May 1-
^May started out with a fun Cinco de Mayo themed Bunko night with girlfriends. Lynette went all out. :) Fun gals!
May 2-
^Morning snuggles and story time. Everyone is chipper.
May 4-
^Sunday dinner with the Harman's. Madison is loving baby Noah!
May 6-
^First zoo trip of the year with Aunt Jodi and fam. :)
May 9-
^Warner's sure know how to throw a party! They went all out for their Nueve de Mayo party! :{ Cute decor.
^Mexican flag drinks, jalapeño poppers, salsa, 7 layer dip....
^Chicos
^Everyone dressed the part!
^Pepper piñata time!
^Mexican bingo and chill time
^Nasty chili pepper coated mango suckers that Madison tried about 10 times. :) The look on her face tells you how they tasted. We all had at least one lick.
We met Warners through Jennie and Brock and from Ragnar. Fun peeps! Love expanding friendships and I love people that invite and know how to party! Thanks guys!
May 10-
^ I spent the day with Mom, Cami and Aunt Mia in Ogden. We did some shopping for flowers and went to lunch. Fun day event doing something with my mom that she loves and is teaching me about. Gardening. :)
I'm so grateful for my mom. I have always felt like she did a great job raising me. Well balanced. She taught me the important things of life and continues to share. One of the things I love that she has been sharing with me is time in my yard gardening. It is so peaceful. I think it will always remind me of her and make me want to be just like her in that regard. :)
May 11- Mother's Day
^Ed knows me better than I think I know him sometimes. He knows the way to make me feel appreciated and special. Through my tummy. :) Ed is great at baking, cooking and finding new recipes. He made me Swedish pancakes for breakfast, bruschetta for lunch, steak and potatoes for dinn, and baklava for dessert. First time he's made baklava and definitely not the last. :) It was delicious! Thanks Ed!
^My sweet littles that gave me a never-ending experience: motherhood -and title: mother. Being loving and patient don't always come natural to me. While I love being a mom, I definitely still get "me" time. At times I've thought of motherhood as a tiring burden and therefore on Mother's Day didn't celebrate motherhood, but enjoyed a break from it by having Ed do everything for the kids that day. This year I decided to try and use Mother's Day as a day to enjoy my role and spend time with my kids. I need to be more grateful for the life they have given me. I'm living this reality that is stressful and hard, but extremely fulfilling and I can't imagine having not had them. Life is better with them. I'm glad I got them all here before I realized how hard it is. ;)
^My kids made me sweet gifts and cards. Ed always surprises me with a new toy and he got me some vocal lessons this year. :) Never too late to teach an old dog new tricks, right? :)
May 14-
^My friend Michelle arranged tennis lessons for interested ladies in the neighborhood. I was one of them. ;) It's been so fun learning! I love doing active things with friends and learning new skills.
-Later that day I got to visit and cut hair for a CA friend, Lindsay. I love having a skill that lets me see people more often than I might. Great to see you Linds!
-At night I had to take a picture of Madison kneeling to pray with us. So precious. She is up late enough for family prayers with us now. Neat what they learn by watching. I hope we can be good examples. I hope she'll have a relationship with God.
May 16-
^We headed out early morning with the kids for our annual family trip- San Diego this year! We were sad to hear about all the fires affecting the area, and evacuations and such, but luckily everything was under control the day we arrived. Weird driving into smokey skies. Luckily they were more inland and when we arrived we weren't affected by any smoke near the beach. The kids do great on the drives. We leave early morning, stop for lunch in St. George or Las Vegas and then get to So. Cal by dinner. The drive usually consists of about 4 movies, some napping, some snacking and family time. :) We are lucky our friends, the Katz's live close and came to spend a couple nights with us. We arrived close to the same time and got pizza for dinner and went to the park to let the kids play. Ed's former college let us stay in his house near the beach in Carlsbad. So generous and sweet!
May 17-
^Digging in the sand with friends. We'll take it!
^We tried to get into vacation mode by spending the day at the beach. Sarah and Kai picked back up where they left off from living in CA, but Madison was wary of even the sand!
^She would not put even a foot on it. Silly girl. She looked the part though. ;)
^I got in an early morning run- CA oxygen is great! After the beach we showered everyone, hung out a while and then went and got dinner at BJ's restaurant- a CA fave. Madison snuggled Kristen in the evening before bed. My kids have always had a soft spot for her. Later Kristen and I went shopping at the outlets. It was there we discovered we missed putting sunscreen on some areas... :) Ouch!
May 18-
^Sunday we went to church with the kids and then headed to the beach for some pictures. I hope we can continue to reunite and keep these friendships strong.
^Katz's and Harman's- Carlsbad Beach, CA.
^Our 10 year anniversary was during this trip so Kristen helped take some fun pictures. Hip hip hooray! We made it Ed! :)
^10 years married and 3 kids later...
^ Thanks for sticking by me these first 10 years babe. I think we have changed a lot.
^Fun random beach pics. 5+5=10 years!!
After the beach we parted ways with the Katz's. So grateful for fun, willing friends to make memories with.
^ We went home and changed and then rode the beach bikes down to the beach. I think we finally settled into vacation mode. This was one of my favorite activities of the trip. Fun spending quality time with my little family. We got ice cream on the way.
^Madison finally touched the sand! :) I tried to fix my apparent tan line...:)
^ Ed played in the water with the older two, and Madison and I hung out. :)
^After the beach we spruced up and drove to Coronado for dinner. We try to revisit special places. The few times we have been in San Diego we go to Miguels Mexican restaurant and love it. The first visit was our honeymoon 10 years ago. Cheesy dip! Fried Ice Cream! Mmm. Authentic smiles on all those faces! (after Madison's 2 year old tantrums. :) )
May 19-
^We also visited Sea World on our honeymoon. 10 years later, 3 kids later the experience was much different. :)
^The kids did great
^ I think they liked it. :) Sarah insisted on the wet zone. It was definitely hot enough.
^Fun rides
^Wore them right out! Madison snoozed after the seal/otter show.
^Sunglasses pic
^Ended the day with rides. Stayed almost all day!
^Sea World was sufficient. Not sure when we will be back.
May 20-
^Tuesday we had a slight change of plan. Rather than the zoo we ended up doing what we enjoyed most and rode bikes to the beach again. Of course we stopped for ice cream cones!
^I love it when Sarah and Kai play nicely together. I know that bonding will occur on these trips and memories will be created and make us closer. Hope to keep them up and cherish them. Ed build a castle with the kids.
^We liked it so much, we went again. The kids are at fun stages.
May 21- 10 Year Anniversary!
^I went for a run alongside the beach. Beautiful. Then we cleaned up the beach house and drove half the way home and stayed in Mesquite. Not at all what I pictured for my 10 year anniversary :), but I'm glad we were able to celebrate in Cancun earlier this year.
^Ed took the kids in the pool
^Then we got dinner at the hotel cafe. Double high five for 10 years married! We watched our wedding video with the kids and then put them to bed. The bed situation and set up with 3 kids. ;) Then Ed and I watched part of a movie before we fell asleep. Happy 10 continues on!
May 22-
^ We got up early and headed back home. Kai and Madison hold hands sometimes and Kai likes pictures. I love it when they get along. Kai went straight to preschool, and Sarah to a half day. I managed to finish my book on the drive back for book club that evening. Live on reading!!
May 23-
^I love being involved. Book club ladies got together at Jodi's to watch the Book Theif movie since we read it the month before. (I didn't finish it, but...) GNO!! Yes!
May 24-
^Piggies and Dog piles!
^Ed and I went out for an anniversary dinner a couple nights late. Yummy food.
^May 2004/ May 2014
I don't think we look extremely different. But I know we have grown together and love each other differently. People never believe our age. Especially Ed. Hope that keeps up! ;)
May 28-
^Spring and fall the van gets an inside detail from me. Everything taken out and wiped down. Even car seats are turned to skeletons and washed. Especially after a trip! Looks so much better! I've always liked cleaning...
^We did a last minute Memorial Day get together with my fam. We bbq'd and then went to the pool. :)
May 29-
^May Project completed! Our main bath is now wallpapered! Probably our last experience with wallpaper. ;) Ed did fantastic though. We love the transformation. Thanks Ed! Taking care of business just got more cozy! ;)
^Kai's graduation from 2014 preschool! Kai cracks us up! He is a smarty and an energy ball! We have decided to hold him back from Kindergarten. He will start Kindergarten in 2015. We are proud of you buddy! You always add pizazz!
^Mrs. Sandy and Mrs. Jody! Thanks for being persistent and patient! Love our Kai! Celebratory ice cream!
^4 yr. old Preschool graduation 1 out of 2 :)
May 31-
^While making pancakes for the kids, Madison decided to try out the forbidden and touched the griddle. :( Poor little red handed girl! Hope it's the first and last time! It blistered a little, but didn't bug her too much.
We received a disgusting present from the kitties. First mouse in the house. Never seen a live one at least. We covered it with a bowl and let Ed dispose of it after work.
^Cousins came to play and swim for the evening. The new splash pool our HOA put in is a definite hit!!
