Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Happy Birthday PARTY


Rori got to have a birthday PARTY at her school since her birthday is over the summer (August).  She is so super excited about her birthday so big thanks to her teacher for allowing her to have a celebration with her school buddies.  She talked about it for days leading up to it and all that morning as we were getting her ready for school.  She is a big fan of Strawberry Shortcake so that was the theme with plates, napkins, cupcakes, and goodie bags.  We all sang "Happy Birthday Party to You" to her.  Her Dad suprised us all by showing up at her school for the party as well.  Rori had a great time and loved having the spotlight on her for a bit.  On the way home in the car she said to me 3 different times "Mom, thank you for coming to my birthday party".  Such a sweet girl!




Friday, June 01, 2012

Birthday Weekend

Lance had a meeting in Los Angeles Friday morning so we decided to tag along with him. The kids had fun spending the night in a hotel room and being on an adventure. Friday morning he headed out to his meeting early and the kids and I had the morning to fill. We made a fast decision to pack up and head out for a quick trip to Malibu. We didn't have much time so when we got there we did the campus loop drive and then headed over to Malibu Seafood for a quick lunch. Don't feel bad for Lance though because he had been there earlier in the week. Did I mention that Sun.-Wed. morning Lance had already been in LA for meetings? He was to be there all week but he didn't want to miss Zuri's birthday and Rori's dance recital so he came back for about 24 hours. What a good Daddy!



Anyway, it was fun to go by our old home again even if it was so fast. I would have liked to have stopped and visited with friends some but we were on too tight of a schedule. Malibu and Pepperdine will always be such a special place to us. It was our home for about 9 years and we have so many wonderful memories there. It is fun to take the kids there and show them the world we lived in before they were with us. After lunch we drove back and picked up Lance and then headed down to spend the long weekend in San Diego.

We were worried that the traffic would be horrible on Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend, but we actually did quite well. We love that carpool lane. This worked out great because it meant that we made it in time to go to the International Festival at my Mom's school. The kids loved checking everything out in grandma's 2nd grade classroom and seeing lots of her students. These pictures are from the 2nd grade parade where the kids are holding flags of where they are from. It is very cool to see how many of the kids are from all over the world. Many are here with parents that are connected with UCSD.


Later that night we had a joint birthday party for Zuri and Whitney. The kids thought it was great that Zuri and Whitney could be birthday weekend buddies. Zuri wasn't too fond of her cone birthday hat, but she was a bit more determined with her cake this time. She was still rather delicate with it though which was funny. Whitney seemed to enjoy the singing and cake too!
















Other highlights of the rest of the weekend included lots of playing with grandparents, shopping, reading books, playing baseball, building sand castles, swimming, yummy food, cake eating, and more. Everyone had a great time and was sad when it was time to hit the road again for home. Thanks to grandma, grandpa and Whitney for letting us invade your home with chaos.









Birthday Girl

The celebrations began on Zuri's actual birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Utah coming in town to be with her on her big day.  Prior to attending Rori's dance recital we had dinner at our favorite Vegas restaurant Lucille's.  Zuri enjoyed their famous rolls and sweet potato fries before digging in to her birthday cake.  She was very delicate with the cake and just slowly sampled little pieces of icing.  Her Dad eventually assisted her in getting to the actual cake part.  She wasn't too sure about getting so messy which eventually led to some tears.  She made a quick recovery though and protested the cake being removed from her grasp. 











After lots of clapping and her own dancing to the music at Rori's big dance show we headed home and opened up some presents.  It was evident that we live in Vegas and summer is approaching as several of her gifts were sun dress or swiming related.  We will be spending lots of time avoiding the heat this summer so that was perfect!  She also got a little soft baby doll from us that she has been loving on ever since which is really sweet.





The next morning Grandma and Grandpa helped Mom and Zuri get the other kids off to school and hung out with us a bit before heading back on the road.  They were so amazing to make such a long trip for such a short time.  We are looking forward to some more time with them again soon.  The rest of the day was spent packing up for our trip to CA.  As soon as we got the kids from school we hit the road for LA.