My Friends

These are my friends. My "Encino" friends that is. And I love them. They're the kind of friends you don't get to see everyday, but when you're together, it's like you do. Last night we met at Aroma Cafe in Studio City to have some yummy treats. It was so nice to hang out and chat, and have some laughs. I'm so grateful for your friendships girls! You're the best.

What a brave boy!

Just got a shot this morning and already smiling. I just love this kid! 

Here are his stats. Pretty much following the last time. 

Six month check-up:

Height- 25 1/2 inches (25%)

Weight-17 pounds 2 ounces (50%)

Head- 43 1/2 cm (50%)

Looks like we have a short stalky guy on our hands. Maybe he's gonna look more like my Dad than I think. That's the only short stalky guy I can think of in our family. Hm...only time will tell.

On another note- I made cookies with the girls today because my aunt and cousin RAVED about this recipe for "monster cookies". They sounded good, so I thought, what the heck. Well, I only looked at the ingredients, not the quantities, and before I knew it I had a batch of cookies with NINE cups of oatmeal. I've now baked 5 dozen cookies and still have at least 3-4 dozen to go. SO, if you are in my ward and coming to Recipe night tonight, you will be getting cookies, not soup. And if you aren't in my ward, PLEASE come over and eat some cookies. Yikes!

Uncle Steve is home

Home from Iraq that is. Where he has been for the past 6 months. Every once in a while Ashlyn would ask me if Uncle Steve was "STILL fighting the war", to which I had to keep saying, "yes, he is". Well, I finally don't have to say that anymore.

Last weekend him and his wife, Soul, came up from San Diego to spend the day with us. And, of course, they brought gifts for the kids (rather LARGE gifts that is). Brandon was all into his basketball hoop and the girls were ecstatic to play in their new princess castle and dress up clothes.

(sorry about the Christmas picture. I didn't get one of him while he was here.)




Thanks so much for coming up. It was great to see you guys. So glad you're back from "fighting the war".

Sorry Pop Pop (I know you won't approve)

Does this crown make me look girly???

Utah Trip

Sit back and get comfy. This is a long one.

Sorry these pictures are not in order. It will take too long to rearrange them so I'll just tell you a little about each one.


This is me and my "favorite" Aunt Rhonda. She stayed over at my mom's house for one night on her way up to BYU-I to see her son, Chad. I'm holding Cali (my cousins new baby) in this picture. Isn't she adorable?

This was taken at a place called Gardner's Village. It was a totally fun quaint shopping area decked out in Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. I loved it and could have spent all day there, but it was DANG cold that day and the kids could only last so long going from fragile shop to fragile shop.
This is me and the girls going down a mondo super slide at a "Bounce house" in Sandy.

My sister flew in from Florida to surprise my mom. My mom was so shocked to see her that it looked like she thought she was losing her mind. It was great. I wish I could have gotten a good shot of it, but it all happened so fast.

My brother flew in to surprise my mom too. But she caught on and we had to tell her what was going on. Here he is chilling with the kids watching a cartoon.

Here's the top of the slide at the "Bounce house". It was great fun!

Here's my mom going down with the girls.

Here we are on a carriage ride at the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. On the trip we pretended we were princesses on our way to the castle to meet the prince, who of course, was Daddy.

Here's me and the kids with my mom at Cascade Springs up Alpine Loop. It was a beautiful day and the colors in the mountains were breathtaking.

At the petting zoo. Ashlyn and Leah both got to ride a pony twice. What lucky girls. They had SO much fun!


Here's my sister holding new baby Cali.


Aunt Brenda and Uncle Brent (aka- the new Grandparents) at Cascade Springs.


Cousin Brittany (aka- the new Aunt) and Ashlyn at Cascade Springs. I think the only person I didn't get a picture of was the new mom (Chelsea) herself. That's too bad cuz she's way cute!

I think over the course of the two weeks that we were there, there were only 2 nights that some other family member(s) weren't there also. Too bad they weren't all there at the same time. It would have made for a great reunion. But then again, it would have also made for a VERY crowded house.

I also got to see some old roommates (Liz, Chelsea, Kay, and Kati) and some great friends of ours (Brett and Chad East and their two adorable kids). Unfortunately, I didn't get to see all the friends I would have liked to see since we had so much family in town. But, I am sure I will be back out in Utah soon enough. Sorry if you live in Utah and you're reading this, and I missed you. I'll have to make it up to you next time.

I also spent one whole night cleaning up after a sick child (Leah), got to do a session at the Jordan River Temple (hooray), went to Cafe Rio THREE times (I'm good for at least a year), ate at Pizza Factory (yummy breadsticks), Cafe Fresh (formally known as Fresh Food Junkies), and Nielson's Frozen Custard, stopped at my old work (Cookies by Design, which is now owned by someone else), drove by the apt. complex where Paul and I met, stopped at BYU to take a few pictures with the kids, went to "Hollywood Connection" (kind of ghetto indoor amusement place, but the kids had fun roller skating, mini golfing, going on rides, and watching a magic show), shopped a little at the mall, and got a speeding ticket (I swear cops in Utah don't have anything else to do except hand out tickets for traffic violations).

All in all, it was a great trip. I am, however, glad to be home.

"I'm feeding my baby mommy"

See that little doll tucked up under Leah's shirt. Sheesh!!!

I'm sure many of you have experienced this if you have young kids, but still. It's kind of funny. Kind of....

I LOVE the Fall

I'm back! Hooray. It was a crazy and fun two weeks filled with family, family, more family and a few friends too. More pictures and stories to come, but for now, I will leave you with a picture of the beautiful Fall Leaves of Utah. Ah....I wish CA got so pretty in the Fall. Oh well. CA has it's perks too.