A Weekend of Scrapbooking

I was totally spoiled last weekend! I went away with nine other girls to a cabin in the mountains for two days and two nights of SCRAPBOOKING! It was the best! I got quite a bit of scrapbooking done, but of course, I wish I had gotten more done. I seem to enjoy scrapbooking more when I'm not too far behind, but with five kids it's very hard to keep up. My blog is helping me capture my feelings when events happen so I can use them for journaling in my scrapbooks. The weekend wasn't just the best because of the scrapbooking. We had so much fun talking and laughing together. We shared a lot of crazy stories, but everyone agreed "what happens at the cabin stays at the cabin" so I won't reveal any stories here. We also ate a TON! I've never eaten such fabulous food in a weekend. The mint brownies had to be my favorite, thank you Ashleigh! Everyone is more than thrilled (NOT) when I bring my camera out, but I just have to capture these beautiful women and the memories we make together. Thank you to Lauri for planning these annual getaways since 2006. Yes, it's become a tradition we look forward to every year! Katie, Diana, and me Starla and Lauri Sisters - Ashleigh and Kathryn, a picture cute enough to frame! Stacey and Brittany

Natalie with her Swedish fish

Family Temple Day

On Saturday, April 25 our ward had a Family Temple Day. It was a wonderful day for all of us. The kids participated in different activities while Lloyd and I got to do an endowment session. It was great for us to go to the temple without having to worry about the kids so far away at home. I loved the peace and spirit I felt in the temple. The kids loved going on a scavenger hunt around the temple grounds, making crafts, and playing games. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a delicious lunch together as a ward. Last year I was in charge of the lunch and it was such a treat to not be in charge this year. I love to see how excited my kids get about going to the temple. They got so excited as it comes into view from our car. Seeing how beautiful and special the temple is helps our children to have the desire to go inside some day. We are so grateful for the temple, without it we wouldn't be an eternal family.

My Spring Break

Well, Spring Break will be over in less than two days. Where did it go? I know my co-worker is going to ask me if I had a nice vacation and I'll probably have a hard time remembering what I actually did. It really is true, the older you get, the faster time goes by. Well here's a recap of my Spring Break so I actually can recall how I spent these last ten days. Well, the Thursday before Spring Break Lloyd and I went to Wicked (post follows). The next day we rested (didn't get to bed until around 2 am) and that evening I went scrapbooking in Oakdale. I only have one more layout and some journaling to do before Conner's baby book is complete. Hooray! On Saturday I went to a birthday party for a young woman who turned 16 in our ward. I was feeling pretty tired that day so I didn't do my Easter grocery shopping until 10:00 pm. I ended up renting the movie Definitely, Maybe and watched that. Easter Sunday we had a very musical Sacrament meeting and the blessing of the Price baby girl. We had a beautiful Christ-centered lesson in Young Womens. It was a quiet lesson of personal reflection filled with music, pictures, video, and testimonies. We had a fun egg hunt and Easter dinner (post follows). On Monday I babysat a three-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl because their mom recently had surgery. We all went to Micke Grove Zoo in Lodi. There we had a mini middle school reunion. Four of us that went to middle school together all reunited. Here we are in 1987 at our 8th Grade Graduation:

Ann, Melanie, (back) me, Lori (front)

Here we are today 22 years and 15 kids later - Lori, Ann, Melanie, and me

And here are the 22 kids we were crazy enough to bring to the zoo. Micke Grove Zoo is pretty sad and hopefully in a rebuilding stage. What can you expect when it only costs a $1 for kids to get in? We also had fun riding the rides next door. Ann and I can't believe how time flies. It seems just yesterday we were graduating from 8th grade and now both of our daughters will graduate from 8th grade this year. It was a fun little reunion! Monday evening I went to Body Pump and a cycle class at the gym. We went swimming at the gym for Family Home Evening. On Tuesday I cleaned, did laundry, signed the kids up for swim lessons, and took the kids to the mall to buy salt water sandals. We also had Chinese food for dinner which is a rare occurrence for our family. On Wednesday I took the three little kids to the dentist in San Jose. That evening we went out to The Spaghetti Factory with my mom and Jay. Thursday I booked our flight and hotel for our Canada trip (May 7-10) and spent the whole day ordering photos for an upcoming scrapbooking weekend. It literally took me all day and all night to order the photos. I ordered 546 photos! On Friday I went to the gym, took Conner to take his two-year photos, went out to lunch with Lloyd to Marie Callender's, and let my girls have some friends spend the night. On Saturday I ran a 10K in Modesto, did laundry, worked on this blog (10 new posts including this one), and got ready for Church. So when my co-worker asks what I did over Spring Break, I can answer "saw Wicked, celebrated Easter, went out to eat three times, reunited with old friends, exercised and ran a 10K, watched a DVD, planned a vacation, cleaned and did laundry, scrapbooked and ordered photos, blogged, rested some, and was a mom. There are a number of things on my To Do List that I didn't get done, but I am going to focus on what I did get done. I was so grateful for this much needed break and can hardly believe it's only seven more weeks before summer vacation. I live for my summers!

Easter

Easter Sunday was more laid back this year. I laughed with my mom and my brother because we all live within a couple hours of each other, but we were all too tired to get together. Sometimes it's nice just to relax at home. This was the first year I didn't have the girls wear matching dresses. I think they were all relieved and looked cute anyway. The boys did have matching outfits and looked very handsome. I feel really happy when I look at this picture. I have to admit, I do have cute kids! After church, the kids got kites, bubbles, snacks, water guns, stickers, etc. from the Easter Bunny. We had a simple yet nice Easter dinner - ham, scalloped potatoes, salad, veggies and dip, rolls, and jello. The missionaries already had a dinner appointment so we had to break our tradition of having them over for every holiday. We had an adorable couple from our ward- The Gattons over. After dinner we had an egg hunt. Lloyd and Troy did a great job hiding all the eggs.

We ended our celebration with the kids decorating cookies. We also had sherbet and diet Sprite- a very refreshing and light dessert. We all enjoyed our relaxing Easter.

Easter Run

On April 4, Kylie, Katelyn, and I all went to an Easter Run at Lodi Lake. I ran a 5K (3.1 miles) and the girls ran a quarter mile kids run. It was a cool day so we had to dress warmly. We wanted to bring Courtney and the boys too so they could go to the Easter carnival after the race, but we didn't want Courtney to have to watch them while we ran. We also had to leave at 6:45 am to make it to Lodi before the race began at 8:00. So we left the boys at home with Courtney; Lloyd had to work. Here we are before the race. Both the girls ran hard and earned a ribbon.

II was actually shocked to learn I won 1st place out of 35 women in my age category. I came in at 23:53, but I think the course was a little shorter than 3.1 miles. I was surprised because I never thought I'd get 1st place in a run because I'm definitely not an elite runner. I was excited though. I got this medal and a $10 gift card to Fleet Feet.

The Easter Bunny was even at the race.

After the run, we went to the carnival. We had all-you-can-eat pancakes. I ate 8! The girls enjoyed playing a lot of games and riding on this little train. We all won goodies at the cake walk. It was a fun day and maybe we'll even bring the boys next year.

Wicked

Lloyd and I had the time of our lives when we went to see the musical Wicked in San Francisco. We stopped first at a restaurant a friend recommended, The Crepevine. We each had a dinner crepe and shared a dessert crepe. They were both so delicious!

Wicked was very entertaining. The plot was interesting, the music and singing was beautiful, the acting was fantastic, and it was very funny. I love how it explained everything that happens in The Wizard of Oz. We had the cheap seats in the balcony ($30 each), but we could see and hear everything just fine. San Francisco really is a different town. I had a funny experience when I had to go to the bathroom after the show. I had to show a food receipt just so they would unlock the bathroom for me at Burger King. Anyway, I would definitely recommend Wicked to anyone thinking about seeing it. I would even love to go again. Katelyn and Courtney are going with Grandma and Grandpa in June. We know they'll love it!

Courtney's Softball

Yes, Courtney played another new sport this year- Softball. This girl is just so athletic and does well at everything she tries. A lot of girls tried out for the team and didn't make it, but Courtney did. Her coach told her she mostly made it because she is fast and he felt like he could teach her since she'd never played softball before. Courtney ended up loving it, but I also think she's not ready to turn in her soccer cleats for softball ones.

Savage Middle School 8th Grade Softball Team

Courtney was awesome at bunting! She got on base almost every time.

She was fast at running the bases! She's our Leftie!

Courtney's coach, Mr. Robertson was a fantastic coach. He was so positive and encouraging. He gave his players good instruction and really cheered them on. He even took the time to call me at home and tell me how impressed he was with Courtney. Here's Courtney with her good friend Hannah. They've been friends since third grade. Hannah's passion is softball. She's an amazing catcher. The team celebrated the season with a party. They were undefeated the entire season. Thanks to a great coach and a very talented pitcher. Each player got a small trophy.
Courtney is our All-American Girl. I wish I could brag and say I taught her everything she knows, but I didn't. She came from Heavenly Father just the way she is. She is loving, helpful, smart, confident, friendly, and talented. She is a peacemaker in our family and a great example to her siblings. Believe it or not, at age 13, she rarely talks back to me or gives me any trouble. She blesses all of our lives!