Spring Break 2011: Oregon Day 2

We started off the day with breakfast/lunch at my mom's house in Independence. Here is Brian cooking in the kitchen. We went through way too much bacon :)

Spring Break 2011: Oregon Day 1

Because our schedule will be crazy this year with new baby, we thought we would make a trip to Oregon during Brian's spring break from school. And luckily, it fell on Easter weekend! We initially planned the trip to take two driving days (LA to Salem is 15 hours), stopping in northern California. But last minute, we decided to just wake up early and see how far we could drive before Mariah goes crazy. She was SOOO good in the car! we only stopped twice for gas/food, and she kept herself entertained with movies on the iPad.

On the first full day of our trip, we went with my sister Tina to the Salem Riverfront Carousel. It was so fun.

Spring Break 2011: Mariah Makes Cookies

For Easter, Brian's mom got Mariah a super-cute apron so she could help us cook in the kitchen.

Here she is mixing (and probably eating) the batter.

Spring Break 2011: LA Temple Trip

 As members of the LDS church, we are encouraged to go to the temple regularly. Brian and I have made it our goal to go once a month (but have yet to go this year!). We finally arranged babysitting with a teen girl in our ward, so we could finally go together. It was awesome to be able to experience the temple again as a couple since the past few times we have had to go separately. The church is true!

Like Mom

I know these pictures aren't identical or anything, but after I took it, it reminded me of a picture of myself when I was about Mariah's age. They are both way over-exposed. Similar?

Easter Egg Hunt 2011

Today Mariah and I went to an Easter egg hunt in the park with my mommy friends. It's a few weeks early, but since most of my friends are fellow dental school wives, we wanted to celebrate before all of our husbands went on spring break from school.

We're Having a Baby and It's a ...

Sweet little GIRL!!

{here's the proof}

General Conference Weekend Fun

The LDS church holds a semi-annual conference for all its members called General Conference. It's a weekend filled with inspired talks given by our church's leadership. All church members (and non-members) are encouraged to watch (on-line, at church buildings, or, if you're lucky, at home on the BYU-TV channel).

Since it is so important, we treat the weekend like a holiday. We have special traditions held only for this weekend so we can teach Mariah to look forward to this time. I wanted to share a few of these traditions with you:

It's a Sunshine Day

This week we have had amazing weather, topping 90* for about 3 days. My mommy friends and I took our kids to the beach for the day.

Il faut souffrir pour être belle

My mamma always said, "you must suffer to be beautiful." I didn't believe that the saying was quite so literal until I got braces.

Today I got my braces adjusted. They have moved from the easy-peasy lightweight wire to the hardcore rectangular, thicker wire. I don't know how many of you readers have had braces, but if you have not yet experienced this level of pain, you have not lived!