HOLY LONG POST!

What an amazing and awesome and wonderful weekend!!! Thanks to a long weekend for Paul (and two days off school for Ashlyn) we got to drive up to Utah to be there for our friends sealing in the Salt Lake Temple. It was SO incredible and I'm SO glad we were able to go.

Little background. This is the Dahl family. Renee, my good good friend who use to live down the street from me back in Van Nuys, married this guy Jared. She wasn't a member of the church and he had gone inactive as a teenager. Anyway, they got married, had two kids and then she met the sister missionaries. That's when I met her also. I had JUST had Leah, like literally three weeks earlier (in fact Renee came to my baby shower in our friend Jackie's backyard and she didn't even know me). A couple weeks later, Renee got baptized (which I missed because I was still in lala newborn baby land). Renee started coming to church and was even in the Primary presidency with me(yes, she's THAT good). We formed a little group of friends, who I affectionately call my "encino girls". We hung out all the time. Had play dates at each others houses, went swimming, on outings, out for Girls nights out. Everything. It was great. Time passed, Renee kept going to church. Her husband started coming too, and their kids started getting involved and making good friends.

Eventually, we all moved away and out of the ward, but we all kept in close contact. Then Renee moved to Utah. That was a very sad day. She had her third baby and then her fourth. They kept going to church. They made good friends with some people in their ward who talked to them about taking the temple prep classes. They agreed. They even went to do baptisms for the dead. Us girls down in CA were all VERY excited for her. Then one night I called her and she told me they were getting sealed. I literally jumped up and down with joy. I was SO happy for them. Immediately I told her we were coming (yes, I invited myself). Time quickly approached and three out of the five of us "Encino girls" were able to come up to Utah with our husbands and families for the special occasion.

It was a long drive, but the kids did very well and my mom was MORE than amazing and helped out any way she could by watching the kids practically the ENTIRE weekend, so that we could be with our friends.

Here they are after being sealed. It was such an amazing sealing. I was crying. Jackie was bawling (sorry Jackie). It was a very neat experience. After Jared and Renee were sealed, they brought in their kids to be sealed to them. And I know Renee was probably completely overwhelmed and little Tyson was crying, but really it was the most beautiful experience to see them all together being sealed for time and all eternity. I am SO glad we were able to go.

Afterward, we went to lunch and then later that evening went to dinner at a member's home (the one's who had given them the Temple Prep classes). The next day we went to the Dahl's house to let the kids play in the snow and to give us girls a chance to chat a little more.

This is my FAVORITE picture. Don't they look so cute. I seriously don't think I've ever seen Jared so happy.

The CA group. We literally felt like celebrities. Everyone in their ward kept coming up to us and thanking us for coming and saying how nice it was of us to make the trip. All I kept thinking was that I was the lucky one to get to be here and share in their special day!

The McCoy family. Lots of you that follow my blog also know them. We have lots of friends in common. Isn't this a cute family photo.

Renee hates having her picture taken. I don't know why? Look how adorable she is!

Jackie and Brad Finnigan. Yes, they live less than 30 minutes from me and Paul and we literally got to see them 10 times more than we ever do in CA. It was SO much fun!

Yet another picture I had to make Renee let me take.

Me and Jackie at the movies with our hubbies. Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. It was cute! Made me want to read the books.

Snow day at the Dahl's. They live in Park City and it was snowing like crazy. In fact, we couldn't get up the hill to their house and Renee had to drive down and pick us up. No AWD on our car. It's a CA baby. It's never seen snow before.

YES, it was THAT cold!

Leah wasn't too happy with me. Is she ever???

Later that day, we decided we needed to spend some time with my mom and stepdad. So we headed out to the Aquarium in Sandy. It was really cute. Not too big, but definitely big enough to spend an hour or so there. And they had some pretty cool things to see.

Why doesn't our Aquarium have this awesome little step so the kids can see better?

That's a cockroach. The largest kind out there. Disgusting! And in the words of Brandon (which are few), BLECK!

Coolest looking frog ever. It was SO blue. Apparently it's skin is poisonous. Figures!

These were rubber eels I think. They really did look like rubber. It was creepy.

Awesome little fish huh? It can see above and below water out of those two eyes.

Brandon taking a little chapstick break.

And to top it all off. The end of my 2 weeks sugar free (dessert free) experiment! It wasn't really a diet, although losing some weight would have been nice. It was more to prove to myself that I really could do it. And I did. No cheating for me. This was the best way to end it. At Nielson's Frozen Custard shop in Las Vegas, Nevada after eating dinner at Cafe Rio next door. SO yummy. This custard is at least twice as dense as ice cream and is WAY more creamy. Mix in some reese's peanut butter cups and you have a little bit of heaven in a cup.

Oh well....

If he's gonna push around a baby stroller, at least he's carrying balls in it. hehe.....That will make Daddy happy-"er".

*Notice the buzz cut.....SO not what I was expecting. Oh well, it will grow back fast enough.*

DinoFaire

January's theme for Leah's preschool was DINOSAURS, so when one of the moms told me about a DinoFaire down in Culver City, I knew we had to go. They started out with a show all about dinosaurs and how they came to be and then went extinct. The coolest part was the end when huge inflatable dinosaurs filled the room. The kids thought it was great. Afterward we headed over to a dinodig where the kids got to "dig" for toy dinosaurs and shark teeth. Then we went on a tour of the facility which consisted mainly of rescue animals that have been confiscated by the police from people who were trying to smuggle them into the country, or keep them here illegally as pets. It was pretty fun. The kids thought it was great of course and that was what mattered the most. Paul and I thought it was a bit over priced and we didn't like how DinoMan (the guy giving the presentation at the beginning) somehow worked in a political Prop 8 comment on how we should repeal it and all get married. Still scratching my head on that one trying to figure out how the heck he worked that into a show about dinosaurs. Totally inappropriate in my opinion. Especially when it was a show that was suppose to be geared for kids. Whatever! It was still fun, but I must admit, I'm always glad to get home after being down in LA. I'm just not a city girl. That won't ever change.

Morning playgroup

It's been rainy and chilly here in the morning time, so we've had to improvise on playgroup. I'm "in charge" of it these days and I must say there is NOT that much a BIG group of moms and kids can do indoors without creating a HUGE mess. But one place we do like to go to is Chuck E. Cheese. And if you get there first thing in the morning, no one else is there. It's great. The kids had almost full reign of the place for the 2 hours we were there. And if you have coupons and split a pizza, it really isn't even expensive. We'll definitely be going there again.

Brandon wasn't too sure about this. He stood there for the picture, but right afterward backed up and started crying.

Love hate relationship

I'm sure many of you can agree. Playdough is wonderful and awful all at the same time. It seriously keeps my kids occupied for a good hour or more, but it makes SUCH a mess, I spent half that time cleaning it up. And that's WITH "help" from the kids.

Ashlyn's First...

trip to the ice cream truck. Funny thing about this is that she was talking about the ice cream truck and how it NEVER comes to our house, because we live in a gated community, just an hour before we saw it at the park that we happened to be at for Daisy Scout photos.

Here is Ashlyn with her best little friend, Grace. They are two peas in a pod. Seriously could not be more alike, except that Grace is not nearly as shy as Ashlyn. But then again, not many kids are.

Oh how she was SO excited to have her first ice cream from the ice cream truck. It was rather endearing. There is just something magical, to a kid, about getting an ice cream from the ice cream truck.