kmart fall apart

So...everytime we go to Kmart we take a picture in the photo booth. It is a dollar, which I think is a steal of a deal. I never find these photo booths anymore...so I love that kmart has one. Anyways. The 1st one we took on Saturday. The second one....maybe a year ago...or less.

isn't this awesome...

I love love this picture. I think it makes everything real for me. I took this from my dad's blog. My Oli got so sad when he saw it. I think it is finally sinking in.

robbie reading

My mother gave me a whole bunch of cooking magazines, on her way into the MTC.  Rob keeps grabbing one and walking over to the recliner and he sits and reads...and dreams about the food. He will look at something and say "oh..yum".  I love it...I am the exact same way.  I love food and I love love reading about food.  

too sad

I am sad. I honestly see my parents like once a month...sometimes more. I feel really sad that they are going to Peru without me. I have always hated goodbye's and even more than goodbye's I hate being away from people I love.

two sad goodbyes...

My parents go to the MTC tomorrow. sigh...
All of the kids that live here in Utah got together tonight. It was fun...but bittersweet. And when it was time for me to leave my kids were freaking out and so tired (9:30) and I had to say goodbye to my parents with kicking children in my arms. Cali put on a beautiful lunch/dinner though...and we played a little fill or bust. This picture isn't a good one but it is pretty much what our night was like.
I love how my dad looks like he is telling us something really important.
We had three laptops going...I love technology. There is NOTHING better than sitting around listening to great conversations and surfing the net.
Here is Linh walking on Joey's back....hahaa this picture is funny. He has been having some back pains and she has magic feet.

Then as we were sitting around we heard that Gordon B. Hinckley had just died.
I couldn't believe it. Well I could considering that he is 97. But...It hit me, you know. He has been the prophet for almost half of my life. He means a lot to me. Needless to say it was a tearful night tonight. (well tears don't really come out of my eyes very easy (it has been since Rob was born that I have actually teary eyed cried)...but my face was crying...does that make sense??) I have a strong testimony of this man. I am happy for him though...

dang...one more thing.

Oli had some cavities filled today. He didn't even cry. The dentist said he was amazed and that he was the best behaved kid he has ever worked on (the guy is young mind you). I am really proud of him.

And....On the way to my doctor yesterday or the day before I heard "the wind beneath my wings" TWICE. Of course I didn't listen to the whole song twice but it was pretty unbelievable. I did however think of Laura Lei during the song....

mazatlan part 2

So I left off last post on Christmas Eve. This year in Maz...it was colder than I have ever felt it be. Especially the week of Christmas...so that was a bummer. I will now just post some pictures...in random order of things we did.

This is the clan on the way to the downtown central market...everywhere we went people would touch our kids hair and such and they would always COUNT how many kids we had with us. We were like a freak show.
Grace and Joey and the market...she would fall asleep in there it was so cute.
This is the brother's and sisters out to eat at Zarape's. My mom and dad would watch all of the kids while we went out to eat (no easy task mind you). Zarape's was recommended by a guard at the Inn at Maz. They had live entertainment and a guy came around and gave me the microphone during his song and I belted out "aye yay yay yay Canta y no llores" as loud as I could. It was awesome. Everyone at our table was laughing super hard....I didn't even hesitate when he came over I just grabbed the mic with both hands and went for it. I loved it. This place was pretty over priced...and the service wasn't to great but...they had the most amazing salsa...and our dinner...

It doesn't look to good...a hot rock stone with shrimp, steak, chicken, onions, tons of cheese and a delish sauce. All to put in fresh tortillas. I thought it was so good.
Rob and I watching something on the ocean. Probably this...
The boys playing boche ball, they would play most nights...funny the girls were never invited...well I guess someone has to watch the kids. This is what A LOT of my vacation looked like. I spent quite some time playing games. Here we are playing fill or bust...a fun dice game.
Linh and I playing ticket to ride...a REALLY fun game. We played this all day long.
My boys and the sunset, I hope they realize how lucky they are.
Cortney and I at sunset.
We all also spent a lot of time reading...and relaxing in the sun.
My dad doing more reading.



Oliver close up. duh.
My dad is an awesome cook. Here he is making dinner for us on New Years Eve, It would usually be yummier than eating out. We (the boices) stayed at my parents house most of the time...(we stayed there from dec 18th through Jan 2...then from Jan 2 to the 7th we stayed at the Marina El Cid and then on the 7th it was back to mom and dad's until the 10th). We were lucky to stay with them because my dad would make us breakfast lunch and dinner. I was really sad to come back to real life and not have my daddy cooking for me.
New Years Eve...We put a timer to go off at midnight.
Cort, Kyle and Joey...golfing.
The group at Margarita's...a place we had never been before. They had good ribs...Cortney and I got lobster and it was pretty good also.

how's it gonna be when you don't know me...

I know it is bad...and wrong...but missions make me sad. I of course am happy that people go and I know it is the right thing but...still it sucks. I found out that my parents are leaving on their mission to LIMA PERU on the 28th (monday). They didn't think their visas would be ready and thought they would have a couple of weeks here in Utah before they left. But noooo. I am not ready.

mom and dad on the Guatemala trip at the temple

And as you all know Mike went into the MTC on Dec 12th. It was so sad to see him go. I felt so so sad for his girlfriend or his friend that is a girl...when my missionary left that was some of the worst and most destructive time of my life. So missions make me sad...I know I need to get over it and stop being so dramatic...and after this I will.

This picture is of Cousin Ace, Cousin Danny, Lucy (mike's friend that is a girl...hahaa, she is adorable), Mike and Cousin Corbin. The Sunday before Mike left. They came to stake conference with me.

Mike and Mom and FroGram...She looks so sad.

But on a positive side...I got a letter from Mike last night. He is such a good kid. I have always been good friends with him. He is making me really proud. He wrote...

"I am still doing awesome however. As of yesterday I know all spanish tenses. I pretty much know spanish. Haha not really but I feel comfortable enough. I think I could get by in a foreign country, totally immersed in the language. I hope my first companion is a native that doesn't know english....I don't think I have anything else to say.....church is true, keep it street."

So in the end...I am glad that my parents and Mike are going on missions. And I am proud too...I know it isn't easy to serve a mission.

arrghh...

It is 1 in the morning. I don't know why I am still up. In the morning I have to get up early..and drive to Salt Lake (in tons of snow) to go to the doctor. I am so grateful for the doctor but I still don't like going. It would be fun if I maybe had a babysitter and Cortney and I could go, and then eat in the cafeteria after (I love hospital food....I can't help myself). Plus I have to have like five million little tubes of blood drawn. Every six weeks I have to. But tomorrow is worse than usual because I have to do 4 tubes extra that they couldn't do last time. Sorry to complain but...I almost pass out everytime and I am all alone and sometimes I would just like someone there to hold my hand.

the rundown

My first installment on our trip to MAZ....enjoy.

We left for Mazatlan on Tuesday December 18th. Cali drove us to the airport at 4:15 a.m. Man thank goodness for sisters. I felt so bad that the flight was so early. We had a wonderful couple of flights to Maz...and the kids were really good despite being tired. Both Oli and Rob slept from Phoenix to Mazatlan. It really was ideal. And oh what a sight for sore eyes when we walked through customs and there were my mom and dad. Not only were they waiting for us but they had fresh hot bread from a bakery by their house and we downed it as fast as we could.

I just have to say that I love mazatlan. It feels like home to me.

We spent the next couple of days lounging around the beach and my parents house. Rob on Saturday had a SUPER fever. It was scary. Then the next day every surface in his mouth was covered by kanker sores. he was miserable. Not sleeping or eating. It was really hard. He did however love to swim so when he was awake he would swim.Here is Oli's first feel of the ocean. Needless to say he loved it and regardless of how cold it was he would go in the ocean everyday.
Rob was obsessed with the parasailer's he would sit an watch forever.
Me and Rob playing in the sand.
Rob swimming. He is wearing a swim diaper. I had a swimsuit to go over but I was too lazy and it just seemed of no use. I think he looked adorable in his speedo.
My sunburn from the first day. ouch...


Robbie hand feeding the turtles a tortilla.
Now Oli's turn this time with a burnt cookie.
Here we are heading back...the kids were obsessed with the turtles. Rob would wake up in the morning and say "tuhootah"...and she would say "cheeto? no... Um potato...no??" Finally we realized what he was saying and that is all he would say.

Sam and Kyle and us on their first official day. Doesn't that look like fun??

Slowly but surely my brothers and sisters started coming. First Sam and Kyle and the twins on the 22nd. Then Justin and Angelique and Isaac and Linh on the 23rd and the Emig clan on the 24th.

We spent Christmas eve around the pool at the Inn at Mazatlan. My dad had a wonderful place that opened up right to the pool and the ocean. It had three bedrooms and 3 baths. It was awesome.
Here is the Inn at Mazatlan. I have been staying there since I was like 14 or so. Maybe younger. All of the same people still work there. I love this place. The two lines point to the rooms we had. They were right a ground level and had a private patio with sliding glass doors opening up to the ocean. (Emigs, Millers, and Shane stayed here).
Here is the patio...it was really convenient because the babies (all 5 of them) would be sleeping inside and we would be lounging out side.

Isaac and Linh and Justin and Angelique were down the road at Mayan Sea Garden. Anyways...right when Cali and her fam came Oliver was so excited to have someone to play with. They were all running around looking at the pools and Oliver fell in to the deep pool (I wasn't around him too). Carolina tried to help him out. Luckily our friend Shane was right there and saved them. When Carolina heard him ask "who's watching these kids??" She said, "I am". Classic Carolina. Anyways. we were really lucky to get through the whole trip SAFELY.

We ate dinner that night all together (all 21 of us) at El Bamboo. One of our favorite places.
We went everywhere all together in the suburban. It was awesome.
Then home for the nativity...Oli Ty and Jack were wise men. So cute. We had to make due with my mom's beach cover ups for costumes...luckily she has like a million.




Here we are in our Christmas PJ's. How fun. Kate isn't in the picture because she was sleeping. Man this is all my kids will let me post in one day. I will post the rest of the trip later.

It's the best day ever

One year ago Joey gave Cali a Christmas present. A ingenious Christmas present. That present was a spa day for Cali and a "friend". So all year Cali and I talked about this spa day probably at least once a week if not more. We were so excited to go get it. But for some reason or another...busy husbands, babies, weddings, family trips...ect...we couldn't ever find a time when we could both go...and our husbands could watch the kids. Well today was finally the day.

We started out at 10:45 1st Cali went in for a massage, while I had a facial. After that we swapped. Ohhh....let me tell you this massage therapist was GOOD. We got a real creepy rub in Mazatlan so this took the memory of that out of my head for good. We got the spa day at Dallas Robert's Salon in Orem...and this girl Kallie...was awesome. I definitely recommend her. She was one of the best I've ever had. After the massage and facials we went and had pedicures done. After that was a hair wash, blow dry and style...followed by make-up application. We were done at 3:15. 4 Hours of pure bliss. It felt SOOOO indulgent. What a great Saturday. And an even better present. Honestly...it has made our year. It is fun to have something to look forward to and we always did.

Thanks Joey...we had a great day.

So here are some pictures...I think they are funny because we both have WAY more makeup on then we would ever wear normally. I told Cali that I looked like Jessie Spano from saved by the bell, on the way home.
happy
serious.

yuck

I just went in to check on oli and he had thrown up all over the place and didn't even wake up. How sad. Sad for him and for me. I know that sounds bad...but who really does like cleaning up throw up??

my kind of romance

things that are romantic to me...

1.  seeing Cortney teach magic tricks to his scouts.  

2.  a husband that sees that my sonic care toothbrush is low on batteries...and puts it in the charger.  

I have it pretty good. 

lights out

So not last night but the night before...Oliver spent throwing up. He is such a happy sick person. He made every single throw up in the toilet. And the next morning he was pretty happy the whole day. When he was a baby...I would never know that he had ear infections and such because he would never complain. He is a good boy.

Cali and I hung out the whole day and then Cortney and I and Shane and Cali...got together to watch American Idol and eat take out. It was fun. Then we drove home at around 10:30 and all of the houses on the drive home had no lights on. It was weird. There was a huge black out that effected a lot of Orem's west side. When we got home the lights had been out for an hour and the house was alredy 62 degrees. We didn't know what to do as the blackout hotline said we could expect the power on by 6:00 a.m. We ended up all crawling into our king bed with tons of covers. Luckily the power came back on around 2 or 3 a.m. so we didn't get to cold. It was kinda exciting...and then kinda boring. There really is NOTHING to do without power. It really made me think, "just how prepared are we". I did find candles and flashlights right away...but we didn't have an extra heat source and that can be dangerous. I do however have 6 weeks worth of those like army type meals. They cook up with these little charcoal packets that come with them. Of course...that isn't really the emergency essentials we will ever need. There is something about crisis that I always think will be exciting...like last night I thought...wouldn't it be great if the power stayed off for like four days. Then I come to my senses and realize it wouldn't be great. Or when I bought my emergency meals...I thought...I hope the bird flu does come so I get to use these...I know that is sick. I changed my mind real quick though.

like mother like son

I am a scaredy cat. Oli is too. Tonight he got spooked (there were some aliens on a show he was watching...I knew he shouldn't watch it but I went in to check it out and they were dancing and didn't seem scary to me). He said to me as he went to bed "if someone kills me...you have to kill them". Then again after he brushed his teeth he said he need dad's gun (I know that sounds horrible...but just so you know...yes Cortney has guns but...they are in a safe...and the ammo is in another separate safe and the kids NEVER see the guns) I feel bad that he is scared.
another way Oli is like me...he can't help but strike a pose.

scary

Cortney was carrying Rob out to the car yesterday morning for church. He slipped and fell and Rob went flying and landed head first on the cement. They were both laid out on the ground and covered in snow. It really freaked Cortney out. He was so sad the rest of the day. Rob was okay. Just scared. He had a super padded hood on so he didn't even get a goose egg. I felt really bad for Cort...because he felt so bad.
cort and Rob and the ocean.

I am just really glad they were both okay.

We have been gone for so long so it was weird going back to our ward. Oliver is now a CTR 5. WHAT???? How can he be that old. I taught CTR 5 when he was 2 years old. I thought those kids were so old. His teacher is amazingly awesome. He is really lucky. Also...an answer to my prayers. Oli's teacher's Mom is now in the nursery. She is amazing. The old nursery workers didn't want me to leave Rob in there if he was crying. So of course I was in nursery every week and when I would sneak out and he would cry they would bring him to me 10 minutes later. This new lady is awesome...she turned to me and said "you can go...I am really good at distracting them when they cry" Oh man...that is so what I needed to hear. She really really is an answer to prayers. Rob stayed the whole time without us...and well he wasn't crying the WHOLE time. He saw Oli walking in the hall and started crying but I think it went pretty well. I am thrilled. Plus we are studying the Book of Mormon in sunday school, so there is no better time for me to not have to be in nursery anymore.

It was great seeing all of my Young Women again. They are choice girls. They really are.

I thought I would post a couple more of Robbie pictures...
Robbie crawled out of his pack n' play (yes my 2 year old still sleeps in a pack n' play) and onto Oli's bed (in mexico) I was so surprised when I went back to check on him. I hardly ever see him sleeping so I thought this was so cute.
I am posting this picture for my dad...He made us a boat load of sandwiches...for the airport. Here is Robbie loving it.


I had to post this picture because my legs have NEVER been this tan. Now I know that isn't saying much. My skin isn't alabaster white by choice...I get hives in the sun. But for some reason this trip I didn't...and I got kinda tan...almost as tan as Cortney.
This is a picture that really depicts my vacation. Here I am reading in sweats with a roll on the couch next to me. DOES LIFE GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT?? (notice no kids to be seen)