Oh the messes they make!

Zach is really into taking things in and out of their place lately. And opening and closing things. I feel like I clean up the same mess 5 times a day. But it keeps him entertained and happy. Until he gets into the toilet. This is when he was putting the garbage in the toilet and taking it out again. Eeeeww!

And this is when he was throwing all the toys in between the stair rails. Emmy got in on the fun and they both thought it was hilarious!

And this is what the stairs looked like after.

Zach also took all my books off the bookshelf one day. Emmy decided to brush up on her student affairs skills by reading my college textbooks. Ha! It was so cute...it looked like she was studying.

New Years Resolutions 2014

I am having a really hard time coming up with some resolutions this year. Normally, I am very pro-New Year's Resolutions and have several that I'm excited about, but this year it's just not coming.

I kind of feel like it's taking everything I have right now just to stay afloat and the thought of "being better" is really overwhelming to me. I feel like I'm always struggling to catch up and so being a step ahead doesn't seem like a reality to me right now. And I feel so pathetic that I feel that way.

So, I'm not sure what to do. I have some ideas rolling around, but when I try to write them out or think of how I'll do them, it's just not coming. I'm such an advocate of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely) but I just can't seem to articulate what I'm thinking or come up with a plan on how to achieve them. And I don't just want to say...I'm going to be better at this or that, because I don't think that works.

And so the dilemma continues. But, I do think that something is better than nothing, so even though these aren't very well thought-out yet, I'm still going to post them, as disjointed and unspecific as they might be. And I will come back to them later and try to make them SMART goals before the end of the year.

1. Be able to do at least one pull-up. Matt got a pull-up bar for Christmas and I can't even do one!

2. Be better about having family prayer and scripture study and FHE. My sis-in-law gave us some cute FHE stuff for Christmas, so that will help!

3. Be better about the kids' bedtime routine and not just rush through it and get frustrated because I'm so anxious for them to be in bed. They deserve a good bedtime routine from a mom who is mentally there.

4. Be better about my own scripture study. I printed out this reading chart to help me to remember to read every day.

5. Eat out less. I have a really hard time cooking...especially on the weekends. I just don't like cooking very much. Right now we usually eat out on both Friday and Saturday nights and sometimes a couple times a month on weekdays too. I'm contemplating instigating "Crockpot Fridays" so that I can prepare the meal in the morning before I get too lazy to cook dinner on Friday nights. And then we can still eat out on Saturdays. I think once a week is acceptable.

6. Be a better mom. I get frustrated with my kids so easily and they deserve better than that. And I get bored of doing kid things all the time. It's really hard when they both are so needy all the time. But I need to have a better attitude and be a more fun mom. I don't know how to do that, but I need to figure it out.

Vacation, Part 3

It's not a trip to Cali without hitting the beach! Emmy loved playing in the sand.

She had a blast filling her bucket over and over.

And Zach had fun playing with his fish and trying to keep them away from Emmy.

Emmy stuck her feet in, but didn't like it much.

But loved the ice cream cones we got on the way back.

We also visited the zoo while in San Diego. The kids liked it much better than the Safari Park.

There was another petting zoo.

And here is Emmy pointing out the jaguar we saw on the bus tour. It had a crazy laugh that was hilarious and it sounded like Olivia.

Zach just wanted to get down!

We saw some cool bears and a baby giraffe and a hippo swimming and a baby panda and a huge elephant with tusks. It was fun!

And Emmy and Zach were so pooped that they actually BOTH fell asleep in the stroller. I thought I was going to die...that never happens.

On our last day we just hung around the pool and the beach. My mom found some Latin American dessert place she wanted to try. She got the "special" which was this disgusting snow cone with hot sauce and chili powder.  We about died laughing when everyone tried some.

Zach loved playing in the sand, and kept throwing it and got it everywhere! I'm still finding sand in his hair!

And Matt, Nathan, and Allison actually got in the water and went swimming. Freezing!

Zach and I watched. There was some fog rolling in. And a fog horn. It was crazy. Emmy and I also found some tidepools with a bunch of starfish, crabs, anemones, etc. Emmy loved them!

Then we drove home on Jessica's birthday. We had some fun surprises for her the whole way home!

We stopped in Primm, NV to ride the roller coaster. It was crazy! It was a fun trip and I was sad to come home to a few inches of snow and a big, fat Primary mess. I miss the beach already!

Vacation, Part 2

One of the days we went to Sea World and I think that was my favorite day. It was so fun. Emily was so excited about the whales and she would gasp and laugh every time they jumped up during the Shamu show.

She also loved the tide pools and holding the starfish.

This dolphin was hilarious. It kept trying to open a little box that was near us to get some fish out of it.

Emily was so excited to feed the stingrays. She proudly carried the little tray of fish over to the pool.

She even picked up the fish and threw them into the water for the stingrays. But she didn't want to hold it there in the water for the stingray to come and eat it out of her hand.

So Matt did that.

They had a few little rides that Emily loved as well. She kept yelling, "Wheeeee....look at me!"

After we got off, she kept jumping around saying she wanted to go again.

She loved this spinning starfish ride too.

And she asked (very nicely) if she could get a treat. So we let her pick one. She picked a giant snowman cookie and ate the whole thing!

I was even nice enough to give her a piggyback ride part of the time.

Emmy loved Sea World. Zach mostly tolerated it. It was definitely our best day. It was kind of funny because everyone else left before us and Emily didn't want to go! We finally left because Zach was starting to lose it (and because Nathan and Jessica got wet and were cold).

What a fun day at Sea World!

Vacation, Part 1

Just after Christmas, my parents, siblings, and us went to San Diego for a week. It was great. We drove down with Nathan, Jessica and Levi. The kids did pretty well, except for Zach and Levi had a bit of a cryfest in the backseat for a couple of hours. They would trigger each other. It took us FOREVER to get there.

The day after we arrived, we hit the Safari Park. I wasn't too impressed with it, to be honest. Maybe it was because we were still tired from the drive and Matt was getting sick and it was super crowded and hard to navigate.

Zach HATED the train ride and cried the whole time. But we saw some cool things.

I liked how the animals were just roaming around on the hillsides.

We stuck with Nathan and Jessica most of the time. We also roomed with them and I'm pretty sure they were sick of us by the end of the week.

Emily's (and Nathan's) favorite part was the petting zoo. They even had little brushes you could brush the goats.

Emily had to brush every single goat in there.

And Nathan, Jessica, and Levi tried on these safari hats. We also watched the cheetah run, which was pretty neat, but we couldn't see very well.

Emily's favorite part of the trip was the playground at the hotel and the swimming pool. She kept asking every day right after she woke up if we wanted to go swimming.

The pool was pretty chilly. Zach liked to sit on the step and play with my goggles. And Emily liked to jump off the side.

Really, she just LOVED being in the pool.

It was beautiful weather. Low 70s the whole week. It was great!