a sunny spot

A few weeks ago we had some seriously nice weather.  Every day after school the kids and I would climb out Megan's bedroom window to the patio cover where we'd lay out towels, blankets, & exercise mats.  It was a great place to read, do homework, play DS, sleep, day dream and just enjoy the sun.

mormal

On Friday Megan went to Mormal (Mormon + Formal = Mormal)  4 local stakes (congregations) from Mission Viejo,  Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Niguel and San Clemente) put it on every year.  The dance was at Soka University - a beautiful campus.

Before the dance the kids went to Dana Point to take pictures.

Friends from church & school.

Love these pictures of Megan with her cousin Dusty

  Dusty & Megan and their dates

As the sun went down it got cold, very cold.  The girls were shivering in their dresses.

We found the cowboy booys on ebay and Megan was beyond excited to wear them.

st. patty's

We love St. Patrick's Day around here.  The kids love their traditional Lucky Charms breakfast,  green lunch and we all enjoy corned beef and cabbage for dinner.  This year however I wanted to add something new, a surprise since the kids all know that the special breakfast, lunch and dinner are coming.

I had seen a rainbow layered cake show up a few times on the internet and I figured it would make a great St. Patty's day dessert.  

I LOVE THIS DESSERT!  

It was time consuming baking so many layers (I was wishing I had a double oven) but it was so easy especially since I used box cake mix and canned frosting.

Excuse the picture quality - cell phone and poor lighting  does not equal up to quality photos.

the cake before being completely frosted

the family was surprised when we cut into the plain white cake

(I surrounded the cake with Rolos for little pots of gold)

You need to get on Google and search rainbow layered cakes to see what people have done - they are all so cute.

emergency preparedness

I use to be totally on top of being prepared for an emergency.  We had complete 72 hour kits, 3 month supply of food, etc.  We were totally prepared for any emergency - earthquake, loss of job, brush fire evacuation...

These days however we're not quite as prepared.  The last few camping trips we've "stolen"items out of our 72 hour kit & never returned them.  Candles, flashlights and other such items are packed in boxes somewhere in the garage because we haven't need them yet in the "new" house (yes the new house is almost 2 years old)

We knew we were in trouble a couple weeks ago when we were without power for 8 hours.  We had to get resourceful.

Megan came home from school starving (she only has 4 classes and gets home at lunch time everyday)  She wasn't quite sure what to do without a microwave - pathetic, I know :)  After a few minutes of figuring out alternatives to the microwave here is the route she took...

Yes, this is the Goodwill cauldron I mentioned in my last post - the one that was waiting to make it's debut at our Harry Potter party.  Well, it had it's coming out party a bit sooner.  Megan got to live out her  "I'm a potions student at Hogwarts" fantasy as she boiled water and whipped up some Top Ramen in this handy little hanging pot.

It worked brilliantly!  

I've added it to my list of useful items in an emergency and am now making a concerted effort to get better prepared (it was miserable scouring an almost dark garage for candles during our power outage)

random

I just downloaded pictures from my iphone onto the computer and thought I'd post some of them.  Excuse the randomness but it's a glimpse into our life for the past few months.

I think I already posted one of these sunset pictures but you can never have to many sunsets right?  I l.o.v.e living here and am amazed on a nearly daily basis by the beauty of the sunsets each night.  I've taken these photos while driving either to or from home and each time I've uttered a silent prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father for sharing it.  I really do love a good sunset - they are gorgeous.  The pictures don't capture how the sky actually looked or made me feel but they still warm my heart.

In addition to digging on all the sunsets we seem to be digging on the Biebs.  Yep, we have gotten the "Beiber Fever"  I know, I know...it kills me to admit it.  

I'm a fan of all music even cheesy pop but I drew the line at JB - I did not like the kid or his music.  But when our friend/daughter/byu student/sister/mini me Andrea was here from Utah visiting she and the girls dragged me (kicking and screaming) to see Never Say Never, Justin B's movie.  

I'm Denise.  

I'm a recovering Beiber Hater.  

I can admit I liked the movie...a whole lot.

So now Justin Bieber is on all our ipods - so as to not humiliate my husband let me make it clear that Derek does NOT have Justin on his ipod only the girls and me.  

The fever has gotten bad.  It's causing us to do crazy things...

We set up a fake Justin Bieber meeting for Emily at Disneyland so that we could fool Megan (who wasn't with us) into thinking we saw him (and that he was really short)  Thanks to Derek, who hates to listen to JB but is willing to be a stand in for him.

I also let the girls convince me to drive them around town for a couple hours on a Bieb hunt because Facebook was going crazy with updates on Justin Bieber/Selena Gomez sightings a couple weekends ago.  He and Selena Gomez were in fact in town but we were not successful in finding them.  It ended up being a fun night of girl bonding even without that Bieber kid.

More rnadomness...

My favorite food place at the moment - Which Wich?  Best sandwiches EVER!

Tried this technique on Megan's nails.  Fun for anyone that loves words, reading, type, etc.

I got that phone call that every parent dreads - Megan and Emily were in a car crash.  The girls were alright but the car didn't fair as well.  Both sides got fairly damaged.  Nerves were shaken and it is now much harder to watch Megan leave to go anywhere in the car but we are managing.  How grateful I was to be home with them the night of the accident, all together and safe.  I can't imagine if there had been a different outcome.

Megan and I took a wet, cold trip to the beach to have some time together to sort through those tender teenage feelings that come from time to time.

I went to Goodwill and found a hanging cauldron...you can't imagine the excitement.  Really, you can't.  I don't know if anyone can understand how giddy I get when I find crazy things at Goodwill (especially something as fabulous as this cauldron)  I didn't know I was in the market for one until I saw it but now it's mine and it's eagerly awaiting its debut at our upcoming Harry Potter party for the release of the last movie.

Derek and I spent a fun "night at the carnival" with the girls for New Beginnings at church.  It was a great activity and perfect way to spend an evening. 

One more random tidbit that I have no pictures for...

Derek was asked to sing with a group of 60 people at a benefit held in Malibu at Jane Seymour's house for her Open Heart thing-a-ma-jig (the word I want is escaping me)  He got to dress up in a tux (ohhh, super fancy for us) and sing back up for Katherine McPhee.  Don't know who Jane or Katherine are? Yeah, for Google!  I thought that was a fun little opportunity.

TOP SECRET . File# WF2011

This last Saturday Megan and friends were off to Winter Formal at the Richard Nixon Library.  Before heading out to the dance they had a great time taking pictures at the Oakley building AND eating dinner in the lobby.  The pictures turned out unique which is what the kids wanted - I think they are tired of dance pictures at the park.  We even edited the photos to look like they perhaps came from an old spy camera.

Here's a few from the night...

The whole crew.  A great bunch of kids. 

The girls.  Loving the pictures of the girls in their nice dresses posing on a dirty tank.

Also love these shots of the giggling girls.

The boys.  I think they thoroughly enjoyed the tank.

This was the one shot we edited different just cause the sun was so awesome.

Megan and her date Austin.

There was definitely no lack of cool places to take pictures.  The kids posed with guns...

and cool maps.  Not to mention torpedos, mines, motorcycles, bomber chairs and more.

Megan and Em with Megan's date Austin and his sister.

Dinner was set up in the lobby where the kids feasted on a fancy dinner of In-N-Out burgers and fries.

Once dinner was done a limo picked the kids up and whisked them to the dance.

After the dance they headed to our house for breakfast - waffles and breakfast casserole.  At our home they were greeted by the lovely piece of modern art created by Luke especially for the occasion.