Our Tri-State Trip

I decided to do one big post with a slideshow instead of a bunch of little ones about each event. All of the pictures are out of order, sorry.
Despite the miserable car rides we had a great time on our trip. The girls were so excited to get to play with their cousins. When we first got to my sister's house in Syracuse my brother-in-law Steve had poked his head into the car to say hi. Then my neice Megan walked out of the front door, so instead of saying hi to Uncle Steve the girls jumped off their car seats and yelled "Megan!!!" We just hung out with everyone for a few days and I went and got a haircut while Amber took on all of my kids (Thanx Amber!) On Tuesday all of our family from nearby came to my mom's for dinner and we got to have an awesome visit with everyone. Jake had a lot to do in Utah and I joined him in Tooele for one of the days so we could look around at houses and such. We are so glad that my brother-in-law is from there, as he was able to hook us up with his parents who were so awesome in showing me around and telling me all I needed to know about Tooele. Our Utah trip was fun, I'm glad I got some hangout time with my sisters and the girls got play time with cousins.
On the last night in Utah we all went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house. I am so glad that we had that opportunity. My girls have been asking if they could go inside a temple and have been so curious about it. They really loved getting to go through the temple and learn more about it. I think that it is a good experience for kids if you ever get the chance. The lines were long and moved slowly though, so by the end of it we were all starving to death. It was a good thing they were serving cookies at the end.
As we headed out across Nevada, our first stop was in Wendover. They happened to be having a big car show so we went around and looked at all of the cars. Jake loves cars and has apparently passed that trait to Jaxon. He is a car guy all of the way. Right after he started crawling he used to crawl into the girls room and steal their pink barbie car and drive it around making car noises. Now he is car crazy as ever.
After a long hot drive, we did make it to Tahoe. It is such a beautiful place. They have gondolas that go to the top of the mountians. They are pretty expensive, but I think it is one of those things that everyone who goes to Tahoe does. It is like if you go to St. Louis you have to ride to the top of the Arch, or if you go to Niagra Falls you have to ride out on the boats. The experience isn't the same without it. It really was an amazing sight and a pretty cool ride, though a bit freaky to be suspended in the air like that.
The wedding was really beautiful. Congrats to Joey and Ashley!!!!! It was a struggle though because since Jake was in the wedding party I had to keep the kids on their best behavior on my own. Not only during the ceremony, but during the reception as well. After more than 3 hours of being told to sit quiet and be on best behavior, my kids were ready to let loose on the dance floor. And they did. They all partied hard at the end, which was good because we were driving that night and they were so exhausted that they didn't last 2 seconds before they were all completely out.
The wedding was last sunday which was father's day. We had gotten some presents for Jake to open in the hotel room, plus he got to sleep in as late as he could. I think I paid good homage to him on my mother's day post, so let me just say that he is an awesome father and we all love him so much!!! So that is the end of our latest adventure. We are already gearing up for our next summer trip which is only in a few weeks. and then just a week or so after that school starts again and we are stuck at home. Wow, summer has gone by so fast!

A Movie Review

It is a very rare occasion for us to go see a movie in the theater. We usually just wait until it is on DVD. But neither Jake or I had ever seen a 3D movie before so we decided to take the kids to see UP. It was a really cute movie and had some funny parts. It was a little sad though. I thought it was entertaining, but it probably won't be one that we buy and watch over and over. That was the way we felt about Wall-e too. At first the girls were freaking out about the 3D. They kept pushing way back into their seats saying that something was going to hit them. But the weird thing about 3D is that at first it was a big deal and so obvious, but as the movie goes on you just get used to it and it is just like watching any other movie. Here are some shots of us in our 3D glasses:

Happy Mothers Day to me!

I figure in all of the catching up to do I will start with mothers day. It was pretty awesome. I got to sleep in for a little bit and Jake and the kids made me a big breakfast. Then we went to church. To my surprise, when we got home from church my presents were sitting out for me! Jake had gotten a patio set we really liked and a few barstools for the kitchen. Our friend Rich had put them out while we were at church. Then Jake and Jono made a big delicious meal for us to enjoy outside on our new patio furniture.
I have to say how much I love being a mom. It takes a lot of sacrifice, and sometimes that can be very trying, but it is my life. I love my children and I love the priviledge I have to raise them and help them grow. I also have to say how much I love my husband. He is such a wonderful father and it is so awesome to be able to raise a family with him. I am glad that I found someone who is so like-minded with me so that we are usually on the same page with our child-raising. He is a hands-on dad and views child-raising as a combined effort. I am so grateful for him and all of the support he continually gives me. Here are some pictures of the day:

Lyla at the big breakfast:

The morning spread:

Jaxon being a cutie:

Mckayla showing off the gift she made for me at school:

Lyla showing off her handiwork: (get it?)

Jono slaving away in the kitchen:

My good-lookin hubby modeling our new patio set and awesome mother's day spread:

Thank you family!!! I love you all!!!!

Your getting warmer....no, no colder now...warmer again...

Well. After a long break I am back and I hope there will be a lot to come in the next few days. We have been out of town and a lot is going on in our lives right now that has prevented me from making it to the computer. Though I will be back tracking and posting about the rest of May a bit later right now I am going to briefly tell you about our trip.
Two friends of ours got married last weekend at Lake Tahoe and Jake had been asked to be one of the groomsmen. But the week before the wedding he was sent on business to Utah (note: we might be moving there, but that is another story) and he wasn't going to be back until the day we were supposed to leave for the wedding. We were going to fly. So I decided that I would drive up with the kids (my sister Angela flew down to drive with me THANKYOU!) and hang out with my family while Jake was in Utah. Then we could drive to Tahoe from there and then drive home. No biggie. Right?
We discovered that my two younger children are not good road trippers. Especially Kailey. She is not one of those babies that falls asleep while you are driving in the car. Neither is Jaxon. So the drive up was miserable and long because we had to stop frequently. I felt like the worst parent just letting them scream it out at times.
When we got to Utah we wished we had brought some warm clothing. I had stuck in a light jacket for each of us and only one pair of long pants for the kids at the last minute. But it was pretty cold and rainy in Utah and we weren't super prepared. Towards the end of the Utah stay our A/C went out. FOR THE FOURTH TIME!!!!!
So as we headed out on our drive across Nevada all the windows were down and we were sweating, but we survived.
We got to Tahoe and did many fun things there (pics and details to come later), but were again found wishing for warmer attire. It was cold! We went there expecting to get to play on the beach of the lake, but that water was about 50 degrees and we didn't see anyone playing in it. We went out on a boat on the lake and were wrapped up in blankets to try to keep warm. We ended up heading in early because we were too cold to have fun.
After that fun and chilly weekend we left sunday night right after the wedding for home. That night our headlights both went out. We had to drive all night with the brights on and we really ticked a lot of people off. It so happened that because we left at night we ended up in the death valley area of CA at around 1:00pm with no A/C. Our car thermostat said it was 115 degrees outside!!!! Our poor children were soaked with sweat and having the windows down just made it feel like we had put the heater on full blast. We did some redneck air conditioning by filling our little cooler with ice water and soaked wash cloths in the water and laying them on ourselves to cool off. We just did that and made sure we were all drinking lots of water all day. We ended up driving through the hottest, dryest part of the country during the hottest, dryest part of the day, during the hottest, dryest part of the year without A/C. Not fun. I don't recommend it at all.
We all made it home in one piece and are now contemplating getting a new van instead of paying to get the A/C fixed because we have an inkling it will go out again, probably in the middle of a trip again. Not fun. Sorry to share the complaining parts first. We really did have some fun times on our trip and I will be sharing those in the near future. But we have definately decided that road trips are out of the question until our kids can handle it better and our car is more reliable.

The Party

For their birthday party we just had a pool party in our backyard. The only catch was that there is a rule in the kindergarten that if you are going to pass out invitations at school you have to give one to everyone. I didn't know any of the parents of the girls' school friends and the only way to get invites to them was to pass out invitations at school. But our experience at other parties was that only 4 or 5 kids from the class would show up. But my girls are in separate classes so that meant handing out 45 invitations and hoping less than half of that would show up. All in all, we had about 20 kids show up. Plus several of the parents stayed to help which I really appreciated. We just got watermelon and little ceasers pizza and had cake and ice cream. All the kids just played in the pool, ate and played some more. Jake, Jono, and I took turns life guarding, plus several parents got in the pool and we had adult friends that came and swam too. It turned out really well. It was a fairly simple but really fun party.
We also realized how awesomely set up our backyard is for parties. In the hottest part of the day the playground is in the shade and the pool is in full sun and the whole concrete area is shaded. So we set up tables all under the big pine tree and it just worked out perfect. Kids could go back and forth from playing in the pool to playing on the swingset. It also made me grateful for tile floors throughout the house! These are just a few shots of people eating and hanging out at the party:




This is the Mortenson group. I thought it was funny that all the kids from Lyla's class were hanging out together by the fence like the cool crowd.



They got a lot of presents, next year I want to someway make it so that people only bring a present for either Lyla or Mckayla, it was just a lot of stuff. The kids all ended up having at it with whomever was left (we didn't do present opening as part of the party), but we didn't unbox everything. They get to choose a new thing here and there so we can make the newness last. I just felt like it was too much for them to have all at once. So we have a toys-r-us in their closet right now.
This is the cake I made. I am not a crafty or artistic person, but I do want food to taste good. I did a red velvet cake and made a raspberry filling for it and did a cream cheese frosting. Only I couldn't keep the filling from oozing out, so it really became a raspberry-cream cheese frosting. It was good though.

The Actual Birthday

To start the girls off right on their birthday we first made a really good breakfast with bacon, eggs, and doughnuts. You can guess what they were most excited about... the bacon. Yep. We don't usually get to have bacon except for the weekends. Both Mckayla and Lyla are born carnivores.


Then towards the end of the school day I brought cupcakes to each of their classes. Mckayla wanted to have pink cupcakes with sprinkles and a cherry on top. Above is Mckayla when her class was singing to her. Lyla wanted to have chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles and gummy bears on top. Below is Lyla eating cupcakes with her class.



We did a little party with just our family and the people who are staying with us. We first made them go on a scavenger hunt to find their big present from mom and dad.


It eventually led to the shed, but they had figured out what I was up to because there was a little sign on that door that they made saying "I can not see my prise."

Aside from painting their room, (which is still a work in progress), we got them each their own desk and chair for their birthday. They both love to draw and do art projects and their work is frequently covering our dining table and dining room. It is kindof a present for me too, because we are moving all of the art supplies to their room so the mess can be in there, and so it is out of Jaxon's reach. Here is Lyla showing off her desk and chair:

They also got a present from uncle Jono of jewelry and crowns and here is Mckayla showing off her crown:

Here they are in cute summer outfits from Grandma Benita:
After presents we went back in for some key lime pie. They love key lime yogurt from yoplait, so when I asked what they wanted for dessert they both requested key lime pie. I cheated and just got a frozen one though. Here are cute pictures from the rest of the evening:

Happy Birthday girls!!! We love you!!!

Happy Birthday Girls!!!

I am pretty late in getting a post done for their birthday. We have had a busy last week. I had decided that for their birthday I would be decorating their bedroom. Everytime we are painting walls in the house they ask when we will get to paint their walls. So that was the plan for their birthday. I wanted to do something creative and have fun with their room. We looked at decorating books together and I asked them what kindof room they would want. After much debate and thought my extremely tom-boyish girls decided that they wanted "a pink and purple princess room." So we began work on it... two weeks ago. Everything is still not moved back into their room and it has been a bit more complicated than I had previously imagined. I will post pictures when we are done. But I wanted to show a slideshow of my girls through the years.
I love them both so much and I am so proud of all of their accomplishments. They are both doing very well in school and work so hard to help me around the house. They are great big sisters and it has been so wonderful to watch them grow up. I can't believe that they are already 6 years old! Anyways, enjoy a look back at my girls growing up!