Golf and The Living Desert

As a recap for our trip due to Paul's company's Executive Summit Retreat, Tuesday was a traveling day, plus we went out to dinner and a movie...very rare these days. Wednesday we went on the tram up the mountain and had an opening dinner for Parsons, the company. Thursday, Paul started his business meetings while I went shopping at the outlet mall and made lots of fun new friends from all over the country. We also had a fun sports theme dinner where we wore our favorite sports team shirts...I wonder what sports team is our favorite?! Friday, Paul had morning meetings, went golfing at the resort's amazing golf course, and I went to a zoo/botanical gardens called "The Living Desert". We all were bused to eat with smaller departmental groups at really nice restaurants that evening. Today, Paul had meetings all day and I got some things done in the hotel room, plus went to a beautiful park to eat lunch. Tonight we are having a more formal dinner all together to end the retreat. Palm Springs has been wonderful and such a great memory for Paul and me!

These palm trees were HUGE!

Typical view of Joshua Tree (cactus) in Palm Springs Valley

Palm Springs and Desert Valley
(The taller peak is the mountain we went up to)

Saw some animals of the deserts around the world...this one is a porcupine

Desert plants and vegetation

An oasis along the San Andreas fault line...typically where palm trees live and water comes out.

Hummingbird

Cheetah

Me in front of a huge model train collection

Thanks Parsons for a great time!

From Desert Sands to Snow

The foyer area of our hotel

Our view from our breakfast table

Mommy and Daddy say, "Hi!!!" in the rotating tram up to Mount San Jacinto State Park.

The tram that we ride in up the mountain

Look closely and you can see our car down behind the tower...we are getting very high!
The Palm Springs desert valley seen from 8,516 ft. and 30 degrees colder.
The famous windmills

The view at the top of the path to go see the snow

From desert sands to snow...amazing!

See the tree cut in half to stay on the path?

Mommy and Daddy's Trip

For the first time in over 4 years, Paul and I are able to take a trip together without the kids. It has certainly been a mix of feelings so far; I almost have to convince myself that it's ok to give myself a break from everything. It has been a fantastic trip so far and we wanted to show the kids some pictures of what Mommy and Daddy have seen so far on our trip. All we can say is "Thank You!" to our fantastic family members who so graciously are taking care of our precious children. It's nice to know that they are being loved just as we would love them. We hope that we can show you how thankful we are for your most helpful, loving gift to our family! Hugs and kisses!

Mommy and Daddy love you, Kannon, Alexa, Braden, and Logi-bear!

I...will...post...

I can't believe it has taken me this long to get another post on our blog! Later on, this post will be deleted...I just wanted to let those that actually follow our blog know that I will be updating the blog bit by bit and all the way back from April so it may get confusing. I will also try and keep up to date on current events for our family, as well. I found my little camera's battery charger finally so I got pictures off of it. No luck on finding my nice camera's charger, but I did get those pictures, too. So finally, we're coming back! Aren't you excited?

Chopped!

Well, I've gone and done it. I chopped my hair off today. I don't even know how many inches it was. I would have pictures of the before and after, but I can't find the cord to upload pics from my camera onto my computer, and my other camera I could have used has run out of battery life and I can't find the charger...hence the reason why I am also not caught up on the blog. Ugh! Life! We've also had a busy May! I'll put up some pics soon and show you. As for my hair, well, it used to go to or past my shoulder blades, and now it's much shorter...much, much shorter. It was not supposed to be this short, but give it 2 months and it will be exactly right, right? That's how it usually goes with my haircuts, and then I don't get one for a year and it's way too long, the baby grabs and eats it, you get spit up on it, it gets scraggly, it has no style, and it just needs some refreshing. So I went and cut it today after about a year of not cutting it. Crazy! It's fun and funky, easy to take care of, and Logan can't grab it as much. Alexa's turn is coming tomorrow!! You'll just have to wait for pictures!

*edited...to add pictures...even though as I'm typing this, my hair is now getting closer to the original length again!*

(Before)

(After)

Kudos to Aunt Catherine!!

My kids' Aunt Catherine (Paul's sister) received a very special award today! Paul and I were able to go to the dinner they served for the honorees and their guests. We felt very special being able to see Catherine get her award for being the Outstanding Senior in her major of Telecommunications Engineering at Texas A&M University. We are so proud of her accomplishments and are so excited for her graduation, too! She has worked really hard and I know she will be remembered in this major at A&M for a very long time. Way to go Aunt Catherine!! Gig 'Em!

Houston Fun!

My friend Jennifer suggested we go see the Houston Firefighter Museum and I jumped at the chance when we could tag-along with Paul on one of his business trips. Braden LOVES anything to do with firefighters and firetrucks. What a great little museum; it's a little hidden gem in the big metropolis of Houston. Immediately when you open the front doors of the old firehouse, large antique firetrucks welcome you into the inviting building. One in particular, the kids can climb all over. They have a mock set-up of the front of a firetruck where you can touch and push all the buttons and turn on lights and sirens, plus dress up as firefighters, and slide down a firehouse pole. It's a wonderful little place to go and learn about these wonderful men and women that help us everyday.
When Paul finished up his meetings, we then visited the Houston Children's Museum. What a fantastic museum, too! There were so many things for the kids to do and they even have a place to eat, which saved us from utter meltdown. Paul and I had a lot of fun! Ok, the kids did, too. It was so large, we only got through the downstairs, so we hope to visit again and enjoy fun times together. We are now finally realizing the close access to Houston we have and how many opportunities that are now opening up to us. What fun we see in in our future!

May Day

What a beautiful festival May Day is! To celebrate this welcome to Spring, we were invited by our friends, the Samuelsons, to go to their past Waldorf school in Houston and join in the festivities. When we arrived, we created crowns of flowers and vines all from everyone's gardens. We were able to bring some pink roses, rosemary, thyme, and lavender to share with everyone. Then we heard a little story about this new season among us and practiced singing some songs to go around the Maypole. Then we all gathered around the Maypole, took a ribbon, and danced (walked) around singing our songs. It was so beautiful to see the children walking with their ribbons until the pole was all wound up. Afterwards, we all sat down to have a wonderful meal together with food that everyone brought and the children played on the playground. It was a pretty hot and humid spring day so the kids were exhausted by the end...those are the kind of exhausted days I love, though.

Over the Hill!!

It's fun being 30 when you get a party thrown for you. Paul put together a little gathering of some friends and family to celebrate the fact that I'm getting older and can now kiss my 20's away. Ugh! I am now looked at by people moving into our ward as one of the "older" young mothers, if that makes any sense. The party was a lot of fun, especially since one of my best friends from high school (Melissa) came all the way to see me, plus other really great friends and family that I love so much. Paul had delicious food set out for us, fine bakery breads with meats and cheeses, plus other fun things to munch on. I guess Paul wanted to make me feel young by having his mom tell her birthday "cowboys and indians" story, which is usually told to younger crowds. It was hilarious to watch everyone yell out the sounds that go with the words as she told them...cowboys say "yee-haw!" and make a lasso movement with our arm, indians say "ahhh" as we pat our mouths repeatedly, horses we pat our legs to make the galloping sound, and when she says birthday, everyone starts singing the Happy Birthday song. It was great fun, and of course the "30 sucks" lollipop was proudly displayed on the finely decorated table. Oh joy!

"Thirty Sucks"

The kids now refer to lollipops as "30 sucks". Paul came home the other day with decorations for someone's special 30th birthday and a large lollipop with those words largely displayed on it and now that's what the kids think we're supposed to call them. Love it! The kids have no idea that what they say is really not something we would want them to say...unless of course, if you're me today, and it's your 30th birthday! So why not let them run around the house saying "30 sucks!"

So far so good, I don't feel too much different, but do look forward to the surprise Paul has put together for me. Today was also Stake Conference for our church and afterward we were invited to Catherine and Zach's (Paul's sister and her husband) home for a fun lunch. They had pizza dough from Double Dave's so that we could make our own pizzas. The kids got to put on their own sauce and toppings, plus they served me with a wonderful cake to celebrate the special day.
It was a beautiful 30th birthday for me and I feel so very blessed to be where I am today. I still wonder how I could already be 30 because I still feel 18 and some days I wake up and wonder where these 4 kids came from. It's so surreal! Being 30 may "suck" at times, but most of the time it sure is sweet!

Belated Easter

On my birthday morning, the Easter Bunny decided to come visit us, since he couldn't come when we all had the flu. Such a great surprise for me! He left some bunny droppings leading from the hallway door to the dining room table where all the baskets were filled with Easter goodies. The kids were so excited that Easter morning could still come to us, even when it was after Easter. Paul and I told them the Easter Bunny knows his stuff and would probably surprise us soon. Boy were we right. Afterwards, the kids dressed in their Easter dress clothes for Stake Conference which made me feel better about missing all of Easter. What a beautiful day to again reflect on the most precious gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ.