The Circus

Last month, Dave and I took Jocelyn to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. I hadn't been to the circus since I was in middle school so I was really excited! We didn't tell Jocey where we were going so we could enjoy her reaction to what was to come.

Unfortunately, Jocey wasn't as entertained as we thought. I think it was a little too long and she was a little grumpy but it was still fun.

There were all kinds of animals like lions and tigers and elephants and horses. But honestly, I think we enjoyed the acts better. There was the Torres motorcycle family that was ridiculously awesome and had me on the edge of my seat because of their daredevil antics. I also loved the China National Acrobatic Troupe. They were incredibly nimble and quick and fantastic.   Sadly, I only took a couple pictures so you'll just have to go see the show for yourself.

All in all, we enjoyed it and I got this smile from Jocelyn, eventually.

Labor Day Tradition

In case you haven't caught on, every Labor Day, we get together with our friends, the Gieslers, who we know from when we lived in Monterey. And we love it! This year they came up to our neck of the woods and we had a blast. They actually came up the day Dave got home from his month long TDY (see previous post), so it felt like a party to welcome him home.

We started off by playing at our splash park. Then we of course had to watch a football game (curse football season) but Sunshine was brilliant and planned ahead. While the boys watched sports, us girls made a craft. And we made an awesome craft, though I have yet to finish mine. It's a wreath made with pages from a book. Here's a picture of the one Sunshine made.

The Gieslers only stayed for the weekend, so on Sunday we went to church and played games, and then Monday we went to Fairytale Town and the kids had fun playing on all the toys.

 
Dave had fun too.

 Now back to the kids.

After playing hard we had lunch and then to top it off as all things should be topped off, we went to Vampire Penguin. It is one of my favorite places now. It's so unique and delicious. It's a shaved ice dessert place but like none other you have ever tasted.

And then the fun ended and we all had to get back to reality. Can't wait until next year Gieslers!

No Dave

Once upon a time, Dave was gone for the entire month of August for work. This is what the girls and I did while he was gone.

I finally made the wall art for the master bedroom. It's not perfect, but I love how it turned out.

The girls were really good and super cute, especially when they discovered my high heels.

Thankfully, in the middle of the month, we had some family come for a visit. Dave's brother Josh, his wife Tara, and their cute little boy Ben came to play. We had fun just playing and talking together. We went to our neighborhood splash park one day and fun was had by all.

 
After all the family headed home, Jocelyn started preschool. Myself and five other moms are teaching our cute girls. Preschool is two days a week for 2 1/2 hours and we switch each week, taking a turn to host and teach. It's been great so far and Jocey loves it!

And for me, the biggest accomplishment during that month was that I worked out every single day (with the exception of Sunday). And it payed off. I've lost at least 10lbs. Since Dave has come home I haven't been as good but I'm still working out and still losing weight. I love it!

We were so happy to have Dave home. However, surprisingly, the month went by quickly. And it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I had great friends that invited us over for dinners and we had play dates and I had a girls night and as mentioned above, we had family visit, so it helped to make everything go smoothly. Plus, I think it really made a huge difference from other times Dave has been gone, that we got to Skype him every day. So we did see him most every day. But I think we'll wait quite awhile before letting him go for that long again.

Nasty Stache

As mentioned in the previous post, Dave grew out his mustache/goatee for the Stake Youth Pioneer Trek.  When he got home, it was the first thing to go.  It was not favorite thing (though he can pull it off) so I was happy to see it go.  Dave shaved it off in stages. So for you entertaining pleasure...

Warning: You may have the urge to run away screaming with fear or hurl.  You have been warned.

Before:

During:

After:

Family Pictures 2014

Back in July, we got our family pictures taken by our friend Robin. I can't believe it took us that long to get pictures taken. Poor Emma. For the first 9 months of her life, there wasn't much evidence of her on our walls. But now there are lots of pictures of both our girls and it makes me happy. You will also notice that Dave looks different.  He grew out his mustache/goatee for the Stake Youth Pioneer Trek.  I didn't even think about that when planning pictures.  Oh well.  He pulls it off well.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

 And then there's this one.  I think that sums up Dave pretty well.

Angie's Surprise!

I've decided kidnapping friends for their birthdays is the way to go. My friend Angie just had her birthday and some friends and I decided to kidnap her and take her out, with the help of her husband.

We headed to Target, where Angie was shopping. Her husband had let us know which section they were in, so the hunt began. We had to speed down aisles so she wouldn't see us, which was awesome. If only the Mission Impossible theme song were being played! Angie's husband saw us so was ready to help when we attacked. We walked up quietly behind them and Steve, Angie's husband, scooped her up and stuck her in the cart we were pushing around. I blind folded her and the night began.

We headed to Chevy's for dinner and made her stay blindfolded until another friend showed up. It was great to make her wait so long.

After dinner, we went bowling. And it was glow bowl which was way more fun. Lucky I had glow sticks at home to bring, right? Our first game, we played a real game. The second one, we tried to spice things up by having to bowl each round a certain way, aka spinning around, dance walking, bowling through the legs etc. The last couple of rounds were our speed rounds since we were running out of time. So we tried to see who could throw the ball the fastest. Fittingly, Angie threw a 16.1 mph ball, winning.

It was a fun night and we ended with a group picture. We were trying to be hard core but we had trouble and didn't know there was a double flash. Here's what happened.

Ha!  I love it so much.  And then we took a normal one, ready this time, for the double flash. 

Happy Birthday, my super friend Angie!

We Drove to Utah

Yes, we actually drove to Utah. It was a very quick trip. We left the Wednesday before the 4th of July, and came home the following Monday. I'd heard that my sis-in-law, Liz, and her kids, who are currently living in Germany, were going to be in Provo, so Dave and I decided to make the trip to visit them and some of his brothers. I wasn't too worried about Jocelyn. We had plenty of things to distract her. It was Emma I was worried about. But she did fantastic. Both girls were great! Yes, we heard, "Are we there yet?" a few times and Emma had to cry herself to sleep a couple times but that was as bad as it got.

So now to the fun stuff. We started right away. The night we got there, we headed to my old roommates house, where three other roommates met as well, and we got all caught up. We ate, we laughed, we chatted. It was so fun to see them. I miss our fun times we had in college!

The next day we met up with one of Dave's roommate and had breakfast at the amazing Kneaders. Afterwards, we got to see my sis-in-law and her four kids. They are so cute and we had a blast. We first stopped at Ashley and Sara's soccer camp and watched their games. Then we walked around BYU to reminisce, of course making sure to eat some of their famous mint brownies. We hung out at Liz's childhood home and then headed to her sister's house to swim. After we were worn out, we went back to Liz's to eat dinner and play games.

The next day, we headed to Provo's 4th of July parade. Thankfully Liz's family are parade fanatics and were really prepared with a tent so we weren't burning in the sun! After the parade, we went to Liz's so the kids could take naps and then the little ones played in the water and played dress up, naturally!

We had a BBQ at Liz's sister's house and then watched them set off some fireworks.

Ashley's patriotic fruit dish.

We said our goodbyes, and headed to Dave's brother, Josh's house for the remainder of our stay.  Dan and Mike live nearby so they joined in the fun and dad and dad's girlfriend, Teri, also made the trip out to Utah. To finish off with the 4th of July, Josh and Tara's neighbors put off a good fireworks show so we didn't have to travel anywhere.

The next day we went to the aquarium. The girls loved it. We did have a slight scare for a couple minutes when we lost Jocelyn, but luckily, she was still at the whale play area where some nice people were helping her to find us. She didn't know we had moved on and we didn't know she wasn't following.

Emma had her face to the glass anytime she could.  She loved being so close.

I was so proud of Jocey.  She wasn't scared at all of walking on the rope bridge.

Teri and the girls.

This is the play area where we accidentally left Jocey. :(

On Sunday, we went to church and got to be there for Josh's ordination to High Priest. He became a High Councilor. We spent the rest of the day playing games and eating and just enjoying each others company. Monday, we headed back home and made good time. We were home for dinner and FHE and then headed to bed EARLY!

It was so great to see so many family and friends. We miss being close to so many of them. Until next time!