A Week in the Life {7/23-7/29}

Can I just say I love having Adam home? Cause I do. I LOVE it. Not only is it fun for the girls to have their daddy around all the time but it's fun for me as well. It's also nice because I've been able to have one on one time with each girl this week (and I NEVER get that with Paige so it's really special).

Monday we cleaned (another great reason I love having Adam home) and went shopping at Old Navy/ played at the park at Town Square. I got a couple of cute shirts and some shorts and Adam got some new shorts too (woo woo). Scott Packard came over to play games with Adam...wait no, that was Sunday. Sunday I went to see the Bachelorette finale and Scott and Adam played games together.

Tuesday we went to the library as always. Paige was so expressive during storytime and all the ladies kept cooing at her and marveling at her personality. Hannah was perfect during storytime. The letter was P and Hannah was so excited to let everyone know that P was for P-P-Paige!

Wednesday, Hannah and I went to the annual ward swimming party at the Rhodes Ranch Pool. It was so much fun! We stayed pretty much all day and poor Hannah got a sunburn on her cheeks. I said "I'm so sorry Hannah, I feel like a bad mommy!" She said "That's alright, I feel like a bad Hannah." I think she meant the sunburn felt bad :(

Thursday I spent most of the day getting ready for Hannah's birthday. I was feeling pretty emotional about my baby turning three and I wasn't really myself. Paige had a fever, runny nose, and she kept pulling on her ear. It had started the day before, and normally I wouldn't take her to the doctor but I got concerned that she was going to have an infection and we would be out of town so I took her in. He kind of made fun of me for bringing her in because she was fine, and said all those things are probably due to teething (even the ear pulling, which I didn't know). I felt dumb, but now I can leave the girls at least knowing there are no infections going on. Thursday was also book club. After I got back from Book Club Adam and I sat up and decorated the house for Hannah's party. How many men do you know that would frost more than 50 cupcakes for his daughter's third birthday? Sometimes I dream about winning the lottery and then I realize I kind of already did. Cheesy, but whatever. I make no apologies. I love my guy. Rosalie, Hunter, and her friend stayed over night on their way to Utah that night.

Friday, the big day. Hannah woke up and there were streamers covering her door. She was so excited it was her birthday. In fact, she told me all week, "Mommy, I'm so excited for my birthday!" we got dressed and ready then came downstairs. Balloons lined the stairs and there were streamers at the bottom again, I made a birthday banner and hung a bunch of balloons and pictures of her. She got a pink Radio Flyer tricycle from Mommy and Daddy, a Dora back pack from Daddy, a Tinkerbell doll and Lightning McQueen/Mater trucks from Paige, a collection of Disney Princess dolls from Grandma and Grandpa, her very own suitcase (pink and floral) from Nana and Papa, and lots of other toys, books, and crafts from her friends. She was so lucky! We had a little birthday party at Red Ridge park to celebrate and had cupcakes with her friends. When I asked who came to her birthday party she said "EVERYONE!" She of course, didn't take a nap. We had taquitos for dinner and basically played and played all day long. It was great. I was impressed that she would share her brand new toys with Paige but she did happily. Adam went out that night with some friends after the girls went to sleep and I sat at home and cried and cried that my baby was getting older.

Saturday, I got to spend some time with Paige at a baby shower for my friend Alyson who was in my last ward. It was fun seeing all the ladies from our old ward and catching up. We had the missionaries over, which was fun. Hannah prayed "Please bless I can marry Tayden again (cause she asks frequently in her prayers) and we can live happily after after. Grateful the missionaries could eat dinner and they could say their names, and bless the missionaries could go home and find ladies." What a joker.

 I don't know...but it cracks me up

 All but one of my close friends are pregnant right now...no joke. 

This is Adam at around Hannah's age with the same bike that Hannah got for her birthday!

Adam is speaking in church tomorrow (Sunday of course) and then we are going to celebrate a little guy we love (Landon who is turning 2!) 

Happy Third Birthday, Darling!

I can't believe Hannah is three today! She is such a grown up lady :) Thank you to all of those who have sent birthday wishes, cards, and gifts! She loves them all!

I asked her the following questions:

What is your favorite:

Color: "Red"

Toy: "My new backpack"

Fruit: "Banana"

TV Show: "Dora and Go Diego Go."

Book: (too many) 

Lunch: "Animal Crackers"

Breakfast: "Cupcakes!" 

Favorite Outfit:

Game: "Candyland and Saw Sao"

Snack: "Cupcakes"

Animal: "A cat"

Song: "Child of God and I have a Family here on Erf." (Families can be Together Forever

Best Friend: "Everyone"

Cereal: "Marshmewow Babies" (Marshmallow Maties" 

Thing to do outside: "Go Swimming, Have a picnic" 

I love our little sweetheart and I'm so glad she is in our family! 

A Week in the Life {7/16-7/22}

This week was great! It's always good to have an "at home" week during the summer. All growing up I experienced summer travel which was great, but could be exhausting--even for a kid, so I'm used to the up and going summer routine but it's always good to have a little downtime.

On Monday we mostly hung around. I had cleaned right before we left so no need for that but I did go shopping with Hannah.

On Tuesday we went to the library for story time, again, just me and Hannah. Paige has been getting up later, therefore her nap is later. I also went to the gym to run (more on that in a minute) and went about two miles. Adam and I watched Batman Begins in preparation for the big release of The Dark Knight Rises. I also had a great conversation with Kris in preparation for Hawaii, which I am super excited for BTW.

Wednesday was another day at home. We didn't really go anywhere, (Vegas in the summer is so like Utah in the winter, you can't do much without risking your health and comfort). Adam and I again watched The Dark Knight to prepare for the movie. Too much staying up late BTW.

Thursday came and I can't remember much except Adam got called to be the first councilor in the Sunday School Presidency. That makes calling number 3 for him as he is also the Scout Master and Elders Quorum teacher. Adam also went to the midnight premiere of  The Dark Knight Rises with a few friends.

Friday morning at 3am I woke up alone in bed as Adam was at the midnight premiere of TDKR and I had a notification on my ipod saying that there had been a shooting at the midnight premiere in Colorado. In my sleepy state I got a little panicky wondering if it was going to be a nationwide event where crazy people were going to midnight showings and killing people but I soon heard from Adam that he was on his way. Adam went to Boy Scout day camp on two hours of sleep. Hannah, Paige, and I went to a magic show at the library advertised as a "Harry Potter Magic Show." PS Library, Hannah has been crying for days about Harry Potter not being there, and how it had almost nothing to do with Harry Potter except that it was at a library and it was a magic show.  I picked Adam up from camp and we dropped our kids off at our friends Jen and Dave's house and WE went to see TDKR together, so Adam spent 6 hours watching the same movie, and he had a total of 2 hours of sleep in a 48 hour period lol.

Saturday I went shopping again with Hannah and then we dropped the girls off to Sheena so we could go see the musical Memphis. It was amazing! We thought it was the best of the season (The Color Purple, Mary Poppins, and The Million Dollar Quartet were the others) and look forward to the next season of the Smith Center starting with Wicked! So counting the temple the previous week Adam and I enjoyed THREE dates together. It was fabulous. After the musical, Sheena and Craig dropped of their boy Landon (who is turning 2 just a coupled days after Hannah's birthday THIS WEEK). He is a doll and both Hannah and Paige love him. He's really REALLY smart like Hannah. I had him do the ABCs and after he clapped for me.

I guess the biggest thing this week, is that I contacted Adam's biological father on FB and asked him some questions about him, his family, and his ancestry. It's been so cool to find out about the family that shares Adam's blood, for example, Adam is the great great great great grandson of Edwin Whiting who joined the church in 1838, baptized by Thomas Marsh and first councilor to Issac Morley. It's been cool getting acquainted with the Whiting side. Little known fact. Adam and Austin were born Adam and Austin Whiting and were adopted by Terry Turney in I think 1986 or 87. They have three half brothers and one half sister on their dad's side so technically we are half aunts and uncles already to two girls and one boy (I think? Maybe just two girls). It's awesome to discover your roots!

Hawaii Trip Itinerary

Two weeks to Hawaii everyone!!!! I’m so excited and I think I speak for everyone when I say to Mom and Dad THANK YOU for planning and financing this awesome vacation.  I think our Hawaii meeting was very productive and made me even more excited to be in paradise =)

Here is the itinerary that I wrote up during the meeting:

July 31^st: Depart Visalia at 4:00PM

August 1^st: 1:55 AM Departure from LAS airport

                      5:00 AM Arrival to Hawaii

                      6:00 AM Car Rental/ Breakfast

We need to pick up the Polynesian Cultural Center tickets on the base and grocery shop at Costco. Don’t forget to send your top three meals to Kris so that she can get the menu planned. We’ll need to go to the resort to drop off luggage and make room in the cars.

Activities:

                Swap Meet

                Hanging out at the Resort/Beach

August 2^nd:

                      8:00 AM Depart for the Temple

                      9:00-11:00 Temple/Lunch

                      12:00- Polynesian Cultural Center

Activities:

                Temple Visitor Center

Temple sealings

                Polynesian Cultural Center http://www.polynesia.com/

August 3^rd:

                     No specified timetable this day

Activities:

                Polycanyon Lookout

                Blowhole http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/oahu/halona-blowhole/

                Base Beach (Lunch @ the beach)

August 4^th:

                     No specified timetable this day

Activities:

                Dole Plantation http://www.dole-plantation.com/

                Maunawili Falls Hike (Plan to bring hiking shoes/bug spray)

August 5^th:

                     8:00 AM Sacrament Meeting

                     10:00 AM Pearl Harbor Tour

Happy 15^th Birthday to Aubrey and Happy 6^th anniversary to Adam and Melissa

Activities:

                Pearl Harbor http://www.pearlharboroahu.com/

                Birthday Party

August 6^th:

                    No time but we need to start the day fairly early

Activities:

                Hunama Bay http://www.gohawaii.com/oahu/regions-neighborhoods/honolulu/hanauma-bay

                Diamondhead hike http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/hikediamondhead.html

August 7^th:

                   No specified timetable

Activities:

                Base Beach

August 8^th

                  6:00 AM Return Cars

                  7:55 AM Departure to LAS

                  4:35 PM Arrival to LAS

                  Say Aloha =( and drive to Visalia/Utah

                 

DON’T FORGET:

Again, please send your menu ideas to Kris so she can plan all the ingredients

Each couple owes $220 dollars for the Polynesian Cultural Center and Pearl Harbor Tickets

Melissa needs to call ahead about the hikes and get all the information

Pack a small flashlight, bug repellant, and hiking shoes for our two hikes

Polynesian Cultural Center: $100 per person

Pearl Harbor: $9.00 per person

Bellows Beach:

Double Kayak: $25.00 from 10:00-4:00

Single Kayak: $20 from 10:00-4:00

Snorkeling Sets: $8 a day

Boogie Boards: $4 a day

               

A Week in the Life {7/9-7/15}

This week was a very special week! Allie and Jeffery Elms were sealed together on July 14th.

We had a few days at home to catch up on reading (we are at 83 books), play with each other, and go to a puppet show at the library. Both girls went crazy for the puppet show (especially Paige, it was really sweet) and then we packed, cleaned up, and were off to California for the wedding.

The wedding week was great. On Wednesday we planned the Hawaii itinerary which got us all excited for the trip. We also had everyone take the color code which was super fun and interesting and we kept teasing Addison for being such a yellow (I'm a yellow too).

Thursday Allie went to the temple to receive her endowment and it was very sweet and wonderful to be there with her. We went out to Taco Bell afterwords and it was fun to be there with Jeff's awesome family.

Friday I spent the day baking for the wedding luncheon and we had the rehearsal dinner at Amigos.

 I told them to make a face like they are getting married tomorrow

Saturday we got up early and I went and got ready for the day with Allie in her room. Her sweet friend Katie helped me do my make up and I explained to her about the temple and a little bit of what would happen. While I was talking to Katie picturing Allie and Jeff I totally started crying unexpectedly haha you can imagine me the rest of the day...The sealing was one I'll never forget, it was so beautiful and wonderful. Jeff and Allie were so sweet with each other and Adam and I both got the impression that they were made for each other. There was so much love and happiness. Allie looked so beautiful (which you can see in the pictures) and it was a perfect day.