Memorial Day Weekend!

We are so lucky that even though Jack has started his new job back in Ohio, he gets to spend each weekend with us. On most weekends he travels here Friday morning, getting into town before noon and doesn't leave until Monday so he can be back in the office by Tuesday. Lately our Saturdays have been full of baseball but since it was the holiday weekend we were free to do as we liked and since the weather was cooperating nicely we decided to load up the gang and head over to Ensign Ranch. We asked our friends the George's to join us which made for an even more fun time! The weather actually didn't turn out to be as warm over at the Ranch as it was here in Snoqualmie which was unusual but this didn't stop the kids from all having a blast...



The kids love the rope swing...and as you can see so does Jack. He also came up with the clever idea of having him and Sage do it at the same time which she found quite fun. I loved the look on the kids faces as they see Jack heading at full speed toward them on the swing...




Then it was on to slip n sliding...



then on to the canoes...



Then Griffin wanted to test out the rope swing into the water so Ty showed everyone how it's done...



I think the highlight for these kids was holding on for dear life to the sides of Dave's suburban as he drove through the woods with them all screaming with joy...and perhaps a little bit of fear...



Everyone had a great time! We ended the night with a fun bbq at the George's and boy did everyone sleep well that night...

S is for Sage, Six, and Spa...

Forget about the week long birthday celebration, this year Sage's birthday felt like it went on for a month between our mommy/daughter trip to California at the beginning of the month, her official birthday on May 15th, and her friend party on the 25th!

The official day began with her getting to share her "Birthday Person" with her kindergarten class. Her wonderful teacher Mrs. Kinghorn has each of the kids share their "favorite things" with the classroom on their big day but what makes it all feel super official is when they take their mini-me person and move it from the five year old section to the six year old section on the classroom wall...



Unfortunately Jack wasn't able to celebrate with us since he had to be back in Ohio but we didn't let that stop us from having a small family celebration and being that he is the only one in the family that doesn't care for angel food cake it all worked out well since Sage requested angel food cake as her birthday cake!

Although Sage's main birthday gift was the trip to Disneyland, initiation into the Roddy family requires receiving a snorkel set...




Of course the bigger and much more exciting party is the one with friends. Even though the boys had gotten the shaft this year on a party, I knew I couldn't let that happen to Sage. First of all the boys have had 9 years of fun birthday parties and being this was only Sage's sixth, I owed it to her but more importantly was that Sage loves to read Fancy Nancy books and several months ago when we were reading It's Beauty Day, Sage had decided she wanted her next birthday to be done after the book. She even had made me make a list of all the stuff they do in the book since she knew she'd have to return the book and didn't want to forget anything. Between our trip to California and getting the house on the market, her party was delayed just a bit but it was worth it. Sadly this will be the last time Sage gets to celebrate a birthday with these darling girls some of whom have been attending her parties since 2008 but hopefully the memories will last a few more years...

Getting ready:



You never know what your toes will turn out like on pass the polish...



The girls didn't know what to think about wiping green stuff on their faces and putting cucumbers on their eyes...



After making homemade body glitter it was on to smoothies and turkey sandwiches...



I am not being humble when I say I don't have a creative bone in me but I do enjoy doing birthday parties for the kids. I was struggling to come up with a cute cupcake for a spa themed party so this is what I came up with...



And of course the most exciting part of the party...at least for this birthday girl was opening up her presents. It's become a tradition for sweet Annie to bring Sage a dress for her birthday. She always includes some accessory to go with it and this year it was this darling hat. Such cute girls!!!



Sweet Kasey couldn't make it for the party but was able to drop in at the end.



Alyssa is Sage's BFF. They moved in a couple years ago and over the last year her and Sage have become best buds spending every possible moment together. I can't tell you how many phone messages we've gotten from Alyssa over the past year with her crying on the other end when the answering machine comes on. Sage will definitely miss Alyssa when we move...



Could these girls be any cuter!?! It's going to be difficult leaving this great group of girls behind and sadly there was another ten girls Sage would have invited had I been up to the task of having twenty girls at the party. Oh how we're going to miss it here...

Happy Mother's Day To Me!!!

Each year as Mother's Day comes around I feel so fortunate! I thank God every year on this day that I have someone to call me mom, in fact I have three miracles that call me mom. But I am also very sensitive to all the wonderful women, moms or not, who have impacted me and my family. I feel especially grateful for the kind, sweet mom I've been blessed with who I can't imagine life without.

First highlight was Mother's Day tea with Sage in her classroom. I love the special events at the school but this is by far one of my favorites if not my very favorite. The kids perform a short skit before enjoying a light snack, reading their cards and opening up the darling pins they made for us. So FUN!!!



Next highlight was having Jack fly into town early Friday morning and not having to catch a flight back until Monday. Between a 4+ hour flight and a three hour time difference it's no easy task but how thankful we are that he is able to do it each week!

Jack started a tradition a while back of letting the kids each pick out a bouquet for me. I use to cringe when I'd get the credit card statement and see what the florists charged for an arrangement but ever since we figured out you can get nice flowers at Costco, I've changed my thoughts on it all. I love seeing what the kids select. This year with the way it worked out I was at Costco with them as they picked them out. I loved watching them walk around the display trying to figure out which ones they thought were the best! Definitely a highlight to the weekend...




Happy Mother's day!!!

Sage and mommy head south...

So a while back Jack had offered to send me and Sage to southern California for a girls trip. My best friend Heather and I have been planning to get ourselves and our cute girls together for a couple years and finally made it happen. As it turned out in the midst of our planning, one of my old roommates, Michele, from my Provo days was getting married and had asked me to be her Matron of Honor in her wedding which was an incredible honor. The stars aligned and she picked a day that also worked well for Sage and I traveling down to spend an extended weekend with Heather so we were able to kill a couple birds with one stone. So away we went. Of course we had no idea when booking this trip that Jack would be starting his first week of work in Ohio at the same time we'd be traveling to California but thankfully my mom jumped on a plane and saved the day watching the boys while Sage and I went and played! Now, for the record, the boys will have an opportunity to go on a guys trip with Jack but we're waiting for end of year report cards to determine what level of trip they get...

It was so funny as we flew into Ontario to hear Sage ask "Mom, I thought California was a sunny place"... What she has yet to learn about southern California is that there is also a lot of smog which sometimes makes it hard to see the sun. Thankfully once we landed and headed to Heather's in Temecula, we were greeted by warm sunny weather and an adorable Mackenzie Wray! This was Sage and Mackenzie's first time meeting each other and we knew it would either be a big success or a big flop because for years we've been saying that they sounded exactly alike. Luckily with the exception of Sage giving a little attitude once in a while, they became fast friends! I don't know who was more excited, Mackenzie to sleep in the trundle of her new bed or Sage to sleep in someone else's bed and at someone else's house since this marked her first sleepover ever!



Since Heather and I are a lot alike, it only made sense that our girls would be too...



The next morning I woke up and headed into San Diego for Michele's big day. In the meantime, Heather was busy taking the girls to paint pottery, attend her boys' football games and as you can see a cupcake stop somewhere in there too!



As I drove in to San Diego I called Jack and said we indeed have to move out here asap. Whenever I'm in California, I feel like I'm home. Jack and I have both said that when it's time to retire I think we'll find ourselves either in San Diego or NYC. Two of our favorite places by far. If things go as planned we're hoping to get back to California sooner than that!

Introducing the beautiful couple...




What an honor it was to be Michele's escort in the temple. She looked beautiful, the weather was magnificent and I think she found herself a great catch in Rick. After a busy morning we headed to Fallbrook for a wonderful ring ceremony and reception. It was truly amazing.




After a busy day, I returned back to Temecula to get in my much needed girl time with Heather and the girls. We packed our overnight bags and headed to Disneyland bright and early the next morning. The last time we were in Disneyland was in 2007 before Jack started with 24 HR. Fitness. Then in 2008 we headed to Disney World before going on the Disney Cruise so Sage was too young to remember any of that. It was so fun to see how excited she was to be there. Between perfect weather, a photo opt with Rapunzel, and hitting every good ride in the park, I'd say the day was a big success. By the time the fireworks launched, Sage was out cold but not before testing out Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Star Tours, and Thunder Mountain which all became a few of her favorites! Heaven forbid we miss the Haunted Mansion, I would have been in big trouble. Heather and I would laugh as she'd frequently remind us we needed to go on that ride still. Clearly I'll always have a ride buddy since Sage is just like her mom and loves all the fast and scary rides!!! By far one of my favorite memories is sitting with her on Space Mountain with both of us raising our arms to the sky for the entire ride.





Of course you can't come to Disneyland and not leave with some sort of memorabilia. Grandma and Grandma had given her $20 to pick something out for her birthday. I had no idea what this thing was she picked but apparently it's from Toy Story 3 and amazingly the belly smells like strawberries. Sage had to have it. Thanks mom and dad!!!



After a fulfilling day we jumped on the shuttle back to our room at the DoubleTree Suites where we all enjoyed a good nights rest and spent the next day at the Grove in LA going to the American Girl Cafe. Heather had made reservations for us beforehand and again we had fantastic weather as we sat outside on the balcony terrace eating lunch. The girls loved it and I loved that Sage has yet to figure out that her "American Girl" doll is a fake one from Target! If only Target could get the hair right, they'd have a gold mine on their hands because I think Sage's Target one is way cuter than any of the ones at American Girl store not to mention hers looks just like her. We picked her up a pajama set and were good to go! Phew, one bullet dodged. I was pretty certain I'd end up having to walk out of the store with a new doll and since this was also like a birthday trip for her I was going to be ok doing it but nope, she never asked and so I never offered...




It was sure an action packed four days of fun!!! Here are some other favorite shots from the trip:




A special thanks to Heather and the kids for being such great hosts! We had a fantastic time and looking back through the photos I can't believe I didn't get one nice one of Heather and I. With all the photos through the years dating from middle school and high school to weddings, to NYC, to a house visit out to Calif. to a girls weekend and a high school reunion, you'd think we'd have remembered to get a nice one of the two of us but I guess that's what happens as we age...we become forgetful! One thing for sure though is we both finally got our girls and what a fun time we had celebrating with them!!! Thanks Heather!

And I have to once again thank my mom who so willingly flies out with little notice to come watch kids whenever needed. I had to laugh when Connor said to me the other day, "you know mom, I use to always cry when we'd leave grandma and grandpa's house but I don't do that as much anymore because I know I'll get to see them real soon!"

A big milestone...

Sage is on two wheels!!! Better late than never...

Imagine being out on a date with your hubby and getting a frantic call from your sons (who are at home babysitting their younger sister) telling you they have something very urgent to tell you. Well, that's a sure way to get your heart racing. As it turned out the big news was that Ty had taught Sage how to ride her bike without training wheels and Connor had even captured it on video! Admittedly, this was music to my ears. Just a week prior to this we had been up at the park and ran into some friends who had just taught their daughter how to ride her bike. She too was just about to turn six and was proudly riding around the basketball court on two wheels. I made the mistake of recommending that Sage give it a try thinking that since her friend was doing it she'd give in to the pressure and want to attempt it for herself. What I didn't take into consideration was that running alongside a nearly six year old while trying to hold the bike up is quite difficult. Sage decided to turn and head for the grass and suddenly the next thing I knew she was crashed on her side and it was not a pretty sight. She was soooo mad at me. And I felt terrible. Needless to say she assured me she'd "never ever ride a bike again!".

What a difference a week makes. It was so cute to see how excited Ty was to share the news and it was even more exciting to see the excitement on Sage's face as she showed us her new found skill when we returned home. Who knew that parenting responsibilities could so easily be passed down to the children...

Clearly from the shoes Sage is wearing with her outfit Ty has heard me yell at him enough times about riding his bike in flip flops that he practiced safety first with Sage. Gotta love the biker boots!!!