My kind of pets

It's no secret that I'm not a pet lover. I think I could be. One day...when my children are gone and out of the house and I have the need to nurture someone/thing. Maybe. We shall see. But right now, I have no desire to have any kind of pet that I have to take care of. Even a fish has to be fed and have the water in their bowl changed. Four children keep me busy enough. 

The kids, of course, want a pet.  This is my solution. For Christmas Leah got an ant farm and Ashlyn got a ladybug habitat. We sent away for the ants and ladybug larvae and then placed them in their homes when they arrived. It's awesome. The ladybugs aren't too fun to watch right now, but in a couple of weeks they will be. Then we let them go outside and can order more larvae if we want. The ants are pretty cool too. I don't have to water or feed them. The gel they live in provides everything they need. They build their tunnels and even create a garbage site (you can see it off to the right). The kids get to enjoy watching them and I don't have to do a thing. And they will supposably live for up to three months and we can again order more if we want. They may not be something the kids can run around with or cuddle, but they don't seem to care too much about that. They think these "pets" are pretty fun! 

So there you have it....the Schoeni kids pets! Taa Daa!

A little bit of Heaven on Earth

I was having too wonderful of a day to take many pictures, but of course you know me well enough to know I at least got a picture of the food. Haha....Last weekend I got the AWESOME opportunity to go to the Glen Ivy Spa in Corona with one of my best buds, Tina. We spent the whole day there and still felt like it wasn't enough time. We started in the hot tubs, got a massage, ate lunch, got a pedicure, then a facial, and ended the day in the grotto. It was fabulous and fun and the weather was beautiful and perfect and really I'm counting the days until I get to go again (hoping to make it a yearly tradition).  

I've never had a spa day before and now I know what I've been missing. It was seriously a bit of heaven on earth.

Yummiest mountain of nachos ever! We tried to eat them all, but just couldn't. It was a good thing we shared. I would put them as a very close second to Cafe Rio.

The Grotto. Next time we will have to do the clay mud bath first and then the grotto last. I didn't know the difference until we got there. But apparently the clay mud is exfoliating and the grotto is moisturizing. We never had time to do the clay mud. I know...you feel "SO" bad for me don't you? (I wouldn't either).

The day literally FLEW by and I seriously had to just tell myself to relax and enjoy it instead of worrying that it was almost over.

And let's not end with out a HUGE shout out to our FABULOUS husbands who wrangled the kids solo while we were gone. Including a tire blow out on the freeway for Paul. I consider it a potentially major miracle that he was driving instead of me, because honestly he hardly EVER drives my car and I am quite positive he handled it far better than I would have. I do have a mighty wonderful husband and I am ever so, ever so, ever (I know..I'll shut up now) grateful for him! Thanks for giving me the time to rejuvenate!

Placerita Canyon

Took the kids to Placerita Canyon for a picnic last week for playgroup. Seems my trip to Utah did me in the "fun mom" department and besides this and a few trips to the park and the mall, we haven't done much since getting home. 

Brandon had a blast though as him and his friends made a pretty good stack of wood. I was impressed he could carry such a big branch.

Two of Brandon's little buddies. Elijah on the left and Steven on the right.

Oh and because I'm not a saver of Christmas Cards, I always like to take a picture of my wall of cards before I take them down. I do really really LOVE getting Christmas cards in the mail. It's like the one time of year that it is fun to check your mail. Especially when I get cards from people who don't have blogs or FB. There were a few late comers that didn't make it on the wall, but I still loved getting every single one of them. So thank you if you sent me one. Each put a smile on my face!

The trip home

Being New Year's DAY, I was a bit nervous about the drive home. I knew we would be fine until we hit Vegas, but after that I wasn't so sure. So we tried to get off as early as we could. That ended up being 7:45 am. Not as early as I hoped, but it ended up being just fine in the end. Traffic was good to us and if it wasn't for that darn agricultural stop you have to make coming in to CA, we wouldn't have hardly hit a speck of traffic. Curse that agricultural spot. I'm not even sure what the point of it is. "No sir, I have no fresh fruit or live plants". "Ok, go on through"???? Pointless. The last couple times we've been waved right through. Seriously...such a waste of time.

Anyway, we got off pretty well. The car was packed to the brim, but honestly the kids were excited for it to be daylight and not the middle of the night. At least the girls were anyway. We made a stop mid morning to go to the bathroom and get a snack. I asked Brandon if he wanted anything. He said, no. We left. As we are getting back on the freeway he begins to FREAK out that we didn't get him any cheetos. And then proceeded to throw a fit for the next 15 minutes or so. I first tried to reason with him and when they didn't work, I just gave up while he continued to scream. Paul being the nice Dad he is, had pity on him and the fact that he's only three and stuck in a car all day. See the bag of cheetos in his lap. I'm still not sure he deserved them, but after eating a few he fell asleep for about two hours, so I guess it was worth it. At least for my sanity anyway. 

The girls were great. In an effort to ward off the constant "are we there yet", we told them to watch the sun and when it went from one side of the car to the other, that we would be home. It only mildly helped, but we made a big joke out of it and so at least they were laughing. 

Carter was as good as to be expected of a 14 month old. He slept on and off for a bit, ate pretty well and went through just about every toy, and halfway playable with object, in the car. We did have to make an extra stop because he had just had it with his car seat. I don't blame him. Poor little guy can barely move in the thing. I'd be freaking out if I was strapped down by a five point harness too.

Over all, he was a trooper!

We made it home in good time (by about 6 pm). Had a little time to relax, get the car unloaded and start on the mountains of laundry. Over all, a very successful trip. We may even be tempted to try it again.

New Year's Eve

My mom found a sitter for the three older kids and we went out with my family for New Year's Eve. We took the Trax system down to Salt Lake City to walk around Temple Square. It was the last night of the lights and it was so fun to walk around there. It was FREEZING cold that night though. We brought Carter cuz well.....he's just not that adaptable and I knew he would have a hard time with a sitter he didn't know. It wasn't so bad having him with us. He slept some of the time and hung out in his stroller quite a bit. 

Paul told me I looked like a Muslim lady with my scarf around my head. I didn't care. It was COLD!

We ate dinner at a place in downtown Salt Lake called "The Last Samari". It was a Tepanyaki type restaurant. Paul and I haven't been to one in years. It was SO good. I loved every bite that went in my mouth. And there were a lot.

Here's my cousin Brittany and her hubby Marcin. She's expecting her second little baby (a little girl) in mid April. I'm SO excited for them.

Sydney and her husband Nate. They've been married for 2 1/2 years now and live in Dallas. I just love my cousins. Funny story, they got pulled over after first arriving in UT. The cop looked through the car and told my Uncle, who was driving, that he took child seat belt laws VERY seriously and how old was the girl in the back (pointing at Sydney). Didn't that cop feel dumb when they all replied that she was 21. I know...good genes I tell ya. I have some beautiful cousins. 

Aunt Brenda and Uncle Brent

Ron and Mom

Here the chef is saying to me in a very serious tone, "Didn't you see the sign out front? You can't take pictures in here". I totally believed him. Then he started laughing. I'm so gullible.

After dinner all the rest of the family headed out on the town to finish celebrating the New Year. Me and Paul (and my mom and Ron) took the Trax back to Sandy to get Carter down for bed and to finish packing. We had an early morning ahead of us trying to get out of town to beat Vegas traffic back to Los Angeles. I admit, I was worried we'd get stuck in some bad stuff. 

I'm not looking silly with my scarf over my head anymore huh? By the end of the night, even Paul was taking Carter's hat. 

So Grandpa Ron let Carter borrow his. Really, Carter didn't want to wear it anymore. Paul wouldn't have taken a hat from his baby when it was below freezing outside. Haha...

Friday with Friends

And I again took NO pictures. Really, what was I thinking? But we had such a fun day I can't pass up blogging about it. My dear friend Renee moved up to Utah 3 years ago and every time I go up there I make a point to go see her. My friend Jackie, who is also good friends with Renee, and was also in town (the one who's daughter ended up in the ER and with pins in her arm), came up to Renee's too so we got to spend the day together. Renee lives up in Heber just like 10 minutes from my Aunt and Uncle's cabin. The kids have all known each other since they were tiny (I met Renee when Leah was 3 weeks old) and even though they don't get to see each other that often, they always jump right back in to playing with each other just like old times. Paul was feeling better by then and so it was nice for me to have him there to help watch the kids. Me and Jackie and Renee chatted for hours and before I knew it, it was almost 5 pm. So we said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel in Sandy. But not without stopping at good ole' Cafe Rio on the way. I can't go to Utah and not go to Cafe Rio. It's SO yummy! I did manage to take pictures of that. Sheesh...I think my priorities are a bit messed up. My mom and stepdad met us at Cafe Rio with Blaike (Ty and Heather were back at my mom's packing and Kamron had caught the flu bug. It went through their whole family too. I guess they have Leah to thank for that. Oops!) 

My Birthday

Of which I took NO pictures. Not a single solitary one. I can't even believe it.

So my birthday came. I told it not to but it came anyway. The big 34. It's kind of depressing. Thirty four sounds so old. Like mid 30's old. My goodness....my mom was a grandma at 38. That's only four years from now. Now I didn't have kids young enough to be a grandma in 4 years, but STILL. The thought that I even could is depressing.

Anyway, I'll get over. I should just be glad that I'm alive and well and still my feisty self.

It was a great day though and thanks to FB and texts, I felt extremely loved. My mom watched the kids for me that day and me and Paul got to go out with my cousin Brittany (who is like a sister to me) and her hubby Marcin (who I totally love). We ate at CPK and then sat around and chatted forever. Finally we got up and headed to see a movie. "Sherlock Holmes".  It was REALLY good. I never saw the first one, but now I'm thinking I need to go back and watch it. 

My mom gave me the best gift ever. She scanned a bunch of my baby pictures and made it into a digital book. I loved it so much I cried. And I don't like to cry. It made me realize how glad I am that I do this blog and make it into books. I know my kids will cherish having them to look at one day. At least I'm hoping they do.