The BIG GAME!

Every year Touro puts together a co-ed basketball team to play "The BIG Game." It is the only game that the team plays and it is against Touro University California. The anticipation for this game has been built up since James had his interview with the school. For a long time I wanted James to try out and play on the team but when he went to the first try out back in November and told me about the commitment that was required in practices and what not, I was less excited about the idea. So he didn't try out, even though he had a good chance of being and playing on the team. Regardless, this game takes place once a year and every other year they play in Nevada. This year it was Nevada's turn to host the event. And it was an event. They handed out t-shirts, other school spirit stuff, there were cheerleaders a mascot, the whole bit. During the intermission both schools had a dance team that preformed a 10 minute routine. It was a lot of fun and we went.

It was really loud but both the girls did great. The one collage below is of Molly. The pictures are kind of blurry but every time I looked back someone new was holding Molly. We were sitting by James' classmates so I didn't worry much. Later I showed James the pictures and he didn't recognize some of them, so I guess I should have been more concerned. She loved it though. That girl is so social. She will smile at anyone. She didn't mind the noise either. That is where her and her sister differ quite a bit. Lucy is much more timid when it comes to crowds and noise. She has been since she was a baby and we tried to take her to a BYU soccer game. We made it to the part where they introduce the players and the crowd was too loud so we had to leave. Lucy does alright now but she sticks pretty close to us and loves the breaks and opportunities to leave the crowd and run outside. It was a fun event. We left a little bit early and I guess we lost, but California deserved to win I think. Their dance routine was way more fun.
I was trying to figure out why I enjoyed this event so much. For one, a night out is a big deal. For two, it reminded me just a little bit of the big game days in Provo. Often we didn't even attend the games after we had Lucy, but I loved the excitement of it all anyway.

Can you find Molly in the crowd? 

Semester Break: Continued in St. George

We got home Wednesday night from California and pretty much vegged all day Thursday. I'm pretty sure we were all in our PJ's for most of the day and rarely left the house except to go to the park. Friday we woke up and decided to head for St. George. We got away in the mid afternoon after the girls naps so we could get a few things done and packed the car again. My nephew Seth was to be baptized on Saturday and for that reason my mom was in town (as if she hadn't had enough of us). We pulled into town and headed straight for George's Corner. It's our absolute favorite. There is not a bad item on the menu. If you are in St. George, go check it out. Then on to Grandma Sullivan's to say hello and make our arrival be known. We had a good visit then headed down to my mom's house to a the madness that is called "Crazy Grandma Camp" otherwise known as "CGC." It happens often and annually enough that it's earned its own acronym. My kids are still too young for the madness but that is okay, I'm sure they will get there chance one day to join in the fun. This CGC was St. Patrick's day themed and the boys were all wearing over sized green ties and the girls green tiaras. We walked in when they were each taking turns blowing up peeps in the microwave. Each one challenged the previous kid's time to see if they could get their bunny shaped marshmallow to reach an even larger size. I think Mckay's had bravest time but ended with a brown burnt marshmallow mess. Glow stick painting was the final activity of the night but the craziness continued until every one's parents showed up and took them home. We didn't even try to put our kids asleep until the last kid was out the door.
Saturday morning we got ready and went to Seth's baptism. It was a lot of fun. It is always great to see these kids making such good decisions. Drew gave a great talk that he admitted was written by his parents but presented very well by himself. We went over to Spence's house for a luncheon. Laynee spent the afternoon with us at my mom's house and then my mom, Laynee and I had free tickets to go see "Abba-mania!" The crowd was pretty white haired and close to dead. But we had a good time, dancing and singing the words that we did knew from "Mama Mia."
Sunday we tend to only wake up in time for Kyle's ward sacrament meeting at 12:30 pm then head up to the temple grounds for the rest of our spiritual refuel. We had a lovely time then took the girls back to the house for naps then on to Kyle's house for grilled steak and Salmon. Yum! We went up to Grandma's for cake and a good visit with family then headed home late in the evening. It was a lot of fun. We weren't ready for the break to be over, but school started Monday so we had no choice but to buckle down and get back to reality.

Semester Break: Northern California

I have so much to catch up on it has been a little overwhelming to start documenting the last month's activities. Regardless, I will do my best and let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
James took his last final on Friday February 22nd in the morning and we were packed and ready to leave the second he was done. This ended up being a little bit overwhelming for him and I hope he won't be mad for me sharing but he was a little bit grumpy on our car ride the first day. I can't say that I blame him, in fact it was most likely my fault because I was so excited to go on this trip I wanted to leave just as soon as we possibly could and it didn't give him anytime to unwind from a weeks worth of tests and projects. Then he was stuffed in a small car with two kids for 6 hours. The grumpiness was accentuated by my giddy excitement and I wasn't letting anything bring me down. It was a long awaited vacation after a really tough semester. The driving was okay the first day. We spent the night in Fresno, only because as a little girl I went there with my sister and mom and the Ence's. We visited a place called "Storyland Playland." When I found out it was still there, I wanted to take Lucy as well. We arranged for one night at a hotel in a less dodgy part of town than that where "Storyland Playland" was located and actually had a great night's sleep. That isn't usually the case for us in Hotel rooms, but this one was made for us. It had glass door separating the Bed from the other part of the room where Molly slept and Lucy was in the pack n play in the bathroom. I had never seen a hotel room like that, but it was genius. It only added to my excitement. We all woke up the next morning, well rested and ready for a morning at "Storyland Playland" and a little bit more traveling. Well, "Storyland Playland" ended up being a little less than cool adventure. It is located in this huge park, just across the street from the Fresno Zoo. The Parking lot was packed with families heading in that general direction. Turns out that everyone was heading to the Zoo and we had "Storyland Playland" to ourselves. It was as I remembered it, only way more run down. A lot of the figurines had been weathered and worn. The slides some of them were really way to worn to even slide down with out hurting yourself. We bought the magic (plastic) key that you pay for at the beginning with your ticket to turn and listen to all of the nursery rhymes and stories. I think we only found 2 of the twelve boxes that even worked. Lucy still loved her plastic key and it will forever be a reminder that we do not need to visit Storyland Playland again. It really wasn't a disappointment more just a reminder than when you try and relive childhood experiences with your own children, keep your expectations low, because as a kid they were as low as they could get.
We headed up the road and had to make several stops as the kids had really had it from the previous day's drive, but we made it up to Folsom that evening and enjoyed settling in and visiting with Mom, Randy and some of Randy's family. My mom was able to rent an apartment that was fully furnished in a complex just next to hers so we were extremely comfortable. Thanks mom.
Sunday we went to church early had lunch and put the kids down for a nap. When they woke up we went for an afternoon drive up to Coloma to see some of the historic sites there. I don't remember much about it, but people in the early days panned for gold there and there were some Mormon settlers and Chinese settlers there. Mostly it was a gorgeous day and Lucy loved running around and climbing on the rocks and fallen trees. It was a lot of fun.

Monday was Lucy's Birthday and although we had celebrated on several previous occasions during the month we felt like we needed to celebrate some more. Randy rented a van so we could all drive together and we went to San Francisco for the day. We weren't sure we wanted to make the trip after two long days of traveling but we were sure glad we did when we got there. It was a lot of fun. We enjoyed lots of good food, carousel rides, walks and views from the pier. All around it was a highlight of the whole vacation. We ate at Bubba Gumps and Lucy loved every bit of it. We asked if we could have a candle for our desert because it was her birthday, but they said no and they would take care of her. They brought her out a chocolate Sunday that she devoured entirely on her own. The workers there also sang to her, but she hardly even payed them mind, she was busy working on that Sunday. We also went to Ghiridelli square where we shared another Sunday (it was 10X better than the previous). It was worth the walk to get there. We were pretty much spent after 4 or 5 hours and gladly headed to the car for the ride home. Thanks Randy for making that happen.
Tuesday was pretty chill. We spent a lot of time between my mom's apartment and ours. Making sure the girls took good naps and resting  a lot. My mom gave me a bread making lesson and it gave me the confidence to come home and give it a try. The result is in the picture below. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough to share. I will continue my hand at bread making until it comes as easy for me as it does my mom.

Wednesday we packed up the car and headed home. We made the drive in one day this time instead of splitting it up. It turned out to be pretty ambitious of us. The girls did great for about the first 4 or 5 hours, but after that I felt like we were stopping about every hour to reboot. It took us a long time, but we made it and we were glad to be home. Overall, it was a fun trip and we were glad we made it but we don't think we drive that far until we have some time to forget about how hard it really was. But it was totally worth it. Thanks for all that made it happen.