Pitt Family Vacation 2009

We spent 2 nights camping in San Onofre.

We played in the sand.

Grandma took the kids on rides in the wagon.

Threw sand on an uncle and suffered the consequences.

The boys went surfing and Carter wanted in on the action too!

Played in the waves.

Took a picture I've been wanting to take for years. Logs don't wash ashore here in HB.

We came home and showered and headed to Big Bear for 5 days. We relaxed at Chad's Grandma's house and went to the zoo.

This wasn't your ordinary zoo. There were bears, mountain lions, vulchers and wolves. All the animals had a story. They had all been injured and nursed back to health by these zoo keepers. We're talking 3 legged bears, blind eagles. It was super interesting to hear each animals story. The best part was watching the Mama grizzly bear slap her child across the face when it roared (or talked back) in her face! Then she sent it to time out...NO JOKE. I was surprised at how much I have in common with a mama grizzly bear.

We went to the Big Bear Arcade and got the kids some treats at a cute store downtown.

The boys rented a fishing boat and fished for 8 hours. Uncle Jacob caught two trout. Chad caught two fish which the other boys called "tad poles that could be used for bait." Chad still denies they were that small. We visited them and went on a ride in the boat. The homes on the lake were so beautiful.

Took family pictures.

Then, someone farted! The picture taking ended abruptly.

Can you tell who it was? (It wasn't me...I was trying to make a grossed out face but burst into laughter!) It was a fun trip that ended with a bang!

We came back to work this week. Then Saturday we are off for a week at Lake Powell and a week at the river. I'll be back in 2+ weeks to tell you all about it.

4th of July

We had a fun filled day. The celebrating started early with dress rehearsals for our stake 4th of July program Thursday night. Followed by 1 show on Friday night and 2 shows Saturday morning. It's a fun tradition. Plus, if you recall that is how Chad and I met when we were 15 years old.

Did I mention I agreed to be over all the 3-5 year olds? This year they walked the cat walk while other kids sang "50 Nifty." Each kid represented a state. The parents were in charge of their kids costume and they all turned out so stinkin' cute.

Alexis represented Pennsylvania. Hershey, Pennsylvania...that is! Yum. I wish we could take the kids there. They'd love it! Here she is strutting her stuff down the cat-walk.
I must say this is the easiest costume I've made to date. A few yards of silver fabric, a $2 wal-mart water tube, a few stitches later and you have this. I did sew a pocket in on one side so she could store Hershey kisses in there to throw out to the audience. A Halloween costume done 4 months early...woo hoo!

The first night I had to tell her she needed to throw the Hershey Kisses UNDER-HAND! She was pelting them out there! But it didn't change. I think she liked seeing how far she could throw it. And how exact. She pelted a few at our families chest! Everyone told us we better sign her up for softball! (That would make her Daddy happy!)

Carter represented California as this years "OP Pro Champion." (In case, you live out of state and are wondering what that is...it's a famous surf competition that takes place right here in HB every year. Hence: "surf city.") Here he is starting the cat walk waving to his fans!

Shacka! Hottest surfer I've ever seen! I just cut a surfboard shape out of stiff poster board and decorated it a little.

He was so over it by the third shows finale. Can you tell in this picture? Before this he was seriously giving me the stink eye when he walked by me. (Do you see the sponsor stickers on the back of his board?)

I had asked the directors if Alexis could try singing with the 6-11 year olds. I knew she could do it. They said she could do it as long as she still represented a state with the 3-5 year old's. She even had a little duet.

The only hard part about her doing both was we literally had 20 seconds on stage left to change her out of her Hershey Kiss costume into her blue jeans and t-shirt. She was so excited to be with the older kids she didn't even mind the rush. Alexis is in the front row. She's in the middle always doing the actions full out. She's especially exaggerated on the "I can't hold" part:

Alexis and her new friend, Sabrina. She's pretty small for her age and Alexis asked me how she got to be 7 so fast! This is after the 2nd finale. Notice the pink ribbon around her waste. So like Alexis to sneak some accessory in her snack bag and tie it on right before going on stage.


After the show we went to Chad's Aunt's house in Long Beach. Everyone on their street pitches in 20 bucks and rents bounce houses, water slides, a cotton candy machine and a snow cone machine. The kids loved it. Especially, since we said YES to everything cuz it was free!

Then, we were off to my parents to BBQ and swim. I always forget to get a picture because I'm in the pool.

Lastly, a quick change at home into warm clothes and we walked to the beach to watch the fireworks. Alexis and Carter liked them...but opted to crawl back in the stroller to watch. This is mid "Whoa" during the firework show.

We are pooped! But, guess what? We are practically GONE all month starting tomorrow. First, camping at the beach and then a few days in Big Bear. Can't wait!

Her body was giving up, but she wasn't!

Bare with me. This is long, but good.

Alexis was so sad to have school come to an end yet excited to celebrate with her friends and teacher. However, at 3:30am Thursday morning she crawled into my bed and she was blazing HOT.

I was so sad for her. Poor Chad had to be the one to tell her she couldn't go to her last day of school. I might have taken it harder than she did thinking about it every second while I was at work.

But when I came home at noon, she was doing alright. Still sick, but the fever was down. I felt so sad for her that she was going to miss everything...so we decided to take her to her awards ceremony at school for 1 hour! Mrs. Stucken was so excited to see her and was sad I didn't send her the full day even with her fever. All the kids received an award. Mrs. Stucken would explain what the award was.

I wondered, "Is this one Alexis? Or that one?" Then she came upon one where she explained

"this award is for someone who is ALWAYS POSITIVE. Specifically, laughing at EVERYTHING and ANYTHING and always smiling."

The kids screamed before she finished, "IT'S ALEXIS!" She laughed and said, "It is."

So cute. I'm glad we didn't miss it. She was so excited for her award. Would you believe she even laughed? Sick and all!

So that schedule I told you about on my previous post didn't happen. We took her to Chad's sister's graduation where I was only going to stay for 15 minutes before I had to leave Chad with the kids to go to my CPR class. Well, Alexis looked like she was going to pass out in the heat. So I took her to my work to sleep in a dental chair till I finished my 2 hour CPR training. (Hmm, brings back memories from my childhood. Only it was a full 2 nights in dental chairs while our house was being tented and my Dad refused to let us sleep at a friends. "It will be fun." HA!) I called my brother-in-law (the director) and told him there was no way she could make it to the dress rehearsal for OCMCO that night. I was bummed.

I kept her home all morning Friday morning. She wasn't even allowed in our courtyard to play. I was saving her energy for her performance in case her fever would come back once she exerted any energy. She was perfect. She even surprised me and cleaned her room for 1 1/2 hours to show me how good she felt. So I felt confident we were in the clear at 3:30 as I got her ready for the OCMCO performance. But that quickly changed.

See the excitement on her face. Now tell me you wouldn't have done what I am going to tell you I did that night.


A migraine came on fast and she was so upset. It hurt her bad and she couldn't hide it. Screaming, whining...it was not good. I gave her IB profin and continued to get her ready. Although, she was supposed to arrive in her dress...I was not about to try that. A few months ago she got migraines for 5 days and when it peaked...she PUKED! She feel asleep on the way to the Orange County Performing Arts center. I thought the IB profin might be kicking in. She woke up when we parked...but started complaining again about her head. She didn't want to walk because of the pain. So I put her in a cheap umbrella stroller I had in the car and wheeled her to Segerstrom Hall. We made it halfway when she mumbled, "MOM, my stomach!" I RAN. Me, the overweight pregnant mom was sprinting pushing her in the umbrella stroller. We were a sight to see. I was trying to find a trash can but it was too late. It came so fast and it was nasty...all over her, the stroller, her shoes...EVERYTHING! She wouldn't walk with it all over her so I undressed the girl down to her panties and a t-shirt and she walked barefoot back to the car. Crying.

It pays to never clean your car. I had two beach towels. I cleaned her off and told her we had to go home. She was devastated. She didn't want to miss her one and only performance that she had been preparing for for the last few months! So I called Chad and decided to take her inside with me and see how the next 3 hours panned out! I wrapped the extra towel around her like a toga and carried her dress. I was grateful I hadn't put her in it. From that point on I stayed at her side and let her jump in the group picture for 3 minutes. Then run through the finale.

This is her in a quick finale run-through an hour before the show. She is in the first row 5th kid from the left.


Finally, the show was about to begin and she had been normal for 2 hours. The migraine was gone. So, I gave the backstage moms my number to text me if anything changed. She sang a few songs of which I didn't tape because I just wanted to enjoy watching her and I had to make sure her facial expressions confirmed she was ok. Then, in the end she sang this one..."Gary Indiana":



Then the finale:


I wasn't watching what I was video taping. And although it looks like we are far away we were close enough to see details about her. Like how her face started turning TOMATO RED half way thought the song. Chad and I looked at each other with wide eyes! I expected pale, not RED. Then she broke form and grabbed her chest for 2 seconds. We were confused. The whole time she was still singing so HARD! And then, she was back to normal. She was staring at Brandon (Brett's brother was directing this song) watching him intently. And when he cut them off on the final note her jaw snapped shut and she didn't budge! Just like he wanted.

After the show I ran up to the kids holding room to get her. She was beaming. I was so proud of her. When she saw Chad waiting for her on the main floor she ran and jumped up into his arms. I felt like I was watching a movie. She couldn't have been more pleased with herself. Nor could we. That picture you saw earlier was on our way out to the car after her performance.

On our way home Alexis says this:

"Mom, guess what I did?"
"What?"
"On that last song, I did a NO BREATHER!"
"Did Brett ask you to do that?"
"Nope, I just did it." She was pretty proud of herself!
Well, that explains the red face!
"And, MOM! Did you see me grab my chest during the song?"
"YES, I did."
"That was because I had to breathe. It hurt."

I got a good laugh out of it. I guess that's what we get for going against our rule of one extra curricular activity at a time. NO BREATHERS= Swim team...NOT singing in OCMCO. (The coaches give out candy if she makes it across the 25 yard pool in practice or meets without breathing. Because breathing costs you time, of course.)

So she mixed the two up and we got a no-breathing, red-faced, chest-grabbing rendition of "California Here I Come!"

And for your entertainment: (even though Alexis isn't in these)
"To Be American" A song my brother-in-law wrote. It's so good.


My 11 year old niece, Katelyn, sang this: (She's the one in the long dress on the right.)

The last 2 weeks...

were crazy busy. Here is what we did:

Wrote and got signatures on a petition for Alexis teacher. This was her first year and with the budget cuts in California all the first year teachers got pink slipped. She was so amazing and I wanted to do something to fight for her! And I made her a reversible apron like this one...out of this fabric. (The colors of her kitchen)

I did lots of baking. Alexis had a party at school and I made the purple sugar cookies. Then I made the watermelon cookies for Primary this last Sunday. Sooo cute, huh?


Alexis had her end of the year performance and last day of school. She was so stinkin' cute! All of her hand motions and actions during their songs are so EXAGGERATED...I loved it.
(That random picture of the old lady and Chad and Alexis is actually Chad's kindergarten teacher. The elementary school he went to has been closed for years but she was there watching a grandchild.)

There's more...but it has a good story. So I'll save that for the next post.

Good and Bad News...

Bad NEWS first: I got in trouble by my doctor for gaining to much weight already in my pregnancy. It's no surprise to me. I don't watch what I eat when I'm pregnant. I eat WHATEVER I want. And I haven't had a second to work out! No joke. So my...(don't laugh)...9 pound month didn't sit well with my doctor. It's sitting well with me though. Chad doesn't think I'm very funny. I guess I'm not worried because I've done this before...and I work my butt off after and loose it all. Seriously, if you had a constant Rusty METALLIC taste in your mouth...wouldn't you keep eating too even if it helped a little! What a pleasant side effect, huh? The metal taste. It doesn't go good with my profession.

Good NEWS: Our baby boy is healthy and things look good in the ultrasound. Both ultrasounds have measured a week early. I didn't think the doctors would do anything about it. Really, it's always off a little and they never change it. But when the doctor got all the numbers back and she realized they were calculating off a 30 day cycle...and I had been on at most a 26 day cycle...she immediately changed it. WHOO HOO! (Now, that 9 pounds makes sense...there was an extra week in there! HAH!) So, now my official due date is OCTOBER 23. Perfect. The primary program is the Sunday before. I have patients scheduled up to the 22. I'm booked out till baby comes. So my life!

My calendar has been packed. Extremely packed. Even on Sundays. I'm lucky I even get an hour to eat with my husband. Now that our Area Authority had each ward change to having Ward Council EVERY sunday...I'm at the church by 8am. Without children...but trying to get everything laid out for Chad so he can get them ready...and do their hair. Chad has meetings after church. We eat. Then I'm off to 4th of July rehearsal because somehow I agreed to be in charge of the 3-5 year old's. What?

Seriously, my schedule is crazy...It's almost 11pm. I just got back from a 2 1/2 hour presidency meeting for Primary. I've worked from 8-6 the last two days. Here's tomorrow:
5:30am: Get ready for work.
6:30am-12: Work
12:10-1:20: Alexis awards ceremony at school
1:30: Chad's sister's graduation
2-4: CPR training at work
4:30-8: Dress rehearsals for OCMCO

It NEVER STOPS! And one last thing. I just got news our school district passed a vote last night to make KINDERGARTEN a full day now. No early birds or later gators. 8-2 straight. Plus, with the teacher cuts...now it is voted for 30 students to 1 teacher. WHAT? How is 1 teacher going to handle 30 five year old's for 6 hours with NO aide? Do I keep Alexis in this school district?

My sister's baby...

My sister, Mindy, had her baby this last Monday. They named her Lilly May Stewart. I feel the need to post this for all her family/friends who never get pictures because she doesn't keep a blog. Isn't she cute?

Kids Coloring Corner

I finally finished my first major project of the year. It's about time. I've wanted to do something like this since we moved in this apartment a little over 2 years ago. I've had this vision (drawn out and all) since October!
Table + 2 Chairs: made by Chad's Uncle when Alexis was born. We had painted it a deep red and it stayed that way till I got this vision last fall. The green looks so bright in these pictures but it's really a pretty pear green...not so lime.
Shelf: a white desk hutch I had bought at Down East before I got married. It was stained and chipped and was needing a change. It's great for holding stickers, glue sticks and scissors!


Wooden letters: From wal-mart. They were the perfect size and they stand on their own. I painted them brown and mod-podged cute scrapbooking paper to the front of each letter.


Art wire: Picture wire from wal-mart hooked and twisted around two nails.
Knobs: Drawer handles from ikea. They are super cheap. I just painted them brown and had Chad drill a hole in the inside to fit over the back end of the nail that is in the wall. That way I can take it off to tighten the wire still if needed.
Clothespins: Painted brown and mod-podged with scrapbook paper.


Hanging caddies and bar: From ikea. They are cheap too. But they have even cheaper ones...I just liked the sturdiness of these. Plus, I like that the kids can take them off and the caddies stand up if they want to color with them outside. I used my glue gun to embellish them with ribbon and ric-rac. I figured out how to cut vinyl on my cricut so those letters are my first attempt with vinyl. LOVE IT!
Wooden Palm Tree's: They are from Michaels for like 50 cents. Already painted and all. I wanted something to cover up the unsightly nails that screw in the black bar.

The coloring corner is in our family room right were I can seem them. No pens in the bedroom. It get's used numerous times in the day. It's neat and the kids know how to clean it all up easily.