Mormon Battalion

Yesterday the CAPO teachers were on strike from the classroom so I took the opportunity to educate my children in a different way.  I took three of them and a friend Emily down to the Mormon Battalion in Old Town, San Deigo.  It has recently been renovated so we were excited to see the changes.  We were amazed at how nice and interactive it is now!   I highly recommend it to ALL!  Here is a little photo journal of our adventure:

After the video presentation and time in the museum the kids were able to pan for gold:

Trevor LOVED panning for gold!  He loves all types of rocks and minerals.

The girls were loving the hand pump water faucet.....

sometimes a little too much!  Trevor and Emily in a water fight :o)!  Luckily we were the only ones there so the Sister Missionaries just laughed!

We became honorable Mormon Battalion members:

Afterwards we walked around Old Town...it was such a beautiful day.  We ran across some tshirts that were pretty funny:

Happy Easter 2010

Easter morning started with the kids coming downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny put in their baskets

Trevor got a football and was soooo excited!!

Meredith got a hula hoop and is now a pro at it!

Mackenzie got a swimsuit cover up and the movie "17 Again"

Madalyn got a cover-up also with "Confessions of a Shopaholic"

Then there was a small egg hunt in the house:

Then we made homemade Belgium waffles with strawberries and whip cream- YUM!

After breakfast we watched General Conference.  Then got ready to go to my Aunt Debbie's house for our family Easter Celebration. 

There was a big egg hunt and yummy food. While there we felt the 7.2 earthquake in Baja, Mexico. My Aunt so wisely declared, "At least we are all together and have plenty of food!" So right she was!

Cupcake's anyone?

Cupcakes for Dinner!

Trevor and Meredith were so excited to get to have an "April Fool's" by having dessert for dinner!  They really bought into the whole thing and thought I was the coolest mom ever!  Trevor (who does not like mashed potatoes) made sure to pick the cupcake with the most frosting.  After prayer he dug in with a HUGE bite only to be VERY dissappointed that it was a mouthful on mashed potatoes!  He thought for sure they were real because of the "sprinkles" on top!

Meredith on the other hand took her time taking the paper lining off and gave me a look of 'the cake does not look so good'.  She was not quite sure what was going on.  I hope you all had a fun April Fool's Day!

The American Girl Place

On March 7th we finally celebrated Meredith's 6th birthday!  It was two months of waiting, hoping, excitement and anticipation to go to The American Girl Place!!!  The girls all took a trip to The Grove in Los Angeles so we could enjoy the store and dinner.  Ryan and Trevor visited the La Brea Tar Pits- the "boy" thing to do! Trevor is convinced that he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up.

The Grove- such a cute shopping center!

Mackenzie and Madalyn never wanted an American Girl doll, but they did enjoy the books.  They were, however, so excited to share this experience with Meredith!

Meredith picking out the girls that looks just like her (but without the freckles!)

Meredith so happy with the purchase! He named her doll Tatum Claire Jones- the name she was going to have if we did not name her Meredith Claire.

That evening we had dinner at the American Girl Cafe'

Grandma Wright came along and bought Tatum three outfits so she can be taken home in style!  We loved having Grandma Wright with us...she is Meredith's second favorite (next to Grandpa Wright)!  Sorry...but we all know it is true...

Ryan and Trevor joined us for dinner.  Trevor kept his hood on to hide himself when he first entered the store- it was so funny!  Once he saw another "teenage boy" there he became more comfortable! 

The Cafe' is so cute!! The food was really good too!

There was a box of conversation starters on the table...the kids loved the questions!

Tatum had her own high chair and snack!

Here is dessert! 

 This was an unforgettable birthday for our sweet Meredith whom we just adore and love more than words can express!

ROADSHOW 2010 "It's Not Over Till It's Over There"

This year I had the priviledge to be involved with our ward's Roadshow.  The theme was "It's Original".  Our show was set in the 1940's.  The girls all had to learn how to tap dance and the boys did a stomp number that was a huge hit!  Together they did a swing dance.  Madalyn literally was thrown around and twirled by another YM in our ward.  This really made our youth step out of their box in trying something that was difficult.  They nailed it!  Our youth did an OUTSTANDING job and got a ton of compliments from those in the audience.  I was amazed by our youth.  There was NO DRAMA and everyone had a fantastic time! 

Unfortunately I was backstage the entire time so I have no live shots of them performing.  Luckily it is being put on a DVD so I can view it later! 

Austin, Kolton, Madalyn and Samantha

Besties!!  Such great girls!

Birthday at Boomers

On February 20th Mackenzie celebrated her 14th birthday with a few friends at Boomer's in Irvine. It was a great place to go! They had their independence, yet Ryan and I were not too far away. All the girls seemed to have a fun time climbing the rock wall, driving the go carts and riding the ride that flips you over. Not sure if they ever got to minature golf!

Since Trevor was at a different birthday party at the time Meredith got mom and dad all to herself! She was in heaven!!