Utah

Two weekends ago I was able to visit my family/friends in UT. It was very last minute but SO SO needed and appreciated. I even went SOLO! Incredible, huh?! I think so. My brother Chad was graduating UVU and my whole family was going to see him and celebrate. I decided long ago not to go because 1) I had a stake camp meeting (the one and only one before camp that gave all the info I needed) and it was the night before him walking at 8 am on Fri morning, so I would miss it anyways if I flew in on Fri (the soonest possible), and 2) it would be expensive and 3) I was going home to CA 2 weeks after (even though I wouldn't see my bros and their families or my extended family since they wouldn't be in CA). So amidst much struggle I decided against buying a ticket.....

Well, Tuesday before the Friday that Chad would be graduating I decided I HAD to go! I called Matt and asked if he could take Fri and Mon off to watch the kids for me and then I called my good friend who used to fly for Delta to see if he could get me a deal on a ticket. Both came through. Matt asked his boss for time off by saying "Sir, my wife woke up this morning and said to me...'I have to go home to see my family'" haha His boss was like, "umm..okay, is everything okay???". haha guess the way he worded that made it seem like we were having marital problems! LOL thanks Matt! ;) But at least it did the trick and he got it off. Then my friend got me a ticket for only $256 when it was bought 3 days before the flight!!! I was way lucky. Thank you both!

The day before I headed out Lukas got a fever and had a bad cough. Then the night before I left it seemed like Lydia was getting the same thing. I still hadn't decided whether I was going to take Lydia or not....Well, guess not if she was getting sick. Darn. lol. So I got freedom for almost 4 days. It was HEAVEN! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE being a MOM. Its the best thing in the world and I wouldn't give it up for anything. ;) Glad I'm back but I'm also glad to have had a little break to recharge my batteries.

So my friend Shay picked me up on Fri morning 2 hours after my brother walked. She was Super sweet to do so (THANK YOU!) and dropped me off immediately at the restaurant my family was eating at to celebrate. Now, the only people who knew I was coming into town was my bro and sis in law Brad and Amy, and my dad. No one else. I wanted to really surprise them all, especially Chad. I went into the restaurant and came up behind my bro Chad's back and certainly surprised him. He was ecstatic and we hugged. The whole time we were hugging my mom was freaking out and my grandma kept asking my dad, "Who is that girl?" HAHA. That was the family joke the whole trip, "who is that girl?" I guess we were hugging too long and my grandma was getting concerned. LOL. To her credit she didn't see my face. ;) So after eating we all hung out the rest of the day, went shopping at BYU and got matching BYU shirts for Lukas and Lydia, ,one for me (Matt has plenty hehe), and a BYU hat for Lyd (Luke & Matt already have one). We also got to meet artist Liz Lemon Swindle. She's amazing. Got some beautiful art for cheap cheap. That night I went and hung out with Shay and spent the night. We made a yummy yummy yummy (yes that YUMMY!) chocolate, hazelnut cheesecake with oreo crust and white/milk chocolate drizzling and chopped hazelnut topping. Oh. My. DIVINE. And she made up the recipe. Yes, she is amazing. Don't worry, she's starting her own cheesecake business so you can taste some too. ;) We stayed up late chatting and watching the new 2009 4 hour version of Emma. SO. GOOD!

Saturday, we finished watching Emma and then I headed up to a family get together with all my dad's family. Had some yummy food and played some b-ball and catch. Then spent the night at Shay's again and went to her RS in the morning because she was teaching the lesson. Really good. Then headed to my niece's baby blessing. Then had a family birthday party for my bros Chad and Gil and my grandma Pat. Monday morning I flew back home at 10am.

Such a great trip. It was nice to be able to wake up, shower, do my hair and makeup all without ONE SINGLE INTERRUPTION. It felt great. But I missed the kids. Especially Luke sneaking into my bed first thing in the morning. Both Luke and Lyd's kisses and laughs. And I definitely missed snuggling with my hubby. ;) Glad to be back.

I hope my grandma doesn't KILL me for putting this pic up. HAHA! Its great. My parents gave her that card for her birthday and she was such a great sport to mimick it for me. I LOVE YOU GRAMMY!!! ;)

My family is craaaazy...

All of us together, well minus Matt and the kiddos :(

The birthday trio. My bros are definitely goofy

Happy 4 Years BABE!

Well, we've done it! Yes, its been 4 whole years since we tied the knot and we're still here going strong!!! Here's some stuff we've done the last 4 years:

- Moved 7 times and lived in 4 states.
- Had 2 beautiful kids!
- Explored Hawaii together while I was 8 months prego with Luke. Then ended the trip by both getting EXTREMELY sunburned! It was horrible! haha
- Have been to Disney World with our 2 kids.
- Went and did a mini church history site tour together in Palmyra,NY and Harmony, PA. As well as visited family in Rochester. We also saw about 70 % of the Hill Cumorah pageant before we got rained out. ;)
- Been to Niagara Falls and Yosemite National Parks.

And had a whole heck of a lot of fun in the meantime! ;) Thanks for a great 4 years of marriage babe! I love you and everything you stand for. You are the BEST person I know! Thanks for putting up with me and my sometimes crazy personality. ;) I LOVE YOU!
Okay I just had to include this one because I think I look beautiful! haha.

March/April 2010

Here's some pics of random stuff we've done the past 2 months. We LOVE to dance all the time. Lukas always grabs Lyd and they dance around the room. They actually were dancing so cute one time while I was videoing, until Luke noticed I had the camera on them....Then Luke bolted to me and Lydia went bonk! Poor girl. But she still loves him and they still dance together. So cute.

One of the kids' favorite things to do is to ride their kid bikes in the house. They love hopping on Luke's together. lol. I love it when they are playing together nicely. Lydia also loves to climb in and out of drawers. She's also figured out how to climb on top of the office chair and almost on top of the desk. haha. She's definitely my side of the family. Both my oldest bro and youngest bro were climbers and escape artists!

Luke and Lyd got sick at the beginning of the month so we watched movies and had a picnic in the TV room. Luke loved it.

We went to a cool park last month. The kids had a blast playing in an airplane, playing musical pipes, hanging on miniature monkey bars, and digging in the sand with a personal mini back hoe. On a side note, Lukas always loves to point out every piece of construction equipment and tell me what they are by name. His favorite is a back hoe. ;) Thanks to daddy for schoolin' him in the ways of construction.






I made another diaper bag for a friend at church. She picked out the material and I went to work. I LOVE how it turned out. Hopefully she does too. ;) On another side note, I really need to find people to sew my stuff.....

I Love Her

We were watching Toy Story yesterday (I think for the first time ever) and as soon as Little Bo Peep comes on the screen Lukas says "I love her mom!". haha. He said it 2 or 3 more times before the movie was over. :)

White House Egg Roll

Matt got us tickets to go to the White House Egg Roll on Monday. I was super stoked to go. We both thought the kids would love it. However, when we got there Lukas started a HUGE dramatic temper tantrum. Over nothing. And everything. We were just waiting in line and he was not stopping the tears or screams. I was completely annoyed since nothing had set him off and we had just got there. Matt knew I was about to lose it so he kindly took Lukas away. I love you honey. When we got in they were handing out some free snacks. Lukas finally decided he was okay since he now had some food. I wonder why he didn't just tell me he was hungry?! But after that he was great. It was PACKED! Took over an hour of waiting in line til we finally got in. For those of you who don't know it takes place on the White house back lawn. So we got up close and personal. It was beautiful. Lukas loved seeing all the characters in costume. We did the traditional White House Egg roll. Even Lydia loved it. lol. Hunted for eggs. Saw Michelle Obama twice. She was 10 feet away. Pretty cool even though I don't exactly care for the Obama's or the whole publicity crud most people do. Saw Sara Berreillas (sp?) play and sing "I'm going to write you a love song". Luke and I were on the front row rocking it out with Michelle Obama 5 feet away (look at pic below. She's in the hot pink shirt behind the bald headed secret service guy. lol). Searched for eggs. Hula hooped. Played tennis. And through all of this 2 hour fun got SUPER sun burned! I got the bad mom award for the year because I was the only mom who didn't put sun screen on her poor children! Good thing they have my Greek olive skin and we all turned tan after a couple days. ;) At the end we got peeps and a wooden Easter egg signed by Pres. and Michelle Obama. It was fun!

Oh and our Easter was great. We opened our baskets first thing in the morning (don't judge my funny looking kids. they just woke up okay...) We loved listening to General Conference! Luke got some garden gloves, a turtle watering can, and a toy story frisbee. Lydia got a black headband, purple princess bracelet, and some pink tights. Lukas loves putting on her headband and bracelet and dancing around in them. lol. Matt got some toblerone chocolate, black licorice, and a laser light (its what he wanted. I guess for work to point out problems in construction??). Matt got me the movie Blind Side (LOVED it) and a chocolate rabbit. We also had a small family devotion in the morning and bore our testimonies to the kiddies and each other about our Savior. We are so grateful for all He did for us and to know that HE LIVES!!!

Michelle Obama waving to the crowd. 20 ft away.

Sara Barreillas (sp?) "I want to write you a love song". Such a good song!

Michelle Obama rockin' out to Sara Bareillas. 5 ft away.

Matt and Luke getting ready for the Egg roll contest. Luke did pretty well.

Lydia and I getting ready for the egg roll contest. She just wanted to eat the egg. ;)

Searching for eggs. The lady told us to find 2 eggs each. This one girl kept taking them all. I think she seriously had 20 in her basket. It was hilarious!

Yay for Easter egg hunts. Although, they took all the eggs back. lol.

A ball and motorcycles?

Matt and I have been fortunate enough to have spent some good ol' fun together this past month. Twice in fact. And doing some not so average stuff might I add. First we went to the Seabee Ball. Thank you Melissa for the beautiful dress I was able to borrow. I will return it soon. ;) It was fun to get all dressed up and fancy and then go eat a nice meal. Then to top it all off dance the night away. I will say that I am extremely blessed to have a hubby who doesn't mind dancing it up with me on the dance floor. But for anyone who knows me it is a must that I married a man who can and will dance with me since I love it so. ;) Thank you honey for a good night. And thank you Armour's for watching our kids. It was their first sleep over (besides at gpa and gma's house). They loved it and so did we!

Had to have a pic without the glasses (Matt has had to wear glasses for the last 4 months in preparation for eye surgery (kind of like lasik) but then just found out he was denied due to his eye being a really odd shape which could cause the surgery to go bad. I was glad cause then he could wear contacts again. He was sad. So he talked to some other people to get a second opinion. Now he still has to wear glasses until he gets that opinion. I guess its okay since I think he's still HOT with or without them. And whatever makes him happy! ;))

Last week we did something I've always wanted to do. Learn to ride motorcycles!!! Yes it was a blast and no I didn't fall. ;) For 2 whole days we learned all about riding in class and on a bike. At the end we had to pass a test to get certified to drive on base (and get a discount on our insurance). We both passed. ;) Unfortunately a girl dropped her bike and so wasn't able to pass. She left kind of in a huff. I feel bad for her. I'm glad we both passed and that neither of us got hurt. It was seriously a blast. Oh and I don't know who was more excited, my dad, or me! lol. He's been riding since he was 15 1/2. Oh the joys. Thank you Colleen for watching my sick kids for those 2 days!!! YOU ARE THE BEST! ;)

Matt's motorcycle pics

Nic's Motorcycle pics

Grandpa came to visit

At the beginning of March Grandpa Dave was able to come visit us. He had a business trip in Baltimore for a couple days and decided to extend it through the weekend so we could have a few days with him. It was a blast! We made homemade pizza on Friday night and topped it off with rootbeer floats, a Lost episode, and a game of scrabble. On Saturday Matt and his dad went and played some hardcore racquetball for a couple hours and then met me and the kids and some friends at the Naval Air Museum. We all were able to do the flight similators. THANKS GPA! ;) Went out to eat at a very yummy restaurant where Lukas got paint on his shirt from some fresh paint. I was not very happy. The manager swore the paint would come out. It didn't. Not happy. Anyways, then we went to the International Spy Museum up in DC. SO FUN. Although, we didn't know that no strollers were allowed so we had to hold/run after the kids the whole time. It wasn't really kid friendly either. But we had fun. Thanks for a good ol' time like always Grandpa! Here are some cute pics of Gpa Dave and the kiddos.

I love how Lukas was sweet enough to try and block the sun for Gpa. ;)