January 2013

It's a New Year filled with new beginnings and adventures. Are you ready? Here we go!

I love watching The Rose Parade!

We kicked the New Year off with a two night get-away for...drum roll please...me.  Just me! When J-rod was first called as Bishop of our ward, a friend of ours strongly recommend that we build time into our family's yearly schedule for me to do this.  She did this when her husband was Bishop and they were busy raising six young boys (the last two are twins), so speaking from experience she knew it as a good way to help me recharge.  Between J-rod's crazy work schedule and our crazy-busy life it only took us three years to make it happen, but I'm so grateful we were finally able to do so!  

My little getaway.

We found a fabulous deal online for a local, beautiful resort that included a food and beverage credit and had an in-resort spa that accepted the "Spa Finder" gift cards J-rod and the kids had been giving me for the last three years that I hadn't yet been able to use, so...off I went.  I checked in Friday evening, ordered room service and watched a movie, took a wonderfully relaxing bubble bath, and enjoyed a good night's sleep.  

Pampering at the spa.

The next morning I slept in a bit, awoke very refreshed, ordered breakfast to my room, watched another movie, and then headed to the spa for a day of pampering.  I enjoyed lounging by the fire place while I waited for a massage, then got a manicure and pedicure, after that I was given a complimentary touch-up on my make-up, and then got to lounge again for a bit on the outside deck overlooking the pool and palm trees.  That night I went out for a little shopping and dinner on my own to one of my favorite nearby restaurants, Costa Vida (very much like Cafe Rio). I checked out and returned home early Sunday morning in time for J-rod to get to his church meetings and for me to get the kids ready and off to church.  It was an amazing weekend that did in fact help me recharge and re-energize me.  While I don't think we'll be able to do it on a yearly basis like my friend did, I sure wouldn't mind doing it again in the future.

While I was away being pampered, J-rod helped Li'l J begin working on his first Pinewood Derby car. Li'l J requested that they build a wedge car and paint it to look like a penguin (have I already mentioned how obsessed he currently is with penguins?).

Building his car

The following Tuesday night was Li'l J's first official den meeting as a Wolf in Cub Scouts--a night he had been anxiously awaiting for more than four years!  He was SO excited to put on his new uniform and get to that first den meeting that he was almost willing to skip attending LEGO club after school that day. It was so fun to see his genuine enthusiasm.

First Den Meeting--yay!

Anyway, back to the car he and J-rod built.  When the Pinewood Derby race for our pack was held, Li'l J's penguin raced fairly well.  Li'l J only lost one race in the first round but then when it came to the single elimination round at the end, he lost to the scout that took first place and Li'l J didn't place at all--bummer! Lil J didn't mind that he didn't place and was very happy to go home with the award for "Most Artistic" car.  His penguin was painted wearing a Cub Scout neckerchief. :)  

Ward PWD weigh-in

A successful first PWD for Li'l J

In addition to learning how to build a pinewood derby car, Li'l J worked on building a pretty neat tool box during one of his den meetings: 

Our little builder

M too had a memorable January.  The first week back to school after the Christmas Break, M competed in the National Geographic Geography Bee for his district (grades 4-8th).  M wasn't feeling well when he came home from school that afternoon and as it turned out, had a fever of over 100.  He decided to go anyway since he had qualified and committed to go, so we dosed him up really well with Tylenol and off we went.  

M let us know that he didn't think he would do well and that he would be very happy to go home and go straight to bed when it was over.  As it turned out, not only did the Tylenol knock out the fever but apparently also relaxed him so well that he wasn't tripped up by any nerves and ended up doing well...really well, he WON!  We were all very surprised and of course, happy for M.  Winning the district competition qualified him to take a 70 question, 90 minute time test a couple weeks later to see if he could move on to the state competition.  Though he did not qualify for the state competition, we are very proud of him for all his hard work!

School district Geography Bee

In addition to the Geo Bee, M reached a big milestone this month--he turned 12!  His birthday happened to land on a Friday (no school), so he and I spent a good portion of the day shopping together for clothes he was desperately in need of thanks to a good growth spurt. :)  After shopping, he came home and had a couple of friends over for pizza, Wii games, a movie and sleepover.  Then the very next morning he got to attend his very first YM's activity--helping our neighbors load their moving van and then going on a 5 mile bike ride.  When I think of M being twelve, it's no big deal, but then when I think of him being in Young Men's I think, "whoa, hold on a second here! He's not ready for that!"  I guess what it really means is, I'm not quite ready for that.  Despite my having a difficult time accepting that he is indeed ready for YM's and all that it entails, I am was happy and excited that he was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood.  Although M's birthday was in January, and Li'l J's was in December, we waited until February to have M ordained and Li'l J baptized the same weekend and maximized our chances that both J-rod's parents and my mom and sister A could be here for both of the boys special occasions by minimizing the number of times they had to travel out this way. 

Annnd, now he's 12!

The day after M's birthday, Li'l J finally got his birthday wish: a birthday party with friends at Peter Piper Pizza. It only took us three years to grant this wish for our sweet boy! Li'l J really enjoyed his Angry Birds party with friends and we enjoyed that Peter Piper took care of all the set-up, party games, and clean up! It was totally worth it!

Li'l J's wish comes true at Peter Piper

One weekend while J-rod and M were on a scout camp out, Li'l J and C-sta had their own little "camp out". On my bed. Yup. My bed. They hauled in their pillows, blankets, and Dream Lites they got for Christmas and took over my bed. That's okay. They are super cute kids, so how could I NOT let them? They had such fun watching a movie and shining their Dream Lites up on the ceiling--Li'l J and C-sta's version of the starlit night sky.

Enjoying a starry night

C-sta began ballet lessons again and she couldn't be more thrilled!  Her teacher took six month's off from teaching the Tiny Tutu's class to focus her attention on her preparing her older ballerinas to perform in the Nutcracker.  The break was perfect for Alysia as she was beginning to lose interest towards the end of last season, and then the longer she went without the lessons, the more she realized she missed it.  Her approach to going each week to lessons now is so different than her first time around.  Now she can't wait to get ready to go, puts her uniform on and allows me to fix her hair without any fuss, and when we get to class she goes right in and loves to be with her ballet friends.  She is no longer the youngest one in the group and no longer the shy one sitting on the sidelines in her mama's lap hesitant to join the class, that distinction has now fallen to two other teeny-tiny but very adorable little girls. Each week when C-sta's class is over she likes to sit and watch the older girls class that is held right after hers.  One day while watching the older girls she turned to me and said, "I can't wait until I'm like the big girls and can dance longer." I asked her why and she responded, "because my class isn't long enough, it's never long enough!" So yes ladies and gentlemen, ballet is still her dream! :)

Our little ballerina

Copper and Jeffrey are still the best of buds. They nap together:

Aww! So sweet!

And they walk together. Often times when Copper is taken out for a walk, Jeffrey comes along too and stays nearby throughout the walk. Funny cat!

Out for a walk together

 And just like true brothers, they tease each other:

Jeffrey on his favorite back wall spot, driving Copper CRAZY!

Here are other happenings in January as seen through the lens of my phone camera--

Even though our family typically stays pretty busy, we have our quiet moments too:

Reading quietly on a rainy Saturday morning

Business signs I like

Occasionally it does get cold here--Brr!

The cutest little side-kick, EVAH!

Crazy hair day at school for M & Li'l J

Zippy & C-sta 

January sunsets-- SO pretty!

December 2012: End of year

Right before we left for our trip to CA prior to Christmas, the insurance company of the young woman that rear-ended J-rod's truck back in November, called to say they were declaring the truck a total loss. They had two offers for us, one offer for if we chose to keep and repair the truck anyhow, and another if we decided to accept their declaration of it being totaled and "sell" it to them.  The amount offered for "selling" it to them was considerably more than if we chose to keep and repair it, as well as much more than the truck was worth so it was not too difficult a decision for us to make.  While we hadn't planned on shopping for a second car at this point, the weeks we went back to being a one car family were enough to convince us that we'd need to quickly find a second car between Christmas and the New Year before J-rod returned to work.  Fortunately it didn't take long and now J-rod has a nice used, commuter car that uses up very little of our gas budget. 

Two days after Christmas, we said our last goodbyes to the trusty truck that had served us well for so many years and watched as it was hauled away to it's final resting place. Sigh. A few days after having said goodbye to the truck, we welcomed home a new car. It's good to be a two car family again.

Goodbye old friend. Hello new friend.

One of our favorite days of December is Li'l J's birthday. This year he turned 8 and was super excited that he would finally become a Cub Scout after SO many years of waiting and watching as his big brother M got to attend. Li'l J was also definitely looking forward to his baptism and sharing that special day with all his family. Li'l J adds a lot of joy to our family with his spunk...though to be honest, sometimes he infuses a bit more spunk into our lives than what J-rod and I are prepared to handle!  Regardless, we LOVE Li'l J, we are grateful he is a part of our family, and we enjoy celebrating him!  

The day before his birthday, Li'l J let us know that he wanted to open his birthday presents first thing the morning of his birthday so that he could do it with J-rod present before J-rod left for work. Oh boy. Opening presents first thing in the morning on a work day means getting up before the sunrise--that's even earlier than we get up on Christmas morning--a tough request to grant for those of us that aren't morning people, but we did it and Li'l J was thrilled that we did. 

Since we are creatures of habit and we love our traditions here, Li'l J got to open his birthday presents under the Christmas tree before J-rod left for work--at 4:45 in them morning--yay!  Then he spent the rest of the day enjoying his gifts and looking forward to another tradition, birthday dinner at Red Robin with two deserts afterwards: the complimentary sundae at Red Robin and then at his request, a chocolate silk pie instead of birthday cake when we returned from Red Robin. Yum!

It is great to be 8!

New Year's Eve 2012 found me and the kids celebrating at a friend's house while J-rod worked night shift.  At our friend's house we enjoyed board games, a bonfire, and sparklers. We had a fun night bringing in the New Year!

Happy New Year!

Stayed tuned for our adventures in 2013.

December 2012

Li'l J's limo ride and pizza party

Li'l J started off December 2012 with a limo ride to Peter Piper Pizza where he enjoyed a pizza party.  Li'l J qualified to participate in this activity by being a high seller in the annual cookie dough fundraiser at the beginning of the school year. Li'l J and the other students that earned this reward had a great time!

Our little singing C-sta

The weekend following Li'l J's pizza party, C-sta and her preschool class got to sing at our town's annual holiday festival. It's the first time in all the year's we've lived here that we attended and we were very impressed. There were lots of performers, vendor's, arts and crafts booth, and tasty food all around. A mound of snow was hauled in for the kids to play in and there were even a few entertaining chihuahua races.

The middle of the month flew by as we prepared for Christmas. Decorations began to go up all around our house; the kids participated in their school Christmas concerts; and I turned another year older.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"

BFF's O & A baking cookies. 

Happy, Happy Birthday Z!

The weekend prior to Christmas we packed up and drove down to San Diego to cheer on BYU in the Poinsettia Bowl. We got to meet Cosmo at the pep rally before the game and then had a blast at the game (it helped that BYU won), and I even got to visit with a former roommate who happened to be sitting with her family in the section next to ours. It was fun to see her for a bit. The game was such fun to be at and we can't wait until we can go to another one!

C-sta helps us get packed up.

Bounce house and face painting at Cougar Town.

Pep rally with the BYU band and Cosmo.

At the game.

After the Poinsettia Bowl, we enjoyed exploring a couple beaches, visiting the historic Coronado Hotel on Coronado Island, the San Diego Temple to see the lights, and spending time with friends.

Exploring the beach on Coronado Island.

In the sand.

Gorgeous CA sunset on Coronado Island.

Historic Hotel del Coronado

San Diego Temple Lights

Li'l J and our friend H through the years. 

 While in San Diego we had lunch with H and her family.

Beautiful Oceanside Beach and Pier.

Family pics at the Pier.

M & Li'l J built a sand penguin.

Leaving Oceanside we saw this store--Zippy's store!

When we left Oceanside we headed up north a little ways to visit family in the L.A. area.  First stop, my Mom (G'ma Mijo) and Aunt A's. On the way to pick up lunch at a classic area stop, I took M on a little tour to show him the elementary and middle school's his Aunt A and I attended.  It was a great stroll down memory lane for me!

Campos: home of the yummiest Avocado burrito.

John Adams Middle School

Will Rogers Elementary School

After our visit in good ol' SM, we headed up to Great G'ma M's house to see her, G'pa S, G'ma S, Aunt C, and Uncle N. Christmas came a little early for our kiddos while we were there.

Thank you Great G'ma M!

Before leaving CA we took the kiddos to my dad's grave site. They hadn't been there since his funeral and so hadn't yet seen his headstone.

Visiting Papa Mijo's grave site.

On our return trip to AZ, my mama and sister A caravanned with us so we could all enjoy Christmas together.  After not having seen my mama and sister A for over a year, it was very nice to have a few days together!  More about Christmas 2012 in the next post. 

August 2012: Yosemite

Simply beautiful!

We spent the next two days after Monterey Bay in Yosemite.  What a beautiful place!  As we drove there J-rod and I figured out that the last time either of us had been there was when we were about M's age.  As we pulled into a parking spot, it began to drizzle.  The guide on the tour we took assured our group that if you can handle sticking around through the rain, the park would empty out and we would basically have it to our selves.  True to the guide's word, as the rain increased throughout the afternoon so did the steady stream of cars trying to exit the park.  We stayed and enjoyed the rain as we walked along the trails and boardwalks.

This is such a beautiful view!

We added a puzzle to our collection--

it's of this view and it's a pretty tricky one to put together!

Views while walking the trail around Yosemite.

On one of the trails we came upon another very tame creature, this time, a mama deer and her fawns.  We saw them heading up the same trail as we were headed down and they were quite a ways off so we stepped off the trail to sit on big log, thinking that way we wouldn't disturb her and be out of her way.  As it turned out, the mama deer had other plans.  Once she spotted us, she and her babies made their way right over to us.  The fawns munched on leaves nearby while mama deer surprised us by nudging C-sta's shoes and J-rod's thigh (C-sta was sitting up high in a pack on J-rod's back)!  We could see that they were used to being around humans, and we could also see that this mama was nursing and in great need of nourishment herself (her ribs were clearly visible against her coat), but we didn't dare feed or touch her.  While I snapped a few photos, everyone else watched quietly.

Mama deer and her babies.

When mama deer realized we weren't going to feed her, she and her babies headed off into the meadow towards the little creek we had just crossed over.  We watched them stop to visit with the couple picnicking by the creek and noticed that they did feed the mama and her babies.  I guess not all visitors heed the signs posted throughout Yosemite, nor any of the verbal reminders from park employee's to NOT feed the animals.  All posted signs and verbal warnings included the phrase, "For Your Safety"!  As we continued on our walk (in the pouring rain at this point) back to the visitors center, in the middle of another meadow we saw a young buck with the velvet still on his antlers munching on some green leaves.  We all agreed that seeing and visiting with the deer up close was a highlight for us that day.  

Views from Glacier Point Road.

Our second day at Yosemite we spent it exploring along Glacier Point Road, Glacier Point, and Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.  The animals we saw this day included a coyote (from our car), more deer, chipmunks, squirrels (among them a very tame and rather plump one that ate amongst us inside the shop we stopped at for lunch).  As we were eating our lunch and the plump squirrel was crawling all around under the tables, I felt a tap on my shoulder.  When I looked up this little old man asked, "Do you see the squirrel?" I answered, "Yes." He said, "Can I have a piece of your sandwich so I can feed the squirrel?"  Uh...what?  I guess he didn't care to heed the signs either!

Glacier Point

Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias

We headed home the next day and spent the weekend recovering from our road trip, doing laundry, and getting ready for the kids to start school that following Monday.  It felt a bit funny to have our big trip at the tail end of the summer and then the start of school felt rushed and like it was too soon to go back, but since we were planning around the S Family Reunion that was how it worked out.  

First Day of School

At the start of school M began 6th grade where he became a full-fledged middle schooler and a member of the advanced band.  Li'l J began 2nd grade, happy to be in a class with a lot of his friends from 1st grade and from our ward as well.  C-sta began attending a 3hr a day, 5 day a week preschool which she loves.  Two days into the school year C-sta celebrated her 4th birthday with a good visit to the dentist, dinner from her favorite local Mexican place (a little hole in the wall that has yummy food), cake and ice cream with just our little family, and fun presents from us and her grandparents.  While still a big fan of the Disney Princesses, we have now entered the world of Barbie and Zhu Zhu Pets.

Our sweet birthday girl.

BFF fashion show

Unfortunately once kids go back-to-school, germs and bugs tend to thrive amongst peers and though it usually doesn't strike this early into the year Li'l J picked something up at school the last week of August and as a result spent a couple days home with a fever, vomiting, and asthma. Aside from Li'l J feeling so miserable, it was fun to have him home.  We watched movies, napped, and played LOTS of Star Wars Monopoly (he beat me every time!). : )