Thirty, flirty and thriving.

I had one of the best birthdays in a long time. Let me tell you why my birthday week was so great, which by the way everyone should celebrate the entire week like I do:

• I achieved my first small weight loss goal. I set it for myself to get to by my 30th birthday.


• Some of my girlfriends kidnapped me and took me out to dinner at The Olive Garden (one of my favorites) and then shopping at Ross. (So much fun.)


• I had a fun lunch at Old Grist Mill with friends the day before my b-day.


• I got to celebrate the entire weekend with my hubby, kid-free thanks to our parents, in Las Vegas with a bunch of friends. Shopping, German food, and lots of good times.


• I got an awesome Bissell steam mop from my in-laws, it cleans my tile faster and better than being on my knees scrubbing by hand. (Which by the way, was the best way to clean my tile.)


• My parents took Colby and I to dinner at Paradise Cafe & Bakery and added some spending cash to my card. Thanks!

So, it turns out that this age is not so intimidating. Thank you to all who made it so great; the surprises, gifts, cards, well wishes and time spent with me. I love you all.

I have to give myself some credit for all the things I have accomplished by 30:

• Married my best friend.
• Lived out of Utah for 6 years and loved it.
• Given birth to 3 beautiful boys.
• Bought a condo, sold a condo.
• Have no car payments.
• Bought a home, maintaining a home. (Phew!)
• Finally got my ears pierced.

If you are finally at the end of this post, I apologize for the self-congratulations. I had a bad Wednesday and needed to post something positive. Kind of my gratitude journal.

Camping in Lava Ranch

We had been wanting to go camping all summer long. But with Colby's deadline schedule and crazy work hours, it has made it impossible. We finally snuck away for one night the 1st of August. My mom's side of the family owns some property in Lava Ranch, Idaho. (Near Lava Hot Springs, for those who don't know.) We invited a bunch of people to go with us. In the end Colby's parents, brother Ty, nephew Xavier and our good friend Doug were available to go along on our adventure. We headed out Saturday evening after all were finished with work. Again, Tristan whined the whole drive. We have never had such a terrible traveler, I am beginning to wonder if he gets car sick. Luckily none of us needed to set up tents when we got there. We had permission from two of my aunts to use their camping trailers. All equipped with bathrooms. Woot! We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner. And had good chats around the fire. It was a warm night, I don't know that many of us slept in our sleeping bags. Ty decided to sleep in the bed of their truck, while the rest of us enjoyed mattresses. Although, I heard that Braxton ended up on the floor in front of a bathroom door in the other trailer. I guess Xavi hogged the bed they were supposed to share. He didn't seem to mind though, he was just so excited to be camping. My father-in-law cooked up a swell breakfast of pancakes, while we munched on not-ripe-enough cantaloupe. The kids played, while some of us took naps. Braxton and Xavi practiced with bow and arrows. While Gabe was on the swing and Tristan in the sandbox. There was an incident of Xavi leading Braxton and Gabe off into the forest, but luckily after a 15-20 minute search by Colby and Ty they were found. (I was freaking out, one of the longest stretches of minutes as of yet. It's a steep bit of forest, next to a water source on the mountain.) We then traveled into Lava Hot Springs for some swimming. Colby, Ty and I stayed with the boys at the big swimming pool with great water slides, while their parents journeyed off to soak in the hot springs. Back at camp, we had a quick dinner and packed up camp. All of us wanted to stay more nights, but work awaited most the next day. This has inspired us all that we need to do this more often. And, Colby and I love that our kids are such great campers.

Tristan after playing in the dirt around the campfire.

Gabe just waking up and posing for me on his upper bunk.

Tristan still asleep on his lower bunk, scrunched in the corner for some odd reason.

Snuggling with a still sleeping dad.

Stick boys: Xavier and Gabe.

Uncle Ty hiding in his cave of sleeping bags in the bed of his truck.

Colby emerging from the trailer, ready for some breakfast.

Braxton and Xavi couldn't bear to part from their Nintendo DS for one day. (I tried to stop the socks with sandals incident, but to no avail.)

Ty chillaxin' in the sun.

Tristan kicking back with a snack.

Tristan being a big boy, dragging a stick, and Grumpa Koch watching from behind.

Ears pierced, at last!

Okay, so....I met my friends Kim and Jo at Pizzatopia today. And we had a great chat, the kids played, I ate, and my boys argued with me about eating their food of course. Then, somehow we got on the subject of piercing ears, and I mentioned that I STILL hadn't done it. Before I moved back to Utah, these gals had been trying to drag me out and finally get it done. I had always been wanting to buy some earrings that Kim sells from Silpada Designs. Well, finally Kim got all giggly and clapped while she said, "Let's do it right now, before you go home tomorrow!". So, we packed up the kids and ran over to Claire's. I got all nervous and sweaty. We picked out some very "RaeAnne" star studs, and I signed the paperwork. I feel as though another chapter in my life has started, isn't it silly?! Here I am getting stabbed. After. The instigators!

Oh yeah, I forgot...

My friend Sheri reminded me that while at McDonald's with her Wednesday, we saw two guys on horses (in Thousand Oaks, CA no less) ride up to the drive-thru and order food. She said when she pulled into her parking space they were just leaving. Crazy! I took a picture of it with my phone, I had left the camera in my car. The picture isn't good quality, so I won't hurt your eyes by adding it. But I giggled about that for a bit, and Tristan kept running to the windows to see them, my little animal lover.

Another vacation update...

Tuesday we went to the beach again. It was an awesome day, we arrived there at 10:07am (to be exact) and stayed until 3pm. It was overcast most of the day, which made the weather perfect. The last two hours warmed up and made the sand burn our feet. You know how when your a mom, you always take care of your kids first and you last, if at all. Well, I had a problem with that this day. I made sure the kids all got sunblock on the entire bodies. But, me....not so much. I had Colby spray me down when I dropped him off at work on our way, but there must have been sand or something stuck in the spray nozzle. I thought I was getting sprayed, and I covered the rest of me after the kids were done when we got there. But, my sunblock must have mostly just been spraying cold air with sunblock only here and there. Granted, it was an old canister. I came home with the most ridiculous sun burn ever. Speckled and striped is what I am calling it. And.....I didn't remember my face at all! So, I have the opposite image of my sunglasses imprinted on my face for awhile. It's extremely embarrassing. Oh well, such is the life of a mother having an airhead moment. But, hey! My kids were completely protected the whole day. Woot! We had such a great time playing in the water and sand, especially with the Toones there. Thanks for joining us guys!

After a shower and some naps, we headed down to Thousand Oaks to meet up at the Hoffmeier home. We shared some dinner, and the kids all had a great time playing together while we chatted. Thankfully, Colby got away from the office for a bit to enjoy this time with us.

Paul and Blanca Hoffmeier, Eliza Toone, and Colby.

Wednesday we chilled out in the room for the first half of the day, then hit one of my favorite places for lunch: The Habit. And then...over to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. Mmmm...cake batter ice cream with fudge and brownies mixed in. (Sorry for that brief Homer Simpson moment, it won't happen again.) After quiet time, we met up with our friends the Foster's for some play time at McDonald's. The kids hadn't had enough time to burn energy, so on the way back to the hotel we stopped at one of our favorite places: Coyote Park. Notice that B isn't wearing his glasses, he accidentally stepped on them and bent them.This is where we used to have park day every week before we moved back to Utah. Then my friend Jo called and invited us over for homemade chicken enchiladas. Of course my picky kids didn't eat, but I thoroughly enjoyed every bite.

Today we had a date to meet up with Jo and her kids again. We found this place in Oak Park called Fo-Fo Figgily's and/or Bright Child. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Much better than Chuck E. Cheese. The website said that part of the new movie "Imagine That" was filmed there. It had one gigantic, and a couple small, play structures inside, like those at McDonald's. It also had a big kids basketball room, and a little kids basketball room. Nice shot, Gabe! And Tristan scores as well!

A fire truck near the food area for the kids to climb on. A soft Lego pit. An arcade, a couple electric keyboards for kids to play, and a huge fish tank. Did I forget anything? Maybe, but who cares, we (me included) could have played there all day long if not for a much needed nap time. Robert and Braxton shooting foam balls at us on the bottom level. Everything is proportioned for little guys. Even in the bathrooms, the toilets and sinks. Carly and Gabe at lunch. (Only 3 weeks separate these kiddos in age.) Robert and Braxton enjoying there food. (You would never know that B is older.) G and T putting some foam balls. Braxton enjoying the zip line, while Tristan waits for his turn. Tristan, Carly, Rob and Braxton lined up for the basket up top to dump foam balls on them. Rob started this trend, it made fun that lasted quite awhile.

Later, Colby came home for 2 hours to have dinner with us at the Simi Towne Center (a big outdoor mall).

Of course it's not all fun and games with us right now. There have been multiple melt-downs, fights, punching and injuries. But, I have chosen to only post the positive on this blog. Kinda like a gratitude journal. I am too much of a negative person. If I used this site to vent, you would get done reading it, and think I was a terrible mother. So, we just post the positive and other major events in our lives, and that helps me forget the trials and frustration that come with being a parent. Okay, enough of that. Way too serious. I shall be back with more of our week, when there is more to report. TTFN: Ta Ta For Now!

First Week of our Trip.

We left Gabe's birthday party last Tuesday night, about 8:45pm, to set out on our long drive. A stop at Paradise Cafe & Bakery in Bountiful eased our growling stomachs. If you haven't eaten their, try it next time your in that area, it's amazing! We had changed the boys into PJs back at the Layton Classic Fun Center, so we were ready to drive all night long. Braxton and Gabe settled in nicely, but we soon realized that again Tristan was not going to let this trip be easy. Every time we stopped to switch drivers or get gas, he woke up and screamed until about 5 minutes before our next stop. The two older boys found a way to sleep through it, Colby listened to his iPod, and I found a set of earplugs that I bought on a whim before we left North Ogden, smart move on my part. Colby finally decided that he was going to drive the majority of the trip, just to avoid waking the little bugger up again. This was one reason I was happy for Colby's weird sleeping habits, he was wide awake all the way until about 5am. Do you know what is so wonderful about having all boys? When you have passed a bathroom stop, or the gas station restroom is broken and all locked up, you can just pull over inconspicuously and let them drop their drawers. It's such a relief! We arrived in Simi Valley at 7:20am their time. A car full of sweaty, cranky and sleepy people, just to find out that the hotel messed up and didn't have our room reserved for Tuesday so that we could check-in Wednesday morning, like they told us they would. Nope, we had to hang out until 2pm before we could unpack the car and shower. So, we crashed in on our friends the Toones' just as they were getting ready to leave for their last day of school. They left and we napped on their couches until the Hotel called Colby to say our room was ready. What a day! I ended up dropping him off at work, then coming back to get settled into our home away from home for the next two weeks.

That evening I had a dinner date planned with some friends from my previous ward. We were all in the Young Women's presidency together before I moved, and we have a tradition that we follow when I come in town. We find sitters and hit my favorite Mongolian BBQ called Wok-n-South, after we gorge ourselves there we head to the Cheesecake Factory in The Oaks mall for some dessert. It was a fun night, though I have to apologize to my girls, I was so tired. I kinda just stared off into space and listened to their chatter.

Thursday me and the boys hit the beach. We met our friend MaryAnn there and soaked up the sun and surf. We had so much fun, and had a seagull try to take off with our ENTIRE bag of giant Cheetos. Tristan had left a couple of unattended cheetos on our beach blanket and the gull gulped them down quickly. He decided that those were heavenly and waited until we were down by the water for his next venture. He actually got off the ground with the bag in his beak as I chased after him. I ended up just trashing it, he had pecked a bunch of holes into it, trying to get to the cheesy good stuff. We all had a good chuckle over it and Tristan kept chasing any gull saying, "Naughty, naughty." Braxton and Tristan fell asleep on the way back from Malibu, but Gabe just chattered on talking about his day and the 3 tunnels we drive through on the way. We stopped in Thousand Oaks to drop off some money to a teenager that watched my kids a ton for me last August. She was here to attend high school for a year, and was heading back to Mexico the next day. Tristan loves his dear Allejandra, and she was so surprised to see him walking and so big.

Friday we loitered around the room, did some shopping, and then hit the pool after nap time. Pretty easy going.

Saturday we headed off to the Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark after we dropped Colby off at work. It was the busiest we had ever seen it. Tristan was glad to be somewhere that he could walk everywhere. He is also my animal lover, so he was in heaven. Braxton and Gabe were excited to ride the Cow Train and the large electric train that they have there. The cow train was actually fun for all of us though. They took us on a tour of the farm behind a tractor. We saw all sorts of fields of berries, and fruit trees. There was this great wall of sunflowers too. It started lightly raining as we were playing at the playground so I loaded the kids up in the car with a movie while I bought some fresh produce to make our lunch with. We always look forward to fresh fruits and veggies after the farm. We napped again after lunch and then I dropped them off at the Toone home while I went to attend a stamp camp. This was something I looked forward to monthly when I was selling Stampin' Up! A bunch of ladies get together to stamp projects that are prepared already, eat and chat with each other. It's a blast, although the name is a bit corny. Braxton was invited to sleep over at the Toone's home with his friend Lucas, so when I was done stamping I just took the other two back to the hotel and tucked them in.

Father's Day we slept in a bit, since our breakfast at the hotel is served until 10am on this day of the week. We also got Colby all to ourselves finally, he had been going to work between 9-9:30am every day(including Saturday) and coming home anywhere between 10pm and midnight. That is a heavy work week for him. We went to pick up B after we ate, and gave Colby his Father's Day gifts there. Then we visited with Rob and Eliza and kids until we all decided to head to the Thousand Oaks mall for some lunch and checking out the renovations made since our last visit. It's gigantic and gorgeous. Back at the hotel we got in the pool again.

So far today, I have washed dishes, gone to the laundromat, hit Costco, and cleaned up all the crap scattered all over our room. It's an easy going day of recovery from a week of chaos. I will post again when there is more to talk about.