Aquarium of the Pacific

For our family spring break "vacation" we spent an afternoon in Long Beach and visited the Aquarium of the Pacific. We enjoyed getting to know some of the amazing creatures that share this planet with us. Rebecca even had the courage to touch starfish, sting rays, sharks and sea urchins. Her other favorite thing were the Lorikeet birds. I enjoyed everything, but especially just getting out with my family.

Discovery Science Center

As part of our spring break activities we met up with one of Rebecca's West LA friends and went to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. We watched an awesome Bubble Show and got to try our hand at making big bubbles ourselves. We had a great afternoon.

Time warp

I was at Target in the movie section and the young saleswoman asked me if I was finding everything alright. I said: "Actually, I was wondering if you had Ben Hur?"

After seeing the look of bewilderment on her face I said, "You know, Ben Hur..., it's an old movie."

Target girl: "Oh, you mean like from the 80s and 90s?"

Me: "No, I mean REALLY old, like from the 50s!" (It was 1959 to be precise.)

Target girl (with an even greater bewildered look that anyone would watch anything from the 50s...did they even have movies back then?): "Oh, you'll find those kinds of movies in the corner on the back wall."

Sure enough, I went to the backwall to look for those REALLY old movies. I found them. "A River Runs Through It" (1992-yeah, that's really old), "Sense and Sensibility" (1995-another old movie...), and on and on....

If those are old movies, then I'm REALLY old and my parents must be ancient.

Conference Weekend

Growing up general conference was always a special weekend for me. The things I learned and heard at conference shaped my spiritual growth, feelings and testimony. We often lived in Europe where we had to drive further to watch conference and bring a picnic and stay all day long. We wouldn't get all of the sessions due to the time difference and I always remember hoping and praying we would get to hear Neal A. Maxwell and other favorites in the sessions that we actually got to listen to live. As a result I have very fond memories of family time at conference.

I wanted to start some family traditions for our little family to create happy memories of conference weekend for my children. I made a three ring binder with activities for Rebecca from a website called sugardoodle.net. She enjoyed her special binder and it helped her focus more than she has in the past.
Sunday morning I made a special breakfast "Creme Brule French Toast" that Rebecca and I had prepared the night before while daddy was at his meeting. (Thanks Katie for the recipe).
In between sessions we snacked on hummus, chips, guacamole and other yummy light things.
It was a happy day and it felt special. I loved the talks I heard and hope to be able to implement the things I learned.

Sunday morning breakfast



Playing outside in between sessions-isn't having a big sister fun?

Joseph always folds his arms for prayers lately. He used to fold his hands but then he discovered he could fold his arms (just barely) and is very proud of that fact.

Does anyone else have fun conference traditions to tell me about? Memories from growing up or things you're doing with your own family? Let me know-I'd love to hear.

A perfect party for a perfect 2 year old

For Joseph's 2nd birthday we had a perfect party. Grandma Darlene joined us for pizza, a couple presents (I put a chocolate egg in a couple of the bags just to have more things to open and make it feel more festive), ice cream cake from Trader Joe's and some free Ralph's balloons. It was great. Joseph was too shy to blow out the candles but he LOVED opening presents. He was excited no matter what it was. He just loved the idea of opening things. His perfect birthday made up for a rough day the day before where we were at the doctor for his well check up and discovered he had a fever and a full blown ear infection. Poor guy. It kind of makes you feel badly as a mom that you didn't even notice that he had a fever.

Happy Birthday Joseph!
I love you because you are cute and cuddly and fold your arms when you pray. I love how you love to read, drive your "bloom bloom," and make noises for cars and animals and "guys." I love how you say: "Why?" "Oh" and "O-kay." I love that you clap when prayers are done. I love your tender heart, your sense of humor and your kind ways. I love how well you get along with your sister. I love that you are a part of my life and heart forever.
I love you because you're mine.

9-1-1...remembering two years ago

We packed in as many activities as possible right before Joseph was born, including "Wicked," Disneyland, and a Star Wars exhibit at the Science Center.

Yes, that is me with an extra 50 pounds and a chubby stormtrooper!

On Joseph's due date (of all days!) I woke up in the middle of the night with contractions and waited to see if they were real. After awhile I decided they were and told Warren to get ready. We were literally ready to walk out the door when something changed and I said, "call 9-1-1, we're not going anywhere any more." My mom rolled up her sleeves and with great enthusiasm started getting things ready with the words: "We're having a baby!"

Warren was on the phone with the dispatcher and told him the team was parked in front of the wrong house. Shortly after that one Firefighter from the Los Angeles Fire Department came sauntering up the stairs when he realized this was real and not some paranoid, over-dramatic West LA mom imagining things and then the whole team came running up the stairs leaving their firetruck and ambulance in front for all to wonder about. They walked over to me and right then and there helped welcome Joseph into the world. This had not been the plan and I was in total shock. But other than that it was a wonderful experience and really couldn't have been any better. From the time I woke up to the time I had Joseph was a total of 2 hours. This was our firefighter's second delivery ever. It is quite rare for them to deliver babies in their neck of the woods. You could see the relief on their faces after it was all over.

Hooray- We did it! We have a baby!

We still went to the hospital where Joseph was under observation and on antibiotics due to a high white blood cell count.

A few days after we got home we joined both sets of Grandparents at the Getty Villa in Malibu.

When Joseph was three months old we returned to the fire station to say thank you!

Delivery number 2!

Deep in conversation with Daddy at an early age

Good pals with Sister from the start

Always a happy, sweet boy.

Early excursions to Disneyland

A trip to Kirtland, Ohio



You bring us Joy

Kauai 2008

Surfin' safari



My little "helper"

Thanks for 2 wonderful years, Joseph. Here's to many, many more...

FHE and chocolate chips for lunch

Inspired by my friend Queen Scarlett's postings about her family home evening lessons the last few weeks I decided to post our FHE activities as well. Since next weekend is general conference we had a mini lesson on who is who in the First Presidency and talked about following the prophet. We began by singing that all time favorite song "Follow the Prophet" taking turns being the leader and following each other around the room. Joseph didn't want to stop. He never wants to stop. Singing that is. But for Rebecca's sake we actually do some talking and discussing. In the end we ate our freshly baked snickerdoodles (thanks QS for the idea) which I have never made before in my life. We also shared some with the neighbors and brought some to a family who has helped us with airport pickup recently. The cookies were delicious. But I think I passed on my chocolate chip cookie gene to my son, because the next day around 11:30 he wanted a cookie. I offered him one of the snickerdoodles to no avail. Chocolate chip cookies is what he wanted. But since I didn't have any and wasn't about to make any right then and he was so grumpy about it I gave him a bowl full of chocolate chips and let him go at it. And obviously he didn't want lunch after that. There are days you just got eat chocolate chips for lunch. And it's okay.