Our Sea World Adventure in Pictures

Our Sea World Adventure in Words

Sea World was an absolute blast!!! We had so much fun the two days that we were there! We drove over Thursday afternoon and got in after dinner. Friday morning we drove 20 minutes over to Sea World and got to work. We saw the dolphin show and had lunch first. Then, Jon and Megan joined us and we went to the Shamu show. It was really fun! At the dolphin show one of the trainers pretends to be a helper and falls in. I totally bought it at first, sap that I am. At the orca show on Friday the male trainer did a 20 ft. dive off of Shamu and also did a huge double flip off of him. It was incredible! We saw more dolphins and got to feed them and touch them, then did the same for the stingrays, which was kind of anticlimactic because we have them at our zoo and can touch and feed them. We went on a roller coaster and got a little wet, but not bad with our ponchos. We saw the penguins and the arctic exhibit. By this point we were super exhausted and went home. That night we went out for Valentine dinner with Jon and Megan. I had some of the most delicious food! For the fish course I had monk fish on an eggplant parm and it was soooo good! I am going to have to try and duplicate it. The next day we went back to Sea World and met Kelly and Chris. We saw the dolphin and orca show again and then went up and saw the Sea Otter and Lion show, which was pretty cute. We also went in the huge tower that raises up and overlooks San Diego and Misson Bay and the Atlantic. I was scared poo-less, but it was pretty. We called it an early night and said goodbye which was sad. Sunday morning we got up and drove home. It was nice to get home, but we are excited to go back! We love Sea World!

So-Cal here we come

The girls and I are so excited to go to Sea World this weekend! We leave Thursday and the count down is on. Cat was convinced that she would get to ride the dolphins and was quite dissapointed when we told her she only gets to see the animals, not ride them. I think she is resigned to her fate though, she is still pretty pumped. I am glad that we are able to stay with Brady's brother Jon and his wife Megan. They have a nice, clean house and are fun to be around, so it will feel like a vacation. We get such precious few days with our Daddy that anytime that we have we want to be fun! Auntie Kelly is also coming down for the weekend, so we will get to play at Sea World with her and Chris too. I am very excited to finally meet him. I am such a mother hen, but can turn into a sniper if need be. Wish him luck...Then, we get to go to dinner for Valentine's Day and I am looking forward to a meal that I get to eat from start to finish without having to stop to help anyone. I love my children, but between the two of them, someone is constantly going potty or spilling or needing something. It is almost easier to cook...almost!

The Passing of an Age

It is official, we are no longer in the terrible two's but the obstinent three's. Hooray!!! Sarah turned three on the third of February. It was her golden birthday, but she didn't get anything gold...I might need to rethink that one. She had her little family party on the 5th and Grandma Thomason came out to spend the night, which was really special for Sarah, since Grandma's time is precious. We had pizza and pasta for dinner and root beer floats for her treat. She opened presents and oohed and ahhed the whole time. It is so easy to remember when she was born and the first time that I saw her. Brady put her up by my head so that I could see her and she looked straight at me and stopped crying when I said her name. Anytime Brady would try to walk away, she would start to cry again, but when I would talk to her and he would put her back by my head, she would stop. This happened several times and I didn't want her to go, but the nurses said she had to go up to the nursery. She was such an opinionated little thing from the start, that it really shouldn't have surprised us how much she values her agency! She is sweet and loves to sing to her MP3 player. She is constantly busy in both good and bad ways! She has so much energy, that I could make so much money if I could harness it into a drink. While she is very stubborn and set in her ways, she is very good at sharing when she wants to and playing with Cat. She looks up to Cat and gets her heart broken when Cat won't play the exact way she wants to. She loves the kitties and plays with them most often. Sarah loves to go to ballet and dances for hours! She is starting to ask me to do school with her and I think that she will learn quickly. She loves to snuggle with blankie and thinks her Daddy is the best thing since sliced bread! She is impossible and also so kind and sweet; what a dichotomy! We love her and she is ours!

Wow!

2009 has started and January is almost over! Where does the time go? I am hoping that this year can be as positive as 2008 was for us. We have been so grateful to have our beautiful house in the desert. We are closer to the mountains ( I call them that for lack of a better word, not like Washington mountains), and it is so nice to look out of my windows and see the beautiful purple-gray and sometimes orange. The sunsets here are incredible and I love being able to see them every night. The girls have had such a productive, active year too. Catherine continued with her dance and started piano. Sarah was also able to start dancing at the end of last year and has loved it so much. The girls have the same teacher for each of their classes and she is fabulous! They love her to pieces! I was not blessed to have another baby, but to get to babysit a pretty cute one! She comes in the mornings for a short 45 minutes and it is perfect for our schedule. It pays for my kids book orders and my Hobby Lobby habit, which is out of control. I love that store! Her Mom teaches at the school right by our house, so we get insider information on the book fairs and she lets us do Scholastic orders through her class. It is fabulous. We are crazy this time of year. Between all of the birthdays and Christmas, then our anniversary then Brady's Sarah's, Cat's and numerous nieces and nephews birthdays, plus Valentine's Day, I feel maxed out! Then more birthdays and Easter...whew! By the end of April I am partied out and get the whole summer off! Well...almost. We are hoping this year holds in store more fun, family and time spent doing things together. We were blessed to get to spend some quality time with Brady's family at Christmas. My family is coming for a reunion of sorts in March, so we are excited for that. We are going to Sea World in February and the girls can hardly stand the wait. Cat keeps asking me how many more weeks we have. Cat will get to go to PE and music class at the elementary school as part of her homeschool and she is so thrilled to get new shoes for PE. You can tell that she is a girl through and through! Sarah will start homeschooling this year after she turns 3. She has a lot of energy to channel and keeps me busy. We are getting ready to plant our garden and landscape our back yard. Hopefully, this year will see our pool installed and enjoyed. Other than that life continues as usual. I am the ward choir director and music chairman and it has been a very peaceful calling to have with all the other discord in my life this past year. Brady is the ward mission leader and that is another calling that is bringing me peace. I am learning to find joy in serving others and sharing the gospel. Brady is a little more nervous. He has to teach lessons on Sunday along with his other duties. He is a great missionary and I am happy that he gets to grow with this calling. Catherine just started CTR5 and Sarah has one more year of nursery before she heads off to Primary to be a sunbeam; which she is already to me. Good luck in 2009 and enjoy!

Happy 6th Anniversary

Possibly the most horrible picture ever, but the only one from our anniversary. We emailed it from our cell, so it is what it is. We had a great night. Brady planned it all and did a great job. We drove up to Scottsdale had dinner at P. F. Chang's and then went to some shops to look around. My personal favorite was Sur la Table and I hope to go again soon to get some things. Then, we went to Jesterz comedy club. It was fun and it was nice to have a clean comedic arena to participate in. They are an improv group so we also got to contribute a little. We had a fun night and I am excited to start year 7 of marriage. It is interesting to note that we have known each other for 12 years, dated for almost 4, have been married for 6 now; it's a long time and definitely worth it

Some late Christmas pics

My friend Kelly and I spent 2 hours making 12 of these bows for the garlands.

Our beautiful tree

The garlands on the stairs and the upstairs tree which the kids decorated with ornaments.

I had such a good time decorating for Christmas this year! I have been waiting my whole life to have a set of stairs like this that I could hang garlands and bows on. When I saw these stairs I told Brady we had to get the house for Christmas and for our girls to walkdown for prom. I am excited to get to decorate again next year.

Christmas Pajamas

Our family on Christmas Eve getting our Christmas Pajamas

Cat's Hannah Montana jammies

Sarah in her new Dora the Explorer jim-jams

Brady with his new digs

Felicity's new nightgown

Bitty Baby's new flannel pjs

It is a Thomason Family tradition to get new Christmas pajamas every Christmas Eve. I like this tradition a lot and my kids love it as well. This year even the girl's dollies got jammies on Christmas Eve. Sarah got fuzzy Dora jammies and Cat loved her cozy flannel Hannah Montana jammies. Brady received sweat pants and t-shirts and I got new VS purple jersey jammers.

The Big "28"

Getting Nellie (retiring American Girl Doll) for my birthday

My sweet party hat

My Family had kept it a secret, including my two babies, I had no idea

Me walking into my surprise party

My Sweet purple polka dot cleaning gloves from my Mom and Dad, I love it!

My birthday was actually a surprise! This was my first birthday that I had not been either at home with my parents or with Brady's sister, Angela, so Brady actually had to plan it all himself. We had been planning to have a family dinner and I had invited some of my friends. After I invited them, Brady called and "uninvited them". They kept the secret though and so did my kids! I truly had no idea that wasn't what we were doing until I got to Grandma's and Brady refused to go get the kids and put them in the car until I came to help him. I was stressed that we were going to get home late and that my friends were going to think that we weren't coming, so I was upset that he wouldn't just go get the girls. I stomped over to Spencer and Karson's and should have realized it was much to quiet. I walked into the kitchen and they had decorated it all in purple and everyone yelled SURPRISE! I was very surprised and Brady was pretty pleased with himself that he had pulled it off. We had strawberry shortcake ( the real biscuit kind) and I opened presents and it was fabulous! I have to admit that I was a little mad at my husband for doing a surprise party. I don't really like surprises; it is the OCD, controlling aspect of my nature that just sucks all the fun right out of it. We did have fun though and I was really happy.

The Christmas Nativity

The Whole Gang

The Sullen Angel

"Mary" holding the baby, Jesus

Cat and Kohl being Mary and Joseph

The Goofiest Angel

Catherine being Mary

Grandma had the Az grand kids over for a special FHE where they acted out the Nativity Story. Catherine got to be Mary this year and Sarah was very put out. She was convinced that she needed to be Mary, but got to be an angel with a scratchy pipe cleaner instead. She braved through it and smiled once or twice. Cat was sweet and offered to let her be Mary, but I could see how much she wanted to be Mary too, so I said it was okay for Sarah to be disappointed this year. Cat took her role very seriously and was a very reverent Mary. She loved that her favorite cousin, Kohl was Joseph. All the kids looked so cute and did such a good job.