A Trip With My Honey

In case any of you were wondering how all the sudden I had time to completely change the face/functionality of my blog...well, here's why:

Trev and I took a trip to California for 5 days by ourselves!  No little bambinos...so one of the things I did was FINALLY update my blog! :)

Last month, Trev and I had our 9th anniversary and we wanted to take a trip somewhere to celebrate...so when we found out that Trev had a work meeting in Orange County, California we started planning. :)  His meeting was Tues - Thurs, so I flew out Wed to meet him and we stayed over the weekend and came home the following Mon.  So 6 days, no kids, just us...amazing!

(my mom, mom-in-law, and friend took shifts watching the kids at our house - so nice!) 

Here's what we did:

Day 1: Flew to Anaheim by myself.  It felt weird being alone since that is a rather seldom occurance in my life right now.  I read on the plane.  Wrote in my journal.  Listen to my iPod.  Arrived.  Picked up my car.  Drove to hotel to meet my Mr.  Picked him up (pouring rain by the way) and went to Ruth's Chris for dinner.  It was delish and now I get all the hype about that place.  Saw the Duke Basketball team at dinner.  They are freakishly tall.

Day 2:  Trev finished his meeting.  I stayed in bed until 10 am (this is when all the blogging updates happened :)).  Soaked in the peace and quiet.  Blogged some more.  Read.  Trev came back.  We went running and to the gym.  Showered, then headed to the ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney to watch BYU and "the Jimmer" take on Florida.  We ate yummy food.  Watched BYU lose. :(  But got to talk to some guys about the Church and BYU standards (they wanted to know about Brandon Davies' suspension).  Great conversation and fun to meet new people with different stories to tell.

The highlight of the night for me was watching my Honey taking the high-road when the Cougars lost.  Instead of acting disappointed, he just said, "Well, it was a good run."  He's come a long way... :)  After the loss, we headed to our hotel we would stay at the rest of the weekend.  The Marriott Renaissance Club in Aliso Viejo.  One of my fav parts of the trip was this place.  It was gorgeous.  Comfy. Half-hotel, half-high-end health club and spa.  It was great.  Had a pools, spa, hot tub, exercise areas, raquetball courts, and even a full gym for bball.  Pick up games for Trev.  Awe-some and fun!

One bad thing.  Bum weather.  Rain.  Cold.  But this place made it just fine.  We had tons to do even on the cold days.  One great thing.  Trev told them it was our anniversary trip so they sent us Martinellis and Chocolate-Covered Strawberries one night AND they gave us vouchers to eat breakfast in their super yum restaurant EVERY DAY we were there!  It was awe-some!  Plus it was only about 20 minutes from Laguna Beach and in a very up-scale area.  Loved it!

Day 3:  More rain. Raquetball with my honey.  Saw the movie "Just Go With It."  Love Jen Aniston...she is my fav actress.  Rain stopped.  Beach time.  Cold.  Walked on the boardwalk.  Ate at Ruby's Cafe for dinner.  So cold I actually ordered hot chocolate to warm up.  Yum clam chowder.  Ate too much and regretted it.  Kind of a chill day but nice.

Day 4:  Ran 12 miles along the Pacific Coast Highway.  Beautiful, but pretty tough.  Wouldn't do it again, but glad to say I did it.  Whale-watching in Newport Beach (Balboa Island).  Rode in our car over the water on a car ferry.  Adorable little island.  Vintage Cali. 

One of the funnest things we did.  Saw 3 whales, about 50 dolphins, and 10 sea lions.  Amazing to see these amazing sea creations.  Incredible experience.

Finished out the day with a 3-course Fondue Meal.  Wow.  Delish.  Scared a 90 year old man with the flash on my camera while trying to capture some memories.  Felt bad.

Love this man.

Day 5:  Sunday.  Attended church.  Neat to see the closeness of the members in the ward.  You could feel their love for one another.  A true ward family.  Different experience to be in Sacrament meeting without kids.  It was peaceful, but made me miss the kids.  Found myself staring at kids around me.  Hope they weren't freaked out.  Came back, got changed and headed out to go on a light hike.  Got lost finding the trailhead.  Found the trailhead.  Found ourselves on an intense hike.

Looks nice enough right?  Led to mud, decent incline, then this:

At the top, found where we were supposed to start.  Top of the World Park.  Found the "mild" hike we were looking for.  Wound up hiking about 6 miles.  Legs sore the next day.  The view...totally worth it.

Last Day:  Pack up and head home.  Slept a little on the flight.  Spent the rest of the time reflecting on how rejuvenated I felt and how excited I was to see the kids.  Thought of the time with my honey.  Sweet memories.  Made me excited for the time when it will just be us again.  Don't want it soon, but looking forward to the future with my Mr.  Love him dearly.

Back Home:  We told (bribed) the kids that if they were good listeners to their sitters that we would take them to do something fun the night we got home.  They received excellent marks and so we took them to see the movie, "Rango."  Strange flick.  It was the little girls' first trip to the movies.  They lasted just about as long as the huge tub of popcorn did, and then they were off exploring.  I took them out with about 30 minutes left and just enjoyed watching them run around the lobby.  It was actually fun to see them in action. 

So glad to be back with my kids, and to have our family all back together.  Loved the time away, but it's true what they say, "absence makes the heart grow fonder."  I feel very blessed. 

Our new Child Labor Laws

In January I went to this Enrichment night...which led me to reading a book...which led me to attending a class on Teaching your Kids to Work using Jobs...which led me to start my kids doing jobs!  That is the short version, my journal has the long version if anyone is interested...but sufficeth it to say that I have felt strongly impressed by the Spirit that this year I am to focus my energies on teaching my kids.  One of the areas that I have been impressed to teach them is to WORK.

My kids are actually great workers already.  Morgan has a God-given quality in her that I believe all women posess...a strong desire/concern to help others.  I am so blessed to have a helpful oldest child because the Lord knew how badly I would need it.  She helps me so much and her siblings.

Jake is also a great worker.  He actually really enjoys it!  I have seen this quality in him working along side his dad in the yard and in finishing our basement.  Trev is a very hard worker and I think this is a trait Jake picked up from him.  They both love working and especially love working together. 

So when I started feeling the prompting that I needed to teach them how to work, it was more that I needed to encourage/develop in a structured way the traits they both already posess.  I needed to encourage them to work and find the joy that lies therein.

So began our "Jobs" system.  Each morning both M&J are in charge of getting up, getting themselves dressed, putting away their jammies, making their beds, and tidying their rooms.  Once those things are completed we have breakfast and family scripture study before the kids head off to school.  Morgan is also in charge of making her own lunch and she also helps with breakfast prep.  She even has an alarm clock and wakes up on her own at 6:40 a.m.! 

Once they are both home from school we have "Homework and Jobs."  They each have to complete 2 jobs before they can go play.

Here are just some of the jobs they know how to do:

1.  Load/Empty dishwasher

2.  Dust

3.  Household trash

4.  Tidy rooms/backyard

5.  Sanitize bathroom counters

6.  Sort laundry/fold socks

7. Hang/Put away their own laundry

Then before dinner we have the kids do "Team Tidy" where they go around the house and tidy up.  

We are still in the beginning stages of this process but Trev and I could not be more excited about it.  The kids are helping, it gives us the joy of working alongside our kids, and most importantly, has given us a specific way to teach our kids to be independent, responsible, and find the joy found in working hard!  And...the best part is that they enjoy it!  I love it when you can see without a shadow of a doubt the Lord guiding you as parents of these sweet children of His.

So here are just a couple of pictures of Jake putting away the dishes.  Notice how much fun he is having??!!!  I'm not even be facetious...he really loves it!

A post about Jake would not be complete without this face...

And while Jake is putting away dishes...Abby and Claire play on the table. :)  Not sure how that connects to jobs but they were being so cute I had to snap a few shots. :)  There "jobs" are picking up toys and putting them back in the bins...that's all they are in charge of for now. :)

   This is a little shot of the homework portion of the system...I LOVE that I don't have to worry about forgetting homework assignments anymore because they are already figured into our day.  Most parents already do this, and now I am seeing why...it works. :)

At school, Morgan did a report on Pandas.  She was seriously obsessed and wanted to read EVERYTHING possible about them for her report.  She has an excellent memory so when she showed me her completed report I wasn't even suprised at how good it was.  She is a great learner. 

A word to the wise, given to me by the wise...encourage/make your kids work.  There is so much joy and satisfaction to be found in seeing the fruits of your own hard work.  Don't rob your children of that satisfaction.

Has it been that long already? :)

I thought about feeling bad that it is already March and I still haven't posted...but then again, I have 4 little ones that keep me "hopping" (like that Easter reference? :), and so I NEED to not feel guilty.  So no guilt, just memories for this post. :)

Recap: I will start with a little recap of what we have been up to.  January was normal January.  Cold, back to school from Xmas break, breaking in all the new toys from Xmas, and the girls getting sick. :)  Unfortunately, getting sick is somewhat common for my little girls.  So I have come to expect it, I guess.  I also let Morgan have a L.G.N.O (little girls' night out) party at our house.  There were about 13 little girls, pj's, sleeping bags, pillow pets, pizza, popcorn, Despicable Me Movie, and loads of giggles.  They had a blast and it was a great way to break up a boring January. :)

February was also pretty typical...it's always a crazy month for us.  We have Valentine's Day, President's Day Weekend, Morgan's Birthday, Trev and my anniversary, and my Birthday.  It is always very fun but also very busy.  Plus it's all crammed into the shortest month of the year.  I have pics to post of all the events...we'll see if I get them up or not.  Cross your fingers. :)  If not, at least I have them for my memories. :)  No guilt, right??!

Of all the fun things we did in February, probably all our favorites was we took a trip down to Phoenix, Arizona.  We were trying to go visit Trev's sister Megan and her cute boys, but they wound up coming to Utah at the same time...so they were nice enough to let us stay at their house! :)  We took the kids and my little sister Jessica.  It was so great!  We went to parks, fed ducks, rode scooters, ran, ate out, went to movies, rode a carousel, and even got Morgan's ears pierced!  It was tons of fun and we can't wait to go again...next time when we can actually hang out with Megan's fam. :)

So now we are into March.  It's been a good month...but again, more sickness for the girls. :(  In fact, 2 weeks ago they both had ear infections, and RSV!  Don't worry, it wasn't so bad...just felt bad for them.  And a little for me. :)

So that is where we have been.  Just normal family life.  Oh and did I mention, I am training to run another marathon? :)  Well, it's true.  I have been training since the end of January with 3 of my girlfriends.  It's going well, and I am enjoying it.  My race is on May 21st...Jake's bday. :)  Don't worry we will be celebrating it before...the only thing I am going to want to do after running 26.2 miles is come home and relax. :)  Wish me luck. :)

Enough talk...let's see some pics!

In January my little sister, Jessica, and I took the kids to a Winter Wonderland night at the Dinosaur Museum by our house.  The museum does a themed family night each Monday and we have gone to quite a few of these over the years.  They are really cute, the kids love them, and they are all free with your membership!  It's a perfect set-up for us.  So this particular night it was all about snow.  They had "Ice fishing", "Snowball Throwing", "Snowman-Making", and even a hunt for bundled up dinos.  The kids always love these nights and it was so fun to have my sister there to enjoy the festivities with us...plus it's always nice to have an extra set of hands around to grab bolting children. :)  So without further adue...here is our Night at the Museum...

   Morgan cathing her first fish!

Jake throwing "snowballs"

Collecting Prizes!  Gotta love that!

Hunting for "warm" dinos!

Notice the gloves and scarf?  She did!

Last, not certainly not least, making little snowmen out of cookies, frosting, pretzels, and chocolate chips!



Some customers were only interested in eating the cookies. :)  That's my girls!