My 30th Birthday

Ahhh, well it's official. I'm 30. Thanks to all my friends (who preceeded me in turning 30) for the warm welcome to the 30's!

It's been a fun 24 hours. My family came over last night for some great Dad's BBQ steaks and Lindy made homemade chocolate cake with homemade frosting - YUM!

Tucker took the girls birthday shopping for me, so I opened their gifts. Tucker picked out some comfy pants, a cute shirt, new sunglasses, got me a new watch....the girls drew me cute cards and picked out a light saber for me (long story)! It was very thoughtful and they were SOOOO excited to help me open the gifts they helped pick out.

Then tonight, my mom and I took Jordyn to her piano lessons and she took us out to eat afterwards at California Pizza Kitchen, followed by yummy Cold Stone - then I came home to some delicious brownies from Beth and some Birthday cards and messages. So thank you all for helping me feel special on my birthday!

I'm Still 29 for 24

So, I still have about 24 hours of being in my 20's! Woohoo, party it up, right? Yes, Monday is my big 3-0 birthday - my "golden birthday" (turning 30 on the 30th). Although it does SOUND strange to say I'm 30, I'm okay with it since my life is pretty much how I expected it to be at this point - and I'm happy! Anyway, Tucker planned a fun little *surprise* dinner for me tonight with some of our friends. He was being all sneaky and I actually DON'T like surprises because I'm a huge planner. So he took me to get a new watch (which is what I wanted for my bday) and then we went to Red Robin and Lindy & Mike, Sarah & John, Kandelyn & Rich and Beth (Dane is out of town) were there waiting for us (I forgot to take a pic). It was a fun little surprise - Thanks Tucker! Afterward, Tucker and I went to grab some chocolate covered strawberries at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - yummmy!

Family Get-Away

We had a fun four day family get away this past week. Our good friends, Beth and Dane, invited us to stay with them in their Newport Beach timeshare, and we thought it sounded like a great idea. We had lots of fun! We hung out on the beach, ate some great food and went to Disneyland. The kids all got along great and kept every moment quite lively! Here are (lots of) pics...

We were staying close to where Carly and Alyson live, so we went to church with them and stopped by to see the Newport Beach LDS Temple - very beautiful

This was too funny, we were hoping someone would have extra tickets to sell/giveaway, so we made this sign and Tucker & Dane swallowed their pride and walked around with it for a while (no such luck, we spent the small fortune to get into Disneyland for the day).

We were quite the "wide load" walking around the park!

Unfortunately it was too busy for us to meet the princesses, but we caught glimpse of a couple during a show - here's Belle in her beautiful dress!

Lexi's not so sure of Mickey :-)

Peyton was such a good baby all day (especially considering she was cutting her first tooth!)

Tucker's training her early on the Camelbak

Minnie Mouse! (Lexi keeps correcting me that it's just "Minnie" with NO "Mouse" attached)

Look how cute these girls are with their long ponytails. This is on It's a Small World.

I convinced Tucker to try the Mei Tai wrap for a while. He was a good sport :-) Looks good, huh? What a Dad!

It was great weather and the kids had a ton of fun on Balboa Beach!

Dane and Beth, Lindsay, Jacob and Luke

Technical Difficulties

We just got back from a little vacation (I will post soon), but I first have to share my technical difficulties with you! I have been obsessively checking Karli's blog all week to see if there is any adoption news, and 9 days had gone by w/o any update on her blog...so I finally emailed her and was like "I don't want to be nosey but I am SO curious if you have any news on the adoption", and she wrote me back saying "yes, there has been a ton happening and you can check our blog for all the details, etc". So, for the millionth time this week, I checked her blog and there was nothing new! I started thinking...and I realized that none of my friends had posted in the past week either....hmmmm, I thought, maybe it's my computer? So I deleted all of my temporary internet files and POOF! Everyone had lots of fun blogs to read from the past week! Hooray! So, to all my fellow bloggers, consider this my comment on your posts! :-)

Clips and Smiles

Albeit ever so tiny, I managed to get Pey's first little clip into her hair :-)

Could she possibly smile any bigger? I just love it!

Oh Lexi

I love my Lexi and she, apparently, loves her "soccer mom" (oh yeah, that's me alright...). Oh my, this child certainly has her opinions (and ALWAYS has). So we were at Old Navy the other day and she saw this "I love my soccer mom" shirt on the sale rack and HAAADDD to have it. Now, I don't typically comply with every single desire Lexi has, but on this particular occasion, it was worth the $3.99 to avoid a huge melt-down. Little did I know that this would be the shirt she would insist on wearing EVERY day since we got it! What? Ugh. I have to hide it or throw it in the washer if I don't want her to wear it...and she will ONLY wear it with these pink capri's. Like I said, I love my little Lexi in spite of - or because of - her definite opinions.

Absolute Heaven

I am not even KIND OF exaggerating when I say that there are NO WORDS to adequately describe the Chocolate Covered Strawberries from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Seriously, if you have never had one, you need to run, not walk, to your local RMCF and get one NOW! A few months ago, my sister Lindy introduced them to me, and I was like "sure, i like chocolate covered strawberries, let's get one". But nothing could have prepared me for the way it melted in my mouth and....mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. And the price is heafty, like $3 per strawberry, but I promise it's worth it.

Piano Recital

Jordyn had a small piano recital last night to celebrate finishing their first piano book for their course. She was great! She always gets extremely nervous and says she WON'T do it, but once she's up there, she plays great and has a big smile the whole time!

*For journaling purposes* she played two solos (Squirrels Lullaby and Tug-of-War), and they sang three group songs with actions (Mary Had a Little Lamb with solfege, Whale's Sneezes and American Kids).

Cute-ness

When Tiffany was here, we did a whirlwind run to Kiddie Kandids and snapped a few cute photos! It was a crazy event overall, but worth it since the pics turned out. Lexi stayed true to her I-hate-getting-my-picture-taken drama, but we persevered till the end (although she looks a bit stoned in some of the shots)! Look at the cute-ness!

I'm a Lucky Gal

Yep, I'm a lucky gal! Tiffany and Eliza visited us for a few days! We were Tiff's first "guinea pigs" as far as trips with Eliza go (well, besides the flight home China). Tiffany is a great mommy and Eliza is a beautiful little girl! We hung out a lot at home because with 4 kids and planning things in between naps and tantrums and illnesses....anyway, there were moments of craziness (for me and Tiff!) but we made fun memories and finally had time to relax when all the kids went to bed at night! Thanks for coming Tiff! We miss you two already!

The Gazebo Jumps Over the Fence

Sounds like the title to a nursery rhyme, right? Nope, it's what happened to us today! Oh my gosh, it was bad. We just bought one of those build-it-yourself metal framed gazebos from Home Depot last week to add more shade to our backyard. We've bought cheaper ones in the past that did not last, so this one was a little bit nicer. We even anchored it down with cinder blocks because our cheaper ones from the past actually did blow over the fence.

Anyway, today we had some crazy winds here. I looked out the back door so see the gazebo leaning into the fence with the canopy whipping around in the wind. It didn't look good, but I secured the cinder blocks again and figured the fence would hold it. NOPE. A few minutes later, I looked outside JUST IN TIME to see the huge 10 foot by 10 foot gazebo blow right OVER the fence! It was sort of a surreal sight! I ran over to the neighbor's house and she answered with a look on her face like she immediately knew why I was there. She said the loud noise freaked her out!

This long story concludes with my (really nice) neighbor and I spending like 30 minutes - in the WILD winds - taking the gazebo apart so we could get it back over our fence. It broke a bunch of her rose bushes and trees, but how LUCKY we are that it didn't break her window!!!

Anyone want to come build one that is bolted to our cement and our house so it actually CAN'T blow over the fence?

Easter Festivities

We had a nice, calm Easter weekend. We colored eggs, the Easter Bunny visited, we did our (new) traditional egg competition (Mom won!!), had the BEST bbq ribs on earth (by the bbq 'pro' Gpa Blasco), and I made really yummy sugar cookies - so we all gained a few pounds for sure!

Here are some pics of the girls' cute sailor dresses (coordinated by Gma Blasco, of course!). They looked so dang cute in them! They even had beautiful petticoats underneath to top it all off

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The only downfall to the weekend (and I'm writing this down for journaling purposes so I can track it) is that my face swelled with some sort of wierd allergy/hives that I get every two years or so. This time I was so thankful it was only my eyes (last time it was my entire face). It is so RED, itchy, uncomfortable and swollen and it lasts for like 5 days and NO allergy medication or steroid on the earth has ever helped. So, it remains a mystery - an annoying one too.

My "Little" Bro is 16!

I can't believe Ryan is 16! He got his driver's permit today and he was VERY ecstatic about that! I made him a cake - my attempt at an XBOX cake. Isn't he cute?! Happy Birthday Ryan!

Through the Eyes of a 5 Year Old

Conversation the other night as Jordyn got into bed...

J: Mom, when you and Daddy got married, were you asleep and then he kissed you and you woke up and got married?

Me (confused at first): Ummm......oh (smile) No sweetie, that was just for Snow White.

J: No, it was for Sleeping Beauty too Mom.

Me: Okay, that's true. But no, that didn't happen with Mommy and Daddy. We talked about getting married for a long time before it happned.

J (a little dissapointed): Did you dance before you got married?

Me: We danced AFTER we got married.

J (big grin): Oh mom, I want to get married so bad!


This type of thing is a common topic around our house. So I was thinking about it and feeling a little guilty that my kids know SOOOO much about EVERY Princess and her "story", but can't quote the scriptures or don't know the president of the USA, etc. Why can't they make a kids version of the scriptures - but all in Princess Parables? And along this same thought...why can't they market Princess Apples and Squash? Why not Princess Wheat Chex? It always has to be fruit snacks and the way tooooo sugary cereal they market to kids! (by the way, you could substitute princess for anything kids love - Dora, Thomas, Spiderman, etc).

Anyway, cute conversations and a little note to self to teach my kids that there is a world outside Cinderella or Ariel! But I am trying: We have been talking about stars lately and this week the girls memorized all the planets names in order!

Happy 5th Birthday Jordyn!!

Today was Jordyn's 5th birthday! What a big girl! It was so cute to see HOW excited she was about the day! It made me want to make it as fun as possible for her (which was hard since her birthday party wasn't till 3:00 and she and Lexi decided to fight A TON today). So, she awoke to a present by her bedroom door, I made her chocolate chip muffins for breakfast, she had a special new dress with a special "birthday girl" ribbon, we watched the videos of when she was a baby, and then she had a party at the bowling alley with some friends and family.

It all turned out very fun and I think the kids all had a great time! As we were watching the home videos of what life was like 5 years ago today, it made me realize HOW MUCH happens in such a short amount of time!!! I even think Tucker and I looked so much younger then....I guess kids age you! It was a little sad when, as we were watching the video when I was in the hospital before Jordyn was born, Jordyn asked why I was sad and crying. I tried to explain that she was going to be born WAYYYYY too early and Mommy was scared. She understands a little more each year of her "story". I think it will be special to her someday. Anyway, Happy Birthday Jordyn! We love you so much!!!

Look at that cute girl!

Turning "5"!!

The whole gang at the party

I want a ball!!!

Check out that stance!

All the kids havin' fun!