In June, I took Eliza to the Princess Festival. We went down with friends from the ward. Another friend of mine was supposed to go with us with her two girls, but she moved to Arizona a couple weeks before it. I was bummed about that.
Anyway, we went down to the Princess Festival. It was a day of meeting princesses and watching shows. Eliza loved it. She has been talking about it non-stop ever since and how she can't wait to go again next year.
Here she is, getting her hair done.
with Cinderella
with the Frog Prince and princess (he was a frog but turned into a prince just before we took the picture. The princess kissed the frog and threw him behind a bush and the prince jumped out)
with Sleeping Beauty
With Beauty and the Beast
with Ariel
We didn't get to get a picture with Snow White because when we went to see her, they were doing a show and we didn't want to wait until the end of the show. And when we went by where Princess Jasmine was, she wasn't there and nowhere nearby to be found. Other than that, lots of pictures. I swear I got some of Eliza with some of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, but I must have deleted them because they didn't show up on my camera when I uploaded the photos. We enjoyed the show of Cinderella the best. It was a lot of fun and I'm excited to be able to do it again with her!
Corey got home from work at 2:30 a.m. He went to sleep in the guest room so I could get more sleep in, but our room was so hot and stuffy (the fan was in the guest room) that I could not sleep. So I went in and invited him back to our room so we could both use the fan.
We have got to install ceiling fans in this house!
Anyway, he proceeded to tell me that instead of getting up at 8 am and exercising as he had planned and then leaving for work by 9:30, he had to be to work early because somebody had called in sick. So instead of sleeping until 8 and getting some exercise in (if Corey doesn't start on Mondays with the exercising, he just doesn't exercise all week), he had to be up at 7 to leave for work.
So I didn't sleep the rest of the night because when he gets less sleep and no exercise, I always worry myself sick about his health. Lame, I know, but I can't turn my brain off no matter how hard I try to think of something else or nothing else.
Then Jonah woke up at 6. Along with three of the other four. So I got up, made a bottle, changed Jonah's diaper, and handed him off to the 6-year-old. Then I went to the store.
You see, on Saturday, I bought a swimsuit for Eliza that didn't fit. But by the time she tried it on, Corey had gone to work and I really didn't feel like heading back to Walmart with all five kids to exchange it. Plus, Walmart didn't have any small plastic diaper covers that are required in every public swimming pool in the state of Utah. So I thought, I'll run to Target for the diaper covers and then to Walmart to exchange the swimsuit all before Corey has to go to work. Originally, I was going to do that while he was exercising from 8-9.
Wrong again. Target was not open until 8 and Walmart did not have a larger size of that or any other young girl's swimsuit.
When I got home, Jonah was screaming and Corey was upstairs getting ready for work. So I made another two ounces of bottle, directed the kids to get their own cereal for breakfast, and headed upstairs to feed him and put him down for a morning nap.
After I laid the baby in the crib is when all screaming erupted.
I ran downstairs. Corey had already left into the garage to actually leave for work and he had run back in the house also to see what was happening.
Eliza was standing by the table in her purple leotard screaming because the apple juice that had been in the pitcher (almost a full quart of it) was all over her, the chair, the table and the floor. It was even in the bowls of cereal.
This happens every time I try to let the kids get themselves breakfast. They simply cannot have a simple bowl of cereal without spilling something all over the whole kitchen.
So they were banished from the kitchen without finishing breakfast (I am SO mean) and I cleaned up the mess.
The next part of the day was hitting Target with five kids looking for a swimsuit for her and some plastic swim pants.
But I don't want to go there. That's a memory I'd like to forget.
I love how all the little communities in Utah have a "town days" festival in the summer. There are parades, carnivals, softball tournaments, rodeos, and other fun activities. I'd love to be able to attend ALL the town days for ALL the nearby cities, but this year, we just weren't able to. Partly because of having a new baby it gets difficult to get out all the time. But on Saturday, June 18th, I took the kids to Country Fest, the town days of a neighboring town. We went to the parade in the morning and then stayed for the carnival right after it. The kids were able to go on a few rides and we bought some cotton candy and a funnel cake to share. The beautiful part was the Jonah literally slept through the entire thing in his carseat in the stroller. He fell asleep on the way there and stayed asleep through the entire parade and then while we were walking around the carnival, not to wake up until about an hour after we got home. It was great.
Here we are waiting for the parade to start. Notice the kids are wearing jackets. It was COLD that morning!
They had a car show where we could walk around and see some classic cars. This was an army jeep from WWII. Very cool.
Westley and Caleb were tall enough to ride the Scrambler.
Eliza wanted to go on the boats, so she hopped right into the only pink one, even though it was already occupied by two boys she didn't know.
Travis wanted to go on these motorcycles, so he dragged Westley along with him. Travis loved it. Westley, not so much.
10 Years of Marriage We were married on Thursday, June 21, 2001 in the Los Angeles LDS Temple.
We had a wedding luncheon afterward at the LDS Institute Building in Lancaster, CA. Later that evening was the reception at the Lake Los Angeles LDS Meetinghouse in Lake Los Angeles, or actually, Lancaster, CA.
The wedding colors were lavender and yellow. I can't remember what was old, what was new, what was borrowed, what was blue. We had a d.j. and dancing at our reception. There was no AC on in the building and it was hot, being June in the high desert. Ours was a cake reception. We had a 4 layer cake. One was eaten at the reception. My parents took one back to Arizona, which melted in the car. My mother-in-law took one, which got ruined by ants on her kitchen counter. And we kept the top layer, only for it to get freezer burned and tossed when we moved from California to Idaho.
We stayed our first night at our apartment in Lancaster and left on our honeymoon to San Diego the next day. We stayed in San Diego for four nights and five days. We went to Sea World, the zoo and the beach while we were there.
9 Different Church Callings I am counting the church callings we had more than once as the same calling. 1. Jenna served in Young Women's in Lancaster and then again in Palmdale. 2. Corey served in the Elder's Quorum Presidency in Lancaster and in Idaho. 3. Jenna served as the Relief Society Pianist in Idaho and again in Queen Creek. 4. Corey served in the Sunday School Presidency in Queen Creek. 5. Jenna and Corey served as Primary teachers in Mesa and Riverton. 6. Jenna served as the ward librarian in Queen Creek. 7. Corey served in the nursery in Queen Creek. 8. Jenna served as a Sunday school teacher in Idaho. 9. Corey is now serving as the ward membership clerk in Riverton.
8 Years of Parenthood Westley was born in 2003. Caleb was born in 2004. Travis was born in 2006. Eliza was born in 2007. And Jonah was born in 2011.
7 Different Cities 2001-2002 Lancaster 2002-2003 Idaho Falls 2003-2004 Palmdale 2004-2005 Prescott 2005-2007, 2009 Queen Creek 2008 Mesa 2009-present Riverton
6 Cars We've Driven 2000 Mitsubishi Galant 1999 Dodge Caravan 19__ Honda _____ (only for a few months) 1989 Nissan Maxima 2000 Ford Windstar 2004 Ford Focus
4 States We've Lived In California Idaho Arizona Utah
3 Flights Together We flew to Dallas, Texas in January 2002 for my friend's wedding. We flew to Los Angeles, CA in 2007 for Corey's 10-year high school reunion. We flew to Dallas, Texas in July 2008 for a family vacation. Those are the only three times we've been on an airplane together.
2 Home Purchases Arizona
Utah
1 Loyal Dog We got Snoopy as a six-week old puppy in May 2002. He's been with us ever since.
And that just about sums up the last ten years, in a nutshell!
We decided that when each of our children turns eight, one of us will take them on a trip. For Westley's trip, we decided on Legoland. It was perfect for him--he loves Legos and is just the right age to really enjoy it. It was going to just be Corey and Westley, but then things worked out so Corey's brother and his son, who is the same age as Westley, were able to come along. So on Monday, after the big weekend with the baptism and baby blessing, Corey and Westley rode with them down to California, caravaning with his mom and sister who had also come down for the blessing.
They drove down on Monday, stayed the night at his sister's place that night, went to Legoland the next morning and stayed there all day, had dinner with his mom and sisters on Tuesday night, stayed at his mom's on Tuesday night, and then drove to Arizona with his brother and son (who live in AZ) and then flew home from Phoenix on Wednesday.
West and cousin asleep on the trip down
West and cousin with Indiana Jones made out of Legos
On a ride
Westley with Darth Vader made out of Legos
Westley in front of a city display made out of Legos. Las Vegas, right? I'm not sure.
They had a great time. We will probably do Legoland with all the other kids as well, unless we are too far away, like Texas, by then. Startings of a great tradition.
We had Jonah's baby blessing the same weekend as Westley's baptism since we had all the family in town for the baptism. I was very pleased that Jonah was able to wear the same blessing outfit as all the other boys, the one I made for Westley when he was born and in the NICU for two weeks. It barely fit Jonah, as he was almost three months old by the time he was blessed and the other boys were between two weeks and six weeks. We were blessed to have so much family in town for it too. It was a wonderful weekend, with a baptism and a baby blessing and all the family we had out for it.
Here she is, getting her hair done.
with Cinderella
with the Frog Prince and princess (he was a frog but turned into a prince just before we took the picture. The princess kissed the frog and threw him behind a bush and the prince jumped out)
with Sleeping Beauty
With Beauty and the Beast 
with Ariel
