HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

I just wanted to take a quick second and give praise to my awesome and wonderful husband!! Russ is such an amazing father and husband! Lindsey and Taylor love their daddy so much. I love to just sit back and watch them interact! On most days when he gets home from work, he will toss each of the girls around and they love it so much! Taylor will get the biggest smile when her daddy gets home from work! I am so grateful for his dedication and hard work!

This past year, he was working full-time, taking 2 classes for his MBA, and finishing our basement! He still managed to help me with the girls every night! What an amazing man and example for our family!! We LOVE you!!! We are 3 lucky girls!!

Girls Trip to San Francisco!

Finally, a week later, I am blogging about my amazing trip to San Francisco! Most of you know that my Mom and I surprised my sister for her birthday with a girls trip to San Francisco. The boys were awesome and agreed to watch the kids for us! I think not having to take care of the kids was the thing that I was most looking forward to on this weekend getaway. I love my girls, but I was so ready for a break from the everyday norm and routine!

We flew in on Thursday evening and got there just in time to eat at one of my favorite places...Delfina's Pizzeria! This pizza reminds me so much of the wonderful pizza we ate in Italy. We got there at 9:30ish and there was quite the wait. We probably didn't sit down until 10:30/11 San Fran time!!! It is crazy to me, that on a Thursday night people are out so late eating. I am so used to Thornton/home life.

We stayed at the Hotel Kabuki, it was a nice little hotel and room. Katie and I shared a double bed. It was a good thing she brought her sleeping pills. Thanks Katie!! :)

On Friday morning, we got up, got ready, and met David. He decided to take us to Tartine Bakery. This was by far one of our favorite meals. There really is no way to describe the yumminess that went along with this meal!! We got a HUGE spread of food and found a make-shift table outside (all of the seating was taken, this was a busy place!!). We shared all of this food and it was to.die.for!!!

Then, David dropped us off so we could go and do the Alcatraz tour. This was so awesome! Highly recommended for anyone visiting San Fran. After Alcatraz, we picked up Natalie and went and got some cupcakes from Susiecakes-the most amazing cupcake I have ever had. (Can you see a pattern with my love of food in San Francisco??) For dinner this night, we ate some really good carne asada burritos from a taqueria in the Mission District. After dinner, we went to a movie at the Kabuki Theater. Katie and I were pretty tired and fell asleep. I just couldn't keep my eyes open....so I quit trying.

On the ferry to Alcatraz....

We went to the beach on Friday afternoon.....CRAZY wind!!

Katie getting blown away....

David and Natalie at the Taqueria

Katie taking a bite of her yummy burrito

On Saturday, we went to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building. There is so much fresh and yummy produce (we got samples). We got breakfast here, it was really tasty as well. We walked around, then we headed over to Natalie's office to see where she works and to see some amazing views. Oh so beautiful!! On our way, we happened to walk right through a bunch of nude men riding bikes and roller skating. It was very interesting to say the least. After being completely traumatized, we went and rested for awhile. That afternoon, we went and got some really yummy ice cream from Bi-Rite creamery. The weather was crazy windy at this time!! Most of Friday afternoon and most of Saturday, it felt like Wyoming in San Francisco. That evening, we went and ate some Sushi at David and Natalie's favorite Sushi place. I had never really had sushi before. It wasn't my favorite meal of the trip, but it was good and not a bad first experience.

Me on the top of twin peaks....

We went to the sushi place a half hour before it opened, so that we could get some of the 15 seats (literally) available.

Waiting....

Sitting, now just waiting on the sushi....

And one of the plates of Sushi...yum!!

Sunday, we ate brunch at Nopa....super good as well!! All I wanted to do was eat while we were in San Francisco and that is seriously what we did. The food did not disappoint!! After brunch, the wind had stopped slightly, so we went for a walk. We walked up to a park and sat for awhile and happened to be by the "Painted Ladies." Then, we went for a HUGE walk, seriously the steepest hill ever. It was all the way down and then all the way back up!! I got my work-out that day for sure! It was so fun to just walk around the city and see a whole different life then I am used to! It was a great and much needed (and deserved if I do say so myself) trip!!

Thanks again to Russ and his wonderful Mother-Shalia for watching the girls!! It was so nice to getaway and not have to worry about them. I knew that they were in good hands! They had a fun weekend and they both did fine without their Mama!!

It was finally time....

to post!! I didn't realize just how much I had to catch up on until I was going through pictures and YIKES there was way more then I thought!! So, read on and on and on....ENJOY!! (There probably won't be another post for awhile! ) :)

Taylor's 1st Birthday!!

Taylor conveniently turned 1 years old on Memorial Day and it was a perfect day to celebrate with family! We went to my parent's house and had an awesome BBQ (thanks Dad!!) We opened presents and celebrated my grandma's birthday as well! We ate some yummy Dairy Queen cake and Taylor of course got her very own cake to destroy for the 2nd time around....

Taylor's 1 year Stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 9.5 ounces (13th%)

Height: 29.75 inches (73rd%)

Head: 17.52 inches (33rd%)

Words: Mama, Daddy, Baby, Peek-A-Boo,

Lindsey, Doggie (Lindsey and Doggie are a work in progress)

and Uh-oh (she started saying uh-oh, the day after she turned 1)

Loves to play peek-a-boo, laugh at Lindsey, and be held by her mommy!

Still crawling...soon to be walking!

Thoughts: Taylor is a very smiley, happy, playful baby (per Russ)

I LOVE her smile!! She seriously has the best smile and EVERYONE notices it! It is so contagious....she is the light of my day. Taylor is getting pretty opinionated, which is not so fun. I was really hoping to not have a child that was like this...oh well! Love this little girl to pieces!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY GIRL!!!!

Our Visit to Grand Junction

Russ' brother Trevor got back at the end of April from his basic training and specialty training for the National Guard and since then we have wanted to get a trip to Grand Junction in to see him!! Well, the time finally came and we made our trip over there. We had a nice weekend...just did a lot of relaxing and it was wonderful. Russ and I did get a double date in with Trevor and Brittany. We went to the Texas Roadhouse and then decided to do a girl's night and boy's night out. So Brittany and I went and saw Water for Elephant's-very good. And Russ and Trevor went and saw Thor (no desire to see it....) Then, we went to the Red Mango and had some delicious frozen yogurt. It was so nice to have a free babysitter (Russ' parent's) and have a wonderful night out with great company! Thanks Trevor and Brittany for so many laughs!!

On Sunday, we celebrated Taylor's birthday a week early with Russ' family! Shalia was so nice to make Taylor her cake and frost it so cute. Much better then I could have done. =) She had her 1st very own cake and she really liked the frosting (my favorite cream cheese frosting). She immediately got in the bath afterward...she was a mess!!

Lindsey with her great grandma Moses (the other grandma Moses)

Cute Ashlyn (Trevor and Brittany's little girl) with great grandpa Moses

Taylor about to destroy her cake.....

Miscellaneous

I caught a few snapshots of the tot school kids on the last day that I had them. My subject for the week was Bugs and it was so much fun. We made some really fun projects and ate some dirt cupcakes with a worm on top. The kids loved them so much!!

On Mother's Day, I had to have Russ get a few quick pictures of his little family! I had a wonderful Mother's Day. It was pretty low key....the usual oatmeal breakfast, church, and then we went to Katie's house for dinner. It was delicious! We had a "Our Best Bites" dinner and it was wonderful. This is seriously my new favorite cookbook....seriously it is amazing!!

This little girl was caught red handed...I threw a banana away and she took it upon herself to get it out of the trash. She LOVES the trash and recycle. And I love the 2nd picture, because it really shows her smile...this is seriously her smile, it takes up her WHOLE face!! LOVE THIS GIRL!!

The girls love corn, so I had to get a quick picture of them eating their first corn of the season. It was pretty good, but definitely not Olathe Sweet Corn (the best corn ever)! I can hardly wait for the actual corn season!

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! Russ' little brother, Ethan, was getting ordained an Elder and so Russ' parent's came into town for this awesome event! And it just happened to be Easter weekend...so on Saturday night we went to Red Robin (Rayann, Ethan's Fiance, works there...so we decided to pay a visit and it is kid friendly). We had a great dinner and had lots of fun. The girls weren't too bad...

Then, we came home and put Taylor to bed. Now it was time to decorate some Easter eggs with Lindsey! She had lots of fun! The next morning Russ went to make pancakes and we died the wrong ones! Oooppp! Good thing none of them broke while we were dying them...that would have been a BIG mess!

On Sunday, we went to Stake Conference and got to be in the presence of an Apostle of God, Elder L. Tom Perry. It was amazing! The gym was a little on the warm side and so I got a little sleepy, but it was still wonderful. Russ stayed home with the kiddos (it was so nice not having to chase after and entertain kids for the 3+ hours we were there) and came right at the end for the ordination. It was really neat to see Ethan become an Elder and are so proud of him!!

After Conference, Russ' parent's left to go back to Grand Junction and we went over to my parent's house for a yummy Easter dinner! We ate and then the kids opened their gifts from my Mom and Dad. We had lots of fun! What a fun weekend we had! (Taylor right before we went to my parent's house, so cute!)

These are just some fun pictures of the girls in their favorite "hand-me-down" car.....they literally fight over it!!