Sometimes I'm A Nice Mom

 The kids don't love running errands with me.  And to be totally honest, I don't love taking them on errands with me :) But I always try to make it fun and reward them for good behavior.  Sometimes that works, other times it totally does not! 

After moving into the new house, we had lots and lots of trips to Ikea or Lowes.  So the kids got very tired of both of those stores.  It was a hot summer and we were being very frugal... For $4 (including tax) I was able to go from the "mean mom" to the "nice mom." Thx IKEA!

 

It was worth the mess for all the smiles and happy kids I got it the end.  Truth is, I really do enjoy the kids.  I want to make them happy. But you can't always get them everything they want.  They don't always expect something, and most of the time, they do deserve a treat :) 

 

I like to be the nice mom all the time... I just need NICE kids all the time too :)  Easy, right?

New Year's (and Some Random Pics)

 

(this picture was not taken on New Year's Eve. I love the kids playing in their backyard :))

New Year's Eve was spent at The Pearce Home.  But we first had a fun visit with Carmen.  She came over to spend some time with us and we drove up to the lot and filled her head with all sorts of house stuff, that is super fun and interesting to us but maybe not so much for her :).  She was a good sport and was excited for us.

Otis took a special interest in Carmen, as most of the nieces and nephews do.  He quickly went up to her and mostly, just wanted her.  It was cute and Im sure Carmen loved every minute of it.

After our little visit with Carmen we headed to see our friends the Nakaya's for like two seconds.  The holidays were so busy that time to see them was super limited.  But I am glad we saw them just the same :)  THEN, we headed to The Pearce's for dinner and some fun looking at old, OLD pics of the Trevino family.  [(a little random here) Dave has taken on the task of scanning ALL of the pics Al has EVER taken.  He and Leah started with the slides.  There are some PRICELESS pics in there.  Leah is doing some "genealogy" (which would make Karen SO proud) and earning a little cash while doing it]. We then just hung out and chit chatted.

I was grumpy and frankly not feeling well.  I didn't enjoy the night as I normally do.  Truth is the changes that have occurred in the last 3+ yrs have been VERY hard and this is the reason for my grumpiness.  Life is not the same and although I try to make the best of it, sometimes I get down and it affects my "mood."  I hope it didn't ruin anyone's night.  We took off shortly after 10 and got the kiddos in bed early.

I think Dave and I watched a movie that night and that was really nice :)

Some Randoms:

Carmen made Leah and I sweaters!  Carmen is a fantastic knitter and we LOVE it when we get something from her.

Leah wore her sweater EVERY day for an entire week.  She even wanted to sleep in it!  I had wanted to take a picture on Sunday, because we both wearing our sweaters with our boots... We were super cute ;), but she was starving when we got home that we missed the opportunity.  Still, WE LOVE OUR sweaters!!!! Thanks again, Carmen.  XOXO


Leah and Dave scanned TONS of slides over the winter break.  They worked side by side and Leah loved it. The pics carry great memories and we have enjoyed seeing Dave and his siblings as well as Grandpa and Grandma when they were all so young.  I will post some of my favorites on another post. 

This has also been Dave's "office" since we moved her last June.  It makes for a very messy kitchen/family room, but it is nice to have him so close :)

Leah, Mylo, Milli and I went to watch Esteban and Marcos play some indoor soccer.  It was fun to cheer them on and although they lost, I enjoyed watching them play together.  They are both great athletes :)  

(this post took me forever, to post! UGH!!! Glad I am done with it :))

HAWAII

Dave had to go to Hawaii for work, I know, so hard for him!  He went last year and he promised that if he had to go this year he would take me.  I was able to go with him with his extensive amounts of skymiles AND the two angels that watched our kids while we were there! 

The trip was SUPER relaxing and mellow.  We didn't really do any tourist-y things.  I mostly hung out by the beach while Dave "worked".  I use that word loosely, as it was very mellow work, but thats just the way Hawaii is, mellow and chill and you just have to go with the flow.  I ran a few times, it was GORGEOUS.  I took a few naps a day (on the beach), read People Magazine, ate yummy food and rode our bikes everywhere!

On the plane, ready to take off.  Little did we know that that night the winds would bring such disaster to Bountiful.  When we found out what had happened I wanted to come home, but Abuela told us to just enjoy ourselves and that the kids would be ok.  And they were :)

We made it to paradise!  The beach is literally a few steps from the house we stayed in.  I literally had to hold back tears at the beauty of this place!  What a beautiful world we live in!!!!! 

This is the view from the yard.  The steps are just below my feet here.  

I would sit out here in the morning and watch the surfers do their thing.  

The relaxing sounds of the waves and the cool morning breeze were beyond awesome! 

TED BAKERY!!!! 

We had breakfast here EVERY morning. 

We would ride our bikes the 1.5miles and enjoy every bite.

In this picture I am eating an Almond Danish, SO YUMMY.

Lilikoi.  W.O.W. This is my favorite ALL TIME FRUIT 

and this drink is TO DIE FOR (if you are me).  

I dedicated a post a while ago, to passion fruit.  It is THAT good.  

I drank several of these a day while in Hawaii.  Cold and refreshing!  

Beached Whale... a sight to behold!  :) 

One day I went on a search for a fruit stand.  The lady at this particular fruit stand was AWESOME!  I paid $12 for EVERYTHING in this picture.  If I was to buy 12 Lilikoi at the store here in Utah, it would have been easily $30!  Needless to say I was VERY pleased with my big ol' bag of fresh fruit.  It was quickly consumed and the next day I went back for more :) 

Our mode of transportation.  There is a bike path everywhere.  

It was really fun to just hop on a bike and go.  It felt freeing and I felt like a kid :) 

One day we went to see the Temple in Lai'e.  

Dave remembered that his mission President lived close by.  

Turns out they live directly in front of the temple.  

We got to visit with them for a little while and that was a nice time.  They are SUPER sweet! 

Shrimp Farms are easy found on the island and I thoroughly enjoyed a nice plate of these beauties :) 

Two of my favorite things: Dave and Lilikoi 

The best part of the trip was hanging out with Dave.  Having an entire week with just him was awesome!  He came home a few days after I did and was only here for 24hrs before he left AGAIN.  I feel it was a blessing to have had family and friends that could help us do this! 

Runner' High

 Today I ran in the Save Your Skin 10k in West Bountiful.  It was SO fun!  Melinda Hatzidakis, from our new ward invited me run with her.  It was a great little run.  It was the was perfect temperature and it was not super early :) 

I have been running some, but not consitently.  I was excited to see how I was going to do in it.  I have been pushing myself, slightly.  The race is small, not too many people in it.  I was incredibly pleased with my time! 

I ran 6.2miles in 57:38:2 mins!!!  I have NEVER averaged running this fast in this distance!!! That is a 9:17/mile!!!  THEN, I looked at the results....

I was FOURTH in my age group!!!! YAY!!!!  This is not the full age group list since there are others who had not yet finished in my age group, but I was FOUTH!!!  WOO HOOO!!!!

The idea of being in a race is really overwhelmingly positive and encouraging.  To top it off I did so well :)  I got home and I was SO happy... a runner's high if you will.

Running is good.  Running is hard. Running is rewarding! 

Every time I run a "longer" distance, I am amazed that I EVER ran (and trained) for a marathon (and two half's).  This was not easy, but it was SO worth it!!!

Today, I am SO happy with what my body can do for me and the support and ecouragment from my friends and family. 

Trying To Be A Better Me

In an attempt to be a better me I am going to post my weekly menu up on my blog.  After having Otis and dealing with some post partum depression, which I hadn't experienced before, really, I am finally feeling like myself again.  It feels great!

The house is clean, for several reasons :)  But I am TOTALLY enjoying my clean house.  I am TOTALLY enjoying my up-to-date laundry (its not overwhelming any more).  I am TOTALLY enjoying my life again.  I am TOTALLY enjoying ME again!  YAY!

BUUUUUT, as always with me, it can never be EVERYTHING perfect.  When I put all my energy in one thing, something else must give.  In this case our lack of home cooked meals.  The truth is that I enjoying cooking for my family.  I MUCH rather cook for them than go grab some unhealthy take-out.  SO, I'm going to see if this will help me be a better me.

I will post our weekly menu on monday and hopefully this will also help our HUUUUGE grocery budget.  If I told you how much we spend on groceries a month you might die. I am determined to be better at it.

See the side bar for our weekly menu, if you care to know what we are having.  AND if you could share any easy EASY dinner meals I would SO appreciate it.

Spring Break: La Jolla

We took a drive to La Jolla to check it out, since we wanted to get family pictures taken there.  It was later in the day and it was cool and beautiful!  

Abuela and Milli stayed in the car, since Milli was zonked!  

Leah and Mylo raced the waves. Dave played with his camera for a while and Otis and I just watched and enjoyed the scenery.  It was beautiful!!!!

Leah trying to look 'natural'.... love her :)

After this little excursion we took the kiddos back home with abuela.  Got them some pizza and we got to go out to dinner, a little container store shopping and desert when we got home.  It was a chill, but fun and yummy day :) 

side note:  after further inspection, this was after the zoo, hence the same clothes :)  it was busy busy day... not so chill, still fun and yummy :) 

Spring Break: San Diego Zoo

It was a beautiful day to go to the zoo.  Dave stayed home, since he had TONS of work.  So Abuela, the kids and I all headed to the zoo and met Alyssa and her cuties there.  The zoo is only two miles from the house, but we still managed to be late :)

We spent almost the whole day there.  We saw a lot of the zoo, but not all.  That place is huge!  The animals seemed to be very active and that is always fun for everyone.

Good times were had and fun memories made.  Alyssa's kids are darling and were quick to make friends with my kids.  Thats always nice, right?  Leah was a little too mature to hang with the boys, but she was very fond of Alyssa (who wouldn't be?!?! She is smart, beautiful, fun.....!)

We went to the Petting Zoo area and that was fun for the kids.  I thought they would have been more timid getting close to the animals, but they were very friendly with them and they had a fun time in there.

Right before the petting are, Alyssa and I were talking about our two and three year olds and their potty training and how it was going.  I told Alyssa that Milli was really good about not having accidents and that poop was usually something we had to push her to do (no pun intended).  Right AFTER the petting are there is a little park where we let the kids play.  Well, Milli had a HUUUUGE poop accident, HUGE!  Seriously, I should just bite my tongue.  I didn't have change of unders for her so she had to wear a diapers, she was not happy about that. But I was not happy about what she had done.... i guess she was just having to much fun to stop and go potty... Good time? maybe not.  Good memories... I can laugh about it now :)

Abuela and Otis.  Not sure how I would be able to have had as much fun with the other kids if Abuela hadn't come.  She is SO helpful, always.  Plus it helps that the kids like her so much.  I really enjoyed my time with my mom.  She is an amazing woman and I have much to learn from her.

Milli gave me a pretty flower for my hair.... I love her!!!!  I had done her hair in french braid, since that is what she wanted.  One side stayed in the other did not.  Her hair is one of the toughest things I have to deal with daily.

SO fun to see Alyssa!!!!  She recently moved to San Diego from Utah, so it was fun to get together.  It was a GREAT day!

I let Leah take the camera towards the end of the day and this is my favorite picture she took.  She told Mylo what to do and she had a vision for it... I think it turned out pretty good!  She is a creative child, I love that about her.

The zoo wasn't all pleasant, however.  We lost Milli's shoe, she scraped her knee pretty bad, she followed someone else and we panicked for what seemed to be an eternity!  Of course the poop accident was not pleasant, in the least... I guess next time I should Milli at home... or maybe not!  :)

Spring Break: Beach Day

We planned our beach day to be the warmest day of the week.  It was beautiful!  We went to Coronado Island.  The kids loved playing on the sad and making a sand castle with Dave.

I love some action shot of the kids... check out Milli's leg muscles.  I tell you she takes after her mom :)

I caught Mylo mid jump.  There is also a sequence of Mylo doing some sort of cart wheel that must be recorded for future reference.

Milli was playing in the sad when Dave joined her.  Then one bucket of sand at a time they created their master piece.... best $10 I have spent at Costco in the last few months, this beach set was perfect!

If you look closely you can see that they added a water pouring thing that went right into the big "castle."  We later added some tunnels and they were pretty cool.  Again, the kids were in heaven!!!! 

Otis slept most of the time there but once he was up we were excited to introduce him to the sand and beach.... I think he really enjoyed it.

   

The TWO HEADED monster, compliment of Otis and Mylo

Milli even made some sand-angels :) Truth is she is MY angel ;) 

SUCH a fun day!  I wish we would have had more days like this.  However, Three of us got a little more sun than we bargained for.  Leah's lower back got fried, Mylo's entire back and shoulders got fried as well, due to a negligent mother, and my back also got fried.  I guess the sun is still strong with all that wind :)

Spring Break: Seaport Village

Sunday we tried to watch conference, since last year we were able to.  But they were in the middle of changing the cable service so we missed it.  Still we were not going to let the day go to waste.  While they were fixing the cable (yes on a sunday.  I guess they work on Sundays there... sad) Abuela and the girls got their toesies all pretty and ready for the beach.  No picture of that, but trust me, they were cute!  :)

Then we headed to Seaport Village.  Its a marina where there are a bunch shops and lots of vendors and some hand-reading psychics (interesting).  There was also a "silver robot" guy.  He was really good and the kids had a fun time watching him, from afar :)

Even though there are not pics of Otis, he was also there and he was the reason we didn't stay long... well, it was really my fault.  I prepared his bottle stuff, but then forgot the formula on the counter at home.

Still we did have some fun.  There was a guy that was letting people hold parrots and other birds and the kids loved that!  Check out these faces....

We also saw a magician and a band playing some fun Beach Boys type music... it was nice.  Plus, the day was GORGEOUS!!!!  Although our day was cut some what short we really did enjoy it.  It beats staying home :)

Later, we picked Dave up from the airport, since he was on a business trip.   I cannot remember what we did that night to save my life!

Tomorrow- BEACH!!!