstairs. Sheri and I just looked at each other and laughed. It was too crazy. Above, it a picture of the girls watching the waterfall from the walkway. They LOVED IT and I am so glad they got to see it. So, after the show we started walking back to the car to leave and of course had to stop at the potty. Finally, after walking to the other side of the hotel to get to our car, my sister looks down and realizes that she has no purse! Crap!!! I pulled out my camera and looked at the above picture and noticed it was on her shoulder while we were watching the waterfall. So, she ran back to the other side of the hotel to the bathroom we stopped at - but it wasn't there. As she was walking back, there was a lot and found/information center and she stopped and someone had just turned it in. YEA!! I definitely think that is luck in Vegas that someone would turn it in and not take it. So, FINALLY we were on our way home! It was definitely a day to remember and we learned that "If you can laugh at it, you can live with it!" That little saying helped us have fun and not get quite so frustrated.

I just loved this picture of Sabrina holding Weston and Caleb's hand. They walked around like that quite a bit. Sabrina loves her Clark cousins!!

Caleb took this picture and I think it is beautiful!! This was in the gardens at the Bellagio.

Here is the talking tree. Sabrina was fascinated by it.

Gavin, Caleb, Weston and Sabrina. McKenna didn't want to get in the picture. Such a fun trip. Thanks Sheri for letting us invade your home and for hanging out with us! We had such a fun time and are so glad we came. Thanks Alisha for hanging out with us and it was SO GREAT to see you and the kids!! We miss you.

Time Out for Women

Last weekend I had the chance to attend Time Out for Women. It is Friday night and all day Saturday. There are speakers, and musicians and it is a wonderful time to renew your spirit and faith. I love TOFW. I didn't get to go last year and after having gone again this year, I realized how much I missed it last year. I normally go with my wonderful friend Alisha, but she decided to move just before the event and leave me all alone. Luckily, I got to spend time with my other wonderful friend Sarah. I miss hanging out with Sarah since she moved to Coolidge. So, we had a great time together catching up and just enjoying each others company. Thanks for inviting me to go with you and your family. It was so much fun and a great break to renew my spirit.

Here is Sarah with Leanne and Carrie.

I also got to see Michelle. It was so fun to see her and chat with her and catch up since she moved out of our ward. Doesn't she look great?!?

We got to hear from:

Brad and Debi Wilcox about "If you can laugh at it, you can live with it."

John Bythway - Stop competing and comparing yourself to others.

Emily Watts - Appearances

Emily Freeman - Abundance

Wendy Ulrich - The difference between Sin and Weakness

Kris Belcher - "Let not your heart be troubled"

Jenny Oaks Baker - violinist

Kenneth Cope - singer

They were all so great, so funny and had wonderful messages. If you have never been, it is a wonderful couple of days and will bless your life!!

Pack Meeting

A few weeks ago, we had Pack Meeting for Scouts and Caleb was advancing up to Bear. He worked hard to finish all the requirements for Wolf. They do a great ceremony and it was a fun night. Here Caleb is with his friend Ridge.

Here he is with the Indian Chief that does the presentation of the awards.

Here are all the boys with their parents waiting to get their award.

Preschool revisited

So, here it is 2 months into the school year and I realized that I never posted Gavin's first day at school. Gavin is going to Miss Christi's preschool again this year. He missed the kindergarten cut off by 26 days. So, as much as I wanted him to be in Kindergarten and gone all day, he is loving Miss Christi's. He has many friends from church that are in the same class this year. So, that is super fun. He loves Miss Christi and says that he is going to marry her at Disneyland and then they will live in Hawaii. He is so cute. Can't wait for next year to go to the big school with Caleb!

Dance Class

Sabrina is so excited to be back in dance class with Ms. Wendy. She loves to dance and spin around. Granted, she falls often, but she can't get enough of dancing around. She gets to do ballet, tap and tumbling with Ms. Wendy. It will be so fun to watch her at the end of the year in her little recital. Keep up the good work Brina!! Love You!

Diamondbacks Game

Thanks to Bro. Labor, Caleb and I got to enjoy a great night together watching the Diamondbacks up close and personal. We had 6th row seats just to the left of home plate. They were AWESOME seats and we are so lucky that Bro. Labor gave them to us. It was so fun to just hang out with Caleb for the night and talk and laugh and build a greater bond with him.

Caleb took some pictures. This one used the zoom a little bit, but not much since we were so close.

I have never seen so many foul balls in one game. Of course, we are usually so far away that we can't see much of anything. 2 people in the crowd also got hit with foul balls. It was crazy.

Last of many catch up posts today!

So, I think I am pretty caught up now. It has taken me about 3 or more hours to catch up, but it is nice to know that I have journaled some of our lives here. There are probably about 8 or more posts and I am sure I have missed some somewhere. But, I think this is where I will stop for now. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Happy Birthday Gavin!!!

Can you guess how old he is? So, last year we decided that we only do friend birthday parties on the kids even number birthdays. So, Gavin didn't get a friend birthday, but I think he still had a great day! This summer while we were on vacation in Newport we made it to Disneyland for Caleb's birthday and decided to buy annual passes for the next year. So, off we went to CA for the weekend for Gavin's Birthday. It was such a fun trip. It was very short - we left for CA at 5:30 on Friday morning and drove right to the park. Stayed there for about 8-9 hours then crashed at the hotel and got up on Saturday (Gavin's birthday) and spent another 8-9 hours there and got in the car and drove home. It was a little bit crazy, but totally worth it.

Here we are almost to the front to see the princesses. Caleb and Gavin are troopers and don't complain about this activity for Sabrina.Luckily, both Gavin and Caleb were chosen to do Jedi training. I love watching them. A year and a half ago when we came, Gavin really didn't have a clue what to do, but this year he was much more into fighting the bad guys. He somehow got to fight both Darth Vader and Darth Maul.

I know this is a weird picture, but I just had to throw it in there. I was sick of Caleb doing the bunny ears in every picture - so I decided to bite his hand off.

Happy Birthday Gavin!! You bring such joy to our family and I love being your mom. I love that you are always ready to hug, kiss and tell me you love me. You are such a loving boy. You love music, tumbling, and playing with your friends. You are loud, yet hate loud noises.Your faces lights up when you see friends and family that you love. It is a joy to watch you as you grow and learn new things. Thank you for being a wonderful part of my life!!

Gavin's Birthday continued....

As soon as we walked into Disneyland, Gavin was making friends with some people as we sat and listened to a band.

Here we are in line for the new Toy Story ride at CA Adventure. The kids love it and I will have to say, it is pretty fun.

Sabrina on the carousal while Caleb and I rode CA Screamin'.

Gavin was super excited in line to meet Woody, then we got up to the front and he wasn't as thrilled. Sabrina wouldn't go anywhere near him.

So, I took Gavin and Caleb on Grizzly Roaring Rapids - always a mistake. We got drenched. This was the first time Gavin was tall enough to ride. I think he liked it, but he hates loud noises, so I spent most of the ride (along with most other rides) holding his ears so he wouldn't freak out.

This is right after we went through the geyser. I was not happy, then I noticed Jared on the bridge above me. I know, I look like a dork. I am trying to get over putting pictures of me on my blog.

Gavin and Caleb with some Chipmunk.

We, of course, waited for the princesses. We always seem to see the same ones no matter what time of day we go. They did happen to change while we were there. So, we got a bonus princess.

When we exited the princesses we saw the Evil Queen from Snow White and decided we needed a picture with her.

Last year when we were her, Its a Small World was closed for repairs. So, this was the first time that the kids got to go on it.Gavin and Sabrina especially loved it.