Tepanyaki!

Tepanyaki is one of my favorite restaurants in Utah! If it weren't so expensive then we would go a few more times while we are there! There is always room for some goofyness with chop sticks!

Temple Square!

While we were in Utah, Ryeley and I took the kids to Temple Square. My kids love it there. They love the visitors center. Here is a picture of Ryeley and I AFTER the trip to the Temple and we had just decided to go to Tepanyaki, our favorite restaurant! We were REALLY excited! Curtis and Max! Max adores Curtis!
Outside the Conference Center!
Curtis and Gracie! I LOVE THIS PICTURE! They are so cute together!
Dash! He loves to pose!
Inside the visitors center. The Christus is one of MY favorite parts. It is beautiful!
Darby, Max and Dash.
Uncle Ryeley had to have a rest before we even started! I loved watching people walk by and watch him. It was hilarious!
Outside Temple square.
Salt Lake Temple doors. They are all sooo cute!

Video games for all

I loved this because Uncle Ryeley got down with all of them to play video games. Max is happy even just watching as long as there is a game involved!

Basket Ball with Uncle Ryeley

Uncle Ryeley took Max out to play some basketball. Max wanted to quit a few times because it was a little tuff and he wasn't making any shots. Uncle Ryeley stayed with him though and kept him motivated and he started making shots. After that that was all Max wanted to do. "Shoot hoops with Uncle Ryeley!" "Hey Uncle Ryeley, wanna go outside and shoot hoops with me?" It was sooo cute. Here he is with Spaghetti still on his face from dinner. He couldn't wait to get out there and get shootin!

Dinner with papa and Bingo

We went home to Utah for Spring Break! Here she is with Papa Gail (I think one of her favorite people if not her favorite) and they were eating spaghetti together. Juliet was feeding Bingo more that eating. Bingo LOVES spaghetti! "A bite for me and a bite for Bingo."

Uncle Jamie's Birthday!

We have a birthday dinner for you when it's your birthday. You get to pick the dinner and for Jamie's birthday he picked corned beef and cabbage. WHAT? I had never made that! It turned out super delicious and I hope he picks it again this year! It was pretty easy too! Here is Uncle Jamie blowing out his birthday candles! He is soooo goofy all the time that I don't know if he meant to make this face or if it was an accident! Here is Jamie showing off the gifts that the kids gave him. Max and Dash went into their toy box to pick something out for him. It was cute to see them give up their things and they were soooo excited to give it to him. Uncle Jamie is such a good sport! He was SOOOO EXCITED to get his gifts! (We did give him something else too....that we bought....for him....not out of the toy box!)
The kids made him cards and he wore the Chuckee Cheese Birthday Crown!
Dash tried and was VERY adamant about giving him his Bingo dog. (The dog he sleeps with every night and can't live with out!) Uncle Jamie was trying to talk him out of giving it to him. It was really a cute moment!
We sure love Uncle Jamie and don't know what we would do with out him here in California. He makes us laugh all the time! Sometimes the boys will ask if they can call him and have him come over! He is quick to give you a hug and always knows just the right thing to say! I love when it is his birthday because for a few months we are the same age and I am not the oldie moldy!

A visit from the Churchs'

Bret and Kelly Church and their kids came for a visit for spring break! We had a great time with them. One of our favorite things to do with a visitor is to take them to Third Street Prominade in Santa Monica. It is free (love that) and full of entertainment. It is just a couple blocks from Santa Monica pier. Their are tons of street performers and shops and food. This guy looks like a statue but if you put a dollar in his bucket he will move like a robot! I have actually seen him in a few shows on t.v. lately. These guys are my favorite. They are a group of dancers from all over. They are really good and super entertaining. At the end of their show they pull people up from the audience and Indi got picked. He was so much fun to watch and was actually pretty good!
Here they are lining up the audience participants. At the end they give the kids 1$ for helping out with the show. They are super funny. A whole section is them going around asking people for money. They will let you know if you spent enough or not.
Mommy and Dash waiting for the show to start!
Darby, Jada, and Indiana.
One of the performers doing one of his tricks!
Kel and Maverick! We loved having them come and visit. We always have tons of fun and tons of laughs with them!

L.A. Temple Family Home Evening

One night we decided to drive to the L.A. Temple for F.H.E. Just so the kids could see it. It was tons of fun even if they weren't even close to being reverent. Here they are towards the end of the trip. This picture says it all! Is Dash REALLY pulling faces? Yes, he is.
The grounds are amazing with beautiful flowers and amazing fountains. Even at night the Temple is gorgeous. The L.A. Temple is the second biggest temple in the world. Second to Salt Lake City. Salt Lake Temple has more underground footage making it the biggest. The first time B and I went to the L.A. Temple I was blown away at the enormity of the building. IT IS HUGE!
Juliet is hitching a ride with daddy. She looks so little in this picture to me! That's what I get for blogging backwards!

baby Juliet

I haven't blogged forever so now I have to play catch up before the holidays and the end of the year. SO we are going back in time! These were just some cute little pictures of Juliet in the front yard. It took her FOREVER to walk. She crawled faster than any baby I have ever seen. It didn't matter if she was on grass or cement in shorts or jeans! If we were in the front yard we had to be careful that she wouldn't crawl down the street on the sidewalk. Here she is discovering and taking apart the sprinklers! That's what happens when you are eye level with them! She would usually stop to pick a flower or a weed. It was generally to distract us so she could try to escape down the sidewalk!
"I'll just put this right back here and maybe no one will notice that I took it out!"
"Maybe I will be super cute and charming and they will drop their guards and I can make a crawl for it!" (She still tries this technique a lot.... it usually works!)

Movie in the Park with Nickelodeon

So one of the "perks" that we get for Brandon working at Nickelodeon is that they sometimes do SUPER FUN things for the family. This one is their "Movie in the Park Night"! The movie was "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Below is the ice cream sundae section! All you can eat by the way!
The candy and Chocolate fountains with fruit. They asked that you only take 2 boxes of candy. They were the BIG boxes so the kids thought that was amazing! It was free so I thought that was amazing!
They served dinner. The line was SUPER long! BUT THE FOOD WAS AMAZING! The executives of the company cooked all the food. I love that they did that for their employees. They also had horderves (SP?) while you stood in line! THEY WERE EVEN BETTER THAN THE DINNER!
Juice boxes and soda flowed freely! ALL THE DIET COKE YOU COULD DRINK! ahhhhh....
The movie screen on the side of the building and the super long line for dinner!
The menu!
2 of the Executives! They were all having a great time! Singing and laughing and yelling fun things out!
The ice cream sundaes. The boys were just about filled to the gills!
Time to crack open the candy!
Spongebob on the side of the building!
Darby was at a birthday party so she missed out BUT they sent home a chinese box full of candy for her! We had such a great time and I love that they take care of employees and their families! I can't wait for the Halloween party this year!

F.H.E. with Max

So tonight Max was in charge of the lesson. He was very excited. As dinner was coming to an end he excused himself and went to "prepare" a little bit. A few minutes later I saw him coming down the hall with their dry erase board and he was dressed in full church clothes. (He had changed out of pajamas...our after church attire.) Brandon and I just smiled at each other. I love that he was taking his job seriously. I love that he was following an example that Brandon has set. (Brandon changes his clothes when he gives a blessing or has priesthood duties.) I love that he wants to honor a priesthood that one day he will hold.

I don't know that this is the way he will choose to teach every time it is his turn. I am just grateful that for today we saw a sweet reverent boy that wanted to honor his Father in Heaven!

(this is the same kid that has the quote of the day below!) I say it all the time, they make me laugh and cry every day!

quote of the day!

So today I hear Darby yelling at Max to "GET OUT!" As I was feeding a whiny baby apple sauce and helping Dash with homework, I looked up to see Max running out of Darby's room with his undies (and only his undies) around his ankles! "MAX! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Max pulled up his britches and came into the dining room. "Why did Darby just yell at you?"

Max hung his head in shame, knowing he was busted, and said "I ran into her room with toilet paper in my butt and shook it at her." "I'm sorry mom."

I was staring at him with a stern face and tears in my eyes. Not tears of sadness but I was holding in the laughter as hard as I could. (IT IS NOT FUNNY MIND YOU!) I just did NOT expect him to say THAT! SO instead of saying anything, the tears rolled down my cheeks until I could not handle it any more and I burst.....laughing.....hard! He started to laugh and through my laughter I told him, "This is NOT funny! That is really gross! (laughing laughing peeing my pants laughing) we do NOT put toilet paper in our butts and shake it at people! (laughing laughing) You are in a lot of trouble! (laughing) I am really mad! (laughing)"

No, I am not a 10 year old boy! I should NOT think that is funny! But really, it's kind of funny! If it were someone elses kid I would think it was REALLY FUNNY and REALLY GROSS and a little CREEPY! What's the punishment for toilet paper butt shaking anyway?

At any rate I never thought I would have to have that conversation with any of my kids!

I promise!

So we are sooooo busy with getting ready to move in our cute new house and sad to leave our fun old one, kids starting school, mommy teaching and daddy working tons of overtime. I PROMISE myself (and my mom) that I will catch up my blog! I have so much to say and was so inspired by the blogs I stalked last night. Even stalked myself and missed being on our blog! SO as soon as we are in our house (wed) and I am all unpacked (by Sunday....self given dead line) I will update for a full day! I miss my friends and my blogging life! In the words of our out going gov....."I'll be back!"

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Who changed my border? I haven't? DId my hubby? Weird!

THE BIG MOVE

SO now we live in L.A. There I said it! Now it is for real. I'm gonna blog how it all came to fruition but alas, no time. Packing to go to a wedding in Utah and cleaning and laundry and so on! New computer so figuring out how to download all the photos and then BLOG my life away! I miss blogging! Soon. Pray for renters, freelance, time, energy, sleep, a safe trip to Utah and world peace! Muah.