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Thursday, October 2, 2008

So much...

...has been going on!

I haven't posted in a bit, so this one will be a bit big. If I don't post it all, I'll never get around to doing it. So, no separate posts for me!!

On September 20th we had a combined birthday party for both Joey and Sophie. It was huge as usual. James has so many family members and we have so many friends that we always opt for Peter Piper because it is..
A: Cheaper. We used to spend like $800 on a birthday party at our house. Yikes it was horrible.
B: Cleaner. I don't have to clean up after or before. Mr. or Ms. Peter Piper does this for me.
C. Entertaining for my husband. James loves playing games. He usually finds a "broken" machine and plays his heart out until he has a stink load of tickets to get all the kids something.

So, here's a pic of Sophie donning her birthday hat:



My girls...Christine, Amie, Mom and Camille



More of my girls...Erin, Ronelle and Laura eating in the background (sorry Laura!!)



I never seem to get a ton of pictures during a party. I'll have to bug Camille about some of her's. She super-good at taking pictures during parties.

Finally, the cake. Joey wanted Star Wars figures on it and I made a little sign for Sophie. (It was really more Joey than Sophie's party. She's only 2, she won't mind. Just don't tell her when she gets older)



So, after all the birthday fun, we went out of town for a few days. My Grandpa Bud celebrated his 80th birthday on Sept. 27th. We decided it was high time we saw him again, since it isn't so easy for him to travel to us. Last time I saw him, Abby was a baby. So, it's been a few.

The Thursday before we hopped into the car and headed out. We stayed in Laughlin on Thursday night. Hello flashback to the 1980's. I never really realized that my family is a minority on the whole moral road. Yuck. But, for $19 dollars a night what do you expect? It draws the finest of people. The only good thing was the buffet in the morning. How I love buffets.

Friday we headed out through Vegas. We stopped at Circus Circus and the kids played games (again with the games, James was in heaven) and won some bears. They liked the juggler circus act. After that we headed for our final destination...St. George, Utah.

All of my pictures some how ended up fuzzy (James' thumb, but who's pointing fingers) but our reunion was nice. My dad's brother, Mike and his wife Sharon were there from California. Dad's sister, Denise and her son, Josh, and his girlfriend Casie(I never spell that right) also came. My brother, Camille and Johnathen. My mom and Dad. Dad's step-sister Heidi. Dad's other step-sister Karen and her husband (I won't attempt to spell his name, he's from Honduras) and their cutie-pie Tanner, were also there.

We had a grand time. On Saturday morning we went to "Swiss Days." We enjoyed a parade where Joey had a dream come true:




Johnathen's head looks tiny. I had to catch this during the parade.

After Swiss Days, we rested a bit before the birthday party. My Grandma Shirley ((not my Dad's mom, my Grandpa remarried after my grandmother passed away. My Grandpa Bud and Shirley were sealed, and her daughters were also sealed to my grandfather. *on a side note, she showed us an official church document and it had the 1st Pres. signatures. It had the signature of 2 prophets on it, President Kimball and President Hinckley, cool huh?)) had rented a ramada at a local park. We ate, looked at photos, played and had cake. It was really fun.

Here are Grandpa Bud and Grandma Shirley with Soph:


After the party, we said our goodbyes and headed off. Some went back to the hotel to swim, some went to the Temple. I just love the St. George Temple. Here are a couple shots.





We enjoyed the Visitor Center movies including "A Pioneer Miracle." It was wonderful and very spiritual. After that we went back to the hotel to relax before our trip home in the morning.

Sunday morning we decided to check out Zion National Park. I pulled this pic online. It was so beautiful. Apparently not beautiful enough to take pictures. I think taking care of a toddler was enough work. On another side note, we didn't have to pay to get in Sept. 28th was free at the National Parks in honor of Naturalized Citizens. Cool, huh? Thanks for saving me $25 bucks, Naturalized Citizens!!!



After Zion we headed back Vegas way. I had a horrible experience at a gas station involving at lost credit card, frantic searching, and eventual cancelling. That's all I'm going to say about that. Everything's okay, just so you know. But, ugh, that stank. We ate at another buffet in Vegas, at the New Orleans. OH MY HECK was it good!! *closes eyes imagines eating that food again, then opens Slim-Fast, sigh*

We got home really late on Sunday, and being nice, I let the kiddos sleep in Monday morning and skip school. Aren't I evil? We slept a ton on Monday before walking next door to celebrate Sophie's official 2nd Birthday.

I got her one of those cup-cake dogs from Wal-Mart. Don't yell at me Cake Wrecks!! She's 2, she loved it!!!!




I'm not going to post the one that made her look like she had a frosting Hitler-moustache. Disturbing.

Well, it was an exciting week! Tomorrow I get to go on my first out of town crop. I'm so excited! A weekend with just the girls! No worries, just scrapping!

7 comments:

Mallory Clan said...

Wow, what a fun trip! I too love the St. George temple. Thanks so much for posting that song on our blog. We had Kalyta come in and read it. She felt so special!!

Stacy Householder said...

Hey Cris, CUTE BLOG! :) I'm so excited that we got to know each other at the scrapbooking getaway. Even though it feels like I already knew you! haha

Thanks for the laughs! Your pages turned out sooo AWESOME!!! You have true talent!!! :)

wittygal said...

Hey, I found your blog! Wow what great memories. So after a weekend of getting to know you, seeing your cute clothes, and your fab selection of scrap paper can I just say that this blog is so YOU!!
I love it!

Unknown said...

you didn't tell me the Whole family was going out of town , aren't trips like that fun!!! if there is one thing i miss living in... YES im going to say it... San Diego are those trips we used to take every other month.
wait cropping out of town ...why didn't you invite me?

Castle Family said...

Yup, that was the Disneyland explosion :) Fun times!

Amie said...

How did I never see this? I've seen that heading to your blog for week and not realized I'd never read the whole thing! Way cute pictures, specially of St. George and Miss Thang with her cake! =)

Jenna said...

What a busy week! That cake looked very tasty....