Sunday Spotlight

There's a little boy in our house who has a birthday this week. Today he was spotlighted in Sharing Time. He is pretty excited about turning 5. And the free Golden Spoon gift card from the Primary Presidency and his new CTR tie tack from his teacher Sister Johnson.

Kiersten's Roller Skating Party

Tonight we celebrated Kiersten's 30th with a surprise party at Skateland in Northridge... 80's style! It was so much fun to see what everyone came up with as a nod to the 80's. Totally rad. Skating was pretty rad too. It had been years since either of us had been and we had a good time!

Makin' Dinner with Gram

Life is going well here at Gram's. The kids are loving spending lots of time with her. They argue just about every night who gets to help with dinner. Tonight, they both won.

While they got cheesy with the cheese, Naomi & I watched and entertained ourselves.

Thursday at our house

Naomi got her fourth tooth yesterday. She looks so cute with them. Although I hate seeing her grow up its lots of fun at the same time. She is so much fun!

Georgie has been lots of fun lately too. Her little imagination is really growing. She loves to sit and play with her dolls for hours on end. Its really fun to peak in and listen to their conversations. She is such a sweet girl.

Swinging

This girl loves the swings!

and I know what I'm in for...

Beach Day!!

Headed to the beach today. It was a perfect January beach day!

(my little Nay-Nay was there too, and she was as happy as can be, just didn't get any pictures of her!)

Sunday Afternoon

As hard as it is to wake up three kids in order to get to 9am church on time I sure do love the being home by 12:30 this new schedule offers!

Today we spent some time outside enjoying this perfect Southern California January day. We planted the little gardens Gram bought Jake and Georgie, admired our newly growing strawberries, played with the new bubble gun Jacob got from a birthday party, and took in the sunshine. It was perfect.

Excited about planting their very own gardens.

Getting to work.

While they labeled their plants and veggies


I wanted to eat this perfect piece of fruit.

While Georgie decided on the perfect stickers

Jacob played with the bubble gun

and finally Georgie made a decision.

And then it was perfect so she placed it in the perfect spot.

And Jacob dropped his... on accident.
He was very disappointed.
But we acted quickly and got it all back together.

and then swept up the rest of the dirt.

Now we just wait and hope something grows...

Guster!

Tonight John and I had a hot date do see Guster at the Music Box in Hollywood. We had a great time singing and dancing to them. I have loved their music for years. Listening to them takes me back to Utah State. It was fun being there with Meme and Lin too.

Sisters

These two have been having so much fun together this past week. There have been several times when I'll notice its too quiet and find them in their room together playing -- with every toy bin empty. It's very, very cute. I love it and hope they stay like this forever.

Day 2 @ Sea World

This morning we woke up and decided that we wanted to go back to Sea World and see the Blue Horizons show... and maybe another that we missed. Little did we know we'd be there the entire day! But today was so much more fun then yesterday! Today the kids really started to enjoy being there and seeing the animals. I am so glad we went again!

Before we left our hotel I had to take these pictures of our view. It was absolutely incredible during the day and night! I think we all would have liked to stay there a couple more days and enjoy those views and watch the airplanes come and go.

As soon as we entered Sea World we went and saw Blue Horizons - for real this time. It was awesome. Those little dolphins are so beautiful and talented. The acrobats were graceful and the birds were cool. We all loved the show!

After that we took time to see most of the exhibits (something the kids had NO interest in yesterday!)

Jake and Georgie loved the penguins. We stayed and watched them for over a half an hour. They were completely content to just watch and laugh at their cute little walks and dives.

We saw the Beluga Whales, I loved them!

There was a baby whale in with them that did not belong to any of them. Apparently its own mother would not feed it and out of desperation to save its life the Sea World trainers put it in with the Beluga Whales... and sure enough one of them adopted that sweet baby and started producing milk to feet it. Now that baby is completely thriving and being re-introduced to her own mother a little at a time.

We saw the walrus. He was so ugly and cute at the same time. I couldn't get enough!

We walked through the shark tank, it was awesome!

And we watched the Pets Rule show, Muppets 4-D show and saw more animals. We watched the sea lion and seals for a long time. They were so fun to interact with. We really just had a great day there. I am so glad we went back. I worried that the kids wouldn't like it, but today totally changed that. They thoroughly enjoyed the day. And after yesterday I realize that Sea World really does take two days to enjoy. (especially when they close at 6pm).

To finish up the day we let the kids play in Bay of Play again for a little while. I was hesitant to let Jacob play in the big obstacle course because it was all above our heads with ropes and bridges and boats and whatnot, but Georgie wanted to play too so John went along, but sure enough, within 2 minutes Jake was long gone. We couldn't find him anywhere. I started to panic, John did too. But not Jacob. He knew right where he was. Didn't even realize that we were looking for him and was so excited and happy when we all reunited. (Little stinker!)

(Jake and Georgie loved these big punching bags. They would run and play and knock themselves around silly. It was hilarious to watch!)

When it was time to go we let the kids pick one animal that they loved at Sea World. Jacob chose a penguin that he named Poky (because he has a poky nose.), Georgie chose a dolphin, and we chose Shamu for Naomi. Perfect little reminder of our two special days there!

We had a wonderful time there!
And althgouth I loved seeing such incredible animals up close and personal I am still bothered by their captivity.

As we headed home we stopped by the San Diego Temple to enjoy its beauty

(there are birds on Angel Moroni. that's funny.)

and we stopped for dinner and headed back home.

We had a wonderful family trip.
I am so glad we went.
We needed some time with just us to enjoy each other (and Gram needed a little break from us too).