Allis showcase recital on April 23rd, 2009

These recitals are so fun to go to and I cannot wait for the day when Alli watches them when shes a lot older, it will be a hoot. Anyway she loves to dance on the stage more than going to her weekly lessons. She has to have a little blush on and of course the sparkly lip gloss before she performs, its either really cute or a bit much for a 4yr old, but hey your only young once right. Jayden is really funny at these too, he gets so into the music and dances and sings right in his chair. One of the groups danced to the song "Zero to hero" from Hercules and he was all over the place. Thanks to all our family who came and supported Alli that night. Garrett and Lisa you two got there in the absolute nick of time and she was so happy!!

Last minute Spring break @ Disneyland!!!

Our friends talked us into this trip on Wednesday @ 5pm and we decided because of the blizzard we were having at the time to go, so we left our house that night by 8:30. We drove all night and went to the park on thurs, fri and sat. I have never been more relaxed @ the park, I was just in shock that we were there and just so happy to be away from Utahs crappy weather. It was all fun and games though until the ride home. Alli threw up 3 times. Yeah I guess she gets car sick. We didn't know because last time we flew there. She hasn't been on any long car rides I guess. The worst part is that we went with our friends as I said Ryan and Rachel and Rachel is about 5 months pregnant and so sitting next to a little puking girl is the last thing she wanted to do. I had to switch places with her so I could help Alli get it in the bag I guess you could say. I am so sorry Rachel. All in all though is was great, and the perfect weather. We heard on the news though that the Monday after we got home it was 103 degrees in the park, glad we missed that. Remember to wish upon a star ok kiddies.

Happy St Patricks Day and relief society enrichment night.

It was so much fun at the R.S. birthday last night. It was like mini Halloween for me. I love dressing up and it was fun to see everyone in their costumes. We had green salad, green jello, green punch and I won a packet of peas to plant for my most green costume. Thanks for all the participation guys. Kiss me I'm Irish!!!
This is Karen next to her mother in law in the chair. She won for the best overall costume. She looked great!!

This one is me and my sis in law Tara. She won a prize for the most Irish costume. I won one of two for the most green.

The pic above is of me and Vicki and Christine.Vicki made her jacket and her skirt. Awesome huh?

In this one from left to right in case you can't tell its Sarah, Heidi U, Heidi P, Nancy and Me on the end.

Our visit to the Draper temple open house!!

 
 
What an awesome experience it was to be in the Celestial room with my kids yesterday. I started to cry right when we walked in, I couldn't help it. My love for them and their welfare and future just overwhelmed me. They were wondering why I was crying and I knelt down by them and told them it was because I was so happy to be in the Temple with them and it was because I love them so much. I told them it was because Dad and I got sealed in the Manti temple that we can be a family forever and what a huge blessing that is to me. It was an awesome experience also to sit in the sealing room together. We looked into the mirrors and thought about being together forever. How blessed we are to have the temples and to have 12 now in Utah.

Brandon turns 30 and Aubrey turns 7!!

Brandon didn't want to do anything for his big day and so Aubrey celebrated with her friends Riley, Kayla, Cody, Brandon, and her cousins Ella and Sam and of course her brother and sister at Jumping Jacks. Its a fun place. They have those big blow up toys and slides and obstacle courses. They had a great time.

Rascal Flatts Baby!!! We had 4th row seats!!

Thanks for a great night Crystal! Check out Jessica's wierd shoes.

Valentines Day!!

On Friday afternoon I went and helped at Aubreys' class with their party. I had the treat so I brought sugar cookies and frosting and sprinkles for the kids to decorate their own. Later that night Brandon and I went to the annual Firefighters of Springville past and present Valentines dinner. It was at the art museum and it was FREE. After the dinner we dropped off my in-laws who went with us and I gave Brandon a card that had a car on front and it said how he drives me crazy and you open it and it says and "I love it". I wrote why don't you drive us somewhere now for a few nights away. Can you guess where? Well I think he already had an idea earlier but he knew it was the Zermatt resort in Midway. We had a couple of free night certificates so why not. We started watching twilight that night in our room and I fell asleep early on but Brandon watched it all and started another movie called Fireproof( we highly recommend this for married couples by the way). We slept late and went to eat at the hub in Heber. We went and drove around Park City awhile. We actually parked and watched the skiers and snowboarders for a while, we don't do that stuff so it was fun to watch. Later being on a no money adventure we headed for dinner at taco bell ( I know so romantic). We also went to see Ink Heart, its a Brendan Fraiser movie. It was a good one timer. We had lots of fun just relaxing in the hot tub and making smores at the resort. It was so good to escape for a little while. Hope everyone else had a great one too.

8 item tag!!

Here are the Rules

1) Post the rules on your blog

2) Answer the six 8 item questions

3) let each person you tag know by leaving them a comment

8 favorite TV shows

1 QVC I know its a channel I just always check it first when I turn on the TV

2 Probably medium

3 American idol

4 what not to wear

5 umm... good things utah

6 wild man

7 design shows on HGTV

8 disney parks on the Travel channel

I really don't watch TV that much.

8 things I did yesterday

1 got my kids off to school

2 took Alli to Pre-school ( she almost didn't go and I had to threaten her with sitting on her bed all day if she wouldn't go.)

3 Went to my power-tone class at the gym because Alli went to Pre-school. Yay!!

4 talked to Anjali for a while -still no baby. darnit.

5 made banana bread

6 made dinner (tatertot casserole)

7 read 2 books to my girls (Jayden was at young mens)

8 watched some of the city of Ember with Brandon before I fell asleep

8 things I am looking forward to

1 holding my little neice Madison again

2 warm weather

3 The Rascal Flatts concert next thursday with Crystal

4 warm weather

5 having money again

6 Sunday

7 Yummy food

8 My little nephew to be born

8 favorite resturants

1 red lobster

2 sakura tepanyaki ( I can almost taste the ginger and wasabi)

3 red robin ( these are not in order of preference)

4 Brick Oven

5 Bamboo hut

6 Wingers

7 Bubba gump shrimp co.

8 Mackis (oahu)

8 things on my wish list

1 a very long massage

2 to be able to go to Disneyland in the fall

3 To see by bro Matthew come back from wherever he is

4 To have a lot of work landscaping this year

5 To hire a professional organizer

6 to have by basement clean

7 to have the carpet ripped out and walls painted in the living room

8 to get a new house that is really ours

8 people I tag for this little activity

1`Kellie

2 Kacy

3 Alisha

4 Kristin

5 Heidi

6 Lindsey

7 Elizabeth

8 Anya

Anyone else who would like to participate is welcome.

My new little neice is born

My sister Kellie and her husband Craig now have a new little one named Madison Lynn that was born on Monday-groundhog day. She was born at 4:58 pm. She was 5 lbs and 15 ozs. 18 inches and so sweet and cute with lots of dark curly hair. My sis is a champ and had her au-natural and didn't even scream. I told her she should have ten kids. I am such a proud aunt.

our cruise to the Caribbean

. It was sad to have to come back to our cold barren wasteland. Thanks to Sprinkler World who paid for the trip. We look forward to a different trip every year. The food is so good and the three pounds I had lost is back on again. We stopped at San Juan (puerto rico), St Thomas(US virgin islands), Grand Turk, and the private island owned by the cruise line called Half Moon Cay. The private island was our favorite. Its my idea of heaven. I could have stayed there forever. I did get a little sea sick and decided I wouldn't be able to exercise on the cruise. Come visit the Jerk Shack in orem if you get a chance. Bye for now.

Alli and uncle Garett after her dance recital.

The busy past month

We have been so busy trying to open the Jerk Shack and so my blog has paid the price. But hey everyone we finally opened on Nov 25th and things are going well so far so come and try some food(island style). We also have had Halloween and that was fun. We all dressed up as pirates. We went trick or treating on main street and had ham chowder and spiced cider with Brandons family and then visited my fam too. We love Halloween. I went to the NKOTB concert with the best friend I have ever had on the 15th. Susie it was so great to see you and I wish you lived closer. We went to the sad BYU vs. UTAH game too and we got yelled at and swore at and that was all before they won the game. Alli also turned 4 on the 23rd. Every single gift she got was Disney princess something. She was delighted. We celebrated with a party at Fat Cats bowling alley. We love Alli and her fun spirit. She is growing up so fast. I also went to see Carrie Underwood with Little Big Town in concert with my friend Alisha but my camera died and so I have no pics. I took a couple with my phone but I cannot find the memory card. It has been a busy month for sure as will next, but Thanksgiving gave us a moment to reflect on all we have been blessed with, we have this beautiful free country to live in and we all can enjoy it in many ways. I am so grateful for my family and the gospel that gets me through every day. Thanks to all who reads this for being in our lives. The pics for all this stuff is down below. The one of the flag was the only thing worthy of a shot at the BYU UTAH game.

We also watched Aubrey perform in a Thanksgiving program at her school for all the first graders. She was great.

Alli turns 4 and her party at Fat Cats!!

this is the NKOTB concert I went to with Susie

This was the only cool part at the BYU Vs.Utah game where they creamed us and we got yelled at by all their fans.

Trick or treating on main street

All of us as pirates for Halloween at Grandma Tiptons house. Thanks for the always yummy ham chowder and Spiced cider. We always look forward to it.

We made it safe and sound!!

Thanks to Jet blue for getting us to Cali safely. We flew into longbeach airport. Jet blue has tv screens for everyone and the kids watched cartoons on the way there. Alli had fun on the airplane especially getting the apple juice and the munchies to snack on. We love flying so much better than driving.

The first day in California-Universal Studios

This is where we started our adventure. The simpsons ride was so fun but Alli cried and cried hard on it. The mummy ride wasn't what I expected, although Jayden and I conquered our fears and went on it. It is a good half day trip, not really for little kids though. We had fun though and Brandons brother Brett got drenched underneath a big bucket of water in the Curious George water playland. That pretty much ruined the rest of the day for him. We couldn't wait to get to disneyland the next day.

Charcters at Universal

scaredy cat Jayden

Notice how Jayden is only in 2 of the three of these pictures. The first one is near the Jurassic Park ride. He is apparently not scared around dinosaurs. He is however to frightened of the Shark that Alli had her whole body in practically and the cardboard cutout of Freddy Krueger. Go figure. Aubrey went on Jurassic Park and loved it by the way!!!! GO AUB!!!!

Universal Studios backlot tour

This tour is always fun and the top picture is part of the set of War
of the Worlds(Tom Cruise movie). The second is where Norman Bates (Pyscho movie)
comes out and puts his mother in the trunk of the car and walks over to the
tram acting like he is coming after everyone. I think they added this for Halloween.
You usually only see the Bates Motel and move on. The bottom is from How the Grinch
Stole Christmas.

just standing around in coffins

Universal studios was all decked out for Halloween, don't the girls look dead?