Young Women

I just have to take a minute and brag about my calling.  I am the Beehive Advisor at church, meaning I work with the 12 and 13 year old girls.  I love this calling so much!  I was really overwhelmed at church today with the love I have for them and the spirit that literally seems to be bursting out of them.  I am continually amazed by these girls.  They are incredible examples and great inspirations to me.  They are so much fun to be around.  While they may be silly more often than not, I love watching them grow into beautiful young women.  They have testimonies of the Savior.  They understand and feel the spirit in their lives.  They know who they are and what they can become.  They love and serve each other.  Seriously, the world is in good hands with the youth of the church.

And just so you can see how much fun we have, here is a picture from the Beehive sleepover we just had this past weekend.  We had a great time!  Yes, there was junk food (though the veggies and fruits disappeared surprisingly quick) and soda and games and make up and hair doing and movie watching and boy talking and laughing and not enough sleeping.  And Angie (the other leader) and I were happy to discover that the girls think we are as funny as we think we are.  Success!

"Would you say I have a plethora?"

Why yes, I do have a plethora of videos I would like to show you.  I can tell you how cute and funny Jocelyn is but it would be much easier to just show you.  And now for the feature presentations.

She's Got Tricks

Cathing Up With My Peeps

Dancing Machine

Whiner Baby

I Think I'm Pretty Neat

Happy Leap Day!

Kinda cool how this day only happens once every 4 years.  Makes it pretty special.  That's all I have to say about that.  Now let's catch up on the Ricks Family. 

First off is Valentine's Day.  Dave and I made and decorated cupcakes for our friends the Sunday before Valentine's Day. Monday, Dave left to go to L.A. for a couple of days for an interview and I delivered said cupcakes.  That is about as exciting as our Valentine's Day got.  Because Dave was gone, we didn't get to do anything.  I did have some goodies set out for him when he got back on Valentine's Day night and he got me a book.  Jocelyn got a cute outfit and a stuffed animal.  Here's a couple pictures of our little Valentine.

Last weekend, we went to the zoo.  We didn't look up directions because both Dave and I were thinking the other knew how to get there.  Well we drove around for probably an hour before we finally made it.  We walked around and enjoyed the nice weather and the fun animals.  Our favorite were the monkeys.  One of them was very interactive.

 Upside of driving around for awhile is that Jocey got a nap.

Just chillin'.

And here is a video of the very interactive monkey:

After the zoo we went home and the Hudson's came over for dinner.  We celebrate obscure holidays with them but since Dave was gone for Valentine's Day we decided to do something later and do the opposite of "Love Day."  We had a "Hate Date."  We were going to dress in black and watch some manly action movie and have dinner.  Well that was the plan but I didn't really get into it as much so I ended up just putting some black streamers up.  We decided against a movie because of time and our little ones, but we still had dinner and played a game and it's always fun to just catch up.

Sienna and Jocelyn playing together.  BFF.

And here are some pictures of Jocelyn.  She is way more active.  She loves to climb or try to climb up on most anything.  She is very friendly and says hi to everyone in the grocery store.  She is transitioning to just one nap a day but she has been waking up in the night so maybe she's not completely ready yet.  She loves being silly and laughs and plays all day.  She is also full of sass.  She screams really loud and at such a pitch that only dogs can hear, when she gets mad.  And when she gets really mad she bites.  She has left marks a couple of times.  She makes up for the bad when she gives you wet kisses and gives you her big toothy grin.  I can't stay mad for long.  I mean look at this face.

We've got ourselves a climber.

A New Rubber Band Game

If you know the Ricks family you may have heard about their rubber band game. You split up into 2 teams (usually an upstairs team and a downstairs team), are given rubber bands, and then move into position and try to hit each other with rubber bands. Once you've been hit 3 times, you're out and the last team standing wins. It's great fun.

Well a few nights ago, we had dinner with our friends, the Oakes, and they taught us a new rubber band game. It's with army me. Yes, you heard it, ARMY MEN! You divide into 2 teams (we played couple against couple) with a load of rubber bands. You set up army men on your base. We used the dinner table and kitchen counter but they said they normally play on the floor (the babies were still awake so we voted against the floor). Once you have your army men set up, you use the rubber bands to knock them over. Whoever knocks over all of the other teams army men first, WINS! We played 3 games and sadly only won once but hey we were beginners right? It was really fun and I can't believe the utter bliss we have been missing out on. You should play. It just might change your life.

This is war! 

Don't be deceived by their sweet, smiling faces.  They will devour your army.

"Defend Your Honor"

Aka, I went to a Sacramento Kings game.  That saying was on a huge banner when we drove into the parking lot.  So as mentioned in the last post, Dave's birthday present to me were tickets to a Kings game.  We invited a few friends and last night was the big game.  And WE WON!!! It was mixed emotions though because they didn't ever play Jimmer.  BOO!  Oh well.  It was fun and I'm surprised I didn't lose my voice from all the screaming.  So here are some shots.  And yes, we got a new camera finally.

Power-Balance Pavillion

Jimmer.  Need I say more? 

Most of the crew.

The rest of the crew. 

Nice action shot. 

Final score.  THE KINGS REIGN SUPREME!

True fans.  Don't mess. 

Since we went for my birthday, the Hudsons brought me this.  Isn't it so pretty?

"One Year Older and Wiser Too!"

Well I don't know about the wiser part but I am getting older.  I know 27 isn't that old but I had a day where it really hit me that I'm not a kid anymore.  I still feel like I should be in my teens.  Maybe it's because I'm the Beehive leader at church that makes me feel so young.  Whatever it is, the truth is that I'm getting old.  27!?  My brothers should be in their 20s, not me.  My parents should still be in their 40s, not the decades they're currently in (I won't reveal that).  When did I almost hit 30?  I don't want to even think about three years from now when I really hit that decade.  Woah!  Shock to my system.  Well besides feeling old, which I'm over now, I did have a great birthday and the celebrating hasn't really ended yet.  Dave is taking me to a Sacramento Kings game in a few days with some friends for my present, so I'll post about that later.  But for my actual day, here's the scoop.

The morning of, I went to my friends house for a playdate.  We had cupcakes that really hit the spot.  Then I went shopping for some groceries but also bought myself some shirts.  I got lovely phone calls from family and friends throughout the day.  I got beautiful flowers delivered to my door from my mom and dad.  Dave came home early from work and also brought me some lovely flowers.  We went to dinner to Outback Steakhouse where we met up with Dave's dad and brother, Matt, and our friend Megan.  After eating too much food we headed back to our apartment and played a game and ate some good dessert which I like to call Mini Cookie Ice-Cream Cakes.  It was the first time I had tried to make them and they turned out pretty well.  Here's the recipe: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/mini-ice-cream-cookie-cups/b562af5e-c063-4c0e-8b34-9072f37b2faf/.  I made them without the nuts, jam, and fruit.  YUM!  Well that about sums up my birthday.  So even though I'm feeling old I can still enjoy my birthdays.

My birthday is coming up. Just sayin'.