California Trip

My family hasn't taken a vacation together (with all the kids and grandkids) in a long time, so we started planning last year to go to California. Kevin and Bethany were so nice and let us use their time share in Oceanside. We got the "penthouse suite" which had a huge kitchen and living area. Since we had already been to Disneyworld in February, we skipped Disneyland and bought the 3 in 1 pass from Costco to do Seaworld, San Diego Zoo, and Wild Animal Park. So fun! Carter was pure comedy most of the trip and kept us laughing with all of his hilarious wardrobe malfunctions.

Love his hat and he was obsessed with cotton candy this trip--a year ago he wouldn't touch the stuff!
We went to the Beach on the days between doing the parks and it was within walking distance of our condo. The kids could have stayed there all day digging holes, getting buried, and jumping in the water. The picture of Carter above is so hilarious because he is wearing Brevin, his 9 year old cousin's shorts. He waited to long to go potty and ended up going #2 in his shorts, so luckily Kevin gave us an extra pair to wear. They looked like clown pants and were falling off constantly but Carter would just have one hand on his shorts and the other digging a hole. On the walk back to the condo we were crossing the road and I didn't realize that his shorts had fallen down and was pulling his arm to get across because a car was waiting for us. They were laughing hysterically at this little boy with his shorts around his ankles waddling across the road!

Here we are at the Wild Animal Park. Carter usually was cranky when we first got to the parks but then would lighten up after lunch. This picture was obviously before lunch.

The boys at the bird show-Preston was acting up so James took him to one side of the stadium where no one was sitting. It turns out they were right in the path of this huge crane flying between the trainers to get food. It almost took James' head off!

The carousel ride was free with our passes!

Carter so happy to ride the tiger

He's getting eaten!

The dolphin show at Seaworld-Preston was more interested in the camelback tube which he chewed on the whole day. He still loves the backpack though and hardly ever complains about being in it.

Watching the Shamu show-Carter got a stuffed Shamu at the end of the day and hasn't let it out of his sight since. It has been a good bribe if he misbehaves!

I thought the show was pretty cheesy but the tricks they did were so unbelievable. So amazing what these animals can do! We ended up leaving the park for dinner and all went to Nati's Mexican Restaurant. It has been a Tenney favorite since the 60's when my Grandpa Tenney first started going there on his lunch breaks. I love it. Best Mexican ever! Try it if you are ever in the Mission Bay area of San Diego. Yummm.

The kids were acting happy and so we decided to go back to the park after dinner. We stayed till about 9 and it was so nice to just be able to walk on the rides.Carter was a little devasted he was 2 inches too short to ride the Atlantis ride with his cousins. We still had a blast. By far my favorite of the 3 parks we did.

The boys by the gorilla exhibit at the San Diego Zoo

All the zoo-goers minus my mom taking the picture

The picture makes me smile

Hands down worst petting zoo I have ever seen. This was the extent of it. There was nothing else out!

Melanie, me, and my mom hanging out by the mice house which was the kids favorite place.

That night we got tickets to a Padres game and had awesome seats! They don't look very close but we were. It was pure entertainment with this middle aged man getting in a fight with these girls in their 20s. Security came over and everything! I love to people watch.

James and I-the girl behind me was British too...small world!

Kev, Beth and me

James, Melanie, and Carl

My parents--my mom is cold in 80 degree weather and had her hood up most of the game. We called her "Little pink riding hood"

What a fun trip! The week went by too fast. I love California and if I could afford it and my family would move with me, I would be there in a heartbeat! The only downer of the trip was on our ride home. My neice rode with us and ending up throwing up 3 times along the way. Not fun. We made it though and I am still trying to recover with laundry and all the other fun things that getting home from vacation entail. Let's do it again soon Tenneys---except we need Scott and Greg there this time. It wasn't the same without them. Good times!

Garden '09

I get so excited when gardening season comes around again! This year our strawberries plants have doubled in size so we decided we needed another planter box to have more space.

James worked extra hard all day a couple of Saturdays ago and this is the finished product:

We planted 7 tomato plants (well 8, but Preston stepped on one the second we put it in the ground), 4 pepper plants, 1 cucumber plant...yummy pickles, one yellow squash, and one zucchini plant. I can't wait to reap the benefits!!

The strawberries are starting to ripen so hopefully I might have enough to make some jam this year...we'll see. My guess is the boys will eat them all before they ever make them into the house!

Happy Gardening to all! I'll update on the harvest we get...

Happiest mom on the block

Preston is finally potty trained!! Okay, so maybe I am jumping the gun a little bit, but he FINALLY went #2 on the potty today. Not just once, but three times! Poor little guy just couldn't hold it anymore. I have actually been trying to potty train him for the past 3 months but took a break after he wouldn't go number 2 for almost 3 weeks. I bought a box of diapers and said after it was through I would start again. Well, the time came around again, and I didn't really want to go through it again but forced myself to forge ahead. After a lot of tears (from both of us) he finally did it. I think the little people farm that I bought today to bribe him with didn't hurt either. :)
While I am at it I will write down some things he has been doing. He is at such a cute age. He is starting to talk alot better lately and he thinks he is SO funny. He gets a kick out of himself, I love it. A few things that he has said/done to make us laugh are:
*He can recite the whole beginning 10 minutes of Monsters Inc. Obsessed much?
*Yesterday he needs a tissue to wipe his nose so I said, Preston go get me a tissue to which he replied, "I don't need a tissme!"
*When he says "Hello Gorgeous" from Alvin and the Chipmunks --ok too much tv I know!
*whenever he gets mad at Carter and the face he pulls to show his anger--so funny
*managing to find any and all vegetables in everything and spit them out. He also shivers as he is doing it for more dramatic effect. The ironic thing was we asked him last night what his favorite food was and he said vegetables without hesitation! He is warming up to broccoli...
*his obsession with puzzles right now. They are always scattered around his room!
*He also has the worlds worst hair. Good thing he is a boy because honestly it is sad. I call it his "bird fluff". It is so fine and wispy that it won't stay at all. I actually have figured out I can do a faux hawk with LOTS of gel and hairspray but it doesn't stay all day.

He is such a sweetheart, we love this little guy! Fingers crossed he keeps up the good work with the potty!

Girls trip to Philly

What a blast I had! It all went by way too quick, but we had so much fun. I went to Philadelphia to visit one of my old friends, Corrin. Here's the long story on how I know her...(this is for documenting purposes so bare with me!)I actually met Corrin and her best friend Kate at EFY when I was 15. They were in my group and I was there with my best friend Karynn (how random that they both were named Corrin?) so the 4 of us were inseperable for the week. The weirdest part looking back now was that Kate was barely active in the church and Corrin wasn't even a member, but they still went to EFY. Not sure how that happened? Anyway, we kept in touch through letters for about 6 months and then our friendship faded. They lived in Wyoming and I thought I would never see them again. Fast forward to my freshman year of college. I decided to go to Utah State and went up a week early for a program only for freshman called "S.O.A.R" (not even sure what that stands for) to get me used to this whole college thing. Lo and behold who do I see there on my first day? Kate, my old friend from EFY. She didn't recognize me at first, but it only took a second and then we were back to being inseperable. Kate and I have remained close friends ever since and we also were roommates for 2 years up at Utah State. I have gone home with Kate to Wyoming several times and gotten to know her highschool friends also. So since it was Corrin's birthday coming up and she lives in Philly where her husband is doing is residency for medical school she invited all of her girlfriends to come out for a girls trip. I couldn't pass up the chance to see my two dear friends. 10 of us ended up showing up and we had such a great time together.

The first night we went to a salon that Corrin knew the owners of. They did our hair and makeup and also had a cake, cheese and crackers, and balloons in honor of her birthday. It was so fun. Here are most of us sporting our new dos!

L to R Katie, Kate, Lisa, Savannah, me, Fei, Melanie, and Kodi
Corrin and Katie

Our wonderful hostess and birthday girl Corrin

The next day we went into the city and got a bus tour. It was really great to get to see everything and we could get on and off when we wanted. My only thing I REALLY wanted to see was the Rocky statue and stairs. Rocky is a classic in my family and who doesn't love a good underdog story? I heart Rocky Balboa!!

We all ran up the stairs...alot easier than I thought it would be. Wahoo!

Savannah and Katie

Katie taking a hit from Kate

I made it!! I love the Philly skyline in the back too. It was a cool city.

Then it started raining...I was glad to be on a bus! This is a bad picture of Betsy Ross' house.

Where Benjamin Franklin was buried.

He owned pretty much everything in Philadelphia. It was interesting to hear all the history. For instance, did you know that the first post office was in Philadelphia and it is the only one that doesn't have a flag raised outside of it? They didn't have a flag then, so they just kept it the same ever since. If you want some more trivia, just ask. I know you want to know what the first ice cream flavor was...

The next night we went to a Sushi/Karoake bar called Yakitori Boy. It was such a blast. I am a total karoake girl and am not afraid to belt it out to whomever will listen! We had VIP seats (thanks again to Corrin's connections) and a yummy dinner with great entertainment.

L to R Kori, Kate, Kodi, Katie, and Lisa

Another birthday cake for Corrin

As you can see I got into the karoake, eyes closed and all! haha Actually the highlight of the night was when I did a solo of "Shoop" by Salt n Pepa. I know every word to that song (shameful I know) and so when the screen wasn't bringing up the words correctly, I just carried on without hesitation. I had several people come up to me after (one being a gay black man) telling me how impressed they were that a white girl could bust it out like that. What can I say? I have a little gangsta in me I guess. :) haha Good times.

Here's the girls singing Sweet Caroline. Great song.

That night I stayed up until about 2 and had to leave for the airport at about 4 am. Needless to say I slept the ENTIRE way back home. I have never done that before but it was much needed. I am still trying to catch up on life since being home, but I had so much fun it was worth it!

Busy Month

It is the last week in April and I am not sure where all the time has gone! This has been a busy month for us. James' cousin Stacey came to visit us from England for 10 days so we showed her the fun things that Utah had to offer. We picked the middle of April because the Britney Spears concert was on the 14th and Stacey is a big fan (as am I!). She got to spend Easter with us and have a pretty wild Easter egg hunt with 15 grandkids all searching for money in their eggs. Kate won the coveted 5 dollar bill and was so proud of herself. :) Sorry no pictures of that. So Tuesday we went to the Britney concert and had a fabulous time. She put on an amazing show. Of course she was lip synching the whole time, but the spectacle of it all was incredible. Circus performers, great dancing, things coming down from the ceiling, I could go on and on!

Us during the concert
The Pussycat Dolls were the opening act and they were great too! How do they dance with heels that high? Crazy!

Britney coming out of the cage

The next weekend we went down to Moab. James had never been before so I figured it would be a good time to kill two birds with one stone. I haven't been down there since highschool and had forgotten how amazing the scenery is down there. I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place and world.

" Balanced Rock"

We went down with Melanie, Carl and family and also Carl's brother Scott's family. They are all so awesome and so much fun to travel with. We camped just outside of Moab with a campground that had toilets and showers. My kind of camping! It still reminded me of how old I was sleeping on the ground with only a tiny foam pad to lay on. I couldn't have been a pioneer that is for sure!

We ate lunch at the coolest park area right by Devils Garden. It had these fun rocks to climb so the kids decided to eat their lunches on a rock.
Kate, Austin, Blake, Carter

Here are the girls before hiking in to see Landscape Arch

Wendy, Stephani, Melanie, Heather

Carl climbing a cool rock and making a cool face :)

Our family and Stacey by Landscape Arch-SOO beautiful!

a better view of Landscape Arch

Delicate Arch from the viewpoint. Our kids had had it after the hike to Landscape so we took the easy way to see Delicate. Carter was asleep in the car so I just stayed with him since I had already seen it, while James went to take a peek.

Preston, James, and Stacey

The next day we went to the Fiery Furnace. It was probably the coolest hike ever. There we so many amazing rock formations to climb over, under, or through. The weather was perfect at about 70 degrees but after hiking awhile it was nice to get a little shade. Here is one of the cool rocks gaps we hiked through. James had a tricky time trying to maneuver with Preston on his back! Love that backpack! Preston kept asking to "go hiking" the whole time because he had the luxury of seeing everything without having to do any work. It was nice to know he couldn't run off anywhere because we could have lost him so easily in there.

Finding some shade

Melanie, Stacey,Heather

We had so much fun having Stacey here with us. We also took her to shop at the Gateway in Salt Lake, Gardner Village, and the outlets in Park City (lots of shopping!) We went to the Olympic Park and hiked up to the ski jumps too. Killer hike for your thighs!! I also took her to East High to see where Highschool Musical was filmed because she is a big fan. I am quite the tour guide if I do say so myself! :) I am leaving again on Wednesday to go to Philadelphia with some friends for a girls trip. I can't wait! I'm sure I will have some fun stories to tell when I return...

Babysitting 6 kids

Leave it to me to say my camera is missing on my blog (it has been for atleast a week) and then find it 30 minutes later in my car which I had searched atleast three times. Random. Anyway, I promised that I would share our fun week staying at my sister's house watching her kids while they went on a cruise to Mexico. We had a lot of fun doing St. Patricks Day for all the kids and just letting our kids have fun sleepovers together every night.

Kate and Carter were best buds. This was the first morning we were there and they looked so cute together just laughing on the couch. Kodak moment. :)
Melanie always has the leprauchans turn her milk green so she reminded me before she left that it needed to be done. We decided to go above and beyond and have the leprauchans do some other fun things. We "shamrocked" their doors! They had to find the lucky four leaf clover. The kids LOVED this and couldn't believe they slept through the whole thing!

The lovely green milk

They even left some yummy green truffles for them to eat!
Ryan, Carter, and Kate

Green pancakes

That night we made green cupcakes together with green frosting. Usually we don't do anything for St. Patricks day, but thought we would step it up this year. It was so much fun to see the kids get so into it. Thats what holidays are all about!

Carter had so much fun the whole week. I honestly don't think he stopped smiling the whole time. Aunt Mellie's house is his favorite place to be in the world.

I told my nephew Blake about the rule if you are wearing green and someone pinches you then you get to pinch them 5 times back. I could see his little mind turning...He woke up on St. Patricks Day and wasn't wearing any green. He decided to wear only green on the writing on the bottom of his socks. He even wore a pair over them just in case if someone had the same kind of socks and would know they had green writing on them. I was laughing so hard. So he spent the day wearing two pairs of socks. Hilarious. He did get to pinch a few people 5 times which made him happy. Who thinks of these things? 8 year old boys I guess.

Bath time! I'm not quite sure how clean they actually got but there was plenty of toys and splashing going on. Kate is really into taking pictures with a silly face.

All I can say is, 6 kids is a lot of work! I had a definite appreciation for my mom after I was done. Just keeping up with laundry, dishes, homework, and mealtimes it's a full time job! The kids were very well behaved so I didn't have to worry about that which was so nice. We had lots of fun having movie nights, eating treats, and playing outside together. The weather was perfect at about 70 degrees so the kids played outside every day. I wish that weather would come back now! I have a few trips coming up that Melanie is going to watch my kids for so it's nice to be able to trade. My family is the best!

Still Alive

I know I have been out of the blogging loop for awhile! It creeps up on you! The real reason is that my camera is M.I.A., and with no pictures there are no posts. Sad but true. I have some fun pictures of babysitting my sister's kids and our fun St. Patrick's day. Hopefully I will find the camera soon---I don't want to buy a new digital camera right now. Just wanted you all to know I was still alive and kickin'. Till next time...