Aspiring Actresses (and a boy with a sword)

My oldest sister, Cheryl is amazing! She offered to babysit so we could go out to dinner in downtown Prescott. We were away for a few hours, came home to a production put on by a box of dress-up clothes, 4 sassy girls, and one amazingly patient woman. Cheryl claimed she was only the costume director and Audrey really produced and directed the play. The play had something to do with 2 princesses, one bunny fairy, and a sassy bumble bee.

watch out Hollywood...

Joel trying to get his place in the limelight, of course he is holding a sword (his favorite toy)

Cheryl with the actresses :)

Dinner Out in Prescott, AZ

A night out without the kiddos, lots of childhood memories, we laughed so much our faces hurt by the end of the night. This was also the night of Carlos' FIRST chinese fire drill, Lesley was driving and Josh and I took it upon ourselves to teach Carlos :) Great night!

all of us (Josh, me, Jennifer, Eric, Peggy, Kevin, Lesley, and Carlos) at dinner

Jennifer & Eric (my nephew and his wife...our hosts for the week, brave souls)

Peggy and Kevin

where we ate

Lesley, me

Prescott fun

Our Prescott vacation over Thanksgiving was awesome. We did a lot of relaxing, lots of catching up with family, lots of eating, and lots of card playing. The favorite games were uno, war, and go fish. The girls are learning how to strategize, win, and lose....gracefully! Josh, Grace, and mean game of war

uno madness

look how focused Eric is, the girls named him "Fish Face"....maybe this picture is why

My dad and Joel

Prescott, Arizona OR BUST

Fresno, California to Prescott, Arizona

600+/- miles

10+/- hours in the car (with no stops)

which means 12 hours in the car with an 18 mo old, 3, 5, 7, and 9 year old, oh boy! in pajamas, breakfast in hand, ready to go

this is our rig... before you laugh at our trailer please remember we have FIVE children, TWO adults, a playpen, a stroller, and a week's worth of luggage that must go with us :)

Grace watching a movie (and yes I should brush her hair, but it was 7 a.m.)

Disneyland 2010

Earlier this year we got FREE Disneyland tickets thru the 'Give a Day, Get a Day' promotion Disneyland was running. We volunteered at the Community Food Bank here in Fresno, awesome experience, we will definitely do it again, even if we don't get Disneyland tickets :)

We had a great time at Disneyland, we went on a Monday in a true effort to stay away from huge crowds, and we were successful....most rides were a 20 min wait. This year was especially fun because the girls were old enough to really ride most everything.

I loved getting to know each girl's rollar coaster personality. Audrey HATES rollar coasters, we went on the Matterhorn and she sat with her head buried into me yelling that she hates rollar coasters and she was going to die. As soon as the ride was over she smiled, she went on to try Thunder Mountain, but hated that one too, she could not be coaxed to even try Space Mountain. Ellie and Olivia loved the fast rides, they wanted to go on Space Mountain over and over. They loved Splash Mountain! Grace was not big enough to do any BIG coasters but she would have. She loved dumbo, autopia, and pirates. It was an amazing, magical day!

I think we loved Disneyland just as much as the kids.

all of us Disneyland goers....me, Josh, Carlos, Lesley, Audrey, Ellie, Liv, and Grace...first ride Pirates of the Carribean


family shot (minus Joel, who was with Grandma)

Liv, Audrey, Ellie

My birthday....the big 35!

I turned 35, wow, that's halfway to 70! My birthday was perfect. My family brought me panera pastries and coffee in bed, I had lunch with sweet friends, and I had dinner at my favorite place in the whole world...in-n-out. I got new pajamas, a crock pot, and laser hair removal (that may be too much information). My pjs are warm and flannel, my crock pot is still in the box but I'm excited about the huge amount of roast, soup, and pulled pork I can make in that thing, but my hairless armpits are really the most exciting gift of all! Josh wrapped up an empty razor box and Liv gave it to me and screamed, "You'll never have to shave again!" Here's to 35 and hairless armpits :)