A Domer, A Cougar, and 4 Wild Childs: March 2009

I'm Back

I have finally started posting on my blog again after a long break. So be sure to scroll down because I posted a few things. I hope to stay on top of it all at least until the baby comes in May.

For Spring Break the girls and I headed to California to visit our old friends and our favorite places. Ryan was already in California since he has been working there lately so it was fun to be back with him. My parents came along for the trip so they could help me with the girls at Disneyland and California Adventure. This was the first time that Hailey was tall enough for the big rides and I didn't want her to miss out on them since I can't take her on them myself.

Here are the girls with my parents ready to start another fun day of roller coasters.

Here we are in front of Big Thunder Mountain which my daughters made my parents go on like 10 times. Hailey really loved this ride and even put her hands up in the air like a real pro.

My dad really wanted to go on the Matterhorn since it was the one he remembers most as a kid going to Disneyland back in the 50's and 60's. Hailey was brave enough to go on it with him even though she doesn't like the monster in it.

We also went to Knott's Berry Farm and California Adventure but I didn't take any pictures of it. Peyton was able to spend an hour at her old school and had such a great time with her old class. We were able to visit our old ward (which totally chaged since we left in December because the boundaries in the whole Stake were changed) and we were able to play with some of our friends. We got to stay with Aunt Natalie and cousin Aurora and we had so much fun with them. We had such a fun time and my girls were so sad to leave. Hailey kept asking me when we were going to move back to California and when I told her we weren't going to she was really sad. They both really miss their friends and their favorite places. We hope to make it back there soon.

Rainbow Connection

Peyton was able to participate in her second grade school musical called "The Rainbow Connection". She danced and sang in 3 songs. The first was "The Rainbow Connection", the second one was "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and the third one was "My Favorite Things". She had a small solo in the song "My Favorite Things" and she sung so beautifully and clearly. I am so glad that she enjoys singing since that is something I always did as a child. It brought back a lot of memories for me especially since I sang "The Rainbow Connection" when I was in Kindergarten for my school talent show. We are so proud of Peyton for participating and for having the courage to sing a solo.

Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day and we started the day off with heart shaped french toast with strawberries and whipped cream. The girls loved the little gifts we gave them and I loved the roses Ryan gave me. For dinner we had a candlelight dinner on the floor of the basement (when you are sharing a house with another family you have to make sacrifices sometimes). The girls loved it and tell me they want to do it every Valentine's Day.

China

I have finally posted pictures of my adventures in China with my in-laws and sister-in-laws. We had a great time and it was quite an experience. I am so grateful to have such wonderful in-laws who provided this experience for me.

Here we are at LAX waiting for our first long flight to Korea. Boy were we excited.

This is the lovely food they served on the airplane. You could choose a Western meal or an Asian meal and my sister-in-law chose the Asian one. Neither were very appetizing.

I had a hard time eating the food there because it just wasn't what I was use to. American Chinese food is a lot different than what people really eat in China.

We celebrated my sister-in-law Amber's birthday while we were in China and she wanted us all to go and get a massage together. I felt a little more like torture and was quite different than a massage in the USA. We had to put on these cute little outfits for the massage.

We were able to visit the Terra Cotta Warriors while were were in Xian. It was quite an amazing site to see all of these things that were built to protect the Emperor's dead body.

We also visited the city wall in Xian that use to go around the whole city to protect it from the enemy.

The highlight of my trip was going to see the Olympic sites in Beijing. I am a huge sports fan so seeing the places where all of those amazing events took place last year was awesome. Here we are in front of the Bird's Nest where they held the opening and closing ceremonies and track and field events.

This is the place I looked forward to seeing the most. The water cube. It was so awesome to be able to see where history took place for Michael Phelps. I am a huge fan of swimming and watched almost every minute of the swimming events. The building was so spectacular and I was so excited to go inside.

Here I am inside of the water cube in front of the pool where all of the action took place.

We were able to go and tour the summer palace in Beijing where the Emperor spent his summers. It was huge and so beautiful. It was so interesting to hear all of the stories from their history.

Here I am riding on the subway for my very first time. We took the subway a lot in Beijing to get to all of the good shopping places. We shopped a lot and came home with lots of gifts.

Here we are at the Great Wall. This is the picture of us before we hiked up it. It was such a sight to behold and was so amazing to see.

Here we are hiking up. It was really steep (we chose to do the harder climb because we are strong women)! Our bodies were slanted forward because of how steep it was.

Here we are at the top part of our climb. We could have climbed forever but it was a lot of hard work and it was cold. There are so many other things we did while in China but those are some of the highlights. I guess you will just have to go visit their yourself and see what it is all about.

Christmas

I know it is a little late to be posting pictures from Christmas but I was really busy with moving just a few days before Christmas and just with life in general. I am trying to get back on track before the baby comes so here are a few pictures from Christmas.

I attended my first live concert in my 30 years of living. It was my brother's band Sherylstin's farewell concert since they would no longer be playing together since it is time for all of them to grow up and move on. It was more like a reunion/farewell concert since most of them had recently returned from their missions and they hadn't played together in 2 1/2 years. We had a lot of fun and it was great seeing my brother do something he loves. Here he singing and playing the keyboard.