The Big day finally arrived….Leah's Baptism

Leah was so incredibly excited for her baptism and was literally counting down the days. Infact, the day before her baptism she declared it her "Baptism Eve" thus making her baptism a Holiday. I wonder if we could make it National even. Haha…She would probably like that.

I think I could have a bunch of kids just to get to enjoy their baptism day because it's such a special day! But since I'm not really going to have a bunch more kids, we'll just have to settle for trying to really enjoy the four baptism days we have.

We started the day out with the ward Easter party at the park. It was super fun, but my phone was being weird and not taking pictures, so I'll have to get some off of Paul's phone later. We went to lunch at Chili's as a family with Paul's parents and then came home and got ready. My mom and stepdad were here and my Aunt and Uncle happened to be in San Diego for a work thing, so they drove up for the day too. Ty and Heather were able to come with three of their kids, plus Jeanette and Brent and their three boys came fom Bellflower, so we just had a really great mini "family reunion".  

The baptism was perfect and everything went really smoothly. The spirit was so strong and Leah was just beaming. I got to talk for a couple of minutes about how much we love Leah and how blessed we are to have her in our family. I shared the story of her sticking up for her brother when a little boy at school was making fun of him. She really is a strong little girl. She's never afraid to stand up for what is right or to share her beliefs and things that are dear to her heart. I'm really so proud of her for the beautiful young lady she is growing up to be.

Plus, one of Leah's most favorite parts of the day was that her best friend Gracie was able to come with her parents. So that combined with the many many wonderful ward friends that showed up, we just really had a great day and feel so blessed!

Ashlyn played "A Child's prayer" on the flute and did such a wonderful job. She originally thought we were going to be in the Primary room the whole time, so when she found out it was in the Chapel, she was pretty nervous. But she did it and she did it beautifully. And I think Leah thought it was pretty neat to have her sister do a musical number just for her.

Afterward, we were going to meet at the park with all our family that was in town, but it was getting chilly and dark fast, so we moved it to our house. It worked out better than I expected and we were able to hang out and chat until almost 10. The kids were sure hard to get up for church the next morning, but it was worth it. It couldn't have been a more perfect day!

And this kind of sums up Leah's feelings towards it. 

We love you little Leah!

Day Five of Spring Break

On Friday we were pretty tired from our big outing the day before, so we hung around the house in the morning. Grammy did a craft with the girls. Paul and his Dad did some fixes around the house. Then in the afternoon we took the kids to go see Rio 2. It was a cute movie.

But we're super excited for How To Train your Dragon 2 to come out this June! We're hoping it will be a smash hit!

That night my mom got in town, so the adults all went out to Rattlers and the kids stayed at home with Callie, who was nice enough to babysit for us, even though she had been babysitting for another family all day! 

Day Four of Spring Break

On Thursday Grammy and Pop Pop took us to Universal Studios. They have a promotion for "buy a day, get the rest of 2014 free", so we now have passes! VERY exciting. I was a little hesistant because the park is not super kid friendly, but since Carter is now 3, and right at about 40 inches, it wasn't bad (that's the shortest he could be and still get on any rides). True the kids can't go on all the rides, but there was plenty to do and I'm sure we'll use the passes as much as we can before the end of the year.

The Water World show is always a huge hit! I've seen it many times and still always enjoy it.

We took the kids on The Simpsons ride twice, on Shrek 4D and lucky us….we got to go on the BRAND new Minions ride. It was suppose to open until a few days after we were there, but they were previewing it for technical difficulties, so we got to go. It was really fun and the kids loved it. After you get off the ride there are two little Minion play grounds. One with water (that wasn't open yet) and then another one for little little kids. Plus a "dumbo" type ride that the kids went on at least twice. 

And because Grammy and Pop Pop were with us, we got to go on all the "adult" rides too. The Transformers, The Mummy, and Jurassic Park (where we literally got dumped on with water). None of the lines were more than 15 minutes and the weather was super nice. It was a really great day at the park. We saved the Studio Lot tour and King Kong for another day! That's an hour long ride, so I figure I'll take the kids on that first off the next time we go.

And then we ended the day with dinner and ice cream. 

There were two Carter meltdowns, but over all, it was a pretty darn successful day and we can't wait to go again!

Day Two and Three of Spring Break

Tuesday morning we went swimming with Becky at her pool. It was nice and heated and the kids all had a blast.

That evening Grammy and Pop Pop got in town and the fun and spoiling of Spring Break began. I feel guilty at how spoiled we are when they come to visit. We had so much fun though and really a huge thank you and lots of love and appreciation go out to them for all they do for us.

Wednesday morning Paul and his Dad put together a new trampoline for our backyard. Yes, it takes up half the backyard, but the kids love it….and so do I!

We went to lunch at Cafe Rio and I snapped this oh so adorable picture of Callie and Carter. I'm dying it's so cute!

Then we headed over to the mall and walked off our huge lunches. The kids got to go on the carousel. The girls did a little shopping and I got a new pair of jeans. Yay!

Chilling with Pop Pop on the couch watching a show. These boys love their Grandpa!

Day one of Spring Break

I'd say Day one has been a pretty good success. After a relaxing morning around the house, we decided to head over to Mountasia after lunch for a little mini golf. The kids did really well and were pretty good at being patient and taking turns. It was a pretty warm day. At least a lot warmer than we have been use to. Luckily I remembered to bring some water bottles this time. We went through all of them. 

Afterward, I took the kids to Fosters Freeze for some ice cream and to cool off. 

But when we got home, the kids decided they were STILL hot, and since we had a couple hours before dinnertime, we went down to the pool to swim. The water is still QUITE chilly and I wasn't too brave about getting in past my legs, but the kids got in and swam all around and had a good time. By 5:30 I had to pull them out of the pool so we could go home and I could get dinner going. 

Tomorrow Grammy and Pop Pop get in town and the celebrating of Leah's baptism week begins. Can't wait to spend the week with family. And even more excited to see my sweet little Leah get baptized on Saturday! It's gonna be a good day.