NANA'S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Nana turned 70 this year, so Kathryn and Michele decided to throw a surprise party for her. Her friends from all stages in her life were invited to attend, in addition to family. We all helped with the food and decor. Bonnie made several flavors of cupcakes, in lieu of a birthday cake. Their were pictures of Kay and her family displayed all over Kathryn's house. Kay's friends gave her 70 cans of coke (her favorite); in addition most guests wrote a letter to Kay and a scrapbook was put together with the letters and pictures of the party.

It was wonderful to see her so happy. It doesn't surprise me that she has so many friends, ones that would take the time to travel and come to the party. She is very thoughtful and it showed by how many people came to give their love and support. i hope one day I can look back after 70 years and hope I have touched the lives of several people as well.

Happy Birthday Kay!

TRYING TO ESCAPE THE COLD...

It has been such a cold and long winter that a few of our closest friends and neighbors decided to venture out to Las Vegas with the kids for an extended weekend getaway!

The weather was much warmer in sunny Las Vegas so we took advantage and went swimming the first afternoon. On the second day we took the kids to the Dolphin Encounter at the Mirage - the wind kicked in and it became pretty chilly, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. The kids thought it was cool to see the tigers and the dolphins, but the adults thought the price was a rip off.

We also visited the Coke store and M&M store, which the kids all loved. We walked over to the Bellagio to watch the fountains and see the beautiful gardens and got some fun pictures!


It was a little crazy going out to eat with a group of 16 (10 kids and 6 adults), but we survived! One morning we went to Serendipity 3 at Caesars Palace, the wait was quite long, so we spent the morning out in the sunshine. While we were waiting Jaxson and Jake decided to be statues like several people do on the strip, trying to earn money. They sat on some small columns and froze with their baseball caps sticking out for money to be placed in them. It was hilarious and they actually made a couple of dollars!



Madi and McKaela were nice enough to watch the kids one evening and we were able to go out as adults for dinner. Dan took us to one of his favorite Mexican restaurants in Vegas. Everyone loved it and the view was incredible!

Rusty wanted Jake to ride the New York roller coaster, so we walked to the arcade - the sad thing was Jaxson and Jake were just barely shorter than the required height to ride (they even made them take their shoes off to measure them), so just the adults ended up riding the roller coaster. The kids did have a good time in the arcade, so all was well!

My favorite part of the trip was a comment Jaxson made about growing up. Unfortunately in Vegas it is hard to avoid pornography. Their are workers on the strip passing out cards of half naked women and most of them get thrown on the ground for all eyes to see. Jaxson is very sensitive to this and avoids the guys in the orange shirts. While driving into a parking lot to the M&M Store, Jaxson spotted the "guys in the orange shirts" and said;

"I'm going to get really good grades in college, so I don't end up here!" I asked him why he didn't want to end up here (When I really know the reason, I just wanted to get his response)

"You know, so I don't end up being one of those guys who hands out those pamphlets."

We all laughed and told him he better get good grades in high school too. I was glad to here that he wanted to avoid having a terrible job when he grew up.

A ROYAL PRINCESS CELEBRATION

I have been looking forward to Reagan's birthday for quite some time. I love that she is so into princesses, it makes a mom's job so fun!

The birthday party preparations started in February, when I contacted Cinderella to come to her party. Because I knew she would be coming, when I visited my brother in California in February, we made a special trip to Downtown Disney, where I purchased a beautiful Cinderella gown that Reagan could wear to the party.

Having Cinderella come to the party was magical for all the little girls, she taught them to talk like a princess, bow like a princess and eat like a princess. They all practiced chewing with their mouths closed and using their please and thank yous. She also taught them that a princess is always kind. She made Reagan an honorary princess and give her a crown. Cinderella also read them stories (which they all had the answers to), they sang songs and guessed which movies they came from and they all made princess crowns.

After Cinderella left, the girls made magic wands, played princess bingo and ate individual princess cupcakes. When Reagan opened her presents, she hugged each friend and was so grateful (it was darling to see her so sweet). All the little girls received a Cinderella bottle cap necklace and a princess cup filled with Cinderella treasures; including a glass slipper, sidewalk chalk, stickers, princess fruit snacks and a princess ring.

Reagan smiled from ear to ear the entire party, she absolutely loves dressing up as a princess and spending time with her friends. We loved having Cinderella at the party too.

Later that night we had a Royal Banquet for the family. We ate plenty of finger foods, including; little sandwiches, meatballs, shrimp, chocolate covered strawberries, a cheese platter, jello in a cup and more!

All of Reagan's presents were somehow princess related, from Polly Pockets, to dress ups, to hair accessories and a sleeping bag. She tried things on, got into her new sleeping bag and played with everything. There wasn't anything she wasn't extremely excited about and so grateful for. The hugging continued as she hugged each member of the family and thanked them for her gift.

Reagan was very excited about her Cinderella Cake (which took me hours to make). After she blew out the candles, she dug right in, put her fingers in the cake and took a big bite before I could even cut the cake.

I can't believe my princess is four already!

EASTER EGG-TRAVAGANZA 2011

The annual Easter Egg Hunt at Grammie and Papa's called for beautiful weather this year! We were on a deadline because Jaxson had baseball practice that morning too. As always the kids got loaded up with more snacks and treats then you could imagine. (I'm not sure why the Easter Bunny even comes the following day). We tried to do more practical things this year, such as cereal, pudding, fun drinks and snacks; however Reagan is still just interested in picking up the eggs! Madi found the GOLDEN EGG this year and came out of the hunt with an extra $5.00. This was probably her favorite part of the day.

It is always fun to spend the morning with the family and eating EASTER SKILLET too!

MISSING JOLYNN

I received some very sad new this month...One of my best friends is going to be moving to Virginia by the end of the month! She invited me over for lunch one afternoon to share the news with me; we obviously cried - not only for us but for our kids as well. Karter and Jaxson are the best of friends; in addition to Paetyn and Reagan being pretty good little buddies as well.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks Jo had to pack up her house and her family, just to hop on an airplane (all the way across the country) with a one way ticket.

We had some good times before she left, just like we have throughout the past few years. We had to have one final girls night, one final shopping trip to Park City, one final game night, one final lunch, and the list goes on.

For our girls night several of the ladies in the neighborhood came for soup and salad dinner celebration. Everyone was willing to pitch in and make this a special night for Jo. It was a relaxed evening with no agenda, just chit chatting and visiting all night. We had enough food to serve an army - it was delicious and I ate way too much!

We tried to spend as much time with their family as we could the last couple of weeks. The boys had late nights, we even let them skip school for a day to hang out, go to lunch and a movie together.

I think the day she left I cried for a week straight, anything and everything set me off, because I just miss her! It's hard to see someone you love move on and move far away. I know we will always be friends - I cant' wait to see her again, but its just not the same because I can't just pop over to her house to visit anytime I want.

I love you Jo!

JAXSON'S 9th BIRTHDAY

It has been a world wind of a week and I got to finish it off by celebrating Jaxson's 9th Birthday. I can't believe another year has gone by - Jaxson is the most fun loving kid around and the years seem to go by faster and faster. In only 9 more years, he will graduate from high school (how scary is that?).

When the day of the party arrived, it was a crazy day, Dan had to work and I started decorating cupcakes. We had to pick up the black lights from the party store and I had to do some final shopping for the party. (Like I said it had been a busy, crazy week - I hadn't even bought any presents for Jaxson yet and his birthday is on Monday, which is not like me - I am usually prepared way in advance.)My week consisted of working, making dinner for a neighbor, throwing a going away party for a friend, parent teacher conferences, helping with an open house, going through the temple with Tanner for the first time, volunteering at the food bank, hosting playgroup, visiting teaching, haircuts and doctor's appointments.

We decided to celebrate his birthday with a "Glow In The Dark" theme. We reserved the church, so we could have the party during the day and still have total darkness in the gym to play games. I did a lot of research on the Internet to find out what things would glow in the dark - I ordered glow in the dark glasses, hats, balls, swords, beach balls, bracelets, frisbees and more. I rented a couple of 4 foot black lights to have at the party, in addition to purchasing a few standard black lights.

We headed over to the church about 12:30, as the party was supposed to start at 2:00 PM. When we arrived the Tongan branch was in the building and had taken over the kitchen, I was not happy to say the least and told them they had to leave. This slowed me down, as I couldn't put anything in the kitchen until they were cleaned up. So we started decorating the gym and setting up the lights, come to find out one of the lights we rented, wasn't in the box, the box had no light with only 30 minutes before the party was to begin -I WAS FREAKING OUT! I didn't have a back up plan. Dan called the store and they just said sorry, they didn't have another black light. Jaxson started crying because he thought his party wasn't going to happen. Dan left in search of lights and happened to call a neighbor (Craig Smith) to see if he had any lights. He didn't; however offered to go shopping for us and bring them to the party. Without a doubt he saved the party! As we were setting up decoration, half of the items I had researched to glow in the dark, didn't - oh, well we had plenty of things that did. (White and fluorescent balloons do not glow in the dark, also, Sprite and bright green frosting does not glow in the dark). Because of the fiasco in setting up the lights, the boys started arriving and we were not ready. So we got off to a late start!

The boys were so excited about the party, they couldn't of cared less that we were still setting up. We put together their hats and then played glow in the dark Tornado and Tag. As the party went on, I decided it wasn't a good idea to play glow in the dark Dodge Ball because I was worried about the lights getting broken. So we put them away and the boys went at it. It was crazy and they loved every minute of it. They spent most of the party playing Dodge Ball.

When it was time for cupcakes and ice cream, I pulled the cupcakes out of the fridge and they were wet. The fridge was leaking and dripping right on the cupcakes. Luckily for me, I had extras and the cupcakes were in foil liners which didn't penetrate most of the cupcakes. (What else could go wrong?)

Some of the boys mentioned that this was the best party ever, I wouldn't have agreed with them, I was so stressed out about things not going according to plan - I guess I just have to learn to simplify. I'm glad it worked out as well as it did and that the boys did have a fabulous time.

After the party, I raced home to continue decorating cupcakes for the family party. We decided to do both parties in on the same day considering we had the church. The idea was to play glow in the dark volleyball with the family. It was a rush to finish on time, between baking rolls, decorating cupcakes and picking up pizza, but again things seemed to work out OK.

When everyone arrived, we had dinner and gave everyone their glow in the dark glasses (they were really cool)! We played glow in the dark volley ball for a short time, it was a little difficult with all the toddlers running around, so we finished up the night wish tornado.

By the end of the night I was completely exhausted!

On Monday I checked Jaxson out of school and took him to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (one of his favorite places). We met Grammie there and after I took him back to school with some treats for his class. Later that afternoon I had some shopping to do, I still had to find presents for Jaxson. I went to Nordstrom because there was a gray and white jacket he had been wanting, which reminded him of Justin Bieber. I knew I had to get him a purple t-shirt and a hat to go with it and I topped it off with some new white tennis shoes. Shopping presented it's own challenges in trying to find the right sizes and needing it today. It took me longer than expected; however I was able to accomplish everything and before dinner.

Monday night we went to dinner with Dan's family at the Pizza Factory. WE thought being a Monday night that it would be easy to get in and bowl. I also had a groupon for dinner and bowling so I was looking forward to not having to spend any additional money. When we arrived there was an 1 1/2 wait for bowling (I just can't seem to get anything to go my way with Jaxson's birthday) I was in tears, when Dan's mom came to the rescue and offered to pay for dinner. This was extremely nice of her and something I didn't expect.

Jaxson loved his presents, he immediately put them on and everyone told him he looked like Justin Bieber; this made him very happy! We picked up a cake on the way to the Pizza Factory - I also bought some trick candles. When Jaxson blew out his candles over and over and over again, we all laughed so hard. It was the funniest moment of the day. I great way to end his birthday. I do the week all over again just to see your smile. I love you bud!

ST. PATRICKS DAY

I invited my parents over for dinner tonight to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with our family. Although I completely forgot to take pictures, we had a great green meal. We started off with some green jello served in glass cups with white clouds of whipping cream on top of them; next we had some green liquid refreshment (lime punch). For the main course we had green vegetables, green rice and green gravy to go over our chicken rolls. I couldn't help myself so I made not one, but two desserts... Frog in a Blender (lime sherbet, mixed with sprite with a cool whip and a gummy frog on top and pistachio cake.

It was a good way to end a crazy day!

MADAGASCAR?

Dan's nephew Tanner, received his mission call today. The family and several of Tanner's friends all gathered at his dad's home to see him open his call. There were maps of the world and of the United States posted on the walls, where everyone could guess where he was going to serve.

Who would of thought the the words Madagascar would come out of his mouth? not anyone in the room, we were all shocked! No one had ever heard of someone serving in Madagascar; but sure enough that is where he is headed in June.

Madi, guessed the closest by putting her initials in South Africa (with my help). She won a gift certificate to Cafe Rio. She was very excited to say the least.

After letting this sink in, we all decided to start researching Madagascar to find out more about this country. All anyone knew was that were was a cartoon movie about this place. Come to find out Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world, with about 18-20 million people living there. Tanner will be speaking Malagasy and eating a lot of rice.

We are so excited for Tanner and this journey he is about to take. He seems so happy and excited about serving the Lord. I know the people of Madagascar and going to love him almost as much as we do.

This was a great way to spend our anniversary, Happy 16th Dan!

A HEART LIKE HIS

I had the opportunity to read a book, this weekend, entitled "A Heart Like His." (by Virginia H. Pearce) I feel inspired by her words and the experiments she suggests you try, in order to open up your heart to God and feel his love.

This book had me reflecting about my own life and the things I need to change in order to become a better person, mother and wife. One of the quotes in the book was from President Gordan B. Hinckley, which is a new favorite for me:

"Be not faithless, but believing." Believe in yourselves. Believe in your capacity to do some good in this world. God sent us here for a purpose, and that was to improve the world in which we live. The wonderful thing is that we can do it.

I know I need to really focus on opening my heart to others, being a more positive person and serving. I need an adjustment, one where I am more aware of others, concerned with their needs and not my own. I need to focus more on the positive things in life and spend more time serving others. I have a renewed attitude after reading this book, and I am excited about the changes I can make in my life if I try and make an effort to see his love around me day after day.

I know God does love me, one of the reminders of his love I received while reading this book on a plane. I was returning home form California, when I looked out the window and saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. I wish I would have been able to capture it in a photo; however it is captured in my mind. The sky literally was a rainbow of colors. The top of the sunset was blue, followed by green, yellow, orange and red. The mountains under the red sky were purple completing all the colors of the rainbow. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord loves us, or he wouldn't of created these amazing moments for us to be a part of. It is yet another simple reminder of his love for us.

I am going to take take out of each day to remember the simple beauty and love our Father in Heaven has for us. As it is a reminder to me, who I am and where I am going.

CALIFORNIA GIRL...for a weekend

I got the opportunity to spend the weekend with my brother Jared, his wife Erin and their darling daughter Katilyn this past weekend. I flew out to California because I was conducting a training class for work, and thought why not stay, enjoy the weather and visit my family (besides my ticket was already paid for).

The week leading up to the trip showed the weather as a miserable, rainy weekend. I was disappointed to say the least; (I was really looking forward to seeing the sun and enjoying warmer temps.) however, I knew we would make the best of it and I just wanted a low key weekend anyway.

The morning of the trip was a little crazy because the TSA, gave me the wrong information on my departure gate. After going through a crowed security line in terminal 2, I headed back over to terminal one, as my flight was departing out of gate B18 (so I was told). After I made the journey to the very end of the terminal, I notice that my flight information was not listed at the gate and there was no plane. I knew there had to be a mistake, so I looked for the departure screens and could only find the Southwest departures. I finally found a Delta representative at a different gate, explained my situation and asked her was gate my flight was departing from. She responded back by saying, "You must have had a gate change, because your flight is leaving from gate E76." This was not a short jaunt, so I started on the path back and knew I needed to hurray, as this was in the international terminal, past terminal 2, up and down a couple of escalators from both terminal 1 and the international terminal. I knew I was on a time line because this was the only flight out to Ontario this morning and if I missed my flight, there were going to be a lot of unhappy people waiting for me. Considering I am so athletic (not really) and I was wearing my best running shoes (high heels), I ran all the way to the correct gate and made my flight. I was one of the last people to board and I didn't think it was cold outside anymore, even though it was slightly snowing.

After my training day was over, Jared picked me up and we spent the rest of the weekend together.

Saturday morning I received an unexpected text from Madison, which read "I want you home, Daddy is mean." This completely caught me off guard, as I am the mean one and Dan is the nice one. So I sent her a text back asking what was going on. She then replied that Dad was making them do lots of chores and doing inspections, so if they weren't done well enough, he would make them redo them. I sent back another text, saying Is this really your father? I was quite pleased and couldn't believe it as was, that Dan was making them clean the house, so when I returned it would all be done. It made me truly happy! (and boy did he give them a lot of chores) We talked with Dan later that morning and ask him what he was doing, we laughed when he told us, he was watching TV as the kids worked. He did mop the floor, which was fantastic.

We knew the weather on Saturday was going to be rainy, so wanted to take advantage of going to the beach on Sunday, as the weather was supposed to clear up. To our surprise, Saturday actually turned out to be a good day as well. It rained in the early morning and then it stopped! We ventured out to Downtown Disney, so I could get a few things for the kids and bring them back some treats. While shopping, I mentioned to Jared, how fun it would be to take a picture that looked like we went to Disneyland and send it to Madi. My treats would just reinforce that I was actually here. We got kind of giddy about the idea and walked over to the gates to take a few shots. When we had some that looked convincing, we forwarded them to Madi's cell phone. Her first response was "I hate you". Jared sent her another picture and so it continued. We laughed all afternoon. Madi even sent a picture of a snowman they built (even though they really didn't build it) just to show how great the weather was in SLC.

That evening I sent Jared and Erin out to a movie, not having family close by, I know they don't get a chance to get out much. Katilyn and I read stories for about an hour before I put her to bed. She is just a good little girl. So well behaved and super polite. I enjoyed spending time with her (I was like her new best friend over the weekend and it was fun)

The following day we went over to Newport Beach and walked along the boardwalk for a while, we played on the beach and had lunch on the pier at Ruby's Diner. We drove over to Balboa island and up the Pacific Coast Highway before I headed back home. While on the beach, Jared sent another picture to Madi - This one entitled "I took your mom, to the church of Jared this week, I think she is converted. Madi wanted to know what the church of Jared was, so Jared let her know it was the beach. Madi wanted to be converted too.

Reagan has renamed herself "Reagan Olivia Galli California Girl." She has been calling herself this for quite some time, due to the Katy Perry song, California Girls. If she could only be here at the beach, she would know exactly why, she added California girl to the end of her name.

Of all the times I have been to California I have never visited the beach during the summer, it is always a little too cold for swimsuits; after today I am determined to bring my family back when it is hot and enjoy the miles and miles of beautiful beach together.

One thing I was really looking forward to this weekend, was to relax and just enjoy myself (away from the hustle and bustle of my own life) MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I was truly able to reflect on how I need to slow my life down a little and enjoy the quality things in life, with my family. I really admire Jared and Erin and the quality time they spend with Katilyn. I love there Sunday morning routine of listening to music (We listened to a variety of Broadway tunes). They truly are wonderful parents and seem to have it all together. Their life revolves around that little girl and you can tell how much they love and adore her. Her adoration of them is amazing as well, which is why I think she is so sweet. It really made me miss my kids and want to spend some good, quality time with them at home, just being with one another.

I can't say that Jared hasn't rubbed off on her at all, Katilyn says "hi" and "bye" to the picture of Chuck Norris on the wall, every time she leaves or returns home. It is hysterical!

I'm so glad I got the chance to spend some time with their family. Most of the time when we see Jared and Erin, it is on our turf and they mix into our lives here in Utah. It was great to see them in their element and be in their home. I felt welcomed and loved and couldn't of ask for a better weekend with them!