The Day of LOVE

We LOVE Valentine's Day around here.

I have a tradition of getting all my kids a special Valentine.

They get to open it first thing in the morning.

I had a bouquet of balloons delivered to them later in the afternoon.

Adalyn was found on top of my dining room table ALL day long with her hands in the candy jar.

Good-morning my loves.

It took Benton the entire day to finish this lollipop.

I even attempted to style the girls' hair in hearts. If you look closely you can see.

Everyone enjoyed a day filled with Valentine parties...a Primary activity...and a romantic steak dinner prepared by Daddy and Benton.

I made these individual heart shaped cherry pies for the parties. I will post the recipe later.

We have been celebrating all week long. It started last week with a Grade School Fundraiser Dinner then we had a special Valentine's Family Home Evening with all the neighbors at the Johnson Home last night. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! 

Luncheon

I planned a birthday luncheon for my good friend Jen.

Everything was PINK.

We had about 15 ladies from town there to celebrate, visit and eat.

Our guest of honor had to go in for a D and C that morning and wasn't able to make it so we celebrated in her honor. I took her all of her gifts and a plate of food when she returned home from the hospital.

For her birthday she found out she miscarried her 12th...she got rear-ended by a bus...and learned she had to get a D and C. Not the most desired birthday surprises.

And yet, she still smiled through it all and even was able to laugh at certain aspects of the day. I really look up to her. She is a great example to me. Happy Birthday Jen!

the weekend...

We were invited to attend a fun birthday party at an indoor pool. We were all enjoying ourselves...splashing...swimming...sliding...and then...

Benton slipped and hit his chin on the side of the pool. He split open his chin. Seconds after this happened I was surrounded by two nurses, a lifeguard and a wife of a surgeon. It was then decided that he needed stitches. The wife of the surgeon got on the phone with her husband and had him bring his sutures home. We were able to escape a trip to the ER thanks to these other party guests. Benton is getting a nice history of injuries to his little 4 year old self.

Why I LOVE Mexico...

I know I live a "world" away from my side of the family but I love having my in-laws just down the street.

I love sharing a bench at church with them.

I love having my kids come home for lunch everyday.

I love that everything is walking distance...including the temple.

I love knowing that all my children's teachers, leaders, coaches are temple recommend holders.

I love that my kids are bilingual.

I love that my kids are learning tennis.

I love that they are learning ballet.

I love that they can play the piano.

I love that my kids are learning to play basketball and football.

I love that my children are being included in musical performances in the community.
I love that their grandma is their vocal coach.

I love that my children know how to play outside and use their imaginations.

I love that they are well-rounded.

I love having my husband home everyday by 3:30pm.

I love knowing my kid's teachers and all the kids they go to school with.

I love that the people who own the store know me by name.

I love the honor code that all the teens in town have to abide by.

I love having the farm close by to send my children out to work in.

I love that my kids will have the opportunity to be in the band, choir, student council, cheer squad/football team at the same time if they so choose. 

I love being in a small town.

We are like one big family...

sometimes we bicker...

but in the end we really do care about each other and want whats best for us all.

Benton's Birthday!

Benton is 4! He shares a birthday with his Aunt Rachel. For birthdays we woke up the birthday-boy with presents and cake. It has been a family tradition since I was little. And who doesn't love cake for breakfast?!

We took the family to a local restaurant for pizza and games, then we had cake and ice cream at home with all our relatives. It was a fun night.

 I think we dropped $30 on this particular game. He LOVED it!


Uncle Fred made Benton his very own treasure box...with a lock. Grandpa bought Benton a child-sized wheel barrow and shovel. He couldn't be happier. Now he can lock up his precious cars and dig holes with the work-men...a boy's dream.

Happy Birthday Benton!

Disney

This year Santa surprised our kids with a trip to Disneyland. They weren't too excited about it when they found out...but then again...they had never been before and didn't know what that entailed. On New Year's day we packed up the car and headed to AZ to spend some time with my Grandparents and my dad. We had a great time visiting and seeing the Matheny side of the family.

We headed out for California and got to our hotel which was a total dump! I was scared that we were going to get shot! Alex woke up in the middle of the night sick and shaking. We stayed the night and then check out first thing in the morning. We were able to get a room at the Marriott, which was across the street from Disneyland, and Alex miraculously felt 100% better for her first day at the park.

When we got the Disneyland we found our friends, who surprised their kids as well, and got into lines for rides. We soon noticed that we had all of the football fans from the ROSE Bowl and the park was packed! Thankfully we got a tip to purchase a RideMax program to schedule out our rides...and it saved us! We only waited in 3 lines our entire trip! My kids LOVED their Disney experience. Even Garrett said he wanted to extend our stay and go back!!!!

 

Garrett's hair AFTER riding California SCREAMIN.

He loved this roller-coaster so much he went back...4x's.

My kids' faces during the parade. They got to see all of their favorite characters.

 

I knew my kids would want to buy souvenirs, toys, and treats at the park so I sneaked over to the Disney Store BEFORE our trip and bought them some stuff on Clearance. I packed it away in our day-pack and when they got a case of the "I wants" I pulled out the toys and everyone was happy.  

Alex was warned about how scary the "Tower of Terror" was so she told me she did NOT want to ride that particular ride. She would remind me everyday up until the day we got to the park. Our first stop was that very ride and she asked me what ride we were doing I told her something else. When we got off she explained how much she LOVED that ride so I told her it was the same ride she didn't want anything to do with. We rode that ride twice...just for Alex!

This is what Benton looked like on EVERY ride. Before we would enter he would ask me if it was a SLOW ride or a FAST ride. He was a trooper but preferred the slow ones.

After a few days with Disney we headed over to Mike and Angie's to spend a day with them and Shauny and Darron. They took us on a fun bike ride and then we got a special tour of Mike's operation and exclusive access to his wonderful LONG BOARD paletas. They were delicious. Afterwards we packed up and headed to the beach. We set up camp and played in the ocean.

It was a first for my kids and they LOVED it. Tori actually surfed and Alex boogie boarded. Garrett built a bon fire and we roasted dogs and marshmallows. It was so much fun. We want to move to California now. We stayed up until 1:00am visiting and catching up.

Here is Alex catching a wave on her boogie board.

Garrett helping Alex catch a wave.

Tori picked up a surf board and headed right out for the waves.

Her cousins were showing her what to do.

Then Uncle Mike and Garrett went out to help her catch the waves.

She stood up on her first try!

I guess we know what we will be doing every summer!

Uncle Mike was so sweet to stay in the water with her until the sun went down.

Garrett prefers his water at 80 degrees so he only stayed in until he saw Tori and Alex catch their first wave. That was more than I did. I stayed nice and dry on shore taking the pictures.

In the morning we hit the road again to head for home. On our drive we stopped to say good-bye to the beach and Garrett picked up Benton to look at a helicopter.

Benton was holding a granola bar in his hand and reached up to point at something. The second his hand extended a seagull swooped in and took his bar right out of his hand!

We booked a hotel in Tucson and they had us move to 3 different rooms because they kept giving us the wrong key so the hotel treated us to dinner and breakfast! After a goo nights' rest we finished our trek home to get Adalyn, who was home with Grandma and Grandpa, so we could enjoy the rides with our older kids. Everyone was found in good health and we were reunited as a family again! We had a fantastic vacation and are planning to go back soon!