Family Reunion

We went to St. George for the Chertkow (Mom's Family) reunion. Uncle Merek was kind enough to let us use his house for the celebration. Everyone had a lot of fun. There was horse back riding, hiking in Snow Canyon, Annie was playing at the Tuacan, swimming, and several other activities. Braxton and Peyton loved the open space and played in the sand most of the day. They were filthy the entire time.

It has been a long time since the family had all been together so last minute we met at the St. George Temple to take a quick family shot. It isn't great but we are all in it. We have not had a family picture with everyone in it for 10 years or more. It is has been 36 years since my parents were married in the St. George Temple as well. It's a special place for our family.

The two most amazing people All the Grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa

All the siblings The whole fam-damily

Girls Night

We went out for a night on the town for Kirsten's Birthday. A yummy dinner, shopping, and icecream. It was so much fun. Maybe a little too much.........

A couple drinks



May lead to this...

Road Trip

Kerrie and I took the kids to Disneyland. It was a great way to get my kids to do whatever I wanted them to do for a good 2 weeks before going. At one point Braxton wanted to stop going to Preschool. I told him a few times that we couldn't go to Disneyland until school was out. On the last day of school I completely forgot they got out an hour early. When I finally showed up his teacher told me he kept saying "I think my mom forgot me and left to Disneyland."

We left at 3:00 am. We found it is a lot easier to leave early and have the kids go back to sleep. It also makes them feel like the trip goes faster. The kids really wanted to stop at Calico "Ghost Town" near Death Valley. It was really hot!

We had so much fun at Disneyland. Peyton hated Pirates of the Caribbean. He was hiding his head the entire time. Since that ride we have been able to threaten him that pirates will get him if he doesn't......... It works every time.

We went to California Adventure the second day at Disneyland. Toy Story and the rocking Mickey Mouse Farris wheel were favorites of the kids. Kerrie and I were really scared but the kids loved it. We are both afraid of heights and we both get really motion sick. They made us go on it several times.

We went to the beach the next day. It was super cold. Peyton fell in the water not even 5 minutes after being there and was freezing and miserable the rest of the time. Braxton, Luke and Josh had so much fun playing in the sand so we had to stay a couple of hours.

Brian was still in Bakersfield trying to clear up his legal matters and had not seen the kids in almost 2 weeks. We decided to go see him and go swimming. Peyton was so concerned Brian wouldn't be there when he turned around. He didn't let him out of his sight. Braxton was so excited for his cousins to see his Grandmas house. He kept introducing them to things saying, this is my bedroom, this is my grandmas..... He had so much fun.

Lakers Playoff Game

Last week Brian and I were offered great seats to the Lakers game in LA from his parents. Brian of course being the huge fan that he is accepted the tickets. We booked our flight, arranged a babysitter for the kids and flew to LA. Our flight was for 7AM and we got into Bakersfield at 12:30. We got to see his parents for a few minutes before we needed to leave to the game.

When we got to LA we had a message from the other 2 people that were coming to the game with us were not going to make it. We called Brian's sister to see if they would somehow be able to come. I went into the Staples Center to and waited for Brian while he figured out what to do. Shortly after we got the call they would not be able to make it either. While I was on the phone with Brian telling him that Missy and Jonathon could not come a man came up to him and asked if he had any tickets. He told him he did and then started to talk to me again. I then heard Brian talking to someone else, there was a bunch of muffled noises, the phone dropped, and then I was hung up on. I was a little confused. I tried to call him back about 15 times. I went to go outside to find him but they told me once I left I could not re-enter. Finally Brian picked his phone up. He told me he would not be making it into the game. I thought he was joking. He then told me that "they" (I did not know who they were) had his tickets and would not even let him hold the phone to talk to me. They were holding the phone up to his ear for him.

I found a nice guy who unscanned my ticket for me so I could leave and come back if I wanted and I went outside to find Brian. He was of course no where in sight so I asked a nearby security guard. He told me that it all sounded really weird. He said they don't arrest for scalping unless there is an obvious exchange of money and usually then they just ticket them. He took me to an officer down the street who called to see if Brian was at the jail....he was.

I luckily had put the keys to the car in my bag before Brian and I split up. I went to the police station which was about 10 minutes away from the Staples Center. This was the most rundown street I have ever seen. It was lined with homeless people. In fact everything within a few block radius was lined with homeless. The stairs to the police station had people camped out all over them. I was a little scared to get out of my car. I held onto my bag for dear life and went in as fast as I could without looking too scared. I'm sure they saw right past it though. Did I mention I was also the only white person on the street?

I spoke to an officer who was very nice and let him know that it was all a misunderstanding. He said that sounded pretty valid and would see what he could do. After about 45 minutes of waiting he said that the supervisor was the arresting officer and he couldn't do anything but he would keep trying. Several officers spoke in my behalf. The supervisor came out and asked me where I had gotten the tickets. I told him that our family had season tickets and we had just flown in for the game. He refused to believe me and started being a jerk. I told him to call the Staples Center and ask. He told me he had reason to believe that Brian either bought the tickets or was going to sell them. I reminded him that neither were illegal. Brian and I could see each other through a long room and several sheets of glass but I tried to keep him updated on the score as much as possible. I went back to the game for the 4th quarter knowing there was nothing I could do.

When the game was over it was of course dark and the street to the police station had doubled in the amount of people that were there before. When I got out of the car I had several larger black women (and one very small lady) standing by my side asking what a white rich girl thinks she is doing in her white rich car in their neighborhood. I wanted to tell them I was not rich, just middle class and the car was my mother in-laws but I didn't dare. They came in and out of the police station several times to yell at me and every 30 minutes when I had to go move my car to make sure it didn't get towed. This really scary lady came in and was screaming at the top of her lungs and threw her drink at me. A nice man asked the officer to do something about it and they tazered her for me. What nice guys.

They moved Brian to a different location to get him booked, fingerprinted, mug shot, the whole works. This same nice guy that stood up for me had a friend who had also been arrested for scalping led me to the other location and parked his car, and walked me into the jail so I didn't have to walk alone. There was no parking within 2 blocks and the street was just as bad as the one we had just left. This was near 11 pm. My phone was dead.

Finally at around 12 they let Brian call me (I begged them to let my have Brian's and they agreed). They told me it would be a couple more hours before they got him into they system and cleared him to leave. The officers at the front desk felt really bad for me and they thought the entire thing was stupid as well. They ordered me Chinese Food, bought me and drink and got in their car to follow me to mine so I could park in police parking so I wouldn't have to walk outside alone. They also kept calling the jail for me to see if they could hurry the process up at all. Finally at 3 AM they let him go. We got back to Bakersfield at 5:20. My flight left at 11:30. It was one very long day.

Brian had a court date scheduled for June 19th but they let him move it up to this Tuesday so he is still in California waiting to see what happens. They did tell us if he was proven innocent we could have our tickets back and the $5 they took from his wallet. That's nice of them..

Mothers Day

Graduation

Braxton officially graduated from Preschool for the second time. Only one more year and he will be able to graduate again and advance into Kindergarten. He did a great job with his part. He of course was a little nervous so he did what every guy does when they are nervous.....

His teacher does this great little yearbook of the kids and asks them questions and writes down the answers. I love the attention span of a 4 year old. The answers are so funny from all the kids. Here are Braxton's:

Describe what your parents look like.....

My mommy is a girl....my mom is gorgeous by KATIE bugs is mommy (my friend's little girl). But guess what? I saw a whale and the whale almost eated me and it blowed some water at me. My mom is....how old is my mom? What number is my mommy? Mmmmm I think she is..what number is she? My mommy is gorgeous and she has bron eyes like my blue eyes.

My daddy is a boy because he.....because....he has bigger hands like mine. I'm lookin' at the light and then we see the girl....but....my daddy is really awesome but he just tries to be awesome!

What is your favorite food and how do you make it?

Hot Dogs-How do you make a hot dog? Like a corn dog. I can eat a corn dog and put it in my mouth, and then I swallow it!

If I had a magic wand I would.....

My magic wand doesn't work, but my magic wand doesn't have any magic. My wand has a triangle on a red string and the red string has a ring to hold on and it goes ding, ding! (Later when Peyton had a dirty diaper he told me he wanted to use his magic wand to make his baby brother not so stinky and make that yucky smell go away).

What do you want to be when you get big?

I put glue on my hand and I make a puppy on my dog.

Movie Lines

Braxton continues to repeat movie lines daily. I really don't think I let him watch that much TV. I try to tell myself he has a very good memory (Which actually he does when it is not about cleaning up toys or washing hands).

I was running up a hill at Jenn's wedding because we were late for pictures (not our fault we were told to go to a specific location and then someone changed his/her mind). I told Braxton to hurry. He stopped and put his hands on his knees and said, "Slow down Mom, your killing me here." I looked at him with a weird face and he said, "What? It's just a figure of speech!"

He is also having a very hard time with the word freakin. He looked in the mirror the other day and said, "I look freakin awesome." Another day he was outside and said, "It's freakin cold outside." I told him not to use that word. He looked at me and said, "What? Cold? But it is freakin cold out here!"

Whatever.

Jenn is Married!!!!!

Brian's sister was married this past weekend. I am so excited for her. She married an amazing guy who treats her great and we all love him. I will have to say that she was the most stunning bride I have ever seen. I can't wait to get a picture to show everyone because she seriously was the most amazing person I have ever personally seen. Unfortunately my camera was being used by her new niece who was taking pictures of all the guests so I didn't really get any pictures of her. It was a great wedding and really fun to spend some time with all of Brian's family all together.

Viva Las Vegas

A few friends and I decided to go to Vegas for the weekend. It was a lot of fun to spend time with old friends. We were able to stay in a house that Megans brother rents out. If anyone needs a nice rental let me know! I was very happy that Judy recommended we go to the temple while we were there. There was such a great spirit there sitting in a session with my friends. I realized how blessed I have been in my life to have great friends.

We did some shopping, ate great food that you can't get in Utah and I got the first pedicure in almost a year! It was so great to get away from kids for a couple of days and just be us again.


With my best friend Lindsay. She has such a cute pregnant belly!

Eating some of the best frozen yogurt I have ever tasted. Laura, Natalie, Judy

We kind of bought a lot! Actually I didn't by that much but they did. Braxton got a lot of new clothes though.

Judy, Megan, Randi, Natalie, Lindsay, Laura

At the temple. I really liked this part of the trip. Las Vegas is such a pretty temple.

Tagged Again

Letter D

Amber tagged me with 10 things that I love that start with the letter D, so here is my attempt.... I hope I can think of 10.

1. Date-I love to go on dates with my husband. Even if they are short.
2. Dad-not that he is number 2 but I needed to put something about my husband as number one! I love my Dad. He is the most amazing person to me. He constantly amazes me at how much he has accomplished in his lifetime.
3. Disneyland-I love, love, Disneyland. I always tell Brian we are going for the kids but we are really going for me. I have to admit I cry sometimes during the parades at night because it is so magical! I can't wait to go at the end of May with my sister and her kids.
4. Dancing-So I wasn't great at dancing but I loved to dance anyway. I miss it, but more I miss the friends I danced with!
5. Dictionary-I can't go a day without looking up a work either to spell it or to see what it means. I still have to pretend I know what Brian is talking about and then run to look up a big word he used!
6. Dirt-I can't stand when my boys are dirty but they sure have fun playing on the dirt hill by my house.
7. Dishwasher-I don't know if I will ever do dishes by hand again.
8. Desperate Housewives-This is my favorite show. I'm so sad it is not on for a couple more weeks and then I have to wait months for new episodes.
9. Dessert-I don't know if it can be considered dessert when I eat it for every meal. Isn't dessert supposed to be a once a day thing after dinner (occasionally)?
10. Dork-I love my kids and husband but they sometimes act like dorks!

Favorite Time of Day

I love many different times throughout the day but love bedtime. Not because I know I get a break but because I love the sound that comes from upstairs in the bathroom and bedroom. Brian usually puts the kids to bed each night. This is when he gets to take time with them. I am either cleaning up dinner, the house or just relaxing on the couch.

He sings songs with them while they brush their teeth, then gets them to go to the bedroom. I try reading stories to them throughout the day but I always hear "Do it like Daddy!" The boys love reading the same 3 animal books over and over while Brian does animal sounds to all of them. The boys laugh each time. He usually takes the time to teach them a Book of Mormon story as well. Peyton knows 3 Book of Mormon hero's. Lehi, Nephi and Alma the Younger. Lehi is anyone who has a beard (including Jesus). He usually refers to Jesus as the feet guy. He recognizes him as the man who washes the "owey feet" of "the guys" (the apostles). He also knows that Jesus has owes in his hands and feet but still calls him Lehi.

Even though I know the kids totally love Brian more, I'm fine with it. They look forward to bedtime when Daddy is home. It is fun and entertaining to them. I know they will remember bedtime with Daddy for as long as they live.

Friends and Family

I am starting a new price for friends and family for pictures. It is $50 and that includes a cd with a 45 minute to 1 hr session. For some that is a price increase and some it is a decrease! If you have a family member for friend that I don't know, it is open to them as well for the next couple of months. For those that live in St. George, I will be there at the end of June for 3 or 4 days.

I also run a special at this time of year for $300 for the wedding day. This includes 2 hours at one location and the cd.

The Frog and the Toad

Hannah invited us to go to "The Frog and the Toad" at the Scera Theater in Orem. It was a really cute play and kept Peyton's attention for at least 20 minutes. The other kids loved and watch the entire thing. The cast consisted of 5 main people that dressed up as multiple characters depending on what scene it was. I love that the kids didn't even catch that it was same people but discussed which animals they liked best and thought were the best actors. Most of the time they were agreeing on the same person but disagreeing because that person was in a

different animal suit.

Braxton and Hannah

William, Shawn, Nicole, Peyton, Luke

Happy Birthday James, Shawn and Luke

I gave my nieces and nephews the option of the dinosaur museum or a present for thier birthdays. They all picked the dinosaur museum. Since Mark and Linsey were already on their way to Mom's house we me them on their way down. We had Jordann and Nicole with us as well. The kids had a lot of fun and thanks to going on the same day as Mark and Linsey it was not that bad for the adults. Nicole, Shawn and Luke had a sleep over at my house after and we rented a movie, ate pizza and popped popcorn. They all had a lot of fun.

Shawn, Nicole, Luke, James, Braxton

James, Peyton, Braxton

The kids all on my bed watching "Horton Hears a Who"