Beach and a vacation.

Ben and I took a wonderful vacation.  It was really needed.  We went down to Santa Rosa and stayed in a hotel.  Ben's parents came and watched the kids for us so we could go alone.  It was so nice.  We haven't done anything like that since before we had kids.  We stayed in Santa Rosa for Monday and just shopped around.  It was nice to just hang out and not have a time limit.  Then we drove down to Corte Madera and went to the Cheesecake Factory.  That is the closest one, and we had dinner and enjoyed the wonderful cheesecake they have.  We got the White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut, Mango Key Lime, White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl, and Red Velvet cake cheese cake.  They were all great!  The next day was my birthday.  I turned 31.  It was the best birthday we have had together yet.  We drove to the temple and did sealings.  Then drove to San Francisco and went to Bubba Gumps on Pier 39 and then walked around a little bit.  We walked over to the other side of the pier and evidently they have two WW 2 ships.  One a sub and the other a ship.  We were able to take a tour of the sub, and it was really cool.  Then went and got ice cream.  Usually the tradition is that we walk down to Ghirardelli Square and get it there, but I promised Ben that we could watch the Hobbit 2 and we were running low on time. So we headed back to Santa Rosa and caught that movie at the 8pm showing.  It was $3.50 each.  Can't beat that!  It was an intense movie.  Headed home, and went to bed, slept in.  It was so nice to sleep in every day.  Wednesday, we just went shopping in Santa Rosa.  It has been so long since we have been to a mall.  I miss it!  Then did our regular shopping, Costco, and Wal Mart.  We had to utilize the trip.  It was really nice.  Can you believe that I didn't get a SINGLE picture.  So today we headed to the beach and I took the phone.

 This picture is from a few weeks ago.  Ben had a basketball tournament in Anderson valley and it was all day.  So he decided to take Olivia and she LOVED it!  She was happy to go with Daddy, and Ben was happy to have some one on one time with her.

 This is today playing in the sand.  It was almost 75 degrees this morning in the sun.  It was so nice, so we went to the beach.  The kids LOVED it so much.

 Bubba is trying to hard to keep up with the girls.  He really enjoys playing with them.

And this is the only picture of me and ben I go all week.

A much needed break.

These last few weeks have been trying.  This time of year is always hard as it is with the cold, rainy weather, and the not much to do atmosphere.  I got sick of it.  We just got our tax return, and I decided we needed to use some of that to enjoy ourselves.  Although almost all of the return is going to pay off credit cards that we enjoyed ourselves with last summer.  But with having two extra kids around here, we deserve a break.  I DESERVE A BREAK!  So, Ben and I are going on a trip.  We are so excited about it.  We will be heading to the bay area for three days.  We are going to stay in Santa Rosa since it is cheaper for the hotel, but we are going to SF, Oakland for the temple, and we are going to have fun.  Kid free.  Did I mention that we are not going to have the kids.  Well that just makes the trip.  :)

This picture is of Olivia.  She passed her 2nd level within her preschool section of ABCmouse.  She is doing so well.  Every day that she comes home from preschool, she has learned a new letter and is associating them with objects that start with that letter.  It makes me so happy to know that she is learning and loves to learn.  It will help her tremendously as she gets older.  

 This picture is of Ben and Olivia.  He had his last tournament for basketball this season, and he decided to take Olivia with him.  It was in Anderson Valley, or Booneville.  It is about an hour away from here and she loved it.  Her comment at the end was Daddy, next time let's not make the day so long.  She was pooped when they got home.  But she did well, and had fun.  I think Ben had more fun than she did.  He really enjoyed spending one on one time with her.

School is still going, and not too bad this semester.  There is a lot of reading, but nothing too hard.  It is nice to have a reminder of things too.  My Child Development class is reminding me of what needs to happen and how to be patient.  Computers is helping me remember things as well.  I will be happy when Ben is home after school to help with the kids and dinner so that I can do HW after school and not at night.
My running is coming right along.  I have increased the timing to 1 mile straight.  I run that without stopping, and I love it.  I will do that again this week, and hopefully next week I can increase it again.  I am noticing a change in my body and love it.  I feel healthy and like i have more energy when I run in the mornings.
Ben is still looking for a job for this summer.  A few have come up, but nothing solid yet.  I am still praying that we can get all the things that we want in this job.  It all comes down to what Heavenly Father wants.  We will just see what happens.
Elissa and Richie are doing much better.  Richie was tested for hearing and vision, and he failed the hearing and didn't do so well at the vision.  So I know they will be working with him on that.  I think he will be going to a preschool soon.  I am not too sure on the details, but it will be nice for him to get some help.  Elissa will also be tested this week hopefully for some learning disabilities.  She is lagging on catching on things for her age.  So hopefully, she will get that done and some help there too.  It seems that things are coming together for us.  I am pretty happy right now as things lay.  Now for this vacation to help rejuvenate me.