cold brew whipped cream

*Last Friday my director invited several of us over to celebrate the end of the year. It's always fun to see personalities that you don't get to see when you are "professionals". :)

*Last weekend was a desert weekend. Chris had bought the three of us matching Harry Potter shirts. We were quite the cool crew cruising through Costco. :)

*I rarely get to take the kids to school, however when I do, I treat myself to a Starbuck's drive-thru that is on my way to work. My new favorite:

Soy White Mocha

2 pumps syrup

no foam

Knowing I'm getting one puts me in such a good mood.

Speaking of Starbucks, their new cold brew whipped cream is incredible. Holy cow.

*Back when I was having all sorts of health stuff, one of the things I thought it might be (and have an appointment to check further into) was acid reflux. During that time, I gave up soda as I had read it was horrible for the condition. Even though I'm feeling better, I still have not gone back. I'll have a sip now and then from someone else's cup, but I've been proud of how well I've done. Sometimes, though, it's HARD! And it will only get harder when the summer heat comes and soda tastes so darn good.

*My mom introduced us to some books that the kids and I are SO into. They are true stories of famous missionaries. I literally cannot put them down as the stories are fascinating! We've read about five so far and are anxious for more...

The one I'm currently reading:

*Currently we are watching and have found extremely interesting:

mother's day

This past Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day by going to a delicious brunch. The kids were excited to have endless amounts of whatever they wanted. :) We typically don't go out on Mother's Day simply because it is such a crazy day at restaurants, however we made reservations several weeks ago at Chris' golf course and it turned out to be such a treat.
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*If had to rank my toughest, most nerve-racking meetings of this year, this past week's would have been up there. I had to present my report in a meeting consisting of 15 people. Yikes. To say I was extremely nervous is an understatement. That morning Kendall gave me the sweetest little note...

p.s. The meeting went well. :)

*Today I took a few hours off and attended, "Moms and Muffins" in Cameron's class. :)

*Tonight I'm going to my boss' house for an end of year celebration. I simply cannot believe I'm almost done with my second full year back to work. This year as been SOOO much better thanks to a change in assignment and just feeling more comfortable. But don't get me wrong, 11 more days of school sounds absolutely divine!!

*Chris and I are down to our last episode of what has probably become one of the most suspenseful shows we have ever watched. Wow.

Justice trinkets

*Kendall turned 9 last week. We were able to do some fun things (spread out over several days) to celebrate. She had a few friends over for crafts and cupcakes.

*Kendall and I went to the YMCA circus. A friend of her's was actually a performer, so she was extra excited to see it.

*Prior to the circus, I took her to Justice. She had opened a couple gift cards for her birthday and was very anxious to use them. She is obsessed with Justice, not at all for the clothes, but for the back section of the store which is full of trinkets. This huge unicorn was one of her purchases. :)

*Yesterday was my first real hike in many months. Since I haven't been feeling the best, hiking was one of the first things to go. However now that I'm pretty much back to normal, I was excited (as was Cam!) to hit the trails again. We did one of my favorites in the desert, Murray Hill. The weather was perfect and it was a fun, fun day.

*Knowing we would be gone all morning, we planned a slumber party for Kendall at her cousins'. She was SO excited for this and had a blast. Here they are decorating a cake her cousin had baked to celebrate her birthday.

the forbidden journey

Monday was probably the highlight of our year so far. Universal Studios was so fun and not to sound cheesy, but Harry Potter land was pretty magical. They did a fantastic job of recreating so many things from the books. I wish there were more than just two rides, but one of them (Forbidden Journey) was awesome and we went on it a few times, thanks to no crowds. :)

Butter Beer!

In addition to Harry Potter, both kids actually chose the tour as a favorite. It was fun to see their reactions to the earthquake, King Kong, etc. :)

Lunch at Jurassic Cafe.

Once the park closed, we knew we needed to kill some time to wait out traffic. We ate at Universal Citywalk, which was a great ending to the day.

 

We gave the kids each some souvenir money. Whenever this happens, without fail, Kendall purchases something from the place we are at. Cameron, on the other hand, never spends his money. Instead, he waits until we are home to then purchase a Lego set. At first I really wanted him to have the experience of getting something from the places we visited. But then I realized it would simply be buying for the sake of buying. He just loves Legos. Plain and simple. :) Here he is the next day using his money at Walmart.