Easter 2013

This year for Easter we celebrated it for 3 weekends in a row. We started out the weekend of the 23rd dying easter eggs. I had pinned lots of fun ideas on pinterest, but unfortunately didn't execute any of them.

 

 

 Brinley's finished eggs

Kenzley's finished eggs

The following weekend we went to 4 easter egg hunts. We started in Roy at the airforce museum, then we went to Sandridge park, after that we headed to Sam's Club for their Easter scavenager hunt, and then we went to Morgan for their Easter egg hunt.

 At the Air Force Museum

 Malia and Aiden (Tracee's kids) and Kenzley

 Sandridge Park

 Morgan Easter egg hunt

My little diva Brinley

At our first stop we were able to meet up with my friend Tracee and her two little kids. When we went to Sandridge park we met up with Valerie and Steve (my ex-husband and his wife) and from there we continued to the Sam's Club scavenger hunt that Brinley needed to do for school and then we all drove up to Morgan. Each kid got a basket full of candy but Kenzley got one of the bigger baskets with everything princess. She was kind enough to share half of her basket with Brinley. When we were done it was time to head to my best friend's little girls birthday. Kjersty's baby Nikole was turning one and she was having a Dr. Seuss party for her in Salt Lake.

We attempted the Seuss photo op and this is the best we got! The next day was sunday and Steve was nice enough to let Brinley stay Saturday night. The next morning we woke up and hunted around the house for the eggs the bunny hid and then they opened their baskets. I'm sad to admit I didn't get pictures of any of it. Brinley and Kenzley both got a new doll, Brinley got Ariel, and Kenzley got Rapunzel. They also both got a new dress and lots of candy. Skyeley got a new dress and a scented Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. Later on we hid Mike's Easter eggs around the yard and he had to go out and find them. It was a nice day and I'm glad we all got to celebrate it for a little while together. This past weekend on the 6th Weber State had their annual Easter egg dive in the pool. This year there weren't as many people and my kids got tons of eggs which resulted in lots of treats.

They each got a swimming noodle, a chocolate bunny, 3 packages of peeps to share, 12 containers of bubbles, and a gift certificate for free swimming lessons at Weber State, that didn't include the free goodie bag that is included. We had a lot of fun Easter egg hunting and the girls are pros at it now.



NCAA 2013

Since Mike works at Ken Garff he sometimes will get tickets to a special event that sometimes he wouldn't have. Ken Garff has almost every line of car out there and Mike happens to sell parts for 3 of the car lines. Buick, which is part of a GM company sponsors the NCAA and so Buick sent Ken Garff some tickets to the tournament. Mike has been able to attend this tournament one other time and that was after the doctor I was working for offered for us to buy his tickets. Mike was able to go to his first tournament with his dad, this time he took his brother Brian. The managers at Ken Garff all know what a basketball junkie Mike is and they wanted to offer him the tickets, but we were on vacation when the opportunity came up. One of Mike's coworkers spoke up for the tickets and when Mike got back he told Mike that his wife no longer wanted to go and offered one of the tickets to Mike, not any ticket but 12th row tickets. Mike of course said yes and made arrangements to have that Saturday off work. Well about 4 days before the tournament his coworker decided he didn't want to go and so Mike ended up with both tickets. He knew he wouldn't have a hard time finding someone to go with him, but he had a hard time deciding who he wanted to take. He made the decision to take his brother and from what it sounded like, they had a wonderful time. I took the girls to see the Croods that day and then went out to lunch with some of my friends to Olive Garden. That night we came home and dyed Easter eggs since we wouldn't have Brinley the following weekend. Here are some pictures from the tournament.

St. Patrick's Day 2013

This year was our first year really celebrating this holiday. We haven't ever done anything for it, but since the girls have been in school it seemed like it has been made a bigger deal than I thought. We started off our celebration by doing a Gold Dig at the Roy Complex or as the girl's called it, a Leprechaun Dive. There were a lot of kids there and they were divided into age group by wrist band color. Kenzley's group got to go first. Even though there were prizes on the bottom of the pool there were also prizes that floated on top of the pool and Kenzley insisted on keeping her floaties on. She was able to get a big inflatable ball, a bouncy ball, and a water gun. Lucky the leprechaun was there and he handed out chocolate gold coins. You would have thought it was real gold with the way the girls were acting. Brinley's group got to go next and she got a little more. She decided she wanted to take off her floaties and she got a necklace, some gold aka quarters, a couple of balls, and a squirt gun. This was really and fun and they enjoyed doing the dive. We were able to swim for free after the dive was over and we also got free passes to come back another time and go swimming.

The next day was the actual holiday. We were fortunate this year to have a leprechaun visit us. Brinley wasn't with us this year but rumor has it the leprechaun went to her dad's house. That silly leprechaun used our potty and didn't flush, he then left a trail of reeses and rolos all the way to a special prize he left just for Kenzley. He must have worn her shoes because they were by the treats her left for her. Kenzley said her shoes now smell like leprechaun feet and she won't wear them. OOPS! He even stopped in our play room and played barbies. The girls had lots of fun with this holiday this year and I think we will continue to let the leprechaun in if he comes.

 

 

Dr Cam Rocks!

I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but Kenzley had another 3 cavities at her last check up. I don't know if you remember from my post last year but she had 7 cavities last year that she had to have work done on at PCMC. Poor kid just doesn't have good teeth and it doesn't seem to matter how good we brush, the sugar bugs love to live in her teeth. The day after we got home from Vegas, Kenzley had an appointment to see Dr. Cam and he was going to fix her teeth. I was nervous, as any mom would be, especially because last time she was put out completely, and this time we decided to try it in the office. In Dr. Cam's words she was the best patient he has ever had. She just laid there and watched the movie and let Dr. Cam do his thing without any fighting or moving. AMAZING! Now normally I would hand it to her, but I do have to say that our dentist is pretty amazing. Even with all of the work Kenzley has had done on her teeth, she still looks forward to going to the dentist. Dr. Cam is so gentle and very kind. He makes the kids feel at ease and they know he wouldn't ever intentionally hurt them. It helps that Kenzley thinks Dr. Cam is handsome and tells him every time she sees him. I feel very lucky to have such an awesome dentist who isn't just a great dentist but a great friend to my girls. Thanks Dr. Cam for all you and your office staff do!

Vegas 2013

This year we took our annual Las Vegas trip for the college basketball tournament. Mike and his parents always go to the games and the girls and I stay behind and find other things to do. The past couple of years we have done the same things each time and so this year I was on a mission to do something new with the girls. I was very excited that I had found some new things to do which included, the zoo, a mermaid show, a dolphin show, and a children's museum. We of course did our yearly visit to the strip as well, because some things never change. So our first day we started out at the zoo. This wasn't as great as I thought it would be. While the website makes the zoo sound awesome this zoo was ghetto. It sits in a dingy neighborhood and the only way you would know the zoo was there is by the painted cement wall out to the front of the zoo. We were able to see some ostriches, one monkey with a man in his cage, a couple of tressas, lots of pigeons, one lion, one cougar, a cockatoo, and some wallabys, and an otter. That is all the zoo had to offer and I paid as much to get into that zoo and we do for our local zoo.

The next day our outing included going to the mermaid show and the dolphin show. The mermaid show was free and we got watch the stingray feeding prior to the show. Brinley was impressed by the mermaid, however, Kenzley was not. Kenzley thought she would be a real mermaid and was very disappointed when she saw her outfit. The dolphin show was at the mirage and was worth every penny. They did lots of fun tricks and the girls got to pet them. It was kind of a rainy overcast day that day and so not very many people were there, which was nice.

The next day we went to the strip and spent some time in the m&m store and in coke world. The girls were dying to watch the 3D m&m movie. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day and so all I got was phone pics.

Our last day I had planned on taking the girls to the children's museum and coincidently that day was the re-grand opening. We drove to the museum which is located in the ghetto of Vegas. It had hundreds of homeless people swarming it and needless to say, since I was alone with the girls, I didn't dare get out of the car. So we ended up with option B which was a trampoline park. I know this is something we could have done at home, but they still had fun and enjoyed their time.

Mike and I were able to have a date night one of the nights we were there. My inlaws watched the kids and Mike and I went shopping. Then we went and ate at Bucca Di Beppo, which is awesome and I recommend it to anyone. Then we went to Sam's Town and gambled away $100 and on our way back to the condo we stopped and got a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory for dessert.

 

Valentine's 2013

This year for Valentine's Day we didn't do much because we were leaving for Vegas a couple weeks later and we were going to celebrate it there. I did still manage to make Mike a homemade gift from the girls. I had been looking at pinterest quite a bit for some inspiration and that is where I found my idea.

Mike has a frame at his work that we gave to him with pictures in it from a couple of father's days ago. I try and update the picture of the girls at least once a year. I feel that at least that way he has some cute and fun pictures of the girls on his desk. While I was searching pinterest, I also came across some ideas for homemade Valentine's that we could make for the girls to hand out.

The Sundaes are what the girls gave their teachers

The shovels are what Brinley and Kenzley gave their classmates

The suckers are what Skyeley handed out to her little friends

 

I owe my mom a lot of thanks, because I found these ideas and was only able to help her for one day get what we could put together. She then finished the rest and delivered them to the girls so they could hand them out. We had our normal steak and lobster dinner at my inlaws with Mike's cousin Tyler and his family. It is always so nice to see them and catch up, even if it is only on special occasions. Mike and Kenzley were also able to go to Chick Fil A's daddy/daughter date night. Kenzley is a big daddy's girl and enjoyed this night out with her dad. That morning she made sure I straightened her hair and that she wore a dress so that she looked cute for their date. I picked her up from my mom after work and we met Mike at Chick Fil A. She got to get her picture taken with the princess cow and her dad, eat at her favorite restaurant, and she got a rose with cow on it from her dad. They also had limo rides available, but Mike had a basketball game that night and so they didn't have time to go for a ride. She was so smiley all night and was excited to tell everyone she saw that she went on a date with her dad.