Seventh Heaven

Christian is a cool kid; he's easy-going, kind, mild, smart and super excited to turn SEVEN, even though I've been protesting it.

He was thrilled to be able to open presents - which started Saturday night at Grandma and Grandpa Norris' house.

He got a Wii game, a couple of Lego sets, and an In-N-Out gift card. SCORE!

He was thrilled to be able to open presents on Sunday night when we had Grandma and Grandpa Merrill over along with the Clingers. We had his 2nd favorite food: PIZZA. We made five varieties which included his favorite topping: pineapple with lots of cheese.

For dessert he wanted some sort of a brownie and strawberry ice cream cake concoction so I made it into a trifle and he loved it.

Lucky for us strawberries are selling again straight from the farm so I was able to pick up some delicious fresh baskets of berries that were oh so sweet- just like summer.

Presents included Bionicles, Star Wars action figures and

an Erector Set! That one was from mom and dad which he got to open early since dad will be gone on the actual birthday. Christian and dad will have HOURS of fun with that!

His cousin Ben sent him this cool t-shirt and some basketball shorts. It's a tradition - then they'll get together over the summer and wear they're matching outfits.

Christian loves building, creating, designing (which seems to be the theme of his gifts here) . . . he'll have loads of fun with this paper airplane kit.

For his class treat at school, he brought in Yogurt Squishers (gogurts) that we froze so the kids had a non-messy frozen yogurt treat to enjoy as they headed out to recess. Christian LOVES yogurt and chose that as his treat over brownies. Can't argue with that, and his teacher was thrilled.

His number one favorite food is "cheese hamburgers" and especially In-N-Out, so what better way to celebrate his birthday dinner? Easy Peasy for me, too. John is out of town and it's Monday night - FHE Birthday rolled into one. He invited his BFF Harrison to come along and they had great fun.

Happy Birthday to our awesome seven-year-old boy!

Not Again!

January so far: one sprained finger (Brooke), one broken toe (Maddy), one sprained ankle (me), and this.

I'm happy to report that none of it is from the trampoline!

Same type of cast, same type of break, same place, different hand as last year.

Madison broke her finger while going for a rebound during basketball practice on Tuesday night. Her friend Fatima that accidentally did this feels so bad! Her dad even called me when he found out she had to have a cast. She'll only have to wear it for two weeks and miss two basketball games - no big deal! Although her penmanship suffers since it's her right hand.

Happy Belated

On Friday, we got to escape to celebrate John's birthday (only a month late, but hey! it's the best we could do). It was well worth the wait! John is starting to feel a bit better from his surgery and back problems, the Holidays are over, the weather is perfect, and we were ready for a break!

Enter the Renaissance in Aliso Viejo

We had a relaxing drive down in the late morning, checked in to the hotel at noon (they were very nice to let us check in early) and then got some lunch at Native Foods which we were a bit hesitant about at first, but it was right next to the movie theater and we wanted something healthy. It was so good!!!

Then we saw "True Grit" because when you are on vacation, and it's 2:00 in the afternoon, you are able to do that. It was just us and a couple of elderly people in the whole stadium-seat theater. Nice!

Then we did some shopping, and went back to the hotel and worked out at the awesome gym.

Then we had dinner at the hotel's restaurant, Citrus (another super amazing delish hit), and ate outside near the fire pits listening to a live Reggae band. There were only adults near us. No children, no whining, no messes.

The quality of these photos above aren't the best as they were taken with a phone in the dark.

Here's a better shot:

The view from our room. Aliso Viejo is very hilly and you can see forever out towards Mission Viejo. The other direction had snow-capped mountains and the other was toward the ocean. Lovely!

On Saturday we slept in, lounged and reluctantly packed our bags. When we headed out for lunch we were both craving Native Foods again. Why not? Again, super good. Then we looked at model homes and headed out to Newport Beach to do some shopping at Fashion Island.

Thanks to grandma and grandpa, the kids were well taken care of and were ready for us to pick them up when we got home Saturday night. They were so exhausted that they fell immediately to sleep when we got home, which was yet another gift to us!

Happy Birthday John! I'm so glad we had this little getaway to recharge our batteries that have been so depleted in these last crazy couple of months.

Thank You MLK, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I love me a good 3-day weekend. I really love me a good 3-day weekend in which the weather is spectacularly gorgeous, 80 degrees, crystal clear, and spent with wonderful friends and family.

Last week at this time we were building a fire, sipping hot cocoa and wearing boots and scarves. Now the a/c needs to be turned on! What's up with that?

We're not complaining since it was better than any day of the entire summer last year.

The Boyntons came to town from Mesa for the long weekend and it was so great to see them! Christian counted down the minutes until he could see Connor and Kyle. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his [second] cousins [once removed]. When they walked in the door, he leaped from the landing of the stairs into Connors arms and monkey-hugged him; so thrilled was he.

Christian immediately led them out to the trampoline to show his skill.

As soon as we got the kids settled, Kim, John and I headed out for a much-needed Chinese Foot Massage at 9:00 on Friday night. If you haven't yet taken advantage of such an inexpensive luxury, you must do so now.

It's becoming our thing to do whenever Kim comes to town as you can't beat a $25 hour-long knot-removal session.

On Saturday we got to go to the temple yet again (twice in one week for me!!) to witness the sealing of a beautiful baby to her family. What a treat! I hope I never forget how precious that sweet tiny chubby hand was with her parents'.

One cannot, absolutely cannot pass up the perfection that this weather is and not go to the beach. That would be just plain wrong. I was going to take the kids to Knott's on Monday, but the beach and the weather won out. We met some of our friends there (the Johnsons and the Busches) and relished the sun, the warmth, and the view. If we didn't have school the next day, I think I could have stayed there until it got dark as it stayed a lovely temperature. Darn that school!

Cookies on the beach. Life is good.

Digging in the sand and playing in the water. Life is great.

Carter and Christian build a barrier to ward off mud balls.

The Greenanators are still at it.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day everyone!

Friends

Today Ashlyn got to spend the entire day with her friend Caroline. That was a wonderful treat for both of them.

You see, I was able to go to the temple today. Something that hasn't happened during the day in I think um, ever.

So because of a friend who so willingly watched my child, I was able to go to the temple with a friend; a friend who recently joined the church, and who is the only member in her family. She is married with three boys. Another friend was going to join us, but got delayed at the doctor.

Our plan was to go to the 10:30 session, since that would get us home in time to pick up the kids from school.

No such luck.

This is L.A. after all.

And that means there is always traffic and we missed the 10:30.

Even though we were on the road at 9:00 (the earliest time possible).

Waiting for the 11:30 was out of the question.

Instead, we did sealings, which turned out to be a blessing because not only was my friend able to experience this beautiful event for the first time, she also witnessed a 'live' sealing (as someone unexpectedly joined our group to be sealed to her parents). Additionally, we were done a little earlier than expected and were able to meet our other delayed-at-the-doctor-friend for a quick lunch.

Each one of the friends are going through trials and stress and needed this opportunity to be with friends.

Friends can be a treasure.

Good friends are a blessing.

I wish I had my camera today . . . it was spectacularly gorgeous, clear, 70-degree warm, and the HOLLYWOOD sign could be seen from the temple. I never even knew it was near there. Without friends to suggest today's excursion, I never would have experienced this most splendidly gorgeous day.

Blunders and Bloopers

Now that John is at the pulpit a great deal of the time, there's a running joke about the blunders and misspeaks that are made by him and the other members of the bishopric, or what was printed in the program (which he usually types up after midnight Saturday night). Here are some that have been made (and no, not all by him!):

At Rick's college, they announced as the opening hymn: "Hark, the Herald Angels Sin"

Ward Adult Valentine's Activity: bring your favorite game and a spouse of a friend for a great time!

Our next song is "Angels We Have Heard Get High."

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Our Enrichment Night topic is "Healthy Eating and Weight Loss". Please use large double door at the side entrance.

The Relief Society sisters have cast off clothing of every kind. They can be seen in the church basement Saturday.

The choir director invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir.

The Bishop spoke briefly, much to the delight of his audience.

The 1991 Spring Council Retreat will be hell May 10 and 11.

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

This Friday is our annual church hayride. Bring a pack of hot dogs and guns. We'll have a good time.

Anyone not claiming lost articles will be disposed of.

Church Rummage Sale: A good opportunity to get rid of anything not worth keeping but too good to throw away. Bring your spouse.

Today the Deacons will collect our ties and offerings.

The Relief Society president would appreciate it if the sisters would lend her their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday morning.

Don't let worry kill you--let the church help.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.

Choir practice - They need all the help they can get.

The activities committee will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility.

We will now breast the sacrament

Our congressional hymn will be...

FIG

Triple Hot Chocolate Cake with Homemade Marshmallows.

Oh. My.

Tonight was our annual Faith in God Fireside we put on for kids turning eight. We had a meeting in the chapel, then a tour of the font, then time for d e s s e r t!

We make layer cakes, and have each ward bring one - after all, it's a birthday party!

I don't make desserts all that often at home, so once a year I go all out and come up with something fun and enticing, a real show stopper.

That it was!

Dark chocolate decadence.

Dolphins and Lumberjanes

Fourth graders in these here parts read Island of the Blue Dolphins and to help make the story come alive, Brooke's class had a "Dolphin Days" field trip where they got to travel all the way to the lawn at the front of the school.

They learned how to build a canoe, use yucca leaves to make string and thread, create fire, taste a certain seed that provides protein and energy, and a myriad of other tasks that they can certainly use next time they are stranded on a desert island like Tom Hanks in "Castaway".

It was downright frigid outside this morning and Ashlyn and I were a couple of chilly chicks chaperoning this field trip. Afterwards, we stopped at 7-11 and found out that they serve hot chocolate - we learned something new! It's serve-yourself-from-a-machine and there was a plethora of things to add to it just like you'd find at Starbucks, but for about a third of the price! We had fun adding carmel shots, irish creamer, cinnamon, chocolate, etc. and let me tell you that was about the best cup o'cocoa I ever did have - and it was HUGE for only $1.79.

Oh yeah, we found our splurge. It was seriously better than my new fave Salted Carmel at the 'bucks.

And I thought 7-11 was only good for Slurpees on the way home from school on a very hot day.

Once we were sufficiently warmed up, we took Cole for a walk to our fields. He's really into digging right now (presumably for gophers) so we just stand there and watch until he's had his fill. I figure it's good for him to get his digging out of his system there rather than in our backyard.

She's wearing the new super cute pants that Auntie Dre gave her for Christmas so she was posing for the picture I texted to Dre.

My good friend Becky needed to dispose of her monstrous tree and asked if she could borrow a saw again like she did last year.

Instead I brought over a Sawzall and we cut that beast to pieces!

It was fun playing lumberjanes for the afternoon.

Then we enjoyed grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch with the kiddies.

Good times!

Kids Say the Funniest Things

Yesterday, John was out [at Fry's] and

Christian came in . . .

Christian: Mom, where's Dad?

Mom: He's at the store.

Christian: Oh, good. I like it when he goes to the store.

Mom: Why?

Christian: Because he always comes home with something he's not supposed to get.

That cracks me up on many levels; he recognizes it, and because it's TRUE!

Happy New Year!! 2011

After returning home from Knott's, we invited Monroe over (it's becoming a tradition she sleeps over on New Year's Eve) and the second round of fun began.

We played games, Wii, Apples to Apples, puzzles, and jumped on the trampoline until the clock struck twelve, then we all crashed!

Everyone was utterly exhausted and beyond tired after a long fun-filled day (and week) so had no problem at all crashing hard after banging pots and pans for the neighborhood to hear at midnight.

Then we eventually awoke, to the sweet smell of warm, savory, cinnamon rolls with pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting. Yum!

(Two pans of it! - Nothing like starting out the New Year guilt free!)

Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a wonderful, prosperous, and healthy 2011!