Hudson and Bruin's Beyblade Party

I was shocked this year when Bruin and Hudson started planning their combined birthday party back in early November. They informed me that they wanted a Beyblade sleepover party with all their boy cousins, which =9, but one was unable to make it, so that made it 8 boys! All I could think was SCORE!!!! A 2 for 1 party in December, I gladly obliged.

To kick off the party, Kirk set up a tournament where each of the boys got to "Battle" each other in the stadium. If you are totally lost its because you do not have little boys! My boys are so obsessed with these spinning tops!

Next they played more games and made lots of funny faces and nasty sounds, gotta love boys!

This game is always a special request. Candy filled balloon hot potato. Last one to end up with it gets to pop it and eat the candy inside. We also gave bonus raffle tickets for most creative pop. The belly flop pop and shoe thrown at the balloon were my 2 favorite. Funny boys!
My big 9 year old and 4 year old happily sharing their birthday glory. I'm one lucky mama!

They were both happy to get more beyblades to add to their growing collection.

I feel so blessed to have them both in my life. Bruin is such a wonderful big brother. He is smart, kind, and obedient. He makes my life so much easier. Hudson has taught me patience beyond words and continues to teach me everyday. He has the sweetest hugs and kisses and I love that he refuses to go to bed without a hug and a kiss from his mommy. I also secretly love that he cries every night at dinner if he can't sit right next to me. He brings so much laughter to our family. I sure love my boys!

Goodbye 20s

In my 20s I've given birth to 4 beautiful children and enjoyed 10 years with my fabulous husband. I was able to realize my goal of completing my bachelors degree, which was no easy task with 3 kids and 1 on the way! We purchased our first home. I've been to Belize, Grand Caymen, Cozumel, Puerta Vallarta, London, several parts of Italy, and to lots of other fun places I never thought I would ever get to see. So many good things have happened, so its hard to see these years pass. I must say goodbye to the 20s and welcome in the new things that are to come in the 30s.

Even though I'm officially 30, my mom still made my birthday extra special like she does every year. Every year she plans a special surprise for me, and I just eat up every minute of it. This year our special lunch was Wabi Sabi with 2 of my beautiful sisters and my mama.

This was one of my favorite parts of the meal besides eating it :)

After lunch we headed over for pedicures where I cracked up like always because I am so ticklish. I don't know what it is about us spending time together, but we always seem to get laughing so hard. I love that my mom and sister think I am funny, maybe they just pretend since its my birthday, haha! Either way, I love them for it. Thanks mom!


As if that wasn't enough of a wonderful day, my hubby planned an overnight date at what has become one of our favorite places, Blue Lantern Inn in Dana Point. Gorgeous views and total relaxation is just my style.

Here I am enjoying the view and cheese and crackers just after the sunset. Thanks babe, you are the best! Special thanks to my sister Janell for watching the kids for us.

30s HERE I COME!!!! You ready for this?!?!!

Quick overview of our Christmas celebrations. I wasn't good about getting many pictures, guess I'm getting tired of enjoying life threw the lens of a camera.

Perfect way to start out Christmas weekend, free brunch at one of our favorite little places in town. Our friends own the Avacado House in Chino. They have delicious food if you ever are out this way. YUM!!!

Christmas Eve we spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa Heaps. We had good food, and had a wonderful time.

Christmas morning, the kids showing off their goods. Hudson has a beyblade, Capri has her Hello Kitty loot, and Bruin got headbanz. Thanks Santa!

London was pretty happy about her first baby doll. She loves the light on the tummy of it, and sleeps with it every night.

We spent Christmas day with the Salmon family playing games and just enjoying being together.
Later that week it was the Monroe Christmas at my sisters house. My brothers had me cracking up with their dance moves on the Wii, Just Dance for Kids. I love my family.

Here is Grandpa Mark with almost all his nieces and nephews, only missing 2 of the boys on the Monroe side.

We loved visiting with family and thinking about our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for this time of year that we get to remember to be generous and grateful for all that we are blessed with. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well.

Dreams do come True

For our 10th anniversary we planned the trip we had been dreaming of for the last 10 years. Kirk has always wanted to get back to Italy where he served his mission and to see other parts of Italy that he wasn't able to see. We also decided since we were in Europe to make a stop in London, which was also amazing. There is no way to share all the beauties that we saw, but here are a few snapshots of the trip.

There are so many beautiful bridges in London, this is the Tower Bridge. I love the teal detail.

Here we are in front of the art gallery. We saw so many amazing pieces of art and paintings. Talented creators at their best.

Interesting sausage dinner in London, but it was pretty tasty.

The London temple at night when we got out of the session. Beautiful.

The Duomo in Milan. Its gorgeous at night with lit stainglass front.

Venice "market," a boat pulled up with all these fruits and veggies and people just shopped off the dock.

An amazing view of Florence. I'm amazed that my cheapo camera even captured this shot! We had climbed up a hill to a castle to look over the city.

Of course everyone knows what this place is.

Walking the streets of Rome and finding the hidden treasures behind the newer structures. Ruins all over the place!

It was a trip I will never forget. I loved hearing him speak Italian and being able to now have a better understanding of the beauty he has tried to explain to me feels great. I don't know if any other trip will top this one, but hey, we will try :) I love traveling with my man.

Halloween

What a fun season its been. We've been enjoying the cooler weather and doing lots of fun things as a family and with our friends. Here are my four favorite kids all dressed and ready for one of our many parties. A witch, a little lady bug, and 2 ninjas.

I don't quite understand the whole point of carving pumpkins, its a lot of work for something you have to throw away the next day or so. I figure if it makes my kids this happy then its worth it :)

Thanks to Auntie Kristi for helping the kids with their pumpkins, made everything a whole lot more fun and much easier too.

London with one of her silly faces, she's such a character these days. She's very friendly, very curious, and lots of trouble, but we love her more than anything!

Hudson and his friends Zander and Isaiah after their Tiny Tots Halloween Parade

5 good friends who's husbands all work with my hubby. Wish we all lived closer, its so nice being around gals who can relate so well to my life.

More good friends at the Halloween party. I'm so grateful for good friends. My hubby wasn't able to come to the party, so 2 of my friends were good sports and included me in their little "gang" so I wouldn't feel so alone.

Happy Halloween!

Carpinteria Tradition carries on

For those of you who don't know, Kirk and I grew up camping at Carpinteria. We fell in love there and shared our first kiss on the beach under the moonlight. So, we are carrying on the tradition of Carpinteria and loved every moment of being there with our little family this year. Here we are after 10 years of marriage and 4 kids later, still in love.

Enjoying the beautiful views of the beach and our little Londie Loo at this fun outdoor restaurant recommended to us by Janell and Darin- thanks!

A sunday stroll in our Church attire.


Mommy trying her photo skills, I guess I still need some practice :)

Sporting wet hair, no makeup, and our homemade tyedye shirts, so fun!

Who looks more excited here, love it!

A walk to the donut shop

The kids could play in the sand and water all day, and they did :)

We cruised down to Santa Barbara to walk on the Pier and show the kids around. We spotted some sea life and pelicans.

We ended up on a family bike ride. Kirk and I got quite the workout and we made a good family memory.

I'm looking forward to our next family adventure. Everyday I am thankful for the joy my family brings to my life. I can't imagine life without a single one of them.

Capri's Scandia Party

My sweet Capri is growing up, the big 7. This year I didn't even get to plan the birthday party. She had it all planned out. She knew which friends she wanted and what she wanted to do. I was tempted to try to sway her, but then I realized that a night at Scandia and a little sleepover would make her dreams come true. So we did exactly what she wanted.

A round of miniature golf with her cute friends, Victoria, Julia, and Kayla.

She couldn't wipe this cute smile off her face all night.

They rode on everything. Kirk and I were cracking up watching them try to maneuver these little boats.

And we couldn't believe these 3 weren't afraid to ride on this Cliff Jumper ride, seriously I would've been nervous to ride (one friend wasn't as brave and skipped this one)

Funny faces for the fun night

Of course a kid's idea of a perfect night wouldn't be complete without kids meals!

The one thing I did get to do is make my 7 year old a birthday cake.

I am so very grateful to have the blessing of being Capri's mom. She is the kindest little girl you could ever find. She is a wonderful sister, friend, and daughter. Happy Birthday Capri!!!!

Whitewater rafting adventure

My dad called and invited me to join he and Janell on a whitewater rafting trip. I like to think I am adventurous, so when opportunities come up I take them. I was so excited and of course agreed. We took a couple hour drive up to Kern river, and this is my view from the backseat. The drive went so fast since I got to relax, chat, and mess around with my phone of course!
We arrived at our cabin for the night. It was a little KOA campground with these funny little cabins. We made the best of the evening hours and took some silly pictures, attempted a game of cards until my dad did a crazy thing and freaked Janell and I out by falling over the fire pit outside of the cabin and scaping up his shin and falling pretty hard. We patched it up and headed to sleep.

I get weird when I get relaxed and have no kids to tend to :) Janell always seems to bring it out of me and I love it!

Here's our little cabin in the morning light and me in my nasty getup (didn't have time to go buy any shorts that fit, so I borrowed my hubby's)

Here's our last photo before we headed out to the whitewater where we had quite the adventure.

We started with an adventure swim that was just plain fun. Then we jumped in the raft and headed downstream. The trip was pretty carefree until my dad, one other guy on our raft, and I all were tossed out of the raft at the very beginning of pretty large rapids. When I came up for my first breath I felt a person clear down to my feet trying to get up. I grabbed onto the life vest and pulled them up, and guess who it was? It was my dad! It was a crazy sight seeing him struggle and people yelling, "feet up, feet up," as we came up to a huge rock. I pushed off with my oar that I was gripping tightly in my hands (that was the one rule I remembered, don't let go of that oar!) After that, I went up and down, side to side. Lost sight of my dad, but had my eyes on that raft I so desperately wanted to get back into. I reached out the oar and tried to link with Janell and the other girl who were still inside the raft. It looked so easy to do before I actually tried it while being tossed to and fro. I gave up on that, swam (more like got tossed) a little closer to the raft. I was close enough to grab the end of an oar reaching out to me from inside the raft. I was pulled closer, grabbed onto the raft and tried to hoist myself inside, but it was impossible! After a while of trying, my sister and the other girl grabbed me by the vest and pulled me in. I was safe, I see the other fellow pulled in on the other side of the raft, but then I asked terrified, "where is my dad?" I looked back to see him looking exhausted, safe in another raft. Whew, what a long 30 seconds!!!
The rest of the day was very intense, as we rowed as hard as we could through those big rapids. We also stopped to jump off a 20 foot rock, which was surprisingly very scary for me. It was a day of memories that I will never forget. Thanks Dad for the adventure, but I will not be going again any time soon. Maybe I'm not quite as adventurous as I initially thought :)