Favorites Day 23 - In Laws

 Apparently we haven't all been together since 2009! This was SO fun to see everyone!

I'm pretty confident not everyone can list in-laws as one of their 'favorites,'

so that makes me extra lucky!:)

We spent President's Day weekend together, not far from our home - in Oceanside, CA.

The Crosland 'kids.'

Grandkids in order, minus baby Logan.

Carly flew in before everyone else

so we had a couple of days to go to the beach and Disneyland!!

We went to Strands and the tide was way low so we were lucky to get to see some starfish...first time in California!

 Carly is such a cool aunt - she swam with the kids! I didn't touch the water, it's way too cold.

In fact, I was cold just sitting on the beach dry and in my sweatshirt! 

 In between the fun we had a Valentine's Day party for Macey's preschool.

We decorated sugar cookies, decorated huge vday envelopes and exchanged valentine's and had a few lessons.

But let's be honest, I'm not super woman, it was a little chaotic.

Luckily the kids just have fun being together. Back to the other party...

We went on Space Mountain - Macey's first time and she loved it!

Tyler made it to Disneyland and told us he just came to an 85 degree temp difference. Yikes!

We saw the parade. I'm so glad we stayed for it. Mackayla was so enchanted with it again.

I realized my kids have never seen Mary Poppins too...we rented it this weekend!

 She totally fell asleep like this for at least an hour.

 Macey had really wanted to try beignets - they are in The Princess and the Frog. They have some at New Orleans Square and we got some just as they were closing with Jeff.

 Friday we headed down to Oceanside with the whole crew and checked into our hotel. We were close to the harbor and beach.

 Grandma gave the kids awesome valentine's - money to get whatever they wanted at Sea World and the San Diego Zoo.

We got to see Baby Logan.

 When we finally made it to our room 

San Diego Temple is so pretty, I can't wait to go!

Park and other adventures next--

So many little children in one place is so chaotic, but it was great to finally all be together and we are grateful we had the opportunity - thanks Bonnie and Jeff!

We really feel blessed to have such an awesome family.

We wish we/you were closer!

Favorites Day 22 - Shopping! For food :p

It's forever later but I still have more favorites:)

Grocery Shopping-

It's the thing I dread the most.

But, here are my favorites from my least favorite job.

Trader Joe's is my favorite store.

I don't make it there as often as I would like

because one stop shopping at Target

and bulk shopping at Costco

are so nice.

Here's some things to try at Trader Joe's:

They have freezer garlic.

Just pop out one minced "clove" when cooking. I LOVE this.

 We discovered Mochi on our way to Hawaii from a local. It's a Hawaiian treat made from rice. So we had to try this ice cream at Cody's birthday. It's way good!!!

We tried Macaroni and Cheese Balls last time we went there and they are amazing.

 Yogurt, milk and eggs are all staples at our house. We drink way too much milk. But it's good.

They are good prices for around here and they have awesome yogurt.

Trader Joe's has tons of cheeses that are fun to try, supposedly the best cream, great cheap spices, awesome inexpensive cereal, and tons of candy that looks amazing. The dark chocolate peanut butter cups I hear are the best! I love dark chocolate - they only have dark. (Trader Joe's has no artificial flavors or colors and no preservatives in their Trader Joe's brand foods.) I also want to try their face wash.

I am wondering why I'm enjoying writing this so much.

I have no idea. Trader Joe's sure isn't paying me.

I get frozen fruit, frozen meat, and snacks at Costco and usually dairy stuff too. My kids love Costco the most -for snacks obviously!

We go to a persian market nearby for produce. It's like stepping into another country and I love it. A week's worth of TONS and TONS of produce is never more than $15.

Finally, Albertson's is by far the most expensive and, of course, the closest. Their latest promotion Monopoly is so fun to play...

We had to stop at Michael's on our last trip out and about and I had no idea they had such cool boy toys. Cody would go crazy over their fierce dragons!

So many options! I wish one of them had everything:)

Birthday Seven

The most anticipated day of the month for Cody came yesterday...his birthday!

He woke up at 3 am so excited to open his presents. I wasn't aware of that, but I did hear him around 6 when he couldn't wait any more!

 He stays pretty true to his size and about a month ago he started growing out of all his clothes and shoes.

 He was so sweet about his cake. I had the best idea. I cooked a cake in a silver mixing bowl and turned it over and cut out a slit for a shark mouth to make a shark head coming out of water. I should have looked at a picture of a shark. The cake ended up looking more like a dolphin but Cody reassured me several times that he loved it and it totally looked like a shark. So, it's all good.

I put swedish fish in its mouth and the teeth were white card stock.

It was such a good idea, in theory.

 I took Cody to Disneyland Friday night. Cody was too excited to wait for the tram at the parking lot so we had to run there! We ventured over to California Adventure. It wasn't overly crowded and that was a nice change. We went on California Screamin - twice. Cody loves that ride! I got a little sick:). Then we went on the Cars Racers. It was a 45 minute wait and apparently that is nothing. Ugh. It was such a cute ride though and we stood in line by the cutest family. Once they heard it was Cody's birthday they gave him drinks and treats galore, which was nice -Cody was thirsty. Last we hit up Soarin over California and then called it a night.

Cody mentioned that it was so nice not to have the girls with us fighting. Is it terrible to admit it was?! Mackayla is two. Two is terrible. Sweet and terrible. And it was nice to be so free. I had no bags, no stroller and free hands. AMAZING! I loved hanging out with this fun guy. This is the only picture I took at the Cars ride!

 Ben took Cody to get ice cream the next day.

He also got a new chess set.

 and a water swimming shark.

Random-

Cody's school has no parking lot, except for the teachers.

This is an elementary and it has no parking for parents. I'm confused as to how they even got these plans approved, but whatever. We walk to get Cody each afternoon and Mackayla just beams every time he comes out of class.

She was sporting these awesome shoes. She insisted on wearing them, ah!

We're having his official shark party with Ben's family when they come visit!

Weekend

I love weekends.

Especially this one.

Saturday highlights went like this:

cleaning the church

(Macey was my awesome bathroom cleaning helper!)

soccer

park

birthday party

(cute road rally theme and the kids rode bikes)

baseball (first day!)

park

dinner

Sweet and sour chicken and fried rice. Easy and Good.

DATE

Sunday highlights:

fasting for rain

church

cooking good food

Superbowl

Eating good food

Nap

church meetings

It Rained!

 Random phone pictures...

 Superbowl!

Food: 7 layer dip, cream cheese and salsa with crackers, pear pita pizza (try this, NOW), Lemon Crepes, and kale chips (new favorite).

Cody cheered for Seahawks.

Ben cheered for Broncos.

Cody routinely let Ben know the score and reminded him he was cheering for the wrong team.

I really wanted to watch half time but I fell asleep. This is only noteworthy because I'm not sure I've taken a good nap SINCE I'VE HAD children. I still got in some good plays and good commercials:)

DATE

We haven't been on a date since we moved here, so we were overdue. We went to Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas with a gift card from Christmas. $40 for a movie...but look at the seats! They recline too! And menus and waiters.
Fun.

And we saw an awesome movie...Jack Ryan. New FAVORITE of the year!

Cody has finally noticed Ben and I kissing and today he asked why we always kiss and said it was gross:)
Macey called Mackayla "Baby" as an insult this weekend. Mackayla was so insulted that when Ben came in ten minutes later Mackayla went and told on Macey again. Do not tell Mackayla she is a Baby. (But she's still my baby.)

Next up this week: Teaching preschool...

Favorites Day 21 - Fresh

We had a mini tea party this morning.

With our new All Sass'd Up necklaces

from Marci Coombs' giveaway.

So Cute!!!!

 Our lemonade was made with fresh lemons we picked and Macey's mint that we grew. It was sooo good! 

 This isn't a normal time of year for me to be thinking about growing veggies, but here you plant once around early April and then again around October.
And it's the perfect time for oranges and lemons.

I love growing fresh vegetables and fruit. 

Someday, someday, I will have my very own garden and fruit trees.

 For now, we will see if we can get a community garden plot and enjoy the oranges and lemons in our neighborhood.

 There's something so rewarding about planting your own garden and actually getting things to grow.

And eating them!

My favorites are peas, raspberries, fresh salsa, strawberries.

Maybe I'll even be able to grow our own salad next year:)