Thanks Amber

It was so fun celebrating my Mom's birthday. Can you believe my Mom is going to be 60 next year. I think she still looks so young. On Friday night we went and saw "Mama Mia". My Mom had already seen it twice, but wanted to see it again with me and Amber. Both my Mom and Amber left on Sunday after church. It was so great to have time with both of them. I really appreciate the time that we get to spend together now that we don't live near that much family. I can't wait until we can do it again. Amber you are welcome anytime. We love having you!

Romanian Festival

The same weekend that my Mom and sister came to visit we drove to Boulder for the annual Romanian Festival. For those of you who don't know Corbin served his mission in Romania. He was so excited to learn that there is actually a big population of Romanians that have settled in Boulder. The festival was outside at the Pearl Street Mall in downtown Boulder. It was so neat to walk around and take everything in. We enjoyed watching the traditional dancing and were even more excited to do it ourselves. It was so fun. Corbin was also excited to eat the food. I was a little hesitant given the stories that he has told me of what they eat in Romania. Lets just put it this way, nothing does not get used off a pig or whatever they are serving (stomach soup anyone?). But he was happy to eat the pork and cabbage. I tried a bite, it wasn't too bad. Ella of course had three or four bites (that girl will eat anything). We ended the day by letting the kids run in the fountains. I was so happy that Corbin got to reconnect to his mission. He loved serving in Romania. It really is a beautiful country. It's our goal to go visit one day and take his parents. I'm glad that this will be a tradition that we get to experience with him every year.

Nice Surprise

A couple of weekends ago my little sister Amber came to visit us. She actually came to see my Mom for her birthday, but I had no idea she was coming until she pulled up to our house following my Mom. Her and her husband Garrett just moved to Kansas where Garrett is stationed so they are only 6 hours away from us. It was so great to see her again and such a nice surprise. Of course the only thing my Mom wanted to do for her birthday was go to the zoo. I have no idea why my Mom loves the zoo so much, but it was her birthday so away to the zoo we went. It was nice to just walk around and catch up with my sister and the kids always have fun at the zoo.

Saved the best for last

It was so great to hang out with my two best friends in Vegas, Maribeth and Bernice while we were there. This has been a hard move on the three of us. We have known each other for almost 16 years. We have laughed together, cried together, celebrated together and mourned together. We have certainly been through ups and downs together. These are the girls that know me inside and out and still love me. It has been so great to see each other learn and grow and see our testimonies of the Gospel grow too. My life has been so richly blessed because I have the privilege of just knowing Maribeth and Bernice not to mention that I get to count them has two of my closest friends. Oh how I miss you two. It was so fun to get together with all of our crazy kids and husbands. We just love hanging out and talking and watching the kids play and being together!

Chuck E Cheese

Finally Corbin arrived at the tail end of our vacation to Las Vegas. When he got there we celebrated Elise's graduation from Kindergarten with dinner and games at Chuck E. Cheese of course. I actually like their pizza, it's pretty good. Elise loved getting as many tickets as she could. Ella loved the slide of all things. and Easton was way into skeet ball. Don't you just love how he climbed up and put the ball in himself. Such a boy thing to do. We had a blast eating pizza, playing games, and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa!

Pump It Up

Okay I know all these vacation blogs are getting boring, but I promise we are almost done. Plus Grandma Smith would kill me if I didn't get all the highlights on here. The kids and I met up with my friend Christine and her three girls Taylor, Rylee, and Lauren at Pump It Up while still in Vegas. It was a great way to beat the heat and the kids had so much fun. Easton was pretty funny. He kept getting stuck in the bounce house and the little girl that worked there kept having to rescue him. I was pretty impressed when he was able to climb up the ladder all by himself and go down the slide. It was pretty steep. Afterwards we went to lunch at Baja Fresh. MMMM. Then we went over to our old neighborhood and visted with our neighbor Rachel and her little boy Caleb. We really packed it in, but it was a fun day to see our old friends.

Beauty Pageant

The girls had so much fun playing dress up with Grandma. It started out with just putting some make-up on, but it quickly turned into a beauty pageant. Grandpa and Easton were the judges and they critiqued the girls on appearance, twirling skills, and then even asked them a question. Both girls won so Grandpa and Easton both got kisses from the contestants. We ended the pageant with dancing with Grandma.

Vacation Recap Cont.

Oh you thought I was done. Well you were wrong. We still have a lot more fun stuff to blog about. While still in Vegas, melting from the heat, we found an oasis. Except it was real in the form of a water park in Henderson. The kids had a blast running and getting wet. We took Grandma one day and dragged Grandpa there one night when Grandma was working. We even visited Grandma at work on our way home. She was so excited when we got in her line to buy Popsicles.

11 Amazing years

Love your laugh, love your style, love your heart, your soul, your smile. Love your voice, love your touch. Love you very very much! Thank you for the best 11 years of my life (so far)! I love you!!!

Breakfast @ IHOP

When we lived in Las Vegas Elise would spend Sunday night at Grandma & Grandpa's and every Monday morning they would take her to breakfast at IHOP. We wanted to get into the fun of that tradition this year too. So Monday morning we headed to IHOP. No sense in spoiling a great tradition. Thanks for breakfast Grandpa!

Sunday with Jaimee & Jordan

On Sunday after church we went for a drive to visit Jaimee and Jordan and their dog Elway. It was so good to see them again. Elway was being a little crazy so he had to go in his cage, but we enjoyed seeing him from there too. We had a yummy dinner and a very nice visit.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July. Okay so were a little late, but still worth posting. We had some plans that fell through at the last minute with friends, but we were more than happy to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma on the 4th. We started out by going to the pool first thing in the morning. There were only 2 other people there so we pretty much had it to ourselves. After the pool we went back to the house and had a little BBQ. We put the kids down for naps and waited for it to get dark enough to do some fireworks. It was pretty funny watching the kids when Grandpa would set off the fireworks. The girls would cover their ears and Easton would get so excited and start clapping his hands. This year the Green Valley Ranch hotel & casino put on their own fireworks show. So we drove over to the Claim Jumper parking lot around 9 and got to see a great fireworks show. The only thing that would of made it a perfect day was Corbin. We missed Daddy on 4th of July.

Lunch with Grandma

While we were in Vegas we were able to take my Grandma Gloria to lunch. It was so good to see her again. My Grandma has been in and out of the hospital a lot this past last year and was recovering from shoulder surgery. She's hanging in there and I think it helps when she gets to see her great grandchildren. We had a yummy lunch at Mimi's and the kids were so well behaved. I really miss my Grandma. I'm at the age now where I appreciate her stories and the life that she has lived and want to know all about her. I hope that I get to see her again soon. I know that I will treasure the time that we get to be together as well as pictures of her with my kids.

Girl Time

On Sunday we packed up the car once again and followed Dad to Las Vegas. After a quick hello to Mom I headed to the Mandalay Bay to meet my girlfriends. I didn't get there until late, but that didn't stop us from staying up until 5 in the morning laughing and talking. The next morning we woke up and went shopping of course, followed by lunch poolside. Then we just chilled by the pool for the rest of the day. It was paradise. The perfect break I needed after spending 17 hours driving in the car with my kiddos. I just kept thinking that I have the best friends. I just left Trista in Utah and now I'm here with Maribeth, Bernice, & Heather. Lucky girl!

Johnson Family Reunion

We were so excited to find out that we would be in town the same weekend as the Johnson Family Reunion. The last time we went Ella was 6 months old. The kids had so much fun getting to know each other and the adults had fun catching up. This year we did a May Pole and a traditional Swedish dance that added to all the fun. I think the kids liked the pinata the best or maybe just the candy. We love being able to spend some time with Grandpa Jack and Aunt Lorraine and Aunt Roz love seeing their little Phoebe Eleanor as much as possible. Thank you to the Miller's for letting us crash at your new house. I know Grandpa Ryan had fun playing "Rock Band". I hope we get to go again next year!