Awards Assembly

Bonsall West had an awards assembly for grades 3-5. Brynn earned the citizenship award for excellent behavior all year and the Principal's Honor Roll. The Principal's Honor Roll was given to the students who received only A's all year long on their report card. Brynn was the only one in her class to earn the award and one of six in her entire grade.

We are so proud of her for her hard work! There were many nights that she was up late doing homework or many mornings that I would wake up to the sound of her practicing the piano and then sitting at the table finishing up homework without ever being asked. I have never had to remind Brynn to do homework or reading. She innately has an amazing sense of responsibility and accountability. I wish I could say it was a trait we taught her as her parents, but we don't deserve any of the credit. At the risk of sounding like a terrible mom, I will say that I've never practiced for a spelling test with her, and she has a 100% record. She is very self-motivated and puts forth such a great effort, which in my book is far greater than any stroke of genius. She's such a great example to us. Sometimes I get choked up thinking about the sweet spirit we have in our home. Don't get me wrong, she can be feisty, but she's a great girl! :)

The principal was hilarious! We absolutely love him. There was a teacher's honor roll for kids who got A's and B's and he told them how awesome it was and that if they were able to keep this all up throughout their education, they would be able to go to some great school's like UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC San Diego, etc. He then said to Brynn's group (the Principal's Honor Roll) that if they kept it up, they would be able to go to Harvard and Yale and schools like that. It made me laugh, and I hoped that the other students didn't feel bad about his comment. I also thought that Brynn was probably thinking, "Who cares about those Ivy league schools, but what about BYU-Provo, BYU-Idaho, or BYU-Hawaii?" (in no particular order).

Emily and Baby Stephen Visit

Emily and baby Stephen came to see us the week after Joseph left. It was so much fun to spend time with them and Emily was such a HUGE help. Stephen finally started to warm up to me a little before they went home, well when I held him outward anyway :).

Emily arrived on Saturday night. Her flight was a little late, so I took the kids to Kung Fu Panda 2 in La Jolla before picking her up. We went to church together on Sunday and then on Monday we picked up the girls a little early from school and headed to Disneyland. Em and I both love Disneyland! We got a room at the Fairfield Inn across the street from the park and headed over to the park. We spent most of Monday at California Adventure and a little bit of time at Disneyland. Emily left earlier in the evening to take the boys and put them to bed and the girls and I stayed until the park closed. We rode Tower or Terror, Soarin' Over California, Splash Mountain twice and we were running through the park to make it to Pirates of the Caribbean right at midnight. It was a great memory.

There were a few times during the trip when I was rushing around getting Fast Passes and Emily had all five kids. She received quite a few funny looks and many "God Bless You's."

It was crazy busy and I am convinced that June is a terrible time to go. I don't think I will ever go back in June. We planned to stay until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, but at noon, we looked at each other and laughed and said, "We're done!" There were way to many people there and when you get warm weather, people who have paid alot of money and expectations, it gets ugly, very ugly. The funniest site for me was seeing they lady with a cast boot on her leg who was screaming at the California Screamin' Cast Member because she claimed she couldn't walk fast enough from the last ride to get there in time to ride Screamin' before it closed, you may think, what's so funny about that? Well the funny part was that she went storming off at a very FAST pace, boot and all after just screaming for some mercy and sympathy for her slowness. It's a theme park ride people! Seriously!!! Rational behavior goes out the window I'm afraid.

I am happy to say that in the last week we were able to ride the new Little Mermaid ride, the re-done Star Tours, and refurbished Splash Mountain. We've waited a long time to go on them and were able to enjoy them in the nick of time. The girls and I walked back to the hotel at 12:30 a.m. and went to bed at 1 a.m. Joseph started texting me "good morning!" at 5:30 a.m. We were all awake at that point so we threw on some clothes, had breakfast and headed to the park for the rope drop. It was insane! Sooooo many people!

I knew my friend Kim was going to be there with her family and I happened to see them hiking over on the island while I was riding the Mark Twain Riverboat. It was too far to yell, so I texted her and then met her on the island and took a picture of our "twins." We have babies that were born literally 1 minute apart, same day, same year. It was fun to see her.

Survival of the Fittest...or cutest

Joseph's been gone for a couple of weeks now and I've been trying really hard to keep up on the house while he's been gone. On the 5th day after he left, I was working hard upstairs. I had the boys in the toy room and they were playing really well. I started to fold a load of laundry. I finished folding and hurried to put the clothes away. I was so proud of myself for being so on task and getting the clothes folded and put away so quickly. While I was in my closet I thought I heard Isaac crying. He was no longer in the playroom so I ran downstairs. He wasn't crying, but it was a good thing I rushed downstairs. He had climbed on the counter and was taking handfuls of Nesquik throwing it on the floor and counter. Ahh lovely! I used my wet/dry vac to get it up and then wiped and wiped and wiped and wiped and wiped with a damp cloth. It took alot of wiping to get it all off, but I finally got it clean. Oh, and I threw the canister of chocolate powder away. It's a good thing he was blessed with an extra dose of cuteness. I have a feeling he's gonna need it. :)

Bonsall West Music Program

'Tis the season for programs and parties. The girls had their music program the week before school ended. With the California Budget unbalanced, things like music were cut from many schools, but Bonsall School District raises money through parents and community members to have a credentialed teacher come in and teach the students music. It is wonderful! The girls have loved it. We went to their program this week. I had told my friend I would watch her boys, forgetting that it was the day of the program, so I threatened the boys with their lives ;) to behave. They did awesome! These four boys are a handful when they get together, but so fun!

Abby's Goldilocks Play

Abby did a great job in her 1st grade play of Goldilocks. The kids sang some cute songs and acted out the story of The Three Bears. I have loved Abby's teacher this year. She has been perfect for Abby, she has challenged her, been very firm and consistent and has expected alot of Abby, all while being completely sweet as well. It has been great. She is retiring this year and I know the school will miss her. I will really Bonsall West and all of the wonderful families. It has been a great experience!

Disneyland Habit

I will admit, I have flare-ups of OCD behavior. My latest bout has been with Disneyland, you see, back in January, we bought annual passes. Right after we bought our annual passes, Joseph told me there might be an opportunity for us to be transferred to Utah. My first reaction was, "Not yet!!!" I had just started getting used to the area, and after experiencing a winter here, I was sold!!!

We were sitting at home one Sunday afternoon in February, it was a particularly beautiful day and I said to him, "Look outside at how beautiful it is! And it's FEBRUARY! How could you want to leave this paradise?" I then told him, "Do you remember how miserable I was when we lived in Utah and it was snowing at the end of April?" He had just returned from a snowboarding trip with his brothers and he answered back with, "Do you know how happy I was on that mountain snowboarding yesterday?" He then told me that he agreed it has been wonderful, but he said, that ultimately he knew that this wasn't where he wanted to be, nor did he think it was a place I wanted to be forever. I agreed, but a few more years would have been great. He reminded me that Brynn is going to be in 4th grade and that it would be better to move while she was younger than later on in Junior High or High School. Anyway, I decided at that moment that I was going to live it up down here in Southern California, so we have played and played and played.

After this conversation, Joseph's company told him that they weren't going to send Joseph to Utah yet, but that they had a future opportunity that they felt would be better suited for us. We thought it might be in a year or two, but a few weeks later, they presented the opportunity of a new assignment and Joseph accepted. Since finding out, I have taken the kids to Disneyland every week. Sometimes we go twice a week, after school. It has seriously been sooooo much fun! We've taken a couple days off of school, and we've taken dad a time or two, but mostly we've squeezed it in after school. It has been exhausting, but a wonderful memory. So my latest OCD has been trying to figure out how to get to Disneyland each week while we squeeze it in with piano lessons and practicing, Faith in God Activities, 5 dance classes and homework and school. For a couple of minutes I even daydreamed about homeschooling in the morning for a couple of hours and then spending the rest of the day playing with the kids. I know my limits, so we opted for after school fun. :)

San Diego Maritime Museum

If you've ever walked along the Embarcadero in San Diego, near Anthony's Fish Grotto, you've probably noticed the pirate ships that line the bay. We always walk past, but we've never taken the chance to visit. We decided to spend a Saturday in at the Bay and tour all of the shops. It was interesting learning the history of all of the ships. At the end we took a little Bay Cruise. We had some beautiful views of the Bay and also some great reminders of just how much we are going to miss this place. I secretly hope that someday we have the opportunity to live here again. I love the area. Maybe we can request to go on a mission here someday. I remember back in January, before we had received the offer to transfer, we were visiting the Mormon Battalion Museum and there was an older gentleman and his wife who were serving in the visitor's center. They were preparing to end their mission and the very next day fly back to Utah. As we sat there, visiting with him, in the middle of January, enjoying the balmy air, and 80 degree weather and blue skies, I started to feel a little bad for him; for the fact that he had to go back to the frozen earth that is Utah in January. Thank heaven we are moving in June! I'll have months to prepare for my bitter winter. :)

Sea World

I took the girls and some of their friends to Sea World during spring break. We loved it so much that we've gone back a few times since and we even took Joseph with us once. We all thought the shows were amazing! The kids also love Rocky Pointe where they are able to interact and touch the dolphins, the shark tunnel, and all of the fun rides. When I was their age I wanted to be a trainer at Sea World after visiting with my family. I still think it would be pretty cool. It's amazing to me every time we go.