Reality Check?

The other day Crew said to me, "Mom , I want to do something fun." That is when it occurred to me that we are all going to be in need of a serious reality check when we leave here. Can you get a better life than my three year old? Disneyland, beaches, museums, amazing parks, ridiculously fun shopping centers, endless entertainment all within minutes.


But it is not just Crew, let's look at my last week. I went to the Ellen show not once, but twice within a week and got to go down on stage one of the times! I hugged Ellen! (Not that I am promoting her or her lifestyle at all, its just that I hugged a celebrity!) The boys and I saw Mario Lopez at the Grove today. And I got to have a birthday frozen yogurt party with so many wonderful friends last night. Who moves into a ward and instantly has dozens of amazing friends who would do anything for you and make life so much fun? This ward is awesome. I have loved our experience here and am not sure what I am going to do when I have to leave all these wonderful people and all these unique entertainment options!


Matt's reality check may be a little more positive. There are few cities in this country that take 1-2 hours to drive 20 miles. I really can't remember the last time he surfed or really did something fun for himself. I sure am not helping any having all our fun adventures! 6 more weeks Matt. 6 more weeks!


Here are a couple of pictures from the Ellen Halloween show and a video of the game I played. When we went to the Halloween taping, we had about 30 girls from our ward in the audience. It was awesome. I never thought I would say this, but I really love L.A!

Some Highlights from the Week

This Monday's activity was the Science Center. We have a great Science Center here in L.A. so a bunch of us spent part of the day there on Monday. Poor Crew, he is so lucky to have so many friends here but look how many of them are girls! He does have some great little boys his age too they just couldn't make this outing.

Graham kept him company

Crew and Lila in the Arctic Room feeling the ice wall.

Graham enjoying the Ecosystems ExhibitOoooo, shark!
Some of the mommies

This is just a random pic from the week. Look at this face! Oh I just want to pick him up and hold him! (he rarely lets me do that anymore these days!)

Crew's pumpkin
Crew and my Monster Eyeball Creations! (Delicious too!)

Crew and his preschool buddies in character. Crew got a bag full of costumes from Matt's sister Jenny so we are something different for every occasion.

Today was sports class and trunk or treat. Pictures will come soon.

Underwood Farms

For our Monday excursion this week we went to one of my most favorite spots: Underwood Farms. This fantastic farm is up over by Simi Valley, another reason to love the valley. We drove through some pretty hard rain on our way out but when we got there the clouds opened up and it was a beautiful fall day. This is not the best picture of the kids but I love this sign so it made the post.

This is on the tractor pull around the farm. Gorgeous isn't it!

More of the tractor ride

A view of the farm

It was such a fun and festive day. The best part, just as we were packing up to leave it started pouring again! Talk about perfect timing! I love this place and all the people that got to come with us. Hooray for fall!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Growing up I always thought it was so lame that my birthday was in October. For example, the picture on the calender for the month of October was always brown, not green or colorful with spring and summer, and not white with the snow of winter. However, in my old age, I have realized that October is my favorite month and having my birthday in there is just a bonus! I love fall. I love the crispness in the air, warmth of the colors, smells of the leaves, weight and warmth of my cozy covers, honestly my favorite time of year by far. This year my birthday was even more special because I got to celebrate Disney style.

Tuesday morning my parents flew in. After a quick nap for Graham at home, we heading down to the happiest place on earth. Here is Grandma getting some quality time with the boys.

Maren and her boys met us there. It is always fun to get all our boys together.

As always, Disneyland looked so fantastic all decked out for Halloween! I love all the little details.

If there was professional claw gaming, my dad would be champion. He got three toys with one grab, impressive I know :)

Holding out their prizes.

Matt was able to escape a little early and come meet us which was another birthday treat. My neighbors are starting to ask if he moved out he is so busy this semester! Here is the gang in front of the Haunted Mansion. I love this ride at Halloween.

Love this boy

At 6:00, it was time for the festivities to begin.

Matt was very insistent that I be a birthday princess. I was not so convinced until we found this dress at Salvation Army for $5. I then made the cloak with hot glue when my sewing needle broke at 10pm the night before! My best neighbor Haylee gave me a quick updo and... birthday princess I was. Not as cute as my boys though.

Maren and her boys Like I said before, love this boy!

Matt's costume was by far the biggest hit. It was hilarious to hear people talk about him when we walked past. The whole gang So, I think I started my 29th year off pretty well. I wish we were able to take better pictures of everyone dressed up. There was just too much to do and too many boys to chase after. But it was really a fantastic night. I am a total roller coaster junky so I was so proud of Crew for doing Big Thunder and Matterhorn that night. Splash Mountain next time maybe? Thanks so much to Matt, my parents and Maren for such a wonderful day and thanks to everyone for all your sweet birthday messages. Here's to another great year!

Update

Well, we have had another great week here in California. Amazingly, it has been cold and rainy, a much welcomed change from a week ago. Here are a couple of our highlights from the past week. A baby in the sink is always a highlight, but the main purpose of this picture is to show off Graham's hair. You can actually see it! Isn't that exciting!
Conference weekend was fantastic as always. What we heard of conference was amazing and it will be great to read what our children made us miss :). During the priesthood session, the boys and I went with the Ericksens up to the Observatory. I love this place. I also love these kids! Graham is so spoiled with Abby around to let him walk all over.

Isn't this a great picture? I am still trying to find a way to take Jake and Abby with us when we move. I'm sure their parents won't mind. We just love them!

Monday the kids and I went to the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley. First of all, I really like Simi Valley. I wish I could spend some more time exploring over there because I definitely like the vibe I get. Second, if you ever get the chance to go to this library, take it! It was awesome!

We had a little group from our ward that made the venture with us. The kids were so good and loved having each other there.
My dad's cousin Lynne volunteers there and was our personal tour guide
All the kiddos

Here is a picture of the oval office.

The highlight for the kids was definitely Air Force One. It was really neat to go on board and see this historic airplane. There were JellyBelly's in every room of the airplane (President Reagan's favorite) which Crew thought was pretty cool. It is crazy to think the new Air Force One is three times bigger than this! Obama really travels in style.

The whole gang

A piece of the Berlin Wall. By this time is started raining pretty hard so it is a little soggy.

I didn't get a picture of the mini White House exhibit but it may have been my favorite. It is there until March if you can make it up there. We didn't learn quite as much as we would have without our crazy kids but it was a great adventure and fantastic day!

Lastly, last night, Matt and I kicked off my birthday week by going to our first musical in L.A. Loved the music, loved Pantages theatre, and definitely LOVED my date! We haven't been on one of those for a while. It was a great night!