Valentine's Dinner

Valentine's Day is not typically a night we like to go out to eat on.  I honestly don't think we've gone out since we had kids.  It just been easier to order take out or enjoy meal at home on our heart plates!  This year we decided at the last minute that we could try to get in Pocket 8's.  If the dinner takes a little long, at least your being entertained!  I called for a reservation, but of course they were booked.  They did say that they would take walk-ins as they could.  A perk of being a teacher, we went to the restaurant at 4:30 so that if we had to wait at least it was early.  To our surprise, we were seated right away and eating by 5:15...perfect!  Garrett and Gannon loved the "show" and Garrett found his passion for fried rice!  Gannon of course didn't eat much other than a few bits of plain chicken and white rice, poor kid!  I guess our kids are getting to the age that we can venture our on crazy busy nights and they are going crazy waiting for their food. 

 

Upward Basketball

Garrett played Upward basketball this winter and LOVED it.  The program was great and it was awesome to watch the boys enjoy the game.  The coaches explained that they didn't keep track of the score at this age and that they were just learning the fundamentals of the game.  Ha, Garrett keep track every game!  It was great in that the kids played with other kids with the same ability level as them.  Each player wore a color band during the game and they were only allowed to guard the other player with that same color.  If they were guarding someone else the whistle was blown.  This is one of the only calls they DID call and it that was funny sometimes.  Boys would travel all the way down the court holding the ball (exaggeration) and they wouldn't call traveling!  It was cute and fun to watch them get so into the game.  Garrett's coaches were awesome this year!   Gannon enjoyed the games! He watched movies almost every game on my Ipad, which was fine with me so I could focus on Garrett playing.  Sometimes you do what you have to in order to make Mom's life easier!!!

 

 

 

A Quick Visit to see Aunt Shannon

In early January Shannon was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer.  She is such an amazing person and we just love her.  I really wanted the boys to be able to visit and hang out with her before she started treatment and her days would be less predictable.  We had a three day weekend in January and the boys and I headed down to Shell Beach to visit and love on Aunt Shannon.  What can be better than hanging out on the beach, roller skating with little guys, and beers and movies by night!   

 

We know Shannon will be strong in her fight to get healthy and were so glad we got to spend some time with her and Uncle Joe.

 

Our Baby is Now 5!

I can't believe Gannon is 4 already! Where does the time go!?! 

 

He is getting SOOO big.  We bought the boys an Xbox for Christmas and Gannon loves the Lego Marvel game and its full of the avengers.  He of course requested a super hero cake for his birthday.  We decided to not do big parties this year so we just had Grandma and Papa over for pizza and cake.  

 

Gannon can now read about 45 sight words and small simple books with a little assistance.  He is really liking learning and can't wait to go to kindergarten.  He is still a little cuddly boy and will sneak into our room and bed whenever he thinks he can get away with it.   

 

More Sporting Events

Garrett is basically willing to watch sports of any kind, especially live!  We took Garrett and Gannon to a Stockton Thunder game and as you can see Garrett was very into it and Gannon was...really bored!  Gannon's a good sport to sit through all the games we attend and hopefully will one day like them as much as Garrett.  Hockey is one of my favorite sports to watch because it's so fast paced and they fight! 

 

New Year's Eve

This is the first year that we have let the boys stay up to celebrate New Years.  We told them they could take a bath and come back down to play some games in their pajamas.  Gannon was really puzzled about this!  Of course they were only staying up to celebrate the ball dropping in Time Square, but that was awesome to them!  Apple juice cheers and they were thrilled.  Screaming and jumping at 9:00 pm (midnight in New York). 

 

My Christmas Present

Dave's present to me this year was a night in San Francisco and a matinee to see The Book of Mormon play.  We dropped the boys off at my dads in Modesto and were off to enjoy the City.  I love San Francisco and always have tons of fun when there.  We decided to ride the BART in to avoid the holiday traffic and ridiculous parking fees.  Our hotel, The Marriott Marque, was in a perfect location right in Union Square.  The BART station took us right to the hotel and we did a little shopping to start the trip.  It's kind of weird shopping alone so I wasn't feeling it on Saturday.  We went back to the hotel to head up to the View Lounge on the 39th floor.  We were a little earlier so we had to wait for the elevator to allow access to the 39th floor.  Good thing we got there early because we were able to get a great view seat.  We could see all the way to the Bay bridge and AT&T Park.  It was such a clear beautiful day.  After a couple drinks and appetizers we headed out for Dave's first ride on a real cable car.  Riding a cable car at night is one of my favorite parts of the City.  We got a great standing spot on the cable car, which makes it much more fun!  We rode all the way to the wharf and walked around down there a bit.  The wait for the cable car return was a little long, but we made it to our next location, a dueling piano bar.  The dueling piano bars are always fun.  We only stayed for a couple drinks because I was exhausted and there were no tables available.  I couldn't stand anymore! 

 

I was in the shopping mood on Sunday so I his a few stores that I've been wanting things from, even started next years Christmas shopping!  After shopping and lunch we walked down to the Orpheum Theater to see the Book of Mormon.  It was hilarious! 

 

We enjoyed our quick 32 hour kid free date in the City!