Soccer Game

We signed Charles up to play soccer this spring and he started practice a week or so ago. He has really enjoyed practicing especially since his cousin Nathan is on his team. They have a blast together and are learning the basics of the game. This past Saturday was their first game. Charles and Nathan did great!!!! The first half Charles played goalie (which he has NEVER done before, not even at practice.) Most of the balls went right past him and into the goal, but Daddy was standing close by to give him some advice. The second half he got to play on the field. They don't play positions, they all just run for the ball and attempt to score. Charles had a good time but got a little tired running up and down the field. I think he'll get used to it. John really enjoyed watching and cheering for him. John's sisters and mom were there to cheer them on too. At the end of the game John and his family started a tunnel for the kids. And soon all the parents joined it. The kids LOVED it!!!! It was a great first game! I guess I can say we have officially entered the world of kids sports...here's to many more years of week night practices and all day Saturday games!!!

Finally an Ultrasound

We have been waiting weeks for Kaiser to finally schedule our Ultrasound. And the time finally came for the appointment. Yesterday we went in for the appointment and I brought John and the kids along because I thought the kids would enjoy it. (Charles went to my last Doctors appointment and got to hear the babies heart beat and thought it was so cool, so I knew they would like this.) At first they didn't let John and the kids in and I was really worried they wouldn't. I'm new to this Kaiser thing and they have more rules than I expected. The ultrasound tech said she would allow them to come in once she was done get all the info and pictures she needed. After waiting in the waiting area (away from the lobby area where John and the kids where) it was finally my turn. Poor John was in the lobby not knowing if he and the kids would be joining me. The ultrasound tech took what seemed like forever to get all that she needed. Partly because the baby did not want to flip over. Which hopefully means this one is MUCH calmer then my other two. So John and the kids finally got to come in probably after about 45 minutes of waiting in the lobby. The kids were excited to see the screen and tried to make out the ultrasound. I think Charles got most excited when he saw the feet. (They were the most distinguishable part.) So the verdict is............................

We are having a GIRL!!!!!!!!
Just as I expected. Not sure why, but I have thought for several weeks now that it would be a girl. Which is great because my brother's wife is having a girl the end of May and one of my good friends is having a girl in June. So this new baby girl, whatever her name ends up being will have a close cousin and friend.

We HAVE Blinds!!!

I am so excited, we FINALLY got blinds for our house.

Long story short, the previous owners took the blinds and forgot to exclude them from the contract, so we took them to small claims court and we won! So we ordered our blinds and they were just installed today!
We have not gotten payment from the judgment but that will come with time. When it comes to the legal system, nothing is ever quick and easy.
So here are some updated photos of the house with our blinds.



Our Master bedroom looks so much bigger now without all the sheets and blankets in the windows. I LOVE It!

What we've been up to...(beware picture overload)

Playing at Disneyland

John's sister, Jennie goes ALL out for St. Patrick's day. She invited us all over and made dinner with everything green she could think of. The main course was pizza with green dough. And she even had some crafts for the kids to do. The kids had a great time as they always do with their cousins. I enjoyed a great night at our ward Relief Society meeting while John joined the kids at the party.


The Burke's recently got some boxing gloves and the kids enjoyed playing with them.


Madison loves coloring, especially with Chalk. But recently she has been coloring on her forehead. She usually doesn't color on the rest of her face, just her forehead. It's quite silly!

Our Ward did a hike up Mt. Rubidoux the weekend before Easter and then had a little devotional and egg hunt for the kids once we got to the top. We had never been to Mt. Rubidoux and weren't sure what to expect. Luckily we had one of the strollers in the car, it was a 2 mile hike each way. Luckily the path was paved. It was really Beautiful. But it was REALLY windy!!! We will have to do the hike again soon. The kids enjoyed it.


Charles LOVES playing games on the computer. His favorite sites are PBS kids and Nick Jr.

Our Sleeping Beauty, we take Any Nap we can get, messy face and ALL!

Some friends from our ward invited us to a Easter party on Friday. It was so nice, they live in student family housing and the apartments faced in and there was a large grass courtyard area with bike trails for the kids. There were tons of outside toys to play with. The kids had a blast. They also had a egg hunt for the kids and an egg toss for the adults. John and I won the egg toss. It was really fun!


Then Madison got my camera and was taking pictures of John and I while at the party.

For General Conference we set up a table and chairs for the kids and put several of their favorite snacks out. We also printed some conference activity pages for them to do. They actually did pretty well for the 1st session on Saturday morning. The rest of the sessions we watched with our families and weren't as concerned about having the kids sit for it. They are only 4 and 2, I think one session is good for now.

Saturday night we celebrated Easter with John's family. We watched afternoon conference and had an egg hunt for the kids. Then ate some yummy dinner while the men went to priesthood.
(The Easter bunny filled the baskets of all the cousins while we were there but the Easter bunny told me he was going to come to our house that night while the kids slept so he could hide their baskets in the house.)





The kids enjoyed playing with some Jell-O in between conference sessions.


The kids waiting on the step to go find their Easter baskets.

Madison found hers very quickly. It had "The Princess and the Frog" DVD and candy in it. Of course she went straight for the candy.

Charles' basket had soccer gear in it and candy. The soccer ball was hiding on the shelf below. He saw that first and then saw his basket hiding behind a picture frame. He said the Easter bunny gave him a clue by putting the ball on the shelf below were it could be seen better.
The kids with their baskets!