Everyday Life

Here are just a few random pictures of the kids being cute and what we do on the average day.

This is what would happen if Jocey dressed herself for church: pjs underneath her dress and socks with her dress shoes (shoes also on wrong feet).

 In case you missed our Valentine's Day post on my craft blog (see HERE), this is the picture we used for our Valentine's Day cards.  "We 'mustache' you a question.  Will you be our Valentine?"

 So a few things I love about this picture.  1)Jocelyn is sitting with Emma.  2)Emma is pulling on Jocelyn.  3)Jocelyn doesn't care that Emma is messing with her.  Love my girls!

 Jocelyn wanted rainbow nails (like her friend).

 Jocelyn fell asleep while sitting next to me.  My favorite part is her hand in the air.

"Rockin' Ever After"

Several months ago, our friends invited us to Disney on Ice. I never told Jocelyn so it would be a surprise. The show was the day after Valentine's Day. I told her on Valentine's Day that the next day we were going to go some place special with her friend and that she would get to wear her Belle dress.

The day arrived and I got her dressed up as a princess and we drove to the show. We walked into the arena (go Sacramento Kings!) and they had booths set up with Disney merchandise. I let her pick one thing and she chose a Rapunzel doll.

 Jocelyn wanted to look around instead of posing for pictures, in case you're wondering why she looks so unhappy.

We took our seats (only like 7 rows back) and waited for the show. She was entranced. Sometimes I had more fun just watching Jocelyn. The first characters she saw were Mickey and Minnie and some of their friends, who she loves. And they told several stories involving some of Jocelyn's favorite princesses...

Ariel

Merida

 There was also Rapunzel and Belle.

 The girls (and moms) really enjoyed the show and I can't wait to go next year!

 And if this doesn't tell her how Jocelyn felt about it, I don't know what will.

What A 'LOVE'ly Day

Ah Valentine's Day...you are so fun! I had a great time making the day special for my loves. So here's what I planned.

The night before, Dave and I cut out hearts and heart attacked Jocelyn and Emma's door.  Jocey loved it in the morning.

 

Everyone woke up to a pile of goodies and here is my sweetheart wearing her cute headband.

I made a special breakfast of heart pancakes.

We went out to lunch with Dave.

I made a special dinner starting with Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris.

And then I tried a new recipe.  I was going to make heart-shaped pizza but decided to do this instead.  It's pull apart pizza.  It took longer than expected and it was a little oily from the olive oil but that can be fixed by putting less in.  It was still tasty.  I also made cake balls but because dinner ended so late we didn't finish them but snacked on them throughout the next few days.  

Click HERE for the pull apart pizza recipe.

We had a wonderful day and hope you had a 'LOVE'ly day too!

Major Overload

I finally caught up on the last couple months of our lives.  See the six new posts below.

29 Years of Age

That's right, I turned 29. Only one year left in my 20's. How neat is that? And I'm going out with a bang!

I got majorly spoiled. We pretty much celebrated for a week. My birthday fell on a Thursday this year, but we celebrated all day, the Monday before, because Dave had the day off. We went to the Outlets and shopped our hearts out. I got a couple pairs of shoes, Dave got shoes and some new clothes. Then we had dinner at Panera Bread. I'd never been so I wanted to try it out. It was yummy! Then we took Jocey to Dave's dad's house and Emma to the McCaffree's while Dave and I went and saw the movie, The Legend of Hercules. It was ok, nothing amazing but we were entertained.

When we got home that night, I opened a present from Dave. It was an expansion to the game Pandemic. It's called, On the Brink. We love Pandemic!

Then on Wednesday, my friends came and kidnapped me (as initiated by Dave) and took me out to dinner. They went all out. They came through our back door disguised (though I knew it was Angie and Jen) and tied my hands behind my back, tied my legs together, and blindfolded me. They, with the help of Dave, carried me outside to the getaway truck. They had put a ton of balloons in the car. No, I couldn't see them but could feel them all over.

Oh and they made me look pretty. They put a tiara on me, some necklaces, and bracelets (Jocey really loved them when I brought them back home with me). I do wish I had actually done my hair and makeup that day but at least I had showered right?

We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory and had dinner. Then we had a brownie cake (made by Jen) and opened presents.

I got slippers, pajama pants, skittles, M&M's, beautiful flowers, hand soap, and a gift card. Thanks friends! I had a blast! And from my parents I'd gotten some money and my mom sent me her Bread Maker that she no longer wanted. Sweet!

On my actual birthday, I went to the park and had a picnic with some friends. I was going to make a cake that looks like a giant cupcake but with the leftover brownie cake from the night before and cupcakes brought over by my friend Jenny, I figured I'd hold off on trying out the new cake pan. That night, we watched the movie, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. It was good.

And last, on Friday, I went to DSW and bought some more shoes. I was going to get them Monday but the other store didn't have them in my size, but this one did.

And that was my wonderful birthday week! Thanks for all the messages and calls too! I seriously have the best family and friends!

Goodbye Gladys, Hello Minivan

We sold my glorious Dodge Stratus, named Gladys.  We weren't planning on getting much out of it because it's a '99 model and was really looking frail these days: rusted paint, some sweet graffiti (from my wonderful young women in our past ward), etc.  But it just so happened that Dave put it on Craigslist and within a few hours it was sold and gone.  If Craigslist didn't work out, we were just going to sell it for parts.  But we got lucky because a girl had wrecked her car (not so lucky for her) and was looking for something cheap but reliable (it never left us stranded) to get her to and from work until she could get something else.  Enter Gladys.

We told them every little thing wrong with her. Obviously, we were trying to be very open and honest about everything.  But I was still really worried that something would happen the day after she bought it because it was that old.  But everything has worked out well.  But it was kind of sad simply because it happened so fast.  But I'm over it now because look at this beauty.

We bought this minivan from Dave's dad. It's a Honda Odyssey. And it drives so much smoother. We have yet to name it. We'll have to deliberate for some time I'm sure. ;) Anyway, this van is so nice to have and so much more spacious. I love driving it and seem to find the smallest excuse to do so.

P.S. In case you're wondering, Dave kept his Mazda Protege, though it's older than the Stratus, because it was doing better.

"Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"

To help get us in the mood for the Christmas season, we went and saw lights.  We went to a neighborhood, well actually just one street, that goes all out every year.  It was so cool and it was the perfect length for a 3 year old.

We made a gingerbread house too.  Jocey really loved decorating it. My favorite is the huge chunk of fondant she placed on the roof.

Of course I did a little photo shoot with the girls in their Christmas dresses.  Don't you just want to eat them up?

I don't even know what to say about this one except, HAHAHAHAHA!

All of Dave's family (except Matt on a mission) came for Christmas.  We were up at his dad's house every day having lots of fun.  We played a lot of games.  Including this one, Bocce Ball.

For Christmas Eve, we had a delicious meal at the McCaffree's, followed by a graham cracker house competition, some Minute to Win It games, and story time.  It was so much fun!

Here are pictures of all the graham cracker houses.  The first was the winning team.  Grandpa Great was the judge and knowing that he is a very spiritual and religious man, this group built a temple to suck up to him.  Well played guys, well played.

Ours was the shape of a fox.  We just thought it was cool.

Big Ben.

They also tried sucking up to Grandpa Great by writing his name on their house.  I think they came in second.

Another tower.

Their house collapsed so they just enjoyed eating it.

This is a long time Ricks Family tradition.  Take a picture on the staircase before coming down to see the presents.  Biggest group yet.

Mike (who just returned from his mission in Brazil) got everyone a soccer jersey for different Brazilian teams.  Pretty cool huh?

BYU played their Bowl game while most of the family was here and so a group went and watched the game in San Francisco.  Here's some shots in our BYU gear.  The girls and I didn't go but we still supported the Cougars from afar.

I made Dave take the camera with him to the game to document the fun. 

And last was New Year's Eve.  Again, another tradition is going to Grandpa Great's house for pizza, junk food, Bunco, lots of other games, and watching the ball drop.  Jocey actually stayed up until midnight too.  What a crazy girl!

We had a wonderful 2013 and can't wait for 2014 and all the adventures it will bring!

He's Home! Let's Do a Slow Clap!

Dave's brother Mike got home from his mission in Brazil. How excited we all were!

And it was so fun to see him come down the escalators at the airport and see his face when he discovered his niece Emma for the first time. Yeah, we didn't tell him I was pregnant or that we'd had another baby while he was gone. Here's the reason why. Before I was even pregnant, he kept telling us that he was on to us, that we secretly had another baby etc. So when we actually did get pregnant, we thought it would be funny to not tell him. We told everyone to keep it a secret as well and somehow it worked. His reaction was priceless. If you want to see the video, check it out on Facebook. It's not working when I try to add it here.

And if you're wondering what the "slow clap" in the title has to do with, Mike likes a good slow clap. You know, like in most sports movies, during a really emotional part, someone starts clapping really slow, and then more people join in and the clap gets faster and faster. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6MqFeGCsT8.  Anyway, I feel his welcome home would have been more complete with a slow clap but oh well. 

Decorating, Birthdays, and a Baby Blessing

The beginning of December was very eventful. We decorated for Christmas. This was our first year with a full size Christmas tree. And Jocey was so excited to put on the ornaments. And we let her put the star on top.

 

My parents came to visit for a few days for Emma's baby blessing. While here it also happened to be my dad and Jocelyn's birthday. We had fun celebrating. My dad opened presents (books and a shirt) and I made him a Banana Cream Pie (his favorite) and then him, my mom, and I went and saw Catching Fire. Most excellent.

The next day was Jocelyn's 3rd birthday. We had a special breakfast and she opened her presents. She got two princess dresses, a cute tutu outfit, a coloring pad, and a Disney CD.

She also had a special birthday lunch at Leatherby's. They whole place sang "Happy Birthday" to her and it almost made me cry. I thought that was so sweet. She was embarrassed and had the funniest face, with her tongue sticking out, the whole time. I hope she gets over that.

The next day was Emma's baby blessing. Dave did great again. After church we had family and friends come over for lunch. I feel so blessed to have been surrounded by so many wonderful people. This is the same dress that my sister, all of our girls, and I were blessed in.

And here are our awesome cheering squads.