Children's Parade

This year our stake had a float for the Days of '47 Children's Parade and our older girls wanted to participate. They dressed up like cowgirls and walked the parade with their friends. They had a great time!

July 4th

Every year for the 4th of July we usually head to the Magna parade. This year was no exception!

 

 Avery in her fire fighter hat.

 



 Abbey and Alyssa with cousins Marlee and Bill

 Me and my awesome sister Hillary

 Anastyn eating some taffy.

 Chase and Avery waiting for more candy

Mexican Riviera Cruise

 On June 10th, 2012 we set sail on this amazing ship courtesy of my father-in-law, Sam, and his awesome wife, Becky. They decided it would be fun to take all of their kids on a cruise! As soon as they started tossing the idea around I was ALL IN! We had a fantastic time! I took over two hundred pictures on this trip, but my computer is junky and it takes a really long time to download, so I am just showing the highlights!

 There were a few places that we spent a lot of time. One was in the karaoke room, and the other was wherever they were doing trivia games (or bingo). We are kinda geeky that way.

This is the view of Cabo from the ship.

 Our gracious hosts!

 The captain of the ship happened to walk by us so I thought it would be fun to have a picture with him. After this picture he turned to me and told me "good luck in your new adventure" and made a gesture toward my belly. He totally thought I was pregnant! I most certainly wasn't, but oh well, I guess that's more motivation to lose a few more lbs! He was a very nice man though, so I wasn't too upset with him!

 In front of the sushi bar. David was thrilled about this little perk- all you can eat sushi! I am not a fan, so I just went along and hung out!

 All the boys, minus Sam and Dallin, did a canopy adventure so the rest of us walked around Cabo and did a little shopping. We got some killer deals on some great stuff. Becky and I made a great bargaining team!

 Outside Senor Frogs

 The twins! It's funny because they really look nothing alike for the most part, but in this picture they have the same clothes, hair, build, and smile! So cute!!

 Another view of Cabo

 At dinner! We had the most amazing food at every meal!

 Outside Senor Frogs in Puerto Vallarta

 The beach at Puerto Vallarta. It was so beautiful!

 Hanging out on the beach

 Awwww!

 Family picture on the second "formal" night.

 More trivia....

 So, anyone who has taken a Carnival Cruise knows about this AMAZING dessert. It really is that good! It's called chocolate melting cake and it is to die for! I got it every single night (except for one night and I totally regretted not getting it that night!).

 With our waiter, Maynard. He worked so hard and was such a kind person! We found out on the last night that he has three daughters back home in the Philippines that he Skypes with every night. (He has to pay for that out of his own pocket, too.) He works 7 months on the ship and then takes 3 off.

 All of us with our waiters

On the last night of the cruise they do a Carnival Legends Show. They have passengers audition for the parts and Daniel was voted to play the part of Elton John. He did so great! It was really fun to watch them!

 

On this trip we also swam with dolphins, which I don't have pictures uploaded to my computer yet, but it was unlike anything I have ever done! It was something I may never do again, but we had a blast!

Thank you Sam and Becky for treating us to such an awesome vacation! We are so grateful!

My trip to see ELLEN!

 

Back in May, I was lucky enough to get to go on a trip ALL.BY.MYSELF.

Meaning, without any members of my family. My best friend Anya had emailed the Ellen Show and told them that all she wanted for her 30th birthday was tickets to the show. We decided to make a trip out of it and spend some time touring Los Angeles. I had the most amazing time on this trip! I couldn't believe we were able to pull it off and make arrangements for all of our kids! Anya also invited her mom (Tanya) and her sister (Katya) to come along as well. (Yes, they are all Russian.) These are a few of the highlights from the trip.

 

 On Sunday, which happened to be Mother's Day, Target had sponsered an event to give makeovers to all the women who visited Santa Monica Pier that day. This is Anya and me after she had her hair done (by Umberto who is a celebrity stylist from Beverly Hills and also has a product line at Target) and me after I had my make-up done while getting tips from Petra (who has a line of make-up products she developed called "Pixie", which is also at Target). We had no idea they were doing this until we showed up at the beach. They also gave us a long-stemmed white rose and a bag of hair and make-up samples.

 This is the four of us at dinner at a restaurant called Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills (as suggested by Umberto himself).

 



 Checking out the walk of fame and the statues outside Graumann's Chinese Theatre

 

On Sunday night we went to a Cirque Du Soleil performance called "Iris". It was an incredible show and had me holding my breath through the entire thing! The performers do the most amazing stunts!

There was a new store opening at the mall near the walk of fame that was called "Carmen Steffens". I don't really ever see my name anywhere so it was kind of cool!  

"BFF" suckers that we found at the giant candy store at Universal City Walk. 

We had dinner at this really amazing restaurant at the top of the canyon. It was similar to driving through the Avenues here in Salt Lake, but when you reach the top you have an amazing view of the whole city! 

Here is the reason for the trip! We were all so excited to see Ellen in person! She is such an amazing person! Being at the show was like being at a giant party. Between every segment (while the "commercials" are happening) you get out of your seat and dance!

These pictures were taken on my IPhone. We were told that there were no cameras allowed in the studio so we left them in the car. Before the taping, Ellen's announcer guy came out and told us that we could hurry and take a picture of ourselves to prove we were really there and put them on Instagram. At the end of the show Ellen gave out a diamond necklace to everyone in the audience. She told us they were worth $150! It was so surreal to be there in person! A total dream come true! 

Me and Anya at the show!

 

A couple other things we did on this trip were: going to the Jay Leno Show (where you can't take ANY pictures, not even of the outside of the studio), visited The Grove at La Brea where Mario Lopez films his show "Extra", went to the Griffith Observatory, and ate at the BEST restaurants!

I totally appreciate David for letting me do this trip. He held down the fort here at home and I even came home to a clean house! He really is the BEST hubby!