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May 28, 2008

Jed's new Job

Had to take pictures and post them. He is adorable in his new uniform. Jed works at Johnny Rockets as a COOK! I see some similarities....
Alfred E. Newman....a little....too cute!

Great Way to Raise Money!

On May 16th our ward had a movie night and silent auction (which turned out to be loud at the end) to benefit the boy scouts and help them pay for Camp. Members donated things for auction and they made over $800 dollars!
We all brought our blankets to spread out over the gym floor and watched CARS. I went to check out the auction stuff and was surprised to see my kids all sitting and watching as if they had never seen the movie. (I can't count how many times they have seen it!) They had bags of popcorns and nachos and had set up a "screen" on the stage with chairs and sheets. Very cool!
For some reason Liam found watching the people more entertaining.
I bid on this quilt and won. It was too cute to pass up. Plus I can totally act like I know how to quilt now. *laugh*
I made this for the auction... any guesses as to how much it got?
A lady in our ward did these... they are amazing! I told her I want lessons! Either that or I am going to have to hire her for the kids birthdays!

May 26, 2008

Nika and Ben conversation

Preface: We call our private parts Our "Business"

Nika: Is "Business" a bad word?
Ben: No but we don't talk to other people about our "Business"
Nika: Why not?
Ben: Cause that is private and it's none of their "business" (ha ha)
Nika: (pauses...)"tomorrow I'm gonna talk "business" to myself"

May 25, 2008

All I can say is wow...

May 21, 2008

Mothers Day Tea

So Anja's classroom celebrated a late mothers day last Friday the 16th. We came for a mothers day tea. The kids ushered us in to waiting tables with pink tablecloths and vases with various flowers in them. The plates were already on the table with fruit salad, a muffin and a scone. The kids made everything themselves. And we happy moms ate it after being assured that they washed their hands before preparing and if any of them had runny noses they were not invited to participate!The poured our glasses of lemonade or tea.Then they all got up and recited a poem they had memorized.
Maybe you have heard this one before...

Sometimes I might upset you, just because I 'm small
By leaving fingerprints of mine on a table, chair, or wall.
But every day I grow a bit and I'll be big one day
when all my tiny fingerprints have long been cleaned away.
So keep these prints of my two hands to help you to recall
just how big my fingers were, that time when I was small.
Yep it made me cry...

At the end we got to each take a flower home (which turned out to be a flower pen that the kids had made earlier in the week). I love being a mom but this is just the icing....

Ca Ca...

Is Liam's way of asking for mommy to take a picture of him... so ca ca I did... This is his own clothing and accessory creation.

May 20, 2008

Father & Sons Outing

May 9th Ben and Triston headed up to Bartlett Lake up in Carefree, AZ. Kind of fitting name for the city.Here is Triston in our garage as we are packing the van. Is he excited? Yeah you don't even have to ask!
Here is a view of the beautiful lake.Checking out the dock with Malibu. Yes we bring boy dogs on this weekend!
A boy and his dog...is their anything cuter?
Here is a tuckered Malibu on Friday night sleeping in the van. This is Saturday morning but this is what Malibu did on Friday night to get so tired...He loves the water. Ben was throwing this stick way out into the lake but it didn't faze him he would just jump out and swim right to it!Hiking around the lake
There was a lot of fishing being done Saturday Morning. Here another Dad in our ward is helping Triston to fish. He actually did catch his first fish on this trip but we didn't get a picture of it. Yeah he had fun and so did Dad. I am grateful for Ben for actually bringing my camera and capturing this fun trip. Next year he will need to get someone to take a picture of the two of them. I mean it is a total Kodak moment!

May 15, 2008

Krispy Kreme

It has been a long time... try two years since I have had a Krispy Kreme...Not because I have some crazy willpower. No because the AZ franchise went bankrupt and closed its doors...
Well let me just tell you that this number is no longer unlucky...
May 13th saw an opening of a Krispy Kreme in Mesa AZ. I am a lucky girl because Ben works in Mesa. So yesterday loving husband that he is he brought home a dozen. Even though the drive through had 22 cars waiting in it. Doesn't he rock... So see Jensa you don't have to mail them. Karma has seen that since I want to eat better they decided after two years to open my favorite doughnut store!
Oh it is so worth it though....

Totally Red !!!

On April 29th I was able to go see a play with Anja and her Pre-school/Kindergarten class. Here she is while we are waiting for the bus to pick us up.
There is this really pretty church right across the street from their school. I have always wanted to take pictures of. I snapped this one while turning the corner inside the bus. It is all angles but I think it came out pretty anyway...
Here we are wedged in the bus like sardines. This little girl is in another classroom. All three preK/K classes went on this fieldtrip. This is Anja's second time riding the bus and by her smile you can tell she approves!
We got to the Phoenix Theater and had to wait just a few minutes to enter. It is hard to explain but basically there are lots of buildings surrounding this courtyard. One of them is the Phoenix Theater and another is the Phoenix Art Museum. I like that all these different theaters and museums are all connected. It makes visiting them so convenient. Anja was being so cute she kept asking me to take her picture and then she would totally pose. She saw this pole and informed me that it would look good if she knelt down...I think she was right...
So this is why I titled the post Totally Red. It was the name of the play we went and saw. It was Essentially little red riding hood but they kept retelling the story in different styles. Like Shakespeare style where red is obviously played by a guy. The kids found this hilarious! The company that performed is called the Cookie company. If you are ever in Phoenix look them up. They cater to a youthful audience and do a great job. I was laughing right along with the kids. They did a version of Red where they take her out of the woods and into the hood. She has a red running suit on and sunglasses and they are all dancing to Mc Hammer "you can't touch this" during the scene where the wolf is chasing red. It was really fun and I am glad I got to go!
After the play was done we found out why they are called the Cookie Company. Everyone gets a cookie and a carton of milk at the end. Here is Anja with her milk mustache.
The courtyard is called the Dorrance Sculpture garden and has many cool sculptures to look at. Here Anja is doing her best to immitate the "five dancing" sculpture by Magdalena Abakanowicz. I was actually impressed to see her work featured here. She is a pretty famous sculptor from Poland and is regarded to be one of the most important and influential female artists of the 20th century. Well her artwork certainly inspired this little girl!
Here she is with a statue by Robert Arneson who is deceased. This sculpture was a self portrait of the artist. Called "no Pain" I wonder if he did this one during the time period where he was suffering with liver cancer?
Here we have "The Personal Miraculous Fountain" by Jaume Plensa. Can I just say that I love google because without it I would have thought this was a giant eggplant spouting water....nope it is so much more than that.... I found it miraculous in Arizona....anywhere you see water running continuously in the desert is miraculous!

So that was the end of our cultural experience. I hope to go back soon!

May 12, 2008

Random thoughts....

Have you ever noticed how when you decide to eat healthier people just randomly offer you crap food. I think that is what homeless people should do...say they are on a diet and then they will get people offering them donuts left and right!
I think I am gonna go on a money diet anyone feeling generous towards me?

May 9, 2008

Escape to LA LA Land....

So you know Ben whisked me away prior to Spring Break with the kids and that was lovely... well the week was actually pretty nice with the kids, I didn't sell them on the black market or tie them to their beds...(-=
We had baseball practice and a game, presidency meeting, visiting teaching, you know a pretty normal week. On Thursday April 24th I went with my visiting teaching companion Stephanie and we took one of our gals Shauna out for a pedicure. She is 9 months pregnant and didn't want a baby shower so we took her out for pampering and got a little ourselves!
On Friday the 25th I was able to take a flight to CA to visit my best friend Angela out in Manhattan Beach! It was my first vacation by myself ( a little strange to be alone) and my first time on a plane in over two years, I thought it was my first flight solo since I was 18 but now that I have been thinking about it I was flying with a friend then so this was my FIRST time flying alone. No wonder I was a little nervous. I mean I was afraid of getting lost or missing my flight or just the sheer uncomfortableness of sitting next to a stranger. When you travel with someone you can grab the aisle or window and not have to worry about who is sitting next to you.

Plus I flew Southwest and they have no assigned seats so it is pure luck who you will end up sitting next too. I was next to two girls on the flight over so it wasn't too bad. I was sitting near the window and the girl next to me was nice, the girl on the aisle was a total trophy wife with bleached blond hair, humongous diamond ring and humongous...ummm other stuff to match. She broke out this really stinky burrito as we were just taking off and that was kinda gross but all in all if that is all I had to complain about I am lucky. Besides I was off on a child free vacation with my best friend from High School. Time to live it up and suck it up!
I arrived that evening around 7 and Angela took me to her home. The place is gorgeous and only like a 15 min drive from LAX (in good traffic) They have this really cute two bedroom that has a view of the ocean! They are only like 3 blocks away! Angela cooked this awesome meal of scallops and asparagus over wheat pasta. She has always had a knack for cooking and I appreciated the meal it was delicious! We then ran out to a cute little Gelato place that Angela used to live close by in Silverlake. Pazzo Gelato is a cute little place and had some really yummy gelato.
It was my first time having some and it was quite nice.
We had decided that we would catch a show at The Sacred Fools Theater Company.
An Amazingly Awful Screenplay.Word for Word. Unedited.
Angela's man can act and I had yet to see him on the stage so I took this opportunity to laugh and be entertained. The show takes some actual screenplays that Hollywood has gotten and then performs them exactly how they are written. It is really funny and really obvious that these people must speak English as a second language. It was the perfect way to spend my first night in LA. It didn't start till 11pm so by the time it ended and we drove home it was pretty late. I wasn't tired though, I was too excited. I think I fell asleep around 2am.
The next morning we were up and heading out to Studio City to hunt for Bridesmaids dresses. We met Angela's other CO-Matron of Honor Daisy... Yeah I know "Matron" sounds old. But we are the hottest Matron's around let me tell ya! *laugh*

We went to the dress shop where Angela bought her dress. Hoping to find the right dress and get a discount to boot. It was a fabulous little shop called "R Mine Couture"that looked like something out of Ugly Betty.With bright chairs and blue walls it was a funky fun shop!
We played princesses and tried on a lot of dresses.
After finding a beautiful gown we headed off to curb our hunger. Driving around we found a fun patio dining place called "Tommy Rays". There were musicians playing some jazzy music and the weather was CA perfect. After changing tables a few times we finally found one with optimal shade and enjoyed our lunch.

Next we headed back to Manhattan Beach and enjoyed about an hour of late afternoon sun and fun at the beach.
This is the view from where we are on the beach, looking up to her place. Just up the street a bit.
After a quick shower and change of clothes we headed out for our girls night.
First stop the "Viceroy" in Santa Monica, Angela's friend Samantha had the in's (namely her boyfriend who works there!) so we started out the evening feeling like VIP's. It was a beautiful trendy hotel lobby/bar with cute cabana's you can rent and overstuffed white chairs it was beautiful and trendy. We then headed to dinner where we met up with Sam's boyfriend Aaron and his hilarious friend Jackson. We ate at another cute eatery called "Primitivo" It doesn't look like much from the outside but it was another great place. It was a "Tapas" restaurant, which mainly just means appetizer. We shared all the plates and I must say I think my Salmon was the best!
Now we were informed by Sam that for Dessert there was no better place then "Boa" in Santa Monica.
I am noticing a red trend in these pictures...*laugh* anyhow Boa is a steakhouse within view of the Santa Monica pier and they have some tasty donuts on their dessert menu. Or so I am told... as they were all sold out by the time we showed up. )-= We ordered smore's instead but I wasn't really hungry so I just enjoyed watching the rest of our group eat.
We decided on one last stop for the evening, "Huntley" another Santa Monica hotel with a penthouse with fantastic views of the ocean on one side and LA on the other. It was breathtaking and so much fun! I couldn't find really great photo's other then this one.
None of these pictures are from my camera by the way. I didn't want to look all touristy!The only strange thing about this place was that the girls bathroom had two stalls. I ended up in the larger one and it had a full wall window looking out over the city. Now I know we were up high but there was no curtain and I couldn't help but think...hmmm it's night there are lights on in this bathroom who is getting their kicks with the binoculars tonight! *laugh* yes I am aware my brain works in bizarre ways!
We ended our evening there and dragged ourselves tiredly home. Again though I didn't fall asleep until almost 4 in the morning, it didn't help that two drunk boys were standing outside Angela's place drunk dialing and talking extremely loud! One thing I forgot about living near the beach is the lack of AC and if your gonna sleep with the windows open you might get woken up by noise.
Sunday was church with an old friend Pete B. and his wife and kids in their ward in Hawthorn. Then some more relaxin with Angela until my flight home. Had to get one shot from her living room looking at the beach. I apologize for my camp face.
I was a little concerned when I saw the plane home was one of the older models. Maybe it is just the paint but it looked unreliable. Then the pilot announces the air in the back of the plane has to be shut off until after take off since their engine 3 is down. Nice... real reassuring... I got home safely (surprise) and was happy to see my beautiful kids and husband. Being away made me a more relaxed mommy and I was sure more appreciative of them all. Thank you Angela for the flight and the fun! I sure love you and can't be more thankful for our friendship through the years! Yep we are old enough to say that...
Anyhow how can you not love coming home to this!



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