Ammon's Hockey Games

We loved going to Ammon's hockey games.  Most were late at night so it would just be me and the boys.

Ice Skating

Ever since Ammon moved in the kids have been dying to go ice skating with him.   There were a few hurdles - first off ice skating is like a million dollars!  holy moly.  Second - Ammon was rarely home - and I felt like we needed 4 "adults" to help with the 4 kids.  Well - Ammon's dad, John, came to town to watch some of Ammon's games and since HE is the one that taught Ammon to skate we figured we were in great hands.

Ammon and John helping with skates.

The kids all actually did great.  By the end they were all skating independently - Megan was the most timid of the bunch.

Brock was off and skating in just a few minutes.

And Miss Madison all but refused to be helped or use the walker - and she did great - besides Brock she was the first one to skate independently and she would got so fast!

(she is getting up after a fall by-herself)

I love skating with this guy - he actually loves to skate and did quite a bit growing up.  We did a lot of skating while we were dating - even on some romantic out door skating rinks!

I am glad we finally got to go skating with Ammon - it would have been a shame had we not - plus he and John we great teachers!

Valentines

So we got home from Disneyland late Saturday night.  And on Sunday morning Jason had to leave to got to Boston for a whole week (praise him even more for getting everything done and cleaned before he left - he is an angel!).  Well, Tuesday was Valentines day and we had to get all the boxes made and Valentines addressed.  Now a super duper woman would have gotten all that done before we left for Disneyland - but I am a strange mix of planned/organized/ and super duper procrastinator.  I have never done anything several weeks in advanced.  But I DID buy their Valentines before we left for Disneyland - which honestly made me feel like super mom - I honestly thought to myself "look at me buying Valentines in January - I am amazing!"  ha

So on Sunday afternoon after church I made all the kids address their valentines.  This is the first year all four of them had Valentines to make.  It was quite the scene.

Megan and Madison had to make their own boxes - and thanks to my friend who had an extra set - Megan put together this castle!  Wow - so cute.  Madison also made one - I thought this picture was of both boxes - sad that you only see a corner of Madison's - but you kind of get the gist - white covered box decorated with stickers and paint dots (about on par with our usual boxes).  PRAISE Brock and Noah's teachers for making their boxes at school - I love her even more now!

Valentines morning I made these really Pinterest worthy ;) pink heart pancakes.

Hmmm... weird mis-placed picture... I also made chicken broth later that day. (I think I was sending this picture to Jason to show him how I loved using my apron)

In the morning I had decorated their bathroom mirror with what I love about all of them.

Ha - this is the quality of mom I am.  I spelled Madison's name wrong!  I didn't even notice - she did.  I guess I started writing Maddie but then switched it to Madison.  So funny.

Apron

My Minnie Mouse apron Jason bought me.  I LOVE it.  I have wanted a cute new apron for a while - I am trying to wear an apron every time I cook or clean to try to spare my clothes all the grease and bleach stains - but I wanted something cute.  I wish it had a larger pocket in the front - but it makes me happy to wear it and it reminds the family of our trip everyday!

Rain forest Cafe

On Thursday after the beach we went back to the hotel and went swimming.  The weather was starting to turn cold, windy, and rainy again but we got a good hour or two out of it.  Ashley and I sat in the lounge chairs and read books and talked while the kids played in the pool and hot tub while Jason went back to our hotel room to get caught up on his work email.   

Then we walked back down to downtown Disney and went to the Rain forest Cafe with Jason's great uncle, Steve.  Steve lives in Anaheim and has "retired" with Disney - which is my opinion is the greatest thing ever.  To "retire" with Disney you have to have worked for them for 10 years and be at least 55 years old - when that happens you get in to ALL Disney and Disney World parks free for the rest of your life and also 3 people in free everyday - you also get discounts on all Disney hotels and restaurants.  That sounds like its worth 10 years of work!  He was kind enough to come every morning to get 3 of us in  for free - so to thank him we took him out do dinner.

THANKS Steve!

Rain Forest Cafe is really cool and a whole adventure in and of itself.

We spoiled the kids (and me) one last time and got this dessert volcano - it was delicious! 

The LAST walk back to the hotel was just too much for Noah to bear - we put all three younger kids in the stroller and headed out - they were all asleep by the time we got back to the hotel.

We woke up Friday morning - drove back to Vegas dropped Ashley off at the Vegas Airport - stayed with my sister, Katie, Friday night and woke up at 5:00 am Saturday morning and headed back to Denver.  That was a loooong drive.  We were grateful to be back home.    The best part about traveling with Jason is the speed in which he unpacks - in truth it is bitter sweet.  I am the type to want to just relax when I get home and put off unpacking - he will have none of that.  I curse him while we do it - but by Saturday night we were completely unpacked, cleaned out, and everything put away.  Laundry was done and coolers were cleaned out and the car was washed.  Then I LOVE him becasue it is all done.  

And that it it - who knew I could write 20 plus posts about a 5 day vacation - lets hope we never go to Europe for 2 weeks or anything!  

Thursday - Beach

We had planned on 3 days at  the parks but 4 days in California.  For a while I was unsure what we would do: a 4th day at the park, Lego Land, Sea World, Universal, the beach.  After some research we and thinking about what we would want to do on our 4th day we decided to check out some tidal pools.  It was cool - but not as cool as we thought it would be.  I think the kids would have liked it more if they were dressed warmer.  When we left our hotel in Anaheim it was 70 and sunny - by the time we got to the beach it was cold, windy, and very very foggy.  So foggy that we couldn't see the ocean from the road driving right next to the beach!

We saw a few cool creatures - but not a star fish which is what everyone was looking for.

After the tidal pools we headed over to the beach

It was cold, I didn't think they would want to get in the water.  But who can resist?  They never really got all the way in - just jumped waves.  There are a TON of pictures - but I was just in heaven watching my kids play in the ocean.  I just wanted to capture the joy of  the moment.

Jason and Megan COULD resist the ocean.  This is as close as Jason got (because he promised his dad he would) and Megan built sand castles the whole time.

I love their reflections in this one.

It was a great day at the beach.  Ashley sat up on a bench and just watched the ocean - the beach is her happy place - but more of a sunny hot beach.  And Jason hates sand and water - so it was just the 5 of us most of  the time.  I love hanging out with these kids - they really are my best friends most of the time.  A woman came up to us on the beach and asked if I was Mormon.  I thought it was strange becasue I hadn't talked to her or said anything to my kids about church stuff.  She said she assumed because of the 4 kids and how much joy I obviously had in motherhood.  It was a great compliment.  We talked for a while and she asked if she could take my picture for me with me and my kids.  When I got my phone back she had even taken pictures of me getting the kids ready for the pictures.  So funny.