What's for dessert?

On Sunday, as Miranda and I were skewering shish-ka-bobs for dinner (which were delicious) she asked what was for dessert. Which is a very good and valid question. Since we are all trying to eat nice :) I thought of a little something I used to make all the time when Ryan and I were first married.... pudding parfaits!

So Miranda got busy mixing and after a little instructions on assembly... voila! They tasted just as good as they look too!
I just love dessert!

I Break for Spring

This year we enjoyed a fabulous Spring Break in California with our good friends, the Websters.
We headed out Weds morning for Newport Beach, CA for a little R&R and Disneyland!
After arriving at the RV park and setting up, we headed to Disney for a few hours....
It was a little crowded, but not too bad.
Here's a couple characters inside Small World (so cute)Miranda and Parker even tested their driving skills in Autotopia.... (it's a good thing they have a while to practice)Thursday, we headed back and spent the entire day... yes it was still crowded, but we still had a lot of fun!
I must admit it has been so fun to have annual passes to Disney and we can come and go whenever we feel like it and not feel like we are wasting our money...Friday and Saturday we spent just hanging out and relaxing at Newport Dunes.
The weather was a little too chilly to swim in the ocean, but it was perfect for bike riding and shopping!
The kids rented this surrey for the afternoon and had a blast! Thank goodness for the internet and Wifi... We were able to catch all the General Conference sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning before we headed home.
We had a wonderful relaxing Easter weekend together as a family!

Lessons Learned

It all started a couple weeks ago when Parker asked me if I had seen his Nintendo DS anywhere.
Nope... not me. He began to search EVERYWHERE... then I searched EVERYWHERE.... then we all searched EVERYWHERE...
No DS :(
The last time he could remember playing it was on the airplane coming home from Atlanta after our cruise. Ryan even called Delta airlines to see if anyone by chance turned it in or something. Nope... no luck.
The bummer was, not only did he lose his DS, but his case and 6 of his favorite games that were in it.
Yes, there were a few days of Parker moping, crying and panic about how he was going to EVER find or replace it again.
But then, he had... a plan!
He would save up enough money to buy a new DS, but not just any DS...
he wanted the new, not even out yet, DSi XL!
So he had a week and a half to raise another $100 dollars to go with what he already had saved.

Working for $5 here and $10 there...his savings was growing... slowly!
What is funny is, just the week before he realized the DS was lost, I asked him if he wanted to wash my car and I would pay him. He politely declined saying, "No, I don't need any money right now, I'm not saving for anything."
He told me he had learned a few lessons from this experience...
1. don't lose your DS
2. don't keep ALL your favorite games in the case
3. don't pass up any opportunity to earn money, even if you don't need it.
(AMEN to that!!)

Finally after many hard working hours.... he had earned enough!
And so today, the day after the DSiXL was in stores, his dream came true! He is pretty excited with is new purchase. He loves the larger screen, the bronze color and the camera feature (that one isn't my favorite)
Now, he says, he won't be "bored" on the drive to California this week.
Thank goodness, because I would hate to have to drive to California without a DS...
oh wait... I have... and somehow as I kid I survived!!!

GIRLS TRIP!!!!

This weekend Miranda and I took off for Seattle for a little girls getaway with my sister Heather.
We had great plans of shopping, gossiping, shopping, eating, shopping and seeing Legally Blonde, the Musical.

Friday night we headed to 5th Avenue Theatre for the play. Ok, so we were all there, but Miranda was the cutest of the bunch so she got to pose for the photos)
This was the image projected on stage while waiting for the show to start.
The play was fabulous as expected. We were even surprised to see that Jeff McLean was Warner for the production. He did an excellent job!
Saturday, after catching the new Alice in Wonderland movie we headed to Pike's MarketThe place was buzzing with tourists and the smell of fresh flowers,fresh fruit and fresh FISH were everywhere!!(I wasn't even temped to buy octopus or squid)They did however have this handsome little fellow that just needed a photo-op...
However, I guess I'm the sucker because I jumped a mile high when he moved as I was taking a photo... but still managed to capture this shot before passing out! We stayed in a hotel right in Downtown Seattle and this was the view from our balcony....The weather was perfect... the company was perfect... the weekend was perfect.... thanks Heather and Miranda for a fabulous time!!!

Our Cruise Adventure

I'm not sure how I could ever describe the fun we had on our cruise to the Southern Caribbean.
Everyone had a fabulous time relaxing and playing in the sun.
Enjoy the slide show of our trip.

The sun will come out tomorrow

Well, Annie is officially over.
All the hours and hours of rehearsals and planning have come to an end.
I must say that it was such a great experience for Miranda. She grew so much being in this production. She has such an amazing talent for the theater.
Everyone in the audience thought it was a typo in the program when it said she was only 14 years old. She had such an amazing stage presence and it seemed like she had been doing this for years.

Miranda has bitter- sweet emotions about the play ending. She enjoyed it so much and loved working with all her "Broadway Family".
Working with Jolie Rand, the director, has been great for Miranda. She has learned so much.
So what's next???? Thoroughly Modern Millie auditions are this Summer with the performance this time next year. You won't want to miss it!!

I put together one more slide show with more scenes from the play.
(Sorry if some of them are a little blurry, but you get the idea)

>

You're never fully dressed without a SMILE!

Last night was the start of the second weekend of Annie.
Miranda had full support from the audience since over 50 people were there just to see her in action as Miss Hannigan.
There were so many ward members and friends there that I missed getting photo's with all of them.
And of course her biggest fans.... her family! Ryan and Parker have only missed one show and are ready for more! It's been so fun to watch Miranda grow from this experience. She has made so many friends by being involved in the plays. Only 3 more shows to go... Miranda is already sad about it ending.
Here's a slideshow with a few more pictures from last night...
Until Tomorrow!