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So for those of you that read my sad story about restaurants, Rangi and I have found a new place that is pretty good. It is called Dickey's Barbeque, they have free giant pickles and free ice-cream, (sounds like a place for pregnant women); but they also have really good pulled pork sandwiches and bbq sauce. Our kids like it because they can have ice-cream if they eat their food, and they like the food so it's a good combo. Anyway if everyone who reads my blog starts going then maybe it will stay in business...unless only 3 people read my blog.

Valentines Day

This year our Valentines date had three instead of two, and I couldn't be more in love with both of my dates...Rangi and Jillian.

Rigdon is Eight!

I honestly cannot believe that my baby Rigdon is 8!  For his birthday I made cookies shaped like the #8 to take to school to share with his class. 
Then after school it was off to Jumping Jacks for his birthday party; because 8 is such a special age in our family we wanted this birthday to be extra special too. 
The kids had a ton of fun jumping to their hearts content and being as crazy as they wanted to be. Rigdon was so excited because every kid he invited came to his party. 
Then we all moved to the party room for pizza, presents and pie. Rigdon was stoked about the birthday throne and chose to sit there the whole time, rather than at the tables with his friends!
Rigdon made a request for lemon pie for his birthday, instead of cake, and then Rangi was stoked! All in all it was a fun and crazy day.  Rigdon is such a good kid, he tries so hard to please Rangi and I, and he is naturally a great brother. There is never a time when he doesn't come home from school with a treat to share with his sisters. I took the baby to school the other day and Rigdon's class was on their way to lunch; when all the kids came over to see her, Rigdon said, "Isn't she cute?" I love the way he loves and protects his sisters; one of my own heartbreaks has been that he doesn't have a brother, but when I watch him with his sisters I feel so blessed to have him... for them. That is just an illustration of why Rigdon is so important to our family. We love you Rigdon! Happy 8th Birthday! 

Kiss of Death...

On Valentines Day Rangi and I were headed to our favorite restaurant, Sicily, when we got there it was GONE!!! No warning, no signs, nothing, just dark and no remains to even show for. We were heartbroken!!! Sounds extreme but this is the 3rd restaurant in Rancho that we LOVE, to go out of business. First Pat and Oscar's then Pei Wei and now this!!! It is hard to find a restaurant that has good food AND is kid friendly. We have decided that if we really like a place then that is the kiss of death, so don't tell us about your favorite places... unless you want them gone! 

Love is...

7 pounds and 11 ounces
sisters

so sweet and perfect
JILLIAN

Happy Valentines Day! We are so happy to be loving our new baby, Jillian Virginia, born on January 17, 2009.

Showered with love

My friends threw me a shower the day after my bed rest officially ended... I'll probably still be pregnant on my due date because of all the hype. Anyway it was perfect, and I felt so loved to have people share in my excitement. I am so blessed and grateful for all of my friends and my mom. 

Scouting out Scouts

So Rigdon officially started scouts last Tuesday and he was THRILLED. Quite honestly I am excited too. He looked so cute in his uniform and I truly believe that scouts offers boys so many opportunities to learn new things, make friends and do worthwhile activities. 

Happy New Year!

We usually go to Utah for New Years (they had tons of snow too which is so sad for us), but this year we had to stay home for the impending baby (still impending). So... Rangi's family came to visit us! Rangi made ANOTHER awesome dinner. This time prime rib and steak; it was delish.  I reused my Christmas table decor which doubled nicely for New Years, and in a house full of young single adults the only ones to stay awake til midnight were the grandparents, Rangi, Rigdon and I ! Party Poopers !!! We had fun lighting fireworks...Rig was stoked and no neighbors complained. 
We also went to the rose parade to see the floats after the parade, it was seriously awesome. The next day we went to the Long Beach aquarium, at this point I had had enough of the wheelchair and saw most of the aquarium on my own two feet, which was very refreshing! Seeing the world in a wheelchair means a lot of bum sightings and people watching, while everyone else sees the true action. 

Christmas Night...the party is almost over!

Grandpa helping Caroline get her present out.
It was so fun to have our WHOLE family together for Christmas, that was probably my favorite thing. 
Rangi made a DELICIOUS Christmas dinner all by himself, including his mom's famous ham recipe and lots of great sides. He has been SO helpful while I have been down, especially taking care of my family and all the Christmas "duties".  

Christmas Morning! Santa Came!

The bitty babies meet for the first time.
Rangi enjoying his Christmas presents. He is fun to shop for because he has so many hobbies and he loves any presents from REI. He even mentioned snow shoes this year...sorry honey you have enough hobbies AND have I mentioned that we live in Southern California.
This was hands down Caroline's favorite present, she found it before she was supposed to that morning and jumped with her cousin Sydney for at least an hour! Although all the kids were thrilled.
Livi would have preferred a real one of these but she was still really excited. 
Rigdon loves ANYTHING that has to be built.

Christmas Eve

Here the kids are eating a fun Christmas Eve breakfast (thanks to Sara W. for the idea). It is snowman milk cups and reindeer and snowman donuts. The kids loved it and we were so lucky to have Robyn and Dave staying with us and especially our cousin Sydney to join in the fun. 
The annual nativity play- I used to be the director when we were kids over my brothers and sisters, I have GLADLY turned over the rights to anyone who wants to take charge, and they have gladly let me ( they claim I was a Nazi). It sure is fun to be in the audience with these cute actors. 
Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner where we eat what they would have traditionally eaten at the time of Christ's birth... lamb, fish, pita bread, olives, cucumbers, figs, dates, rice and pure grape juice. It is one of my favorite traditions. Caroline happened to LOVE it and kept asking for more sheep.
My two best presents!!!
Excited Cousins! 

Christmas lights and bed rest...

Here we are going to one of our favorite family traditions, the christmas lights. Unfortunately at almost 34 weeks they put me on bed rest which is like a life sentence to me (especially at Christmas time!). FORTUNATELY we have a friend who hooked us up with a wheelchair so I was able to still do some fun things. This night was especially fun because we had my family over for a special FHE on the light of Christ, then we had appetizers and all you could eat Chik-Fil-A nuggets before going to the lights. 
It was a little rainy but that just made it more fun and Christmas like to me.