Lexi

Here are some of the things Miss Lexi has been up to lately:

Jack thought it looked tasty!

But he spit it out, Maddy however swallowed it!

And the latest!

Happy Birthday Mike!

My Husband

What is his name? Michael Wayne

How long have you been together? 10 years

How long did you date? 6 months

How old is he? 34 & so much older then his younger wife

Who eats more? Mike only because I give him what I don't want to eat

Who said I love you first? He did on the train tracks

Who is taller? Mike

Who sings better? Mike for sure!! He would love to have extra time to sing with the choir.

Who is smarter? Definitely Mike, I hope the kids get the Loveridge smarts!

Whose temper is worse? Mine

Who does the laundry? Me

Who does the dishes? I love that Mike does the dinner dishes every night.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

Who pays the bills? I spend all the money including the bill money

Who mows the lawn? Mike

Who cooks dinner? me-except on Saturday Mike cooks all day long!

Who drives when you are together? Mike

Who is more stubborn? Definitely me!

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Wrong?

Whose parents do you see the most? Toss up. Depends who comes to see us more...hint..hint..hint

Who kissed who first? Mike was very eager for his kissing time

Who asked who out? Mike asked me to go to the BYU volleyball game with him and friends and then to the Institute dance.

Who proposed? Mike, I felt the ring in his pocket and knew what was coming. Funny thing is that my mom did the same thing to my dad.

Who is more sensitive? Mike esp when I need someone to listen to me

Who has more friends? We both have the same I'm just better at keeping in touch with them.

Who wears the pants in the family? 50/50

Mike & his little girls

M&M

Sorry for the repeat post!

Random

Mike survived a weekend at home without me the love of his life! Lexi and I went to Utah for a fun filled weekend. It was good for both of us to get away. Good for Mike, he realized he doesn't like the single dad duty and it was also good for the kids. Maddy did go a weekend without her hair being combed and to church with a head band in her hair instead of all dolled up. They all managed and didn't starve and loved the entertainment dad provided: Bowling, UP the movie, Lowes Build and Grow workshops, pizza and Burger King! What more could a kid want.

Lexi and I had a blast. My dad got inducted into the hall of fame at West High School, so we went to a football game and saw him get his award. Just a little bragging about my dad. He played football at West High both offense and defense, he then went to BYU to play for LaVell. He then went to the pro's and played for the Jets, the Dolphins and the Chiefs. Lexi enjoyed the game (she slept through it:) and it was fun to be there with my brothers and family. Sunday, we headed up to Logan to see Nick's mission farewell. He is off to the MTC in Brazil. Here he and his buddy are at the airport Tuesday.

Tifani and I went shopping to try and find the perfect coat for Lexi. Do you know how hard it is to find a coat for a 6 month old? They are like jackets or huge. We found several that worked, 1 that was too die for (but way to big at Nordstroms) and one that will keep her warm all winter long and hopefully she won't grow out of. BUT if she does, she can fit into Maddy's that were all too big. I found these cute shirts and gave them to the kids as there present for me coming home. It's hard to see but they say, Big Brother, Little Sister and Big Sister. I have convinced them they are dirty and will stay in the laundry--they love them and have found a new favorite shirt! We arrived back in Boise, Sunday night minus my hair spray. Those TSA's at the airport nit pick at everything. They even made me take Lexi's shoes off as we went through security. And they confiscated my hair spray which I still haven't replaced no wonder my hair is flat today! We had an awesome weekend and we're glad to be home.

Preschool Times 2

Preschool has started again. But this year we are doing it twice, well actually everyday but Friday. It's amazing how different my children are. Maddy is doing preschool again this year instead of going to Kindergarten. Hopefully I made the best choice, at the moment I'm not so confident but I have to remember the answer to prayer is the right choice and have faith.

Maddy loves school, she loves everything about it. She learned to count and her abc's without a problem, she loves to write letters and draw and color and learn. She loves Autumn Leaf preschool and has been counting down the days til school starts. Here she is off to school last week. We live about 1 1/2 miles from school and my goal is to bike/walk/run at least one way there every day until its too cold to do it anymore. So we have jackets on since it's a little chilly in the mornings on the way to school.

Maddy & Danene

And then there is Jack. Yep this face proves he doesn't want to go to preschool.

He loves the idea of preschool and going to school but we have struggled with going to school happy! If only his sister could go with him! I've learned that Maddy & Jack have very different personalities and playing is more Jack's style. He can count to 20, playing hide and go seek with dad has helped the most, he knows some of his abc's, he doesn't care to learn how to write his name, he will color and can draw the cutest smiley faces! And school, he loves it up until we have to walk in. So we'll just give it time and one day I know he'll be running up to the door with a smile on his face just like his big sister.

Okay we did get a smile out of him but definitely not a smile WITH the teacher. We hope tomorrow he'll go without tears.

Disneyland

Hooray! Monday, we arrived at the happiest place on earth! Disneyland. Even though it wasn't Maddy's official birthday (missed getting in free by one week!) they gave her a pin that said "Happy Birthday Madison" She loved getting special attention from lots of employees who asked how old she was. She loved holding up all 5 fingers and shouting 5! I love Disney's "What are you celebrating" theme.

Jack isn't much of a picture person like his mom would like him to be.
But Maddy is, here she is posing in front of Cinderella's castle.

I think our first ride was the carousel, then dumbo and then the tea cups. I thought we'd all get sick but we didn't.

And by far the favorite ride of the day was "It's a small world." Maddy was singing it all day, Jack loved the water and Lexi loved the bright colors. We even came back again that night to ride a second time.

For some reason we couldn't get any pictures taken inside to turn out. This is the best we got!

I don't remember each of the Disney Characters having there own place to stay the last time I was in Disneyland, but they do and that's the only place you can see them while in the park. We really wanted to see the Princesses but there line was in sane! So we skipped them this time.

Here we are at Minnie's house. We waited in line (only about 15 minutes) to see Minnie, we almost missed her when she took her "lemonade break" but made it by 1 person. Maddy wanted a picture all by herself. Which was okay because Jack apparently doesn't like girls! He didn't want anything to do with Minnie!

But he did try out her couch.

And if only this broom worked!

Even Lexi loved the magic of the house.

We wandered next door to Mickey's house and finally got to say Hi to Mickey in the press room.

Lexi was fascinated with those big ears!

Jack finally smiling when he got to drive Mickey's car.

Maddy in Toon Town.

Toon Town isn't just for the little ones!

Driving off in the firetruck

Mike jokes that everyone BUT Mickey was looking at the camera. Had to buy this one to prove we were there.

Maddy and Mike rode most of the "big" rides together. She was just tall enough and loved the big roller coasters. Jack, Lexi and I waited and sometimes we did the baby swap, where Mike and the kids would ride, then we'd swap the baby and the kids and I would ride. They didn't mind riding twice!

We watched the fireworks and headed out but first stopped in to the "bibbity boobbity boo" store and Maddy picked out the perfect princess dress. She loved every minute of it. Jack and Lexi were pooped out and exhausted from a long day at Disneyland.

Thanks Mickey for letting us come and celebrate with you!

Santa Monica Pier & Beach

We left Pirates Cove, Sunday morning and headed to California. Our first stop was the beach and Santa Monica Pier. It seems everyone goes to the beach on Sunday. It was crowded and parking was insane but we found a spot and tested out the water. It was a little windy and I forget how dry Idaho is, because it was so moist. I loved the feeling on my hands and feet even after being in the ocean. I thought Lexi might like to feel the sand, of course the first thing she did was put her hand in it and it went into her mouth. She was covered in little tiny sand for days!

Here's my family watching the waves.
Maddy enjoying the sunshine.
Lexi & Mike soaking in the UV rays.
Jack loved running from the water as it rushed in and out. He also loved playing in the sand, and throwing it and running in circles. He was in heaven!



I almost felt like we were in Mexico, there were so many people walking up and down the beach selling things. They'd say everything in Spanish and then English. I loved hearing "Mango's, Mango's, Sandia, Watermellon " Mangos is the same in both languages. I was tempted into buying sand stuff for the kids and umbrellas but we were all hungry and didn't last very long at the beach.

We stayed at my Aunt Jill's beautiful spacious home in Northridge. As a child I spent many summer vacations visiting this very place, swimming in this very pool (oops forgot to take pictures of the pool and house), and enjoying myself. My Aunt even lives off of Kinzie Street! Thanks Aunt Jill and Erica for making a fabulous visit to California possible (free rent:) and yummy food especially a delicious fresh squoze glass of grapefruit juice from the tree!

Pirates Cove

Mike came home from work 2 weeks ago and said "babe, let's go to Vegas." I said seriously (one of my favorite words from Grey's--is it almost back on?) and 1 hour later we were in the car and on our way. Mike had a work retreat for working so hard in 2008 at Pirates Cove outside of Boulder City, Nevada but we weren't supposed to bring kids and taking an infant to Las Vegas where it was 110' and swimming for the weekend didn't sound that fun. So we had decided against going. Several co-workers told Mike to come and bring the kids and we would have so much fun. So we did just that. We drove from 7pm to 5 am (scratch that Mike drove and I slept some), took a quick 3 hour power nap at my parents Condo in St George and we were at Pirates Cove by 11 am. The kids did great, even Lexi who does not like her car seat traveled well. And traveling at night helped! Wow when we got there, it was already hot. We threw on the swim suits, some sunblock and had a blast all day long.

Pirates Cove is so cool. Here is more info on it. The place is decorated to the bone with pirates and skeletons and the Pirates of Carribean theme music is even playing throughout all of the resort. It's like a mini water park with hotel rooms. We had an awesome room but I didn't take pictures of it:( or any of the Pirates. The kids loved the 24/7 icecream machine and the frozen gelato machine open to anyone. We had more icecream cones then one could count. BUT the kids did get a work out, in order to go down the slide you had to hike back up to get to it.

Jack, Bowen, Maddy, Dallin getting all set at the top of the slide to do a train

And the more times you go down, the crazier the positions got.

The end.

Jack did take a spin once without his power wings. Luckily, 3 men jumped in in their clothes to save him. An iPhone was even lost! But so glad to have my Jack. He forgot his wings!

Another part of the park was a huge pirates ship. It had a rope swing and tall masts you could climb up to jump off. This is Mike on the 2nd to top. The top was not recommended. The pirates were blocking the way, although several jumped anyway.


The water fall below was a cool jump off spot to. Here's Mike getting ready to do a back flip.

And the kids LOVED this rope swing. Collette and I had our work cut out for us, getting the kids on and off the swing.

And then they went back to the yellow slide. There was also a "dark" slide where you couldn't see anything. Maddy got brave and was doing it by herself by the end of the weekend. The guys would all train down the slide and they got going so fast.

I did get wet but was just as happy hanging out under the shade umbrellas holding Lexi. She too loved all the water and swimming.

Our 3 little fishes

The kids played all day long and were so tired from a long drive and a long day of play, we retired early to bed although the guys stayed up until all hours of the night. The poor neighbors must hate that Pirate House. I mentioned to Mike that we were only 4 hours away from Disneyland and that we would never be this close again. So we called up my Aunt Jill who lives in Northridge and she was delighted to have us. We stayed in Pirates Cove 2 days. Sunday morning, we headed to Cali. On our way we stopped at the Hoover Dam. They are building this bridge. There are so many wires holding it into place it was amazing. I guess in the future you'll be able to bypass the dam to get to where you are going, instead of going around it.

Thanks Russell and Collette for hosting us at Pirates Cove! They took off to Figi following a week in Vegas.

Next up: Santa Monica Pier/beach