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!

Lately..

Where the heck did the last two months go? Time seems to fly by so fast these days. I can't seem to slow down and take a breath! I thought I would give a little update as to what is going on in our lives lately. This might be a bit long, so I am not offended if you stop reading right here.

David has been working like crazy! I wish there were just one day that he would be home at the time he is supposed to be home, but there is a lot to do for his job, and we are grateful for his employment so I try to not complain too much! He is playing softball on the "family" team, Elwood's Army, again this year. He loves sports and really enjoys playing although he feels like he is getting too old to do the same things he used to do. He is currently serving as the Cub Committee chairman in the scouting program. It is a nice break from his old calling as the Elder's Quorum president in our last ward. He is such a great Dad and has been taking all of the girls on daddy-daughter dates. He takes them all individually once a month and they get to choose what they do. The girls love the time they get to spend with him and I love that he is trying so hard to be the best dad he can be. He grew up with all brothers so having daughters is different for him, but he is so good at it!

I have been super busy lately as well. I still work, but only about 4-6 hours a week. I have been doing that job for 8 1/2 years! I am currently serving as the Young Women's secretary and I love it! I haven't been in the Young Women's program since I was 18 so it is a fun new challenge! I have been going to the gym every morning at 5:30 for the past 9 months. I had a goal to lose 20 pounds before I turned thirty in February. I have lost about 15 pounds over all, but I know that the reason I haven't lost more is because I refuse to completely cut out treats. I am trying to lose at least 10-15 more as a goal for myself. I have had a few setbacks in my journey as well. I have gotten sick a couple of times so I missed almost the whole month of December at the gym. Also, I tore a muscle in my back so missed about three weeks at the gym and then had to start back slowly to be able to do the same things I was before. My plan was to start "boot camp" at the gym, but I hurt my back the week before I was going to sign up. I was really bummed about it!
Next week I am going on a trip with my best friend Anya, her mom, and her sister to California. I am so excited! Anya got tickets to the Ellen show and asked if I would come with her. Who would pass that up?? I very sweetly asked David if he would be okay with me going and he graciously said yes! In the meantime, we also got tickets to see the Jay Leno show and to a show put on by Cirque de Soleil. It is going to be such a blast! I have never been away on my own other than an overnight stay here and there. I am stressing about leaving David with the girls by himself for 4 days, but we have family close by, so it shouldn't be too difficult. The hardest thing is that I will be gone over Mother's Day so the girls are a bit disappointed.

Alyssa is still loving fourth grade. She has a best friend, Gracie, that she loves playing with. They get along so well. She still loves to read and you can find her with a book every night before bed. Alyssa is amazing at doing homework. She comes right in from school and pulls it out to get it done. I never have to remind her to do it! She is ten years old and growing so fast! I know big changes are right around the corner for her and have seen signs of it- meaning she can be SO moody! She is looking forward to the summer because she gets to go to Mill Hollow (summer camp) this year. She will be gone for three days, but I know she will love it. Her friend Gracie is going too, so she is happy about that.

Abbey is still crazy as ever- but of course in a good way! She also loves school and has an amazing teacher. I keep telling her that I wish this teacher could stay with her all through elementary school, she is just so great! She has trouble with turning in her homework though. She gets it done, but just forgets to turn it in. Her recent testing scores have placed her in the top 99% for her age so she qualifies again for the Advanced Learner Program at a different elementary school, but I am once again turning it down for a couple reasons, 1) I don't want to have to drive her 10+ miles away and 2) I don't think she could handle the stress. She has a hard time with big changes. She has an amazing imagination and is so creative. I am in awe of what goes on inside her head.

Avery is now three and keeps me on my toes. She loves to run! She told me the other day that I am good at catching her. She is like a little fox, she moves so quickly. I have had to learn to run really fast to catch her and try to think one step ahead of her. She has no desire to potty train and I have no desire to push it, so we are just waiting till she tells us she wants to learn. I learned with Abbey that she has to be the one to initiate it, otherwise it will be a nightmare. (Her and Abbey have super similar personalities.) Her favorite thing right now is to watch movies on the IPad or play games on my IPhone.

Anastyn is just such a little sweetie. Everyone loves her! Especially Trent (Hillary's boyfriend) who will be leaving on his mission soon. She will miss him like crazy! She loves to play with Avery and follows her around all the time. They are such cute little friends. She has also learned how to run fast and runs out the door if anyone leaves it open. Anastyn loves the bathroom which makes me and David crazy! She splashes in the toilet and climbs up to the sink to get into the water. We are pretty good about keeping the doors closed, but when we are at other people's houses she always manages to find the open bathroom door. She will turn two years old next week. I can't believe my baby is that old! I want her to stay little forever!

So that is us in a nut shell right now! We have a lot coming up that will keep us really busy! This June David's dad is taking all of his kids and their spouses on a Mexican Riviera cruise! We will be gone for nine whole days! I also have girl's camp in July and then our anniversary is in August! It will be a busy summer for us!

Our "Red-Hot" Date

So the hubs and I decided it was time for another date, but this time we wanted to do something other than dinner and a movie. He came up with a really fun idea to have a "red" themed date. (He's so creative.) So we dressed up in our red clothes and headed out!

 We started at Target (because of the red bulls eye) and had to choose something red for the other person to wear during the whole date. He chose a Minnie Mouse looking headband for me. I had a hard time finding him something red that he would actually wear. The Angry Bird hat was a joke. I didn't want to completely embarrass him. They had some reddish pants that I almost made him try on, but I wanted to keep it cheap so I went with a red and white striped t-shirt.

 We decided to have lunch at Red Robin. I hadn't had a burger in a while and it sounded so yummy!

 I was going to take a picture of the food before, but I was too hungry and forgot, so this is what was left. I had a teryaki burger (YUMM!) and he had a guacamole burger.

 David's shirt

 The awesome headband

 We were going to go to Red Mango for dessert, but I had a gift card to Coldstone that my friend Kristin gave me for watching her cute kids. So we went there to save to save a little more money. However, in keeping with the red theme, we both had some sort of red berry dessert.

 Then we rented a Red Box movie to take home and watch later.

 We also needed some red candy to munch on while we watched our movie so we went to the grocery store and found some goodies (Red Starbursts and Licorice).

It was one of the funnest dates we have ever done! I have an amazing husband!



Easter!

My kids love holidays. Here they are doing an Easter egg hunt in our backyard.

It lasted all of 5 minutes. (Note to self- fill MORE eggs next year!) At our house we celebrate all things "Easter Bunny" on Saturday so that on Sunday we can focus on the REAL meaning of Easter. The Easter Bunny drops off the load on Saturday morning. Another reason I like this is because they can eat all the candy they want because it's Saturday and we have nowhere to be. Of course I didn't get any pictures of what he brought, but the girls got a couple new movies, a new outfit, and lots of candy!



More Christmas!

Abbey

Anastyn

Avery and Abbey

Alyssa and Abbey

Avery and Anastyn

The other day I was deleting pictures on my iPhone (about 100 of them were of Avery's forehead, literally!) and I found a few more pictures from our Christmas celebration with David's dad and step-mom. I forgot to take my camera that day, but I had taken some with my phone that I totally forgot about. The girls were totally spoiled, as always! The older girls got new Monster High dolls, Avery got a new Rapunzel doll and Anastyn got a new "cell" phone. They also got a giant foam puzzle that has all the numbers and letters on it. I thought this gift would be more fun for the little girls, but the older ones have loved finding new things to build with all the pieces.

Every year for Christmas Becky buys all my girls new dresses. I hope this one continues because she always finds such cute dresses and we go through A LOT of dresses around here! The above pictures show just how cute they are! Thanks for an awesome Christmas!