San Diego

My parents spent a couple weeks in town back in June and we took a little weekend road trip to San Diego. I had never been there, and I absolutely loved it. Can't wait to go back, specially now that we are dealing with the nasty summer/monsoon season here in Arizona.

The kids loved the hotel we stayed at. It was right on Mission Bay, so it was. Ice to take walks on the beach after breakfast. They had a full hot breakfast buffet each morning. Nothing like waking up to a great view and having amazing food ready for you each day. The kids loved the hotel pool and their arcade room. Cory and I decided we would skip Sea World and just do beach and site seeing.

On day one we swam in the morning. I had to jump in the pool to rescue Clarissa with clothes and all. The kids went swimming and I left Cissa's floaty in the room. They had a really shallow kiddy pool that she would have been just fine in, had she not crossed over to the deeper side. I guess that's what I get by doing lifeguard duty fully clothed. Later that day we visited the USS Midway, Coronado beach, and took the Belle boat from our hotel  across the bay. We really packed our day full.

Day two we started off with swimming and packing up our stuff. After we checked out I was determined to rent a Surrey bike (a bike that looks like a little car and seats 8 people) and go for a family ride. I remember riding one of these as a kid and loved it. I wanted my kids to get the same experience. There was one minor difference, this time around the bike was filled with 4 adults + 3 kids. Definitely more weight to pedal! We had a blast though, by far the highlight of our trip. We laughed so hard and totally made a fool of ourselves. We had lunch at the Fish Market, great view and beautiful view, and the took a paddy cab around the area (Christopher's request). We visited the Mormon Battalion museum right before we left. Clarissa fell asleep on the way to the museum. She was so exhausted that we pulled her out of the car, put her in the stroller, visited the Mormon Battalion for 1 hr, put her back in the car and she didn't wake up until we were off driving, crazy!

Christopher is 6

My "little" guy turned 6 this month. We celebrated with a really low key swim party at my in laws just for the cousins. We are going to Disneyland this year so we told the kids that we are doing small birthdays. He wasn't too happy about not being able to invite his whole class to a large event, but was happy in the end with how things turned out. He wanted a Minions theme so I tried my best to keep it small with somewhat of a theme. He's going to summer school right now, so I order cupcakes and put minion toppers on it for his class. He was excited about that.

 

Drew and Cissa eating his school cupcakes in the car. 

 

We let the kids pick what they want to do and  eat on their actual birthday. He chose to go to Wet'n Wild and then Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. The waiter were nice enough to make him a smiley face Sundae and bring it out with a candle so we could sing to him. He LOVED it!

 

Party time at grandma's house!

End of School Year

We've been busy these last couple of weeks. Drew officially graduated from preschool. It's sad to see him leave such a fun group of friends. He's the only one moving on to kindergarten while the other 3 kids have 1 more year of preschool. Clarissa gets to join his friends at preschool next year, which is totally crazy. These little guys have been best friends and having playgroups since they were 1. In fact, one day at preschool Jacob forgot to take a jacket so he couldn't go out to play. The other 3 kids decided to stick with J and stayed inside with him. That's how close they are. They are all together in the same primary class so they see each other a lot.

 

The week after school was over we bought season passes to Wet'n Wild and have been taking the kids there a lot. It will be great to have passes to the water park so close to home this year. Last year we bought passes to one close to Cynthia in Mesa, and the long drive just made it inconvenient to go all the time. I've also been taking the kids to some splash parks to try to keep cool.

Christopher has summer school this year. It goes till the end of June. He was excited to finally be able to take cupcakes to school for his birthday.

Last, but not least, we decided to participate in our ward's talent show this year. I don't know how exactly I came up with the idea, but somehow I ended signing us up to do a family dance. I choreographed and we danced to the 'Gummy Bear" song. It was a blast. Drew and Clarissa were super into it. Christopher just about refused to dance but we forced him on stage anyways.  We all had simple gummy bear costumes. Totally embarrassing but definitely memorable!

Cory's 30

Cory turned 30 on the 12th and I tried surprising him with a party. He loves to go shooting, so I figured we could meet up with some of our friends at a shooting range and then head to Chili's for appetizers afterwards. Everything worked great, he had no clue about anything, my only problem was getting him to leave the house and want to go shooting. I guess I didn't plan it too well because I planned the party for the day he got home from a fathers and sons camp out. Two hours before we had to leave the kids toilet broke, and he had to fix it. By the time it was time to go he was tired and just wanted to do something low key. I had to do A LOT of convincing and some hint dropping to get him to the range. In the end we had a great time and he had a happy birthday! Mission accomplished for his 007 party theme (which was 030). 

Spring Break

The boys had Spring Break this week, and I somehow survived. We had a super busy week filled with activities,and on top of everything I'm still taking online classes for my teacher recertification. I'm to the point that I'm counting down the weeks until my life gets back to normal. There's only one problem, I will finish my classes when school let's out, so "normal" won't really happen again until the fall.
Tom and Lori have spent the week in town, so the kids have had lots of time to visit with their cousins. It's been nice to have them to hang out with almost everyday.
Before I start to post pictures of everything we did I have one last BIG news. Clarissa is potty trained!! My baby is no longer in diapers. It's hard to believe, but it feels so good to not have to change any more diapers. She hasn't peed her night time diaper in 1 week (she's only been potty trained for a couple weeks) but I'm not ready to completely remove it and have to clean up an accident.
I better get to bed. I play the organ tomorrow at church, so I need to be rested for that. This is only my second time playing the organ, and I have a feeling things won't go as smooth this time around. Is it the fact that I haven't practiced as much?! Not good!

I turned 30 last month and as part of the celebration I participated in an urban scavenger hunt. Kind of like the Amazing Race. Cory and I love that show and always talk about how we want to go on it one day. Anyway, this was a little dream come true. My friends Staci and Michelle joined us and totally saved us that day!

 

Swimming with cousins during Spring Break.  

 

Cissa and Blake at Crackerjax 

 

We went to the zoo with some ward friends. Clarissa has never been to the zoo before, so this was a much overdue visit. 

 

I wasn't planning on having the kids play on the splash pad at the zoo, but they insisted and I caved. They had to play with their clothes since I didn't bring swimsuits. They had a blast! Thanks Tiffany for getting us in for free.

 

Playing with mud at the park. This is what happens when mom doesn't go to the park with them and dad and grandma are in charge. They loved getting dirty with their Garrett cousins. Drew actually refused to play with mud, he made sure he stayed clean. Definitely my kid! 

 

All 10 Garrett cousins at the Play Factory. This place was empty, for once, and it was nice to just have the play area pretty much for ourselves.  

Old Tomatoes

Just a quick little post.

Sunday Christopher was having a rough day. He was throwing a tantrum in the car after church. After hearing enough complaints and demands coming from the back seat Cory says, "Christopher, you don't give the ultimatums in this family!"
Christopher (frustrated and yelling back): "I give the old tomatoes!"
It was hard to keep a straight face after that. Cory and I just had to tease the kid, and he really had no idea what we were teasing him about.

The boys are always trying to one up each other. Drew trying to tell Christopher he's better: "Well, I know how to ride a unicorn bicycle!" Me: "Drew what's a unicorn bicycle?" Drew: "You know, a bicycle with one wheel." Me: "oh, a unicycle."

Clarissa talks non-stop now. She is always repeating stuff we say (which keeps me on my toes). Today she heard me say "Oh my gosh," and that has been her new word of the day. When we ask her to pray she says "I do it myself." I don't remember the boys praying alone so young.