Lauren is 4!! Crap! When did that happen!?!

I have accepted that fact that my little baby girl will forever get older. I am no longer going to fight father time. I just can not, for the life of me, understand just how 4 years have gone by in what can only be described as a flash! We had a fun day though, a long one, but a fun one. You know those days where at about 10:00 at night you look back and think Wow, was all of that in the same day? That was today. At breakfast, Lauren got a sunday and the wait staff at Millies saranaded her. I wish I had brought my camera because Lauren's eyes sparkled, she was so thrilled.


We then went to the T.O. mall. We took Lauren to Build a Bear, our presant to her. She loved it. She picked everything out. And she got to step a petal that stuffed the bear. By the way, this is a looong one :)

She kissed a heart and then they put it into her little bear.

She loved it. She named her bear Princess Fairy.

I am so glad we did it! She loves her little bear and has been hanging on to Princess Fairy all day long. She even wanted me to buckle her bear into the car so that she will be safe.

After Build a Bear, we picked up an other one of Lauren's creations. We went to Paint A Dream and got the plate that she painted earlier this week. I love it! I will treasure it forever.

Then it was time to party. Nikki and Taylor came out as well as Auntie Dawn. We went to a place called Kid Fun Zone. I know, it is such a creative name right. I wonder how they came up with it. We had pizza, cake, and Lauren and Taylor played games. It was fun.



Lauren's favorite was a roller coaster simulator thing. She rode it over and over again!


Lauren kept looking for the tracks! funny girl!

Evan wasn't quit as thrilled with the simulator as Lauren was. Poor kid, he cryed. It made him nervous. And this from the same kid that just the day before had fallen all the way down Mimi and Pop Pop's stairs, only to pick himself back up and climb the stairs all over again as if nothing happened! My rough and tumble boy has a soft heart. (He has no shirt on because we took it off so that he could eat cake, and we just never put it back on).

He loved the cake.




He gave me a big, messy, sticky, cake-filled kiss. I love being a mom! Isn't he a sweet boy!

She got lots of good presants. We still wern't done! After Lauren's party, we went to Third street. (I'll post some pictures later). We are all tired and I can't believe we fit so much into just one day. Almost as much as I can't believe how old Lauren is! She is such a sweet speacial little girl. I am honored to be her mom. I know I had to do something right to have the privlige of raising her. Happy birthday baby girl. I love you!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning was alot of fun. Lauren patiently waited for Mimi and Pop Pop to wake up so that she could dig into her gifts. Evan had more fun with the boxes that the toys came in then the actual toys themselves. It is crazy to me that there is such a build up to Christmas and then in like 30 min, it's all over. It makes me a little sad. After presants, we went to breakfast at IHOP. It is always an adventure to go to a resturant with two little ones. But we survived. Later on that night, family came over for Christmas dinner. Lauren had so much fun with her little cousin Taylor. She couldn't wait for Tay to show up. Every ten minutes she asked when Taylor was going to get there. They spent to whole time upstairs dressed up in Lauren's fairy dresses playing with there new tea sets.

Lauren loves playing with Taylor and she loves her Auntie Dawn. She gets very excited when she knows that she will be able to see her.

Evan and Jennifer.
I really truely wish the best for all of you and hope that everyone had an amazing christmas. I hope that everyones 2009 will be a great year.

Lauren's Christmas Tree, and Painting Plates..

Last night, we picked out our Christmas tree. Or I guess I should say that LAUREN picked out her tree. We have never had a real tree before. We have an artifical comercialized tree, just the kind that Charlie Brown would hate. So Lauren was so excited!!


After looking up and down all the trees, she settled on one. It had to be the smallest tree in the lot. She said that it was "just her size". So funny!


It seriously was so small!! We took it home and Lauren decorated the tree!


I think her favorite part was putting the star on top! She was so proud of herself! She picked the tree, decorated it, and put the star on top. That is all she has been talking about all day today.

It was a little reminder to me of what Christmas is all about. It isn't about having the biggest or fullest tree, or the one with the fanciest decorations. Lauren taught me a valuable lesson yesterday. She taught me that the smile of a child is worth more then anything ealse on this planet.
And then today, we got to have a girls day. We left Chad and Vin at home to fend for themselves, and Lauren and I went to "Paint a Dream". It's a place where you can paint your own things, like plates or whatever. Lauren painted a plate, and I painted a clock for my kitchen. We won't get it back untill Monday, so I am not sure how they turned out, but we had fun, just us girls.

This is her "don't bother me, I'm painting" face.

This is Lauren explaining to me that she can't smile at the camera right now because she is to busy.

Finally, we got a smile!!

We had lots of fun. I can't wait to see how they turned out! Thanks Debbie!

What a difference a day makes :)

That drive was brutal! There is no other words to discribe it. Yep, brutal is a good word! We left at 9:00 A.M, Utah time, and arrived at 11:30 P.M, California time. (so 12:30 in Utah). We didn't really get to bed untill 2:00, and Evan thought it would be fun to wake up at 5:00. Needless to say, I am beet. I feel so "looked after" that we were able to make it here without any kind of major drama. Chad is a master at driving!! I couldn't do what he did. That is a picture of the sun, trying with all it's might to shine through the storm. The whole state of Utah was covered in a blanket of snow, on the ground, feathering through the air. It wasn't untill we got to St.George that the snow finally stoped! But hey, that was then, and well, this is now...

We only had two things on our agenda today. The first thing to check off our list was breakfast at Millie's with Mimi and Pop Pop. We love going to breakfast with Mimi and Pop Pop.


Lauren has turned into a little comedian, a recent development.

Here is a couple more examples. Funny girl! She makes me laugh!


And the other thing on our to-do list today....



Need I say more?

Travel update

As I am writing this we just passed out 7th car that has slid of the road, uhh, make that 8! We are just outside of Neahi, and it has taken us three hours to get here! But we are on our way! We may be going just 45 mph, but we in fact going! I am sure that we will end up at a hotel tonight. I don't think, with the weather the way it is, that we will be able to go straight through. Ahh the joys of holiday travel. As I writing, Vin is in the back seat crying. Poor little man! He has such a hard time sleeping anywhere but his bed. So as you are sitting at your computer,drinking hot chocolate (that is what I am imagining you doing right now), in your fuzzy pink slipers and nice warm house, think of us crazys on the road and send us good thoughts! I will update you a little later!

Still in Utah...

We are still in Utah. So sad. But hopefully, we will leave for California tommarow. I hope all the storms will stay at bay while we travle. I love California. I love that we have spent every Christmas there. Lauren keeps asking me everyday "Mommy is it Christmas time yet?" No baby I tell her. Finally today I asked her why she wants Christmas to come so badly. I expected the typical toddler answers, you know-Santa, presants, blah blah.. But she instead responded, "Because I get to see Mimi and Pop Pop. I love that Christmas is more about family to her then of gifts. Here are some things I am looking forward to.
1-The beach on Christmas morning, a Triplett family tradion.
2-24 hours of A Christmas Story. "You'll shoot your eye out kid!"
3-No dishes for a week, house cleaning, laundry, ect..
4-Lauren's 4th birthday
5-Seeing Nikki's growing belly. Just a couple more weeks to go Nikki!!
6-Breakfast at Millie's
7-Seeing the freaks on 3rd Street. We use to go to Venis Beach every year, but the freaks there have crossed the line from being funny to watch to being just plain scary.
8-Pandamonium at Frys.
9-Trying to find a parking space at the Topanga Mall.
10-And of course needless to say, just doing absoutly nothing with Doug and Debbie, or most favorite part of all.
Christmas time wouldn't be the same for us if we spent it anywhere ealse. After all, when all is said and done, christmas time is not about all of the gifts you can get your hands onto, it is about all the people you can get your arms around.

And, for your viewing entertainment, here in Evan trying to climb into one of his toys. The kid isn't sure on his feet yet. He still has trouble travling horizontal, but vertical-he is an expert. He has been climbing anything that will stand still for months now. Funny kid, he makes me laugh.