L.A.! Part 1

This particular trip to L.A. absolutely requires and deserves a series of its own posts. Just too many fun pictures and comments to throw it all together. The Christensen's invited us to go with them to the Cedar Sinai Sports Spectacular in LA. What a fun trip! It's amazing what you can fit in 3 days. Day 1: We drove from St george to LA and went straight to Venice Beach to meet up with the whole fam. Venice is one of Toby's favorite things to do in California. He absolutely love sto play street ball there and walk the shops. Unfortunately Cash wasn't feeling his best so we didn't get to stay as long as he would have liked...but the good news is as soon as we were finished there we got to go to Titos Tacos!!! Another all time fav. Then it was on to the hotel! This was not the Super 8 that I was used to staying in. You actually don't have a choice but to valet park..which was nice for the most part. I think our kids were possibly the only kids in the entire hotel. But we loved every minute of it. Todd and Kathy were the awesome grandparents that they are and watched the kids so Janie Tory and us could walk across the street to the outdoor mall and have some fun. The next day was Tory's birthday...which just gave us an excuse to have even more fun!!!! We all went to Shrek in 3D and then took a nice long walk down Rodeo drive and found ourselves ending up at Cheesecake Factory. Couldn't have been a nicer day. Here's a few pics to go along...

Graduation from Shining Star Preschool

She did it! Cap and gown and all (minus the gown:) We are so proud of our little Shining Star. She had a little part in the program by closing it with a poem and did fantastic. Her and her little friend Hope were standing on the back row on the end and through all their songs both were just dancing away while the other children held quite still. I LOVED it! Elle loved Mrs. Johnson and tells Cash all the time that if he's lucky he may, one day, get to go to Shining Star Preschool too. Here's to Kindergarten...and my tears.

Donny and Marie

I met them. In real life face to face met them. Though some may think, "who cares" :) I care...and I was so excited!!!! Toby came through once again and arranged some back stage passes for us, my parents, Cam and Michelle, Cam's brother and wife, and the Olsen's. Truth is I've met Donny before and as we all know he's the one that matters the most so lets just say with the concert and meet and greet and all it was a very memorable evening! I will say I was thrilled to get out of Vegas though...not my favorite place. I bet I got 20 comments on my pink heels all from old drunk men. Lovely. My brothers and sister came along and were able to watch the kids for us. Thank goodness for family. Oh and of course Toby took me to Serendipity where we splurged on a very large Frozen Hot Chocolate. Has anyone tried those things?! Unbelievable. Worth a round trip ticket in and out of Vegas in my opinion. And the ginormous donut was not for me. It was for our 5 year old daughter who was sound asleep on our hotel room floor when we came home... but you should have seen her eyes when she woke up to it the next morning:) St George was 80 degrees. I think I want to move there.

"Tea for Two" or more! Happy Birthday Elle!

Elle's been planning her 5 year old birthday party since the day after she turned 4. After many discussions and much anticipation we finally settled on a "teaparty" for all the girls in Elle's family. (We missed you Janie and Macey)She planned the entire menu herself which included: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ham and cheese sandwiches cut into the shapes of flowers and hearts, cheese on a toothpick, fruit, water with strawberries, and little cookies and cupcakes. I had to include the picture of Cash at the end of the table because all the boys went downstairs while we had our teaparty but he just couldn't stand to miss out on her party...we couldn't convince him to stay down with the guys. Too funny. He also had a mini meltdown I caught in a picture when Elle got breakfast in bed and he didn't. It's tough being a two year old:) Elle was a little sad she didn't get to celebrate at all with her friends so the next day my girlfriends and I went to Olive Garden...her favorite restaurant...and let the kids have their own table. She had so much fun and even got a sundae on the house from the manager. I've said it once and I'll say it a million times more. I LOVE this little Girl.

My Grandma Doris

I've been putting this off for a while now because how do you put into words how you feel about your Grandma..especially after losing her. My sweet Grandma passed away almost two weeks ago. I was so lucky to spend some of her last days with her and they are some that I will never forget. Just getting to sit by her bedside and laugh and cry with my brothers and sister talking about all the hundreds of memories we have with her. She is certainly one of a kind. I also had the opportunity to speak at her funeral as well as play the piano...and as hard as that was it really helped me to feel like I could express to her what she means to me. There isn't a day that has gone by since that Elle hasn't prayed for her in her prayers. I had to take a picture of this cause I thought it was so sweet..Elle took each flower I took from my Grandma's casket and put them in their own individual "cups" all by herself. It so crazy, I just felt like my grandparents would just always be there...now my Grandma Wimmer is my last grandparent still living. Thank you to so many friends who make things like this a little easier. We LOVE you so much Grandma! How thankful we are for our Heavenly Fathers plan.